Winter Creek and Torbreck Wineries were two other stops on the agenda today. I especially liked the cellar door (and the wines too) at Torbreck Wineries, which is a converted old homestead building.
Another stop today was at Maggie Beer - a Barossa food tradition. Maggie and her husband Colin established the Barossa Pheasant Farm Restaurant in 1978. The restaurant became known for serving pheasant (which was raised locally) as well as a pate known as Pheasant Farm Pate (which is delicious!). Currently, Maggie operates a business in the Barossa which produces a range of gourmet foods, including Pheasant Farm Pate, quince paste, verjuice and ice creams. For those who are interested you should check out her website: www.maggiebeer.com.au All I can say is: "yummy, yummy, yummy".
At the Maggie Beer property there is a lovely little dam you can walk around,
and while you are walking you can also see where the grapes and olives are grown for all the Maggie Beer products. Definitely a good example of something from the Barossa!
And then on Monday it was time to start out on my next adventure --- to Kangaroo Island.
Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island. It is a part of South Australia, 112 kms south-west of Adelaide at the entrance to Gulf St. Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is 13 kms off Cape Jervis on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula. The island is 150 kms long and between 57 kms and 90 kms wide, its area covering 4,405 km2. Its coastline is 540 kilometres long and Kangaroo Island has a current population of approx. 4500 people. Flying or by ferry are the only two ways of getting to Kangaroo Island, and so after about a 4 hour drive from Waikerie I arrived at the ferry terminal at Cape Jervis. The ferries that make the crossing are all passenger and vehicle carrying catamaran style vessels, and the crossing takes about 45 minutes.
I had a bit of time to go for a little walk up from the ferry terminal and take a look up the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Our crossing was at 6:00pm, and since Australia is no longer in daylight savings time it was beautiful timing as the sun was just starting to set --- and it peeked out from behind the cloud bank too.
Given the timing of the ferry crossing, the drive from where we landed at Penneshaw (on Kangaroo Island) to where I'm staying was in the dark, so I was quite eager to get up this morning and see what awaited me. And this is my view...
Emu Bay, where I'm staying with friends, is located on the north coast of Kangaroo Island. It is a small village of just under 100 property allotments with what seems to be a fairly even mix of permanent homes and cottages. The village has no shops - the nearest place for shopping is Kingscote which is about 20 kms away. Emu Bay is known as a popular swimming beach, and is one of only a couple on Kangaroo Island where vehicles are permitted.
After spending a good amount of time this morning sipping my coffee and enjoying the view, I went for a walk around Emu Bay.
Even though I'm on an island, and walking along the beach, you can tell the countryside is still very, very dry. This is a close-up of the rocks right on the beach.
You can see the little village of Emu Bay on the other side of the bay.
Just over 40 kms west of Emu Bay is Stokes Bay. It's really interesting to get to Stokes Bay because you have to walk though a cliff "tunnel"
which opens up onto a beautiful, picturesque beach.
There is some very hearty - and beautiful - vegetation at Stokes Bay too.
Back at Emu Bay and I decided to wander back down to the beach and jetty to say 'hi' to some of the locals.
And then back at my friend's house and what should be snuggled up in the eucalyptus tree in their yard but the cutest little koala!
I can't wait to see what's on the agenda for tomorrow!
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