The land of Shiraz

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to my dear brother Gavin and his adorable daughter Rielle. I hope you had a fantastic day and enjoyed the Melbourne Aquarium!!!


We are now in McLaren Vale. It is wine country. It is Shiraz country. I could stay here a while....

Our campsite in McLaren Vale. Picturesque, there are tall gums and beds of agapanthus everywhere. The driveway leading into the caravan park is lined with small oak trees and rows of grapevines; very pretty. These ducks are so tame, one has decided it would be fun to be a human and keeps trying to invade the caravan!

We went snorkeling at nearby Aldinga Beach, a marine sanctuary. The water is extremely shallow but it is brimming with fish.

We weren't sure if this was a shark or a stingray. I'm going to say it's a stingray.

Squillions of tiny fry swim in the area - they are really just a pair of eyes and a backbone; very strange!

Little marine fish like this are hard to spot - they hide in the rocks and grasses.

Time for wineries. 'Tapestry' has beautiful views across the valley.

One of the nice winemakers agrees to take a touristy photo.

Tam and Paulie, this photo is for you. We know you love Stump Jump wines, and they make it right here in McLaren Vale. We felt obliged to try "one of everything" (well not quite, the list is pretty extensive!!)

Yeah, don't know what's going on here. Those tastings are gooood!

At the last winery we met some tourists from Denmark and hit it off right away. They are touring Oz for 3 months in a little campervan so we recommended the caravan park. Next day, we all headed back to Aldinga Beach for more snorkeling. The kids loved it!!

The schools of fish swimming around us get the thumbs up.

This blue crab also gives us the thumbs up.

Thousands of fish swim around us as we feed them little scraps of bread.

Welcome to our new bbq - the Weber. The Danish come over and exclaim "Look, you have a Weber (pronounced WEEBER), can we please use it to cook our steaks!"