Day 5 - Kingston SE to Port Fairy
The
second day of the long drives. And a bloody long one it was, too.
Soon the first thousand kilometres of the tour was completed. The
picture shows slightly more than 1000km recorded, since at the exact moment
that we passed the megametre mark, Patrick was having a sneezing fit at
the wheel while negotiating a blind corner at 140km/h, so everyone had
their minds on other things such as their lives flashing before them.
First
stop was at the caves at Naracoorte. Only time for a swift tour of
one of the caves due to the day's timetable.
From
caves to Caves - a joke that has to be said out loud to work, but Mark
was sufficiently pleased with it that it ended up being recorded here.
The morning run was also punctuated by a stop at another winery, this time
in Coonawarra. Two wineries, actually, but the first looked a bit
corporate and shiny, so we moved swiftly on. We soon found an alternative
in a pleasantly ramshackle-looking place with certificates and awards plastered
willy nilly over the walls, along with photos of the management from 1974.
So a good selection of reds was bought to add to the collection.
Lunch
was at Port Gambier, where there was a blue crater lake with a tour that
left too late if we were going to make enough progress - grrr!
Afternoon
- plodging in the Glenelg estuary. Not for very long, since it was
tidal and the water entering the estuary was from a Southern Ocean current
straight from Antarctica. Still, Mark managed to avoid shredding
the soles of his feet this time.
And
so for another long drive to the night's stopover at Port Fairy, where
Rupert annoyed his wife by ringing her at 2.00 a.m. Minnesota time.
A good pub was found that did massive bar meals, and a range of Aussie
beers were sampled. This was of course in the interests of researching
the theory that all Aussie beer is crap piss-weak lager.
Several
rounds of ales and stouts successfully exploded that myth - after which
it seemed like a good idea to stagger back to the motel and attack the
bottle of Lagavulin that Rupert had brought along. The remainder
of the evening is a little hazy, though Patrick was at one stage heard
to be demanding, "In what sense am I dissimilar to soup?" Oh, dear....
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