25 Mar 2009
We’ve been spending the last three days hanging out at Black Rabbit Cottage in the McLaren Vale wine country, about 30 mins south of Adelaide. This is utter heaven for Lynn and I – a wonderful cottage to stay, stuck in beautiful countryside and surrounded some fantastic wineries.
The cottage is very well appointed – no less than three bedrooms, a massive bathroom and a huge and fully equipped country kitchen. Yours for the bargain price of $160 a night – way better than a hotel room. It even comes with a very friendly dog (Jess) and cat (Tiger) from next door who are more than happy to keep you company, especially during mealtimes.
I‘ve been hoarding a bottle of Penfold's Grange for the past 2 years or so, trying to choose the appropriate celebratory moment to crack it open. This is the Rolls Royce of Australian wines, with a good year running in excess of $1000 a bottle (needless to say, this was a gift not a purchase). Our time at Black Rabbit Cottage, and the sabbatical from life, seems as good a reason as any. Yummy!
Our general indolence is punctuated by occasional sightseeing forays. It comes as a bit of a surprise to us that the beach is only 10 mins from here. We’ve stayed in McLaren vale a number of times over the years and never really realised it was so close. Unfortunately they’re a bit of a let down. It’s hard to put your finger on it – they have most of the important ingredients required for a nice beech town, but just don’t quite appeal.
We head further south to the bustling town of Victor Harbour. Highlights include a scenic island connected to the town by a causeway (explored), a horse drawn tram to take you over there, ably pulled by a horse named Mac (spotted, photographed and gave Mac a quick scratch behind the ear) and a colony of Little Penguins (missed - couple of false sightings, but the closest we got was the stuffed guy on the café counter).
