It is a cold and foggy morning when we rise, but turns into another perfect day. Before we head out to do some sightseeing, Carole takes advantage of the fact we have a washing machine and gets a load on and hung out in the sun before we leave. We have a nice little outdoor terrace with a rotary clothesline nearby.
We have a loose plan to go for a bush walk at Spring Gully where there is supposedly a lookout, and a walk called the Cascades Walk. It is a short drive from here, around 6 km. The final part of the road is unpaved and we pass a few wineries on Spring Gully Road before arriving at the lookout.
The lookout is not a great lookout but typifies the dry bushland that is predominant here
Despite there being an information board at the lookout with a map of the walking tracks on it. All we could find that coincided with the info on the map was the road below which we walked along for a while, but found it uninspiring and went back to the car in search of something more interesting, perhaps a winery !
I have alway been a fan of Pikes Wines and they are nearby, so our focus quickly turns away from exercise in favour of a little wine tasting.
It is very quiet when we arrived at the winery at a bit after 11 am, we are the only customers at the cellar door, and too early for any patrons at the pretty flash looking restaurant.
Cellar Door and Restaurant
What started out with a plan to buy a few bottles of riesling, a keen wine consultant was intent on us trying what they had to offer. There was no charge for the tasting experience and we spent some time there, eventually leaving with a dozen bottles of wine and joining their mailing list. There was no obligation to take a regular wine shipment and signing up resulted in an immediate 20% discount.
We ended up with a number of different wines in our dozen, quite a few of which we will probably reorder.
On our way out of the winery and back onto the main road, there were a lot of sheep feeding on the roadside margin between the vineyards and the road. Once again it highlights how dry this climate can be here.
Next to the entrance of the Pikes Vineyard is and old Church which is now used as the Polish River Church Museum (below)
It was time to head back into town for lunch, initially calling in at Mr Mick Restaurant and Cellar Door, but having looked at the menu, we were probably looking for a lighter lunch. The Zest Cafe in town met our needs, and that of many others, as it was very busy. After lunch we went to Woolies to provision up for our next 3 days in the Flinders Ranges, where will be self catering.
This afternoon we had a bit of a drive around the region, making one last attempt to get a bit of exercise by going to Neagles Rock Lookout, not far from town. We wandered up the steep trail to the lookout.
The track needs a bit of work
Once at the lookout, it was a good view of the countryside.
From here drove further South through Seven Hill, Penwortham, Leasingham and around a loop through the historic town of Mintaro before returning back to Clare to refuel and get ready for our trip to the Flinders Ranges tomorrow.
Autumn colours on show at a vineyard in Leasingham
The Magpie Stump Hotel at Mintaro
It was a bit too convenient for dinner to go back to Bentley's Hotel after a good experience last night, so it was an easy decision. Once again the food was good, well priced and you get to buy local wines.
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