only the best: mclaren vale, australia

Living abroad, we are often asked about where we are from - predominantly Adelaide, is that near Sydney or Melbourne? Without a doubt one of the things I love most about 'home' is our proximity to everything wonderful, the city filled with great food, amazing beaches, the hills and parks, and some of the worlds best wine regions.
With a visitor from the US visiting, it only seemed right that we show here these many things that we loved. So off we went wine tasting in the McLaren Vale, hit up the beaches, ventured into the hills to wander through the hills and botanic gardens to name a few...


 

A very generous friend that works at Fox Creek Wines gave us the VIP tour of the winery, teaching us all about the wine making process and let us sample it on the verandah of their cellar door.

Below. Not a bad way to pass a summers afternoon

 Since we were home last, microbreweries have been popping up around the Vale and so it only seemed right that we took a flight and sampled a few...

...but where to begin?

A lunch break at the Star of Greece, possibly the best lunch view in the world, and one of my favourite beaches. 

In the Adelaide hills we were able to enjoy a few hours wandering around the botanic gardens 

The gardens are beautiful organised, but the nature walk was the definite highlight for us...

 

Or perhaps for me, the best part was lying on the grass enjoying the sunshine - Salty not impressed with being disrupted!

the civilised year

On new years day we spent the day floating about the sadly flat seas on a rather lovely yacht with some wonderful family and friends. These friends take it upon themselves to name each year as they welcome it in, and given the very civilised fashion we were spending the very first day of 2014 we were enjoying, it only seemed right to name ours the civilised year. In all, this seemed quite apt, given our time of late was spent with many of our friends beautiful flourishing families we found our evenings themselves increasingly more civilised with early nights and kiddies galore. This is all relative of course, and civilised does not mean we have not been having any less fun!  

the copper coast

It has taken me more than a month to get to posting these photos. In part I am sure because we have been rather busy working, catching up with friends, getting back into the routines of working and studying, and doing some odd bits of adventuring, but I suspect it has predominantly been fear of remembering the sunny and spectacular days spent in Adelaide over the new year. 

After Christmas we spent a few brief but blissful days on Yorkes Peninsula, around a two hour drive west of Adelaide, in Port Hughes. Part of the Copper Triangle or Copper Coast, named for the historic metal mining of the 19th and 20th centuries, Port Hughes is probably more famous nowadays for Greg Norman's planned, and thus far only semi-realised golf course. From my point of view this grand vision has failed to be realised, leaving Port Hughes as a charming seaside village and the phenomenal beach relatively unpopulated.

The sand dunes separate the ever growing number of beach houses, one thankfully owned by our very generous uncle and wife, who hosted our entire family for the weekend! Filling our days with fishing for those inclined, swimming, walking along the beach and among the dunes, lounging on the sand, reading, watching the ashes, or dozing the afternoon away. The pristine sand, clear water and rugged dunes were absolutely breathtaking and entertained us for many hours.

 Above. The product of the Kingsborough men spending an hour at sea. Below. The product of ten minutes at the butcher. Both delicious! 

Enjoying a wee beverage with a rather spectacular view and a golden ray of sunshine.