After driving through heavy rain for two hours, we arrived at Tanunda, in even heavier rain, eight degrees, and had to set up. There isn’t as much to do as there used to be (in the Kimberley), but when you open the door and discover that water has been coming in while travelling – over the bed – suddenly there is a change of mood. We put the roof up, got the heater out and set it up to dry out the mess. “Not happy Jan”. The biggest leak seems to be in the top left hand corner of the van, so Russ is going to try and plug it with silicone tomorrow.
We had a good night’s sleep in a dry bed, and woke to find it still raining. The temperature is still very low, so we won’t be eating outside today. One reason for visiting Tanunda, is to go to Maggie Beer’s Pheasant Farm Shop. We arrived there late morning, greeted by very friendly staff. The shop is set up so that you can wander throughout, tasting a wide variety of sauces, relishes, pates, chutneys, oils, olives, to name a few things. You can also buy coffee, light snacks and wine. We bought a Duck and Orange Pate, a Duck Pate, with Vino Cotto and Star Anise and a picnic platter that included Dukkah, olive oil, wood fired bread and olives, resulting in a delicious lunch, in the warmth of our van. The van doesn’t leak when it is up! (So far). The weather improved slightly, later in the day, so we rugged up and had a BBQ tea.
No leaks overnight, and the temperature slightly warmer, but very foggy. Later in the morning, we went back to the Farm Shop and did the Nature Walk, around the large dam, which was very enjoyable. Very large eucalypts and other native plants, including wattles and shea oaks, with water fowl and small birds, made it very pleasant. A delicious coffee, the purchase of a bottle of Maggie’s extra virgin olive oil, a jar of mustard pears, more money spent and we decided we had better make this the last time. There is a very good ‘feel’ about the shop and no doubt, we’ll be back again one day.
We went to St Hallett’s winery afterwards – we had first visited there in 1967, on our honeymoon – where we tasted a couple of wines, but ended up ordering a ‘Duck Plate’ for $35, with a glass of Grenache. The plate consisted of Duck Pate, Duck Terrine with peppercorns, Smoked Duck (which neither of us were that keen on – it had an unusual texture and was very chewy), with Sultana Pistachio bread and Red Wine Poached Pears.
The temperature today is 13 degrees and we haven’t had rain today. The roof has dried out and Russ has been able to plug it with silicone.