After a few long driving days, we decided to mostly park the car today do some exploration on foot. This should mean a shorter blog today, but we will see. Our accomodation is in the main street of Clare and they have provided a fridge-full of goodies to keep us going. I cooked myself some bacon and eggs for breakfast and there is a Nespresso machine for my standard black coffee.
Our last few accomodations have been devoid of washing facilities, so an impending clothing crisis needed to be averted by a visit to the Laundromat. While our clothes were drying we visited the Tim Adams Winery just south of the main town. Set in the Eucalypt forest this winery was well set up and had some nice wines. Of particular note was their Tempranillo, some of which will be on its way to my house.
It is also the start of the Clare Riesling Bike path, which sounds like an accident waiting to happen. You can hire electric bikes to help you up and down the hills along the trail of wineries.
We collected our washing and dropped it back to the apartment prior to setting out on foot. My research had told me there were a couple of wineries within walking distance.
The first of these was the Knappstein Winery which started its life as a brewery servicing the many pubs of the area during the mining boom of the late 1800s. Since 2000 it has been acquired a number of times, including by Lion Nathan and Accolade Wines. It is now back in private ownership and very much focussed on wine production. Again there were some nice wines, especially once they offered the premium red wines.
When I said ‘walking distance’ earlier, I think I meant it was possible, rather than sensible. Google said 14 minutes to the next winery, but it turned out that was only to the front gate of our next stop. The Cellar Door was another 600 metres, boosting the step count for the day and the weekly average!
Mad Bastard Wines is a one-man show run by Mark Barry, the son and former Chief Winemaker for Jim Barry. He left the industry in 2006, but returned in 2010 saying he just couldn’t get it out of his blood. He now makes small batches of wines (MAX 1000 bottles) sold from his website or Cellar Door. The property has an abundance of wildlife including some sneaky birds that were too quick to photograph.
After the long walk we we feeling a little hungry, so we went back to Seed to share yet another platter. Once again the food and the service was excellent.
We went back to the apartment for an afternoon break in preparation for taking on MORE FOOD. Dinner was at an Italian Restaurant next door called Ragu. The food was once again excellent, but they did have a few service issues and the main strategy to deal with those was multiple apologies, but nonetheless great food.
So with the whole day spent in Clare and activities minimal, that’s about it for today. We’ll be back in the car tomorrow so a bit more action should be expected.
Until tomorrow!
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