Much ado about nothing

Yesterday we attended what has become a Clare Valley tradition for us - Shakespeare in the Vines. This was the 15th anniversary of this event at Sevenhill Wines, and the third one we have gone to. I was excited because it was a comedy this year, Much Ado About Nothing. Three girls from my book club drove up to Clare for the occasion as well as our friend Andy. 

The first year we went, we decided to order the gourmet picnic baskets they had on offer. Those were actually a little disappointing, so since then we have brought our own picnics and they have been delicious. We did a 'make your own sandwich' bar at our house before leaving, plus we had salads, cheeses, meats, savoury scones and desserts. This was going to be a little challenging to cart to the winery on our bikes, but my friend Ngan is recovering from a knee injury and ended up driving. This meant we could offload all of the food, plus chairs, blankets, etc into the car. Ngan also arrived a little earlier than us and was able to secure us a spot, which was a bonus.

The rest of us hopped on our bikes and enjoyed the scenic ride down the Riesling trail. (Much more scenic on the way there, as our return trip was in the pitch black darkness - no exaggeration!) One of the fields we passed had about 10 kangaroos just hanging out, which is STILL exciting! Jeremy and I have done this bike ride zillions of times and it's really quite pleasant, but we had to go slow and steady for the rest of the group who aren't quite as accustomed to bike riding.

This brings me to - the weather! A little over a week ago we had a heat wave, four days of 40+ degree temperature. Yesterday evening, you could be forgiven if you forgot that it was Australia in the summer. I was internally mocking the people in their winter jackets and 'beanies' (toques), but I swallowed my mockery as I shivered violently in a sweater completely wrapped in a camping blanket. Holy moly. It was chilly. 10 degrees is not a balmy Australian summer night. We were lucky to have only a few drops of rain during the performance, but we did get rained on during our bike ride home. 

The play itself was phenomenal. The group who does Shakespeare in the Vines is brilliant, and this year was no exception. It was funny, it was witty, it was even a little raunchy! There was an unexpected interruption due to a collapse in the audience. Luckily Jeremy and his boss, Steve, were both there. The lady was fine, but we waited half an hour for an ambulance at which point Steve decided to save her $1000 and just drive her to the hospital himself. She was checked out and discharged within an hour, so all's well that ends well (but that's another play!)

I would highly recommend seeing Shakespeare in the Vines. It's a great experience and always an enjoyable way to spend an evening - even if it is bloody freezing!

2017

It's a new year, and unbelievably the beginning of our NINTH year in Australia.  Remember when four years seemed like it would be a really long time away?  We have now doubled that, having spent four years in Queensland and four years in South Australia.  I have been a speech pathologist for five years, have completed two years of my PhD, Jeremy has been a doctor for four years and has now passed all his exams to become a fully qualified GP fellow/consultant!  Whew.

My last post was October.  Talk about time getting away from you.  Since then, I have done a ridiculous amount of travel/research/stuff in general.  Jeremy and I went to Melbourne in early November to see James, one of our favourite bands.  They are from the UK and it was their first time ever in Australia!  They played to sold out crowds all over Australia and have promised to come back.  Since we weren't together for our anniversary and Jeremy's 40th was eclipsed by exam stress, I decided to book us into the Park Hyatt as a big treat.  It was heavenly.  We weren't there for a long time, but we made use of the pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room as much as possible!  We were venturing out of the hotel on our way to see James, and when the elevator door opened, who appeared but Tony Abbott (previously Prime Minister of Australia).  He is not someone either of us would have voted for, but it was interesting along with strange, to spend 20 seconds in an elevator with him.  I stayed in Melbourne for a few extra days to meet some aphasia groups and conduct some interviews, and then headed back to SA.  Following this, we were off to...

KANGAROO ISLAND!  This was something that had been on our list since we moved to South Australia.  The ferry ride is ridiculously expensive, which had deterred us before.  We wanted to make sure we had enough time to make the trip worthwhile.  Jeremy had a few days of holiday accumulated, so we decided to spend four nights on KI.  It was different than we both had expected.  They market it as a food and wine luxurious escape.  I found it to be quite remote.  We stayed the first three nights in Penneshaw, which is where you disembark the ferry.  It was a tiny town, with a cafe, a pub/restaurant, a couple of motels, a penguin centre, a gas station and not much else!  The other thing about Kangaroo Island is that it's huge!  It's Australia's third largest island, covering 4405 square km with 540 km of coastline.  No matter where you stay on the island, there is bound to be a fairly long drive to get to some of the sights.  We tried to go for a balance of experiencing the island and also taking some time to relax.  We went on a night time walking penguin tour, had lunch at Dudley Winery (the scenery was to die for), dinner at the pub overlooking the ocean, went to KI honey and saw the famous Ligurian bees, drove 2 hours to Flinders Chase national park to go on a hike and then 2 hours back to our accommodation...we did pretty well, I think.  The last night, we stayed in Kingscote, the 'big city' (hahaha) on Kangaroo Island.  We left Penneshaw early and drove to Kingscote.  We had brought along our bikes, as our plan was to hit up Kangaroo Island Spirits, Kangaroo Island Brewery, and Bay of Shoals wines.  It was a pleasant bike ride and we got to all the places on our list.  KI Spirits is famous for their gin and they had a large selection to sample.  We stayed for a cool drink in the garden which was mostly enjoyable except for being attacked by mosquitoes!  The brewery is fairly new and the owners were friendly and enthusiastic.  To Jeremy's dismay, they didn't yet have bottles for sale.  A lady was doing BBQ wraps out the back, which was the perfect lunch.  Our last stop was Bay of Shoals, where we befriended the lady serving at the cellar door and helped some German tourists make their selections.  Just before we caught the ferry back to the mainland the following day, we made a stop at one of the beaches and got in the water, even though it was still a bit chilly.  I would recommend Kangaroo Island, but with the understanding that it is remote, it is very big, there aren't many options for dining out, and you should probably enjoy the outdoors!

When we returned, I only had two days before my big trip to the UK for the International Aphasia Rehabilitation Conference.  So yeah, kind of a crazy ending to the year!