Wow! What a fabulous day - historic Robe, Mt Benson, Cape Jaffa, Coorong County and Meningie!

An early start today from beautiful Robe - Mt Benson, Cape Jaffa, Kingston, Coorong County and Meningie! A big day! but hugely enjoyable!  What an amazing country we have!

One of Pete’s school mates brothers has a winery at Mount Benson so we called in to say hello and catch up. What a great morning we had with Ralph and Debbie at their Cellar Door! There was lots of catching up about Coffs, school, school friends, sport etc etc and then it was onto the wine. We learnt so much about wine and wine making from Ralph - he's been a winemaker for 40 years and has a wealth of knowledge. Through his career he has been the head winemaker for Tyrells, Hungerford Hill and Leconfield Coonawarra, winning lots of awards over the years. He's retired now from the corporate life in the wine industry and happily and productively runs his own winery with his wife Debbie -  Ralph Fowler Wines and they are very, very nice!!!:) We got to taste them all and it was so interesting hearing all about the process and techniques Ralph uses.   

Mount Benson is a young wine region first planted in 1989 on the gentle undulating slopes of the mountain with its richness of terra rossa soils over limestone - land previously used primarily used for growing wool and wattle bark. The vineyards in the area specialise in Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. 

We came away from Ralph and Debbie's with some very nice wine!!!, a wealth of information about winemaking and the industry, and some great stories and memories Ralph and Peter shared.  

Ralph Fowler Wines is about half way between Cape Jaffa and Kingston on the Limestone Coast Road.

Cape Jaffa is nestled on the southern tip of Lacepede Bay, 18kms south of Kingston. It’s a new commercial fishing port with a huge safe harbour and marina built from scratch! The modern housing development is just beginning and a few homes are popping up in prime positions around the huge harbour and marina. Quite impressive but can imagine in a few years time it will be a lot more populated!

What a relaxed and carefree lifestyle the people of Kingston have -  another historic coastal towns that revolves around the commercial fishing industry. Kingston is situated at the heart of peaceful Lacepede Bay and named by Governor McDonnell in 1858 after George Strickland Kingston who earlier that year had surveyed part of the land. The Cooke brothers were responsible for the towns development. They founded Port Caroline and built a jetty which in 1877 connected up with the new railway line. Wool and goods sheds held the products waiting to be shipped around Australia and overseas making it the major port on the South east Coast of South Australia. As it is another of the important  bustling 19th century shipping ports along this coast many of the historic buildings still remain and have been beautifully preserved for us to enjoy and relate to a bygone era.  

Today commercial activities centre around Southern Rock Lobster aquaculture and fishing industries, farming, small production of local jams, honey, olives and almonds, forestry and the ever growing wine industry. 

We acquainted ourselves with the towns icons - Larry the Lobster, the historic Cape Jaffa Lighthouse and the Sundial of Human Involvement. The Cape Jaffa Lighthouse was originally built on the Margaret Brock Reef off the coast of Cape Jaffa in 1872. It was relocated to Kingston foreshore in 1974 and provides spectacular views of the township and the coast. The Sundial is fascinating as you tell the time by the casting of your shadow on the markers on the sundial. It works!! - I tried it! 


Between Kingston and Meningie is Cooroong County - encompassing the Coorong National Park and Younghusband Peninsula. Awesome area and seeing it today brought many "Storm Boy"  memories flooding back. Stunning sand dunes, the southern ocean, lagoons, salt lakes and wetlands stretching 144kms! These wetlands and coastal dunes are of international significance - no wonder!! Couldn't get over the number of birds!


Meningie is on the shores of Lake Albert at the northern end of the Coorong - wow, what a find! It has the charm of a small country town combined with the stunning natural beauty of the Coorong and Lower Lakes of the River Murray.  Lake Alexandrina, into which the Murray flows, meets Lake Albert at "The Narrows" .  


Tonight, perched on the edge of the lake, our backyard stuns us yet again - a magnificent sunset over the lake and  the majestic pelicans ( one with a seagull riding on its back! ) gliding gracefully across the water feeding on the carp!  Just spectacular!


Coorong Mullet is famous here so looks like Pete will enjoy some Fish and Chips tomorrow! :)