McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor

We left our '70's B&B around 10:00 and made our way into McLaren Vale looking to rent some bikes to ride the Coast to Vines Trail. We stopped at the only bike shop listed in the tour guide but they were all rented out except for the tandem. That was not going to work for us as we have different riding styles (aggressive/cautious). As we were driving down the street I spied a small sign at a cafe/diner that mentioned bike hire and we lucked out and got a couple of bikes for half a day.

The Coast to Vines Trail is 37 km in length and is mostly old rail bed that has been paved. We decided to head in the direction of Willunga, the southern trail head, as this seemed to pass through vineyards and afford the possibility of a stop or two. The bikes were not real lightweights and we were into a pretty good headwind.

When we reached Willunga, we stopped to explore the main street.

It was noon so we decided it was time for some lunch so we stopped at a cafe. Really cute with an interesting washroom.... through the garden....

Back on the bikes we stopped to see some alpacas as we coasted back to McLaren Vale.

It appears it had been a slight uphill climb all the way to Willunga. We pretty well coasted all the way back to McLaren Vale. We deviated down a concession road to visit Wirra Wirra Winery. More excellent Shiraz and generous free tastings.

It was time to get the bikes back to the cafe and we had to get on the road to Victor Harbor where we had booked for the next two nights. We took the scenic route and got there in about an hour.

In case you are wondering, I did not make a mistake on the spelling of "Harbor", which in a country of the King's English, should be spelled "Harbour". Apparently the early Surveyor General was not very good at spelling and the original error stuck.

We had trouble finding a vacancy here a week ago when booking and ended up at a golf resort on the edge of town. Not a bad spot, we have a room overlooking the golf course. Its only a five minute drive to the Esplanade along the waterfront.

Looks like a nice links style course. Going to try to get a round in tomorrow.

After getting settled in, we decided to go exploring the town. The beach at Victor Harbor...

We drove to the Bluff, just west of town and hiked up to the top for some great overviews of the area.

Monte the Moose liked the fresh ocean air.

A nice panorama of the Fleurieu Peninsula....

At around 6:00 pm, we went looking for a place to eat. Loney Planet Guide had remarked on the lack of eateries and we can now confirm that. One decent Italian Restaurant, three old hotel pub/gaming rooms, a few take away fish & chips shops, a Subway and a KFC for a resort town of 11,000 people that balloons with visitors every weekend and holiday period! Other than the fast food, everything was jammed so we headed back to our Resort. Guess what, the restaurant there was fully booked! Luckily, the golf club pub had a table and we ended up eating pub food.