We were up predawn to pack up and clean up as we had to be at the Penneshaw wharf by 0800 to load the cars onto the vehicular ferry. It was a 30 min drive from American River to Penneshaw so we left just before 7 as we had planned to ring through a brekkie order to Millie May’s café near the wharf for it to be ready at 730 when they opened.

The drive to Penneshaw was uneventful and we arrived at the café just as they opened. Gordie was unusually a glass half empty – must be missing the surf and the Titan – so he opted for no café brekkie and just watched Rosie with arms folded while she ate her delicious bacon and egg panini!!

We boarded the ferry and took in the last views of Kangaroo Island…. as well as the JETTY!! The time we had spent on the island was enjoyable – so much to see and do!!

The Pearl and the Weiss cruiser ended up just behind a huge logging truck with 2 trailers – actually they were fortunate to be behind and not beside as the trailers were fully loaded and rocked and rolled alarmingly as we traversed the Backstairs Passage. So much so that halfway across the crew decided to add in some extra chains to anchor the load to the floor of the boat.

We made it safely to the mainland and watched as the logging truck left the boat – finally Klaus and Dave drove off the ferry and we hightailed it to the caravan park wondering if our vans and vehicles would still be there…. or the bikes…or fishing rods…. or would there be some foul odour emanating from a van from food mistakenly left behind (Rosie had this experience last trip with a banana left for 14 days in the cupboard at Wyndham WA).

All was good when we arrived at the vans – no issues at all (admittedly Branch was slightly disappointed)! We unpacked the cars, rearranged our luggage, and headed off north on our way to Hahndorf.

The road wound through farmland, beachside townships, and wineries. We reached the McLaren Vale area by lunch time and pulled in at the d’Arenberg Winery – home of the d’Arenberg Cube. The Cube is a 5-story cube-like structure which houses wine tasting, artwork, exhibitions, and eateries – a very unique venue with very unique décor!!

The design concept for the building was developed by d’Arenberg’s chief winemaker, Chester Osborn, who is of the fourth generation of the Osborn family who founded the vineyards in 1912. It was completed in 2017 and has a distinctive geometric design largely resembling a Rubik’s cube.

We wandered around the grounds first – Klaus finding a trusty steed to rest his legs….

and then went into the Cube for a wine tasting which was held on the top floor with spectacular views over the McLaren Vale area.

The artwork and furnishings throughout the Cube were colourful and unusual to say the least.

The wines we sampled were good and the food at Eat@Pollys was delicious. We ate lunch and wandered around taking in the ambience….

On our way out we found the toilets (highly recommended by Fiona W as the place to visit) – again they were nothing like we had ever seen before…. And one of the female staff let us have a look in the male toilets quickly as they were also one of a kind!!

We made our way through McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills district to Hahndorf, our stop for the next 2 nights.

After setting up the vans, Gordie (whose skylight replacement had been delivered here for him) set to work with Branch and McGyver to install the new skylight cover – what a relief to have that fixed!!!

A quick trip to IGA to restock our foods supply and an easy night in before we hit the quaint shops of Hahndorf tomorrow!! Everyone has high expectations of our tour guide Klaus – being German he should be able to ensure we have an as near-German authentic experience possible outside of his homeland Germany! Achtung everyone!!