I stayed in Aledlaide for a few days, and while there I went on a wine tour of the wine making area north of the city. Our first stop was to Chateau Tanunda. Fabulous wines and winery. The weather was awful for most of my stay in Adelaide - gales, thunder and lightening...and worst of all 'Dianna' sprang a leak in the bedroom! So I had to do some nifty repairs with my sealing gun!

These Shiraz vines at the Longmeil estate are 150 years old - that's probably some of the oldest in Australia...a very nice drop! I managed to buy a few good bottles to sustain me on my journey!

From Adelaide I drove south to Mt Gambier, which is built on the slops of extinct volcano. The crater is called the Blue Lake and changes colour throughout the year, from green to a deep indigo blue.

The town of Mt Gambier has some wonderful architecture...

While I was in Mt Gambier I found an advertisment for 'Laughton Park' So I drove out to see who owned it and to introduce myself as one of the 'Laughton' clan. David and Val Laughton have a magnificent house and extensive gardens and lake which they have developed over the past 10 years or so. The gardens are used for weddings and other functions. There was no obvious link with 'our' branch of the Laughton clan though. I spent a very plesent afternoon with David wandering through the gardens, and hearing about how he built the lake over a sink hole.

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