20160318 – Friday – Clare, Shrives and Quixley’s

The Magpie Stump Hotel in the Clare Valley. So quaint!

I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Finally at 6 AM I went to sleep at work up again about 9 AM. I felt very dirty and love to have had a shower. I contacted Lynne Shrive and she suggested I come to her place and have a shower and have a sleep. But because I did manage to sleep from 6 AM to 9 AM I didn’t need to go to this place to sleep. I won’t need to shower either because I manage to clean up pretty well in the toilets in the  Pioneer Park. Manoora, where the Shrive’s live is about a half an hour from here.

It is just such beautiful country and it’s a lovely day as well. Everything is green and lush and the sun is shining overhead. What more could you want in this beautiful country. I drove along a winding road on the side of some low hills. The wooded hillside rose on my right and on my left there was a magnificent view over the whole of the Clare valley.

It seems as if the Clare valley must all be Heritage listed because there are so many beautiful old homes and quaint cottages and galleries and little cafes and lolly shops. I have just passed the Magpie Stump Hotel, for instance. There are so many things I would love to see here.  I think I shall have to come here again and stay awhile.

Andrew Kenneth Quixley’s “Bed in a Shed” at his Vine Art Studio in the Clare Valley. A wonderful place to stay to have a break at Clare.

I called in at Quixley’s Vine Art Studio and selected two necklaces which purchased. Andrew gave me a tour of his new ‘Bed in a Shed,’ which he tells me is fully booked for some time to come. I was so glad to hear this. It will be wonderful for Caroline and Andrew if this continues. Maybe it won’t be long before there is a second ‘Bed in a Shed’  on their property at Clare.

I left Clare and arrived Tarlee and went to the hotel there and had tortellini for lunch followed by some ice cream and coffee. It is 2.27 and I am about to leave the hotel where I had lunch, and go on the last leg of my journey to Adelaide.

I found myself near Angle Vale, so I detoured to call on Mark Lunn who lives there. When I got outside his place I rang him and he and Natalie were with the children and were taking them to netball practice. Mark said that he was going back into the jungle in Papua New Guinea early next week so once again I won’t get to see them all until the following month.