A birthday with a zero

We celebrated Steve's birthday in style with French toast and maple syrup for breakfast followed by the opening of gifts. Here he is in the jumper I knitted and a book about the making of one of his favourite films. A happy birthday boy.

But the celebrations had only just started. We drove through the lush, freshly rained-on countryside awash with new-born lambs to Langhorne Creek. There we visited Bremerton, one of our favourite wineries where I succumbed to a brandy, apricot and ginger praline log which I shall put away until Christmas. I'm always a sucker for jam, so the grapefruit marmalade was quickly snatched up.

Then it was on to The Winehouse where we had booked for lunch.

My Moroccan lamb tagine was delicious...








... as was Steve's butter chicken.

 What was I thinking?????? Rhubarb and apple crumble with cream AND icecream!

 And coffee and chocolate mud cake for Steve.

We could barely breathe as we staggered away. We never eat anything like this, so on one hand it was a treat and on the other, perhaps not so wise.

So the next day, I decided I needed a long walk. I planned to walk along the roads behind Encounter Bay to the road that leads down to Kings Beach on the coast. This looks steep and something the Tour de France cyclists may have found on the Alpe D'Huez (well I may be overstating that a bit), but although it looks a little daunting I managed it quite easily.

 Then the road took me past farmland and lovely green hills that rolled down to the sea.

 I arrived at Kings Beach then joined the Heysen Trail, heading for the Bluff that you can see in the distance.

It was so peaceful, with not a soul to be seen, and not a sound bar the gentle lapping of the water and the flapping of seabird wings overhead.

Almost there. I know the soursobs are weeds but they look so bright and cheerful.

Along the way was a sign indicating the presence of a well on the beach, dug by the early pioneers. Water was hauled up the steep cliff by a winch. You can just see the remains of the well at the bottom of the photo.

I think most of yesterday's meal had by now been walked off, though I still had another couple of kilometres to go before I got home.