The area between Lacepede Bay and Apollo Bay is called the Limestone Coast. It follows the southern coast of Australia and is home to the Coonawarra Wine Region. Coonawarra was not originally one of our destinations but a gentleman we met on the ferry to Kangaroo Island said since we were interested in beautiful scenery and renowned wineries, it was not to be missed. Making the adjustment in travel plans was not difficult and the drive was well-worth it. Before leaving the town of Kingston, we exercised by doing a quick walk to the end of their long wooden jetty and down the Parade, a paved path following the coast past the lighthouse. Then we loaded up and bought a quick breakfast of a Diet Coke, a meat pie and a crawfish sandwich at a shop/gas station for get this, $22.50. I don't think I've mention it before, but food here is very expensive. And yes, I know, crayfish sandwich for breakfast? Hey, I have learned that when once-in-a-lifetime opportunities pop up, you must take advantage of great things at the moment they present themselves. Or else, you simply miss out.

Three hours later we arrived in Penola and found wall-to-wall vineyards and wineries all the way to Coonawarra. It was very beautiful! With so many to choose from and so little time, we just picked one and stopped at Wynns Coonawarra Estate, most famous for their award-winning cabernet sauvignon. Before we went in, we said hello to a lady walking out - then proceeded to have a 30-minute conversation with this delightful lady about the locale, local wines, traveling in general. She lives in Adelaide and is a wealth management specialist and her husband is a winemaker. They actually plan to live in California someday. Everyone, please say "hi" to Karen. She promised to follow the blog.

Afterwards we shared a wood-oven roasted lamb cutlet plate and salad at Fodders. In USA we call them Frenched lamb chops. Here they are called lamb cutlets. Fodders serves only locally produced items and grow their own special lettuces. Lunch was very, very good. And as yet another example of Australian hospitality, the chef followed us out and asked if we'd like some dining suggestions in our next stop, Apollo Bay. Who does this?? Maybe it only happens here. But what a special gesture!

We stopped at Balnaves of Coonawarra, a very picturesque winery but did not taste because the time was getting late and we still had 4-5 hours' drive down the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay. Australian maps are very misleading. All this driving we've done and yet we are only a half-inch from Adelaide!

As we left the wine region we ran into rain. We could not believe it after such dry conditions. This was real rain; rain that fell in big and fast-splattering drops! The road was hard to see and it was some tough driving. The rain finally subsided after an hour or so, just outside the town of Woongarra?????. What a magnificent place! We wished we had time to explore, but the sun was rapidly going down so we had to keep moving! Finally we turned onto the Great Ocean Road and its amazing coastline around the time of sunset. I had an "Oh my God experience" when I caught a glimpse of the Bay of Islands formations. We also saw the London Bridges and other views of this magnificent setting, all at sunset time. The pictures are fabulous! While we loved the beauty, we had to keep driving. We still had a very long tedious drive--up and over, and down and through the winding B100 passage to Apollo Bay. Talk about nerve wracking, especially as dusk turned into darkness. Just a little scary!!! In my mind's eye, in these wary circumstances, a driver could run off the narrow road; he could meet a fellow American head-on on the wrong side of road, or he could hit some wild life. Oooo, that is scary. Sad but true, we did see kangaroo, foxes and koala that failed to make it across the road. Sad; I cry. Fortunately for us, we did in fact make it to Apollo Bay without having any mix-up with wildlife, without meeting a local policeman and without any mishap at all. Thank you Lord!

Finally, the Answer to yesterday's trivia question: Lah-ci-pee. Like recipe. They say it's French. I don't know. I do know this. The Australians love to name things after British royalty i.e., Princes Highway, State of Victoria, King William Road, etc., otherwise the names are most peculiar indeed. I took a snapshot of a small map we have been using to give an example of the towns we have passed through.