Day 123 - Dutchman's Stern and Claire Valley - Thursday 16th February 2012

Wow, the 4am alarm call was not welcome this morning. I was so tired I couldn't even face breakfast! There is a first for everything…….

Once dressed and ready, we all ventured out to the van only to find that we had another flat tyre! This was great news for me as I went back to bed, fully clothed, for another 20 minute nap! Once the tyre was changed we all got in the van and started the 30 minute drive to the base of Dutchman's Stern. The plan was to hike to the top for the apparently stunning 360° views of Quorn, Spencer Gulf and the Flinders Ranges. It was only a 4.2 km trail up so a total of 8.4km but it felt like much further in the dark, uphill through rugged rocks at 5am. But this was all forgotten once the sun had started its ascent - the view of the rainbow of colours over the distant hills was spectacular; we all stopped in our tracks and watched the sun come up. Once sunrise was complete we continued on our trek to the top all the while trying to avoid the militant ants on the path - the ants out here actually go for you when you walk through their area and once they find a bare piece of skin when bite and it REALLY hurts! They are like the marines of the ant world and make our little English ants look like right pansies.

We arrived at the top and were greeted with great views for miles on end - we rewarded ourselves with some biscuits to celebrate our success. Especially the ANZAC biscuits - they are the best!!

Back down at the bottom and it was time to start our drive to Adelaide; it was due to be quite a few hours but Doc had suggested we stop in the Clare Valley for some wine tasting to break up the journey - we all agreed this was a great idea. Once we arrived in the Clare Valley we stopped at a little winery called "Last Words"; the owner was a lovely guy and has started this new idea about matching the wine to people's moods - great idea. I had the loud, chatty but sensitive red and Soph had a bubbly loving white!!

We arrived in Adelaide YHA in the early evening and after a shower met with everyone in the kitchen and cooked up some pasta, chatted and had a couple of Duff beers like Homer Simpson before heading to bed for some well needed sleep.