Casterton & Coonawarra

Today more sight seeing and touring, first stop was Casterton, the home of the Kelpie. We have a soft spot for Kelpie's, as a past dog of ours was a 'bitza' with plenty of kelpie in her - mad as a cut snake but the most beautifully natured and loving girl :)

Casterton is extremely proud of this history and they have a walking trail around the town with sculptures celebrating the kelpie and their integral role in farming.

this one was my favourite sculpture :)

this represents the height of the biggest flood in Casterton, 7.2 metres.

Heading north we stopped off to look at "Bilston's Tree", the biggest River Red Gum in the world and it was just a 'wee' sapling in 1200AD!!!

heading towards Bilston's Tree

Dave next to Bilston's Tree
(he's the little red dude to the left of the tree)

This is one of the branches that has naturally fallen off the tree,
it was decided to leave it near the tree to show the scale and subsequently carved with images. 

this shows the section where the above branch fell off from

here you go, read for yourself :)

 After all that thirsty work of walking and sight seeing, we thought we better make our way to Coonawarra....... and have some WINE!!!!!!! Well, Dave did, I drew the short straw and was the D.D. (designated driver). Here's some shots of the lovely ingredients for the drop we so adore :)