I got up early to try and finish some work tasks, which took longer than expected as I couldn’t connect for ages. The wifi was ok but not a strong and consistent connection there. That meant we had to race over to the hotel across the road for breakfast. There were vouchers for the breakfast as part of our tour accommodation.

Mike wasn’t feeling that flash and had a bit of granola and yoghurt and I managed to down a couple of poached eggs. I’m trying to avoid bread as much as possible as the change to my usual diet is not playing well with my digestive system.

As it turned out we needn’t have hurried as we didn’t leave for a further 20 minutes. Fiona was not well and decided not to ride at all and there are 2 or 3 others including Mike who are not fully well.

We loaded into the van for an hour long drive to McLaren vale. That turned into 90 minutes as there were roadworks and a detour and we went round and around quite a bit.

Once we eventually got close, and onto familiar roads, we stopped at this vineyard (d’Arenberg) for a photo opportunity. The place is designed as a huge artwork.

In addition it has a collection of genuine Dali sculptures on display. It seems like it’s part of a collection also located in other public spots around Adelaide. There’s a modern art museum at the back and evidently loads of artworks inside the cubic building itself but we didn’t have time to go in.

The driver (Brett) said the views from the tasting room on the top floor are amazing. I suspect the wines may not be so fantastic though and the vineyard itself looked a bit dry and sad compared to others.

We got dropped off at the Information Centre in McLaren vale village. It was pretty hot. We had to ride along the main street dodging utes and trucks to get to the cycle trail, which none of us liked much. Then the bike trail itself was fully sealed so quite different from what we had experienced in the Clare Valley.

There are not many other people on any of the trails which is a bit surprising. We biked about 7km to a vineyard that Brett had recommended called The Battle of Bosworth Hill.

The family that founded and still runs the business is called Bosworth and came from the eponymous English village. They have a couple of dogs including a Dachshund and a poodle/collie cross puppy which entertained us.

I tried 2 or 3 of their wines, which were quite nice but Mike stayed outside with some water.

The group had decided to then bike straight back to Wirrawirra Vineyard where we were having lunch as we had lost so much time on the detours.

Wirrawirra looks quite nice with lovely grounds and some quirky landscaping. There’s a post and rail fence at the front made from fully grown tree trunks and evidently a working trebuchet also.

Unfortunately we didn’t make the winery tour or the tasting or the lunch. Mike came over dizzy and nauseous and needed to sit down. The others went off inside but then he fainted while sitting on the bike trailer so I got him onto the ground, where he promptly threw up.

The others came back when we didn’t turn up and assisted me to get Mike onto the ground into a more shady place. Every time he attempted to get up he felt nauseous again so the winery people and Brett decided to call an ambulance which was sensible in the circumstances.

As I suspected he tested positive for COVID in the ambulance although I was negative (good genes). The ambulance paramedics were excellent. They pumped some fluids and electrolytes into him and gave him anti nausea medication and Panadols.

When we got to the Flinders private trauma centre we got “ramped”. That means there are so many ambulances that you just stay there. They said it could be up to 6 hours, during which time clearly they couldn’t get to anyone else. Also they couldn’t find any other hospital or medical centre anywhere close that would take him.

By that stage it was pretty clear what was wrong and all of Mike’s other vital signs were fine except for a higher temperature and being dehydrated. So we made the call to get the trolley out and try him standing up and he was fine. So we called an Uber, maintained our masks and made our way back to the Mayfair.

Mike had a sleep then some dinner. I was able to organise for room service to bring up his steak and chips, which he ate most of. I joined the others (except Fiona, who was still a bit unwell) for our final dinner of the tour.

We intend to pick up breakfast boxes from reception, as we leave for the airport at 6.30am for our flight to Hobart. Hopefully that part of the holiday will be uneventful 🤪.