I have a week at the resort, so I thought I’d spend 3 days lazing around, 3 days racing around to see the mountains and then I’d go home. So naturally, I woke up to pouring rain on the first day of my intended racing around.

But you know? I didn’t care. Retirement has given me the gift of time. I still had more days where I could go and climb Mt Kosciuszko, which I have definitely decided to do. I can’t be in the neighbourhood and not do it!

So I spent the morning reading another book – I’ve run out of the actual books that I brought with me and I’m so glad that I loaded up my iPad with 10 more library books when I last had wifi. This holiday would NOT be a happy one if I didn’t have enough books to read. This resort may be lovely but it lacks wifi.

At around 2 PM I looked out of the window and the rain had stopped. I studied a helpful little booklet about the local area and noticed that there was a gin distillery about a 10-minute drive away. Remember the wonderful distillery that I visited on Kangaroo Island?

I jumped in the car and went to visit the Wild Brumby Distillery. Just the thing for a rainy day!

This turned out to be a lovely place, where someone had decided to put sculptures everywhere – just like me! It’s a gorgeous place, set like a jewel in the hills.

Most of the sculptures are huge. I’m not going to show you all of them, because you might want to visit one day and I don’t want to spoil it for you.

The tasting/gift shop was warm and welcoming. Being a Tuesday, I was the only one there. This is a Christmas tree full of schnapps – which turned out to be what the owners made their name from.

On Google Maps, it was referred to as a schnapps place, so I wasn’t surprised when I asked my hostess what they specialised in and she replied “Schnapps.”

I enjoyed their gin – they even make a ‘navy strength’ one at 50% proof (or so).

What can. say? I came for the gin but left with the schnapps. The butterscotch one was amazing, and I also liked the sour apple with lemon. It’s made from Granny Smith apples – my favourite.

This is the backside of a beautiful little foxie called Cosi. I was walking around the lawns, looking at the artworks, when she came barrelling over to me for a pat. She sat at my feet and wouldn’t leave, even when her owner called her name twice. He had to whistle before she ran back to him.

I miss Scout so much. It’s probably because I’m nearly home and I know I’ll be seeing her in a few days. I can’t wait to cuddle that long little body again.

Imagine having the space to have life-sized pieces like this?

I can’t resist a well-laid-out veggie garden. This one was all berries. I’m assuming juniper for the gin.

I preferred this one from the back angle.

I thought I’d take this shot of a typical country road leading out to the highway. Everyone puts their mailboxes here to make life easy for the postie.

And if Liga’s reading this, then yes. Aussies call their postman a ‘postie.’

Such beautiful, serene countryside. I can understand why people might like to live here.

Not me, though. I’m too leery of bushfires.

But look at these happy cows. They’re surrounded by food and water, so different to the cattle that I saw just a few days ago in the Outback.

This brought home to me just how vast this country is.

On this trip I’ve seen so many differing climates. So many places where people, cattle and crows survive. We are lucky to live in a time where anyone can simply hop in a car and go and explore them all.

If I hadn’t had this booking here at Lake Crackenback, I probably would have wandered around more and seen more of the country in detail. But I’m glad that it has ended up the way it has.

I’ve been able to recharge the batteries before heading home to Life As Usual.

And I’ve looked at the weather forecast. Tomorrow is the day when I’ll stand on the highest point in Australia!

Dad Joke of The Day: