Day 12 Friday 3189km

We had decided the night before that we would all go painting together today, so as we drank our morning cuppa we made up some sangas and threw together what we would need for the day. The day warmed up significantly with every hour and there was a buzz in the air as we headed south towards Nowra. We pulled into the Crooked River Winery and drove up a huge hill covered in grape vines. It was still early and they were just opening their doors, so I just gave a heads-up that I’d be painting and shooting some videos and we got straight to it. It warmed up so much I was able to take my boots and socks off. I finished the little panel off with some really saturated colours. Most of the paintings this past week have been fairly tonal because of the weather and I knew there would be more grey days, so I took advantage and pumped up the intensity on this one. We had a little tasting of their goods after, and I picked up a bottle of their chocolate port. Ronnie’s mum was still painting away, so we had some of the sandwich and I played a bit of guitar, sitting around in the parking lot on a beautiful hill. Around 3 in the arvo I packed up and said goodbye to my lovely friends and hopped in jumpin’ joan to head south. I rolled into Woollamia around 4 and my mate Randall was still engaged in a workshop at his studio, so I just sat in and watched. After they finished we started up a small fire and cracked a couple of home-brewed ginger beers. I guess because it was Friday, people started rolling in in ones and twos. Dave dropped by and picked up my violin and played us a bit, and Randall’s brothers and nephew stopped in for a bit of fun as well. Capped the evening off with a bowl of ramen and bamboo shoots, and a bit of Dom’s home-brewed stout.