The drive from the Coorong to Adelaide was arduous due to a 30 km/hr + headwind the whole way. The approach to Adelaide is uphill from the south so the poor old Troopy was laboring into a stiff headwind and uphill - slow going. By the time we dropped down the hill and into town a full scale dust storm was moving in from the north. Fortunately, we’d made arrangements to visit with the McInnes family who had graciously offered to let us set up in their driveway for a few days while we got our bearings. They have a beautiful Southern California bungalow style home in a suburb just outside of the downtown area. Malcolm and Ilonka have two beautiful teenage daughters, Monica and Natasha and a delightful four year old son, Allen.
And the rest of the clan with us!
We spent the next several days visiting with them, eating and drinking way too much, and scouting around for a campsite for Heather LW and us to share for the following two weeks. Malcomb is a mechanical engineer, so we had lots to talk about, and the girls got along famously. We got to meet Malcomb’s brother, Jamie and his wife, Feona as well as several of their friends at an impromptu dinner party. The next morning had morning tea (brunch to you Yanks) at Jamie and Feona’s house. Jamie provided us with every Australian sweet imaginable. They were wonderful hosts and it was hard to part ways when the time came, but we’ll see them again before we leave Adelaide town.
We set up camp just a little south of Adelaide on the coast at the Brighton Caravan Park. It’s right on the ocean so we could hear the surf breaking all night. We picked Heather LW up at the airport on the following day and began our exploration of the Adelaide area. We started off with a tour bus of the downtown Adelaide area to get an overview. The next day we went back into town on our own and encountered this fella hogging the drinking fountain at the Mall!
This is what Adelaide’s downtown area looks like from a park to the north of town.
It’s a beautiful city with grand historic buildings and friendly folks everywhere. We visited the Art Gallery, the markets, the South Australian Museum, and several pubs, eateries and shops along the way. We caught the historical tram to the nearby coastal suburb of Glenelg and finally back to camp with stuffed tummies and shopping bags!
The next day it was off to see the "southern" wine country of the McLaren Vale wine district. This area is just south of Adelaide in the center of the Fleurieu Peninsula and not well known outside of Australia. We had heard that the wineries were every bit as good but not as well known as the Barossa Valley wineries north of Adelaide. Well, we here to tell you that it’s true! We had a great time tasting and buying wine at very reasonable prices! For example, we were able to taste and purchase some excellent Chardonnays, Merlots, and Cab Savs for considerably less than $A 10 a bottle and several for around $A 6. At today’s exchange rate, that’s about $US 5.80 to $US 3.50 per bottle! We went hog wild! There were over 50 wineries in the area but we were only able to visit 6 or 7. I snapped this photo outside of a place that sold us some excellent mead!
Finally, we dragged our loot home and filled up the little trailer by the sea with wine bottles until the springs groaned. We then proceeded to fix a great meal of barbequed kangaroo and lamb chops and start on the tough job of depleting our wine hoard with this view in the background.
Ah, it’s a tough life, but somebody’s got to live it! The following day was spent driving around the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. We visited the coastal towns of Rapid Bay, Cape Jervis, Victor Harbor and several other smaller towns along the way. We picked up some fresh fish in Victor Harbor to fix for dinner that night as my luck at fishing had not improved much. Fortunately, I could still remember how to cook it, so we all enjoyed a good fish feed - and more wine!
Continuing our invasion of the countryside we made an excursion to the nearby town of Hahndorf with a stop off at the highest point around, Mt Lofty. The view of the city from Mount Lofty was beautiful and I found a great book in the gift shop on aboriginal bush cooking and medicines to go with the one that Helen and Adrian had given us so long ago. Hahndorf is a quaint little village in the foothills east and south of Adelaide that was settled by German immigrants in the early 1800's. It still retains much of the feeling of a German hamlet in the historical buildings and shops. We stopped at the German Arms Hotel for a couple rounds of excellent Dortmunder beer and lunch.
Some burger and beer, eh? Took me a while to wade through it, but I persevered! The girls had more authentic German cuisine, but I had to tackle the big burger in my continuing quest for the biggest and best hamburger in Australia. This one was a contender, but the record still goes to the Laura Burger in Laura, Queensland on the Cape York Peninsula. I almost didn’t get through that one, and I was REALLY hungry at the start. It had a hamburger paddy, steak, thick slice of pickled red beet root, egg, cheese, pineapple slice, bacon, ham, lettuce, tomato, and onion on a bun that was at least 4" in diameter! Whew, my tummy still aches when I remember putting that one away!! Anyway, I digress. We enjoyed our day in Hahndorf and headed back to our home by the sea.
Our trip to the famed Barossa Valley wine country was made on the following day by use of a guided bus tour. This was done so that I could enjoy the tour without having to abstain from tasting as the designated driver. We booked a tour on a small minibus that took us around to several of the most well known wineries and also fed us a very nice lunch along the way. It was an all day tour and included such wineries as Penfolds, with Karen here at the cellar door.
Wolf Blass was also on the tour with Karen and Heather posing beside a statue of their famous eagle emblem.
Here Karen and I are admiring the vines at the Wolf Blass vineyard.
By comparison, the Barossa wines were every bit as good as those that we found in the Mc Laren Vale region, and shouldn’t be missed. However, they were also much more expensive ranging from well over $A10 and up (and Up!!) per bottle. I think it’s a case of comparing the cost and quality of an established wine region that can command higher prices with one that is still establishing itself and therefore must be more competitive. You vinophiles out there should keep your eyes peeled for those South, South Australian wines for a good bargain on some very good wines!
On our last full day of touring, we visited the Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide, which had some excellent exhibits on early transportation of immigrants to Australia and other maritime artifacts. One exhibit invited me to lie down in a replica of one the beds onboard an early sailing vessel while listening to accounts of the experiences of those early settlers. Nice and comfy, I thought, and drifted off for a snooze....
Finally it was time to take Heather LW to the hotel in Adelaide town that she had booked for her last couple of days in Adelaide, and for us to get ready to hit the road again. We visited Heather in town on the night before she flew off for one more good feed and a couple of beers for the road. We may meet up with her again somewhere else along the road before we get back to the Big Smoke for the Olympics next September!
After taking care of some business and getting everything ship shape, we’ll have one more visit with the Mc Innes’ and then head off for Western Australia and the perilous trip around the Great Australian Bight.