Australia Part VII : Adelaide and the Barosssa

I’m a bit more organized with my drive time today and there won’t be as many stops on this route as the last few days. There are two options to get to Adelaide – a coastal road or an inland road. I choose the coastal road which I’m told is more scenic and apparently the same distance. A couple of hours in, I stop at Robe which has a pretty beach and little downtown. The signs on the road to pull over every two hours and rest, are everywhere so I take heed and stretch my legs and use a public bathroom (spotless clean by the way).

As I’m driving along mostly empty roads and wondering if I’ve somehow managed to get on the inland route as there’s very little sea to be seen… I’m singing away to the local radio stations or learning my choir song [side bar to any of my choir crew reading this – I have learned Wayfaring Stranger], I see a sign for a pink lake and almost screech the breaks to come to a halt and turn off. It’s not as impressive as some further west but I’m delighted to get to see one. I walk out as far as I can but it’s very muddy and my shoes are squelching a bit so I decide I’ve gone far enough. I meet more random strangers (that’s been happening a lot on this trip) and have a chat with them for a bit before getting back in the car.

I arrive in Adelaide and drive around the town a bit before finding the hotel. I only have two nights and am using that time to meet up with an old friend from work and a scrabble friend of my mothers!!

First off I get to see Vicki who I worked with at Juniper more than ten years ago. We have a lovely catch-up over pizza at a place that was on my list of go-to restaurants so that’s a bonus. She looks the exact same as she did when we met all those years ago and it’s so nice to reminisce and find out what she’s been getting up to since moving to Australia. I must admit I feel a bit protective of her as she was young and new to Dublin when we first worked together so it’s great to be able to give her a big hug.

Next day I have a tour to the Barossa wine region. I get to sit up front in the coach so have a prime view of the surrounding countryside and better still I’m sitting alongside a super cool lady called Helen and we hit it off straight away. The bus driver gives us a bit of a city tour on the way out and is really good at telling us all about the area we drive through. He tells us about the O-bahn which I knew nothing about. Apparently outside of Germany this is the only one in the world. It’s essentially a bus on a train line and it goes a constant 100km speed.

On the journey we see an emu and some kangaroos but the koalas remain elusive. As we approach the town of Tanunda we are welcomed by Jacobs Creek, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) exporters of Australian wine:

Our first stop is at TeAru winery where we have cake and tea before moving onto the hard stuff. It’s a small family run winery and the wines are very nice. Our next stop is Maggie Beers farm shop. Apparently she’s a famous celebrity chef with lots of cook books. We get to taste all of the different jams, chutneys and oils that she makes. The shop is set on some beautiful grounds and there are turtles in the lake:

The next winery is Lambert Estate where we have a delicious lunch served while tasting more wine and we get to taste some of the grapes off the vine:

Next we stop at Mengler Hill for a scenic look over the countryside and to appreciate some stone artwork….. not that impressive to be honest!

Our final winery is Pindarie which is set on some beautiful grounds. The hay bales are crying out as a photo opp so we oblige and enjoy the sunshine after the obligatory white then red then dessert wine tasting!

The tour was great fun and all the wines were delicious but the highlight of the tour was definitely meeting Helen 😀

Back in Adelaide, after an hour or so downtime at the hotel, my mothers friend Beryl comes into town to meet me with her daughter Felise. What a treat, considering these are people I’ve never met or been in touch with, we have a really fun evening. We are all wine drinkers and politely sip our first glass but it’s clear that we’re going to need another as there’s just too much to chat about! We chat for ages about all sorts and even put a call into mama at home so these two scrabble buddies can actually talk to each other for the first time. It’s a super evening and I’m delighted I got to meet these gorgeous ladies – I really hope I’ll get back here some day.

I didn’t get to see a whole lot of Adelaide so early the next morning I go out for a run and at least get to see a few kilometers of the Botanic gardens and the streets downtown.

It is a really nice city and I’d happily spend more time here on a return visit. For now it’s a flight to Perth for me and a wedding to go to!