Monday, March 3, 2008

Drunken Tales From the Barossa

It's difficult visiting a wine growing region without sampling some of the produce of the area. Maybe difficult isn't the right word. Impossible. Yep, that fits a little better. So after making our way out of Adelaide and loving that the kombi is going like a dream, Luke and I decided to check out what else Adelaide has to offer. First up, a night at Belair National Park, a pretty spot just 20 minutes from the city centre of Adelaide with some great bushwalks - even though it's terribly dry at this time of the year.

Next stop was the Adelaide Hills, which are a truly beautiful side-step out of Adelaide and definitely worth visiting - just fly into the city and hire a car for the weekend. Go on! If English style gardens, award winning cafes and restaurants, and heritage-drenched towns are your thing, you'll love the 'Hills.

And if you're out that way, you can't go past the German town of Hahndorf. Some might say it's kitsch but we thought it was kinda cool with all its kranskys and beer mugs.


And after you've eating y0ur wienerschnitzel, drop by and see something else that's totally out of the ordinary in the pretty backdrop of Adelaide's hinterland - the world's biggest rocking horse. But be prepared to pay $2 if you want to climb the thing. It's in Gumeracha.

And finally we make it to the beautiful Barossa Valley. Let's just say that it all started where Adelaide's first wine was made - at Jacob's Creek. Although obviously times have changed from when an English settler took up camp on the creek bed of the actual Jacob's Creek and thought the Barossa's mild Mediterranean weather was perfect for growing wine grapes. Now, the business of wine is BIG business. And often how popular or well-selling the wine is can be measured by how expensive and architecturally lavish the vineyard is. Jacob's Creek must be doing well at LiquorLand.

Penfolds has obviously sold a drop or two as well...

But as the afternoon wore on, all the wines started tasting pretty much the same. And the music coming from our laptop was getting louder and louder. Oh and I also want to take this opportunity to apologise to my sister Noni for that phone call pretending to be a Thai restaurant ringing with her takeaway order. We thought it was funny at the time. hehe.

And if you can wake up at a reasonable hour the next day and your head isn't pounding from all that sampling, throw on your darkest sunnies and check out the Barossa Farmers Market. All the foodies from around the area are there to sell their wares. We bought some homegrown strawberries and fresh pumpkin bread. Delicious.

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

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