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Travelling
Australia with Wayne & Pam BENTLEY |
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THE DAILY
JOURNAL Wednesday 13th April 2005 to Friday 15th April 2005 |
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This day started out much the same an many others, but after a breakfast of toast and tea, it changed at about 9:45am when the wine tour started. Unfortunately the Limousine had the day off but the replacement vehicle, a Kia People Mover did the job very well.
We had two other people join us on the wine tour. Rob and Carol are from Victoria and were great company during the day. Bill, our driver was full of information and life throughout the day and couldn't be more obliging from start to the finish of the days activities.
Our first call was 'Kies' vineyard where after many samples, a bottle of Cab Sav and one of white muscat Port followed us out to the vehicle when we left.
From here we took a diversion to the 'Whispering Wall' which is not a winery, but a water reservoir where one person can talk softly on one side of the wall and they can be heard on the other side, which is about 200 metres away. Even though it was a great distance, the voices came through very clearly on the other side.
Next came 'Schild Estate Wines' in Lyndoch where the wine was pretty good but we only walked out with a list of retail outlets for their products in Western Australia. This was a very modern wine cellar as can be seen by the photograph on the right.
The next call was to McGuigan winery which is the subject of the second photograph. This was quite an impressive building and inside, 'One of Us' found a 'Black Label' Traminer Riesling that she fell in love with. We left McGuigan's with four bottles of these, a bottle of 'Yaldara Tawny Port and a selection of cheeses and pate.
Lunch was enjoyed at Lyndoch Bakery Restaurant and provided a selection from a menu that consisted of a good number of german style platters. This was assisted with a glass of red wine to wash down the ample quantity of food.
From Lyndoch we traveled north to 'VineCrest' winery where we ended up with a 'Barossa Valley Late Harvest Riesling' and Cab Sav. before we moved on to the smallest vineyard in the valley called Heritage. This cellar released a bottle of 'Rosco's Shiraz' before we walked out the door.
The last vineyard we visited was Maggie Beer's and the Beer Bros wine and produce cellar. This place allowed a 'Home Block Shiraz' come home with us as it was the last vineyard we called in for the day.
On the way back to the caravan, we were taken passed many heritage buildings and up to a lookout that provided views right across the Barossa Valley.
Arriving back at the caravan at about 5:35pm, we felt that it was well worth the the $60 per head for the days outing, including the lunch we enjoyed.
The start of a good day
or a good way to start the day!
My kind of wine cellar
The 'Whispering Wall'
After a full on day yesterday, today was much quieter and less eventful. We made a slow and very casual start to the day, however none of it was caused by the white or red wine that was sampled the day before.
As we had received an e-mail from our friends Eddie and Jean in Kalamunda WA, in which Eddie gave directions to a butcher shop called Linkes in Nuriootpa that according to him, were the suppliers of the "best Mettwurst in Oz", there was no decision to make, we just had to go there. Well his directions were very accurate and his description of the Mettwurst was, I thought, a little understated... We emerged from the shop with three different types of Mettwurst and a rather long and very hot Pepperoni. I could see people traveling Australia to visit that butcher shop, in fact they say they get people from Canada on other points overseas requesting their produce.
However 'One of us' thought Eddie had not been quite as informative as he could have been. Just across the road from the butcher shop was a bakery that was also called Linkes and she found some more Cornish Pasties in that shop, but this time they were huge. In fact neither of us could finish a whole one each when we tackled them at lunch time (Had to save some for later.) The bakery not only had the pasties, it also had cream filled donuts buns and a grand variety of cakes that 'One of Us' just had to have!!!
After we had a walked around Nuriootpa we drove out of town on a scenic road that took us to Angaston, a small town just to the East of Nuriootpa and Tanunda. After driving through Angaston, we followed a tourist drive around the hills and back down into the Barossa flats to Tanunda and the caravan park.
The rest of the afternoon was utilised trying to sleep off the Cornish Pastie and some other just as important duties necessary on the last full day we have in the Barossa Valley.
Tomorrow we move to Hahndorf where we get ready for the arrival of Judy at 10:30pm at Adelaide Airport.
Nuriootpa main street
Nuriootpa Memorial Hall - Just one of so many similar buildings throughout
the Barossa Valley.
Once again we said farewell to Graham and Sue the night before we left Tanunda Caravan Park, however we did try to twist their arms and suggest Hahndorf could be a good location to do this farewell thing again. As it was a bit cool outside we enjoyed a very nice drop of red wine while we demolished a far quantity of nibbles.
This morning we took our time packing up but were ready to roll out of the park by about 9:15am and after a few more words of farewell to Graham and Sue, we were on our way by 9:25am.
We headed off south to Lyndock before turning east through Williamstown and on toward Mount Barker then turning south to travel through Gumeracha, Mount Torrens, Loberthal, Woodside, Oakbank and Balhannah before finally arriving at Hahndorf.
This drive was through some very scenic country and many of the little towns were quite 'cute' if you could use that expression. It may not have been the fastest way to get from Tanunda to Hahndorf, but it was well worth the time and any additional effort towing the caravan over the hills to visit the places and scenery we traveled through.
Once in the Caravan Park, we set up the caravan ready for the next six nights as we depart this park on Thursday morning. After setting up we drove out through Hahndorf and on to Mount Barker where we called in at a Woolworths store to stock up our cupboards to keep us going for the next few days.
On return to the caravan park it was a case of feeding the hoards, well at least the two of us before a clean and polish of the inside of the caravan in readiness for the arrival of Judy Roads later tonight.
Tonight we pick up Judy at the Adelaide Airport at 10:30pm and tomorrow we start to 'show' her the places we have already seen and enjoyed around Adelaide and in the surrounding hills.
Another farewell to Graham & Sue
Hahndorf Caravan Park