Adelaide and the Barossa Valley, Feb 23-26

It was clear that 3 days in Adelaide and the surrounding area would not be enough, and as we drive into the city limits of this intriguing spot, we wonder how we'll fit it all in. We can't. The next best thing is to pick out one favorite each. Lucky for us, Bob and Margaret's friends, Kay and Robert, had already made arrangements for one choice: The South Australian Art Museum. We make our way there to meet their friend and our guide Rosie who takes us on a personal tour to the early colonial section of the museum where we try to absorb the early history of Adelaide through art. It's an amazing accumulation of paintings including the earliest view of the city as well as art featuring early convicts and Aborigines.

We also are able to visit the special exhibition of Aboriginal artifacts--the largest collection anywhere, I'm told. It includes painted spears, boomerangs, hunting implements, baskets, interview videos, videos of early ceremonies and everyday life, medicinal herbs, a map of the 200+ clans found in Australia and many other items that have slipped from memory already. It is truly a magnificent collection.

The next day Terry gets his choice: the Barossa Valley wineries, a very famous area which has produced some excellent wines that he has tried and also some that have no export to the US. We start off pretty early in the morning as it takes over an hour to get there, and we want to stop and taste the famous German pastries of the area. Apple streudel it is with great coffee. It is a beautiful, sunny day, and we are eager to see the vineyards, so we can't linger too long over coffee.

We stop first at Jacob's Creek, then we proceed to Rockford, a very small winery featuring hand picked grapes. The workers are just pitching the picked grapes from the truck to the de-stemmer as we walk in. It's an interesting process as they move the grapes into the primary fermenters which are huge concrete bins open with grape skins floating on top. We could stay and watch, but we must cover more territory and won't get to if we spend too much time at any one place. So, we scamper back to the car and drive to Grant Burge, Charles Melton, and eat at a restaurant called 1918 in the town of Tanunda. After lunch we visit Peter Lehmann Winery and stop off at Maggie Beers' Farm Shop. We then push on to quick stops at Penfolds and Wolf Blass. Normally, we drink the entire samples of wine, but this time we couldn't manage that and drive back, too. So, our tasting was for a small amount in a bunch of places and gave us a feel for the wide variety of wines that Australia offers. It reminds us of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California with its many boutique wineries intersperced with medium to large ones, with some very fancy tasting rooms and architecture.

The next day Friday we hike through Torrens River Park and enjoy the many song birds and parrots (as we did every day we were there) and beautiful landscape. With that, Bob and Margaret return to New Zealand after two fun weeks traveling together, and we bid new friends Kay and Robert goodbye with hopes of meeting again soon. We finish in Adelaide and hop aboard Tiger Air's flight to Hobart, Tasmania.