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Published: February 19th 2010
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Yes, they taste as good as they look!
Freshly picked strawberries at the Beerenberg Farm
Adelaide Hills 6th December - 9th December 2009
Adelaide Hills - Mt Barker, Strawberry Farm, Hahndorf, Chocolate shops and wineries!!!
What I ask is better than strawberries, chocolate, wine, german pastries and pretzels, topped off with a wheat German beer? The answer: Nothing! This is heaven for food lovers, no it's just heaven for everyone! The produce in the Adelaide Hills is expectational and it really is a feast for the senses!
After a few days resting down at Port Elliot and Goolwa, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, we started to make our way up into the Hills via Langhorne Creek, one of Australia's oldest wine regions. The town of Wellington is situated at the mouth of the Murray where it opens out into Lake Alexandrina, the largest freshwater lake in Australia. This is the end of the Murray River, Australia's greatest and much talked about River. We took a barrage over the River Murray before following the highway up through Tailem Bend and up to Murray Bridge. The bridge over the Murray was built in 1879 and locals will have you believe that there is a 'bunyip' that lives under it! The old paddle streamers still cruise along the brown
waters of the Murray and seeing them takes you back in time. There are 29 sunken paddle streamers in the waters just off Murray Bridge. Why this is so, I never really got the full story.
The Adelaide Hills really is all about food, wine, and shopping. Mum and I stayed the night at Mt Barker Caravan Park and spent the next day exploring the area of Mt Barker and Hahndorf. Mt Barker is fairly big and the commercial shopping district I guess. It was busy with Christmas shoppers in full swing but the main street was green and leafy and there were some nice cafes and bookshops. We headed out of town looking for Mt Barker Summit. A rather comical journey followed with both mum and I missing signs and doing two or three U-turns but we eventually found it and enjoyed the views back out over Mt Barker and the surrounding countryside.
The strawberry farm at Beerenberg is a must. For $3 you are allowed to go and pick your own strawberries in the fields. It was wonderful. The air smelt like strawberries and as you can see from the pictures these were the best looking
strawberries of my life. So juicy and tasty, I just couldn't resist. I had to eat my $3 worth as I filled up my tub. Mum and I just couldn't stop picking them, everytime you thought you got a good one you would then see the next one and it was even better. I love strawberries. Back at the Beerenberg Farm shop you can buy all types of jams, sauces and pickles that they all make right here on the farm. They even had chocolate coated strawberries, just delicious.
Hahndorf is a tourist hub and the streets are packed with people, horses and carts, cars and just about everything else. The historic village of Hahndorf was settled in the 1840s by German immigrants and is Australia's oldest surviving German settlement. These old German roots are still firming planted in the town today with everything having a German touch to it. The main feature of Hahndorf is probably the massive German style pubs that are all the way up and down the main street. These types of pubs would be best suited to the winter months when the fires would be on inside and the pub would be all nice
and warm and cosy. Perfect time to be in a pub I reckon. We had lunch at one of the German pubs and the menu was just insane. Would you like some more meat with your meat? You can chose from the six star sausage combination, the giant juicy pickled pork hock, Bavarian Kassler chop, Jagerbraten Hunters Roast, trio of wursts..... it is just something else. The German beers are full and heavy as well. A beer with lunch went down a treat.
Mum and I wandered the streets of Hahndorf all afternoon. Some of the shops are so pretty. There was the fairy shop where you can turn your garden into a fairy garden with little windows and mushrooms, the candle shop with some of the biggest candles I have ever seen, the toy shops with traditional wooden toys, a puppet shop that's alittle scary looking, the leather shop selling leather only from vegetarian cows (ha ha) and much much more. There are fudge shops, candy bars, German bakeries, cheese shops, ops shops, gift shops....
The Adelaide Hills is a delightful place to visit. There is a mountain of things to see and do, most of which
evolves around eating. There are some wonderful vineyards as well. We stopped in that the 'Bird in Hand' winery and picked up some bottles of beautiful sparkling rose wine. Everything about this area is romantic and inviting. The Melba's Chocolate & Confectionery Factory in Woodside is heaven. You can see how the chocolates get made and they even have free samples. Ok so we will do just a few laps around the floor shall we? At first we thought how could you possibly work in a place like this but I guess you would just get so used to it or god forbid just plain sick and tired of chocolate! I shall never allow that to happen!
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