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Published: November 7th 2011
Adelaide, Days 11 and 12
Sunday, November 6, 2011 - Day 11
Another travel day and our flight leaves at 7:05 AM so we have to be up and ready to go by 5 AM. Our shuttle was there right at 5:00 am and we headed for the airport. One thing we noticed is the lesser degree of security. We are flying domestic at this point and they do not even check our IDs when we check in our luggage. This happened in both Cairns and Adelaide. We still have to go through security but we do not have to take off our shoes or show our tickets. People without tickets can wait at the gate with the passengers as long as they go through security along with all the rest of the passengers. We cannot remember the last time non-passengers were allowed beyond security.
Almost every person we have met throughout our travels asked where we were going and when we said Adelaide, they asked why? They had nothing nice to say until we said we were going to Barossa Valley for wine tasting and then they would respond with how lovely it is and how much fun
we will have. We will have to decide for ourselves.
We get into Adelaide around 10:30 AM and reserved an apartment that used to be the Adelaide Treasury Building. It is a very interesting looking building and they have kept the outside structure in place, large blocks of stone and formal. We have full kitchen and washer/dryer in the apartment and expect we will enjoy it very much. While on the flight we discussed what we were going to cook first. We thought about what we like to have at home that we have not had here yet. Once we get the chance to walk around and enjoy the area, we will head to the store to get the necessary goodies for dinner. Jim was craving a big burrito and we have only seen one Mexican restaurant so far in our travels.
We start a load of laundry and head out for the next adventure. We come upon Rundle Mall. Surprise! More stores! It was quite busy and active. One observation we have made is regarding pedestrian habits. In Sydney and Cairns, the street lights were merely a suggestion. Everyone walked against the light or jaywalked. If someone
was standing at the curb waiting for the walk signal to appear, it was obvious that person was a tourist. Here is Adelaide, people were waiting for the walk signal to appear.
Our original decision regarding what we are going to make for dinner was veal scaloppini with a mushroom tarragon cream sauce. We headed to the Woolworth store and started buying our groceries. As we passed an aisle, Lisa commented she saw taco shells. Jim jumped on that right away. We had to go with the comfort food even thought it was not a burrito. We purchased what we needed for tacos and also bought wine, coffee, milk, bread, and cereal which will last for 6 breakfasts. One thing Jim noticed in the bottle shop was the difference in price between beer and wine. A six pack of Little Creatures Pale Ale was $21.99, a bottle of decent wine is only $10. It must be cheaper to make wine than beer. The cost of our groceries was less expensive than breakfast at a restaurant which can be as high as $35 for a full breakfast for two. Lisa cooked our dinner and Jim kept saying YUM with every
Reminder Sign
A sign posted leaving the winery reminding drivers to drive on the left.bite. It is amazing that something so simple can be enjoyed so much. Tomorrow we plan to rent a car and drive to Barossa Valley.
Monday, November 7, 2011 - Day 12
Jim logs in first thing in the morning to see that the 49ers won again. He is in a good mood. That changes quickly though as we decide to book our room in or near Christchurch. He is finding that all the rooms are booked and we were not expecting that since it is not high travel season. However, some of the hotels had mentioned that their rooms were being used by emergency personnel and others dealing with the outcome of the earthquakes. It takes some time but he finally finds a place for us for the first couple of nights, he finalizes the car rental, and now he is ready to get back to having fun.
We picked up our rental car and made our way to Barossa Valley and went through the Barossa Scenic Heritage Drive. Throughout our wine tasting activities, we go through Angaston, Tanuda, and Nurioopta. We stop at only 2 wineries as we are driving. We visited Penfolds in Nurioopta for
one shared tasting and Jacobs Creek near Lyndoch for 2 more. The Jacobs Creek visitor center is world class with a modern tasting facility and grounds. On the grounds is a wildlife exhibit with kangaroos and emus. We noticed the path as we walked towards the tasting room and thought we might give it a try. There was only one problem, a sign that stated close to the path was a snake habitat. After we tasted a couple of wines Lisa asked the man serving us about the snakes and whether or not she might see one. He picked up on her nervousness and said they had only seen two in the past few months and if we stomp our feet as we walk down the path they will most likely scurry off. Jim was able to convince Lisa to take the walk as long as he went first. Lisa was close behind stomping her feet as she walked like Bigfoot doing the Flamenco. Needless to say we did not see any snakes but did see the kangaroos and emus.
In addition to wine, the wine country also has some good chocolate and cheese so we go to Woodside.
Woodside has a great chocolate factory and cheese making facility right next door to each other. We ended up buying peanut brittle and chocolate nibs from Melba's and then a spiced goat cheese titled "Goat on a hot tin roof" from Woodside Cheese Wrights. We then ventured off to Hahndorf which is a small German town. We do the normal tourist walk though town. Since we have been to Germany, it is not as impressive for us. As we head back towards Adelaide, Jim decides to challenge Lisa's navigation abilities and wants to head to Port Adelaide. It starts to rain which we did not expect until tomorrow morning. We get caught in a little commute traffic but we make it. We were in search of small brewery in Port Douglas. We found the brewery and noticed there was only two men inside having a beer, the whole town was very quite. We ordered a Pale Ale and a Bitter. The Pale Ale was terrible and had an off taste. Jim told the woman behind the bar he was not going to drink it. She asked why and when hearing something was off she attributed the problem to a new
hop, if so the new hop tastes like vinegar.
It was about 6:30 PM so we decided to head back to city center to fill up the rental car and return it, not an easy task with it raining, busy traffic, and driving on the left. Lisa was the navigator and did a good job getting to where we needed to go. After dropping off the car we headed back to Rundle Mall to pick up a few groceries and noticed very few people in the area. We are glad we came the day before when it was bustling with activity.
We get back to our hotel and decide to check out the pool and spa area which is located in the basement. On our way we noticed a small tunnel so we decide to see where is goes. We found many small rooms and other tunnels under the building that must have been used to store money back in the days of when the building was the treasury. We get back to our room to relax and have dinner. Another great day in the land of OZ.
Interesting fact: There is no penny used in Australia,
the smallest coin is a 5 cent piece. When purchasing anything if the final cost in cents the number is rounded up or down. For example, if a candy bar costs 97 cents you pay $1.00, if the same candy bar costs 92 cents you pay 90 cents. Coins are in 5, 10, 20, 50 cents, and $1 and 2$. At the end of the day if you do not pay with extra coins you can end up with four pounds of coins in your pocket.
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Jennifer
non-member comment
Woolworths?
I had no idea there were any left on the planet. They closed here years ago and the properties were sold off. Interesting that in Oz they sell groceries.