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Published: March 17th 2007
Penfolds Wine tops
The familiar red caps. Gotta love Bin 128 and 407.Adelaide, St. Paddy's Day, Police and Firefighters World Games, and a bottle wine.
Yes the glass has now risen to a bottle. But that will all be explained in due time. Adelaide is the largest city in South Australia, sitting at around 400,000 people on the southern coast between the Great Australian Bight and the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do the either, but will put that on my list of things to do next time.
Adelaide is put together into a fairly easy, but yet confusing city layout. The main town is pretty much a square of roads, North Terrance, West Terrace, East Terrace, and yep you guessed it, South Terrace make up the boundries divided in the middle by King William street. Now the confusing part comes when you cross King William street, the names of the streets change going east and west. Why, don't ask me, I'm just a tourist, but it got me lost a few times.
But after figuring this out, and finding out that my hostel has a very lively bunch of individuals ranging from America, England, Israel, Holland, and Germany, I was put into
Canon Street Group
A group of us at Canon Street Hostel in Adelaide a 6 person dorm with Kevin, Phillip, and Hendrick. Kevin was a very animated and typically up front American from Santa Monica/San Francisco that moved to Adelaide to become a wine maker. He worked as a distributor/investor in the US and now was trying to make his mark on the Southern Australia Vineyards. His knowledge of wine and how to make it, drink it, and sell it blew my mind as I tried to remember everything he spit off at mach speed to further my own wine knowledge.
On the bus from the airport to my hostel, I also met the very friendly Anke from Holland. She spoke perfect English like she was from the states and had a great mentality about traveling. Over the next few days we hung out a lot, as we found our interests to be very similar and had great conversations like we had been friends for years. I hope to see her again someday in the US, or possibly if I find myself in
Utrecht, Holland. Happy St. Patrick's Day in Barossa Valley To start off my first day in Adelaide, Kevin volunteered to take me around to the Barossa Valley as
Adelaides got Balls
2 shiny Silver Balls on Rundall Mall he had a car and needed to do some business out there. I paid for gas, which was cheaper then a guided tour, and we headed out in his car after a meat pie breakfast and can of coke. I don't know if I touched on this before, but meat pies are baked Pot pies that are seen at every convience store stop like Taquitos in the US. These Pot pies are filled with bacon, meat, cheese, onion, mushroom, and gravy or whatever other varieties that they can come up with. Not really the breakfast of champions, but it hit the spot. Adelaide is also famous for inventing a thing called the
Pie Floater. This infamous pie combination puts a Meat Pie on top of a bowl of Green Pie Soup. I was unfortunate, or fortunate, to not try this local delicacy, but again will put it on my list of things to do next time I'm back. Continuing on, Kevin and I were out on our adventures at 11AM to the 45 minute drive to Barossa Valley. After Kevin had smoked 2 packs of cigarettes, narrowly avoiding a car accident through a yield sign, and wandering around a closed vineyard,
Adelaide Casino Entrance
Casino in Adelaide had a cool hallway with large clock. we arrived at an open Barossa Valley Estates. This first stop was were I got a chance to see Kevin's knowledge of wine shoot off at the unexpecting lady behind the counter serving us our glasses of Sauvignon and Chardonnay. After an entertaining back and forth, 6 wine spits, and a photo, we were off like a twist top. This was to be the pace of the next 4 vineyards that we visited, but honestly I enjoyed every minute of it.
The 2nd vineyard was a posh looking tasting room with a wonderful wine called
Two Hands. The atmosphere of this Hollywood wine bar made me feel right at home while the large Riedel glasses enticed me to stay and have a tasting. Kevin ran off after spitting off a few names of owners and left me to try the wines in solitude. After 7 varieties, I found a pleasant fondness for a 2006 Sparkling Moscato. I had to buy a bottle and and take a few photos, as if I were to own a vineyard and tasting house, "cellar door", this is what mine would look like and hopefully what my wine would taste like.
After a quick
Yeast in Wine Barrel
At one of the vineyards on display 1/4 chicken lunch stuffed with stuffing, we ran over to my much anticipated
Penfolds Winery. Penfolds Bin 128 has been a long time favorite Shiraz of mine, and why not celebrate it by visiting the cellar door and throwing back a few varieties like I'd never had it before. After walking into an almost completely empty tasting room, we tried the familiar wines, bought some souviniers, were surprised after tasting a very good Bluestone Tawny, and then took some photos. After a pleasing visit, we again shot off to another location down the road, which I failed to remember or write down.
Kaesler was our last stop, as the afternoon was ending, the wine was catching up to me, and luckily Kevin was spitting all his wines so his ability to drive was still a trustworthy thing as long as street signs were visible. As we walked into Kaelser the first thing to catch my eye was Two 27 litter bottles of wine. Yes 27 litters. A regular bottle of wine is 750ml. These oversized bottles aren't even the largest size, according to Kevin, as he said they have a range of bottle sizes up to a 30 litter bottle
Barossa Valley Estates
Vineyard in Southern Australia with various names from the bible.
Wine Bottle sizes After talking with the wine pourers, Kevin threw in his usual magic and name throwing and we were treated as regulars. A wine maker came out of the backroom and proceeded to write some records down on the far end of the tasting bar. After Kevin had talked to him for a few minutes we were invited to the back where we tasted wines from the large fermenting bins, french oak barrels in the cellars, and even tasted a new wine that has yet to be released in the market. This was a truly amazing experience and I thanked the Wine maker and Kevin for allowing me to tag along and experience this behind the scenes tour of wine making. As we headed home, I was dropped off at the Convention Center as I wanted to take a few more photos of Adelaide and it's surroundings.
I stumbled upon the 2007 Police and Firefighters World Games that happen every 2 years around the world. This Olympic style competition had competitors from all over the world playing in games ranging from Dragon boat racing, to Wrestling, to Firearms, and even Ice Hockey. Over
Two Hands Vineyard
Really great wine and great cellar door. the next few days, Anke and I visited many of these events, cheering with the crowds and cringing when players got hurt. It was like going to a small olympics for free, as the entire city was probably the safest place to be in the entire country during this week of events and activities.
Tonight was also St. Patrick's day and after making it back to the Hostel, I had learned of a large party at the end of Rundall street Mall. This block party style event was to host bands, beer, food, and plenty of Aussies in green. I went planning to meet up with some friends from the hostel, but with the amount of people, found myself chatting with some local women and then a group of friendly Australians with their amusing question of why an single American man would come to Adelaide, unless I was a cop here for the games. After explaining for the 5th time to different people that I wasn't here for the games, I concluded with the night with the thought that anywhere in Australia, you can meet some of the friendliest people on earth for a chat, a laugh, and a
Two Hands wines
Display in tasting room. beer. Unfortunately, I didn't find an Australian wife at this happening event, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. A few more Guinesses and I was off to the hostel, and apparently Black and Tan's aren't a universal worldwide drink, even on St. Paddy's day.
The next day, Anke and I were to meet up at Rundall mall and head out for some Police and Firefighters games. Anke is from Utretch, which is dead smack in the middle of Holland. She, like most people I met on this trip, have been in Australia for 6 months to a year and have seen and done almost everything Australia has to offer. On that note, the fact that Europeans can travel through Australia for 1 year on a easy working visa and American's can barely get a 3-6 month visa further explains why I've only met 5 American's on this trip so far. After watching wrestling and leaving after a 240lb Canadian hurt his knee, we headed off for iced coffee and some Ice Hockey. Anke plays Field Hockey, but has never seen Ice Hockey live. This was a real treat for her, which became apparent as she visited the
Two Hands Tasting
My favorite was a Sparkling Moscato Ice arena for the next 3 days straight. After watching the Australian Ice Hockey team, kind of like the Jamican Bobsled team, trail in the first period 7-0 to the Czech team, we headed off for lunch. I had a kebab dinner with the 18 year old Phillip from England and our German Chef friend Hendrick. The truly amazing part of traveling is spending time with all the different cultures from around the world as one moment you're with someone from Holland, then England, then Germany all in a foreign Australian land trying to figure out why a Greek restaurant has Yiros/Yeros/Gyros are spelled in different ways on the menu. Good times.
Later that night I learned a new card game called "Shithead", played some Ping Pong with a guy from Sweeden, met a girl from Liverpool who sounded like Paul McCartney and none of us could understand (even the guys from England), and then spent 10 dollars trying to master the Judge Dread Pinball machine, damn that Sly.
Now that the travel shop was open, I wanted to plan my next few days. I wanted to leave the next day on a trip to Alice Springs, either
Penfolds Winery
Penfolds, one of my favorite vineyards. by Train or plane and see the great big red rock in the dessert that everyone has heard of, Aryes Rock, or Uluru. Unfortunately, EVERYONE wants to do this too, so my 2 day trip turned into a 6 day trip, leaving in 2 days. So now, my plans have been pushed back some, and Adelaide will be my home for a few more unwanted days. Luckily though, I still have friends here that I've been hanging out with so the time is not wasted. So I bought a sleeping bag, went to the beach of Glenelg with Anke and a few of her other hostel friends, went to another hockey game, and met a nice guy from Israel, Jake. After learning how to say Cheers in Hebrew, we went out that night with some people from Holland, Scotland, Canada, and England.
My last day in Adelaide was spent filling in my blog for the previous weeks. It was a slow day, but a much needed rest from the activites of the days ahead. I didn't get a chance to visit the Ice Hockey arena again, but did meet up with Lot, Anke, Paul, and a few others at
Penfolds Wine
MMMMmmmmm Wine the theater and watched the very funny
"Hot Fuzz." Great movie, highly recommend it! We then had drinks at the Woolshed, burgers, and listened to the local band. I bid my farewells to Anke and the group and wished our schedules had overlapped a little more. It was a fun 5 days, and her company definitely made it more enjoyable. Thanks!!!
So 5 hours of sleep and I'm ready for my adventures up the center of Australia to the Big Red Rock. Packed and ready, I slipped into bed for an anticipated tomorrow consisting of 20 new strangers, 1 tour guide, a bus named Victoria, 5 nights in the outback, and 2000km of very, very empty road.
6 Days in the Outback NEXT...
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Mike (Crusher)
non-member comment
Dutch Treat
Your blogs are simply great. Wonderful information, filled with humor and pictures, allowing us to tag alongside your adventures. It seems this episode revolves around Wine, Women and Touring. I know you are a huge wine coniseour so your wine tasting trip must have been spectacular. I can easily see you running a vineyard and your cellar door would be elegant, yet fun. Sorry to hear you didn't catch a wife....not for the lack of trying, apparently. lol Anke sounds like a fun person and it's really cool you are finding so many people to hang with while traveling. I'm surprised you didn't pop into the casino and awe Anke with your roulette skills. Keep having fun. Take more pictures and good luck with finding a wife with either an Australian or English accent. :) -Mike