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Published: January 12th 2009
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''I'm getting chocolate aromas"...
...''and I'm getting to the best bit!'' Cape Bridgewater
I convinced Mike to go and see some Australian fur seals en route into South Australia so we drove to Cape Bridgewater, home of the seals, about 20km west of Portland. We took the slow Portland to Nelson coastal road to get there and followed signs to the starting point of a 4km, 2 hour return walk.
The walk was rated as moderately difficult which was very accurate - it was nearly all uphill to reach the seal viewing platform. It was not a particularly pleasant walk because we were walking in the rain and had to constantly swat flies although I think Mike quite enjoyed it and especially liked keeping count of casualties! The path to the viewing platform took us over the tallest headland in all of Victoria at 150m in height and then it was a gentle downhill stroll to get there. It was a real treat to see the colony of exiles (too old or too young to mate) basking on the rocks, jumping and frolicking in the ocean. We did not expect to be so far away from them though - we were at least 100m so had to zoom in to
get any photos!
South Australia the driest state?
We continued on the coastal road to Mount Gambier and from there picked up the Princes Highway to Adelaide. After driving for about 300km in the pouring rain, since leaving Portland, we decided to stop the night in Kingston SE. It was about 4pm by this point and we had both had enough of driving for one day. We arrived in Kingston SE, 'winner of the 2003 best medium sized town' and found food and a campsite.
The rain continued all night and we got a shock in the camp kitchen when the roof bowed and the rain poured through onto the cooker that we had just finished using! As you can imagine, we wolfed our dinner down to get inside the van as quickly as possible. It was a relief to wake up the next morning and find that the rain had stopped. We later found out that 10%!o(MISSING)f the state had received their average December rainfall in one day due to the torrential downpour!
Back on the Princes Highway, we continued northbound for about 300km more to reach Adelaide. It was a dull drive
and was obvious why it is known as the driest state - endless fields of yellow as far as the eye could see. We arrived in Adelaide early afternoon and found a campsite about 7km from the CBD.
Tour of the city
Mike and I have become big fans of self-guided walking tours because not only are they free, but they help get your bearings and usually take you via all the major attractions so on Sunday our first activity was a tour. We went in to the city at 9am by bus which meant that we had a couple of hours when the streets were fairly quiet. On the walk we passed several churches, the botanic gardens, universities, an art gallery, museums, WWI memorial and parliament houses.
Afterwards we visited the free South Australian Museum and looked around exhibits on whales and dolphins plus 'the world of the giant squid' at depths exceeding 500m. Both exhibits were very informative and we were able to appreciate the actual size of these creatures by seeing skeletons of stranded whales and dolphins ranging from an 18m adult male sperm whale to a 2m porpoise and a life-size model
of an 18m long squid which scared some children!
The Migration Museum was our next hit. This told the story of immigration through the decades from 1836 when the first free settlers arrived to present day. It described the relationship between the immigrants and the indigenous population and explained how their cultural differences clashed. There was also an interesting section on post WWII immigrants, fleeing from war-torn Europe.
Gardens & Wine
Monday consisted of a ramble through the large Botanic Gardens. We took the path to the National Wine Centre, found in the gardens. Inside we discovered what and where wines are grown as well as the history of wine in Australia. We learnt all about grapes, wine bottles, corkscrews, wine labels - basically everything wine related! There was even an interactive questionnaire which taught you how to make wine, essential for future wine makers...
Haigh's Chocolates
On Tuesday we went to the Haigh's Visitors Centre, a must for chocolate lovers like us. Haigh's was established in 1915 and is the oldest chocolate manufacturer in Australia. It was originally a sweet shop, but the grandson of the founder decided he wanted to make
chocolate in the 1930s. He got a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend time at the home of the Lindt Family in Switzerland where he learned all he needed to know. We had a free guided tour of the factory where we saw most processes being done by hand. The tour also included a generous tasting. After our tour we visited the shop where it would have been rude not to make a purchase!
Glenelg
After a picnic lunch by the Christmas tree in Victoria Square, we went to Glenelg which lies about 10km west of the city. We spent the afternoon walking along the promenade overlooking the white sandy beach.
The Barossa
Wednesday we visited the famous Barossa Valley, home to the likes of Penfolds and Wolf Blass. The Barossa is situated about 1 hour northeast of the city and many of the wineries occur between the towns of Nuriootpa and Tanunda (about an 8km stretch). We drove to our first winery of the day which was Penfolds, just outside Nuriootpa. Our free tasting began with the whites and ended with the reds. There was a premium tasting for $20 which we
did in order to compare and contrast with the standard wines. We sampled 2 reds at $159 and $169 a bottle. We could taste a difference, the premium wines were smoother, but just slightly out of our price range even with the tasting cost refunded if you bought a bottle!
Just down the road from Penfolds we stopped off at Eldertons, a family run winery. Like at Penfolds, we were most impressed with the Shiraz, which is widely grown in the Barossa.
At midday we checked into a campsite in Tanunda and from there we hired bikes for 4 hours. During that time we visited 5 more wineries within a 4km radius of each other including Langmeil, Peter Lehmann, Richmond Grove, Cockatoo Ridge and Vine Crest Fine Wines. All offered free tasting and most exported to the UK which was a bonus.
Our favourite winery was Peter Lehmann and we stopped there for lunch. We had a cold meat platter and savoured a matured bottle of Frontenac with it. We were a little wobbly after our seventh and final winery of the day and Mike did not remember the cycle back to camp! As you would expect,
WWI Memorial
Just one of the many landmarks we admired on our walking tour. we slept well that night!
The Inland Way
On our way out of the Barossa the next day, we conveniently passed the Wolf Blass Visitor Centre where we made a stop. All their wine were really nice, but a Shiraz/Viognier captured our taste buds and we bought a bottle to enjoy at Christmas.
The rest of the day we drove northeast on the Sturt Highway in the direction of Sydney. We followed the 'inland way' past the mighty Murray River (the colour of bath water) that lies along the Victoria/New South Wales border and supplies South Australia with most of its water. We clocked up around 500km before stopping for the night in a little town called Balranald.
We did lots more driving on Friday, over 500km. The land was quite flat and barren and pretty uninteresting to start with, but beyond the city of Wagga Wagga (pronounced Woga) it became hilly and green. Our final night was spent in Goulburn, home to the Big Merino.
I had a close encounter with what I think was a Huntsman spider whilst on the toilet which left me quivering! One scream and it scuttled off back
to where it had come from so I could exit safely!
On Saturday we stopped at the 3-storey high 'Big Merino' to take a look inside its innards which gave a brief history of merino wool in Australia. Sadly we were not allowed to climb to the top and gaze through its eyes - the stairs had been closed for health and safety reasons. We then continued the remainder of our journey back to Sydney, 198km northeast.
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sarah
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Just catching up with your Blog - realised ive been slacking. You have done so much since january. You are both looking so well. Hope you continue to have a fantastic time - missing you Lisa. Can't believe i'll be a Mrs Pittaway next time i see you x x