Barossa Beats

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Well, we were a little groggy this morning to say the least - the steaming heat only dwindled about 4am, when it was beginning to feel slightly chilly - I draped a thin sheet over me while John hunkered down under the duvet.

We feel we’ve been caught out yet again - in Western Australia we had to get used to driving for miles before coming across ‘a sight’ - whereas here there seems to be more to do in smaller areas (still big obviously) - so we’re having to replan our routes. So, today we’re ‘doing’ the Barossa Valley!

Yesterday we drove past some of the big names in South Australian wine - including Wolfblass and Jacobs Creek - in fact, we even saw Jacobs Creek - the Creek that gave the wine the name! Today we went a little more cultural. Our first stop was in a little township called Light Pass, and it was to Luhrs Cottage - a tiny little cottage that was laid out as it would have been in the 19th Century. It was fantastic, and proof of the Australian belief in honesty, as the door was unlocked and you were asked to leave a donation for its upkeep. All those wonderful antiques just laying there!

What we hadn’t known before coming here was that approx 18,000 Germans moved here in the mid 1800s, escaping religious persecution and wars - similar to those that moved to America. In fact, some of the locals still use a ‘high German’ language similar to the Pennsylvania Dutch (which is actually Deutsch).

As luck would have it, the next stop was a quilting and craft barn, which claimed to be the biggest quilt supply shop in SA ... in the middle of nowhere attached to a winery! There was a fantastic barn for classes, with some superb quilts on show - I couldn’t believe the quilting on one of them, and I’m just hoping the photos do it justice. I treated myself to some aborigine prints that I know I could probably buy in England, but it wouldn’t be the same.

Enough of this sewing bit, back on the road to Mengler Hill which gave us a spectacular view over the whole valley, before dropping down into Tanunda for brockwurst, bratwurst and sauerkraut rolls (bless that German influence!) John picked up a local freebie paper and found an advert for a winery that was selling off its bin ends - luckily just down the road from where we were. They actually did tastings of their bin end and cleanskins - and the prices were very good. We’ve been seeing signs for Bulk Port, and not really known what it was - here we discovered they sell 5 litre containers for $25 - we didn’t get any, but it did remind us of Portugal and the “John Peter” and “Thursby” cocktails we drank there!

Our next stop was the Barossa Reservoir with its Whispering Wall. We weren’t actually sure what this was going to be, and when we got to the Dam, it was so hot I barely wanted to get out of the van. However, John dutifully trotted to the far end of the dam, and we took up positions at either end and spoke to each other. I’d swear it sounded clearer than it does sometimes when he’s right next to me!

As we drove off to find a camping spot for the night, we passed a road sign for Emus, and lo and behold a few minutes later we saw them on the banks of the lake! Oh wow! Found a nice site that gave us the pitch under the biggest tree they had, so that we were in the shade and cooler. We walked up to the tavern in the evening, but there was no-one there, so we came back again!

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