Blogs from Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 8

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Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley December 26th 2007

Moving on from GolGol (Mildura) we had a long days drive. We stopped in Berri and bought fruit juice at the famous factory, had lunch in Waikery watching the ferry crossing the Murray River taking cars and trucks across. Trevor joked that he would tie Bazil up and leave him there but he got a bit of his own medicine. We were heading for the outskirts of Adelaide but did not think it necessary to book ahead as at this time of the year the campsites are not busy. By the time we did ring we found that the only park in the area that would accept dogs was full. A slight panic set in, and we took a wrong turning and got lost but after gathering our thoughts and referring back to our campsite book ... read more
Sand sculpture.
Biggest rocking horse in the world.
This is for real.

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley December 19th 2007

Mmm, smell that port! I'm stood in a big shed full of litres and litres of 10 years aged port, and the smell is amazing! We're partway through a historic tour of the Seppelt Winery (founded in the 1800s) and this is a great all-round sensory experience! Karen and I ensured we were on the road by 10, and headed for the Barossa. Karen's not driven round here too much and we don't have a map, but as family lives round here she's got a vague idea! Some beautiful sweeping scenery, acres of corn, and some great cloud formations. We head for Tanunda, but first find ourselves in Nuriootpa (not much thanks to the road signs), where we stop to take a photo of someone's crazy front garden, and stop at the Penfold's winery. Bit of ... read more
Here we are, the wine region!
Lots of empty roads
Felt a bit arty...


We returned to Para Wirra after the summer fires to witness the regeneration of the bush. The trees were fuzzy with re-growth and the grass trees abundant and flowering. ... read more
Regeneration
Yacka germination
Mack creek

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley May 24th 2007

Well, we now have 3 1/2 weeks now left in Aussie Land. I can hardly believe it...this is especially because i am getting slightly concerned about how little we have done in this space of time. I have to admit, this was preconceived- Tom's finances were near extinction and imy motive for coming to Australia was to see the family. Therefore we didn't expect a great deal of travelling while residing in Adelaide. However, with Tom having transformed into an electrician for the last 2 weeks, and a week yet to come, we have a little time to spare. In this time we have decided that we are probably going to traverse the Great Ocean Road, a very beautiful coastal road which snakes along from Melbourne to Adelaide . It should take up about a week ... read more

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley April 7th 2007

Today my housemate Jules took me, Laura and one of our volleyball teammates Jo to the Barossa for a day of free wine tasting! It was great to be driven through the hills and we saw lots of vineyards. It really is a beautiful part of Adelaide. We went to many wineries throughout the day, my favourites were Rockford and Cockatoo Ridge. By lunch time I was in need of a good feed! We found a nice little restaurant in one of the towns and I had a juicy porterhouse steak with a pepper sauce. After lunch we went to more wineries including Peter Lehmann, Grant Burge and Jacobs Creek. I bought a bottle of Peter Lehmann 2002 Shiraz Muscadelle. It was the wine of the month and I'm saving it for a very special ... read more
The biggest wine bottle I've ever seen!
Drinking wine
Cockatoos in the tree!


Introduction It was back to the bush for the Hikers this wekend and we treated ourselves to the Barossa. Just outside of Tanunda we picked up the Heysen trail as it traverses the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park. The last time we went to this park was July 2005 and the contrast between the two visits were striking. There were only a few, thin kangaroos this time when there were many breeding kangaroos 20 months ago. The recent rain has produced a fine green tinge to the land as it slowly starts to recover from the drought. The park has only gentle slopes and is suitable for family walks. There are a few trees which have tags on them so you can identify the different species of plants. We spent about three hours in the Park yesterday ... read more
Heysen trail
Pushing apart the granites
First view

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley March 15th 2007

G'day Mates! Sorry it's been so long, but internet is expensive and difficult to find out in the sticks. We are now in campervan, and wining it up in wine country. We stayed first night in Tanundra( there is one to get you looking in your atlases), Superb campsite, even had electric barbecues so no excuse for not having an Oz barby ( no, not the doll). Moved on to the coast today for a bit of beach, and what a beach, 6 miles of white sand and hardly any people with 20C temps. Mind, I did get a parking ticket. For parking facing the wrong way, not in an illegal bay or anything. 31 dollars-humph! Off to watch penguins now on Granite Island- should be good. Still no pics as can't find a comp that ... read more
Wine tasting AGAIN!
The Outback?
Port Victor

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley February 27th 2007

It took us about 90 minutes to get to Tanunda in Barossa Valley (you can probably do it in less, but we didn't have a very good map and you can't rely on Aussie road signs). Our home for the night was Tanunda Caravan & Tourist park staying in a cabin, which was very reasonably priced. We decided it was a good idea to have a spot of lunch before going to taste the wines at each vineyard (especially as Jason doesn't drink that often, so wine usually goes straight to his head). We then hired a couple of bikes, so that Jason didn't have to drive the car (which would have been really dangerous, he either would have killed someone or completely written it off after a few glasses of wine). I was a bit ... read more
Jacobs Creek
Cycling to Jacobs Creek
After sampling the wines #1

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley November 12th 2006

Coming off the Stuart Highway back in Port Augusta, it comes as something of a shock to be in urbanised Australia again. It's only taken us a little over a week to drive to Uluru and back from here, but the contrast between Australia's (relatively) densely populated coastline and its almost void interior is a particularly strong one. It's scarcely believable that the boutiques of Melbourne and the outback share the shame country, but share it they do. We need to get back to Melbourne in a week's time or so but there's a whole lot of the route between Port Augusta and Melbourne that we didn't see on the way up. Our plan is to return to Victoria somewhat further inland - this should take us through some culturally (which includes, naturally, viticulturally...) important areas ... read more
Cornwall or South Australia ?
Mine resident
Quietly rusting...

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Barossa Valley August 31st 2006

Barossa Valley Wine region The barbeque was well under way at Linda’s place. That being a man’s job, Kim was busy attending to the barbeque and all the men were with him, “helping’ him, though I fail to understand how the men were ‘helping’ him, when all they were doing was, tasting the meats, drinking the wines, smoking and talking. Maybe the talking was supposed to help. We, the ladies, sat sipping the excellent wines brought from South Africa by Linda and enjoying our freedom from the kitchen. Linda, our friend, is a curly-haired girl from South Africa and after her wedding to Kim, a German, has moved to Germany. However, before moving to Germany, she converted all her South African money in shares and debenture into Euros. She also bought 4 casks of South ... read more
The Tanunda winery




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