Adelaide the capital of South Australia is a place from which many people arrive and depart. From here you can go west to Perth, north to Coober Pedy - Alice Springs and Darwin or east to Melbourne. As with large cities in Oz it's made up of a grid of roads which makes finding your way around quite easy. The night I arrived most of us were to meet in a bar for a few drinks and a chat.
Those who know me, know I like a beer and while I've been travelling around oz I have been sampling the different variants of the amber nectar. This night was to be no exception. Those present that night know what occurred and those who weren't, well thats tough, use you imagination. Funnily enough I didn't see much of the next day. The next few days I spent checking out what Adelaide had to offer. It has a good indoor market and a useful tram service. This came in use when IO went to the beach at Glenelg. Also I spent half a day visiting Port Adelaide which has a nice beach. I was not that impressed with this city and was glad there was nothing of interest to me as some quite time was needed.
The simplest of thing like getting in the beer is made difficult by the fact that there are very few bottle shops I latter found out that some bars and puns sell beer and wine for take out.
To the north of the city is the Barossa Valley, this is a must do. It is very well known for the wide variety of wine produced. The Barossa Valley houses some of the largest producers of wine in Oz and the world. Companies such as Jacobs Creek are based within the valley.
I went on a day trip with a company called Groovy Grape http://www.groovygrape.com.au/. The day entailed visiting four wineries and sampling nearly forty wines which to some may sound like alot, but you soon get into the flow of things. on route to the first winery we stopped at the Whispering Wall. This is a large damb which has unique acoustics. By standing near the face of the damb you can whisper and a person the other side can hear you.
Our first winery of the day was Jacobs Creek. This was my first time sampling wine and a really interesting exercise. We first sampled a sparkling white, then two or three dry whites and then two sweet whites. before attacking the reds. The selection of reds were merlots, shiraz, cabeniet sauvignon or cab sav as they call it. This order of white and then red would be the same at all the wineries. The guide form Jacobs Creek showed us how to view, swirl, smell and finally taste. I've drunk red wine before, but I never had such a mouthful of different tastes. Taking air in when you taste wine makes it seem to explode in your mouth and almost blows your head off. The next wineries we visited was Richmond Grove and then had a barbie. Our driver cooked us kangaroo, snaggs and a selection of other meats. With or bellies full we made for Stanley Brothers winery and the last one of the day was Bethany Winery. When I was dropped off back at my hostel I felt quite light headed. I think only getting five hours sleep after a night on the town may of had something to do with it!
I spent only a short time here before the start of a journey I will never forget. Australia has some of the most interesting train journeys, such as The Ghan, Indian Pacific and The Inland are some of the great train journeys in the world. I had about three weeks to spare and had not originally planned to visit Perth on the west coast. But now I was going to catch the Indian Pacific with Jo. This was going to be an experience.
Those who know me, know I like a beer and while I've been travelling around oz I have been sampling the different variants of the amber nectar. This night was to be no exception. Those present that night know what occurred and those who weren't, well thats tough, use you imagination. Funnily enough I didn't see much of the next day. The next few days I spent checking out what Adelaide had to offer. It has a good indoor market and a useful tram service. This came in use when IO went to the beach at Glenelg. Also I spent half a day visiting Port Adelaide which has a nice beach. I was not that impressed with this city and was glad there was nothing of interest to me as some quite time was needed.
The simplest of thing like getting in the beer is made difficult by the fact that there are very few bottle shops I latter found out that some bars and puns sell beer and wine for take out.
To the north of the city is the Barossa Valley, this is a must do. It is very well known for the wide variety of wine produced. The Barossa Valley houses some of the largest producers of wine in Oz and the world. Companies such as Jacobs Creek are based within the valley.
I went on a day trip with a company called Groovy Grape http://www.groovygrape.com.au/. The day entailed visiting four wineries and sampling nearly forty wines which to some may sound like alot, but you soon get into the flow of things. on route to the first winery we stopped at the Whispering Wall. This is a large damb which has unique acoustics. By standing near the face of the damb you can whisper and a person the other side can hear you.
Our first winery of the day was Jacobs Creek. This was my first time sampling wine and a really interesting exercise. We first sampled a sparkling white, then two or three dry whites and then two sweet whites. before attacking the reds. The selection of reds were merlots, shiraz, cabeniet sauvignon or cab sav as they call it. This order of white and then red would be the same at all the wineries. The guide form Jacobs Creek showed us how to view, swirl, smell and finally taste. I've drunk red wine before, but I never had such a mouthful of different tastes. Taking air in when you taste wine makes it seem to explode in your mouth and almost blows your head off. The next wineries we visited was Richmond Grove and then had a barbie. Our driver cooked us kangaroo, snaggs and a selection of other meats. With or bellies full we made for Stanley Brothers winery and the last one of the day was Bethany Winery. When I was dropped off back at my hostel I felt quite light headed. I think only getting five hours sleep after a night on the town may of had something to do with it!
I spent only a short time here before the start of a journey I will never forget. Australia has some of the most interesting train journeys, such as The Ghan, Indian Pacific and The Inland are some of the great train journeys in the world. I had about three weeks to spare and had not originally planned to visit Perth on the west coast. But now I was going to catch the Indian Pacific with Jo. This was going to be an experience.
