A Great Trip to Australia
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The Hendersons Barossa Valley |
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A Great Trip to Australia |
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7 May 2019 Tuesday We had a transfer to the airport in Cairns, then about a three hour flight to Adelaide. This was on Jet Star, the QANTAS budget airline. Talk about cramped! It was an effort to get out of the middle seat. They charged for a toastie (toasted ham and cheese sandwich) and a can of soda water. It was smooth enough and fortunately not too long. We picked up a rental car and drove from Adelaide to the Barossa Valley, the wine growing region of Australia. The area is pleasant, with rolling hills and a lot of small towns. The English settled here in the early 1840s, and we're followed soon by Protestant Germans. In addition to wine, there is a lot of produce and grain crops grown here. We weren't that pleased with our lodging. We were about 7 km from the nearest town, Tanunda. The weather was certainly fall like, with some rain and the room was a bit cold. The big attraction was the infinity pool, but it was too cold to use. We had dinner in town, then drive back to our lodging, the last few km on a gravel road. A large rabbit ran across the road in front of us. Rabbits are a problem here. They aren't native but have escaped captivity and create problems for gardeners and farmers. Just a few hundred feet further we saw our first kangaroos grazing beside the road. 8 May 2019 Wednesday We didn't have any formal tours, so after breakfast we went to Tourist Information in Tanunda and got some recommendations of what to see and some maps. We stopped in Angaston at the Barossa Valley Cheese Shop and had a cheese tasting, including some grilled halloumi, which we had tasted the night before as a starter at dinner. It is best served hot, with tomato jam, tapenade or a squeeze of lemon. Quite delicious.
From there we drove to another small town (they are all small), Light Pass, where there is a small cabin that has been furnished as it would have been when the area was first settled. It was really small. There was no interior kitchen, of course no loo.
We next drove to Seppeltsfield, where there is a large winery and several shops. Most interesting was Vasse Virgin, which makes and sells skin care products made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Because our baggage limit is so strict on our next few flights, we didn't buy anything, but I would have really enjoyed the products. They have a line of skin care products for children. I'd really like to get some for Cassidy. Because it gets dark relatively early, we opted for a light dinner at a pizzeria that advertised they'd been awarded best pizza in Australia. There must not be very many pizzerias in Australia, it wasn't very good. But we wanted to get to our lodging not too far after dark. Once again down the gravel road, a fat rabbit crossing in front of us, then a bunch of kangaroos. They came bounding out of the garden right in front of our room. Tom said, "so that's who's pooping in the garden". I don't know how many there were, probably 8 to 10. We don't know the difference between a wallaby and a kangaroo, except the roo is bigger, but tomorrow we are going to Kangaroo Island so we'll probably learn.
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