When it comes to food and wine, all you readers of the blog know that I simply love them. That's one reason coming to Australia was so exciting. I am a fan of Australian wines, and to get to visit the wineries in person was a longtime dream. Today we'll hear the highlights of our travels in New South Wales and South Australia. I can only hit the highlights because I seem to have a 20MB limit at the hotel in New Zealand, more on that later...
From Sydney, we traveled for the day to Hunter Valley via bus. This was interesting and informative. Our tour guide, Fritz, is a bousterous fellow with a penchant for bommerang throwing. We bonded with him, as you can see...
We also saw some interesting lawn art, including this statue of Russell the Rhino by a local artist. A crudely lettered signpost warns visitors that Russell may charge them if children or others try and climb up on him. Yikes!
In Hunter Valley, our favorite winery was Robin Drayton. You can check them out at http://www.robyndrayton.com.au/home.asp, but they don't export to the US. Boo!
From there, Andrea and I flew to Adelaide. The city of Adelaide is a great place to kick off a wine tour. We did just that by visiting the National Wine Centre (http://www.wineaustralia.com.au/). Here's Andrea brushing up on some important aromas...
The Wine Centre is next to the Adelaide Botanical Garden. Here I am amongst the roses, how quaint...
The first stop in South Australia was McLaren Vale. We visited the D'Arenberg Winery, home of the Stump Jump, one of my faves...
And took this photo in front of the Chapel Hill Winery, which we did not visit, but felt compelled since we both went to Chapel Hill. I probably did not mention that it was about 100 degrees there!
Our faves in McLaren Vale were the Red Dot Cafe at Penny's Hill for food (http://www.pennyshill.com.au/ourstory/) and Samuel's Gorge Winery (http://www.gorge.com.au/). Penny's Hill does some exporting to the US, including Carolyn's favorite, Woop Woop Shiraz! But Samuel's Gorge does not. Samuel is a zany fellow. Here he is chatting it up with Andrea:
On the way to Barossa Valley, we stopped at Mount Lofty for the abortive koala mission. Barossa was much more productive than the silly wildlife park. For food, we loved the Vintners' Bar and Grill in Angaston (http://www.vintners.com.au/), and Maggie Beer's Farm store (http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/). Torbreck Vineyards was among our favorite wines (http://www.torbreck.com/) - and you can get them in the USA! The accommodations in Angaston at Walnut Cottage were fantastic. Look them up if you are going that way, http://www.walnut-cottage.com/.
Finally, it was off to Melbourne to see the big city, catch up with some great friends, and try more wines with all that great food. Here we are on our last night in Melbourne, enjoying a New Zealand pinot noir.
I am in New Zealand now, and Andrea is on the way home. I know you all want to hear about the bike trip, but I only have 20MB so you have to wait for that. Here's a preview of some of the scenery to whet your appetite. Check back soon!
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