The Clare Valley

Clare Valley was about wine (mainly) and so this stop was really to please me. What a treat. We stayed at a funny little caravan park in Auburn – run by a very friendly couple, it was basically the parking lot next to the town oval, but was a very short walk into town along the Reisling Trail (a fabulous long-range bike ride that wanders all the way through the valley and the vineyards). We arrived fairly late from Adelaide but Toby and I still managed to stroll into the village and have a glass of wine on the verandah of the town pub (The Rising Sun). 

The next day we started the day at the Minatro Maze – for the girls. It was a proper hedge maze and it did take us a little while to find our way to the centre. It was a lot of fun. We then enjoyed the big, oversize games in the pleasant courtyard – the girls loved that too.

And then it was my turn. We stopped first at Pike Wines (on the suggestions of our friends, Jo and Johnny) and I enjoyed the wine tasting while the girls and Toby enjoyed playing with the very friendly dog (something for everyone) and then, on the vineyard’s suggestion, we went a little further up the hill to Paulett Wines for lunch. It was fabulous – amazing views, such good wines and terrific food. I loved the wines here – including an aged reisling that was way beyond my budget but which I got to try. And after all those tastings plus a glass of very good Semillon with my lunch, I certainly enjoyed myself. So I now have five bottles of very good wine nestled in the camper van ready for our crossing of the Nullarbor. God forbid that I should run out en route.

A very pleasant glass of reisling - the wine Clare Valley is famous for

The Rising Sun in Auburn - a very traditional pub

Getting lost in the Mintaro maze

The topiary was impressive

At the start of the maze

We eventually made it to the centre

Giant Jenga in the garden

Beating Anna at Snakes and Ladders

Start of my wine tour (of two vineyards)

First purchases

Friendly dog

Toby's new best friend (don't tell Piper...)

Lunch at Paulett Wines - the views over the Clare Valley were incredible

Indie's artistic photography

Clouds in a glass (more artistic efforts from Indie)

Total yum, as they say down here

Animals that look like they are about to drop the hottest album of the year

This our contribution to the thread of hot animal album covers These birds are definitely dropping a skateboard punk rock album circa 1985 with these hair-dos.

Adelaide – take 2

In the Central Market in Adelaide

Aaaand then it was back to Adelaide again. We drove into the centre this time and while Toby took some time out to buy his camera the girls and I enjoyed the Central Market (a fabulous indoor market place – mainly food – that reminded me of the Covered Market in Oxford but much, much bigger) AND (such a treat) we went to the movies. We saw ‘Hidden Figures’ in a really comfortable cinema and treated ourselves to big box of popcorn. Great film. Then we zoomed up for a night in the Clare Valley.

Look what we found! Poutine has made it to Australia. 

Such a swish cinema - and the air-conditioning was lovely on a sweltering day

The Barossa Valley

We left Adelaide on the Monday to head to the wine region in the Barossa Valley for some cycling and some wine tasting. It turns out we left Adelaide prematurely, because we ended up back there the very next day. Toby’s good camera broke and it seemed crazy to do this ‘trip of a lifetime’ without a good camera so we quickly called around and found one available…back in Adelaide. So we went back the very next day. But we did have a great day and night out in the Barossa Valley.

We based ourselves in the gorgeous small town of Tanunda where we rented bikes and did the 26km round trip on the bike trail up to Angaston via Nuriootpa. It was HOT and uphill on the way but we stopped for a great lunch at a vineyard (Kaesler Winery) on the way and after an additional fortifying ice cream in Angaston we enjoyed the freewheel back to Tanunda. 
I perhaps didn’t quite get the tour of vineyards that I would have liked had I been on my own (and not been the only wine- and fancy food-lover in my family) but the combination of beautiful scenery and bikes was great and we all enjoyed being back on two wheels. We also managed to get Anna a birthday present in Angaston – she is turning thirteen (yikes! Teenagerdom, here we come) in a couple of weeks and so we’ve been on the look-out for some presents. We found a beautiful aquamarine pendant (her birthstone) in a very sweet little jewelry shop in Angaston (handmade by the owner). I’m happy we found something memorable from our trip for her to wear.

It was a lovely dedicated bike path

Enjoying a very nice Chardonnay at lunch

Lunch at the vineyard

Coasting back home

Adelaide - Part I

We arrived in Adelaide quite late on the first evening – it was almost eight o’clock by the time we’d done the big descent into the city and found the beach suburb where we’d decided to stay (Glenelg and West Beach) so we didn’t see much the first night except for the space-age toilets in a big park which impressed the whole family no end (I believe a film is now in the making…). The girls particularly liked the voice that ‘welcomed’ you into the toilet when you locked the door. (‘Make yourself comfortable’, it said, and I wonder how long it took them to decide on that particular phrase…I thought, 'Come in and take a load off' might have worked well too.)

The next day we took a bus into town and it turns out that we timed our visit just right to join in the Adelaide Fringe Theatre Festival. It was fantastic – the festival takes over one of the many parks ringing the downtown centre and turns it into The Garden of Unearthly Delights with lots of small theatre venues, street performers, food trucks etc.  We bought tickets to see a show of traditional Aboriginal dancers called Djuki Mala. 
We also visited the South Australian Museum, which was terrific. It has the largest collection of Aboriginal artifacts in the world and lots about their history and culture and the tragedy of the Lost Generation – those taken from their families and put into Mission schools. It also had a fantastic 'Discovery Room' with lots of skulls and specimens to handle and explore. We were particularly fascinated by the bee hive with transparent sides and the hundreds of bees working hard and going in and out through a small tunnel in the wall.

We really enjoyed Adelaide - it has a very welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. Melbourne and Sydney seem to get all the attention, but I would definitely also put Adelaide on the list of ‘most liveable cities’.

Fun sculptures in the city centre

Lovely old-style building on the main street

The entrance to the festival grounds

The girls, waiting for the start of the show in the heat

In the 'Discovery Room' at the museum - the girls were fascinated by the 'leaf' butterfly

Their collections was also beautiful

The Naracoorte Caves

We thought it was about time we put in a few kilometres on this trip (we do have a fair ways to go) and so decided to drive up the inland route from Robe to Adelaide (about four hours).  We took the time to go via the Naracoorte caves and fossil site though. It’s a World Heritage Site (the only one in South Australia) and has the largest population of Southern Bentwing bats in the country (about 40,000 in this colony).

There were a number of tours to choose from but we went for the Bat Tour (‘to the Bat Cave!’ was the obvious remark and the guide kindly chuckled wearily at it – clearly not for the first time) and it was a great choice. We spent half an hour watching the thousands of bats in their cave via infra-red camera and learned about their life and habits (and the many things that are threatening their population) and then spent half an hour touring their ‘winter’ cave where they ‘hibernate’ (or go into a deep sleep) over winter. They are tiny bats – about the size of your thumb – and the babies when they are born are about the size of a jellybean.

After the tour we did a self-guided tour of the ‘Wet Cave’ – another spectacular cave with plenty of ornaments and interesting things to explore.

Locals used to party in the caves - even hosted weddings here! - before the park system took it over.