NORTH ADELAIDE AND WINE TOUR OF BAROSSA VALLEY

We began today with a leisurely breakfast.  At about 9:30 Mary Anne Kennedy came and picked us up for a tour.  We began in North Adelaide. Our first stop was a look back over the river at the cricket grounds (the Oval - supposedly the most beautiful in Australia)

The North end of town was settled by the British with lots of interesting stone houses, iron grill work, and some cane fences.  Lots of old churches, many of which have been turned into everything else you can imagine - restaurants, salons, eateries.  A unification church dumped together the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians - not so intense about religion here, I guess.

The houses above (behind the reed fence) were built as single family houses for the workers (mostly from Greece and Italy) that the British hired to work for them.  The workers came over single, lived in single row houses, then married and moved into small houses like those above.

We then began our wine tour.  We drove through a beautiful canyon up into the hills.  As we drove along a road, Mary Anne told us we might see Koalas - sigh - I didn't, but it was hard to keep my eyes off the trees.  We did see kangaroos from far away.  Our closest view of wild life was in an enclosure close to one of the wineries - kind of a wine tasting/animal view.  I did see some Gullas close up.  They are pink breasted parrots.  Supposedly if someone calls you a Gulla, you should be annoyed - they are very dumb.  They are also really pretty.  Here's a few.

We had lunch at our first winery, Jacob's Creek.  The wines were very nice.  We had lunch there as well. We tried Whiting, a sea, white, fish that was great. All I kept thinking of, of course, was Alice in Wonderland "Will you walk a little faster, said the Whiting to the snail...." Now I've eaten one.  The Barossa valley has some great Rieslings that aren't like those that we've tried before.  They're dryer and crisper.  Then drove to a second which was a little smaller, Artisans of Barossa.  Most of the wines there were also quite good.  This was a place that had several small wineries together.  The best of which was named John Duval.  He had been the wine maker from Penfold's winery, top of the line around here.  Here's some winery buildings.

We stopped at an overview of the Barossa Valley.

After our overview, we tried some cheese tasting - the shop specialized in soft cheese many of which were great.  More than a bit difficult to stuff into a suitcase, however.  Then onto our last winery, Torbrek, again with lots of great wines. Unfortunately, our favorite was a $275 bottle of Shiraz they called RunRig - it smelled good, it tasted better.  Mary Anne had gone to college and studied wines, so she was also fascinating to talk to.  She had grown up on a small farm about 3 1/2 hours outside of Adelaide.  We came back to the hotel, and now need something small for dinner.  Tomorrow onto Kangaroo Island.

Before I forget this.  For the last day or so, since we've turned up in Adelaide, we keep seeing stone angels with their arms extended.  I've been afraid to Blink.........