Adelaide Day 6 - Barossa

Day 6... to the wine region of Barossa.

First stop, to the Whispering Wall of Williamstown. The Whispering Wall is in fact the retaining wall of the Barossa Reservoir built in the early 20th century. The dam was a revolutionary engineering feat in its day and attracted attention from all over the world, right up to today judging by the number of tourists that we saw though the place is not too assessible.

What draws visitors is its unique acoustic effect. We tried it and Sophia was at one end talking to us, which was about 100 metres away. We could hear her voice clearly.
Further away was the Lyndoch Hill Rose Garden. Apparently there are 30,000 roses here, and some of the shrubs were planted by royalty or celebrities.
These tractors made of hay along the roadside just reminded me of Hokkaido.
Lunchtime came and we headed straight for Elizabeth Street in Tanunda in search for food.

But first, to the Apex Bakery. First fired up in 1924, the wood oven used in this bakery has been going ever since, making it Australia’s longest continuously fired oven. The breads and yeast cakes that emerge from its hallowed doors are as much a part of the Barossa’s food culture as any wurst or wine. We stocked up on some legendary cookies which were really nice.

This black and white photo is quite fitting to the history of the bakery. Along the street, there were a number of eateries and cafes. We chose this one as the German spread seemed quite authentic.
Our choice was indeed good as the wurst trio that we had was really good.
Next stop, to the Barossa Vintage Festival, which is the highlight of the day, and for me, the main attraction of the whole trip.
The Festival Ball remains a signature event of the festival, where cellars open their doors for tasting and sale, crowds throng huge winery compounds, and a range of community driven events including art and craft, music, literature, heritage, and of course food and wine congregate to give the festival a truly carnival feel.
The Barossa Vintage Festival has evolved to become the premier wine tourism festival in Australia, and is the jewel in the Barossa events calendar. Our timing for this trip, although not planned for this festival, is just impeccable, as the Barossa Vintage Festival only happens once in 2 years. Here we are at the heart of the festival, where there are live music and performances, and of course food and wine. A vintage car from Seppelt Wines, of one of the 2 founders winery personalities Colin Gramp (Orlando Wines) and Bill Seppelt (Seppelt Wines) who concieved the idea for the festival in 1938. A fire truck was on display. The friendly firemen helped both kids up to have a taste of being a rescuer.
After leaving the carnival, we stopped by Maggie Beer's Farm Shop. Not many photos but here is one with Heidi's big head.
Dinner time came and we headed to Peter Seppelt Wines Grand Cru Wood Oven Restaurant... what a long name. The place was really in the middle of nowhere, even our GPS couldn't lead us to the exact location. It was only after a bit of guessing and driving that we saw a board that pointed us to the place.
Sophia googled for this restaurant while planning for the trip and made a reservation. Booking is essential as they are only opened on Friday and Saturday evenings, and for lunch on Sunday. Great planning and timing again. Here she is, either annoyed by Oliver, Heidi, or me.
The place is really cool, with their own wood ovens. The owner is also friendly and has several huge dogs.
Children-friendly with white papers laid out and crayons for the budding artists.
This foccacia was really yummy.
Gourmet pizzas... not as good as the foccacia though.

Adelaide Day 5 - Adelaide City

The morning of Day 5 saw us heading straight to this famous Café Bavaria in Victor Harbour. Many German settlers helped to establish townships of the Fleurieu Peninsula. This part of the region's heritage is reflected in the offerings at Café Bavaria in Victor Harbour.
Café Bavaria boasts a fine selection of German bratwurst, goulash and Bavarian tortes. For the sweet tooth, they offer cakes, apple strudel, beestings, cheesecakes, and pastries. All the traditional foods at Café Bavaria are baked daily, on site, using fresh ingredients.

We ordered an apple strudel, a sausage pastry, a cappuccino and a babyccino. All did not disappoint, except the babyccino which is very milky.
iPhone... bringing little people together.
Next up, the horse drawn tramway. The tramway links the visitor information centre in downtown Victor Harbor with the nearby Granite Island, running for half of its route over a 630 metre wooden causeway.
There were camels ride available too.
Surprisingly, Heidi wasn't afraid of the pony called Tina. I didn't ask her if she wanna ride it though.
She even talked to Tina.
The hairy Clydesdale horses pull the double-decked tramcar to and fro Granite Island every half hour or so daily. I am sure Granite Island has a history, but on our visit there, it just seemed like all rocks to me, so I won't have anything to say about it.
In the afternoon, we drove up to Adelaide City.

We visited the Light Square park in the city centre in the evening, near to Chinatown and just a few tramstop away from Oaks Embassy, which was to be our base as we explore Adelaide the next few days.

Oliver likes his trenchcoat and thinks he looks like a soldier. I think so too, like a commie.
The tram which was our main mode of transport. Free within the city.
Heidi contemplating what to eat in Chinatown, on my shoulder.
Oliver playing with his spinning tops at the dining table.
Back in the hotel, Sophia made 2 cups of Milo and placed it on the table. Oliver kept shouting for us to come and see... a face!

Sophia is a Milo barista.

Adelaide Day 4 - Victor Harbour

Next day, we headed back across the channel to Cape Jarvis en route to Victor Harbour.
Heidi and Oliver taking turns to wear the red fish beanie.
Before we boarded the SeaLink vessel, we spent some time on the shore of Penneshaw. Oliver wrote his name on the sand... such nice calligraphy.
Our first stop upon reaching Victor Harbour is the Cockle Train.
The Cockle Train travels along the oldest steel railed railway in Australia dating back to 1887 when it was constructed to provide a link between the River Murray and the ocean wharfs at Port Elliot and later at Victor Harbor.

Between Victor Harbour and Port Elliot we travelled along picturesque coastal scenery on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
After a 30 minutes ride, we reached the terminal station at Goolwa for a 45 minutes interval before the train heads back. Time for lunch. We checked with the station staff and this lady pointed to a couple of cafes along the historic Wharf Precinct alongside the River Murray. We chose the nearest one and Sophia ordered a spinach pie. The pie was just heavenly... good choice by Sophia.
On the journey back, we spotted this beautiful rainbow.
Nobody nobody but you.
The black stream train that we took.

Evening came and we check into the place to rest for the night at McCracken Country Club.

Adelaide Day 3 - Kangaroo Island

Day 3 was spent entirely at Kangaroo Island, exploring as much as we could. This is the Ford Focus which we rented for the journey and parked just outside the service apartment of the Aurora Ozone Hotel which we stayed for the 2 nights. The seafront facing the hotel is tranquil and there were hardly any cars on the road. Lavender on the walkway outside the hotel.
Our first stop for the day was to Seal Bay.
Seal Bay is on the south coast of the island, and is famed for being the permanent home to a colony of some 500 rare Australian sea lions. The broadwalk from the visitor centre to the beach is really user-friendly, and Oliver and Heidi were walking happily in the morning sun towards the colony of sea lions.
They are really cool kids on the catwalk.
The sea lions loll about on the sands and in the dunes, nurture their young and recover from days at sea.

Sea lions everywhere.
More sea lions.
Heidi fishing for coins in her pocket.
Seals dotted the coastline.
Seal Bay... not a bad place to visit on a balmy day.
Next, we headed for Little Sahara. The place was a little obscure and we nearly missed it as we were speeding along the highway.
As the name suggested, it was a beautiful of the Sahara I guess. Waves of sand dunes about 15 metres high could be seen as we climbed the first ridge.
Little Sahara is a nice little place where the locals like to come here to sandboard.

Heidi liked Little Sahara too and roamed around on her own.
After that we drove to nearby Vivonne Bay, which was voted by Sydney University as the most beautiful beach a few years ago based on privacy, clarity of water and cleanliness.
But Heidi is a scary cat... refusing to be anyway near the water.
On the way to lunch, toilet break in the middle of nowhere.
We didn't try the marron the last time we were in Perth, so this time I was determined to have one in Adelaide. So we headed to the quite famous Marron Cafe in the middle of the island, driving through a unpaved track off the main highway. The place is primarily a marron farm supplying the cafe, and probably elsewhere, with their marron that are bred in holding tanks. We went to take a look at the tanks after our lunch, and saw and array of marron, some babies, some blue, some ready to be cooked.
Marron is like lobster, except that it is freshwater crayfish. Surprisingly, the cafe here is relatively crowded even though it is like quite out of the way.
The staff here weren't too friendly or patient though. Maybe they were shorthanded. They gave a piece of colouring paper to us, and when we asked for more since there were 4 kids, it didn't come.
Meal times was quite challenging for us over the last few days. Either they were throwing tantrums or refusing to eat, especially Oliver.
So it was good that the colouring paper (when it finally came) kept Oliver and Heidi busy. This is Oliver's masterpiece. Gone were the days when he would colour out of line and all over the place.
It didn't dissapoint. The marron and seafood and even the naan were delicious. Heidi finished off the skewered prawns.
Next stop, to the Admiral's Arch and Remarkable Rocks found in Flinders Chase National Park. Similar to Seal Bay, the walkway here leads us to a colony of New Zealand fur seals.
The cliff face moulded by the sea and time.
Seals lazing in the sun.
At the end of the walkway is the spectacular arch sculpted by weathering and erosion from the sea over thousands of years.Plants that look like jelly beans.
Just a stone's throw away is Remarkable Rocks.
What makes this place so remarkable is both the rocks, which take on sculptured organic shapes, and their percarious position, perching on a large dome foundation which sits on a high cliff overlooking the southern ocean.
Australia is famous for it's red rocks, with the biggest one in the world located in Central Australia called Uluru, or Ayers Rock. Remarkable Rocks is also red, but unlike Ayers which is caused by rusting iron oxide, the redness in remarkable stem from a tiny living plant called a lichen. The interesting thing about lichens is that they are very susceptible to pollution, and their presence often indicates a very clean environment.
The 2 boys silhouetted against the skyline.

The hole in the rock is like a crack in a dinosaur egg.