3rd and 4th- Barossa Valley and Victor Harbour

 

Barossa Valley is the main wine-producing region in Australia. I decide it's important to visit.
On the way we visit the world's biggest Rocking Horse (a google search later reveals that there are around one hundred of these "big things" all over Australia resulting from anything that anyone had a particular passion about- prawns, pineapples, crocodiles, merino sheep and beer cans to name just a few. I had thought this was my first until realising I'd already seen a big wine bottle in Hunter Valley)
A quick visit to the "Whispering Wall" - this is actually the dam of Barossa Valley reservoir a 140m long curved section of wall. If you whisper into it at one side it's heard incredibly clearly at the other.
Onto the Wineries now and we visit Jacob's Creek and then several smaller ones with a bbq lunch in between. I chat to the guide, a true South Australian and the group is amused by 2 chinese girls who get drunk half way through the first tasting and take no more wine for the rest of the wine tour!

The next day I take another trip in order to see more of the surrounding area. A stop at Mt Lofty (700m) to see the view over Adelaide. This was named by Captain Flinders who did most of the exploring and naming of South Australia. And then after his death many things were named after him. He also effectively gave Australia her name after using the term Terra Australis. We have coffee in Hahndorf- a quaint, German-style, tourist town where real German beer is actually imported. It's autumn here and the decidous trees are turning which excites a lot of Australians (because so few trees are deciduous). Incidentally someone told me about Adelaide's Dutch Elms which of course weren't affected by disease as in Europe. They were much loved in the parks of Adelaide. Unfortunately one summer with severe water restrictions in place the council decided not to water them and most of them died! People were not happy!

We stop at Goolwa on the Fleurieu Penninsula where the Murray river reaches the sea and then through Port Elliot and Middleton to a look out over Horseshoe bay and Encounter bay. Encounter Bay where Matthew Flinders bumped into Nicholas Baudin in 1802. England and France were at war at this time but either Baudin didn't know it or chose to ignore it. This was the point where SA wasmore or less saved from becoming French but there are some French place names around.
After lunch at Victor Harbour, another beautiful spot on the coastline, and a stop at Hardy's Winery in the Mclaren Vale we head back and I catch another comedy show with someone from the hostel.