My alarm woke me at 08:30 for a whirlwind hour and a half. I was straight out of bed and into the ocean. That this morning was as calm and tranquil as I’ve seen. Effectively a big bath there were no waves. The water depth was much deeper than yesterday so I had a little swim. A couple of other people had had a similar idea but apart from that there was nobody else in the water. From there I was into the pool for a few lengths, followed by the jacuzzi and spa. To dry off I grabbed some morning sun on the balcony and caught up on this blog. I was all set to check out by 10:00 as well. I pretty nice start to the day I’m sure you will agree.
Laura’s father had kindly agreed to drive us around the Barossa Valley today to complete the wine region hatrick. We were joined by Laura’s friend Christine and her fella visiting from Cairns.
The drive took around an hour due to them fixing a fence on the main motorway that caused tailbacks. The city is currently undergoing a massive highway construction project that will link the Barossa to Adelaide in around 25minutes. Currently though this is causing delays.
Our first stop was the beautiful rustic vineyard of Rockford. A great deal of attention here has been made to make sure traditional methods are used in the making of the wine. In fact the 1920’s petrol engine used for the press was started up and backfiring as we did our tasting. The girl looking after us travelled back to the UK regularly to visit her grandmother in Newcastle. The favourite here was the Cabinet Rose.
We arrived at lunch slightly late due to the traffic but they had kept us a table on the Veranda of Artisans. Lunch was a few small tapas items to share, then I opted for the lamb that did not disappoint. Our Riesling hit the spot, which was lucky as none of us enjoyed the wines in the tasting room after. Artisans had wine from a number of different vineyards, that allowed us to try them all under one roof.
Stop number three was another small vineyard called Langmiel. With an on-site Blacksmiths the grounds felt like a step back in time. I purchased a couple of bottles from here, along with a garlic sauce.
With the time approaching 16:30 we fitted in one final vineyard. One of the larger vineyards in the area, currently undergoing large scale development from its Chinese backers. Seppeltsfield was once a family owned vineyard. We drove passed the family crypt on the way in. Here we tried their Exliar, their specially made port. By the end of this vineyard we were all feeling the effects of the wine we had taken. Being a small world I bumped into a lad from Jarrow who was on the table next to me.
The drive back was much easier and Laura’s dad dropped us in town. Laura had chosen 2KW a rooftop bar for us all to enjoy the sun going down. Expensive, but with great views we enjoyed a nice cocktail.
The rest of our evening was spent in the Fringe Garden of Unearthly delights. With random shows and numerous pop up food stalls we wandered round enjoying the atmosphere. Christine & her lad had to head off as he had a fitness test with the police in the morning. Laura & I decided to grab a stand up comedy show. Advertising itself as an impromptu musical comedy show, had us both intrigued. It did not disappoint. Tonight’s performance was Forest Trump and took us through a bizarre journey from 1988 to the present day.
After the show I had spotted a fish and chip booth that served cheese chips and gravy. Laura grabbed this to help reminisce about her cheesy chip uni nights. My fish and chips were very tasty and great value. In the end even I couldn’t manage the chips.
There were plenty of taxi’s on hand so we were quickly back home to grab some much needed kip!
Another successful wine tour boxed off.