One of the benefits of having clients all over Australia is that you can schedule little holidays around your work. This was the case when we visited South Australia to spend some time in Adelaide and then venture out into two of the three wonderful wine regions in the area (the Borossa Valley and the McLaren Vale.
Adelaide itself is a lovely city. Of course, being in South Australia, it is quite warm and a lot of the activities tend to be outdoors or in open air venues. One of our favorite spots was the Adelaide Central Market. We are big fans of markets in city centers and this one has been around since 1870. It is very vibrant and is probably the best place in the city to taste multicultural cuisine. Of course like so many other “farmers” market, there are lots of handicrafts and entertainment. We also took the opportunity to head for the beach at Glenelg Beach ( I don’t know why, but that name attracts me). You get there by a tram from the city out to Moseley Square. We had quite an interesting experience on said tram. It was quite full and therefore we were standing, holding on to one of the overhead straps, quite content with our ride to the beach. Suddenly, this elderly woman walks up the aisle where some boys were sitting near us. She literally yells at the boys to get out of their seats and make way for their elders. I think those boys hit the ceiling as they quickly vacated their spots for us (yes, there still is some civilization out there!). Anyway, Glenelg is a charming little community with lots of boardwalks, and the myriad of shops, restaurants, galleries, etc. that line it. It really is a day-night destination with beach time taking up the day and eating, browsing, and listening to music at night. We ended up picking up another piece of Aboriginal art there.
But the real reason we came to this area was to taste wine! We got to enjoy both the landscape and wines of both the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale (we’ll have to leave the Coonawara for a future trip!). These wine districts are noted for their red wines — in particular Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. While they have been experiencing a pretty severe drought, we did get some rain while we were there. Both to choose the “right” wineries to visit and to avoid a driving disaster, we hired a guide (Helen) who did a great job in touring us around, giving us the local history, etc. We did 5-6 wineries per day at both very old and relatively new wineries. We were pretty whacked, but got and excellent start on an Australian wine collection.
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
