May 14 -- Barossa Valley and Wine-Tasting

Not enough people signed up for the optional wine tour, so five of us decided to rent a car and take off on our own. Jim volunteered for designated driver service and performed amazingly driving on the opposite side of the road from usual. His biggest problem was locating the turn signal and not turning on the wiper blades instead, since their positions on the steering wheel were reversed.

We also invested in a GPS and enlisted Rick from our group to provide navigation assistance since he was familiar with the device we got. We set out at 9am, girls in back, boys in front, and picked out a starting place from the ones Peter (yesterday's driver) had recommended. As we were progressing, I discovered in the winery trade magazine we had that it did not open til 11am, and we were going to be there by 10 or so. We incidentally drove past another place we had planned to try (the GPS picked a slightly different route than I would have), which Rick mentioned, so Jim turned around and we drove back to discover it didn't open til 11 either. Karen wanted a coffee, so we parked in the closest town (Tanunda) and wandered to find a likely spot. Ordering coffee here is a challenge, since the closest thing to what I drink is a 'short' or 'long' coffee, which is actually a single or double espresso and way too intense for me.

Getting started in Tanunda

To flush, press the buttons on the side of the faucet,
which turns on the water to wash your hands and
refills the tank. Talk about reuse!

Our group at Pindarie

We went back to the second 'first' place, Pindarie (an aboriginal word for rolling hills) and were the only folks there. The saleswoman was charming and helpful and showed us an old section of a barn that they are making into another tasting room -- these old stone buildings date to the 1840s when many Germans were enticed to come to Australia and make a life for themselves. The wines were pretty good too and I got a bottle. The most amazing thing we encountered in the 4 small wineries we visited were that there were no tasting fees at all. Our second winery, Rockford, had been our initial target, again set in an ancient barn, and just down the road was a winery, Charles Melton, that also served lunch so we went there too, even though it wasn't on our official list, and had lunch as well as tastings. We finished out our small wineries with Langmeil, where I got another bottle. Karen was interested in going to a larger operation, and Seppeltsfield was sort of on the way back to the highway. They focused on fortified wines (ports) and charged $15 for a tasting, so I skipped them. They also had an attached shop of local craftsmen -- one couple was working on hand-making shoes -- and Karen found some glass bowls she couldn't live without.

Barossa Valley from Pindarie

Original 1800s house on the Pindarie property.

On the way back to Adelaide, our biggest challenge was finding a gas station close to the car drop off, preferrably on our side of the road. It was not to be, and our route to and from the gas station was a bit convoluted, but we made it in time to return the car with 7 minutes to spare. There are 3 or 4 other wine areas to explore here, but not this trip! I am feeling a bit wined-out.