I am Alive!

May 05, 2016

I am Alive!

Rundle Mall

Well, not that I had a near death experience or anything. I was simply stating that I am still alive in case some of you were wondering why I seemed to have disappeared into oblivion.

The poster is part of a campaign promoting equality

I was away in Adelaide from last Wednesday till Monday, the 2nd of May. I had gone for a meeting and then extended my stay over the long weekend. After my meeting, Chrissie drove me around to a few places to show me around Adelaide. I had lunch at Glenelg which I thought was a really nice place. I even went back to Glenelg that very evening to take some photos. Sangeetha joined me in Adelaide on Friday and we had a fantastic time over the long weekend.

We stayed at Crowne Plaza Adelaide which was literally smacked in the middle of the city. That meant that parking was costly. However it also meant that we didn't have to drive much to look for food and the entire Rundle Mall retail experience was just a 3 minute walk from the hotel. The hotel itself was really nice and it seemed to cater mostly to professionals. Then again, in Adelaide during Autumn, everyone seemed to be a professional all dressed up in fancy suits and sports coats. The room was nice and the mattress/bed was just so awesome. It had this magnetic effect that made oh so difficult to peel yourself from it. Unfortunately I did not take photos of the room.

Moving on to Adelaide, the city was nice albeit being a little congested. Maybe it is just me being accustomed to Darwin's comparatively quiet city. In Darwin, you would have to look for places if you wanted to pay for parking. In Adelaide, you would have to look for places if you wanted to park for free. Catch my drift?

Anyway, the best parts of the Adelaide trip were visits to three places in particular. Two of them were wine regions, namely Barossa Valley and Mclaren Vale. The third place was a small German town called Hahndorf.

As shop in Hahndorf

Let us start with Hahndorf. Sang and I went there for breakfast because Hahndorf seemed to crop up on everyone else's must do list in Adelaide. Walking down the streets in Hahndorf you can almost feel a slice of Germany. Not that I have ever been to Germany, but just the way it was set up gives you that feel. Shops selling German memorabilia, German beer pubs, German food etc. One shop in particular intrigued us with their wide variety if candles and candle holders.

St. Hallett

Moving on, let me describe my wine tasting experience. As we explored two different regions over two days, Sang and I took turns to be the designated drinker and designated driver. At Barossa Valley, we tried wines from different wineries and Sang was on task to guzzle the grape juice.

The wineries visited were:

St. Hallett

Rockford

Grant Burge

Peter Lehmann

Two Hands

Hentley Farm

Of the wineries above, we particularly enjoyed the experience at Two Hands. We were given a shown to a quiet sitting area overlooking the wine valleys and there, a guy talked us through the different wines and came out periodically to give us a new taste. There was no rush to quickly taste and leave and we really felt at east. That and also because there were two Rhodesian Ridge-backs lazing in the balcony under the sun and they allowed us to give them good belly rubs.

What a cool decanter!

The experience at St. Hallett, Rockford and Hentley Farm were also good as it felt more personal and we felt that the staff were genuinely happy to have us there. I guess, us not being wine connoisseurs, it is more of the experience rather than just the wine quality. Having said that, we enjoyed wines from almost all the above wineries with the exception of Peter Lehmann.

Sang is high

On day two, Sang and I did the duty swap and I was now forced, beyond my whim and fancy, to drink wines from the different wineries. Sang had schemed to get me high all along and she made sure her plan was followed through. Oh and by the way, its always nice to have a wife to blame things on. So in Mclaren Vale, the wineries we visited were:

Molly Dooker

D'arenberg

Oliver's Taranga

Alpha Box & Dice

S.C. Pannell

Chappel Hill

Maxwell

Coriole

Best experience at Oliver's Taranga!

8 wineries in a day. That was just mean Sang! Thankfully for me, I was up to the challenge. Or at least I didn't pass out. From Day 2, the best experience we had was on Oliver's Taranga. Firstly, because it almost felt like a private session with one staff solely focused on us while another, presumably the boss, kept coming up to us to join in the chat. I must also mention that their HJ Reserve Shiraz was probably the best Shiraz I had over the two days and quite possibly the best Shiraz I have had in my budding wine connoisseural journey.

View of the Mclaren Vale Valley

As for the other wineries, we enjoyed good wines from almost all of them. Just that I don't remember most of the occurrences at Coriole as it was our last stop and I was not in the best of states. What happened after that really escapes my memory and Sang has stories to share on that episode.

The last day in Adelaide was like any last (holi)day. We spent most of the time packing up and getting organized. We visited a few attractions within the city before we headed home. Internal flights are a breeze to check-into by the way. So there you have it! Our maiden trip to Adelaide and we are sure that we will be going back to taste more wines.

Ill finish off the blog with more photos for your viewing. Enjoy!