Barossa Valley

Andy appears to have overlooked hangover precautions and arrives sporting a new shade of white with a hint of green around the gills. He looks so bad that he elicits sympathy rather than the usual barracking, especially as he’s been banned from his car for excessive whingeing. He travels up with me whilst Karen joins Nicky in the fun wagon. Plied with water, sweets and erudite conversation Andy perks up a bit, but the greenness returns slightly on arrival at the wineries. The scenery was stunning and a bit reminiscent of Margaret River with giant trees and scorched brown grasses, vibrant green vines and bright blue sky. The wines are less amazing although at Rockford’s we tasted an excellent Sparkling Shiraz and Tawny Port. If Andy thought his stomach was in for a bit of respite he could think again as we got a babysitter in and headed off to the fancy Pepper’s Louise restaurant. Six rich courses (including quail, beef, cheese and 'amuse bouches') and four bottles of wine later we stagger under a clear and brightly starlit sky back to the waiting taxi and home to a rather amused babysitter (Ruby had told her that her last one in Laos was rubbish and she had had to practically look after Harley herself).

Next day it was golf again, this time in a far more suitable climate. Although we didn’t exactly bring the course to its knees I did manage to get a couple of pars in the end to make it exciting and take it to the 18th. After a good wallow in the pool we nipped down the road to Charlie Melton’s. Having negotiated our way past a shameless dog sunning his bollocks, we bought a few bottles of the excellent rosé and the wonderful Angel’s Tears Shiraz to go with some delicious pâtés and cheeses at our luxurious 2-bedroom apartment. On the final day in the Barossa the boys purged their guilt a bit with some babysitting around the pool whilst the girls enjoyed a pampering spa morning. Then it was back to Adelaide via the disappointing Bethany winery and Wolf Blass, where the reds were much better than the whites. It was a fantastic trip with a good balance of wineries, sport, friendship and fine food.

No rest for the wicked as we went into town early for the market. We were celebrating our farewell from Adelaide and procured a huge kingfish, which weighed about the same as Emily. This was washed down with a very good Centenary Shiraz from an unexpected source - Jacob’s Creek. Karen’s wonderful pavlova was similarly despatched with the help of Dowie Doole’s beautifully balanced Botrytis Semillon.
I felt slightly sad to be leaving, as we said our farewells at the airport the next day, as this experience of Adelaide had been so much better than the first. At the same time it was exciting to be heading to Cairns in the Tropical North of Queensland to try to find an old banger that would take us the 10,000 kms down the East Coast as far south as Tasmania.