Day 2 - Saturday 28 May 2005 - Gawler & Tanunda
Gawler is the major town just before Lyndoch. Went there for tourist info and supplies. SB, schnappschenjager, checked out Cash Converters for bargains. The tourist centre folks were wonderful.
Next stop was Tanunda for lunch, found a beaut restaurant called 1918, food was superb, and the Sparkling Dry Red was delicious. Lots of German style cafes and bakeries there too. The old houses and buildings are delightful, some of the older houses are so tiny!
Mumsy saw a brochure for Norm's Working Dog Show. 2pm found us at Norm's farm with a bunch of other tourists. Norm's been around the block a few times and puts on a good show, he's a typical laconic bushie type and has this huge collection of coolie dogs living in a bunch of old yellow utes scattered around the property. Norm is unable to disclose details of the breed, but he does export them far and wide. The dogs were amazing, really clever and so cute.
Day 3 - Sunday 29 May 2005.
Hit the wineries today, Wolf Blass, Hamiltons and Chateau Yaldara. There are 60 wineries in the Barossa, amazing how many there are and how accessible they all are. We are finding it quick and easy to get around as the Barossa isn't such a large area at all. SB is the navigator/entertainer and has very thoughtfully brought his country music CD selection for us to listen to in the car, funny how Mumsy's CDs always get left back at the Casa.
A must see for Mumsy was Maggie Beer's gourmet farm at Nuriootpa (saw it on SBS). The food and produce is sensational. She has the most amazing collection of pheasants and quail, which they farm for their gourmet food lines. They also produce and sell Beer Brothers' Wine! We naturally stopped for lunch; Game Pie for MB, Kangaroo Crepinettes for MDR & Barossa Valley chook for SB. Mumsy thought eating outside "al fresco" would be a novel experience, but for some strange reason the sun didn't have any warmth at all... MDR & SB weren't impressed. www.maggiebeer.com
Checked out Angaston and Bethany too, very charming little towns dotted amongst the vineyards. SB loves browsing through second hand stores and found, and bought, a German Bible printed in 1903 for $10.00, in excellent condition, quite a find! MDR enjoyed the blacksmith's shop in Angaston, it was like stepping back in time.
Visited Mengler's Hill Lookout near Bethany, it has panoramic views of the Barossa, which at the moment is really dry, great views though. There is also a sculpture park at the lookout which has these huge modern marble and granite sculptures, SB took a load of photos of these.
Just near Casa Rossa there is this amazing rose garden "Barrosa" which has over 10,000 rose bushes and the fragrance is heavenly.
The fireplace at the Casa was very popular that night, all MDR needed with his glass of red was some NRL on the tele and he would have been in heaven....
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