After leaving Naracoorte for Adelaide (the capital of South Australia), we entered the township of Padthaway, which is known for growing grapes for wine. Unlike a lot of other places known for wine, none of the grape harvesters here actually bottle their own wine. Instead they send their grapes to other places (like McLaren Vale or the Barossa Valley closer to Adelaide) to process the grapes and send back bottles of wine. We stopped for a wine tasting at a cellar door called Henry’s Drive that was actually kind of nice for being in the middle of nowhere. The winery is named after a guy named Henry who used to deliver the mail in this region by stagecoach, and all of the wine names have a postal theme to them.
The winery was cute and quite quaint, and after sampling about 9 different types of wine (mostly Shiraz), we were quite sleepy but happy. That is until 3 French winemakers came in and we were ignored by the staff...
We continued driving through the Adelaide Hills until we got to Adelaide. After checking into my accommodation, I met up with one of the girls from the trip to go to Victoria Square. There was a little event for Earth Hour which led up to everyone turning off their lights for an hour. It wasn’t too exciting, so we decided to go on a pub crawl down Hindley St. We went to a variety of bars and even rode a mechanical bull, but no night in Adelaide is complete without going to Australian Pizza House at 3AM for some $5 Pesto Magic, yum!
The next day in Adelaide was rainy, so I spent some time at the casino (no I did not win!) and went to the South Australian Museum. The museum is known for housing the largest Aboriginal collection in the world and also houses unique opalized fossils. The fossils were discovered by an average person who did not understand their importance (they are bones that have turned into opal!) for many years.
The sun came out the next day, so I decided to book a tour of Haigh’s Chocolates which Adelaide is famous for. The Haigh family learned how to make chocolate from the Lindt family in Switzerland. They do not export their chocolate outside of Australia, and you can only buy it currently in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne or online. Since Easter is next weekend, the factory was very busy with many people hand wrapping chocolate Easter eggs in foil.
After eating a lot of chocolate, I decided to do something a little more active. The city of Adelaide provides free bikes for hire, so I decided to try the ambitious ride along the Torrens River to the beach town of Glenelg. It may not sound far, but the ride was about 14km, but I have not ridden a bike in years! The ride was beautiful although confusing at times, because the paths were closed at random points and there were no detour signs. Luckily, there were people along the way that continued to point me in the right direction. On the way back to the city center, I had to take a shortcut on the Anzac Highway (yes, highway!) to save time to get the bike back on time. This was very scary and quite dangerous, because the bike lane is actually on the highway and at times I was only inches away from cars and large trucks!
I did make it safely back, and decided to go see Gouger Street and Chinatown is a really popular place to go for dinner. There are a lot of alfresco cafes, and I ate at one that had been recommended to me.
I had met a girl on the beach earlier in the day who had invited me to go out with her and some friends that night at a pub called the Grace Emily. For a Monday night, the place was crowded and I met a few people who asked me how I knew to come to this bar. Apparently it is a well-kept secret that there is live music (local talent and really anyone can get up on stage) and even a bbq in the beer garden. I didn’t want to stay too late though, because I was leaving early the next morning for a 3-day trip to Kangaroo Island...
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