No Pockets in Shrouds #6: October 5th, 1999

October 5th, 1999

This was a day that I was looking forward to. I had booked a tour to the Barossa Valley, which is one of the wine growing areas in South Australia. The weather was very hot – don’t know what happened to the rain. I went with a company called Groovy Grape, who were very good. When I got on the bus the first people I saw were the 2 Debbies from Newcastle who I had met on the trip from Melbourne. It was nice to see them again and find out if they were having a good time or not.

Our first port of call was to a rocking horse. Not just any rocking horse mind you – this was the biggest in the world. It was just outside Adelaide and it was bloody big. We all climbed to the top and enjoyed the view but it would have been better with a glass of wine in my hand.

Then it was off to the first winery, which was Orlando Wines, where Jacob’s Creek is produced. This is a very popular wine in UK and in fact most of their production goes to there. Orlando Wines are one of the biggest wine producers in Australia and is now owned by the French company Pernod-Ricard. We sampled a few of their wines, some of which I liked and some I adored. Apart from Jacob’s Creek, all the wines are for the home market. Then it was off to the second winery. This was again owned by Pernod-Ricard but all their wines were for the home market. We bought a couple of bottles to have with our barbecue, which was waiting for us when we finished the wine tasting.

We had a beautiful barbie, cooked by our driver Tom. It was the first time that I had tried Kangaroo and I kept thinking of Skippy when I took a bite. We had had quite a bit to drink by now and were definitely beginning to feel the effect. Then it was on to the next winery. This was owned by a family called Seppelt but was sold about 15 years ago. The Seppelt family came to Adelaide in the mid-1800s with the intention of growing tobacco but found that it would not grow. They had to turn their hands to something else so they grew wine – and what a good job they did. We had a tour of the factory and then we had some more samples.

It was then time for home. Everybody on the bus, apart from Tom who had been drinking water, slept on the way back to Adelaide. It was a great tour and I would recommend that you make it one of your “must sees”.

Wednesday, October 6th 1999

I thought I would stay in Adelaide today after my hectic tour the day before. I went for a walk in the brilliant sunshine and ended up after about 30 minutes at Adelaide Zoo. I have got to say that I was a little disappointed in it. I am not a great lover of zoos as I don’t like to see things caged up, but I also realise that zoos do a lot of good work towards conservation. There were a lot of birds, some of which seemed to be in very small aviaries. They did have two large aviaries where the birds could at least fly round but I really felt for the birds in the small ones. I left the zoo not feeling any better about them.

I then set off to have a look round the shops in Adelaide. There is certainly a wide choice and the town centre is very busy. I walked up the Rundle Mall and it seemed to just keep going forever. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk round the shops and was pleased with myself because I didn’t spend anything.

Thursday, October 7th 1999

I went on a tour of Southern Adelaide with Klaus, a German lad that I met at the YHA. The coach was late and we hung around outside the YHA for about 30 minutes. At long last it arrived and we set off on a boiling hot day. Our first port of call was the Adelaide Hills and to a place called Mount Lofty. From there you get a spectacular view of Adelaide and the sea.

It was then on to Hahndorf, which is a German town about 20 miles from Adelaide. Germans first settled here in the 1800s and the Captain of the ship that brought them over was called Hahn. He was very good to the settlers so they decided to call their new town after him. The people here are very friendly and as Klaus and I walked down the main street a man was sweeping the pavement outside of a pub. He stopped sweeping and invited us in to have a look around. He said it was one of the original buildings and was well worth a look – and he was right.

It was then on to McLaren Vale, which is another wine growing region. We stopped at a winery owned by the Kay Brothers and sampled their wares – very nice. Next stop was Victor Harbor, which is one of the older parts of Adelaide. It is a really nice place and I would recommend people to maybe spend a day or two here so that they can have a proper look around. We then went to Maslin Beach, which was the first legal nudist beach in Adelaide. Thankfully the coach driver let us keep our clothes on for the visit – in fact, the beach was very quiet.

Klaus and I got back at approximately 7.00pm after a long and exhausting day. I collapsed in the chair and read a book for while and then hit the sack.

Thanks to the people that have e-mailed me at golf.diving4fun at virgin dot net.

Please keep sending messages.

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