Author: Mr A
Location: Tanunda, Barossa Valley
Distance driven: 45km Cycled: 12km
Feeling somewhat worse for wear from yesterday’s excesses, we packed up and bid goodbye to our wonderful hosts. The Lobethal Bakery provided a much needed food injection, and then we were off, the Barossa here we come.
It was a short drive through the twisty roads of the Adelaide Hills and we were soon driving through very picturesque little townships. This is our first visit to the area, one of the few wine region in Australia still on our unexplored list.
First impressions were “wow”, everywhere we looked so was so green and neat, clearly a lot of money floating around still. We passed some of the big producers like Grant Burge and Jacob’s Creek, not ones on our hit list but still it was interesting to see so many household names all clustered together and looking very prosperous. Bike paths were everywhere, although devoid of cyclists as per usual.
Our campground on the edge of the small town of Tanunda was deserted, so we were were somewhat mystified after we had unhitched to find ourselves right next to a construction site where they are building a new swimming pool. An ‘error’ apparently. They did offer another site but the thought of moving everything again…we gritted our teeth against the constant noise of paving slabs being cut.
I headed out into town on the cycleway to explore, and was absolutely delighted to find rows and rows of gorgeous little shops and cafes, with a real buzz about the place. I dropped in at a little bike shop housed in the lobby of the local museum, my brakes had been squealing and I wanted to get them checked over. What a well presented shop, and Evan the owner said he could look at the bike straight away. Amazing…
I supervised….
We got chatting, and sadly an all too familiar story emerged. After 18 months of getting the shop set up he was throwing in the towel at Christmas. Just not enough business. He told me that cycling participation in Adelaide and its surrounds is down by 20% this year. A similar story to Sydney. We both mused over the cause. I shared with him a little bit of research I had done this week. If you’ve read my Facebook post skip this bit. After reading about another cyclist being killed in Sydney I Googled on the phrase “cyclist dies” and set my search parameters to Australia and the last month. Eight deaths and another two left ‘fighting for their lives’. In three of the cases the driver didn’t stop but just left the cyclist in the road. As Evan said, there’s not much good news reported on cycling in Australia. Instead it is often tales of road rage from either the motorist or the rider, or reporting on these terrible accidents.
Another reason we both agreed on, which is a little more controversial, and I do risk upsetting some of my “roadie” friends, is the idea that to use a bike you need to go and spend thousands of dollars on some lightweight machine that will tip you off at the first sign of rough road, and wear skin tight outfits every time you want to use the bike that are not exactly flattering to most folk contemplating riding. Then you can’t be seen on a slow cycle path when you’re clearly training to ride as fast as possible, you have to get in with the traffic and take your chances. Oh, and you musn’t look like you’re having fun either, a serious game face shows everyone this riding is not something you enjoy but is a process to go through to…get fit? Now I exaggerate for affect, but I can guarantee that if Mrs A and I smile and say “hi” to a roadie as we potter down the path (as we always do just to prove our theory) we will be completely blanked.
The concept of just stepping on your bike in normal clothes and shoes that you can walk in, heading out to meet some friends, or potter around the shops, its almost completely lost from our image of cycling in Australia.
Mrs A joined me in town and we soon found an ice creamery selling dairy free options as well. Yumm we like this place.
Catherine then got pulled over by the police for not wearing a helmet. Oh dear…more bad news for cyclists, you can’t just potter around the shops wearing a hat. You have to wear a helmet for every type of ride, including wandering along a cycle path to pick up an ice cream. So guess what, another reason people give for not taking their bike out for that quick trip to the shops.
We went back to camp to collect her helmet, and it was such a lovely evening decided to head out again around town. Right round the corner from our campsite we discovered this amazingly grand winery, with a blackboard outside announcing they have previously won the best Shiraz and Grenache in the world. We will certainly investigate this further!
Everywhere is kept so spick and span, it is a real treat to see after these struggling outback towns we have spent so many months travelling through. 
The scenery surrounding the town is just gorgeous, rolling hills frame the vineyards. Who needs the Loire Valley?!
A quick stop at the shops for some more supplies for dinner (so easy on a bike!) and we headed back for another fab meal, and the peace and quiet of no evening construction works, oh and no wine 🙁
We had just arrived back at the caravan when the party goers arrived back from their celebrations, the boys extremely happy with their ‘football on a string’ gifts from Santa. What a relief they both got the same gift! It wasn’t much later that the invitation went out to join Ali and Andy for espresso martinis…and so Sunday night began.
Ali works as marketing manager at ‘Something Wild’, and their Australian Green Ant Gin is just the first of their products we were to be tasting this evening. I am suspecting most people have never tasted a green ant before. I have, while I was in the Northern Territory backpacking – we were invited to try a taste of this bright green delicacy as they trailed they way along tree branches. The idea is to bite them before they bite you back – they have a taste of lime with a hint of coriander and were a favourite of the local Aboriginal populations. It works well in gin!
We saw dolphins fishing in the shallows and a lot of coastal birdlife flitting around the dunes. There was not a breath of wind – the water on St Vincent Gulf was like a lake.
As much as we enjoyed cycling the hills of the Coromandel Valley, it was exhilarating to whizz along on the flat pathways, giving a chance to look around and chat as we travelled. We reached the boat ramp to the dolphin sanctuary and watched a couple of kayakers launching for an explore before returning to camp.
We’re getting fairly packed up this evening in preparation for moving on tomorrow morning to our next region, friends and more wine in the Adelaide Hills! Tonight will be vegetarian and alcohol free…
He begins to make a slow descent….
All that work deserves a break, so it’s time for another rest and stretch out those hand muscles…
Finally down to the bottom of that branch, another rest before making the rest of the journey to see the other male off…
About 20 minutes after this photo was taken we once again heard the donkey-pig sounds in the valley – he’d made the final climb down and made it to a new tree to do some grunting from!
A surprise visitor arrived at the end of the evening, their son Mike over from the Margaret River for a wine judging course. It was the first time we had met Mike in person (see him in Cathy’s photos on Facebook occasionally) – though we talked about him and his wife Virginia a lot in the Margaret River!
The girls were turning a few heads of course…
Kim had the advantage of skinny tyres I must add in my defence:
Catherine just powers along: 
And the most common view for me was from the rear: 
I finally got them ease up for a lakeside stop:
And with not a scrap of lycra to be seen we had a great ride!
After some food shopping (we seem to go every day!) we had a Skype call with our financial planner, Paul Brady. Now I am going to unashamedly plug this guy as he and the amazing team he has hired at Brady and Associates have just been life changing for us. In an industry with its fair share of charlatans, Paul has been a standout quality advisor, who we now call a friend, and has helped us making some smart choices with our finances. But much more than that, we feel we share some common values about living and loving life that have made him so easy to work with. Having a safe pair of hands to help you plan your wealth creation is one of the most important decisions to be made I reckon.
Mr A and I volunteered to pop down to the shops to buy a few supplies for tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinner, and Kim pointed us in the direction of her favourite supermarket. OMG. What initially was meant to be purchasing some fish, chicken thighs and a lime turned in to an almost $300 shop!!
There is a breadbar instead of a bakery, with all sorts of goodies on sale – Mr A was like a kid in a sweet shop!He emerged with a caramel donut – to share with Kim over a cup of tea when we got back!
The Cheese was from all around Australia and the world – Mr A collected some washed rind sheep cheese from France and a bitey Stilton from England…after our journey through small town Australia, this was paradise.
Kim and Mike’s garden is also a haven for birdlife, with parladotes nesting on their patio, honeyeaters in the bottlebrush flowers, and pink and grey galahs looking down on us. Just a little paradise.
Our day concluded with a fabulously decadent evening of oysters, followed by a delicious Thai green chicken curry and dessert – Mr A delighted to find Kim had baked a fresh lemon meringue pie, and me perfectly happy with the final scoop of my dairy-free ice cream from Bunbury in Western Australia, along with a selection of fresh berries from the garden. Oh and I almost forgot the wines – an excellent selection from our tastings in the Margaret River region…Fabulous!
They have a lovely home with a massive ‘market garden’ at the back, brimming with fruit and veggies, some of which were incorporated into a fantastic dinner.
Oh the potatoes fresh from the ground – the fresh berries and strawberries – so delicious. Local wines were produced, of course. A cracking night was had.
Our first stop, Sevenhill Cellars, was in fact the first vineyard in the area in 1851, set up by the Catholic Church to provide wine for holy communion. Other vines followed but it wasn’t until the 1950s that Riesling was finally planted here – the grape the area has built its reputation on.
We continued on, the trail gradually going uphill most of the way (but nowhere as steep as yesterday!), before reaching a peak and heading downhill towards Watervale. There we turned off the path and headed to Crabtree Wines for a tasting. What a fabulous selection of wine and a great tasting experience in amazing scenery.
We had lunch in Watervale before turning back to camp, enjoying the downhills when they came.
