The Riverlands South Australia
Trip Start
May 01, 2008
1
18
43
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Berri,
Australia
Monday, October 6, 2008
We stayed the first night in Adelaide on the way here and saw bits of the AFL Grand Final in various pubs across town as we wandered around. We finally stopped in the last quarter at a great little Irish pub named Flanagans and had a little nook with a normal size TV all to ourselves, and pretended we were in Ireland, H drinking Guinness and me Kilkenny. It was a stinking hot day and I had forgotten a hat, so our first stop had been to the shops to buy one and some sunscreen. I haven't used the latter since though as the next day was raining and cold! They say Melbourne gets all the weather, well I think Adelaide must too. Still it hasn't worried us, as that day (Sunday) we drove to Berri via the Barossa Valley and checked out a few wineries (obligatory) and even had some of the divine nectar sent home. I love the Shiraz here, and H the Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. The weather cleared up as we drove East and the scenery was breathtaking with patchwork fields of lime green grass, purple Pattersons Curse and yellow canola, dotted with huge gum trees and the odd grazing cow, and backed with blue rolling hills.
Berri from Murray River cruise
Magic!!! Berri itself is on pretty strict water restrictions and the locals are envious of the rain Adelaide had, and haven't seen any of it. However today is overcast so we will keep our fingers crossed.There has been an expo on at the local community hall, so I have been going along every day and getting lots of ideas on things like photo journalism and podcasting. I also discovered I have a distant cousin here. Her great grandfather was the brother of my great grandmother, or was it the other way round!!! Anyway she is a lovely lady who is into all sorts of craft, especially sewing (she has a super duper Janome Memory Craft sewing machine) so we get along well. She and my sister are both really into the genealogy.
This weekend is a long weekend in S.A. (Labour Day I think) so H will have three days off to explore the local wineries (Banrock Station and Berri Wineries, which they tell me is the largest in the southern hemisphere) and the historical areas of Loxton and Barmera as well as Renmark. By the way, the Big Orange is up for sale. It is closed at the moment and the auction is on October 19th I think. The orange farms in the area have almost all changed over to vineyards and almonds.
It is now Tuesday Oct 7th, and we did have a lovely weekend. The Rose Garden in Renmark has the biggest collection in Australia (or is it the southern hemisphere) and is quite amazing. I wish I could take the garden club members here! I have attached a few photos. One is of a pink delphinium, which I didn't know existed, and another is a beautiful white flowering tree which they didn't know the name of. Do you?
The cliffs along the Murray are breathtakingly beautiful in places. We had a lovely cruise on Saturday night, and then stopped under some enormous old River Red Gums for pizza and wine to the tune of a very good guitarist. I must find out his name. People here are very friendly. Our first night here we were invited to one of the doctor's houses for dinner, then Sunday we went out to another couple's house to see their amazing collection of native parrots. They have hundreds. We went away from there with a big bag of oranges from their tree and almonds which they get in by the truck load from the Almond Company. These are the rubbishy bits and you have to sift out the almonds from the other stuff, but I sorted out about a kilo of almonds from what they gave me. Did you know that most of Australia's almonds come from here? I didn't. Also, the Berri Estate winery is the largest in the southern hemisphere, and they say the Riverland produces more wine than all the other parts of S.A. combined and has the most popular wines in Australia. I guess that is because they are the cheapest. We were at Angove's in Renmark yesterday and they had good wines for $5 a bottle and another Renmark winery has cases for $33. Haven't been there yet!
