20100901 to Port Campbell, Victoria, OZ (Picture Link) (Picture Link - D) (Map Link)
We had the lights out by 2130 last night – just couldn't stay awake any longer. Then we awoke at 0545. I guess that shows that we are getting acclimated to the time change.
Yucky-looking day today. Forecast is for 15*C and showers. We don't know quite what to expect on the Great Ocean Road along the south shore of Australia going west toward South Australia. But we'll do whatever we can do. More later....
So we set off through dockside Melbourne in a wad of traffic. Remember, Melbourne is Australia's second-largest city. Finally we got outbound to the west side and traffic flowed more rapidly. Then we twisted southward and joined the Great Ocean Road. For the part of it we used today, it's also B100 on the map. It's two-lane asphalt following the ocean, so it's twisty and slow going for the most part.
But the scenery is great. Long sweeps of ocean beach and waves. Several small towns to serve those who have cottages or houses along the coast.
When we reached the turn-off for the Cape Otway Lighthouse Station, we turned off and drove to the end of the Cape road. We went through large stands of trees, which we later found are manna gum trees. Many of them were stripped bare. Back to this below.
At the cape, we paid our fee and toured the grounds and buildings of the station. Not only was it a lighthouse, started in 1857, but also the entry point on the mainland of the cable to Tasmania. Later, it housed a radar station in WW2 and several other contingents.
On leaving, we bought gifts and got into conversation with the sales lady. She pointed out that we should drive slowly on the way out and look for koalas in the manna gum trees. She said they were the reason some trees are stripped. So we looked and got pictures of eight or ten koala resting in the trees.
We went on to the Twelve Apostles, where some one dozen pieces of the bluff have been isolated from the bluff by erosion, making large standing rocks away from the bluff. They're quite spectacular and several lookout points allow good pictures to be taken. Helicopters were buzzing around carrying those folks to their views of the coast.
We continued to Port Campbell and found our Best Western for the night. We checked in and then found our cute room with mosquito curtained bed and bathroom with spa. Very nice. We went back out to dinner at the Twelve Rocks – quite good but high priced by US standards. Australian food and drink is always expensive; a six-pack of Victoria Bitter was $16.50 in the store. We bought a few goodies and gifts.
We returned to the motel, filled out our breakfast order, and handed it to the proprietor for delivery after 0800 tomorrow. Now, we're doing computer chores and watching Aussie TV.
A great day but tiring.
20100902 to Robe, SA, Australia (Map Link) (O Picture Link) (D Picture Link)
Cool and slightly damp, some sun today.
Up & out of Port Campbell's cute little Best Western. Fueled up at $1.30/liter and headed up the coast. We stopped at several places along the coast to take pictures of the spectacular shoreline. We passed through Warrnambool, Port Fairy, and on to Portland. We took the scenic drives where we could.
When we reached Mt Gambier we stopped in the local downtown mall to get a few things in the Pharmacy and in Woolworths (yes, Woolworths is still alive down here). Terribly confusing mall and parking, but we survived and learned more. Lots of helpful Aussies trying to help us find what we needed.
We had a great discussion with the volunteer in the Millicent Visitor's Center when we enquired about directions (being lost again). Saw some great local art work there & received several hints on what to see, some of which we actually did. Actually, we get “lost” quite frequently but then find our way out. More interesting that way.
From Millicent to here (Robe) we again took a scenic drive, passing through Beachport, SA, a cute little village on a bay with lots of rugged shoreline on the Southern Ocean side of the headland. Again, many pictures. Speaking of pictures, Dolores took many more than I did.
We checked into another cute Best Western here and got the low-down from the owner. We toured the town by car and took another mess of photos before we finally returned to the motel at what we thought was pushing 1800. We walked to the local pub in the Robe Hotel and found we were too early to order dinner, since it wasn't yet 1800 – we'd forgotten that South Australia's time zone is a half-hour after Victoria's. We had some beer & wine, and steak & roast beef, all nicely done.
Back then to the motel to do these chores and get ready for a long-ish haul tomorrow.
20100903 to Nuriootpa, SA (Map Link) (Picture Link O) (Picture Link D)
About 400km to Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley, a famous wine center in Australia. We got going early, had coffee & croisants in the local bakery, and hit the road. The bakery lady (born in Baker City, Oregon) told us the local population is about 1,500 but during the season it rises to 50,000. Sounds like Panama City Beach.
The past two days have taken us on the Great Ocean Road along the coast of the Southern Ocean. Where it wasn't on the coast, the GOR ran through some nice country with many dairy farms, lots of sheep, some beef cattle, and a few vineyards. Nice country but some of it is very flat – think Kansas with lots of rain. And, it has been wet, according to the natives. Furthermore, the weather folks report it was the coldest winter in 15 years in the state. Both yesterday and the day before were mostly cloudy with occasional breaks for the sun to show through.
Today was cloudy with frequent showers. At times the rain was pretty fierce, requiring slowing and high-speed wipers. We were hoping to tour the valley on our own this afternoon, and then wanted a nice day for our wine tour slated for tomorrow. Unfortunately, this cloudy with heavy showers stuff seems to be continuing into tomorrow. What to do, what to do?
As we went along today, we veered away from the coast and slanted inland. We crossed the Murray River (OZ's longest when combined with the Darling) at Murray Bridge on the first bridge erected across it (1879). The bridge is still narrow and still in use by all sorts of vehicles.
After crossing the Murray, we headed north to the Barossa. We saw at least two pipelines used to convey water from the Murray to Adelaide. Sounds like our Los Angeles or San Diego system.
We arrived at the Vine Inn a little after noon and checked in to a cold room. We turned on the heater, brought in our luggage, and went to lunch in the hotel's sports bar. I had a burger and D had a chicken schnitzel she said was good. The burger was good but had the addition of a slice of beet on it – strange to me, must be a local thing. When we returned, the room was habitable if not warm.
We started a walk up and down the main street during a break in the rain, but it started up again so we returned to the Inn. We found the guest laundry and decided to do ours while waiting on the rain to cease. Perhaps we'll motor-tour after we finish the laundry.
More later.... We did the motor-tour. Ten seconds after starting, the rain came back seriously. We kept going, making a circle of Tarumba, Miegler's Hill, Angaston, and back to Nuriootpa. Field after field of vines, but no way to get a good picture. We have a few pictures of bleak.
Back to the room. D watched TV (Learning Channel) while I went to the bar for a beer. I had a pint of VB (Victoria Bitter) and was handed a scratch-off card. I scratched and won a VB Stubby bottle cooler (coozie), apparently the first since it took the barman five minutes to find out where they are stored. The pint of VB cost AU$5.20, which converts to US$4.70 today. Quite a few people were drinking champagne, perhaps because it's made locally. The bar was well populated. Some patrons were taking raffle tickets to benefit the local football club; the raffles were drawn on half-hour intervals. I'd have taken a ticket or two, but what would I do with a case of vegetables or a tray of meat?
The Vine Inn is quite comprehensive. As you enter, the reception area is straight ahead. On the right is the pub dining area. Farther to the right is the pub itself and beyond that, the bottle shop. On the right beyond the pub area is a gaming area where you can bet on horse races. Beyond the reception area in the center is the access to the six apartments above. To the left as you enter is a roomful of slot machines and farther to the left is the main restaurant “Bistro”. A door beyond reception leads to the two-story motel building beyond the main building, in which we are comfortably housed (now that the heat is on).
We're still wondering what to do about dinner.......
So we went to the Bistro at 2000 and ordered a bottle of the local semillion+sauvignon-blanc blend and had pork (me) and ocean trout (salmon) (D). Then we went into the slot-machine room with the remaining third of the bottle; Dolores won one AU$ playing the slots. Moral victory, of sorts. But she was happy. Then we went back to the room, through the rain, and settled in for the night.
20100904 in Nuriootpa, SA (Picture Link O) (Picture Link D)
Up at a decent hour.
Started fooling with Wifi only to find it down. Radio connection is up, but the DHCP service isn't running. No IP address assigned.
We went to breakfast and enjoyed our juice, bacon, eggs & toast. The coffee was really strong, as though someone had left out water when making it. The usual serving of bacon with eggs in this country is at least twice what we get in the US. While reading the morning paper, I found an article stating that yesterday's storm with lightning and wind was the worst in years. It also stated the rain would die off today, but winds would rise to gale force.
Played with Wifi some more, still nothing. Bleep.
We went to the inside front of the hotel to wait for the winery tour bus. Sure enough, the winds were picking up – but the rain hadn't let up one bit. The Toyote mini-bus came along – Barossa Valley Tours, owned and driven by Brendan. We were the fourth couple in the group – the others were all much younger, 20's & 30's.
We went first to the Wolfe Blass winery. Wolfe came to town with 100 English pounds in the 1960's and sold the winery a few years back for AU$43 million. The tasting room is beautiful. I can't go through all the wines we tasted at each winery; I'll just mention the hightlights of each. Here, it was the Barossa Shiraz and the Mount Gambier Sauvignon Blanc. The winery guy gave good descriptions of each wine and some overall data, and Brendan filled in some blanks (he owns 6 acres of his own vines and his son-in-law is a wine judge).
We went back into the wind and rain and the tour bus took us to Saltram Winery. The tasting room here is rustic, and the presenter was a Canadian (BC) transplant. Here, I liked the Mamre Brook Cabernet Sauvignon while D liked the Mamre Brook Shiraz.
Back into the bus and down the road to Elderton Winery. Dolores got into the sparkling shiraz here so much we bought a bottle for the train. She says she likes it much more than the champagne. I liked their Barossa Shiraz.
About this time, it got out that one couple in the group had become engaged yesterday. Many congratulations and best wishes were passed to them all the rest of the day. She's the cutest tiny little thing.
We were taken next to the Tununda Hotel and into the dining room off the pub. Brendan had taken our orders earlier and phoned them ahead, so we were quickly served. Dolores had the chicken schnitzel, I had the burger. The cholesterol-burger was one my son would have fought to get. From the bottom up, it contained meat, greens, onion, two layers of bacon, a fried egg, and some mystery sauce. It took me six paper towels to get through the thing. It was good, but I can't handle many more of these. Dolores liked her schnitzel and says we'll have to start a market for them in Florida.
The mob re-entered the bus and was transported to Peter Lehman Winery. The creek out front of the tasting room had overflowed its banks and the ford there. It was perhaps two feet deep over the ford and running quickly. The tasting room had a wood fire going that helped the atmosphere. D liked the Botrytis Semillon while I liked the Eden Valley Riesling.
Off to another winery, Bethany, a small family-owned place. Very nice lady doing the presentation. I liked the Semillon - Sauvignon Blanc while D liked the Steinbruch Reisling (somewhat sweeter).
I think we were all losing our sense of judgement of wines about this time, but we went on to one more cellar door – that of Grant Burge. The room was beautiful, even elegant. The one we really liked here was the 2010 Dolcetto Shiraz Frizzante, which is exported to the US. The 2009 Frontignac and the 2009 Pinot Gris also were tasty.
Brendan then drove us back to our pickup places. We thanked him for a great day, in which we learned much more that we ever could have done on our own. The charge of AU$85 per person wasn't unreasonable given what we received. We also had the opportunity to pick up a few nice gifts.
Let's do the sums. Brendan received 8 times 85 dollars or AU$680. He picked up lunch. We don't know how he splits his money with the wineries, but we were served every wine we asked for, even the special reserves that were going for AU$140 per bottle. He furnished a nice tour mini-bus, all cleaned and comfortable. I would guess he makes a tidy sum doing his tours. He reckoned at one point in the tour that a gross of AU$10,000 per acre is about right, once the vines are producing (it takes about five years before good harvests can be had off new growth vines). So his six acres give another $60k. Sounds like a good living to me.
Once back in the room, I started these computer chores (still no Wifi) and imported the photos. Now we'll rest a bit until some sort of dinner. More later …..
We did the pub for food again. D had another chicken schnitzel while I settled for the salad board. The she went off to do battle with the “pokies” (slot machines) while I came back to type some more as I listen to reports on the Christchurch, NZ, earthquake.
One thing we learned from Brendan today was that the local high school has an elective curriculum in wine studies. For the first two years, the students learn the secrets of growing grapes. In their second two years, they learn wine-making. Their wine output is sold under the Barossa Scholar label. The local labor market is screaming for help, so the students can walk into jobs as they leave school. Brendan said the local unemployment rate is less than 1%.
Brendan also pointed out that this area is known for the production of wines, not just doing boutique wines. One local plant bottles for several large labels and can do thousands of bottles an hour. Wine storage tanks are all over the site. He compared Barossa with production and Margaret River with boutique wines and experimenting.
Brendan also was quite proud of the local economy, which we would call a large co-op. The large food store, the large community store, the large electronics store, and many smaller stores and a couple of restaurants are all member-owned. Someone new entering the town can become a member. Once he's spent some amount in the stores, he's eligible for “dividends” on his shares in the store. All the locals shop these stores religiously, which angers all the big-box stores because they know they would likely fail.
Oh, yes. It's raining again.