Adelaide, Barossa and the Adelaide hills

Adelaide is a genteel city when contrasted with 'the Alice'. This city, on the south coast of Australia, is home to some of my favorite wineries. In the mid 1800s Adelaide was a haven for Europeans escaping religious persecution and the city retains this liberal character. The 'Fringe Festival' happened to be starting while we were in town and fringe acts from all over the globe were performing in all the venues in town.

We started our visit in the Adelaide hills on Mount Lofty. The hills are a backdrop for this lovely city and sea. The area is a wine growing mecca with the perfect balance of sun, wind and temperature to produce some of the best wines in Australia. We tried some of their signature sparkling reds and sauvignon blancs. The sparkling reds are very popular here and many of the wineries we visited were sold out. There were many boutique wineries as well as the large operations like Wolf Blass in the Barossa valley. One of my favorites was the Grenache from Yalumba. The food matched the quality wines with local flavorings like lemon myrtle and minted goat cheese to accompany the grilled lamb chops and fine olive oils. The hotel where we stayed was once a huge country estate for the Hardy family. It was completely destroyed by one of the Adelaide bush fires in 1983. The hotel was rebuilt and serves a hotel, restaurant and conference centre, but retains the charm of the 19th century grand home that it once was for the Hardy family.

The Barossa valley, home to Wolf Blass and Yulumba wineries, has many small villages with gourmet food shops and cottage industries producing cheeses and chocolates that accompany the wines. The weather was perfect - warm to hot sunny afternoons and cool evenings. The grass is dry and burnt and fire is always a serious threat with the winds whipping around the area. They were commemorating the 183 people perished in the bush fires last year in Adelaide. While I think the weather is perfect I would not want to worry about fire risks.

Our tour included some interesting sites around the Adelaide hills including the largest 'rocking horse' in the world. The best part was the petting zoo, but the wooden toy factory was also interesting.

Adelaide has a lot of character with a beautiful botanic garden and art museum. There was lots to see during the fringe festival while strolling along the Rundle Street pedestrian mall. The outside patios and pubs were completely full during the festival. It seems like a young city with lots to offer including a beautiful university along the Torrens river. The weather was hot and dry, but no fires yet.