January 20 – Arrived in Adelaide South Australia after 35 hours traveling door – door. We stepped off the plane to beautiful blue skies and a hot sunny day. Blue skies are something we don’t get very much of in the cold Okanagan winters in Canada. Went straight over to a fresh fruit market and purchased a case of mangoes, we consumed 25 Queensland mangoes in less than 3 days, at least half of them were eaten by Jasper our three year old.
January 21 – Woke up before the sun (due to Jet lag) so we thought we would take advantage of the morning light for some photos. Went to one of Adelaide’s many cafes for an Aussie breaky, which Marcus misses most about not living in his native country. After breakfast we walked over to Marcus’ alma mater Adelaide University where the world renowned Roseworthy Oenology degree is offered. He never got to do the graduation ceremony because he was already making wine in South Africa, so we snapped a few pics in front of the graduation hall. After that we were able to meet with the Australia wine and brandy corporation to discuss logistics.
We went for a late afternoon swim at Henley beach (the ocean is what I miss most about Australia) and then to a seaside cafe for a glass of cold Sauvignon Blanc and fantastic seafood…I could get used to this!
January 22 – Our last day in Adelaide to recover from the marathon flight. We decided to go to Adelaide’s Central Market for yet another early breakfast (still not over the jet lag). The market absolutely blew me away. The fresh fruit, meat, cheese, coffee…and TRUFFLES (mushroom not chocolate). Marcus went crazy when he saw the truffles so he dashed to the first ATM to pull out some cash to purchase his first truffle (actually half a truffle) for $90.00 from the mushroom man. (Unfortunately we won’t be able to write this off as a business expense as it will be too hard to explain). Read my upcoming periodical entry on more about truffles and a fantastic recipe. We also purchased some cheese from the Smelly Cheese Company (best bocconcini I have had) and some specialty sausage (Marcus’s favourite), pasta, fruit and more mangoes.
I really like Adelaide, the people are very friendly and helpful and it is a very kid friendly city. Children are allowed in all the pubs and cafes which is very civilized, especially when you are traveling.
Each night we have been tasting McLaren Vale wines…drinking some too! Marcus will be offering tasting notes and wine scores on all the wines we have tasted on the trip soon. Tomorrow we are off to McLaren Vale in search of the best small producers offering the finest of wines for our members…tough job!
January 23 – After making a quick stop to buy Ugg Boots and Blundstones (we stock up every trip down under). We headed south to McLaren Vale. What a beautiful place, a wine region right on the ocean. Could it get any better than this? The wine region is very beautiful and not comercialised at all which is very appealing. There are so many small producers with tiny cellar doors offering tastings. Often we have been served by the winemaker directly which is an unusual treat. There are of course the larger wineries such as Rosemount, Wirra Wirra, Tatachilla, Pirramimma D’Arenberg, Kangarilla Etc. I can’t wait to get out there tomorrow and start going through our list and start the tasting!
