South Australia 2024: Adelaide, Hahndorf, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale

This was an amazing holiday from start to finish. Landing in Adelaide was very nice, with lots of tiny pink lakes and jacarandas that we were able to see from up high.

We headed to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills for one night. We stopped at Beerenberg farm shop and bought some goodies. We checked in at the Stables Boutique Motel, then went for a walk around the town and then dinner at an Italian restaurant, Gepetto, which was very nice, serving one of the best tiramisus we’ve had in a very long time!

We then went for another walk, to see some oak trees planted from acorns in 1938 to celebrate King George VI’s coronation the day before. We saw lots of hares, a possum, rosellas and quite a few other birds around the gardens.

Next day we had breakfast at a dog friendly café (where dogs are allowed inside as well!), called Same but Different. Then we walked along the streets of Hahndorf again, did a bit more shopping then got going. In search of cherries, we stopped at a place called Woodlane Orchard where we were hoping to get some fruits and veggies but they only sold dry foods.

The drive towards Barossa Valley was quite spectacular. The landscape was amazing, with beautiful yellows of wheat crops mixing with the strong green of the vineyards and dotted with old, large, majestic trees. The roads were also very nice to drive.

Our first stop was Barossa reservoir and the Whispering Wall in Williamstown – a very interesting experience where we could hear each other from the two ends of the dam as if we were standing right next to each other.

Next we went to Lyndoch Lavender Farm, then Barossa Chocolate Company (quite expensive and not that tempting).

Next stop was Barossa Sculpture Park and Mengler Hill Lookout – some pieces were nice, all of them inspired by the local area.

After a walk around the sculptures we went to Maggie Beer’s restaurant in Barossa Valley called The Eatery. They started off with a pheasant farm that they turned into a restaurant and shop. The setting / gardens / olive trees are very nice. Food was divine. And at the end we got to see all the different pheasants as well as the peacocks and Guinea fowls that they had at the farm.

In Adelaide we stayed at the Oval hotel – right next to Adelaide Oval, a very new hotel with beautiful views. We walked to the city and admired River Torrens with all the new buildings around it and bridges across it.

We also went to Glenelg where we had a nice walk on the jetty and then along the beach, followed by dinner at SheShells (very nice Coffin Bay oysters as well as Coorong mulloway).

The National Motor Museum in Birdwood is worth a visit. And we found another amazing Afghani restaurant for dinner, Parwana.

We went to visit some sister yacht clubs – first the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron but we only had a look from the outside, then we had dinner at the Cruising Yacht Club of SA.

We spent one day exploring McLaren Vale. We started with breakfast at a place called PomPom in an Adelaide suburb similar to Osborne Park and where, to our surprise, they had sheftalias.

We drove to O’Sullivan Beach then followed Route 31 along the coast and eventually ended up at Sellicks Beach.

We stopped at Port Noarlunga where we walked on the jetty and admired (but also envied) the school kids snorkelling, diving and fishing during their school hours.

We then went to see where the Onkaparinga River enters the ocean.

Port Willunga was an important shipping harbor at some point. A ship called Star of Greece got shipwrecked off its coast so we learned about that (there are some memorial plaques). We also saw the remains of the old wooden jetty and the cliffs where fishermen carved out caves to store their boats.

From there we went past Aldinga Washpool which is a swamp which gets quite a bit of water and bird life in winter. Next stop was d’Arlenberg Cube where they have some very interesting permanent exhibits and also had a temporary visiting exhibition with sculptures by Dali. The views from the balconies towards the surrouding valleys are spectacular.

We stopped in Glenthorne National park thinking we would walk to Punchbowl Lookout but didn’t have the time. Happy Valley Reservoir on the other hand was quite close to the road, so we walked to see it, but we’ll have to come back as there’s lots of hiking and biking trails to be explored.

Back in Adelaide, we went to Sophia restaurant (Mediterranean and serving sheftalias!) where we had a nice dinner and then went to the Botanical gardens to see Chihuly’s exhibition both in daylight and at night! We learned that he actually hasn’t poured anything since 1979, he simply directs glass blowers (or gaffers) – but none of those were named! We saw quite a bit of wildlife as well – ducks, ibises, grebes, possums, a mouse and hundreds and hundreds of flying foxes!

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