The Barossa – Part II

Tuesday

I started the day off with another run on Tuesday morning.  I decided to turn right outside of the cottage and run in that direction instead.  The run was just as beautiful in this direction, with more vineyards, sheep and hills.  The heat felt a little less oppressive as I started to acclimatize just a bit more.

After the run it was time to explore the wineries around the Barossa just a bit more.  One of my favourite places that we stopped at was Two Hands.  The Barossa is a perfect spot for growing shiraz, and Two Hands have more shirazes than you can shake a stick at.  It was a really neat exercise to sit down and find out about how much shiraz can vary from one area to another as we ran through about ten different wines (although only about seven of those were a shiraz).

Some of the wines were just massive fruit bombs and others were much more refined.  Two Hands also exports quite a bit, so if you happen to see them in your local wine shop I would highly recommend them.  And if you really want to try them and you happen to live in Calgary, give me a shout.  I know a great wine shop were they stock a lot of their stuff at.

Wednesday

There is a really lovely looking outdoor pool in Tanunda (the town that we were close to), and I had really hoped to manage a swim there.  Sadly it was only open for swimming from noon until 6 pm and it just didn’t really work with the schedule.  So instead on Wednesday I rented a mountain bike from the cottage owner and took it out for a spin.

I haven’t ridden a mountain bike for awhile, and this one was definitely a lot heavier than my old road bike.  And…I didn’t exactly bring bike shorts with me either.  Funny how you get used to riding in those things..!!  I was a little worried that I’d forget that I should be riding on the left hand side over here, but luckily I managed to remember that important fact just fine.  I rode down Seppeltsfield Road, a really lovely road lined with palm trees along much of the way.  And, very much like my runs so far, it was hilly.  I went out for about 15 miles, and it was great to see the area from a different perspective.  I even rode past the pool that I had hoped to swim at.

In the afternoon we checked out Peter Lehmann for a tasting.  At the winery you can buy port (or fortified wine) in bulk.  Only $3.70 a litre, unless you are filling a container less than 5L and then it is $3.90/litre.  Interesting, eh?  Apparently people bring in everything from pop bottles to other containers that still have “Caution: Poison” labels on them to fill up with port.  Hmm…hoped they washed that container out well!!

And after that our stay in the Barossa was over!  We flew to Sydney on Thursday (aka Christmas Eve)…