Our Day Around Adelaide

We had arranged to accompany another couple on a private tour out to the Adelaide Hills. This is a wine region adjacent to the well-known Barossa Valley. We were picked up by one of the owners of the tour company, Danny, who had put together a tour to show us the highlights of the area and a little of Adelaide itself. Our first stop was at the top of Mount Wellington to look over the whole area and see the actual layout of the city centre of Adelaide.

Adelaide is one of the few cities in the world that is completely
surrounded by parkland and green space. That's how it was
planned when originally designed in the 1800s.

Looking out toward the Adelaide Hills.

We went out into the Adelaide Hills to visit the Bird in Hand Winery, as the other couple, Bea and Alan, had wanted a wine tasting included in the tour. It was a beautiful spot.

We had lunch in the old town of Hahndorf. As its name suggests, it was originally settled by Germans who left Germany when the church began demanding that people devote more time and effort to it and their religious lives than they were prepared to give. About 100 or so emigrated on a ship with a Dutch captain named Hahn, who, when they arrived in Australia, helped them procure land and loans to establish their settlement. They were so thankful to him for this effort that they named their town after him, and they were so industrious that it only took them 6 years to repay all of those loans. It has always been very German-focused and even now there are many German restaurants and breweries in the area. The main street reminds us very much of a slightly wider Main Street Unionville. There was, of course, a flour mill on the banks of the small river running through town...but there's no German Mills Road, and the mill is now a hotel.

The Memorial Garden established 100 years after
the initial settlement by the German immigrants.

A memorial to Captain Hahn who did so
much for the early settlers

The main street of town.

 Lunch was at a very popular local restaurant simply called 'Haus'. It of course specialized in German cuisine and the usual large portions. This reminded us of the old Hofbrauhaus in Sydney and its offerings of pork knuckle or sausages and sauerkraut. And from the size of the platters coming out of the kitchen, we were glad we only had a limited choice of meals provided by Danny.

Chicken Schnitzel with mushroom sauce, fries and a salad

Alan's cheesecake dessert

And the apple strudel...It was delicious!

After lunch and our stroll around Hahndorf to walk off at least some of that huge lunch, we drove back through some small villages and then again through the city of Adelaide to get back to the ship.

From here we had our final two sea days across the great Australian Bight. This could be yet another rough passage; we would have to wait and see if the Bight would 'bite' us this time.