The Return of Summer: Sydney Arrival

Note that the weblog entries have been done so this can be read chronologically from top to bottom.

Sydney panorama from Harbor Bridge

As the cab pulled away from the curb, I said to Becky “I think we forgot to pack something.” OK, to be fair, I almost always think that as we

Monday in Sydney

The iconic Opera House in bright sun from the ferry

The time adjustment left us waking up early on Monday. We adjusted our stuff and headed out into the bright sun along the harbor down to Circular Quay. At the quay, we sorted through the ferry options and

Tuesday in Sydney

Sydney residential iron work

We started our last full day in Sydney heading out to the quiet, older neighborhood of Darlinghurst for breakfast at Bill’s. Darlinghurst is lined with a web of tree-lined streets flanked by Victorian era houses. There were many examples of the iconic Australian house with a corrugated galvanized roof usually including a curved roof over the porch. The houses, though otherwise simple, are frequently highlighted with railings and porch post supports made with an intricate cast iron web painted to stand out. You will find way too many pictures of these in the link at the bottom.

Sydney to Adelaide

Passenger car on the Indian Pacific

Wednesday dawned with rain. Not terribly surprising as the rain in Sydney is historically relatively evenly spread throughout the year. All the rain was welcome, as the area had been undergoing a severe drought over the last several years. We had been told that Sydney was undergoing a summertime cold snap during our visit. Not that we noticed as we were still a little warm in our shorts and tee shirts.

Friday in Adelaide

An arcade in Adelaide

Last nights oyster must have been OK, after all, as we didn’t get sick. We figured they washed the oysters in fresh water after they were shucked and that took away all the briny goodness and most of the flavor.

Friday was our day for exploration of hot Adelaide. We started with a highly detailed, hour-long, personal tour of Ayre’s House by one of the docents. We would have been happy enough with a shorter tour, but it was “interesting” to learn ALL the details about the house and the family. I guess we didn’t need to know

Clare Valley

Pikes in Clare Valley

When planning this year’s trip to Australia, we needed a theme. Biking looked to be problematic with difficult logistics for a shorter trip. Instead, we opted for a wine centered view of Australia for our first visit. While planning the trip, we visited one of our mailing list wineries, Williams & Selyem, a historically famous Pinot Noir specialist in the Russian River Valley to pick up our Fall wine allotment. At the winery, we happened upon the Assistant Winemaker and his

Clare to Barossa

Key accessed gate entrance to the Burr Heritage Trail

The morning in Clare started with the breakfast of eggs, bacon, and bread we cooked in a dense cloud of smoke in the ventilation-free room. Our final destination for the day was the Barossa Valley, but we started with an impromptu detour to the old copper mining town of Burra. We learned of the Burra copper mine as the primary source for Ayre’s wealth on the Ayre’s House tour in Adelaide.

Tanunda to Keith

Chateau Tanunda

It was time to move out of The Barossa and head south, eventually to Melbourne. We did not arrange lodging for this part of the trip ahead of time figuring that this would give us maximum flexibility. I guess that’s

Coonawarra

The suspicious characters at Henry's Drive

Breakfast for me, or “Breky” in the Australian parlance, consisted of a sausage roll acquired by Becky from the local bakery. We’re not sure why, but the Aussie’s slang seems to prefer adding the “-y” sound to the shortened form of the word (like “breky”, “Aussie”, “Tazy” for Tazmania, or “footy” for football). As Becky (hum, maybe her name is Aussie slang) waited in line at the bakery, she received the complete update from the local farmers and ranchers queuing for the ubiquitous

Penola to Apollo Bay

Penola True Value Hardware

In the morning we purchased snacks and food for lunch from a gourmet store in Penola and headed down the road. Well, of course, we had to stop at one more winery in The Coonawarra before we could leave. Only then did we head south to the town of Mount Gambier. With 23,494 people, by our careful count, Mount Gambier is the second largest city in South Australia behind the million plus in Adelaide.