Underground winery in the Barossa Valley
As we took the ferry back from Kangaroo Island, I was a bit worried. I had had such an amazing time in those few days, I was worried it would all be downhill after that. I carried this fear with me as we drove off the ferry and headed north to Adelaide. Adelaide is one of the most interestingly designed cities that I've ever come across. The entire commercial area is surrounded by a several-blocks-wide park. Imagine Central Park being in a loop around Manhattan instead of down the middle. And, of course, the city being a fraction of the size. The downtown is still set up in a 'gold rush' style, with wooden walkways and overhangs advertising for blacksmiths. Though, all the blacksmiths have been replaced by bars and coffee shops, which gives a pretty cool vibe to the town. So cool we only stayed one day.
Adelaide was about the point that we realized that we needed to get a move on. We only had three weeks left, and with the wine valleys, the red center, the great barrier reef and the gold coast left, we were pushing it as it was. So with cute Adelaide in our rear-view mirror, we headed out to the Barossa and Clare Valleys. These are the two valleys in Australia that are the most well known for their wines, and I was excited to give a few a try. We started in the Barossa Valley, tasted our way through several wineries, sampling shiraz and cabernet and some surprisingly good malbecs (not what I think of when I think of Aussie wine). Then, at Steph's request we hit up a brewery just to balance it out (oddly, they made one of the best American-style pale ales that I've ever had) . The next day we headed over to the Clare Valley to sample our way through some rieslings. Riesling is probably my favorite wine (grape), so I was stoked about this one. The thing I like most about riesling is that it's balanced - slightly sweet, slightly acidic - and generally satisfying in a way that I don't find myself over-thinking them. I just want to enjoy them. Of the seven wineries and twelve or so reislings that we tried, none matched the description I just gave. Australian rieslings are much more acidic with almost no sweetness, which made them a more similar in my mind to a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. Good in their own right, to be sure, but not quite what I was expecting. So the wine valleys were fun, but not quite a Kangaroo Island.
Adelaide was about the point that we realized that we needed to get a move on. We only had three weeks left, and with the wine valleys, the red center, the great barrier reef and the gold coast left, we were pushing it as it was. So with cute Adelaide in our rear-view mirror, we headed out to the Barossa and Clare Valleys. These are the two valleys in Australia that are the most well known for their wines, and I was excited to give a few a try. We started in the Barossa Valley, tasted our way through several wineries, sampling shiraz and cabernet and some surprisingly good malbecs (not what I think of when I think of Aussie wine). Then, at Steph's request we hit up a brewery just to balance it out (oddly, they made one of the best American-style pale ales that I've ever had) . The next day we headed over to the Clare Valley to sample our way through some rieslings. Riesling is probably my favorite wine (grape), so I was stoked about this one. The thing I like most about riesling is that it's balanced - slightly sweet, slightly acidic - and generally satisfying in a way that I don't find myself over-thinking them. I just want to enjoy them. Of the seven wineries and twelve or so reislings that we tried, none matched the description I just gave. Australian rieslings are much more acidic with almost no sweetness, which made them a more similar in my mind to a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. Good in their own right, to be sure, but not quite what I was expecting. So the wine valleys were fun, but not quite a Kangaroo Island.
Yay we're halfway!
After finishing our sampling, we headed further north towards the center. Australia is big. I hadn't realized how big it was until we set out to drive straight through the center of it. Anyone who we would come across and tell them of our plans would tell us to fill our car with water and fuel. And not just in the fuel tank, we were told to carry plenty of extra. So few people drive the roads that we were planning on driving, if we were to break down it could be hours before anyone drove by to help. And if that wasn't scary enough, as soon as we got farther north than the valleys we started reading signs in parking lots warning drivers of the multitude of break-ins that happen and to NEVER leave anything in your car. Oh, and don't even think about going out at night. 'What am I getting myself into?', I thought to myself. Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all. But regardless, a grocery store visit later, we were on our way - car chocked full of boxes of water, granola bars, and the canned 'chunky-man' soups I thought I would never buy.
After spending a night camping in Port Augusta, a miserable little desert town where we paid $25 to camp on a rock-hard sandy and slanted plot that was covered in ants, we packed up just as the sun was starting to warm our tent. To get to our destination, we had about 1300 kilometers to drive, and we had to get started early. We rolled into Coober Pedy, Another desert town, though this time much less miserable, due to the fact that most of the town is built underground, to avoid the heat. We stayed in an underground hotel and visited a couple of underground churches before we headed onward toward the middle. Next stop, Uluru.
After spending a night camping in Port Augusta, a miserable little desert town where we paid $25 to camp on a rock-hard sandy and slanted plot that was covered in ants, we packed up just as the sun was starting to warm our tent. To get to our destination, we had about 1300 kilometers to drive, and we had to get started early. We rolled into Coober Pedy, Another desert town, though this time much less miserable, due to the fact that most of the town is built underground, to avoid the heat. We stayed in an underground hotel and visited a couple of underground churches before we headed onward toward the middle. Next stop, Uluru.
Watching a rock.
Aside from the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru is probably the most famous natural site in Australia. It's a huge rock that sits like a bright red turtle on top of an ocean of flatness right in the center of the country. It is an incredibly sacred site to the indigenous people of the area, and has only become a major tourist attraction over the last ten years or so (in fact, most indigenous people from the middle had never seen a white person until the mid-1970's). The Uluru area, which includes another similar formation about 45km away called Kata Tjuta, should be on anyone's bucket list for Australia. One of the things that the rock is known for is changing colors with the different angles of sunlight during the day. At some points it's a brilliant shade of red, at others it's orange or brown. I had my heart set on seeing all of the different shades, but Mother Nature had different ideas. When we pulled into Curtain Springs, our campsite just outside of the National Park, it was raining. It can sometimes go six years without raining in this region, and we happened to hit it just right. This not only meant our campsite was a pond, it also took away the possibility of seeing the sunset. Cross bright red off the list. Luckily, the sky had cleared by 4:30 the next morning when we woke up to see the sunrise. Packing up camp and driving through the darkness, I was filled with excitement as the first rays of sunlight began to lighten the sky, showing the profile of the rock as we approached the sunrise viewing area sandwiched between two tour buses. We all got out and sprinted (I wish I was exaggerating) to get the best spot to view the rock at sunrise. So there I was, squeezed between other tourists, elbowing people out of the way for a better viewing position to look at….a rock. Steph immediately decided that this was ridiculous and backed away slowly. I was determined to hold my ground so I wouldn't miss a single hue in the color change. I probably stood there for 45 minutes, back to the sunrise, watching the rock - all with an ever-increasing awareness that this activity was incredibly silly. But hey, I now have about 100 photos of the many different shades of color takes on between 6:15 and 7am. I'm thinking of framing them all and putting them in progression in my apartment at home. 6:15am when you walk in the door, 7am by the time you reach the bathroom. Perfect.
Longest and straightest road ever. Twice as long as Kansas.
We spent many hours hiking around Uluru and Kata Tjuta for the rest of the day and then King's Canyon the next (and stayed in the most expensive campground of the trip, $40 for cold showers and dingos running through the area at night. What a deal). Then it was off to Alice Springs, for our first couchsurfing house since Melbourne. Alice Springs is a pretty interesting place. It has one of the highest concentrations of aborigines in a 'white city' in Australia and many problems related to this. The question of aboriginal culture in Australia is a very complicated one. It seems like the two cultures are about the least compatible possible. We had heard many things about the dangerousness of Alice Springs, and questioned our hosts about the validity of those warnings. Trying to make it seem like no big deal, they said it really wasn't all that bad. They talked it down, saying, "Oh it's no worries, really, but things do happen in Alice Springs every….night." Every night? Yes, apparently, the night before, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death by a 13-year-old girl. Part of aboriginal culture revolves around a cultural justice system based on the idea of 'tit for tat'. I can see how this (among other things) might be incompatible with white culture. So who is right? The people that are the oldest culture in the world who have lived here for thousands and thousands of years, or the new culture that settled the new land that was 'uninhabited and uncivilized' when they arrived? It's a pretty tricky question, and one that doesn't seem to have a good solution. I could probably write an entire post on my thoughts about this, but they are still quite conflicted, but for now, I just have to say that I was not sad to leave the obvious cultural clash of Alice Springs, and start the long 1800km drive toward the East Coast and the Great Barrier Reef.
We were told the drive would take us four days. Unwilling to part with that much of our remaining 10 days in the country, we made few stops, slept by the side of the road (one time in a rest stop where I had to kick small rat-like rodents off the outside of the tent in the middle of the night while Steph slept soundly), and once in a National Park called The Devil's Marbles, where the aboriginal legend was such that witches inhabited your dreams at night to kidnap small children. Small sacrifices to make to save a lot of money and a little time. Two days and 1800km later, we pulled into Townsville, our kick-off point for the East Coast.
For our last week, we're going to spend time exploring the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. I'm looking forward to it - and even though I'm a little terrified of them, Steph assures
EC
We were told the drive would take us four days. Unwilling to part with that much of our remaining 10 days in the country, we made few stops, slept by the side of the road (one time in a rest stop where I had to kick small rat-like rodents off the outside of the tent in the middle of the night while Steph slept soundly), and once in a National Park called The Devil's Marbles, where the aboriginal legend was such that witches inhabited your dreams at night to kidnap small children. Small sacrifices to make to save a lot of money and a little time. Two days and 1800km later, we pulled into Townsville, our kick-off point for the East Coast.
For our last week, we're going to spend time exploring the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. I'm looking forward to it - and even though I'm a little terrified of them, Steph assures
EC
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