Adelaide

What a delightful city! They have done a marvelous job of conserving beautiful architecture and providing green space. Fortunately, we had 2 days here. The first day was spent touring the city.

We stopped at Tandanya, which is the National Aboriginal Cultural Center. The name means “red kangaroo”. The center is getting ready to celebrate their 25^th anniversary and had just hung the painting shown in Picture 1.  It is titled “Night & Day Dreaming” and was painted in 1988 be one of the most famous aboriginal painters, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. (1932-2002) It is huge, approximately 8 feet by 10 feet, and was found folded up among his belongs. This is the first time it has been stretched and hung. A few years ago, one of his large paintings sold for $2.4 million, so this is an amazing find. Unfortunately, since it was not found until after his death, we do not have the artist’s interpretation of the drawing.

At Tandanya, we also learned about Didgeridoos. The aborigine in Picture 2 is showing how they are played. To make one, a sapling is found and placed over an ant colony. The ants eat and weaken the central part of the sapling. The carver then easily removes any material in the center. The player made both of these didgeridoos and was able to get an amazing variety of sounds from them. Rick chatted with him about how to play it and learned that you hum or buzz your lips, while doing circular breathing. With proper breathing, this player has played for an hour straight without stopping. Rick describes the sound as “like a bagpipe drone with sound effects”.

Our second stop was at Carrick Hill, which is shown in Picture 3. It was built by Bill and Ursula Hayward, descendants of 2 of Adelaide’s most prominent (and wealthy) families—he brought Coca Cola to Australia. Carrick Hill was built to look like a 17^th century English manor house. This style was chosen to incorporate all the purchases made on their yearlong honeymoon.  In England, they found Beaudesert, a Tudor mansion that was about to be torn down, due to the expense of maintaining it. From the demolition sale, they brought paneling, doors, staircases and windows to Australia. One of their most amazing purchases was the grand staircase shown in Picture 4. When complete, they fitted the house with an eclectic mix of period furniture and contemporary art. Without children, the Haywards’ bequeathed the house and contents to South Australia.

On our second day, we went to the Barossa Valley to drink wine. Our first stop was at Seppeltsfield Winery, which creates excellent wine and provides a good historical cross-section of the Barossa Valley. In the mid-1800s, Catholic Germany was persecuting Lutheran Germans—threatening to take land and money. The Seppelts were a wealthy family of Lutheran tobacco growers, who sold their land and migrated to South Australia. They also brought 13 families, who would work for them. They had to “make do” in this remote locations and built the sideboard in Picture 5 from packing crates they used to transport their belongings.

They tried growing tobacco in this part of Australia and it failed. So, with a little experience in wine making, they started this winery in the 1860s. Picture 6 shows the cellars, which were built in the 1870s. While they have made many varieties of wine, they have become famous for their tawny port. 

Each year since 1878 they have saved one barrel of port and put it away until its 100^th anniversary, when it is finally sold. Picture 7 shows the 1899 tawny port. The 100-year-old port retails for $330 per 100 ml—that’s less than ½ c. A full bottle retails for $7000-8000. We tasted 21-year-old port, which was quite good. We asked how 100-year-old port would compare and were told that it tastes almost like toffee.

Our second wine tasting was at Jacob’s Creek winery, which is a household name about everywhere—we can get it at the grocery store.  The winery was started by another German, who migrated to South Australia in 1837, Johann Gramp. In 1847 he founded the first commercial vineyard in the Barossa Valley, on the banks of Jacob’s Creek. The view across the vineyards from the Visitor center, as shown in Picture 8, is beautiful. They are best known for their Shiraz, the most important and widely planted red grape variety in Australia. Shiraz grapes are shown in Picture 9.

As we’ve found in several countries, the best known commercial wineries do not provide the best touring/tasting experience. The tours are short and the wines tasted are generally not their best. Seppeltsfield was definitely the best experience.

As Picture 10 shows, we’re a long way from home! Currently crossing the rough and chilly Southern Ocean on our way to Western Australia.