Australia Part II – Adelaide and Barossa Valley

I thought it was about time to squeeze in an Australia post here. If you haven’t read the last one, you can find Australia Part I here.

After we left Sydney we went straight to Adelaide. The city itself reminded me of Sacramento and as I am not a big fan of Sacramento (no offense to anyone who lives there!) I have to say that I wasn’t a *huge* fan of the city. That *might* have been because it was literally 110 degrees Fahrenheit (no I’m not making that up) on one day and never dropped below 100 degrees the whole time we were there. It was pretty miserable. The actual city is very small and there’s not much to do there, but they did have some nice buildings (especially at the University) and the Botanical garden was neat – though not as nice as Sydney… also probably due to the heat! We only spent a day and a half there, though, as the other day in Barossa Valley (which was beautiful… more on that below) and the next day in Kangaroo Island (next post) which was really cool and made the whole trip to Adelaide more than worth it – really!

Even though Adelaide didn’t melt my heart – I promise you it did try! – I have to admit that parts of it were beautiful. I particularly liked their Performing Arts Center:

They also had these cute little outdoor cafes in cool older buildings:

I did really like some of their architecture as well. This part of the street drew me in for some reason:

The University was very nice as well. And those purple flowering trees? Could one of you Aussie readers *please* tell me what they are? We saw them everywhere but just had no idea what to call them. I’d never before seen a tree with purple flowers and they were gorgeous!

We spent the rest of the day at the Botanic Gardens and these are my favorite shots from there:

So I guess I’m ignorant, but I’d never before actually SEEN the middle of a fern. I was amazed at how much it looked like a flower! So pretty!

I thought this plant looked really soft from this particular angle:

But it really really isn’t, LOL!

This one just cracked me up… I guess Santa loves his salads! And since it is summer during Christmas there (and they were having a Christmas Pageant on the day we were there – in 110 degree weather… it was insane!) I guess Santa eats healthier stuff than Milk and Cookies up North! 😉

I think this picture perfectly demonstrates Life and Death:

Most of the plants were dying (it was SO hot there) and most of their water was dried up too. But there was signs of life here and there:

I feel in love with this sculptured fountain… it’s made out of sheets of glass!

And one more… a self portrait (of sorts):

They also had a really neat area for Lilly Pads! I’d seen Lilly Pads before, but I guess never these kind! They are just so awesome check it out:

Can you tell that they have SPIKES on them? I’m not sure if a frog would like to land on one of these!

The next day we went to the Barossa Valley which is famous for its vineyards. We went to a wine tasting (which was very very good – the Shiraz is amazing – of course) and to look at the scenery. No pictures of the wine, though, as I was too busy drinking it! 😉

You won’t believe it (I know I didn’t) but the next picture is of this enormous tree that some guy *lived* in for 11 years (that’s right eleven YEARS) of his life during which time he married AND had two kids (or maybe three?) while saving money to build his house and move them in there. Honestly, how crazy is that?

We also stopped by a small German village in the Barossa Valley. It’s called Handorf and it’s just so quaint and cute. It really does feel like a transported piece of Germany – well, except for the deadly heat and the Australians! 😉

How awesome is this? They had a PUPPET shop! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before in my life. Especially not one as cute as this!

I love this mailbox!

And just for my knitting friends, an Alpaca store! They raise Alpacas in this area and a lot of the stores were selling wool:

And I know what you’re thinking: who would need wool in a place this hot? I was wondering the same thing myself and must say that I think they’re nuts! Honestly it never gets below 60 or so there… but I guess to each their own! But even the thought of *touching* wool in that kind of hot weather (for my celsius friends it was *43* degrees at the time!) was sort of revolting, as sad as that sounds. I was thinking that they must not do much business in this weather and then I saw this sign which you all have to thank my husband for the picture of as he made me take it for you!

Now I’m just wondering how often they’re closed during the summer, LOL!

I will leave you all (and expect an awesome entry of Kangaroo Island next time!) with a picture of a wild Koala we saw when heading back into Adelaide. I did also see Kangaroos and Wallabies but never once got a good picture of one… koalas are easy as they rarely move! 🙂

Oh and thank you to those of you who let me know that Australia has now overturned their no-knitting-needles allowed rule as of Christmas day! I can now travel to Australia again and bring my knitting with me on the plane (don’t know when that will be, but you know)!