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Last weekend we traveled to South Australia to enjoy some wine and wildlife! Inspired by a trip that our friends Chris and Jess did about a year ago, we spent time on Kangaroo Island and the Barossa Valley, one of Australia's most famous wine regions. 

We flew Tiger Airways to Adelaide on Friday afternoon. Tiger offers incredibly cheap fares (20-30 dollars), but you definitely get what you pay for.. there's no online check-in and the service is notoriously bad. Oh well, it got us to Adelaide in one piece! After checking into the airport hotel we took the bus into Adelaide to walk around. There really wasn't much to see there as a visitor except for some interesting old buildings and churches and the University of Adelaide was quite pretty. Our favorite part of the city was where we had drinks and dinner - Apothecary 1878, which I had read about it in the Good Food Guide in advance. Mike had an authentic mint julep in a special pewter cup and after drinks we headed down to a brick wine cellar for a yummy dinner.

We had an early flight the next morning to Kangaroo Island, which we were okay with given our motel was slightly creepy. There was a hot tub in the middle of our bedroom and the curtains didn't quite blind the fluorescent sign outside (a la Kenny Rogers Chicken from Seinfeld). We were picked up by our wilderness guide after arriving at Kingscote Airport and within minutes of being on the road we saw a koala in this big dead tree and a black tiger snake (apparently the 4th deadliest in the world, eek!).  Our guide first took us to a forested area where we saw koalas hanging out in the trees. After morning tea we headed to Flinders Chase National Park to see Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks. Then our guide Peter, who has been a sheep farmer on Kangaroo Island for 30 years, made us a delicious BBQ lunch. In the afternoon we ventured to Seal Bay, a nature reserve and breeding area for Australian seal lions...it was cool to get relatively close to these animals.

With temperatures at 37C (99F), we were all pretty hot so we waded into the water at Vivonne Bay, which was rated Australia's best beach 2002. The water was so turquoise blue and amazingly clear! Peter then drove us through his farm on the way to a local sheep dairy where we got a cheese tasting and tour. It was fun to see the sheep's milking routine and understand all the work that goes into producing cheese and yogurt.

After about nine hours of touring we were driven to our B&B called Seascape Lodge. It was a wondeful place overlooking Emu Bay. After we went swimming at the beach, we had drinks on the deck and the owners made us a three course meal followed by a yummy brekkie the next morning. We felt very spoiled and it was difficult to leave and get on the plane again.

Although, after getting back to Adelaide the fun didn't stop! We drove about an hour out of the city to the Barossa Valley. We visited four fabulous wineries, Two Hands, Hentley Farm, Rockford and Turkey Flat. A lot of the wineries had a really nice rose, which I was loving given the weather. Our accomodation was a self catering little cottage originally built by German emigrants in the mid 1800's. Mike killed a HUGE spider right when we got there, so I was a bit worried about the bug situation the whole time.

The next day we visited two more wineries, Bethany and Teusner. Teusner doesn't have a cellar door so we had a private tasting in the wine production area and liked it so much we purchased a case. On the recommendation of Chris and Jessica, we drove about 30 minutes outside of the Barossa to Wombat Rise, an animal sanctuary for injured or orphaned wildlife.  They had lots of birds including Galahs, Cockatoos, Kookaburas and Owls plus twenty kangaroos, several wombats and more. I got to cuddle a wombat and play with several young kangaroos!

It was a busy weekend, but I feel like we really saw a lot and had some unforgettable experiences. You'll see in the photos that Mike has some facial hair.. nope he didn't forget to shave, he's growing a mustache (aka mo) for Movember. More to come.

Last Sunday we checked out Sculpture by the Sea, a display of over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and around the world on the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. Set against such a beautiful backdrop, all the sculptures seemed pretty incredible. We'd never seen such a cool fusion of art and the outdoors, plus it was perfect photography material for Mike. Hope you like the pictures.  

Over the weekend we also went to two Halloween parties and a Mexican Fiesta. Friday night we decorated cupcakes and ate lots of candy, Saturday we carved pumpkins and watched an awesomely bad scary movie about genetically altered sheep in NZ (thanks Jennie and Thor) and Sunday after the sculpture walk we took care of our appetites with homemade fajitas and margaritas at Chris and Jessica's place. We are very lucky to have such wonderful friends here!

Tonight I met up with Monique and Megan at South Restaurant, which serves American soul food like pulled pork, hot wings, hushpuppies, sweet tea and pumpkin pie. We'd been eying the menu online so it was fun to finally go! We all agreed it was not as good as the 'real thing' but it was pretty darn close.

Mike brought back pumpkin pie mix and jet puff marshmellows from the US so I'm looking forward to making some pie and sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving next month :)

I've wondered why the handful of islands in Sydney Harbour aren't more accessable to the public. I mean, these are cool bits of land with amazing views! Obviously others have been thinking the same because this year a special Island Hopping tour was announced as part of the annual Crave festival. With the purchase of a ticket, we got to access four islands (Fort Denison, Shark Island, Garden Island and Clark Island) via a special ferry service. On each island we had about 40 minutes to explore, eat a picnic and enjoy some of the entertainment, which was pretty hokey to be honest. You'll see in one of the pics that a lady with a crazy puppet animal seriously invaded my personal space while I was enjoying my sandwich. When swatting it away I was told to give it 'respect'..uh what? Show me some respect! Anyhow, the weather actually cooperated for the first time in a very rainy week and it was a great way to get outside, spend time with friends and see four islands in one day -- something that would be nearly impossible to do on our own with regular ferry service.  Next up, the Night Noodle Market in Hyde Park! It's apparently an October tradition as part of the Intnl Food Festival that Sydneysiders look forward to and associate with Springtime. Yay!

Today was all about food and I loved every minute of it! It started off at 10 am with high tea at the Victoria Room in the historic Queen Victoria building. A group of us planned this after learning that the movie Julie and Julia was *finally* opening in Australia. What could be a better precursor to seeing this movie than eating scones (with jam and clotted cream), finger sandwiches and sweets? After our bellies were full of fancy tea and food, we headed a few blocks down the street to see the movie. I thought Meryl Streep's impersonation of Julia Child was spot on and I enjoyed learning more about her introduction to cooking in Paris and her path to noteriety later in life. Overall, a very cute movie. Then we shopped around a bit until we were (believe it or not) hungry again! We headed to the food hall at David Jones, which sort of resembles the ones in Marks & Spencer and Harrods in London...a very gourmet selection of things to buy with lots of different areas to sit and eat various cuisines. I then rolled myself home!