May 23, 2025 - Arriving in Adelaide
Leaving Kanagroo Island this morning our flight back to Adelaide was about 40 minutes, We arrived at our next accommodation, Saquia Lodge, in the Adelaide hills around noon. Another luxury hotel. We had lunch, Cathy had a massage, and then we met some friends from long ago, Bob and Elizabeth Basedow, for dinner at a local restaurant.
May 24, 2025 - Wine tasting in the Barossa Valley
Leaving our lodge early, Jane, our guide for the day, set out for the Barossa Valley for some excellent wines. Our first stop was Gumpara, a vineyard run by the 5th generation. We met Mike the owner and headed into the Celler Door for some excellent wines.
Next was Kaesler where again we had more great wines. Here is the “Old Bastard” wine from the oldest still producing vines in the world, of special note they had a sparkling Sharaz that was superb.
We noted that here in the Barossa, we are not allowed in the Vineyards. This is because this area was never affected by the phylloxera parasite that destroyed the vines in Europe in the early 19th century.
On the way back to Adelaide we stopped in a beautiful 1800’s house for a look at some Opals. Sophia, the women who makes the jewelry from these stones gave us a quick education on the mining and refining of this quintessential Australian stone.
May 25, 2025 – Adelaide
Though the forecast had been for rain, we awoke to a bright sunny day. And lucky as we had planned a day at the Cleland Wildlife Park with our former Au pair, Bianca and her family.
Bianca picked us up with her daughter Zoey at our lodge and it was a fabulous greeting after 30 years of only connecting online. We drove to the park, where Bianca works, when not on maternity leave, just 10 minutes from our lodge. Stephen, her husband was already there. We walked around the park encountering many of the animals we have seen throughout our stay in Australia so far, though we did get to see some new bird species close up.
