A Weekend in the Adelaide Hills

19-21 May 2017

I am spending the weekend with friends Andrew and Midori up in the Adelaide Hills but I have most of Friday in Adelaide city. After my Great Ocean Road and Kangaroo Island Adventure, I make the most of having a leisurely morning (the first in what seems like a very long time) before having to pack up my bags and store them in the luggage room after checking out. I have arranged to meet a friend Bronwyn for a coffee but she is delayed by an hour and half, so I decide to have brunch and then explore the Central Adelaide Markets. We have a good catch before Bronwyn has to head back to work. I head back to finish looking around the markets and buy some snacks for lunch. Then I see there is a massage place there and opt to have a relaxing massage. This really finishes me off so I head back to the Youth Hostel* to make the most of the WiFi and catch up on my journal, photos, emails etc.

Midori comes to pick me up late-afternoon. We head up to the hills with a stop at the fruit and vege store to pick up some supplies. It is an absolutely beautiful drive up into the hills, with the trees turning autumn colours and the late afternoon sun lighting up patches of trees on the hills. This is the fruit growing region and there are cherry and apple orchards everywhere. They live in a little valley with like-minded people enjoying the rural environment. I feel instantly at home in their little slice of paradise.

Autumn in the Cherry Orchard

Andrew and Midori are having renovations done on their home and a big gum tree has been cut down as it was dying and in danger of falling on the house. Two guys are there with a timber mill and have cut the tree into great slabs of wood that they will use in the building. They are just packing up and we all have a tour of the property, particularly the orchard area and the nursery where Midori is growing native plants for themselves and many of the neighbours, before sitting outside enjoying a glass of wine. I meet the cat Stella and the chickens – Ding and Bat. We have a lovely evening catching up over cooking and eating a risotto dinner and then around the fire with more wine.

: Ding and Bat

: Native plant nursery

: Orchard (with ridge behind)

Saturday: Barossa Valley Day Trip

We have a relaxed start with omelettes for breakfast and then head off to the Barossa Valley wine-growing region. I will cover this further in a separate post.

We get back at 5.00 and find Andrew’s son Sam and daughter-in-law Dani waiting for us. They have just returned from their honeymoon and were dropping in to say hello before going back to their home. We lit a big fire and all sat around it until it had died down enough that we can cook potatoes and sweetcorn in the embers and then lamb chops on top. Midori then has to go and babysit, so Andrew and I clean up and sit round the fire inside chatting until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and head off for bed leaving Andrew watching football and waiting up for Midori.

Sunday: Adelaide Hills and Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Andrew and I get up early on Sunday morning for a brisk bush-bashing climb up the ridge behind the house. It is a very steep climb with no paths but absolutely worth the effort as from the top we can see out right across the hills to Adelaide in one direction and the start of the Barossa Valley in the other. The view is absolutely stunning. We spend time looking at various native plants, including some tiny native orchids, and the different birds – even a pair of tawny frogmouths that we think were startled off a nest as we pass a hollow tree emanating a horrible smell.

The climb seems even steeper going down (but requires a lot less effort). Andrew tells me that I am the first NZ visitor to both ascend and descend the ridge – another friend made it up but his knees wouldn’t let him make it back down (got a car ride back from further along the ridge). Feeling very virtuous, we head back for breakfast of ham and cheese croissants.

Ridge behind the house

View down to house

Adelaide Hills from top of ridge

North Adelaide

Start of Barossa Valley

Native orchid

Native cranberry

Pink heath

White heath

Then there is some very hard work ahead (for Andrew and Midori at least): the newly sawn timber must be stacked and covered to dry before the rains that are due. I had no idea how they would be able to manage it as the slabs were very heavy but between them, with crafty manoevering using crowbars and round logs as rollers, they somehow managed it. My role was to strategically place the spacers between the slabs in the pile as they lifted them on. This was followed by chainsawing and general tidying of the area.

Fire Shelter

House Renovations

Stacking timber slabs

Chain-sawing

Fire pit

After a late lunch, they ask whether I’d prefer a trip to the art gallery or botanic gardens. It is such a beautiful autumn afternoon that we opt for a walk in the botanic gardens. Both Andrew and Midori are keen botanists and Midori has previously worked at the gardens. She also has been on tours through the gardens with experts, so is a perfect tour guide whisking us through the best parts of the garden including to the various glasshouses just before they close. There is a lovely old glasshouse that is one of the last remaining in the world – there is one at Kew Gardens – now containing Madagascan plants including an enormous palm tree. Another glasshouse contains a giant lily pond. And there is an amazing glasshouse structure that houses a rainforest. Unfortunately it is no longer operating with temperature and humidity controls but the plants seem to be surviving quite nicely. We see the Museum of Economic Botany that has a magnificent interior that is apparently being eyed up for turning into a function centre as funds for the Gardens are very tight. The late afternoon sun through the trees makes our walk spectacular.

Back in the Adelaide Hills we have an evening stroll through the orchard and then up the dead-end road just as night is falling and are rewarded with seeing a koala up a tree. Then it is back to sit around the fire with a nice meal and more local wine. It has been a wonderful time staying with such hospitable friends but tomorrow I must face the real world and travel back home to New Zealand.

Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Palm House (Madagascar Collection)

Madagascan Palm

Stunning Autumn Colours

Native flowers

Native Birds

Wollemi Pine

Australian Kauri

Museum of Economic Botany

Up the garden path

Rainforest greenhouse

Bottle tree

Waterlily pavillion

Rotunda

Andrew and Midori

Koala at dusk

*The Central Adelaide Youth Hostel is a well priced establishment, very centrally located and handy to the markets and the bus station. It has standard backpacker-type dorms if you wish or you can get a private room with shared facilities or for only $20 more get an ensuite bathroom which makes it very comparable with many hotel rooms I have stayed in.

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