South Australia, with its warm and dry climate, is ideal for wine-production, and indeed SA not only is the host of the National Wine Centre, but also produces 80% of Australia’s annual export of wine to overseas – so I was told by the tour guide on the bus ride to the Barossa Valley: a town famous for its wine-production, located an hour outside of Adelaide City.
As the bus entered Barossa Valley, I was greeted by the first scene of vineyards. Under the blazing sun and the crystal-clear sky, the vast area of ground was covered by dry, brown grape vines standing in neat and endless rows, their ancient branches (some as old as a hundred years) twisting horizontally, as if little wooden people with their arms outstretched on either side of them.
The brown colour of the earth and the vines was contrasted by the rich and vivid green from the grass and the hills in the distance. On either side of the road were many tall, thick, and flourishing palm trees, planted – again taking credit for information from the tour guide – during the Great Depression decades ago.
We also visited a number of wineries, where everyone else in the group (with me watching interestedly) enjoyed the wine tasting – a process of finding out what type of wine best agreed with your taste buds.
The trip was concluded by a visit to a toy factory on our way back, where stood the biggest rocking horse in the world. The gigantic wooden thing smiled cutely down at us, its vivid red paint glowing in the bright afternoon sunlight.