“I’m surprised I’ve got anyone on the tour today”, commented Michael, our driver and guide for today’s Barossa Tour. It’s Melbourne Cup Day and it was a surprisingly good day for a bus tour to the Barossa, since the bus was only half full.

As we headed towards the Barossa for lunch and wine tastings we called in at a number of locations along the way including the giant rocking chair, the Angas Park Fruit Factory, Herbig’s Tree (here an early German immigrant family lived for six years) and on the way back at locations like the “Whispering Wall” (another irrigation facility!) where you can, literally stand on one side of the dam wall and speak to people on the other as the sound curves around.

Amongst wineries, for taste the highlight was Grant Burge, and for buildings/location etc it was Chateau Yaldara, owned by McGuigan. We called in to another couple, but they weren’t nearly as memorable.

Overall it was a good tour, with our guide showing a lot of knowledge about the history of the state, and far more pleasant than driving ourselves.

On arriving back in Adelaide, I caught up tonight with my friend Jacqui who I used to know in the Riverland when we both lived there twenty years ago. Thanks to Facebook, we’ve been reunited, as we lost touch as we both moved places several times in that period. A wonderful evening.