"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted. " - Bill Bryson
Long weekend 30th September - 3rd October 2016
Day 1: Friday 30th September 2016
My friend Shay and I arrive at Adelaide Airport at 5:35pm. I was so excited to meet my best friend, Nathan at the Airport. Nate picked us up from the airport and took us to the apartment to check in. We booked accommodation in Unley for the long weekend on AirBnB. According to the photos on AirBnB, the place looked and felt like home. If I had my own place, I would totally decorate it like the way its shown in the photos. I didn't look anywhere else because I was convinced this place is perfect. I went with my gut instinct, this was the best choice. As we arrive at the apartment, the place looked modernised. We had to put a passcode to open the door. After we opened the door, the place looked exactly like the photos uploaded on AirBnB. It's a two bedroom apartment. I have only uploaded a photo of one of the bedrooms and the living room. The apartment looks funky and very colourful. The host, Lisa left us with some breakfast items in the cupboard. This was a lovely gesture to help us settle into Adelaide.
After we settled into the apartment, we looked at the brochures Nate got for us. Considering this was the first time for Shay and I to visit Adelaide, we decided to explore the South of Adelaide. We want to cover every corner of South Australia. I want to tick off all the amazing destinations in South Australia on the their map. That's why we only focused on the South and it was easier to explore majority of the South rather than going all over the place. Nate kindly offered to drive us around the South of Adelaide over the long weekend. Below is the itinerary for all the places we visited over the long weekend.
Friday night
Dinner at Nate's mum's work
Drove to Hahndorf (German Town)
Saturday
Road trip to Limestone Coast (6 hours one way)
Mt. Gambier - Blue Lake & Umpherston Sinkhole
Lunch - No 4, Robe
Sunday
Road trip to Fleurieu Peninsula
Port Noarlunga
Henly Beach
Lunch - One Little Sister, Normanville
Victor Harbor & Granite Island
The Bluff
Dinner - Germans Arms Hotel, Hahndorf
Monday
Barossa Valley
- Maggie Beer's Farm Shop
- Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre
- Maggie Beer's Farm Shop
- Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre
Adelaide Shopping Centre
 |
| Lasagna & Salad *Best food* |
Day 2: Saturday, 1st October 2016 - Road trip to the Limestone Coast
We woke up at 6:30am to get ready and have breakfast. 7:30am we left the apartment and went to Woolies to buy some food for the 6 hour road trip to the Limestone Coast. Shay bought a bag full of fruits for the whole entire trip. We also bought a 10L box of refill water. Around 8:30am we headed towards the Limestone Coast. Due to the flooded roads and road block, we had to detour. This took up 40 minutes of our time. We finally found a route that could directly take us to Limestone Coast around 9:30am. As we travelled through the long deserted roads, fishing towns and beautiful Canola fields, we started to get hungry. We needed proper food after surviving on fruits for the past 4 hours. We stopped over at Kingston SE for a toilet break and to fuel up.
 |
| Kingston SE - famous lobster |
All three of us decided that we should stop ever in Robe for lunch. I was so excited to explore small town, Robe. Robe is a picturesque town with lots of friendly people. We got to Robe at 12:30pm. We had lunch at No 4 Robe. The food was flavoursome and divine. I would rate it 5/5.
 Robe Beach |
 |
| Robe Oblisk |
 |
| Pumpkin Soup served with toasted, buttered sourdough No 4 Robe *so delicious* $12.50 |
 |
| No. 4 Angus Beef Burger - 300gm dry-aged beef grilled with Swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce & tomato, served on a ciabatta bun with chipotle aioli, tomato relish & fries No 4 Robe *so delicious* $26 |
 |
| The Bennies - Benedict served with the Splendid Egg's free range poached eggs, on a toasted English muffin with No.4 hollandaise No 4 Robe *so delicious* $20 |
After exploring Robe, we drove past other fishing towns till we reached Mt. Gambier to see the famous Blue Lake at 4pm. Around the corners of the lake, we could see the water change to an Aqua colour. The rest of the lake looked normal blue. Maybe because we went after the season as only some parts were visible with the Aqua colour. You can't really see the colour change on the photo below. I guess its something you have to witness with your own eyes being in front of the lake. It was a magical moment that couldn't be captured but simply experienced.
 |
| Blue Lake - Mt. Gambier |
We spent about 20 minutes near the lake and then headed to our next destination, to find the Umpherston Sinkhole. This is a unique unusual place. It's basically a garden inside a sinkhole. I struggled to capture the whole thing in a photo. It looks so beautiful from the top especially when you walk around it and as you get closer to the bottom, its simply beautiful. It was really crowded when we went but it was so worth it. The park looks so beautiful and peaceful. You can have a little picnic in the park and spend a day there. Shay and I spend 30 minutes on the swings reminiscing our childhood. On the way back, we stopped at Copenhagen for ice cream. We decided to head back to Adelaide at 5pm as it was getting a bit late and Nate had to drive for 6 hours to Unley.
 |
| Umpherston Sinkhole |
 |
| Umpherston Sinkhole |
We stopped over at Coolabah Tree Cafe for a quick bite around 10pm. I bought a chicken wrap for $8.50. It was so filling and delicious. We reached the apartment at 11pm. Today's experience was unique, exciting and enjoyable. We had a lot of fun on our trip to the Limestone Coast. I will definitely be revisiting the Limestone Coast in the future.
Day 3, 2nd October 2016 - Fleurieu Peninsula
We left the apartment at 8:30am to drive to Henly Beach. Me and Shay bought hot chocolates from the cafe near the beach. They sell tasty hot chocolates. Afterwards, we walked down the jetty, which took us 10 minutes as we stopped to take in the views.
 |
| Henly Beach |
 |
| Henly Beach Jetty |
 |
| Welcome to Port Noarlunga |
 |
| Port Noarlunga at its finest |
Next destination on our list was Victor Harbor. Victor Harbor is 2 hours away from Adelaide city. On the way to Victor Harbor, we had lunch at One Little Sister. The cafe had an average menu with decent food. But to our surprise the food was absolutely enticing with amazing flavours. I would rate the food at this cafe 5/5. When it came to the food, we made excellent choices from the food establishment to the menu.
 |
| Roast Pork, Apple, Carrot and Mayo $17 One Little Sister, Normanville |
Victor Harbor was only 30 minutes away from Normanville. We were very lucky that Victor Harbor had a carnival on for the weekend. It looked simply beautiful. I convinced Nate and Shay to go on the Ferris Wheel with me after the walk to Granite Island. We felt like little kids enjoying our childhood. It's the little things that bring joy in our lives and this moment made our trip worth memorable.
 |
| Victor Harbor |
 |
| Victor Harbor Jetty |
 |
| View from Granite Island of Victor Harbor Jetty. We walked all the way from Victor Harbour along the jetty to the Granite Island. It took us 40 minutes. |
 |
| Granite Island Nate has been to Victor Harbor couple of times with his family. He recommended us to go to the Bluff to get a better view of Victor Harbor. The Bluff is 10 minutes away from Victor Harbor and is part of Encounter Bay. We had to walk up the hill to witness an amazing view which took us about 15-20 minutes. It was so windy that at one stage I thought I wouldn't be able to get up the hill. However, I am so glad that Nate kept pushing me not to give up. We stayed at the top for 5-10 minutes to take in the view. It looked surreal. It started to rain so we decided to head back down. The rain was hitting my face really hard, it felt like a sharp object was consistently hitting my face. Finally after 15 minutes, we got back to the car. And surprising, it stopped raining. Just our luck, I guess. Fitness level for the day 10/10 based on the amount of walking we did throughout the day. |
 |
| View from the Bluff - Encounter Bay |
We finished our day off at Hahndorf for dinner. We had dinner at German Arms Hotel. It started raining so we went to the closest food place as most of the other restaurants and cafes looked closed and we didn't want to walk in the rain to find a good food place. I was keen on trying their black forest cheesecake however I was struggling to finish it off after I received my portion of the meal. Nate had to eat my share and Shay's share along with his. After that we were all too full to order desserts. The food was good and the accompany was great. We were so glad that we were inside as it was pouring down heavily. I would rate the food 3.5/5. The food was yummy but not extraordinary.
 |
| The Hills Apple Cider - The Germans Arms Hotel |
 |
| Catch of the day $26 The Germans Arms Hotel |
 |
| Kaseschnitzel - beef schnitzel topped with a blend of mozzarella & tasty matured cheese & German potato Salad $22.90 The Germans Arms Hotel |
 |
| Zigunerschnitzel - chicken schnitzel topped with a fried onion, red pepper & paprika sauce with German rhine potatoes $22.90 The Germans Arms Hotel |
Day 4: 3rd of October 2016 - Barossa Valley
We checked out of the apartment at 8am and decided to head to Barossa Valley. Barossa Valley is really big to explore and we didn't have enough time. So we narrowed it down to Maggie Beer's Farm Shop & Jacob's Creek Visitor's Centre. We spent 3 hours at Barossa Valley. Afterwards we went to Adelaide Shopping Centre at 3pm for lunch before we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes.
 |
| Maggie Beer's Farm Shop Jams $9.99 per bottle Barossa Valley |
 |
| Burnt Fig, Honeycomb & Caramel Ice Cream $3.60 *The Best, my favourite* Maggie Beer's Farm Shop Barossa Valley |
 |
| Welcome to Jacob's Creek - Tanunda Barossa Valley |
 |
| Jacob's Creek Visitor's Centre Barossa Valley |
I sincerely enjoyed my trip to Adelaide and I can't wait to come back to explore some more. Our goodbyes was bitter sweet as it should always be. We enjoyed each other's company but we had to let go until next time. I look forward to meeting Nate again and to another one of our adventures. After Shay and I checked into the airport at 4pm, we bought hot chocolates at Cocolat whilst we waited to board the plane. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed by 1 hour.
 |
| Chilli Hot Chocolate & Top Deck Hot Chocolate $6.50 each Cocolat |
Summary of the trip = my budget $669.02
Flights = $178.50 pp
Accommodation = $193.50 pp for 3 nights
Petrol = $133.89 (total) for 3 days
Food = $127.63 for 3 days
Miscellaneous = $35.50
 |
| We covered majority of the South |
5/5 post cant wait for the next one.
ReplyDelete