Monday, Day 44 - Feb. 19 - 8am to 7pm, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Adelaide is a graceful and enchanting city lying nestled on the coastal plain between Gulf St. Vincent and the Adelaide Hills. A metropolis of over one million people, Adelaide boasts tree-lined boulevards, superb Victorian and Edwardian architecture, tranquil parks, world-class shopping, gastronomy and outdoor activity. In 2009 we spent an afternoon in this delightful city while riding the India Pacific Train for three days from Sydney to Perth. Then we rode the Ghan for two days though the Red Center from Darwin back to Adelaide. Before leaving the area, we spent time in Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills enjoying the wines of those regions, two of the five wine regions around Adelaide. Plus, we also made a  trip to Kangaroo Island to explore the unique wildlife of Australia.

Today we have the first of three special World Cruise Events. Regent usually does a good job on these events so we are looking forward to the day. The description reads - 2018 WORLD CRUISE EVENT - VINEYARDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN COUNTRYSIDE - Visit the countryside at a local winery, where regional growers and producers come together to showcase the best farm-to-table produce from the area and some of the best wines that the Adelaide Hills wine region has to offer. Enjoy a tour of the vineyard and then sit back and relax to the music of one of Australia’s leading country bands.

The tour meets at 8:45AM so we are up and in the Compass Rose at 8AM. The La Veranda is just too much noisy and confused with everyone stumbling around and grabbing food from the counters for us to enjoy breakfast. We have plenty of time and are in the lounge to pick up our bus ticket by 8:30AM. There are five buses going on this tour with about 35 people on each bus. We are on the road by 9AM, heading  into Adelaide for a tour of the city. It is really a pretty city with wide streets and parks laid out in a grid pattern and much of its Victorian beginnings are still an integral part of the fabric of the city.

From there we head to the Barossa Valley. One of the five wine producing regions around Adelaide. It was settled in the 1840s and 50s by German immigrants. First they were mainly farmers, but over time moved to wine production. The Seppeltsfield Estate is one of the best in the area. Their legacy dates back to 1851 and is one of Australia’s iconic wine estates, famed for the Centennial Collection, an irreplaceable and unbroken lineage of Tawny Port barrels of every vintage from 1878 to now. It is really a small, self contained wine making village and was family owned and run until only recently.  

We arrive at a beautiful, old world looking complex of buildings where we are offered a sparkling white or red wine with wonderful French bread and a flavorful olive oil dipping sauce. If wine isn’t one’s thing in the morning they also have tea and coffee with German cake. From there we are divided into five groups based on our bus number and are given a tour with five stops. This is supposed to last from 11:30AM to 1:30PM. As usual, that plan does not hold up.

We first go to what is called the Jam Factory which has nothing to do with jam but is where artists demonstrate their crafts. It was the original stables, but is now a modern studio/museum/shop inside with beautiful handmade pieces on display and for sale. Carolyn buys two pieces of leather work. Next is a stop in front of the original Seppeltsfield Home for some family history. From there we go across the grounds to one of the many cellars for a wine sampling. After about 15 minutes of standing, Carolyn gives out. It is beginning to get really warm and all the standing gets to her. She heads for the cellar that is being converted into an event venue where they will serve us lunch.

The venue will probably be very nice when completely redone, but right now it is just a big,old metal and frame building with a dirt/gravel floor. It was used for many years to store the famous Port Collection. There are no fans or A/C to move the air and there are no restrooms except port-a-potties behind the building. The only restrooms are back up at the main entrance about a block away. Carolyn is one of the first to bail on all the standing, but before long there are about 25 others sitting with her.

Dick continues with the tour and goes to the cooperage and watches how they make the barrels for the wine. Remember this is a village winery, they grow or make on the grounds almost everything they need. The last stop is the one Carolyn really wanted to do, but as it turns out there are very steep steps up to the attic cellar. This is where they keep the Ports produced each year and everyone is able to taste the port produced the year they were born. This is a super special part of the tour just for us. There is normally no tasting of this product. They will dip 100ml and put it in a special bottle and then in a special wooden box with the appropriate paper work for $500AUS! Dick passes on that, but he did get a small glass to bring to the lunch venue for Carolyn to taste. Our birth year Port tastes sort of like Kahlua.

Each of these five stops are to be about 30 minutes and lunch is to start by 2PM. Carolyn and her group are told to sit anywhere and are given either water, wine or beer to sip while we wait for the others. Around 2PM a music group sets up and does a very nice program during lunch.

The first of the five groups finally shows up about 2:30PM with a “drill sergeant” of a guide. The guide informs Carolyn her group they have to sit together and tells Carolyn and a couple sitting with her they have to move! Carolyn ignores the guide and the guide finally asks her if she is going to move and she says, “No,” she is happy where she is ( the last two chairs at the very end of a table for about 70.  The guide rudely informs Carolyn she has to sit with her bus group and that the guide wants her bus group at the end of this table. So move along!! Some in the bus group are complaining about wanting to sit with friends in other groups, but are being told no. When Carolyn and the strays arrived we were told we could sit where we wanted by the Dining Hostess, but having no interest in having a fight with this bossy woman over a chair, Carolyn and a couple of others move over to the end of the next table and the rude guide herds her people into a tight group at the end of the table.

In another 15 minutes, three more groups come in and sit wherever they want. Dick’s group is the last to arrive and it is close to three o’clock. Meanwhile hordes of severs are passing out the first course which is a tasty collection of small bits. There is a long lag time before the main course shows up, a huge plate of tasty beef roast and a pile of pesto chicken along with salad and root veggies. During this time, the addition of 200 people to an unventilated room has caused it to become very warm. Dick and several around us are hot so they go outside where there is a breeze.

After having a taste of the main course, Carolyn finds Dick and we walk back up to the restrooms. Our bus driver passes us as we start back, so we turn around and follow him to the bus and ride the bus back to the events room where we pick up the rest of the group. The tour plan had us heading back to the bus at 4PM. So apparently, whether or not you had a chance to eat your main course and dessert, you are leaving. It is a real shame that the meal was so fouled up as it is really good food with plenty of good wine.

As a gift we each get a bottle of a very nice Grenach, a red. The bus takes a different route back to the bus and we see one of the several small German towns that populate this area. Later we learn that this is the first time the Estate has done something like this for such a large group which explains the time problem; both as to our ability as guests to keep up a fast pace and their ability to serve a large group from a satellite kitchen.

Back at the ship we head to the room and rest a bit before going to the Galileo Lounge to watch sail-a-way with snacks and a drink. We run into our Australian friends and drink and talk until 9PM...Bed time! Back in the room we return our tour tickets for tomorrow, having had our fill of bus tours for awhile. We order two bowls of cereal from room service before turning in.