S01-E10
From Adelaide back to Sydney - what could go wrong
We spent a few nights in Adelaide to explore the city and the neighboring wine region of Barossa Valley. Adelaide is a city of about 1.3 million people. It has a concentrated downtown area bordered by a river on the north and parks on the other three sides. Lots of public transportation, bars, pubs, restaurants, and shopping. Here are some of our highlights:
Peel Street - great, fresh food with amazing flavors. Great wine list and service. This is where we had an orange wine from Ludo a local vineyard in the Adelaide Hills - so yummy
Sol Rooftop - good cocktails with a great view of the city and river below
Shobosho - Yakatori-style dishes that are packed with flavor. Really good wine list. Here we drank another local ‘skin’ wine, this time from Vinteloper
Wine Tour:
Taste The Barrosa - experience three vineyards and a couple of the regions local sights. In our opinion Rosenvale where we bought a sparking white, a rose, and a Cab Sav
After a couple of days and nights we headed north and east to our next stops - Renmark, Mungo State Park, Hay, and Cowra (CARA). We had our first RSL experience in Remark which started a love affair that did not end.
Our last stop was in the Blue Mountains just 1.5 hours outside of Sydney. Think of a smaller, tropical version of the Grand Canyon in the States. We did a number of great hikes. Below are the ones that we managed to tackle:
Katoomba Falls - hike this during that day and the evening when the falls are lit up
The Three Sisters - you can continue onto The Three Sisters from the Katoomba Falls trail
Prince Harry Cliff Walk and Fern Bowers Circuit - stunning! You feel like you are in Jurrasic Park, but there are some serious heights and A TON of stairs so this one is difficult
Katoomba, which is the town that abuts the Blue Mountains park is very cute. Mountain town vibes with shopping, good grocery stores, good restaurants and bars, as well as the best RSL we went to. The town also has a great bus system which makes it very easy to get around because parking can be hard to come by during the busy holiday times. They also have Taxi service in the town. Here are our recommendations:
Katoomba RSL - great bar, really good food. Looks to be very new. As always the staff are super friendly and helpful
Bowery - more upscale for Katoomba. We had Christmas Eve dinner here and it was excellent - both the food and the service. Inside of an old church. Seems like on weekends and holidays they usually have live music
Old City Bank Bar & Brasserie - historic with a funky interior. We just had drinks, but the food looked good
The Bootlegger Bar Katoomba - a bar with a great selection of spirits. They seem to have live music on the weekends
