Let me tell you about the weather. It’s cold. Cold as can be. It dropped to a couple of degrees below zero last night, and I think I felt every last one of those degrees. Then when we awoke this morning, it was to find the surrounding blades of grass glossy wet with dew and melted frost. If it was any consolation, which I thought indeed it was, the sun was shining today, making for a most definite brighter outlook.

Once we had finally thawed out to the same extent as the layer of frost outside, we gathered up the dogs, bundling them into ‘The Beast’, for they will be accompanying us again to day on our adventures as we are planning to be out for much too long to leave them confined within the tin can on their lonesome. With them, and us settled in for the drive we took off, on our way via the scenic route to the tourist town of Hahndorf.

Along the way, as we navigated the typically poor sections of road that make up these so called ‘scenic’ routes, we passed through sleepy little hamlets, great forests of towering trees, wide open pastoral meadows and yards of cattle, sheep and deer, which I identified much to Becs amusement as beef, lamb and venison.

Before reaching Hahndorf, we stopped briefly at a fromagerie, chocolate and lolly factory as well as the factory outlet for the well known and very tasty Beerenberg range of preserves, jellies and relishes. Already, this was promising to be a day of decadent epicurean delights.

The Cheese And Chocolate Factories.

In Hahndorf itself, we parked ‘The Beast’ in a well hidden car park in the optimism that there would be only a minor amount of traffic to annoy the dogs, who would have to remain locked inside. If we knew that they would behave themselves, which they wouldn’t, we would have taken the chance to walk them along with us. Apart from their craving to bark at every other four legged creature and some two legged ones as well, the walk up and down the main street of Hahndorf would be well and truly too much for them. Alvin was obviously not happy with this whole idea however, letting out a few whimpering barks as we walked away, leaving them to their own devices while we went exploring.

ARCHITECTURE OF HAHNDORF.

Hahndorf is very much a tourist town now, featuring a distinct Germanic, Bavarian flavor that harks back to its early days. There is history here also though, with a great many of the properties having survived the ravages of time and redevelopment, to remain standing as a living museum today, tenanted by a range of stores from chic boutiques, giftware shops, stores bursting with antiquities and plain old rubbish and others selling all manner of handcrafted goodies. Mixed amongst these businesses is an over abundance of restaurants, cafes, hotels and other food retailers, all offering a mouth watering array of decidedly indulgent choices. We chose a café in which to partake in lunch, and despite the very European influence, dined once more on pies. Even better than yesterdays, Bec chose a potato pie once more, a 3 inch high work of pastry, meat and potato art. A similarly statuesque beef, bacon and cheese filled pastry was my choice of sustenance. The meat in both of the pies could well have been ripped from prime steak, such was the texture of the hunks of beef they contained, floating in a gravy that barely oozed, let alone being able to run down our chins.

Small Table, Big Lunch.

While the pies would well have been sufficient to tide us over, a huge selection of cakes and sweets had also caught our attention, so also delivered to our suddenly very small looking table was an apple strudel that was about the size of my outspread hand, which is by no means on the small size, and a slice of chocolate and nuts. Oh, and did I mention the chocolate milkshakes that came out in gigantic paper cups, to wash everything down with. We struggled through the bulk of the tucker, although the waitress was mortified when we approached the counter, plate in hand with the nut slice still atop it. I think she thought we were going to complain about something, so it was with a sigh of relief that she bagged it up for us to take away with us for later on.

With our tummies now bulging tightly against our belts, we continued our walking tour of Hahndorf, a good choice we decided in a mostly in vain attempt to unload some of the recently inducted calories from our bodies. It was an unquestionably slower amble post lunch, somewhat more akin to a waddle than a walk, as we popped in and out of the delicate little shops, admiring them as much for their old world architecture as for their wares. It was a good many hours later, armed with an assortment of fancy bags, that we finally made our way back to ‘The Beast’ and the dogs.

The German Pantry

Bec Makes Another Purchase.

So much for being happy to see us, it wasn’t until the doors unlocked with a clunk that either of them even woke up and acknowledged us. That said, as soon as the W, A, L, K word was uttered, their sleepiness dissolved into immediate excitement as we lifted them out of the back seat and wandered them around to the nearby park where they could run about and do their business on the lush grass.

Walking The Dogs.

With our time in Hahndorf at a conclusion, instead of returning by the scenic route to Tanunda, which in hindsight would have been simpler, quicker and cheaper, we strove to make our way through the Adelaide Hills to the city centre. There was a couple of things we, and by we I mean me, had decided that we needed and should have bought yesterday. It was decided that we would also therefore head for the giant white warehouse of Costco fame, where we saw extremely cheap fuel yesterday. After all of its hard work, ‘The Beast’ needs, and deserves, another sip of go, go juice.

Along the lengthy descent into Adelaide from the hills, I saw an ominous sign advising that the ‘toll gate’ was only a few minutes away. We had traveled this road a few short weeks ago, and not noticed a toll road. I, at the time was too busy if you recall, trying to figure out why our fuel economy was hovering at previously unseen astronomic levels, to notice a ‘toll gate’. This time, we began our look out early, in an effort to exit the road before hand, while ruminating about the possibility that there would be a nasty piece of mail awaiting us at home, advising us of how much we owed the South Australian Government for passing by said ‘toll gate’.

We burst out laughing as we squirreled our way out of the hills, to see a sign for the ‘toll gate’ an old and obviously no longer in use, stone booth in the centre median strip. No stopping, no tolls and thankfully, no fines when we return home.

At Costco, we topped up ‘The Beast’ at arate of about 14C per litre cheaper than anywhere else in Adelaide, which explained the protracted queues of vehicles at both Costco and the Adjacent Shell service station that had similarly low prices. The joys for the consumer, of competition.

I had then to make one last stop to purchase a new keyboard for the computer. All of this typing I have been doing recently has worn out the one attached to my laptop (no, really). A wrong turn saw us getting stuck in peak hour traffic, which oddly started at just after 4:00PM and looked to make for a later than expected return to the van. Our plans then, had to be altered to suit.

We had envisioned dropping the dogs off at the van, before going out for dinner, the thought of cooking imbuing the contemplation of hard work on us, to which we weren’t convivial. Instead, with the hour getting later, the dogs had to endure a further wait within the confines of ‘The Beast’. It was not before another W, A, L, K though. We couldn’t be that cruel to them. Thankfully, right across the road from where we had chosen to dine, there was a sprawling park, turfed in thick grass and resplendent with trees for them to scoot and sniff about. Much to our surprise, although maybe to be expected after being constricted all day, they were both energetic enough to enjoy a short gallop, pulling me comically along behind, leashes at full stretch.

With all of the great cellar doors, wineries and other restaurants around the Barossa we were spoilt for choice as to a kitchen to eat from. We decided on one of our favorites though, the highly unlikely ‘Fasta Pasta’. Cheap, fast(a), easy and filling. After a huge day, it was just the ticket, before we returned to the van, fed the dogs and sat down to finally relax some, with the promise of a share in a gooey, chocolaty, nutty slice for a late dessert. Yep, Fasta Pasta aside, it was indeed a day of delights of an epicurean nature.

Until next time, have fun, stay safe and don’t forget to write.