An early morning start in Melbourne brings us to the Southern Cross Train Station, ready to board yet another train. We’re hoping with all our hearts that this one won’t bring over-heating cabins, buses and vomit.

Steven and I say goodbye to Nick, whose participation in this adventure ends here. He is planning to watch more free tennis (Australian Open Qualifiers) as we did on our last day in Melbourne. As Steven and I board the train, we are already more hopeful. We see better seats, a lounge car, better food. Great Southern Rail definitely takes more pride in their trains than CountryLink.

The journey is long, but very scenic and we catch glimpses of Adelaide through gum trees as the track winds through the surrounding hills. We arrive at the Parklands Terminal at about 6pm and make our way to the hostel. Dinner is had at one of Adelaide’s many traditional pubs with cheap pizza and, even better, cheap drinks.

We only have two days in this hot, dry city and we decide to spend the first one exploring the sights. We start, of course, at the first Church of Adelaide. Making our way through the enormously wide streets to the Church we pass many other Churches. We also pass a shopping centre.. oh wait no, that’s a Church too. And what looks like a pillow store, or Lincraft? Oh no.. that’s a Church too. It seems that Adelaide is the nation’s ‘cool hang out spot’ for religious buildings of all shapes and sizes. If Churches were hipsters, Adelaide would be their Starbucks.

The Churches, however, added to Adelaide’s picturesque quality. Every corner that was turned revealed another amazing architectural structure, whether it be part of the University, a museum, art gallery, sculpture or memorial. A walk up North Terrace offers amazing sights of beauty and intricacy, along with opportunities to explore the magnificent and expansive botanical gardens.

A must do if you are in Adelaide, ironically enough, does not actually occur in Adelaide but next door in the Barossa Valley. A number of wine tours are available to explore South Australia’s extensive wine region. Most provide a return bus to the Barossa Valley from Adelaide, and lunch. We chose to go on the Groovy Grapes tour. Aimed at young adults, the first stop on our tour was the Big Rocking Horse. Interestingly enough, the Big Rocking Horse doesn’t actually rock. It literally is a big metal horse, which you can pay $2 to climb. As exciting as this may be, we were all ready to leave after about twenty minutes (including time to have coffee) and continued on to our next stop, the Whispering Wall. This amazing phenomenon is just the retaining wall of the Barossa Reservoir. Because of the curvature of the wall, we were able to hear one member of our tour group as clearly as if he were next to us, although he was 140 metres away on the other side of the wall! The strange experience feels as if you are talking on a telephone, though there are no cords or any electronics.

We all thought this was cool, but after this sight-seeing (and the hour long bus ride) we were ready to taste some wine! The first winery we visited was the rather famous Jacob’s Creek. Although we were unable to actually go to the winery, a friendly tour guide showed us the incredible grounds and explained the eco-friendly function of the building and surrounds (that cost $5 million!). And finally, there were some tastings of the wide selection of wines Jacob’s Creek has to offer.

We moved on to Kies, a smaller winery with a more relaxed, bush-like feel about it. After a whirlwind tasting of their wines, we moved out onto their grounds to enjoy a barbecue lunch. Much to the excitement of overseas travellers, we were able to have kangaroo, along with a selection of beef, chicken and salads. Full, but not before an ice cream, we headed onto the next winery. Richmond Grove gave us a chance to view the tubs where grapes were matured and barrels where the wine was subsequently stored. The place however, was fairly quiet and empty and nothing much happens in the way of grape picking until slightly later in the year. Nevertheless, we got to try some more great wines.

Feeling quite happy at this stage, we made our way to the last winery, Seppeltsfield. Lined with palm trees, all the way up the driveway and owning it’s very own mausoleum, Seppeltsfield gives you a sense of grandeur as you enter to taste the fortified wines that it is most known for. The winery was the most relaxed of the four, despite the seeming poshness of the grounds, and we were able to pick and choose the wines we wanted to taste. The employees there were not skint on their tastings and were happy to give us as many different tastes as we wanted, including from a 25 year old bottle of fortified wine.

Tired, a little tipsy and with a bottle of wine in our hand to enjoy with our dinner, we slept most of the bus ride home. The train to Darwin was waiting for us the next day and we were excited to wake up and enjoy our last day in the sleepy city of Adelaide!

Teen on a Train