March 2--Moving, Part 2; Wine and Glass

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.  --Rumi

    We are staying at the Pullman Hotel in Adelaide. It is super modern with an exceedingly lame air conditioning system, which is baffling in a place where the temperatures regularly hit 100 degrees. Our first room, 614, had no air circulation and was quite hot and stuffy. Repeated calls to the front desk got us no help. We finally went down there in person and complained. Then we went to dinner. Afterwards, long story short, after being settled into 614, we were moved to 814. Fortunately, a hotel employee helped us with the move. We set the thermostat at 16 C (about 60 F) and after running all night, it is just comfortably cool. 

    We did a bus tour of Adelaide, a beautiful city. Then we headed for the Barossa Valley, major vineyard territory in Australia. The state of Southern Australia is known for its almond orchards, copper mines and vineyards. Shiraz is the big wine here. You might recognize Penfolds and Yellow Tail. They are made here. We had a tour of the Seppeltsfield winery which was started in the mid 1800s. We had the most beautiful lunch along with wine tasting:

Art on a plate

    We went to a second winery, but it couldn't top the first. After a bit of begging we got the bus driver to drop several of us off at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens where we had the extravagant good fortune to see the Chihuly glass exhibit. Lanie and I had seen such in Seattle, so it was a treat to see another. Here are a couple of my favorites:

    Our guide, Wayne, (yes, we are living in Wayne's World) said the Gardens are two blocks from our hotel. Let's say those two blocks turned out to be over a mile. Anyway, we walked through the shops and restaurants of Rundell Street and got back to our hotel and enjoyed a free beer (because of last night's annoying move). Then we picked up a pizza at the pub down the street and settled in for the night. 

    We are leaving Adelaide on a 6am flight. Tomorrow's travel is the equivalent of flying from Wichita to Denver via Atlanta. We are headed to Ayers Rock. 

    The weather has been PERFECT. 

    Feeling so blessed!

        Leta

A very large tub of grapes