Renée's posterous

We have had a very busy time here in Adelaide - we started in the south in an area called McLaren Vale & soon discovered that it wasn't possible to do one poster for the whole of South Australia not only because there are just too many to represent, but also that the separate areas are just that -separate - and shouldn't be lumped together. Fair enough. That was invaluable information and just what we needed to be comfortable with the project.

 

Our first few days we collected 31 doors & then headed north to THE BAROSSA and found a huge supply of wonderful doors with so much history eg Jacob's Creek, Charles Melton, Seppeltsfield, Langmeil etc. It's a huge area with several little pockets of wineries so that has meant quite a lot of driving, all in lovely countryside of course, and having 2 of us means I can keep records on the run & try to help navigate, something that I'm not too good at esp with the maps that aren't quite true.

 

The weather has been freezing, cloudy, showery and yesterday we had to cope with rain & mud - very unpleasant, but we managed to get lots done. We can't believe how well you did on your own in NZ, you deserve a medal!

 

Dad looked up his cousin when we got here last week & we visited him & his wife on Sunday.

It's amazing up here seeing all the churches - a large part of the history is German so the people who came here in the early 1800's were Lutheran. That means most of the churches are Lutheran, with the odd Anglican or baptist. So every few k's there's another Lutheran church with at least 2 in each little village, and the are very beautiful old buildings. Haven't seen inside one as they are always locked.

The foxes were just lying there for all to see - not sure what the motive is - someone suggested it kept others away but not sure about that. I don't think foxes would be wandering along the road thinking about which fence they might climb over or under? They are real pests here for the sheep & chicken farmers.

We've had a few tastings, not many and they're all great - we've bought a couple of loverly reds, one shiraz & one merlot. The shiraz was quite expensive & needs a few years to mature so we'll put that away. It's from a winery called Stanley Lambert Wines & is owned by a family from Wisconsin. We met the son, Kirk.

 

The visit to Jacob's Creek was terrific. The PR guy there, Jim Keane, couldn't have been more helpful & showed us all over the property to the old original barns, houses etc. They have an amazing set up there with an animal farm, bush walk, convention centre etc.

 

Thus the trip so far...

Passengers near the tail of a plane are about 40 percent more likely to survive a crash than those in the first few rows up front.

 

I tell my self this as my stomach turns itself inside out and back to front and starts digesting itself. I'm in the 2nd to last row, and no one is sitting in the row behind me. I'm the first person to smell the food being cooked, and I'm the last person to be served it. I'm getting "hangry" (hunger + anger = hanger)...The aromas of lamb and butter chicken mix in together with the smells of the bathroom to my left...gag.   

 my TV screen reboots itself for the 3rd time when I finally get served my lamb casserole. I've given up on learning "how to train a dragon" and opt for half a sleeping pill... which works really well up until the part when I try doing the sly manoeuvre of stealing the 3 seats behind me. i think to myself "this is my time - i finally get those magical 3 seats of rest everyone dreams of!" - until the air stewardess says "I'm sorry we've reserved these seats for staff in case of turbulence".. what?! they have their own strappy in seats don't they? grrr .. so i opt for trying to maximise the spare seat next to me except the arm rest gets stuck half way up...so i ask the air stewardess why its broken.. and she replies "oh no its only meant to go halfway up" ...is Air NZ trying to deter people from lying down and being comfortable? you know, making the most of the spare space?... this makes no sense!! and i grumble myself to sleep with my legs stretching out in weird and wonderful angles only to be woken several times by the bathroom chatter throughout the night.. why must people gossip when they go to the bathroom!! grr

 

Back of the bus? never again... Air NZ? you're not my friend!

 

....

 

despite all that i made it safely and pretty smoothly in to the US.. arriving to 97 degree heat! i got picked up and managed to have a lovely catch up with my wonderful boss who helped me pick up my car i had stowed at the winery for 4 months.. yay the breaks work! and all my stuff i kept in it is still intact..

 

only problem was when i started to pull some of my boxes out of the boot i noticed fancy little balls of fluff... hmmm that's kinda cute and odd... and then it hit me.. the smell of mice hit my nose... and i literally had to steady myself so i wouldn't gag...there were 3 nests.. and 2 dead mice... wheres the 3rd one? all i know is, if it wasn't for vacuum sealing all my stuff, i probably would have cried.. but luckily, i had.. and instead, i laughed, and am spending the day on Monday to valet, register, and fix up my dodge dynasty...needless to say I've already started looking for a new car..

 

my housemate is lovely and awesome, along with the house itself bein quirky and cute with lots of character! i love this neighbourhood too :)

 

oh the drama! thus far are the adventures of Renee in the USA... and it hasn't even been 12 hrs yet!

 

 

 

 

I slept in. I decided that it was ok to sleep in on a Saturday and just take it a bit slower to visit some of the wineries that are what I like to call "outliers" - the ones that are much further out of town such as Yealands Estate for instance.

 

There was another winery I was permitted by one of the owners to visit while I was out in Awatere valley, only problem was it was shut! So I jumped the fence and walked about 1km in my heeled boots down the gravel driveway, no idea where I was going just to take a photo of their gorgeous doors. I will stop at nothing for a good door! I felt like the paparazzi, and yes, it was definitely worth it!

 

Yesterday was an experience of a lifetime! I went to about 12 wineries and spent a little more time at each winery - one winery in particular was awesome! Auntsfield Estate, where I was taken to the over 100 year old wine cellar which had been only recently discovered after being covered in soil to hide it throught prohibition/temperence movement. To save from sounding like a boring history book - I was blown away by the history and beauty of this place.

 

Blenheim/Marlborough - beautiful!!! But I fear that it would be slightly boring to live here if you weren't in the wine industry, because it is everywhere and it really seems to be holding this place together.

 

I'd like to give a shout out to Mum, Happy Birthday today and Mother's day for tomorrow! Love you!