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Earlier this year I had the opportunity to tour the Barossa Valley while in Southern Australia. I’m a foodie, and I love good wine, so this trip was quite a treat! I only had a few days in the area but was able to fit in so much in such a short time. Here are some highlights from the trip:

I started the journey at the hotel in Adelaide. John Baldwin from the Barossa Daimler Tours picked me up and took me out to the Barossa Valley where I got into the touring vehicle: 1962 Daimler limousine! It is one of the coolest cars I have ever seen and taken a ride in, and it was quite comfortable, too. Such a spectacular way to travel around and see the sights of the area, and it’s also quite photogenic! He was very accommodating and took me through a vineyard so I could stop and get some photographs. He also let me get a few photos of him with his car, he was such a good sport! I also joked that he spoke “American”, lol … he was such a perfect host and made my one short day in the Barossa feel like it lasted so much longer.

 

One thing I learned very quickly about Australia is that there is a very rich culture of coffee throughout the country. As a coffee lover myself, this was a nice treat! I did have to learn the lingo associated with certain types of coffee, for example, you can’t just ask for a “black coffee”, you have to ask for a “long black” (black coffee) or “flat white” (coffee with milk). I eventually figured it out, and I defaulted to cappuccinos for most of the trip.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens, 1/125 sec at f/3.5, ISO 1250 Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens, 1/125 sec at f/3.5, ISO 640

After a short coffee break, I did some touring of the town. The first stop was a smokehouse and took a quick tour. The owner was awesome, he thought it was so cool that I was photographing him. I got a quick peek in the back where they smoke the goods, and holy moly did it smell amazing! I even got to sample a few tasty bits of some of the meat they had on-hand.

 

Next, I went to a local bakery, where they made each item by-hand and fired it in an oven (see the photo above). It was a quick stop and I didn’t taste any, but it sure smelled delicious in there.

 

Lunch was, as usual, amazing. I ate at Vinters Bar & Grill, where the food was spectacular and the wine just as amazing. The light coming through the windows was beautiful, so I (of course) got a few photos of the food. The dish on the left was Haloumi cheese and was probably the most beautiful thing on the table. I also had octopus (on the right), which was cooked to perfection and absolutely delectable.

  

The next stop was the Yalumba Winery winery. I saw the area where they make the barrels, and then took a tour of the inside of the buildings. There were two areas that stood out to me the most; the first was the fermentation bin. It was no longer in use but was just an empty room with concrete walls, and it used to be where they would place the wine to sit and ferment. The reason this was so memorable was because of the color of the walls … it had been stained by years of use and was just this gorgeous grungy wine-blotched room. The other area was where Robert Hill Smith’s private wine collection was held. At first, it seemed like one regular-sized room (with a ton of wine bottles), but then there was another room, and another, and another! Almost like a wine cellar labyrinth. There had to have been thousands of bottles of wine in that area … I was so nervous walking around with all of them so close by! After the tour, I did some wine tasting (yay!) and then went to the hotel.

I ended the day at a beautiful accommodation, The Louise, nestled right in the middle of a vineyard. I had dinner reservations at the “regular time” but considering the location, I pushed it back about an hour so I could walk around and photograph the sunset. It was so amazingly beautiful, and also a very romantic setting. Seriously, I was practically on top of a vineyard! I watched the sunset that night, had an amazing meal, and then woke up to photograph the sunrise the next day.

The Barossa Valley is beautiful, the people are amazingly friendly and overall I had a wonderful time. My only wish is that I could have stayed longer.

Here are a few more photos from the trip:

 Disclaimer: My trip to Australia was courtesy of Tourism Australia, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism South Australia and Tourism Victoria. While it was a business trip and the accommodations, travel expenses and dining experiences were paid for, any and all of my posts, photographs and opinions you see here on this site, as well as across the Internet and social media sites, are completely authentic and 100-percent genuine.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to tour the Barossa Valley while in Southern Australia. I’m a foodie, and I love good wine, so this trip was quite a treat! I only had a few days in the area but was able to fit in so much in such a short time. Here are some highlights from the trip:

I started the journey at the hotel in Adelaide. John Baldwin from the Barossa Daimler Tours picked me up and took me out to the Barossa Valley where I got into the touring vehicle: 1962 Daimler limousine! It is one of the coolest cars I have ever seen and taken a ride in, and it was quite comfortable, too. Such a spectacular way to travel around and see the sights of the area, and it’s also quite photogenic! He was very accommodating and took me through a vineyard so I could stop and get some photographs. He also let me get a few photos of him with his car, he was such a good sport! I also joked that he spoke “American”, lol … he was such a perfect host and made my one short day in the Barossa feel like it lasted so much longer.

 

One thing I learned very quickly about Australia is that there is a very rich culture of coffee throughout the country. As a coffee lover myself, this was a nice treat! I did have to learn the lingo associated with certain types of coffee, for example, you can’t just ask for a “black coffee”, you have to ask for a “long black” (black coffee) or “flat white” (coffee with milk). I eventually figured it out, and I defaulted to cappuccinos for most of the trip.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens, 1/125 sec at f/3.5, ISO 1250 Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens, 1/125 sec at f/3.5, ISO 640

After a short coffee break, I did some touring of the town. The first stop was a smokehouse and took a quick tour. The owner was awesome, he thought it was so cool that I was photographing him. I got a quick peek in the back where they smoke the goods, and holy moly did it smell amazing! I even got to sample a few tasty bits of some of the meat they had on-hand.

 

Next, I went to a local bakery, where they made each item by-hand and fired it in an oven (see the photo above). It was a quick stop and I didn’t taste any, but it sure smelled delicious in there.

 

Lunch was, as usual, amazing. I ate at Vinters Bar & Grill, where the food was spectacular and the wine just as amazing. The light coming through the windows was beautiful, so I (of course) got a few photos of the food. The dish on the left was Haloumi cheese and was probably the most beautiful thing on the table. I also had octopus (on the right), which was cooked to perfection and absolutely delectable.

  

The next stop was the Yalumba Winery winery. I saw the area where they make the barrels, and then took a tour of the inside of the buildings. There were two areas that stood out to me the most; the first was the fermentation bin. It was no longer in use but was just an empty room with concrete walls, and it used to be where they would place the wine to sit and ferment. The reason this was so memorable was because of the color of the walls … it had been stained by years of use and was just this gorgeous grungy wine-blotched room. The other area was where Robert Hill Smith’s private wine collection was held. At first, it seemed like one regular-sized room (with a ton of wine bottles), but then there was another room, and another, and another! Almost like a wine cellar labyrinth. There had to have been thousands of bottles of wine in that area … I was so nervous walking around with all of them so close by! After the tour, I did some wine tasting (yay!) and then went to the hotel.

I ended the day at a beautiful accommodation, The Louise, nestled right in the middle of a vineyard. I had dinner reservations at the “regular time” but considering the location, I pushed it back about an hour so I could walk around and photograph the sunset. It was so amazingly beautiful, and also a very romantic setting. Seriously, I was practically on top of a vineyard! I watched the sunset that night, had an amazing meal, and then woke up to photograph the sunrise the next day.

The Barossa Valley is beautiful, the people are amazingly friendly and overall I had a wonderful time. My only wish is that I could have stayed longer.

Here are a few more photos from the trip:

 Disclaimer: My trip to Australia was courtesy of Tourism Australia, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism South Australia and Tourism Victoria. While it was a business trip and the accommodations, travel expenses and dining experiences were paid for, any and all of my posts, photographs and opinions you see here on this site, as well as across the Internet and social media sites, are completely authentic and 100-percent genuine.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

3 Comments

  1. Penélope September 26, 2013 at 5:02 am - Reply

    Loooove everything you post!!!
    :)

  2. Janice October 5, 2013 at 9:33 am - Reply

    Awesome photos, I’m glad you enjoyed your time in south Australia. I was just in Barossa last week and totally agree that it’s such a pretty place! I’m from Perth (Western Australia) myself and it’s always great to hear people enjoy their visits to Australia :)

  3. CL November 27, 2013 at 8:40 pm - Reply

    Now that I’ve moved from South Australia to Colorado, I really miss those wines! SA is so spoilt for choice when it comes to great wine and especially great coffee.

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