Saturday 28 June 2014

澳洲之阿德莱德之匆匆掠影

德士大叔说这是超级昂贵的General Hospital Research部门
话说Apollo的工作人员替我们叫了一辆德士,我们就结束了我们的自驾游,恢复在城市漫步的日子。

我们的德士司机是个相当多话的大叔,他有说不完的故事(包括他去年东南亚之旅在吉隆坡入院的故事)、指不完的地标……我看他是个自豪的好公民,便问他“要是我只有半天时间在Adelaide,你会介绍我去哪儿呢?”他竟然叫我们到Rundle Mall血拼!这算哪门子介绍?



不过,基于我们也没有什么特别想去的地方,在check in后就依他的指示到Rundle Mall步行街逛逛,再绕着城市北走廊走一趟,匆匆草草,算是见识了阿德莱特。

我们在这Franklin Central Apartment住了一晚,AUD200




Rundle Mall是阿德莱特最热门的购物区,然而,这步行街不算长,店屋也不是太多,最致命的是,傍晚五点大家准时关店,五点后的阿德莱特市是一片萧静……

Rundle Mall步行街街口就是澳洲自家名牌巧克力

Rundle Mall步行街上的明星

外国街头,特别是步行街,总少不了才华洋溢的街头艺人。不过,匆匆而过的路人总也占最多数。





在Rundle Mall走马看花后,大家肚子饿了,不想走远找美食,于是决定到路口的Hungry Jacks用餐,总也算是尝了澳洲自家快餐。

这嘛,也就是薯条、汽水、汉堡包,和M记没什么两样。在澳洲这几天吃得最差也就这个了!













吃饱了就往北廊去。那儿喝酒的小酒吧比较多,所以夜幕下也相较多人。我们只是走马看花地绕了一圈。最后还是回到当地华裔经营的纪念品商店购物比较实际。





在University of South Australia前留影




Shakespeare Backpacker

由于阿德莱特夜里行人稀少,冷冷清清的,我们意兴阑珊,七点多就回Franklin Central Apartment冲凉、整理包袱、休息。也就这餐晚餐,我们把所有还没有吃完的食物一并用上,搞搞创意新菜色。



隔天一早,我们酒店替我们安排的德士司机已经在lobby等候,却发生了个小小插曲。有个醉汉想要‘抢’我们的德士,被司机赶下车,所以我们一从酒店走出来就被他咒骂。德士司机稍有内疚,一直向我们道歉,把我们送到机场后还叫我们小心种族歧视的“坏人”。

 
阿德莱特机场相当小,基本上没有什么看头。 我们买了一些食物作手信,我就开始意兴阑珊,于是到Cocolat品蛋糕去。小女孩们在过去几天没有机会一饱购物欲,最后几个小时想要把身上所有的澳币用尽,所以她们继续作最后一分钟冲刺。

我在大马‘做功课’时听说阿德莱特是二十分钟的城市(因为所有景点都在二十分钟车程以内),但我们见过了大洋路的美景,连Glenelg都懒得去,阿德莱特景点近乎八成没看。所以,上了飞机我决定打起十二分精神看它多几眼。在飞机上鸟瞰,也算对得起阿德莱特了。哈哈!


就这样子,澳洲之旅宣告结束……


题外话:我拍了几张照片就混混沉沉睡着了,睡了三小时半左右,因肚子饿,醒了。往窗外看,之间荒芜一片红土地,仍然还是在澳洲上空呢!

Friday 27 June 2014

Melbourne to Adelaide via GOR - Day 5

This is the most relaxing day of our trip. We basically had only 2 things in mind for this day - up close with koala and kangaroos feeding.


We woke up relatively late, and delightfully found that the whole park was almost covered in golden colour of autumn leaves. We spent our morning taking photos, having long shower, and mainly doing nothing and relaxing at Mount Barker Caravan & Tourist Park. (This park is located in a housing area, no highway noise, but relatively more tourists than other parks that we have stayed. It is very shady and clean. This park is strategically located. Very near to Mount Barker town. When we drove from Hahndorf the night before, we noticed that the Coles Mount Barker, which is just about 5 minutes walk away from the park, open until late evening)

Still remember the pork knuckle that we ordered the night before at Hahndorf Inn? Well, we got a doggie bag and brought back the whole plate of untouched pork knuckle. We shredded the meat, fried them with garlic and carrots, and use vegetable to wrap the shredded meat (just like the Korean) as breakfast. The leftover sausages were used for baked potatoes. These actually went very well with fruits.

This was our last day on our mobilehome. Before leaving the park, we had a brief 5S session. I even washed the mobilehome (really, too ashamed to return the car with hundreds of insects carcasses on the vehicle)!

Busy doing house keeping

while on our way....
We left the park at 10am and went straight to the Cleland Wildlife Park.

The koala close-up sessions are 11am~12pm, and 2pm~4pm. We were there just in time for this.







Contradict to what we were told and what we imagined before the trip, this koala is clean and not smelly. The fur is smooth and nice to touch. The only problem -- koala focus only on eating. It has zero interest on human beings that went crazily excited around it so basically it was an one-way communication instead of fun interaction.

衰样#1

What I really enjoyed was feeding the kangaroos and wallabies that are free to roam the open spaces. They were curious and friendly (and hungry) so basically they were the center of attention. We were trying our very best to "lure" them with food so that we can pet them and take tons of photos. My original plan was to lie on the lawn and place the food on my stomach so that I can take some selfie with kangaroos. However, there were too many dungs on the lawn, I gave up that plan and had kangaroos eat out of my palm instead.

衰样#2

秀气

The Unofficial Symbol of Australia

After spending hours in the wildlife park (and over spent hours here), we finally left the wildlife park and headed to Adelaide to return our mobilehome. Took us about half-an-hour to reach.

The returning process at Apollo was efficient and simple. I went to the office while the girls brought down the luggage. There was only one worker then. After he finished serving the other customer, he asked if I need a taxi, and started to arrange for everything. The moment he finished checking the mobilehome, our taxi was already there to pick us up.



Please refer to my post about "Melbourne to Adelaide via GOR on a Mobilehome for 5 Days 4 Nights" for the driving route.

Monday 23 June 2014

Melbourne to Adelaide via GOR - Day 4

We woke up early, had a hearty breakfast, enjoyed the autumn colours in the holiday park, had a brief stop at Blue Lake, drove along the John Watson Drive around the lake, and off we departed to Adelaide Hill.
The only breakfast that was not served on our picnic table





The Blue Lake

Due to time constraint, I canceled the original plan (using the coastal road to go to Adelaide), and sacrificed my Coorong National Park. However, I think it was a good decision as the girls were tired of ocean view after days of exploring Great Ocean Road. We drove through Naracoorte Wine Region instead, and we love the endless vineyards.




However, after hours of vineyards, we grew tired of the same old beautiful scenery. So, when we finally reached Murray River, we gladly took a brief stop at a park. We needed some stretching. And, for bonus, here's where we enjoyed taking photos of wild flowers (and plucked some too).













By the time we finally reached Hahndorf, it was almost 2pm. We decided to skip lunch and go straight to Hanhdorf Hill Winery for our ChoccoVino Experience.


We were greeted by 2 over-friendly, super-excited dogs. The moment I opened my door, they came in wagging tails, licking my legs. (I always love over-friendly, super-excited dogs. They always make me immediately feel at home.) I had to keep them busy, make sure they stay with me so the girls could "escape" to "safer place".

Hahndorf Hill Winery @ Adelaide Hills

The ChocoVino Experience is mainly to match their boutique wines to chocolate. 2 of us drink, and 2 of us not. So what does non-drinker do in a winery? Not to worry about me. This Choco Vino experience has been included in CNN's Top 10 Global Adventures for Chocoholics. I grinned when I was reading this online before our trip. I knew this is the place that we MUST visit.

One can always order the wine + chocolate matching experience, or focusing only on sampling the chocolates. All these order came with brief introduction on the wines / chocolates. One can take their own sweet time to pair the wines and chocolates and look for their favorite match. 




I got myself an "Exotic Selection" (you can label anything with "exotic" and I assure you I'll take a second look without fail). From this selection, I love the Amedei '9' Dark the most as it taste sophisticated. At least this is not something that I'd pampered myself with as casual tidbits :)


XT ordered Heart of Darkness. Both of us love the "Cracked Coffee"!! Coffee beans and cacao beans make great combination of taste! (I have to visit Bahen & Co. when I visit Margaret River next year!)


The "pure chocolate" experience costs AUD15 per person while the wine + chocolate experience costs AUD20 per person.


 
Cape Grim sparking water as palate cleanser

The Exotic Selection

After the fun session at Hahndorf Hill Winery, we visited the lovely market and got ourselves lots of fresh fruits and nuts.

After the shopping spree, we finally could make our trip back to the Hahndorf. This Australia's oldest surviving German settlement is a lovely town. The main street is very beautiful and all the souvenir shops, craft shops etc are very interesting. Too bad most of them close at 5pm sharp!




We decided not to cook on the final night of our mobile home trip.After 4 days 3 nights of self-cook meals, we needed a great place to pampered ourselves. After discussed, we all agreed that we could have some German pork knuckles at the famous Hahndorf Inn.

This hotel was built in 1863, and hence the heritage makes it frequently features in Hahndorf postcards and tourism brochure. The restaurant has been serving the local community for over 100 years so we decided to try the classic German cuisine.

We ordered a "Taste of Germany Platter" which supposed to serve 2 as per the menu. We also ordered a "Giant Juicy Pickled Pork Hock". The waitress didn't warn us about having 2 pork knuckles (one from the "Taste of Germany Platter" and one from the "Giant Juicy Pickled Pork Hock"). Most probably these portions normally only enough for 2 or 3 person.

When the "Taste of Germany Platter" was served, 4 of us went crazy. I quickly asked the waitress to cancel our order but it was too late!! What a tragedy. 4 of us can't even finish this plate of food!! (This AUD64.50 dish came with bockwurst, weistwuss, cheese kransky, Vienna sausages, smoked pork kassler chop, pork knuckle, Rhine potatoes, sauerkraut and 2 pretzels!)

Taste of Germany Platter (serves 2) - as stated on the menu

So this plate of giant pork hock just sit there whole night, watching us trying our very best to finish the Germany platter (and failed). This pork hock became our breakfast instead.
Giant Juicy Pickled Pork Hock - AUD29.90

To be fair, the food served were delicious. The sausages were lovely and the pork knuckle was juicy. I actually love the sauerkrat too. Oh, and I have to mention the potatoes! They were creamy and full with butter flavour!

Unfortunately, we had too much meat in one meal! At the end of the dinner, 4 of us swore not to have Germany cuisine for the next few months.







After the heavy dinner, we drove for another 10 minutes to Mount Barker as there were no caravan park in Hahndorf. We parked our mobilehome at Mount Barker Caravan & Tourist Park. Again, it was after hours. The office was closed. We called the number given at the main office, and an old lady came to serve us, still smiling and friendly. This holiday park costs us AUD45. Even though without any discount, but still the cheapest of these 4 nights.



Please refer to my post about "Melbourne to Adelaide via GOR on a Mobilehome for 5 Days 4 Nights" for the driving route