LUSCIOUS TRAVEL: A luxury mini break in Adelaide and the Barossa Valley

*UPDATED* This was my entry for a competition offering 3 days in South Australia. Sadly, I did not win but you may still enjoy the itinerary I planned.

CELEBRATING SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Here is my plan for a luxurious 3-night, 4-day visit to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley…

Why visit Adelaide and the Barossa Valley?

Mr Luscious and I live on the Mornington Peninsula, around 1-2 hours drive south of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia which I believe is fairly similar to the Barossa Valley in terms of distance from Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.

We live here – and cope with the long commute to the city – for several good reasons: amazing locally-grown food and wine, a relaxed but still elegant atmosphere, and the beautiful countryside and beaches.

Our home looks out across the Mount Martha coastline and we’re 5 minutes to the nearby beaches, peacefully quiet most of the year, and then usually only filled with locals during the summer months. We’re also just 15 minutes to Red Hill where we used to live, which is the centre of the Peninsula wine region.

For this reason, a visit to the Barossa Valley is a no brainer – it has its own blend of stunning scenery and renowned produce. And the chance of a free trip to explore? Of course!

Learn more about Adelaide (overview including history and travel) and the Barossa Valley.

These first two videos are highly stylised introductions to both Adelaide and the Barossa Valley
and worth checking out.

MUST WATCH: This short, dark clip about the Barossa Valley has music by
iconic Australian performer Nick Cave.

You’ll be licking your luscious lips!

And here’s an introduction to Adelaide:

Whilst I think of Adelaide as a pleasant, pretty and easy-to-get-around city, it’s not somewhere I normally think to visit.

So I was thrilled to learn when researching this post that it’s developing even more lusciousness in terms of art gallery exhibitions, cafes and restaurants, and stylish shops.

See my proposed itinerary, below, for some of this in more detail.

Here’s a general tourist introduction from the South Australian Tourism:

Read more about:

So, where is Adelaide, South Australia?

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia. It’s located in the southern, central midpoint when looking at a map of Australia, between Perth and Melbourne (but closer to Melbourne than Perth).

It is 1 hour by plane from Melbourne, and then the Barossa is one hour’s drive north of the city.

Download a PDF map of the Barossa Valley in detail here

View the 2014 Barossa Valley Visitors Guide here

Our proposed itinerary – Day 1: Friday

Summary

Fly out of Melbourne around 2pm
Arrive at Adelaide Airport around 3pm
Collect our hire car around 3.30pm
Drive 1 hour northwest to the Barossa Valley, possibly stopping for coffee or maybe a winery along the way
Arrive at The Louise hotel (see below) around 5pm
Check-in, explore the hotel, freshen up and dress for dinner
Have a pre-dinner drink and then a 7.30pm dinner at the in-house restaurant, Appellation.

Accommodation: About The Louise

Location: Corner Seppeltsfield and Stonewell Roads, Marananga

Why it appeals to me:

15 architecturally-designed suites with room service
Attention to detail and eco-friendly attitude
In-suite breakfast
Luscious food and wine at Appellation, the in-house restaurant
Informative website
Great, consistently high reviews.

Rates: From $550 per night

Official website

Here’s a taste (excuse the pun) of the Barossa via this series of Food and Wine Artisans of the Barossa videos:

Our proposed itinerary – Day 2: Saturday

Summary

Breakfast at the hotel
Visit the Barossa Valley Farmers Market on the corner of Nuriootpa and Stockwell Roads, Angaston
Wine tasting and lunch at Hentley Farm or Salters Kitchen at Saltram Wines
Maybe a cooking class at Casa Carboni, the Italian Cooking School and Enoteca in Angaston
Coffee at Maggie Beer’s Farm Store (see below)
Explore the region including some of the places listed below
Dinner somewhere local.

And tips from the locals:

Wineries of the Barossa Valley

There are hundreds of potential places to visit in this region, with almost all of them having cellar doors which are open to the public, and some of them have cafes and/or restaurants.

Here are a handful that we might visit:

Learn more about the Barossa wine region here and download this Barossa Valley cellar door map.

“Barossa Valley Wineries – You. Me. Barossa” by local filmmaker Ben Dowie

Maggie Beer’s Farm Store on Pheasant Farm Road, Nuriootpa

Maggie Beer is an Australian culinary institution. She’s been cooking and producing fabulous food for many years, as well as presenting television shows and writing books. And she seems like a genuinely lovely person too!

So it’s an absolute must when visiting the Barossa region to visit her farm store.

Learn more here.

You might also like the Barossa Valley Cheese Company at their Cheesecellar, 67b Murray Street in Angaston.

There are also a number of suggested cafes and bakeries in the region, including:

More about the following via the Barossa Valley Tourism website:

Other things to see and do include:

Spa retreats
Cooking classes and demonstrations
Golf
Hot air ballooning
10-pin bowling
Lyndoch Lavender Farm
The Barossa Brewing Company

Our proposed itinerary – Day 3: Sunday

Summary

Breakfast at hotel but possibility of kangaroo breakfast adventure organised by The Louise Hotel – details here
Rest, lunch and explore
Dinner at somewhere luscious in the area, or perhaps a simple room service in the courtyard of our suite, watching the sunset.

Our proposed itinerary – Day 4: Monday

Summary

Breakfast at the hotel around 7.30am
Check out of the hotel around 8.30am
Drive to Adelaide, arriving in the city around 9.30am
Shopping from around 9.45-11.45am
Lunch around 12 noon at somewhere fabulous such as Press Food & Wine on Waymouth Street
About 2pm, visit the Art Gallery of South Australia t0 see the Fashion Icons exhibition (see below)
Depart city around 3pm and return our hire car to the airport by 3.30pm
Check-in at the airport
Fly home to Melbourne around 4.30pm

The Fashion Icons exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia

See the official blurb, below, or go directly to the official website for further information and bookings.

This free 44-page online magazine produced by the gallery has a huge amount of details about the exhibition.

FASHION ICONS:
MASTERPIECES FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEE DES ARTS DECORATIFS, PARIS
25 October 2014 – 15 February 2015

The Art Gallery of South Australia has announced its major international exhibition for spring 2014 – summer 2015 Fashion Icons: Masterpieces from the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Fashion Icons will paint a unique picture of Parisian style within the context of contemporary fashion design since 1947 when the couturier Christian Dior re-launched haute couture with his New Look. From that time fashion design blossomed with the lavish splendour of the 1950s, the futurist dynamism of the 1960s, the inspired emancipation of the 1970s, the unbridled excess of the 1980s, and the pure minimalism of the 1990s, all inspiring today’s composite portrait of the 21st century.

Over 90 emblematic haute couture garments created by the world’s leading fashion designers will be drawn from the most comprehensive collection of French fashion in the world, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and curated by the museum’s 20th and 21st Centuries Fashion and Textile Collection Chief Curator, Pamela Golbin.

‘The works selected for this exhibition perfectly illustrate the style of each of the mythical couturiers behind this history of luxury and sumptuousness. Spectacular designs by Cristobal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent follow one another in this chronological review, revealing the universality of fashion viewed as a history of art and beauty.’ – Pamela Golbin

Internationally renowned, Pamela Golbin has curated ground-breaking exhibitions worldwide including Louis Vuitton – Marc Jacobs, Madeleine Vionnet: Puriste de la mode and Valentino Retrospective: Past/Present/Future. Pamela Golbin will be joined on this project by acclaimed French designer and architect Christian Biecher, who will realise the design of the exhibition.

Fashion Icons has been organised by Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris in association with Art Exhibitions Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

The exhibition will also be part of this year’s Adelaide Fashion Festival.

Luscious shopping in Adelaide

Whilst I have no personal experience with shopping in South Australia, here are some recommendations:

Khai Liew showroom in Adelaide – Photo by Derek Henderson via The Design Files

What I’d wear

Normally for a trip like this, I’d opt for a relaxed, ladylike “country” style including my Barbour quilted vests and Hermes scarves.

However, should I win the competition, we’d need to go before the end of February 2015, in which time I suspect the weather will be blisteringly hot. This calls for relaxed summer sundresses, hats, cardigans for if it gets cool, and comfortable footwear such as slides and sandals.

Also, something dressier for three nice dinners, so I’d probably opt for two cocktail dresses, one pair of black trousers with a nice blouse, and one pair of black heels.

But, if I had unlimited funds and unlimited luggage allowance, I might consider…

What I’d read

Here’s a little introduction via some books which you might also find interesting…

If I had more time, I might…

Do the factory tour of Haigh’s Chocolate in Adelaide
Check out more of these award-winning restaurants
Visit events at the Adelaide Arts Festival
Attend the Adelaide Writers Week
Explore the Adelaide Hills
Drive further north to the Clare Valley wine region, or south to McLaren Vale
Visit Kangaroo Island
Check out the shops and cafes in beachside Glenelg.

Famous folk from Adelaide

I’m sure there are heaps of impressive people who have called Adelaide home, but here’s a small sampling:

Dame Judith Anderson, actress
James Bradley, author
Darren Cahill, tennis player and coach
Ian Chappell, cricketer
Greg Chappell, cricketer
Trevor Chappell, cricketer
J M Coetzee, author
Don Dunstan, politician
Kate Fischer, actress
Howard Florey, pharmacologist, pathologist
Mem Fox, author
Peter Goldsworthy, author
Rolf de Heer, director
Sir Robert Helpmann dancer, actor, theater director, choreographer
Lleyton Hewitt tennis player
Sir Hans Heysen, artist
Nora Heysen, war artist
Anthony LaPaglia, actor
Jonathan LaPaglia, actor
Douglas Mawson, geologist, polar explorer, academic
Shaun Micallef, comedian, actor
Alicia Molik, tennis player
Geoff Ogilvy, golfer
Stuart O’Grady, bicycle road racer
Mark Oliphant, physicist, governor
Teresa Palmer, actress
Greig Pickhaver, comedian, actor
DBC Pierre, author
Adam Scott, golfer
Jeffrey Smart, painter
Colin Thiele author
Andy Thomas astronaut, aerospace engineer
Mark Woodforde, tennis player
Frank Woodley, comedian, actor

More accommodation options in Adelaide and the Barossa

Personally, I’d consider booking via Mr & Mrs Smith because they’ve already scoped out the area and seem to have similar taste to me. Here are some other choices for an Adelaide/Barossa Valley trip:

Barossa: Kingsford Homestead looks fabulous but has a 2 night minimum and is expensive so might not suit everyone. It includes divine-sounding breakfast and dinner, and an outdoor bush bath) – note that the homestead was once the home of the Australian television drama, McLeod’s Daughters.
Adelaide: The Franklin is a well-priced boutique hotel in the city which looks quite alluring with its dark colouring and gets good reviews, despite being over a popular pub.