Adelaide - Sept. 8

Saturday was our day to relive what Mark knew about Adelaide, so we started the (slightly sluggish) morning with a trip over to Flinders. Their older daughter was going to dance class afterward so she accompanied Manoj, me, and Mark in her leotard. 

The campus is built on a hill - the boys pointed at where they played soccer together (how they met), then headed into the main quad to see if Mark could orient himself to find the archeology buildings. They were past the snazzy student center, where I beat an eight-year-old at foosball. 

Next on our to-do list, after we dropped her off at dance, was shopping. Mark fell in love with black opals - a type that are a lot bluer and greener than you’d expect from the name - when he lived here eleven years ago. He tells everyone that he had decided when he was in grad school that he wouldn't buy a girl a diamond before he bought himself a black opal. Given that our engagement ring was a family heirloom given to him, he was able to squeak by that one on a technicality. 

The first shop was nice, but it was hard to connect the information we knew with what they were selling. The second shop knew how to cater to non-locals - a brochure about the types of opals, with a graphic for how opals are mounted. Larger opals can be set once they are polished. Smaller, thinner cuts can be mounted as a “doublet”, using a backing stone to help the color and the strength, or a “triplet”, with both a backing stone and a see-through layer on top to protect the stone. 

Once the few men’s rings that they had didn’t fit Mark’s style, we moved on to the loose opals. Each opal is so unique - the light plays differently, and the patterns within them have names like “graffiti” and “Chinese writing.” Mark’s favorite, the “rolling flash”, didn’t have any at the size and price point we wanted, but he also realized how unique the one he saw in person years ago was. We spent a long time looking at options, and had narrowed it down to three when the salesperson took it out into the sunlight with us. One continued to light up, and that is the one that Mark took home. It was over the baseline for getting taxes back, so we got below list price for it. And it was Australian dollars anyway (which are $.75USD to A$1)!

With our search successful, we stepped back outside and realized how hungry we were. We were meeting the rest of the family at a party at park in Adelaide Hills, so we headed that direction for food. 

Anya had created a map with six different wineries on it around the area, but we started with her lunch recommendations - Seasonal Garden Cafe. It was in a slightly German-influenced town, with cute storefronts, but mostly, it was delicious (even though I made the boys sit inside - after the dive yesterday, I didn’t need another hour of being slightly chilled). Mark and I both ate our sandwiches open-faced, but then the bread was so good we ate the second slice as well. 

Then we were off! We started at O’Leary Walker, which was my favorite of the day. It was very nice, but unpretentious. It was a “make your own” tasting from their wine list that was 20 bottles long, and each of us did a little something different. I did the whites, then found a great rose. Mark did the reds, and we actually really enjoyed the Pinot. Manoj jumped around (since he was driving), but we all tried their high-end, barrel-aged Shiraz blend, and agreed it was significantly better than the others... but not three times better like the price suggested.

Next on the list was Shaw + Smith. They had a sleek building (where you weren’t completely sure if you knew that you were going through a door, a window, or an off-limits hall as you were walking in). We eventually got greeted and seated with a placemat with their six types of wine they were serving. Mark and I shared a tasting, and we enjoyed some, but the experience was sub-par. It was $15, no personal touch (until near the end), and the wines, at at least $30 each, were more than I wanted to spend. 

We left the building, and Mark’s dreams had become reality. He said that adding kangaroos to the vineyards would be a perfect Adelaide day - and two were waiting for us when we came out! They were quite a few rows back, so hard to photograph, but it’s among the Australian clichés we were able to live out. 

The wine guy who eventually stopped by our table at S+S recommended CRFT as a new winery nearby to try. The tiny house was set back into its vineyards, with room for just a few groups. The family next to us was making a great end of the day, with their cheese and olives. Mark saw the olives and perked up - we’d had at least two glasses of wine each at this point (they make sure they tell you as they pour - it’s an Australian law to know exactly how much you’ve drank.) Out came olives and a few good tastes of wine, but just the German Guetter Vietlinger white was the only one that interested me - and we’re headed into fall in the US, so we weren't interested in bringin home whites.

Empty-handed but not disappointed, it was time to join up with the rest of the family. We got to the park, parked when we saw a field with adults and kids running around, but got the call from Anya that directed up to the large manor house where our (well, their) party was. 

Kristy was having her 40th, and all the friends and family were invited. We drank, met people, tried to determine if Mark had met them a decade ago, talked about our vacation, and munched. At six or so, so large pots of pre-bought curry were set up, with a trickling flow of rice from the rice cooker and naan. We feasted!

A cake, singing (with more “hip hip hoorays”) and a lovely speech by the birthday girl, and Mark, Anya, Manoj and another friend or two sat around and talked until our rides told us it was time to leave. Which was good, because we hadn’t packed up the laundry yet. 

We consolidated cars and made it back to south Adelaide. We said our goodbyes to the girls (who shouldn’t be up at 6am when we needed to leave) and Manoj and Anya for their hospitality, got our bags ready and, yet again, fell into bed.