Melbourne to Adelaide Road Trip

A few months ago we did what some people would consider a fairly crazy drive from Melbourne to Adelaide, given the relatively low price of a return flight. However, we were keen to explore the Grampians, which both of us had visited many many years ago and only had vague memories of. We decided to stay in Halls Gap for a night, which gave us ample time to scratch the surface of the most accessible walks. 

The Pinnacle Walk is perhaps the most popular one, taking just around 2 hours both ways. It's interesting enough with varied scenery, like the Grand Canyon below, and isn't too difficult.

The view from the top was pretty amazing; it was a pity it was a cloudy day.

Lovely scenery all round

Silent Street, they call this. We were there on a very quiet day and I can't imagine how it would have been during summer with hordes of people.

The view from the Boroka Lookout. Sadly we didn't have time to visit the Balconies, which we remembered as being pretty spectacular, since we wanted to reach Adelaide before nightfall.

There was a massive bushfire in January, which left so much of the bush all burnt and dried up. Thankfully the fire stopped short of Halls Gap, but it meant we couldn't get to see MacKenzie Falls. Signs of regrowth everywhere, which is always a good sign.

We managed to score a lunch booking at Chianti Classico, our favourite Italian restaurant in Adelaide. We knew from past experience the antipasto platter was going to be good, so we went for that immediately. Everything is good, from the cold cuts, the meatballs to the salted cod.

The other side of the platter. It went brilliantly with our chiantis.

We remembered the rice rissoles as being totally yummy, and they still were. Soft and fluffy and cheesy on the inside, and crispy on the outside.

We were sharing a seafood soup, duck confit with risotto and a crabmeat pasta.

I daresay my bouillabaisse was better that the soup :) Granted, it's a different recipe without fennel relying solely on the seafood for flavour, but ultimately the kick was just slightly lacking. I suppose it's also rather rude to compare a French recipe to an Italian one.

The crabmeat pasta with zucchini was pretty tasty, but I felt it could either have been (a) less soggy, or (b) more creamy. I think a lot of the liquid came from the zucchini, which meant the crab meat flavour was slightly more masked that I would have liked.

The confit duck was pretty tender.

They gave us nougat with our coffees, which was a nice touch.

We also had the chance to do some wine tasting at Barossa Valley. I instantly fell in love with the area, and would definitely go back. The scenery was gorgeous, and nothing quite beats a Barossa red. 

We spent quite a lot of money (and time) at Penfolds

And Maggie Beer's farm

And at Seppeltsfield

Tasting their most amazing Tawny...and bought some too.

Because we had quite a late start to the day, it was past 2 by the time we thought about lunch and we didn't quite dare risk going to the smaller wineries. As a result, we headed straight for the biggest name we knew - Jacobs Creek. We're not fans of their wine, but thankfully their restaurant was still open and we managed to get a decent lunch. 

The pizza must have been frozen though. We didn't even do any wine tastings there. 

The scenery was gorgeous though.

We also had a good time driving around the countryside.

Even got to see wild koalas up in the trees