09.10.2018 | Australia, Travel

Secret Tips for visiting the Adelaide Hills

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Hello travel lovers, today I want to tell you about the beautiful Adelaide Hills and a secret tip for visiting the Barossa Valley. After we left the outback (landscape changed a lot in the last few days 😉 ) we passed the lower Flinders Ranges until we reached Eudunda. We were driving through endless smooth hills, endless fields along thousands flog of sheep. The colors changed to a warm yellow/brown tone and the temperature got colder.

Adelaide Hills and the movie set for the series Mc Leods Daughters

Please tell me, you also watched the series Mc Leods Daughters in the past? 😉 In my childhood, this series was on tv all the time, being set around South Australia, more precisely around Gawler, Eudunda, and Freeling. I found it very interesting to compare the impressions from the series in contrast to reality. In the series, a number of strong women are leading a farm with horses and sheep and a beautiful house located in the middle of the Adelaide Hills. Eudunda (it is called “Fisher” in the series), is a pretty small place with a bunch of houses along the main road, however, you can buy all the daily stuff there.

Freeling (actually called “Gungallan”) is more interesting. Until today you can visit the truck stop of the series, the townhouse (it is actually used as townhouse) and a few requisites in the windows. You can also find the bathing tub and the wind wheel standing in the little park, which was always shown in the story. The hotel and the church are located there as well. Sadly there is no access to the main farming house Kingsford Homestead because it is an extremely high priced hotel these days. However, the smooth hilly landscape is absolutely wonderful! The next town Gawler is pretty big and seemed to have a lot of traffic. Even the tourist information owned the wedding dress of the series XD. The lady was very nice, people are always open to small talk as it is common in Australia. She even visited many places in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Horse riding in the Adelaide Hills

Afterward, we drove further south of the town Gawler to the riding stable Nyroca. My first secret tip ;). From 3:30 to 5:30 pm we had a pretty amazing time on our horse ride in the Adelaide Hills for around 140 AUS Dollar per person. Luckily there were only 5 participants in the group and it was a pretty personal atmosphere. They chose the horses for the riders after asking how much experience we have and explained everything important. The horses seemed to be used to the steep hills, they didn´t mind. Advanced riders also were allowed to gallop on a few sections ;). That was amazing surrounded by this landscape. Furthermore, it was awesome seeing a lot of kangaroos, sheep, and cows during our ride. We stayed on a campsite south of Gawler for 25 AUS Dollar.

George Wildlife Park in Adelaide

The George Wildlife Park is located in the east of Adelaide. you can see a lot of Australian animals there (birds, crocs, wombats, monkeys..). In certain time periods, you can cuddle a koala in your arms for a few seconds. Afterward, I regret it because of the small enclosures and the tourist masses waiting to cuddle the animal. Even though they tried to minimize the stress for the animals in concentrating on a few cuddle times and changing the koalas, but if I am honest, that is not species-appropriate. In their natural environment koalas aren´t as peaceful as you might think, they can hardly bite and scratch :). They prefer to live without people. Afterward, I decided that I find it more interesting to see the koalas in their natural habitat from a distance. Nevertheless, the enormous kangaroo and wallaby enclosure was amazing! You can pet the animals and they obviously enjoy it. Second secret tip: If you are holding a carrot, they will hold your hands :). So cute!

The Barossa Valley and the best Wine-Café

Then we drove through the wonderful wine-growing-district the Barossa Valley. The view over the vineyard is amazing! On our way, we suddenly saw a nice house with a sign “Coffee and Muffin 5 Dollar” in front of the door. This is my third and best secret tip! As it is often, you discover the best and nicest cafés accidentally. The owner welcomed us in an extremely friendly way and we talked very long with this guy, drinking his lovely coffee (it was early in the morning – therefore no vine). The owner built a winery in the Barossa Valley and established this little café with coffee, home-backed still warm muffins and a variety of vines as a living room and showroom. Everywhere you can see wine casks and bottles. He was born in Australia, however, for a long period of time, he played cricket professionally in England. After that, he learned to grow the vine in France and built up the winery in Australia. Lecturing people about his vines, he is traveling the world, he was pretty everywhere in the world.

A nice man from Buenos Aires came to join our conversation, he also saw the inviting sign in front of the door. We talked about Japan, China, New Zealand, Canada, South America, Mexico…And the guy told us about his home country Buenos Aires and we told him about our home. I love those spontaneous conversations with people all over the world. I think that´s why I love Australia mostly, you are talking so much with each other. So if you are looking for nice conversations with travel buddies, you want to know more about vinery or if you only need a delicious muffin, you should stop at this secret place ;).

Koala-trail Sugar Loaves in the Adelaide Hills

My last secret tip: Next we walked the Sugar Loaves trail in the Adelaide hills. We saw at least four koalas on top of the eucalyptus trees. Again and again, we saw kangaroos hopping away. If you are walking the nature trail to the top, you can see over the whole city Adelaide and up to the sea. Especially in the sunset, it is lovely there!! We stayed the night for 8 Dollars at a parking space in Saint Kilda directly next to the water. The next morning we walked the beautiful “Mangrove Trail”. A boardwalk leads you to big mangrove trees in the water. We even saw a dolphin playing in the water! After that, we explored Adelaide City.