Position 34 28.13S 139 0.25E

We are staying at Nuriootpa at the northern end of the Barossa valley.  Nurioopta is thought to be derived from aboriginal word meaning meeting place.  I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that aboriginals have been having a big joke with the ‘white’ man, because every Australian town’s name seems to be derived from: meeting place, meeting of the waters, parting of the waters.  The valley was settled in the early 1840s by English pioneers.  They were followed in 1842 by large groups of Germans escaping religious persecution.  They were Lutherans so you have lots of Lutheran churches in the area.  The first settlers were farmers but they soon turned to grape and fruit growing to which the climate is suited.  Anyway the Barossa Valley is home of Jacobs Creek, Penfolds, Yaldara and Wolf Blass so we had to stop here for a few days.

This is red gum tree whose bark ranges in colour from white and grey to red brown.  The bark is shed each year so there is always lots of bark lying on the ground.  It doesn’t shed off at the bottom of the truck but forms a rough sock – protection from fire and great habitat for insects.

View across Barossa Valley – all vineyards but doesn’t show up very well.

Couldn’t visit the area without coming to Jacobs Creek since we drink so much of it back home.

International perspective – no London.

Great view over to Adelaide Hills in the background.

And here we are near..

And here is the creek…

This is the New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), another tricky sucker to photograph.  Several of these were flitting through the bushes dipping and diving as they were feeding on insects.

The vineyard was original owned by the Gramp family who then sold it to some other people.  Somewhere along the line a company was formed called Orlando wines.  It was then sold again to Ricard Pernod.  It’s called Jacobs Creek after a family who lived on the estate and from what I can gather did have a small vineyard here.  The history of the original owners and the name of the present owners is kind of glossed over.

Scarecrow vine pickers – this was the winner of some event that occurred a few weeks ago.  It was brought to the vineyard for a photo shoot - maybe going on some brochure somewhere?.

This red gum is over 200 years old and was here when the first vines were planted.  Imagine what the original landscape must have looked like.

The sculpture park at Mengler Hill Lookout.  Great views but the sun was right in your face.  An eagle

The other side of the sculpture.

Me freezing.  We have been having a cold spell.

Lovely old building in Angaston.