Broken Hill and the Barossa.

Thursday Feb 2.

I think I slept, I’m not sure. The rocking of the train wasn’t the rhythmic type we had hoped for, the track is apparently to blame, being used primarily for freighters. I must have been asleep at one point because I was awoken by the train being stopped, I must have gotten into the rhythm of the rocking! Apparently we have to give way to freight trains and that often means pulling into a secondary parallel section of track. I saw this on a tv show about Australian trains, some were passenger trains and some were the big freight trains. All very interesting.

Anyway, we had to put our watches back half an hour last night and there’ll be another change somewhere to get us onto Perth time. So this morning we were up at 5.45am to prepare for our excursion to the Sculpture Park 12km out of Broken Hill. We were hoping to be there for sunrise but between the train running 10 minutes late and the heavy cloud in the exact spot of sunrise (isn’t that always the way??) we saw a few coloured clouds, but not much more. The Sculpture Park is on a high point so it’s possible to see back to BH. Lots of photos, some of the sculptures, some of our fellow travellers and many of a mother roo and her joey who kept disappearing just out of sight every time we got too close for her liking. There was a coffee van in the carpark and up near the sculptures, GSR had provided  oj and water, assorted fruit and a couple of slices so no-one starved before we could get breakfast back on the train. Our coach driver was full of interesting facts and figures about BH, having lived there all his life, starting in the mines at 19 when they were pick and shovel mines and retiring from that work at age 60. We spotted many wallabies, roos and even a couple of emus. There were also Euros, which we’ve never heard of. They’re a roo-like animal with rounded ears instead of the pointy roo ears. Coach driver: Does anyone know the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby? Us: general murmur of no, not really. Driver: One plays rugby and the other plays league. LOL.

Currently 11.10 CSTime and we’re about to pass through Petersborough. Lunch today for us is at midday because we have to disembark at 2pm to go to the Barossa Valley for a 6-7 hour tour, including a 40 min drive back to Adelaide to meet up with train again.

Our Barossa Valley tour. The coaches are waiting for us at Two Wells with portable steps set up so we can disembark where there is no platform.  A quick headcount and we’re away. Firstly to Seppeltsfield for a food and wine matched ‘experience’ which was sublime! Well, the food was anyway! Four Chinese spoons set up with little masterpieces devised by the chef Owen Andrews, matched with a tasting glass of wines, 2 fortified and 2 table wines. Marinated olives teamed with Apera which in the past would have been called sherry; sugar cured salmon (which I’m definitely going to attempt at home, teamed with a Barossa Vermentino, a new variety to Australia; home-made onion jam with goat’s cheese served with a Barossa Genache, crafted through a Gravity Cellar built in 1888 and still in use; and a Grand Muscat served with a flourless chocolate brownie. All this by 3pm. If I’d known this was being served I would have eaten less lunch, but not being one to disappoint a gracious host, I managed to do it all justice. The history of Seppeltsfield is very interesting but I won’t bore you with too much, but just mention that the original Seppelt family packed up or sold off everything in Germany to travel to Australia for a new start and sponsored about 50 other families to come out. They chose their land and set up a community with it’s own workforce and produced all they needed to eat and drink. When work became scarce and it looked like some employees would have to be retrenched, it was decided that if they helped plant an avenue of date palms it would keep them employed during the lean times. Thus was established the ‘Avenue of Hope’, over 2000 trees lining many roads of the settlement and they are still there to this day. Chef Owen has discovered that since the dates don’t form properly in this climate, if they are picked and preserved before the seed forms, they are like the English preserved walnuts, turning a fruit which would otherwise be useless into something edible and making a tribute to the workers who planted them. Lovely story! We were then escorted through a barrel room, and out into the cellar door, a lovely terraced area and the Jam Factory, a artisan craft studio and retail area. Back on the coach by 4.30 we are told, but there’s always some stragglers! Off to the Yalumba winery.

There are 5 full time gardeners employed by the Yalumba winery to maintain the vast gardens, and it shows, they’re immaculate. A fellow traveller removes his shoes and socks so he walk barefoot on the grass and encourages his wife to do the same!

Here we are treated to a wine tasting of Sangiovese Rose, Reisling, Moscato, Cab Merlot and a Grenache. I try the rose and the moscato which isn’t sickly sweet like some moscatos can be. To nibble there’s locally produced gherkins, which are very moreish, and a locally produced pate but I forgot to ask what is was made from, I’m guessing chicken. From this tasting room, we’re taken to the Barrel room where many barrels have been hand made in preparation for the impending harvest. Only French and American oaks are used and the barrels are only used 5 times before they are broken down and burned to ‘roast’ the new barrels in their production. Bit of a talkfest and I don’t pay a lot of attention, but pick up a few interesting snippets. It’s about 6pm by now and we’re taken to a massive room set up with 2 very long dining tables. It’s dinner time!! Our guide and coach driver have hyped this meal up, so I hope it doesn’t disappoint.

The meal is served in a communal style, one plate of whatever between 4, which is fine in theory if all the seats are taken, but for some reason there are empty seats, so makes for a disjointed service – not enough of one dish, which is corrected by the wait staff, but then an extra dish of the same is also delivered, but again, not wanting to be seen as ungrateful, we manage to clean most of it up. So, what were we served? Mixed salad greens (which I thought was a bit out of sync with the rest of the meal), roasted carrots and parsnips; slow cooked beef cheeks on a bed of silky smooth mashed potatoes; a chicken breast dish with a mildy spicy orange coating (not sure what) also served on a bed of mashed something, but this was very white and creamy mash, no-one in our group managed to hear what it was but it was very nice. The surprising thing was that the wine on the table didn’t seem to be Yalumba wines, unless they produce under other names. Dessert was an individually served, very dense chocolate mousse with a berry pulp in the bottom.  All in all, a very good meal, but didn’t surpass the food at Seppeltsfield. I didn’t drink a great amount of wine, just enough for the desired effect, which was to make me sleep no matter what the train was doing. It was an hour and a half drive back to the train and it was a very quiet trip as many passengers succumbed early to the alcohol.

While we were ‘off train’, the train had continues in to Adelaide, been put through the train wash (think car wash but on a bigger scale), and sadly all the crew we met when we boarded in Sydney left and were replaced by a fresh crew. Apparently Adelaide is the hub for staff. It’s also a terminal the same as Sydney, the train reverses direction here, so our rear facing cabin is now forward facing. Happy days! I was hoping our carriage would be a bit further away from where the coach dropped us, but it was one of the closest carriages, so I didn’t get much of a chance to walk off all the fantastic food. Time change again tonight, watches back 90 minutes, so an extra big sleep to make up for the first night of rotten sleep. I sat up in bed and looked out the window for a while. We had a carpet of sparkly lights laid out below us which was very pretty and will remain a happy memory of Adelaide. We have to come back here.