On Friday morning we all boarded our Corvettes, heading for McLaren Vale to visit the D’Arenberg Cube. This unique structure is built in the likeness of a “Rubik’s Cube” which has had a couple of twists. This award winning building contains a restaurant, a wine-tasting centre and an art centre, currently featuring a Salvador Dali exhibition of paintings and statues. Many of the pieces are priced in excess of $1M. Not to be missed is the Men’s Bathroom. I won’t explain why as it would spoil the surprise of seeing it personally.
From McLaren Vale we continued along winding roads that were fun to drive in the Corvette (especially if you were in a C8), but did seem to go on forever. Although a large percentage of us got cut off from the ‘peloton’, we all eventually made it to Lake Breeze Wines for lunch. The food was good and it was an enjoyable stop to talk to others in the large group.
From there we made our way back to Hahndorf for a relaxed afternoon. Many took the opportunity to head into the centre of Hahndorf to take a look at this German heritaged town that was settled by German immigrants in the mid 1800s. It was also an opportunity to do some shopping, as our cabins contained quite reasonable cooking facilities – particularly for preparing a hot breakfast!
Friday evening saw us all head into Hahndorf via the local bus, for a Chinese meal.
On Thursday, 14th November, some 20 Victorians arrived at the Hahndorf Discovery Park in the Adelaide Hills, to join the “Meet the Vics” event for 2024. Joining the members of our Surfcoast Corvettes Club, who comprised the biggest group, were members of the Corvettes of Melbourne and Corvettes of Geelong.
We started the event off with a BBQ, put on by the Corvette Club of South Australian (CCSA) team. Although we had a beautiful picturesque spot for the BBQ, the wind had quite a chill to it, cutting the festivities short, but not before we had all eaten our fill. Private parties then ensued in the various cabins, where it was a lot warmer.
Saturday morning saw about 30 of us climb aboard our ‘Kanga’ bus for the ‘Barossa Heritage Tour‘.
We drove through Bethany, the first village settled in the Barossa, made a stop at the Menglers Hill Lookout for a view of the whole Barossa Valley, and then headed out to the Seppeltsfield Estate, viewing the Avenue of Palms along Seppeltsfield Road, the Seppeltsfield Mausoleum, and then the Estate itself which now takes the form of a tourism village.
We then made our way to the historic Tanunda Hotel for lunch, prior to visiting the Barossa Museum right next door to the hotel. While in Tanunda we visited Goat Square and the Langmeil Lutheran Church and Cemetary, as well as the historic Langmeil Village/winery.
Finally we drove past the Collingrove Homestead, on the way to our last stop at the Herbig Family Tree. The tree is a giant, hollow red gum, thought to be around 500 years old. The Herbig family, including their first two children, lived within the hollow trunk of the tree for about 5 years.
We then made our way back to Hahndorf, although the bus driver was kind enough to call by a local bottle shop so we could replenish our supplies.
We finished the day off by getting together at the Hahndorf Old Mill restaurant. We again made use of the local bu that has a STOP right outside the Park. Some of the team even worked off some of the food by making the trip by foot. Not a really long walk, but the road and footpath at night is not very well lit! However, everyone was able to make a safe return.
Sunday, the final day of the event, saw the group of cars make their way to the Birdswood Motor Museum. A special parking area had been put aside for our Corvettes. The Vettes were all parked together on the lawn for the public to enjoy while we surveyed the wonderful collection of cars assembled in the Museum.
From there, we left the hills to travel to our lunch destination at Mannum – the Pretoria Hotel. This 100 year old hotel is situated on the bank of the Murray River and features a great river-view bar.
For those Vics who stayed in Hahndorf on Sunday night, a dinner was organised at the German Arms Hotel so we could finally eat a real German meal in Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement. Peter S, in particular, had been hanging out impatiently for a German feast, as had many others in our group.
After a reasonably early night the remaining Vics hit the highway on Monday morning for the trip home after a very enjoyable long weekend in South Australia.
We all give our thanks to Rob and Neil and all the members of the CCSA for organising this year’s Meet the Vics.
