Victor Harbor | Chaos roaming the world

Writing the blog at our host’s table

We had a very comfortable start into the day after a very comfortable night. Leaving Victor Habor, we took a couple of roads that Geoff had suggested and ended the ride in Hahndorf for lunch. Hahndorf is a German-founded little town that has a high kitsch factor today. Flo found it very cringeworthy but still enjoyed some Leberkäs’ in the Kaffeehaus.

Then, it was time for my treat. I realized yesterday already that Adelaide has a Haigh’s chocolate factory. Today, we went there, took part in the free tour and bought chocolates. J The founder Haigh learned his chocolate craft in Switzerland with Lindt and it is a real chocolatier. Everything is still handmade.

The teddy bears with the tin suitcases did grab my fancy

The tour was great and quite informative. I am really happy that more and more people realize that chocolate is like coffee: Different origins produce different flavours.

We ended up buying some hazelnut wafer bars for me, chili and lime dark chocolate seconds for Flo and a bag full of “chocolate nibbles”. Since it is a factory, they sell a small amount of seconds which are products that are totally fine but don’t look quite up to scratch. The bag of chocolate nibbles is filled of chocolate covered nuts, fruit and liquorice. Just a bag full of surprises. 🙂

After the factory visit we drove up to the summit of Mount Lofty to look down at the city of Adelaide. We were lucky that the clouds were high enough for us to have a view, as the view down onto the plains and the city were pretty spectacular.

Our camp for the night at Barossa Backpackers

Next, we drove on through windy back roads into the Barossa Valley. Flo’s favourite Australian wine “Chocolate Box” is made here. It is a big wine region producing about 40% of Australian wine. Got some information about the vineyards and the wine tours for tomorrow from the tourist information and then tried to find a camping spot.

We had read that the Barossa Backpacker also offers campsites but this is only true in summer. A room was too pricey for us and we were just about to leave when the guy at the reception was really interested in our travels and very helpful as well. He called his boss to see if we could be the exemption and still camp and it actually worked out! We are allowed to camp here for a very good price as well. 🙂

: View at Victor Harbor from above

: Kaffeehaus

: Picturesque front

: Flo is thrilled by the things in the window

: Sheep made from metal

: All of Haigh’s products look very nice and quite retro

: Chocolates!!!!!!!!!!!

: The teddy bears with the tin suitcases did grab my fancy

: Flo, for scale, looking down towards Adelaide from Mount Lofty summit

: Looking down on the Adelaide CBD from Mount Lofty summit

: The “Barossa” sign of the tourist information at night

We had an appointment in Adelaide with a workshop to get something on the bike fixed. I’m not qualified to tell you what it was but some part leaked oil so it needed a polish, new seals and “socks”. There you go. 🙂 That is about as much as I understood.

Flo’s insert: The front fork seals were leaking fork oil, because the rust on the chrome rods was not polished off in Wellington and cut into the new seals in a month.

Lake Albert was a bit further away from Adelaide than we thought so it took us about 2 hours to make it to the workshop. On the way my headset played up and it ended with me not being able to hear anything while Flo still heard me talking. We changed the headset at the workshop as well because that was just no fun.

Delivering the bike, we then had about three hours to kill in Adelaide. Luckily, there was a bus stop outside bringing us directly into the city.

We started with the Central Market. Markets are just so awesome and so full of food. 🙂 Flo had spaghetti with clams for lunch and was very happy about his choice.

From the markets, we went through Victoria Square, up King William Avenue and into Rundle Mall. Rundle Mall is pedestrian only and it was full of people, street musicians and too much stuff to buy. In the middle of it, there are two big metal balls. We had to take an inception selfie, right?

Nina approves

The far end of the mall was more our turf: Hipster cafes, little shops and side alleys. I managed to get Flo into Cocolat and had a delicious chocolate-y dessert while Flo had a coffee.

Time to head back to the workshop. Everything was done but it cost so much that I nearly had a heart attack. We simply packed all our gear back onto the bike and left. Flo had written on the forum of Horizon Unlimited previously and we had a bed on offer in Victor Harbor which is about an hour south of Adelaide. So this is where we went. Geoff and Colleen welcomed us very warmly; Flo got lamb rump for dinner and I got apple pie for dessert. 🙂 Having a real bed every now and then is just unbeatable.