Adelaide to Melbourne - Vineyards and the Great Ocean Road

The main draw to visit Adelaide for us (surprise surprise!) was the Barossa Valley, the home if some of the best shiraz in the world. The valley, centred around Tanunda, is just a 45 minute drive from Adelaide and was our first port of call after picking up our hire car at the airport.

The rolling hills of the Barossa Valley are very pretty and many well known vineyards, such a Penfolds and Jacobs Creek, have vineyards and cellar doors there.

We opted to try out some of the lesser known wineries on the recommendations of friends. My favourites were Gibson and Chateaux Tanunda, both very different to each other. Gibson was a small family run vineyard with an exceptional shiraz (named the “dirtman”) that we took with us as our Christmas wine. Chateaux Tanunda is much bigger and impressive but still pretty with a local run feel. Both wineries have wines that are only available at their cellar door, which is part of the appeal of visiting these places.

I would happily have spent a couple of days in the Barossa Valley but we were on a tight schedule to be in Melbourne for Christmas. The first part of the drive from the Barossa to the coast is peaceful with long stretches of open road. After the hairpin bends and slow travel in our camper van in New Zealand it was a refreshing change and nice to get out and see a bit of the Australian countryside. Travelling with Thomas, thanks to some lucky planning and jet lag, we were able to make the most of Thomas's naps and got the majority of the journey done whilst Thomas was asleep, particularly early evening when the evenings are light and the sun is cooler. As we bought an Australian sim card at the airport with some data we were able to book our hotels very last minute once we had decided how far we had got that day. The flexibility worked really well with Thomas.

On day two we made a lunch stop at the pretty seaside town of Robe. We happened upon a local vineyard doing wine tastings in the street and… well it would have been rude not to. The lady told us about Coonawarra, just an hour and a half away. Another wine region. We therefore abandoned our plan to continue along the coast and took a slight detour inland to sample some wineries. The region is known for its cabernet sauvignon and, whilst not as pretty as the Barossa Valley, it is less touristy and has some very decent wine. Well worth the detour.

Our journey continued until we met the Great Ocean Road on day three. Along our route, we were rewarded with sightings of kangaroos, wallabies and even a couple of koala.

The Great Ocean Road is indeed stunning, although be prepared that not a huge amount of it actually hugs the coast - you need to get out if the car a lot to view it. Not hugely practical with a sleeping baby!

The view is spectacular and the highlight is the 12 Apostles. Sadly, this spot, whilst breathtaking, is sadly spoilt by tourists carelessly waving selfie sticks and hundreds of flies. I'm not sure which annoyed me more.

The towns of Port Campbell and Lorne are worth a stop on the way towards Melbourne. Realistically, the best part of the road is on the Melbourne side of the 12 Apostles and would be possible to do as a (long) day trip. If you are driving from Adelaide then stay inland from Adelaide until Coonawarra and make the most of the fantastic Australian wines.

Now for the journey from Melbourne to Sydney… !