Our final morning in Adelaide saw us pack our bags and head for the South Australian Museum for the morning. Very easy to find on North Terrace (the older part of the city has a strict grid system bounded by Terraces on each side inside the ring of parks.
We decided that the best use of our time was on the guided 3/4 hour tour so we could get an overview. Nicola particularly wanted to see the Aboriginal Art section. Our guide was a good humoured, middle-aged woman whose knowledge appeared to be variable. The group consisted of a young German couple and a middle-aged man from Cornwall.
We had an eclectic mix of subjects from the opalised fossils, through a small Egyptian display (Australia had no rampaging army to steal more so had had to negotiate for artefacts), meteorites, Australian wildlife and eventually the Aboriginal art display.
There were a number of particularly interesting displays. One concerned the Antarctic exploration trips of Douglas Mawson who completed 3 or 4 trips in all. On one his two companions died. The first had fallen into a crevasse and had taken the sledge with most of the food with him. The two remaining men then started the return journey but had to live on the dogs pulling the sledges and unfortunately also ate their livers that contained toxic levels of vitamins. When his other companion died Mawson still had a 4 week journey ahead. He reduced the size of his sledge but then fell into a crevasse himself only surviving due to his sledge wedging in the crack. He managed to pull himself out after a 4 hour climb, a feat that has not been replicated, and arrived in camp 12 hours after the last ship left for the winter to Australia. Luckily 2 men had been left as well and the 3 men survived the winter before returning to warmer climes.
Another concerned the discovery of an earlier phase of development of life on earth than the Cambrian Period which was discovered by visits to the Flinders Mountain Range (not far from Adelaide). Life on earth at this time consisted of soft bodied worms and anemone-like creatures which were difficult to fossilise. However careful study of the rock in the Flinders was able to identify small marks where their bodies could be seen. From my study of the rocks I found it impossible to tell a worm mark from an indentation caused by natural means.
Eventually we made it to the Aboriginal art exhibition which consisted of 9 doors (from a total of 30) that had been painted in the 1980s with dream sequences (the traditional oral method used to pass on their tradition and culture) and it was the first time a pictorial representation had been used to record this knowledge. The doors themselves had been used as normal in the intervening years (some even had graffiti) and the significance had only been recognised relatively recently.
It was a great way to spend 1/2 a day.
Moving south to the McClaren Vale we went to meet Louise and Joch at Battle of Bosworth Vineyard. We were introduced to Louise through a friend and it was great to see the workings of a vineyard close up.
The business has been in Jochs family for a couple of generations producing grapes for the larger wine labels. Currently the Australian wine industry is suffering something of an oversupply problem due to excessive investment 20 years ago and the strength of the dollar recently. In order to distinguish themselves they have set up as wine producers in their own right with the Battle of Bosworth label.
We had a fascinating tour of the 190 acres of vines and discussed everything from the winter pruning through the weed control and the harvesting of the grapes in February to April period.
Over the life of a vineyard wine fashions will change but it is possible to replace varieties by removing the top growth and grafting on the preferred varieties. By this method only one year of production is lost as the root system is retained. We saw a number of areas where Shiraz had replaced less popular grapes.
Once the grapes have been harvested the wine story really starts with the pressing, fermenting and bottling. With costs increasing at each stage it is also possible to easily ruin the product. Costs are also incurred storing the wines over a number of years while they are often blended and marketed.
We only managed a brief understanding of the complexity of the business but it makes you appreciate the decision to move from grape producer to wine producer was not taken lightly from either a technical or financial standpoint.
While Joch produces the wine Louise is in charge of the marketing, not an easy task if you have seen the number of labels in McClaren Vale and Barossa Valley alone, never mind the larger Australian sector but they have a great web site (http://www.battleofbosworth.com.au/) that is kept upto date with news and offers. The have exported to various countries (UK, USA etc) and had just set up their Cellar Door to develop and encourage direct sales. While only open since August it appears to be going well. Needless to say we finished our tour with an extensive tasting session and brought away some great wines.
We were then treated to a delicious supper starting with a selection of Australian cheeses and raisins followed by roast chicken with roasted veg. The talk continued into the night and included the creation of a "mud map" to help us navigate the next section to Melbourne. What a small world it is, Louise is a very good friend of Claire Price and so the Bleasby School connection was made! Nicola gave Louise the inside track on getting the children into Bleasby as it is likely she will have to come to the UK soon for an extended visit. It will be good to return the favour with a visit to the farm.