Mount Lofty and Hahndorf, Australia

Happy Weekend All!  We kicked off our trip to Australia with my fabulous co-worker and her husband offering up to be our tour guides for the day.  They even planned out the itinerary for us complete with a trip to Mount Lofty to take in a view of Adelaide, lunch and shopping at Hahndorf, city highlights and a chocolate tasting at Haigh’s Chocolates. 

I know The Husband was glad to have someone else drive since he keeps turning the windshield wipers on every single time he reaches for his blinker.  We definitely have the cleanest window on the block LOL.

Before heading out to meet them, we took a nice, long stroll along the beach board walk.  We have started off every single day so far with a big bowl of one of the summer fruits we bought like this super sweet watermelon.

Eggwiches…..

Eaten together on our balcony as we watch the waves break onto the ocean and everyone set up for the day on the beach.  I could seriously get used to starting my day like that.

First up ~ our trip to Mount Lofty Summit.

I wish the camera could capture how beautiful it is at the top of the summit.  You can see the city center below and on really clear days, you can see all the way to Kangaroo Island.  I totally wish we had time to go to Kangaroo Island (I want to go just because it is named that, ok, and there are so many amazing things we have read about it). 

Cheese!

There is also a walk you can take down the summit that is quite popular where you can see a few waterfalls along the way.  Definitely something to be done in the early hours of the day because it is usually about 85-90 degrees by 10 am.

Next up, was a trip to the little Bavarian/German Town called Hahndorf for lunch, shopping and being tourists!

We stopped for German lunch at the Hahndorf Inn.

Any time you order iced tea here, you get these Spring Valley flavored bottles ~ My favorite is the peach/pear.  However, if you order hot tea, you get packets to make yourself.  This is the case at almost every place we have eaten.

I picked Chicken Schnitzel with a beer mushroom gravy, fries and a garden salad.  

The beer in that gravy made this super crunchy chicken so rich, decadent and tasty. 

The Husband ordered the Trio of Wursts with German Potato Salad and a fresh German pretzel that came with a trio of mustards.

I think next time I want to order what my co-worker’s husband had ~ the JargenBraten and Kransky Plate ~ Grilled Pork wrapped with Pork Belly (bacon!) and a sausage with krout and a fresh German Pretzel with 3 spicy mustards.

We walked all around town after stopping in a few shops to buy a few Mustards.

You all know how The Husband and I can never resist taking pictures with picture boards?!

Yup, we totally convinced my co-worker and her husband to take this picture with us

We pondered getting some of the tasty pastries, but, in the end, we all wanted handmade ice cream!

I picked the Mango Sorbet while The Husband had Mint Chip.

My co-worker and her husband petting the town panda ~ she is so adorable pregnant.

After driving around the City Centre, our tour guides took us for a chocolate tasting at Haigh’s Chocolates.

So many choices ~ it was really hard to choose, but, I think we did good picking out a little of everything.  The best part is they give you free chocolate to take with you after your purchase.

There are several restaurants along the Marina and the Pier that all have outside dining with a view of the ocean.  We deiced on Sammy’s Seafood because I wanted something with shrimp.

I started with a glass of sparkling Innocent Pink Moscato.  It was so light, refreshing and not too sweet.  I cannot remember why he was giving me the thumbs down…

We picked bruschetta as our starter and it was more like pizza versus a tomato salad with bread.  This was probably my favorite part of our meal.

I totally wish we loved all types of seafood because we kept seeing everyone order these huge, fancy seafood platters to share.  But, we are pretty much shrimp, maybe lobster and sushi people.

I thought I’d balance out my Shrimp Scampi by picking a garden salad as my side.

I was too freaked out by the fact that the shrimp still had their heads on to eat them….as in, I couldn’t get past it.  They should totally warn people of that!

Lucky for me, The Husband didn’t mind and chowed down on all of them giving me half his pasta dish too.  He says he “manned up” for me to eat them

His Pasta Putanesca was absolutely delicious.  The thick homemade fettuccine noodles, olives, sun dried tomatoes and fresh parmesan totally made this dish…..I didn’t even mind the capers in it either. 

We spent today driving around checking out the sites, hanging out at the beach and walking all over town. 

Tomorrow I head into our Adelaide office to meet everyone and I am totally nervous/excited.  The Husband is in charge of taking pictures this week since I am not sure if I’ll be too shy to whip out my camera in front of everyone.

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Night all!