What they don’t tell you about biking the Barossa Valley

So when you picture wine regions, you of course think of wine, getting a little tipsy maybe and in most cases being driven around, in order to increase the amount of wine drunk and to increase that level of tipsiness. Well we took that idea and threw it out the window. Instead, when we arrived in Barossa, we hired ourselves some bikes.

Yep, we all thought it would be a fantastic idea to bike around whilst trying wine. And really it was fantastic! But they forget to mention the real things that also happen whilst attempting to bike.

First on that list is the Barossa Valley is definitely not flat! Like hills everywhere that we had to ride up.

Second point to note is that when you visit in the middle of summer it bloody warm, your biking up hills remember and don’t forget its a legal requirement to wear a helmet!

Which brings me to the third point. When tasting wine, from my experience, you get a little nicer dressed and as a woman, do your hair. Well no you can’t do your hair and expect it to look the same after wearing a common used helmet, and in my case a child’s helmet, because yes my head is that small.

My fourth point to note is that everything is very VERY spread out. Wineries are not all next to each other, especially the ones we somehow picked. What you planned to be a day trying 6-8 wineries, ended up being a day of many stops, some in wineries but most others on the side of the road and visits to maybe 3 places.

The fifth problem we encountered, which in some weird way was actually a blessing, was that whilst biking you cant really carry a bunch of wine bottles. Travelling around Australia in our car allows this to not be a major problem for us, because space is kinda rare, but a bike does limit your ‘carry on’ allowance.

And then I have to mention the sixth and final point they forget to tell you. That on a bike, once you start peddling down a street to go somewhere you have essentially committed to that route and journey. But what happens if when you get there and it’s not what you expected, its not open or worse you went down the wrong street, rode 2 something km and have to now turn back.

I’d really like to say that our biking experience in the Barossa Valley was epic and we would want to do it that way again, thats if everything is right next to each other and its flat or even better, down hill. But I’ll be honest and say that if we could drive, I think we would all chose that option next time. Don’t get me wrong, all these points made our day all that more hilarious and added to the experience, one we were all completely sober for.

Once we finally got back into town and our caravan park we were exhausted. But instead of crashing for the night, we cooked up some amazing food that even other campers came and asked us about, and drank the best GnT’s. Sometimes wine tours are made amazing by some unexpected experiences and gin, who would have thought!

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