A tour in a 1962 Daimler and a room at the
homestead made famous by McLeod's Daughters offers Christina Pfeiffer a glamorous visit to a region renowned for its wine and food.
A scenic patchwork of emerald, jade and moss green whooshes by my window as the road snakes past vineyards and pastures. We roll through historical towns with sandstone buildings and pink flowering plum trees. Heads turn, people stare, and farmers toot their horns as we drive through the lush Barossa Valley. I'm in the back seat of a shiny black 1962 Daimler, chatting
to guide, chauffeur and wine specialist John Baldwin, who is showing me around the Barossa Valley's cellar doors, restaurants and local delis. John's passion for wine and vintage cars shines through as he manoeuvres the old Daimler – which was once used by the Duke of Edinburgh – around sweeping bends and up and down gentle hills. "When I found the Daimler on a farm, it was a wreck.
I bought it for $15,000," John recalls. However, the many hours he spent restoring it has paid off and the Daimler is now an elegant icon on the roads of the Barossa Valley. We wind our way along Menglers Hill Road to Mengler
Hill Lookout and Sculpture Park, where we stretch our legs among the impressive marble and black granite sculptures. The view from the lookout captures the symmetrical tranquillity of vineyards dotted with bluestone cottages.
