Chocolate

It rained lightly this morning, not heavy but enough to take the heat out of the air, and we felt much more like packing everything up in order to move on. There is so much more to see in South Australia, but we will have to save it for another time.  We need to turn towards home.

Val set off to work nice and early, and we gathered all our things (although I think I managed to leave behind a plate or two!) and headed back into Adelaide.

As we drove through the Adelaide Hills, we took a slight detour up Mt Lofty, where we had a great view out over the city.  The sign said the mountain area was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 (he was very busy in 1802) and used to be covered in huge stringy bark trees.  They have all gone for firewood and houses, but the land has been re-planted and is covered in trees, a bit smaller than those first stringy barks were.

We drove through Adelaide and on to the other side to see Glenelg, a popular beach which you can catch a tram to from the city centre.  It reminded me of the Gold Coast with big apartment blocks and loads of shops, and heaps of people everywhere.

Back into the city we parked, made our lunch, then walked the short distance to Haigh's chocolate factory on  Greenhill Road.  Haigh's is a family owned manufacturer and purveyor of fine chocolates which was started in Adelaide in 1916.  They now have stores in Melbourne and Sydney, and you can purchase their quality hand made chocolates online anywhere in Australia.

We had booked a free tour, and since there were eight in the family, they gave us a private one.  We were given free samples and a guided tour of part of their facilities.

Originally, Mr Haigh operated out of a shop in the beehive building in Adelaide city centre.  He bought in the chocolate which he then used to cover things with or mix through icecream. He sold the sweets during the day, and made more during the night in the room above the shop.

It was a few generations later that a Haigh decided they should make the chocolate themselves, and wangled an 'apprenticeship' with Lindt in Switzerland to learn how to make quality chocolate.  Now they sell quality chocolates in Australia.

An agent in Paris buys the kakao beans and sends them to Adelaide.  They then husk the beans, grind them under pressure to make a paste, add sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla etc, then dry that out to form a powder.  Next they 'conch' the chocolate, which is mixing it for 72 hours while adding progressively more cocoa butter until you have smooth, thick, runny chocolate.

The chocolate is then used for all Haigh's products.  We saw big chocolate hearts being hand wrapped in red foil for Valentine's day, egg molds for making Easter eggs (which will then also be hand wrapped), round chocolates being hand mixed and formed out of white chocolate and pistachio nuts, round chocolate balls being handmade, one person forming the balls and another person roughing up the outside to form the distinctive finish.  All their chocolates are handmade, hand wrapped, hand packed, and regularly quality controlled.  Later, in the Haigh's store, Nadine said "now I know why these chocolates are so expensive!". But they did taste pretty good.

We drove out the north side of Adelaide, through Gawler, Burra and Mt. Bryan.  We read about Sir Hubert Wilkins, who was the youngest of 13 children, born in the area, had a poor education, and went on to become the most famous explorer and  aviator of the northern polar region.  He even tried to submarine under the arctic ice at one stage.  I'd never heard of him.

Val gave me the book, A Fortunate Life by AB Facey, and I am enjoying reading it.  It is set in Western Australia and we have been in a lot of the places he mentions.

 

A thunderstorm blew up late this afternoon, with lightning flashing on the horizon, and dark clouds gathering, wind blowing and rain pelting down.  I'm not sure if that was unusual or not, but we kept driving, hoping the rain would ease up before we pulled over for the night.

We are camped at Nackara East with another couple from Perth who are on their way to upper Coomera near Mt Tamborine, to build a house.  The lightning display is continuing as darkness comes.  Every now and then we will have a heavy shower of rain and a strong wind.  As I write this, at 12am, another car has just pulled in and I can hear them pitching their tent.  I am very grateful for our caravan on nights like this.
-----
Vicki