Hahndorf, little German village among Adelaide hills……

(Old cart symbolism of handorf)

Hahndorf was established in 1839 and is a small town with a village type atmosphere.

Hahndorf is one of the most famous towns in the Adelaide hills and Australia's oldest surviving Germanic settlement. Hahndorf is also a unique State Heritage Area being listed by the National Estate. Some of the town's old buildings in the Main Street have been restored and converted into galleries and shops while still retaining the basis of their original features. Unfortunately, many others have been demolished, or inappropriate additions or alterations have been made, all in the name of 'progress'. Having been a popular tourist destination for many decades has resulted in Main Street providing facilities which cater mainly to the tourist trade. Thus those remaining old buildings which were once houses, barns, stables etc now have only some semblance of their original features and style. Most have newer facades and additions applied by later generations (info from http://hahndorf.wikispot.org/hahndorf).

This famous town thus became my main priorities to visit. Set out on the weekend and while waiting for the bus going into the Adelaide hills, i saw these cyclist, a whole group of them, like i mentioned before, cycling is common in Adelaide and in fact encouraged with bicycle lanes. And also soon the tour down under riding competition is going be held here in Adelaide, thus many cyclist pop up.

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Excited that I’m here in the famous little German village of Hahndorf!!! Another small trip among the Adelaide hills. The countryside smell and look just took me over. The little brick cottages, deciduous trees planted along the road, is so pretty. It’s not a busy street but with many tourist and locals traveling here to enjoy a relaxing and romantic time.

All those pretty flowers planted in wooden barrel type pot, restaurants, cafes makes this village very attractive and definitely a retreat from the busy life in CBD. One can enjoy German cuisines and bakeries here.

Even the signs of shops, buntings and decos around the street are so beautiful and colourful.

This whole place is full of culture and heritage, with historic architectural buildings that resembles the europe but blend in with local flavour. haha.

Hahndorf has plenty of souvenir shops, craft outlets and galleries, including the Hahndorf Academy - a regional centre for the arts and heritage based in a charming 150-year-old building.

This shop below has so many displays neatly arranged and display this elegant like glass cupboards. There are crafts on dogs, queen elizaberth, fairies, angels, xmas……, looking at them just made me wished i owned them…haha.

Ottos bakery, typical german bakery?? i duno and i cant tell, wahaha, the meat pie i have was not dat nice compared to the one i had in Port Elliot. Din try other stuff though i saw sthg sthg german bakery on the menu…, pretty conservative?? no money le…wahaha. I heard from my fren that they roast pork too in BBQ, but too bad, i’m traveling alone, couldn’t affort to have the whole pork to myself…haha.

Came across this india crafts shop, the ‘ting ting tang tang’ inside looks nice, and what attracted me the most is the cow bells, they come in a variety of shapes and looks nice when hang with other ornaments like the picture below. These cow bells will be used as noise makers by clanging them during the tour down under bike race to cheer the racers which is a bike racing tradition.

Halfway exploring, these 2 huskies suddenly caught my eyes, so excited to get to see these dogs which i think one will never see them in Malaysia. And it so happened that the dog owner is so friendly that she actually allowed me to pat and touch those dogs and convinced me that these huskies are very friendly dogs….N to my amaze, these dogs are just so friendly and have nice fur to touch…and looks so pretty…i was like OMG, i actually not only get to see these dogs but ALSO get to pat and take picture with them…wahaha. Another unexpected reward of Hahndorf trip. Those dogs also got very excited over the smell of my half eaten meat pie, wahaha. I just kept looking at the dogs, but knew very well, i have to keep walking…to finish my trip.

Some other souvenirs shops…..opal, potteries……etc

One of the most interesting shop is the puppet shop….this was the first time i actually saw and entered a shop selling only puppets. And the shop sell varies of puppets, from small to big, from finger to hand juggling puppets. There’s also pinocchio puppet, hehe. Those puppets looks very attractive when they are put together, just like dolls. The thought of sound of music puppet show by the Von Trapp family came directly into my mind, the way they sing and play the puppets together.

Along the walk, came across all these different decos and this one below on the right, circle of frienship :) yeah, frens forever!!!

Went into one of the shop selling cookies, nuts, …..and jars of jams from Beerenberg brand, a famous local brand which owns a strawberry farm not far from the town.

There’s also a shop selling leather producst ranging from different design of belts, badges, keychains, jackets, pants….

There’s also a shop selling aboriginal art called ancient earth, showcasing varies aboriginal art and crafts, i was surprised to find that alot of aboriginal drawings are very abstract and often portray what they had in mind, god, dreams….vy interesting art indeed and vy pretty too….but the price are SOOOOOOOOOOO cheap…..wahahha.

Came across a shop which name german village shop, but not german at all….wahaha, should delete off the german word, but they do sell some copyright antique clocks which too bad, i’m not allowed to take pics of.

Went pass the adelaide hills artist market, but nthg interesting too, haha.

This shop sell quite alot of souvernirs made of recycle stuff….i can only take photos of those display outside….those art showed how creative ppl are getting to be.

Heart shape opals?? very attractive and not exp too.

One of the local attractions is the hahndorf academy which now houses the Heritage Museum, a fine art gallery and interpretive centre.

Another interesting use of wine bottles….look how creative ppl are. These steel decorated wine bottles each fetch a price of over hundred bucks…..which is not surprising, they look like a very fine and delicate art, i like to have one, haha.

After explored the town, i walked all the way down to the Cedars, former home and studio of artist Sir Hans Heysen, which is still owned by the Heysen family. It houses a fine collection of paintings and drawings displaying Heysen's remarkable versatility in subject and medium. Also on the grounds, see Heysen's working studio, his painting materials and tools, sketches, notes and more.

At first glance on the map, the cedars, dun seem far from the main road, but i found myself very tired and exhausted walking all the way to the Cedars, almost gave up…haha, maybe because i’m tired after walking around the hahndorf street and lack of exercise dy.

Funny though, came across the “PAIN ROAD”, the first thinking came into my mind was Naruto’s Pain character, wahahha. Wondered why it’s called pain road? and whether residents living down that road suffered alot of pain that they named it pain road!!!! wahaha.

Finally after walking for 20-25mins uphill and downhill, i saw the signboard indicating To the Cedars, i felt so relieved as i nearly gave up and turned back. The dried and hot weather worsen my walk. Wanted to stop car that pass by…haha but just didn’t do so.

This Cedar look beautiful when i saw it, and contains a garden, the heysen old house, and a reception house to welcome visitors which also showcase some of Heysen daughter’s art and selling of art, books and postcards relevant to Sir Han Heysen. As i arrived quite late dy, i missed the opportunity to visit the Heysen house and only allowed to visit the studio which Sir Hans Heysen spent alot of his time in there working on his MASTERPIECES ( real masterpieces). And i was prohibited from taking any pictures at all.

It was a good experience to actually have the chance to look at the studio of a GREAT artist, all the things he used, the enviroment, letters, some original art display inside, unfinished pieces…..really interesting.

This place is also home to rearing of cows, and have a vast area of grass, plenty of trees and especially Sir han Heysen’s favourite gum trees, making it a good place for the artist to think, focus, and create his masterpieces which alot were drawn on barns, cows, gum trees, the everyday life of hahndorf….etc.

A tiring day but filled with excitement :).