Auburn and the Clare Valley

In between the cycling we relaxed in the Clare Valley. We had a couple of really hot days and everyone was pleased there were no races!

2025 Tour Down Under

After years of watching cycling on TV we finally made it to the real thing. We both enjoyed the experience and might even do it again sometime!

Our first taste was a stage of the women's race up Willunga Hill. There is quite a procession of team, official and sponsor cars, as well as police and ambulance (in vehicles and on motorbikes and even bicycles).

As we were happily waiting in a quiet shady spot for the cyclists to come through we were suddenly surrounded by a group of French people who decided that they liked the look of our tree... and promptly surrounded us!

That afternoon was the men's Classic, which was a circuit race in Adelaide. It was quite a contrast to the hill climb. We arrived early enough to walk around the circuit and see the teams getting organised. We picked a spot just as they came out of a corner, thinking they'd be going a little slower and would be easier to see, but they still blew our (okay, "my") hair back.

Sam Welsford (the eventual winner)

Jay Vine (won King of the Mountain in the Vuelta a España last year) 

The second day we attended was the stage that started and finished in Tanunda, in the Barossa Valley. We also coordinated to get our car serviced that day as the race went right past Toyota. We dropped the car in early and walked down to the start line to see what was happening and discovered sponsor cars giving out merch! We scored hats, sunscreen, lip balm, fruit tingles, mints and shopping bags! We also watched as the competitors signed on (walking or riding up from their team cars, and then going back again), which proved to be a good opportunity for photos.

Sam Welsford (wearing the Ochre jersey because we was the overall race leader at the time)

Fergus Browning (winner of the King of the Mountain)

Luke Durbridge (Australian National Road Race Champion 2025)

Luke Plapp (Australian National Road Race Champion 2022, 2023, 2024)

While the riders were working hard out on the roads we had enough time to walk up to the Barossa Valley Chocolate Factory for ice cream before they came back past us again.

As we stood watching the peloton ride past for the penultimate time a projectile came at us - a much coveted bidon! Riders get fined for discarding rubbish on the sides of the road, but not if they throw things to spectators. At some of the races there were kids with signs saying "bidon please" hoping for a souvenir, but since there were none around us at the time I kept it. 😀

Not a bad "haul" for the day!

After a break of a couple of days we were back down to Willunga Hill for the mens' race. Their circuit had them coming down the hill once and then climbing it twice. They absolutely flew down.

We enjoyed the scenery and walked further up the hill to watch them come up. They were a lot slower then when they went down, but still went at quite a pace.

One of the spectators we were talking to told us about the Tour Village in Adelaide in Victoria Square. The teams were all staying at the Hilton Hotel, so they had set up the square as the area where they serviced the bikes after races. It sounded interesting so we stopped there on our way home from Willunga. We didn't realise how "up close" it would be, but riders and technicians were just doing their thing as the public walked around and watched.

Luke Plapp's bike being serviced.

The Ineos boys bringing their bikes in to get serviced.

In one of the other areas they had a display of bikes. Dazz chatted briefly to a guy and mentioned that his brother in law had asked him to pick up a bike for him, and the guy promptly offered for Dazz to pick up the bike in front of them. Before we knew it he'd unscrewed the clip and Dazz was holding Grace Brown's bike! (Grace won the Individual Time Trial gold medal at the 2024 Olympics and the World Championships Individual Time Trial in 2024.)

For our final day of racing we were back to Adelaide. The women had a Classic circuit race in the morning. We walked around most of the 4.5km circuit and enjoyed the city sights in between their 20 laps.

The final race was the last stage of the men's tour, using the same circuit. We started off at the start-finish line and then wandered around to other vantage points we'd picked out during the women's race.

The atmosphere of the short circuit races was great, and there were opportunities to see riders multiple times as they did longer circuits on the other stages. According to a number of people we talked to they much prefer the Tour Down Under to the Tour de France!

South Australia's Limestone Coast

Brown Beach

 Port Macdonnell

Blackfellows Caves

Carpenter Rocks

Mount Gambier - Blue Lake

Umpherston Sinkhole