March 29, 2026
The d'Arenberg Cube in the famed Barossa Valley was the draw for me here; the wine tasting was an added bonus! The 15M AUD Cube was built in 2017, from the vision of 4th generation winemaker, Chester Osbourn, who likened the solving of a Rubik's cube to winemaking. The avant garde glass, concrete and steel visitor center is 5 stories tall with
the top floor tasting room offering panoramic views over the McLaren vale vineyards, the Willunga Hills and the Gulf St. Vincent. The other floors house the Alternate Realitites Museum, a contemporary art gallery, bars, a fine dining restaurant, a virtual reality experience and a wine sensory room. There is currently a Salvador Dali Universe exhibit on a 2 year lease, with some of the artist's sculptures and graphics.
This place is true sensory overload! First there is the building, window & terrace views & colorful lighting and furniture, then add in the art work - tons of paintings, sculptures and so much more ! Top that off with wine tasting. WOW!!
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Did I mention the bathrooms? They are definitely worth a visit too!!
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Some of the art work from the Alternate Realities and Modern Art Galleries and a sampling of the Virtual Reality area.
Some days I just don't want to sight see! My birthday was one of them. I just wanted to indulge in a good movie in a comfy, cool theater, eat some popcorn and follow with a yummy lunch! That's exactly what I did, despite some of my friends trying to convince me go on a 5 hour van to see 2 gigantic temples.
The ancient temple of Soo Poo Kong was our next stop. We were all wilting in the heat by then, but they promised an air conditioned room for a 20 minute movie on the history - so we rallied! Basically, the Temple was erected as a thank you to the Chinese Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho who let the fleet stop here on their way somewhere else in Asia back in 1416 because his helmsman, Wang Jing Hong, was sick. Wang recovered from his illness in a cave on this site and built first the statue and then the temple to thank Ho for his life.
SEMERANG is the capital of Central Java , the world's 13th largest island and the 5th largest in Indonesia. Despite it's size, it is the world's most populous island, holding over 150 Million people (over 55% of Indonsesia's population). Today, I did a 50 person bus tour of some of the Semerang's history , so I could cover a lot in one day.