Tuesday tales

Australia feels very familiar if you're a Brit. The language is the same obviously, and, unlike USA, they don't phoneticise the spelling - they just leave it the same quirky way we do. Many of the place names came directly from the first immigrants, hence Brighton, Hove, Exeter, even Peterhead and Greenock.

On TV, there are many familiar faces and styles of TV programmes - sometimes they import British shows intact, other times they "Aussie-fy" them using local presenters. One programme they have only recently taken on down here is I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. In the UK, we send the contestants to Australia, but here they are sending them to Africa!

They drive on the left as well, but, unlike us, they have gone fully metric - road distances are kms and weights are all kilos and volumes litres etc.

There are little differences/quirks, however. Did you know it's illegal to park facing the wrong way? No, I didn't either - until yesterday. Jo and I drove down to nearby Henley (there you go again) and Glenelg in Chris' car and when we came back, I drove up from the beach - eastwards. Their house is on the right and the road was completely clear so I just pulled over and parked facing the way Chris normally goes. I thought it might save him making his usual U-turn in the road, but I was advised otherwise when Kelly got home. Whoops - quick change!

We spent Tuesday morning on deserted Henley Beach, reading our books and occasionally snoozing (in my case):

Lunch was at Stella's (http://www.stellarestaurant.com.au/) where we had lunched with Kelly a couple of years ago. We then (in the car this time) re-traced our steps of a few years ago when we had walked along the coastal path to Henley from Glenelg - and back.

Parking in Coles' car park was easy, free and very convenient - right next to Jetty Road, where it's very difficult to find a parking space. That's another difference from the UK - we expected there to be some fee or time restriction for parking in the supermarket car park in the heart of a busy tourist area, but there was none.

A little bit of shopping - including some browsing round the various book stores - and then we were home - just ahead of Kelly and Miller.

Today, Kelly is off work and has been to the gym again and we are now breakfasting. Plans are to head to the Barossa for a winery and a microbrewery.