Mechanical problems

I awoke this morning with the best of intentions. We knew we had to stay in until the man came to fix the washing machine between 11 am and 1 pm, so I decided that, having had the puncture fixed on Chris' bike, I would go for an early morning pre-breakfast ride. Think again - the tyre was flat again!

So we just had breakfast, read our books and waited for the washing machine man to arrive. Usual story - "computer fault - not worth repairing - buy a new one - that'll be A$110, thank you".

We relayed the sad news to Kelly and Chris and then had a bite of lunch, after which we walked the bike down to the bike shop and asked them to fix it again.

We now had a couple of hours to kill, so we decided to head for the Pier to read our books with the wind in our hair keeping us cool. We couldn't walk past the ice cream shop, however - salted caramel and rum 'n' raisin cones were our choices.

The bike still wasn't ready when we returned a little earlier than the scheduled 4 pm, so we went for a pot of tea for two at the nearby Sarah's Sister, adjacent to the garden centre, with windows at the back opening out to it:

Back "home" with the shopping and the bike, I decided to go for a cycle, just to make sure the tyre was properly fixed. It was the wrong time of day really - way too hot - and my body temperature rose dramatically and my throat was parched. I was very grateful for the iced water and the shower when I got back.

I cycled out to Outer Harbour again, just in time to see a cruise liner departing the port:

The crowd who had turned out to see it leaving were all turning round to go home as I got there.

Tomorrow we're off to Outback country again - Clare Valley. Communications may be difficult until we return on Sunday evening.

Wednesday winery

Kelly has been working a 3 day week since we've been here and Wednesday is one of her days off. The morning was spent doing chores - shopping, laundry etc, but eventually we set off south towards the McLaren Vale area again - specifically the Woodstock Winery (http://www.woodstockwine.com.au/) for lunch. Lovely rustic, rural place. We missed the kangaroo feeding session but had a quick look at the small reserve they had there after lunch.

Lunch was lovely - 3 entrees (starters in Aussie-speak) was more than enough for us, plus a bottle of:

Very nice it was too.

Regular readers of this blog may recall an earlier mention of trees stripped of bark. There were plenty of examples today at Woodstock - gum trees, we are told:

In Scotland in Autumn, the leaves fall from the trees, but in Australia in Summer, it's the bark:

There's some pretty hefty chunks there, so it's no wonder that these signs litter the car park:

Miller liked the wombat statue:

and the old agricultural equipment lying around:

Nearby was Goodieson's Brewery, so we stopped off there as well:

Nice place - worth a visit, even if only bottled beers.

Tomorrow (Thursday) the man arrives to fix the washing machine. Apart from that, nothing much else planned. I may go for an early morning cycle, having got the tyre fixed on Chris' bike yesterday.

Tuesday walking again

Jo and I were free agents again today and we decided to go for another slow walk - this time to Port Adelaide, where we planned to do the noon tour of the old City of Adelaide Clipper ship. On the way we planned to walk the new-ish Loop Path round the Port.

We stopped to ask another couple directions only to discover that they were from Helensburgh. Their son now lives in Port Adelaide and they were doing the Loop Path the opposite way from us. Turns out he is Chairman of the Argyll Classic and Sporting Car Club and there was a procession of Corvettes in the Port last Sunday, so he took a few photos and they've now been posted on the Club's web site - http://forargyll.com/2015/02/argyll-classic-sporting-car-club-chair-running-to-form-in-adelaide/ 10,000 miles away.

We arrived just in time for the noon tour round the old Clipper. It's a bit of a wreck, after sitting in silt in the Clyde for many years after a mishap when it was run as a nightclub. It's always interesting to hear the other side's story and, whilst our guide didn't cast Scotland in an entirely bad light, there was a bit of an underlying insinuation that we should have done more to preserve it. Then again, the Aussie Government isn't exactly backing the restoration project either - currently it's all volunteer effort. In the end, Scotland agreed to fund £0.75m. of the bill to get the ship back to Adelaide, but the cynics amongst you will say that they only did this because the cost of dismantling it would have been 4 or 5 times greater than this. They are still flying the St. Andrews Cross there, so that's good.

When we met the couple from Helensburgh, they had told us there was a dolphin wandering round the inner harbours - a unique sight in an inner city environment. We spotted it playing around in the distance, but then got a much closer look at it when it appeared as we were doing the Clipper tour:

Here's Jo amidships on the Clipper:

That's about. Time to sit down for dinner now. G & T finished and now on the red wine. Kelly alert - she's discovered red wine, so hide your stocks if she comes to visit!

Miller's playing in the sand pit and paddling pool and having a whale of time.

My cold is a little better - thanks for asking. Last night wasn't much fun, but hoping for better things tonight.

Birthday boy

Chris was working but he made sure he stopped off to buy doughnuts for his co-workers beforehand at http://www.krispykreme.com.au/

The final day of what Kelly calls the 3-day celebration of all things Chris took us to nearby Largs Hotel for dinner tonight:

Earlier on, Jo and I had gone for a walk south along the esplanade, where we stopped for a seat and a read on the dunes:

From there we walked inland a bit and then headed back for a bite of lunch and some shopping on Semaphore Road, then back to Derby St. A couple of chapters and a snooze in the hammock and then Kelly and Miller were home. Miller joined me as I read:

Are you ready for some more Aussie-edu? Like many of the states in USA and in Scandinavia, the supermarkets don't stock hard liquor - in fact, they don't stock any kind of alcohol. You have to go to a separate shop, which, in typical Aussie style is foreshortened and ends in -o, so it's a "Bottle-O" you have to look out for.

At first, I assumed this was to restrict alcohol intake, but then, when Aussies go on a road trip, they usually pull in to a drive-through Bottle-O like this:

You don't even have to get out of your car. Compare this with the hoo-hah that there was in the UK when Wetherspoon's opened the first alcohol outlet at a motorway service station.

Another common Aussie word is Ocker - I'll let Wiki explain it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocker

When we were at Matt's BBQ on Saturday, I commented on the large, what we would call kebabs. He said no - they're Shashliks (http://aussietaste.recipes/meat/lamb-mutton/how-to-make-shashlik/) - another word I'd never heard of.

Today's lesson over.

Sunday gig

It's now Monday morning in Adelaide and Jo and I are home alone again as the working week starts. I awoke yesterday with a sore throat and I'm still croaky this morning - hopefully just a summer cold that doesn't come to much.

Kelly, Jo, Miller and I headed off early Sunday morning in to the city to The Market Shed on Holland - as it suggests, a Sunday morning market in lovely surroundings. All organic, sustainable etc etc - partly indoor, partly outdoor, with musicians playing:

Jo had to share her hard-won smoothie with Miller. We had bought them at a stall called Revolution, which offered smoothies for $8 - or $7 if you mixed it yourself on the bike contraption the owner had rigged up. Watch Jo mixing hers here -  http://youtu.be/OHKuXKsdT18

While we were all away, it gave Chris the chance to get on with some work in peace, but he also gave the house a quick clean too - good man.

It was a chill-out/snooze afternoon and then, come the evening, we all headed off to Cooper's Brewery for the Sting/Paul Simon concert, where we met up with David and Lorene, plus Matt, Amanda and Abi. It was a beautiful day for a picnic concert on the lawn. Temperature peaked in the low 30's, so it was much more bearable than Saturday. As darkness fell, some of the old fogeys got up to dance:

As I write this, Australia is going through what they call a "Spill" motion concerning Tony Abbott's Premiership. He's survived apparently - at least for the time being. They seem to want to change leaders here almost as often as the Italians - but it's not for me to comment - I don't have the vote - but our daughter soon will.