Last few days in Adelaide

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's very early in the morning and we're in the Qantas lounge at Adelaide airport, having said our goodbyes to Kelly and Chris last night. It's the start of the long haul for us. We fly to Sydney, where we have a long wait before the next flight to Singapore, arriving there late tonight Singapore time, having gained a few hours on the world clock.

We leave Singapore on Monday night and are due back in Aberdeen at 8:20 on Tuesday morning - then it's back to work for me.

We've had a very quiet last couple of days - just wandering round from park bench to park bench, trying to stay in the shade whilst we read our books. This is a typical scene:

The river Torrens is just hidden from view past the long reeds. This photo was taken on Wednesday and we had lunch nearby, finishing off the remnants from our fridge, washed down by some of the nice beers that Kelly gave me for my birthday - I'd carried them to the park in the James Squire stubby holder that Kelly also gave me.

We went to the Garden of Unearthly Delights - the focal point of the Fringe - on Wednesday night, and we all went veggie in sympathy with Kelly (who's now vegan), eating from this stand:

Yesterday (Thursday) was even lazier - a walk round the parks as usual in the morning, then lunch at the new Store opposite, then we packed and just hung around the apartment until Kelly and Chris arrived after work. I snuck outside the apartment briefly to read my book:

Dinner was at the Lion, the restaurant/pub attached to our apartments. That's all for now.

Cleland Wildlife Park

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Forgot to add that Kelly was off work on Monday and took us up to Cleland Wildlife Park, up beside Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills. It was much more interesting than we all suspected/feared. We discovered - and saw, and even fed - some animals we'd never even heard of before. Poteroos, Bandicoots, Echidnas and Bettongs, not to mention Dingoes, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, Wombats and, of course, the cuddly Koalas:

The Tasmanian Devils were in hiding, unfortunately. We were hand feeding a mother Wallaby with its little baby Joey in its pouch, unperturbed.

Nice afternoon out.

Perth back to Adelaide again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So what did we do in our last few days in Perth? Well, we had to get a present to take to Chris’ Mum and Dad, who we were going to be staying with on Friday and Saturday night, so we headed off to Sandalford Winery, which was recommended by our resort. It’s a very nice place but it turns out that it’s not their main winery – that’s further south at Margaret River. We saw adverts there for the big gig on Friday at their main place – Stevie Wonder, no less. One day too late for us, I’m afraid. I was driving so it was up to Jo to sample the wines:

We walked round Guildford - a lovely little town and then headed back towards our resort.

I'm glad I was good at the winery because we discovered yet another little microbrewery - Iron Bark - and so I was able to at least take their sampler tray. We had a nice chat with the owner and his wife as they were closing up at 5. Nice, back to basics type of brewery.

Duckstein's brewery was nearer our resort and we also stopped there, but neither of us thought much of their beers. Dinner that night was lovely, however. We went to the fancy restaurant at the resort - Jo loved her meal:

The following day was to be our last in WA before heading off early on Friday morning. I decided I could resist it no more and so I booked a tee time at our resort course and Jo came out in the buggy with me - reading her book and photographing the wildlife and the plants as I played.

So, Friday morning arrived and we got up nice and early and drove towards the airport. I should have pre-programmed the Maps app but I tried to do it on the hoof and it kept directing us towards Perth International Airport - not the Domestic one. No matter, it'll be signposted - oh no, it wasn't. Bit of minor panic, but we made it in the end and had a good 40 minutes in the lounge before the flight took off.

Kelly met us at Adelaide, where we had to put our watches on two and a half hours again. We went back to their house and waited for Chris to come home from work before heading south to Port Elliott to stay with Chris' Mum and Dad for the weekend. It was apparently a typical Aussie road trip - we had to stop at the drive through Bottle-O to stock up on our stubbies for the journey - a new experience for us.

Chris' Mum and Dad are lovely and Lorene - Chris' Mum - had cooked a lovely meal for us. Their house is super too - Lorene loves her garden and David has his beloved TR6 in the garage.

On Saturday morning we walked down to the local market, then headed for coffee, after which we did the local bookshop. In the afternoon, we took a trip to the local microbrewery - yet another one - in Goolwa, then went to the golf club for dinner, joined by Harry (Lorene's uncle) and his wife, Jeanette. We took a photo of the 4 survivors of the boating accident:

Harry looks - and is - very hale and harty after his near miss - and he's going to buy another boat! We've told Kelly she's banned!

On Sunday morning we took the lovely clifftop walk down to the beach cafe, after which we headed for Victor Harbor, where the boat rescue was. We walked across the bridge to Granite Island and soon it was time to bid our farewells to David and Lorene, who we hope to see in the UK some time in the future.

Chris took us to lunch at McLaren Vale, home of many well known wineries, then we headed off for some sampling. Our second stop was especially beautiful - a lovely little boutique winery with beautiful gardens and views over the valley. We sat on the decking in the prime spot:

So that was our weekend. We're now staying in apartments in North Adelaide, just a short stroll from the city centre through some nice greenery. We went to one of the Adelaide fringe shows on Monday night and we celebrated my birthday last night at a nice little Japanese restaurant with a teppanyaki table - that was a good laugh. Here's Jo and I trying to catch some flying pancakes:

That's me up to date - battery running low and coffee finished, so it's off to the park for us.