Eve of another holiday

It's Thursday evening and we're still eating the leftovers from Australia Day - they have to be finished by tomorrow morning as we're off to Robe for the weekend. Talking of food - what a lovely lunch at Penfolds yesterday. Not cheap but worth it - none of us could face eating any more that evening.

Jo and I had caught the train in to Bowden and had something to drink in the Loose Caboose cafe whilst we waited for Kelly to pick us up:

We picked up Miller at his nursery on the way home and I, for one, was in bed before him for a change, trying to make up for lost sleep the night before.

After a good sleep we were up bright and early on Thursday morning. Chris had offered us the use of his car as we fancied taking a walk in the hills on the other side of Adelaide, so we dropped him off in the city and then drove out to Morialta Gorge where there are a variety of trails. Jo didn't have her walking shoes with her - only her thongs (flip-flops to the rest of the world), so we selected a middle of the road relatively light hike that took in two of the falls - or so we thought. We made a wrong turning at one point and ended up doing the longer all 3 falls hike. It's the middle of summer, however, and they were all dry, but it was a nice walk. Here's a few photos:

No, not an animal, but we thought this tree/plant was a bit sloth-like

Not forgetting some of those back home, the night before we left we had supper with Ross and Lizzie. For those that haven't yet seen his new car yet, here it is on the right outside the back of his flat:

 Across the other side of the pond, Braeden has taken up wrestling. Scott and Lucy sent us some snaps:

That's him on the right of course

Post Australia Day

It's Wednesday morning here in Semaphore - the day after the Australia Day celebrations. Chris is at work, Miller is in nursery and Kelly has gone to get her hair done. Jo and I will be catching the train in to town and Kelly will meet us and take us to Penfolds Magill Estate for lunch. After yesterday, I should probably be having an alcohol free day today but we can't go to Penfolds and not drink some of their delicious wine. Maybe tomorrow then?

Sunday's trip to the hills and Lobethal Bierhaus and Maximillians winery was lovely. It was Crush Festival weekend and they had a kids' playpen at the winery:

Monday was quiet - I went for a short cycle and then we did the shopping for Australia Day - lots of protein.

Tuesday itself was busy. Kelly and Chris got up early and drove to the hills for a walk up Mount Lofty. I could have joined them but opted instead for another short cycle. We were all back well before 10 am, in good time to prepare for the arrival of our guests - Chris' Mum, Dad, brother Matt, former sister-in-law Amanda and friends Simon and Nicole - with children.

Chris presented Kelly with a framed certificate of her Australian naturalisation certificate:

The group gathering:

Chris and Kelly had bought me a ticket to go and see the Twenty Twenty international between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval so Matt, David, Chris and I jumped on the train in to Adelaide in the evening, where we met up with Chris' pal Anthony. Great stadium and a lovely evening but there was to be no happy ending for the home team as India won fairly comfortably in the end.

It was all happening at the match - as well as the usual pyrotechnics when somebody gets a six, there were fireworks, a 21-gun salute and a flypast adjacent to the ground - all for Australia Day.