Renmark

With our planned trip to Bali cancelled this week, Chris and Kelly booked us all in to a 6 berth cabin at one of Big Four's premier campsites in Renmark in the heart of the (Murray) River Country. We knew it was going to be hot inland which would be perfect for the boys to use the water park there - and they did. They loved it - couldn't get enough.

Probably easiest just to upload some of the photos rather than have long narratives, so here goes:

Kelly and Asher

Jo and Miller

Boys on a "twike"

Asher

Miller

Miller and Asher on mini slide

Down to waterfront at Woolshed Brewery

Note daily temperature range

Back in Old Noarlunga, a slightly premature birthday party for Jo - home made cake and cards

All being well, we should be back home in Banchory tomorrow (Saturday). Borders are closing all round the world and airlines are cancelling international flights so we felt we needed to cut short our holiday by 2 weeks and try to get home as soon as possible so we're now booked on Emirates flights tonight (Friday). Otherwise, we might have been stuck in Australia for some months - not that it's a bad life here - far from it - but I think we all need to get back to our own homes and as much normality as possible in these crazy times.

In hindsight, it's just as well we didn't go to Bali on Monday as we would not have been allowed back in to Australia as the Government here have now stopped all foreign nationals arriving. Also, our carrier Malindo Air would have flown us to Bali OK, but they then suspended all flights so we couldn't have flown back with them anyway!

We now hear that UAE have barred all foreign nationals from entering, with effect from 19th March. We are transiting through Dubai so we don't technically enter the UAE, so I'm kind of assuming our flights will be OK and we can make the connection from Dubai to Glasgow. Fingers crossed.

The Steele/Stewart abode

Here we go Lucy - some photos of where we have been staying for the last 4 weeks. We previously posted photos of the front of the house when we were here last year, but here's some other views, internal and external:

Our (untidy) bedroom

Boys' bedroom

Hall

Kitchen

Kitchen/dining from the sink area with the new (old) sliding door to our bedroom

Middle lounge

Back lounge

Garage, garden and washhouse

External entertaining area from rear of garden

Hot news

Here's the latest - Jo and I have decided to curtail our holiday by 2 weeks. We decided that things were ramping up way too fast - airlines cancelling international flights and countries banning all incoming foreigners - and it was just a question of days before our own PM decided to follow suit and stop all incoming flights to the UK.

We were up in the River Country on a short compensatory break for the boys  - some 3-4 hours north of Kelly's and Chris' - when we heard news of worsening and tightening sanctions and Jo and I decided it was time to head home. Otherwise we could potentially be stuck in Australia for several months. Not that it's an awful life here - far from it, but, as they say, there's no place like home - especially at a time like this.

So, we're now back in Old Noarlunga and our flight home is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) night, arriving home on Saturday afternoon. We had a lovely time in the River Country and I will report further on that brief vacation in due course, but now's not the time. Suffice to end with a slightly premature birthday celebration for Jo tonight:

Bali v Renmark

So here's the latest - we didn't go to Bali after all. Things kept changing - on Sunday morning, Chris initally changed his mind and decided to come after all. Then Jo and I checked in online. Meanwhile Kelly went to the gym - when she returned with news of increasingly harder Government lines on the action they were likely to take, plus the news that certain airlines - e.g.Singapore - were grounding their fleet, so we had a brief discussion and decided we didn't want to get stuck in Bali with no immediate prospect of getting back to Australia - and cancelled.

Cue two distraught little boys - Asher had a brand new suitcase and was packed and had been walking round the house for the last couple of days, saying "we going to Bali now?" in that plaintive little voice of his. Kelly and Chris had no option but to swiftly line up an alternative option. Hence the reason this post comes to you from the banks of the Murray River at a Big 4 campsite in Renmark. We're all in a 6 berth cabin - and it's very nice - as is the park itself. It took us about 4 hours to drive here - inland, north of Adelaide.

We've just returned from a session in the pools and waterslides and now Chris has taken the boys off to watch a movie while Jo and I sit on the deck quaffing G & T's. It's much hotter here and we're planning to barbeque tonight.

Going back in time now - on Sunday we drove down to Victor Harbor to see Chris' brother Matt finish the Coast to Coast cycle - 134 kms and then he cycled back home approx 70 kms! The boys had a nice time playing around on the beach and in the playgrounds. One part of the beach has washed up sea debris - seaweed like. You can walk on it, but it's like quicksand in places and you can sink down up to mid-calf - or in the boys' case, thigh-high:

I was, at Lucy's request, going to add some photos of Kelly's and Chris' house, but the internet here isn't good enough to handle any more photos in this blog post. Another time.