We finally got back to Banchory early afternoon on Sunday, UK time, 29 hours after we had left Chris' and Kelly's. The journey, although long, went well - no hitches - more of that later. We managed to stay awake until early evening, knowing full well that, despite our tiredness, our bodies would not have adjusted yet and we would most likely awaken well before dawn.
The following day (Monday) I had to be at Woodend Hospital for my pre-assessment for my long-awaited knee op so I couldn't afford to sleep in either!
Back to the blog diary now - carrying on where I had last finished off:
WEDNESDAY 5th Mar (cont'd)
After Jo had finished the usual morning laundry routine, we took the train in to the city then the tram out to the National Wine Centre of Australia (https://www.nationalwinecentre.com.au/) - South Australia is the country's leading wine producer and Adelaide is at the heart of it with the McLaren Vale, Barossa, Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley wine areas all surrounding the city.
We had booked a 90 minute educational tour and paired tasting - the latter part being the best, of course:
Here's the canapes that were paired with the wines:
and here's the wines:
An excellent session at a great venue - one that is now owned and run by the University of Adelaide. There is a nice restaurant and they have approx. 100 wines set up for tasting every day using a series of innovative machines - you can choose a taste, a pour or a glass:
We left with a smile on our faces:
Leaving the Wine Centre behind, we headed back to Rundle St where we knew we would find something for our supper, but, first of all, we stopped for a drink on the balcony at BRKLYN:
We eventually settled on a simple pizza at nearby Cafe Brunelli then headed for the next train back to Seaford Meadows. At this time of night, the trains were only every half hour so I checked the timetable and found out we could catch the next one if we got our skates on. We made it - just - rather breathless as we ran part of the way.
Anyway, it got us back to Old Noarlunga at a fairly decent hour - early enough for us, although the house was quiet - everyone was in bed. The only problem we had was when we tried to go to the loo, the door was locked! No problem for me but a bit more challenging for Jo.
THURSDAY 6th Mar
My 76th birthday and we had plans to meet up with David and Lorene again in McLaren Vale, where we had coffee and pancakes in a cafe and then strolled along to Bracegirdle's (https://bracegirdles.com.au/) for more coffee and some of their wonderful chocolates. Asher and Miller had presented me with birthday beers before school and I donned my new shirt for the day:
Lily had also left me a present - an unseen one on the doorstep to our garden room - what a way to start the day. Here she is, looking guilty, with Rufus, taking the sun:
The offending "present" can also be seen, with Rufus' similar gift more tactfully placed a bit further away.
Matt came over in the evening and Chris opened the leaving present he'd received from his boss:
There was a bit of local excitement at dusk with a major search and rescue operation in full swing looking for a missing man - fire, ambulance and helicopter, the latter coming so low at one stage that we thought he was about to land in a neighbour's garden.
FRIDAY 7th Mar
Our last full day and we had unfinished business to attend to - a couple of weeks' prior we had to turn back when we had planned to walk to the mouth of the Onkaparinga river, so we were going back to Port Noarlunga to try again. Only problem - no car - both Chris and Kelly were driving to work today. This gave us a chance to sample the delights of the local bus service.
The bus took a bit of a circuitous route for what, in miles, was a relatively short distance but a short stop at a local cafe refreshed us and soon we were on our way along the beach and this time we made it to the estuary fairly easily:
As usual, there was a throng of schoolkids at the port, heading to the sea for their last lesson of the day. Piles of wet suits await them every day:
We stopped off at Drifter's for a quick refreshment and then caught the bus back - a bit easier this time.
I jumped in the pool to cool down when we got back. Nobody joined me, but after dinner, they were all - bar Kelly - in there:
SATURDAY 8th Mar
The day of our departure - but our flight to Dubai wasn't until 10:40 pm so we had all day free. David and Lorene drove up from Port Eliot to say goodbye and Matt had planned to come over too but he phoned to say he had Covid - oh no!
We walked swiftly round to Long Shot cafe to catch them before closing at 2 pm but it got rather complicated when some of their electrical circuits blew and their card reader was out of action, but we sorted it all out in the end.
Our Emirates' chauffeur drive arrived, bang on time at 7:10 pm. We bade sad farewells to all after 8 wonderful and adventurous weeks and steeled ourselves for what we knew was going to be a long journey home, taking us back ten and a half hours in time and over 10,000 miles (16,000 kms) in distance.
The flight to Dubai was in a Boeing 777. The G & T's and wine went down well, as did the excellent food. We were both pretty careful with the quantities we ate - Jo even went as far as skipping dessert - this was what she missed:
SUNDAY 9th Mar
We arrived in Dubai after the 13 + hours flight, on time at approx. 5 am local time, landing at terminal C which meant getting bussed over to terminal A - the first time we had ever had to do this, and it meant 2 lots of security which was a bit of a pain. We didn't get much time in the lounge before boarding.
Departure was on time again, shortly after 7 am local time - and this time we were upstairs in the huge Airbus 380, which even has a bar (which we didn't use):
Two meals were to be served - first of all breakfast, followed by "lunch" 4 or 5 hours later. It all seemed a bit strange as our body clocks were still in Adelaide time - it felt like evening when the second meal arrived and thus permissible to have a little refreshment to wash it down:
We arrived at a slightly misty but beautiful warm, sunny Glasgow, ahead of schedule at 11 am local time and were soon whisked back to Banchory by our Emirates' chauffeur service, despite a few wrong turnings, one of which was my fault. Our chauffeur seemed uncertain about which way to go but then revealed later on that he lived in Aberdeen!
When we arrived at Arbor Court, we could barely make it in as there were major gas works going on - replacing the old metal pipes with plastic. We're not absolutely sure yet whether they will need to dig up some of our driveway or not.
We were also now faced by the reality of "fence wars". In our absence, complaints had been made to the Council about our shed, fence and an alleged illegal installation of a heat pump. The Council had to respond to this and had tried to contact us to arrange an inspection when we were away. Having not had a response to their letter they had visited on Friday, armed with a drone to take a look for themselves. Fortunately, Ross had met them and let them through the house to see for themselves. I followed this up with an email with further information concerning the heat pump. Hopefully all will be well but we await a formal response.
Ross made fajitas for us for tea. Jo didn't quite make it to 8 pm but I lasted a bit longer.
MONDAY 10th Mar
It had been very easy to get to sleep but we both awoke way too early. Jo got up but I lay there a bit longer, trying in vain to get back to sleep. Ross was up fairly promptly although at a more regular time. He had to walk to Caldwell & Dempster to pick up our car after its MoT on Friday.
Jo came with me to the hospital for my (2nd) pre-assessment for my knee operation. It was a bit shorter this time as they still had all my notes from last year's ultimately wasted visit, but they still did weight, height, MSRA swabs, ECG, blood pressure and 3 blood samples etc. Hopefully this time it's going to happen - soon.
Jo and I then popped in to the nearby Tesco superstore, grabbed a late snack lunch and did a full shop, then home again.
That's it - hope any readers have made it this far. I like to keep a detailed record of our big holidays - it's always nice to look back and remember. Future blog posts from Scotland will be far less detailed.
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