Back in SA

FRIDAY 28th Feb (cont'd)

The tradesmen working at Chris' and Kelly's home hadn't managed to meet their planned schedule of work while we were away, so, faced with the prospect of no toilet and no shower, Kelly had managed to find a 2 bedroom city centre flat to rent for 2 nights. Kelly swapped places with Chris and headed back to Old Noarlunga to look after the dogs, with Chris, Jo, me and the boys staying in the city.

The flat was lovely - all mod cons, neatly designed to fit in to a relatively small square footage. It was on the 18th floor with a decent sized balcony affording nice views of the city and the hills:

We were right next to Rundle St in the heart of the city, leading down to 2 of the main Fringe centres - Gluttony and the Garden of Unearthly Delights. We opted for the former venue as the latter were charging $5 entry as it was peak time on Friday.

We had our meal there from a number of the street food vendors set up in the park and watched at dusk at an amazing display of bats overhead, heading south apparently - it was continuous for 10-15 minutes - there were thousands of them:

The bats are the large "Flying Fox" type that we had first encountered many years ago in the park in Sydney.

SATURDAY 1st Mar

We all had shopping to do this morning - the boys needed new running shoes while Jo and I were on the hunt for books and a hair clasp. We met up for lunch downstairs at the food court in the Myer Centre - Asian food all round - dumplings for us and sushi for the boys.

Chris' brother, Matt, came to see us this afternoon. We fought our way through the crowds on Rundle St. - no traffic and dining tables set out on the street all the way down - and made our way to the Garden this time, just beating the time when entry fees would start.

We had a good wander round and then managed to find a table for the 6 of us, near where Asher was desperate to go bouncing:

He was then "rewarded" with a potato treat:

Matt, Chris, Kelly and the boys were patient enough to wait in the long lines for food but Jo and I declined. After a bit we all headed back to the flat but, first of all, we had to replenish the wine stocks, which was surprisingly difficult in the city, given that most of the "bottle shops" there are attached to grocery chains like Coles and Woolworths - and they all seemed to close about 8 pm.

After substantially increasing our steps for the day, we found Thirsty Camel, bought a couple of bottles and headed back to the flat for cheese and wine.

SUNDAY 2nd March

We packed our bags and Kelly came to pick us up and take us down to Old Noarlunga where some toilet and shower facilities were now available. It was dressing-up time:

MONDAY 3rd Mar

Nothing much to report - Kelly was back at work, Chris was working (his last week with current employers) from home and Asher was all day at OSCH (it was a school holiday). Jo and I didn't leave the house.

The bathroom was far from finished but the new shower was at least operational:

The replacement vanity unit - formerly used by us in the "garden room" - was in place but not plumbed in yet:

and the old one was sitting outside with Rufus and Lily looking on:

The dogs had just returned from their evening cliff and beach walk with Kelly and they had found this, which we think is a fox head:

The boys were sufficiently impressed that they planned to take it to school tomorrow to show it to their classes.

TUESDAY 4th Mar

Jo and I were long overdue for another walk, so I suggested Morialta Conservation Park - a huge gorge with a number of waterfalls which, sadly, are completely dry at this time of year. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful place with lots of trail walks and even though it was to the north of the city and involved a reasonably long drive, as we hadn't been there for a few years, I felt it was worth a return visit.

It was, however, hot again - 33 C, no clouds, no wind and scorching sun. I had remembered to take water, but it wasn't enough - we had to eke it out as we walked, first of all to the foot of the first falls, then back up to the top after which we took the Plateau trail back to the car park where we gladly bought ice creams and Coke from a truck. Here's a few of the photos:

Wallabies

Lunch now - up through the Adelaide Hills wine region to Uraidla's pub, bakery and brewery - we had a Ploughman's washed down with beers:

Google maps took us back to Old Noarlunga via a winding, circuitous route - we both felt a bit groggy afterwards. Chris cooked burgers for tea and then he and the boys jumped in the pool:

WEDNESDAY 5th Mar

This is Miller's last year at primary school and everyone in his class was handed a school uniform with their names on the back alongside the names of all of their classmates. Asher joined the pre-school pose:

More work going on today in the bathroom. Altough the new shower is operational - and Chris, Kelly and the boys have been using it - Jo and I have opted daily to use the outdoor shower.

Spent a bit of the morning bringing this blog up to date. We'll soon be taking the train to the city - we're going to the National Wine Centre of Australia for a "Taste of South Australia Guided Tour and Tasting", which involves pairing with canapes.

Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island (4)

WEDNESDAY 26th Feb

Our ferry was due to leave at 12:15 but we had to vacate our accommodation by 10 am. Kelly took the boys to one of the hotels for a bit of machine time to keep them amused while Jo and I had coffees at the marina, opposite the ferry terminal.

Again, Kelly, Jo and the boys took their Kwells beforehand but, as it turned out, it was hardly necessary. It was a different catamaran that took us back - higher and faster and it took a different route. It was pretty windy but Miller decided he'd be the tough guy and stick it out all the way outdoors (with occasional company from his Mum) while we all went inside on the top level:

As you can see, Jo and Asher even felt well enough for games of Uno.

On alighting we hauled our cases past the marina to a bus stop, failing with the first bus that arrived as it was cash only - just 50c each anywhere you wanted. It was a fairly short journey on the 2nd bus to our accommodation at the Big 4 Adventure Whitsunday resort where we had a 3 bedroom cabin next to the pool and the waterslides:

Kelly and I walked over to the nearby mall and picked up some groceries and a Mexican takeaway for tea, after which Miller and Asher headed for the pool - in the dark!:

The temperature was still lovely - it's so consistent - no more than 28/29 C at the peak of the day and no less than 24/25 C overnight - and what's more, no bugs. Nobody got bitten - in fact, we hardly saw a mozzie or a fly all week - despite this warning sign:

We had expected the tropics to be full of bugs - especially as it was rainy season. Adelaide, the driest city in the driest state in the driest country/continent in the world actually seemed to have more bugs than Queensland at this time.

THURSDAY 27th Feb

We all spent some time at the pool in the morning - in fact, Kelly, Miller and Asher got pretty red. Asher insisted that we all had to go on all of the many water slides - but it was good fun.

The boys spent some time on the bouncy pillow:

and Asher took a pedal car:

Next, it was mini golf. We walked up to Reception to get the clubs and balls:

After a competitive round, Asher was declared the winner of the mini golf:

FRIDAY 28th Feb

Time to leave. We checked out and picked up the airport shuttle and we even had time for breakfast in the terminal which has a lovely aquarium in the middle:

Chris picked us up at Adelaide airport and took us to - where? All will be revealed in the next post.

Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island (3)

MONDAY 24th Feb

Kelly drove the buggy over to the bakery at the marina and brought back coffees and lots of pastries and pies. We sat on the balcony and made a start on them and this attracted a few cockatoos. I shooed them off but noticed that one of them was eating a grape, which I then discovered had been fed to it by Asher, who didn't understand what a bad idea it was to encourage the birds.

Kelly, Miller and Asher then went out for a ride on the buggy while Jo and I decided to get showered and changed, but, before we did that, Jo carefully took the plates of pastries and pies off the table on the balcony, covered them in clingfilm and put them on the kitchen table which was well back from the balcony and past the TV viewing area.

After our showers we came back to the kitchen to discover that the cheeky, greedy birds had not been at all deterred and had helped themselves to a feast:

After clearing up the mess and securing all the bifold doors, Jo and I went for a walk - out to the marina then up the steep hills to a couple of viewpoints:

The middle photo above shows Catseye Bay and our accommodation building. Turning the camera round:

There were also plenty of these signs around:

Kelly kept the boys on the move - to Wildlife Adventures and other attractions and I joined Kelly and Asher later at one of the resort pools and a dip in the warm ocean - on second thoughts, that was yesterday. When the tide went out you could walk out as far as you liked. There were warnings of "seasonal stingers", it being the wet season, but there was no sign of any jellyfish and nobody was put off going in the sea.

Today we tried one of the other resort pools - a larger one with a swim-up tiki bar in the middle. One great thing about Hamilton Island is that all the resort pools are freely available to all - you don't have to be resident at that particular resort.

TUESDAY 25th Feb

We had hoped to get the boys on the Kids' ATV's but when we got there we discovered that it was only open on Mondays so we did the go-karts instead. We did the safety drill then squeezed these Formula One style giant helmets on - they were hot, heavy and sweaty. The karts had to be driven by adults so we had to ride on dual steering ones which were exceptionally heavy - especially round the tight bends:

Kelly really wanted the boys to experience a ride in an ATV. The only one available was a 4-seater driven by an instructor/tour guide round the island so Jo and I decided to leave and tackle the trail walks. The boys seemed to have a great time and were impressed to see where Johnny Depp filmed Pirates of the Carribean 5 and also saw where other famous stars - like Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift - had recently stayed.

We managed just one short dusty, hilly trail walk to Hideaway Bay:

There were warning notices about sharks and jellyfish and also this unusual one:

We had been scrutinising the weather forecasts as there was a tropical cyclone developing off the North Queensland coast and we were sailing back to the mainland tomorrow (Wednesday) before flying back to Adelaide on Friday. Albert was the first named cyclone of the season - thankfully it stayed well offshore but it could have had some effect on wave conditions - we would see tomorrow.

Our week at Airlie Beach & Hamilton Island (2)

SATURDAY 22nd Feb

Kelly decided she'd like to buy a top for tomorrow's crossing - just in case it's colder out at sea - and I joined her, partly to recce the walk down to the ferry port to check that we didn't need a taxi to get there tomorrow. Asher then decided that he would like to go too, so the 3 of us set off - and it was a fairly short walk down to the port and the marina.

From the port, we looked back at our resort:

The units with the blue roofs form the Wyndham resort that we were staying at.

Kelly got a hoodie and Asher a pair of water shoes. We picked up more snacks at Woolworths and headed back - and that was the extent of our excursions today. We had some visitors to our apartments:

This was far from the last time we would get a close-up with cockatoos. Note the turquoise seas beyond the marina - everywhere was like this. Was this an effect of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef?

We still had the occasional showers passing through but they were much less frequent than yesterday and mostly only lasted minutes. Everyone just carried on doing what they were doing. You could see the squalls coming and I caught this rainbow:

SUNDAY 23rd Feb

After breakfast we rolled our bags down the hill to the ferry port where there was some interesting art:

All the ferries are catamarans. Our journey was scheduled to last 85 minutes with 2 brief stops on the way to let off passengers. Jo and I sat at the back of the deck in the direction of travel while Kelly found a spot facing us where she and the boys could snuggle together. We knew the crossing was going to be a bit rough as it was windy but it was far from cold - even out in the open ocean.

All bar me had taken Kwells as a precaution but only Asher seemed a little affected by the movement of the boat but he put on a brave face here:

First stop was Daydream Island:

Then it was Hamilton Island - first of all at the airport. The runway goes all the way from one side of the island to the other - a distance of just one mile which is pretty short, but we watched as some reasonably large planes took off and landed.

The other side of the marina - just minutes away - was where we got off. One of the hosts of our apartment met us and drove us the short distance to our property, which was in Catseye Bay, overlooking the beach. We had huge bifold doors to our balconies:

Visitors get round by golf buggies - hundreds of them - no cars allowed:

We had lunch at a marina restaurant then took the buggy on a short island recce:

One of the other notable features of the island is the number of wallabies everywhere. In the gardens beneath our accommodation, every morning a small team came out to clean up their poo from the grass. The other wildlife notables are the hundreds of cockatoos - more of them later.