Back in Bridgewater

Thursday 19th February

A wind-down day for us but we took a walk along the railway line to the local shopping centre and had our first coffee at the local cafe there - quaint, but nice. We'd taken our books with us and sat in the nearby park for a while, reading:

Friday 20th February

Our first visit to the Adelaide Fringe this year had been organised by Kelly - a gin cruise along the Torrens. Chris was at a pre-arranged gig so, with Matt sitting with the boys, it was just the 3 of us that drove in to the city to pick up our cruise vessel:

It was a lovely evening - much better than last year's slightly subdued affair but definitely not as riotous as the time, 2 or 3 years ago, when the staff gave up trying to control the audience and the measures and just dumped bottles of gin on the table and walked away!:

After the cruise finished we walked, a little unsteadily, to one of the central venues of the Fringe - The Garden of Unearthly Delights, where Kelly organised some Bao Buns (look it up) to help sober us up:

Saturday 21st February

Big responsibility tonight - Kelly and Chris were going out on the town and staying in a hotel, so we were in sole charge of the boys overnight. As we expected, all went well with the boys who are no trouble at all. Miller, having just returned from a few days away at school camp, was, naturally, a little tired:

Sunday 22nd February

Kelly had a board meeting in the city but Chris came home after a morning's clothes shopping. We had another Fringe show to go to in the evening - The Dark Side of the Moon - Immersive Worlds. It was the same show Jo and I had seen at the Edinburgh Fringe a decade or more ago. Held in a dome with moving images, set to Pink Floyd's classic album, displayed on the roof and around us as we lay on  beanbags on the floor. Some of the videos moved so fast that Jo had to shut her eyes or she would have been sick!

Chris, Jo and I stopped off at brewpub nearby for drinks before the gig:

It was a little disappointing and we were getting hungry - but running out of time. We were right beside Chinatown and Chris knew a place that would do some dumplings for us quickly - so that's where we went - and Kelly showed up, just in time to share a few of them.

Monday 23rd February

Chris had kindly caught the bus to work and left a car for us so that we could meet up with his Mum and Dad again in the pretty rural town of Strathalbyn. I was also on the school runs today - strict schedule - leave the house at 8:15 am - drop Miller off first, then Asher - return to pick up Jo and head to Strathalbyn. We had coffee with David and Lorene, then a wander round the town, followed by a stop at one of the bakeries to partake of Aussie pies:

We parted company just after 2 pm, in good time to pick up Asher at 3:10 pm, followed by Miller at 3:30 pm, then back to Bridgewater.

We were out again just after 6 pm for dinner at the Bridgewater Inn where Matt joined the 6 of us, so it was another Steele farewell after our meal.

Tuesday 24th February

Our last full day in the Adelaide Hills. I was doing the school runs again - Jo stayed behind to pack, launder and make sure we were organised for our early departure tomorrow. We both managed a bit more book-reading in between.

The good news is that the sale of their former house in Old Noarlunga was confirmed today - a big step forward for Chris and Kelly. Now they can concentrate on the new house build.

Wednesday 25th February

We had said our goodbyes to Chris, Miller and Asher the previous evening but we had tearful farewells with Kelly when our Uber arrived to take us to the airport not long after 5 am.

Two flights today - first, Adelaide to Darwin - quick layover then Darwin to Singapore, arriving there about 4 pm local time. We were again staying at Maxwell Reserve, the beautiful, colonial themed hotel we had stayed at on our first stop back in early January. The Club Lounge there is lovely - and our food and drinks complimentary.

Thursday 26th February

We had a full day in Singapore today as our flight to London didn't leave until 11:15 pm in the evening. We wanted to make the most of this little bonus day - we had a late check-out of 4 pm at our hotel - so we headed to the Unesco heritage Botanic Gardens - not by taxi or Grab (their Uber) but using their MRT (underground train service).

We had difficulty at first finding our local MRT station but from there onwards it got really easy. How efficient, clean and tidy the whole city/island/country is - no rubbish to be seen anywhere.

We spent 3 or 4 hours in the Gardens, a good bit of it in the wonderful Orchid centre:

We gave ourselves just enough time for a bit of lunch before heading back to the hotel to shower, change and check out. We had sussed how to use the MRT system now, showing off a little as we used 3 separate interchanges to get us over to Clarke Quay and a return visit to Brewerkz. Jo had missed out on her preferred choice of German sausages on our last visit but not this time:

After we checked out of our room we had the opportunity to partake of some more goodies in the Club Lounge but we were neither greedy nor hungry at this stage so we spent the 3 hours or so reading before our "Grab" arrived to take us to the airport - one of the finest we've ever been to - and certainly the most effiicient.

Another 3 hours in the BA lounge and finally we were on our way to London. Amazingly, I think I managed to sleep for a good few hours after our onboard meal, but Jo wasn't quite as lucky.

Friday 27th February

We arrived in London a little earlier than scheduled and sailed through immigration and security in time to allow us to visit the BA lounge (north) which was, unusually, relatively quiet. Mind you, it was only 5 am.

The flight to Aberdeen also arrived there a little early and Ross was there to take us back to Banchory.

So that is my 2026 Down Under holiday blog diary complete (and I'm still awake). It was a different kind of holiday this year, split effectively in to 8 different parts - Singapore, Darwin, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Adelaide again, Yorke, Adelaide (3) then finally and briefly, Singapore.