KL

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We arrived in KL in very good time - too early, in fact, for our transport in to the city, so we had to wait a while. The flight was great - just 7 hours and only a handful of others in Business Class meant we virtually each had a steward/stewardess to ourselves. The food was great again too - lots of Satay.

Of course, late afternoon not far from the equator (KL's just 3 degrees N, compared with Adelaide's 35 S, Grant's Pass 42 N and Banchory 57 N) inevitably means thunderstorms of some kind and we certainly had a downpour and some lightning, but it wasn't all that much really and it was dry by the time we went out in the evening.

Our hotel (Shangri-La) is big and beautiful, with terrific service. Here's our room:

Ross' room is identical - it's 2 nights of luxury for him after sleeping on a mattress on the floor in Adelaide, accompanied by the occasional cockroach and armies of ants!

We had a drink in Arthur's Bar at the hotel first:

We then had a very frustrating time trying to find our way to Taps Bar. Ross gave up eventually, but Jo and I got there in the end - via taxi. We walked back to the hotel where we could just see one of the Petronas Twin Towers lit up:

We also spotted some fairly large snails:

After a good sleep, breakfast was welcome - and what a spread it was. The choices were amazing, including honey direct from the comb:

There were also 2 chocolate towers - one white, one dark:

Then we posed outside the breakfast room:

Bye for now.

On our way

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So this morning's breakfast blog comes from the Qantas lounge at Adelaide airport. We've checked in, gone through security and said our farewells to Kelly and Chris, who drove us to the airport.

Yesterday we got our packing and washing organised then walked down to the Parade for a coffee at Buongiorno, with the additional treat of mini-marshmallows from Nic & Rocco (http://www.nicandrocco.com.au/), conveniently located next door to the cafe:

We had lunch - chicken salad - back at Donegal St, where we were joined by Lorene and David, who were in the city for another check-up on David's eye. He's much better now and all seems to be well thankfully.

After David and Lorene left to go home, 4 of us (all bar Chris) went to the movies again to see Hitch. It's pretty well done and Anthony Hopkins' impersonation of the Master of Suspense is very good, but I hadn't realised that it's based on a book about the making of Psycho, so there's no more than passing mention of Hitchcock's other great films.

Our "last supper" with Kelly and Chris was some beautiful - and huge - salmon steaks, smothered in pesto sauce - delicious. We'll miss them - but they get to have their home - and their lives - back again after being invaded by us over the last 3 weeks - it's never easy and we appreciate the upheaval it can cause. Looking forward to seeing them again - in Scotland - at Christmas.

Next stop Kuala Lumpur. There's a cyclone to the west of Australia that we'll have to bypass, but we should be in KL about 3 pm local time today (Friday).

Penultimate day

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So today (Thursday) is our last full day in Adelaide and, as usual, I'm sitting here having my breakfast, updating my blog diary.

We did do the long walk from Norwood in the East up to the Old Lion in the North of the city yesterday, to revisit where we stayed last year. Kelly stayed at home, of course, but the rest of us traversed over, through the Botanical Gardens, where we had a quick coffee stop, then past the zoo, over the River Torrens and across the parks to Jerningham Street.

It was really nice to revisit the Old Lion - good place - nice lunch and good choice of beers. Afterwards, Chris and Ross marched home whilst Jo and I strolled our way through the various parklands, stopping regularly for a quick chapter or two of our books. We popped in to the (indoors) Lily Centre at the Botanical Gardens:

and posed for a photo in front of another (outdoor) lily pond:

I really struggled with my knee on the latter part of our walk. I think this holiday has convinced me that I need to get a new knee this year - I don't think I can put it off any longer as it's causing too much pain and discomfort. I think I'll start to make enquiries and appointments when I return - and, of course, talk to Dawn about her experiences.

I think Jo will also be visiting the specialist when she gets back - her shoulder has been causing her a lot of problems over the last month or so and I'm not sure the physiotherapy she was getting before we left has helped all that much. She's been dosing herself with Arnica all the time to relieve the discomfort and pain.

So a good start to the day - Kelly got up and managed to go to the early morning gym session today. Chris is going this afternoon whilst the rest of us head to the movies again to see Hitch - then back home to pack, as we leave first thing in the morning - sad!

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning

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We had a lovely meal in the restaurant at Grace last night - mostly steaks. Here's Ross, Chris and one of the steaks, with potatoes and sauce:

Kelly finished her meal but went home fairly sharply afterwards to get her head down again, with Jo following behind her, unable to catch her on the walk home!

This morning, the 5:30 am alarm went as usual and Kelly and Chris headed for their gym session, but Kelly had to return after 10 minutes, feeling a bit sick. She's back in bed, trying to sleep it off just now.

We had planned to walk from Norwood today over to the North of the City to have lunch at the Old Lion, where we stayed early last year. It's certainly a lovely day for it - the coolest of the holiday so far - a mere 26 C - but I'm not sure if this is still on or not. I feel a little queasy today - a tad too much sun yesterday, I think - and Ross is just up - his longest lie-in of the holiday. We'll see how everyone feels in the next hour or so.

Well, I've checked in for our flight to Kuala Lumpur on Friday now, so the holiday is coming to an end - too soon.

Monday/Tuesday

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In the end, Kelly, Jo and I did go to see Les Miserables last night - and it was great. Kelly was feeling a little brighter, having slept virtually all day.

While we were doing that, Chris and Ross had a night on the town with a bunch of Chris' pals. They left here before 6 pm and didn't get back until after midnight, so I guess a few beers were sunk - along with some pizza and, when almost home, Adelaide's equivalent of the late-night kebab:

Sounds worse than it tastes, according to Ross.

This morning, only Kelly and I rose early so we decided to walk in to the city centre. Chris roused eventually - just in time to join us. It was a really nice day to be out, with temperatures peaking in the low 30's - ideal.

We then all drove to the beach at Henley and had some lunch. Kelly and Chris then headed back for their 4:30 pm gym session (having missed their usual early morning one) whilst the 3 of us took a walk along the esplanade south from Henley, heading towards Glenelg, which was a bit too far away to walk and still get back in time for dinner. We did manage a quick walk up the pier at Henley first of all, however:

Jo, Ross and I, after a few chapters of our books, then caught the bus back to Norwood - and now we're getting ready to go out for a bite locally tonight.

Back in Adelaide

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I forgot to add a photo from the morning that Kelly, Chris and Ross went off quad biking on KI. It was Wednesday 2nd - the day after Ross stopped smoking. Shall I say that last bit again? Yes, he hasn't smoked for almost a week now. Not a New Year resolution as such, but something he said he would do sometime, so why not now?

Anyway, here's the photo of the three of them - David and Lorene had planned to join them, but David had been suffering with what turned out to be shingles - it was finally diagnosed at a late night visit to the doctor. His eye was virtually closed and it was beginning to look worrying, but thankfully he's on the mend now.

On Friday, we were all due to attend the Cirque du Soleil show Ovo, and we headed off for the giant marquees with the temperature reading in the car rising alarmingly to 45 C. When we got there, we were told that the show had been cancelled on health and safety grounds - hardly surprising really.

What else could we do but go and have a beer at Wright's Hotel - one of the places that had been closed last week when we tried to go there. From there it was just a short hop across to Central Markets and the Asian Food Court there. We'd been on previous occasions and had enjoyed it, and this was no different. Here's Jo and Ross enjoying their meals:

We managed to get re-booked to go back to see Ovo on Saturday when the temperature had dropped back in to the 30's. Here's the stage at the start:

Great show - the theme was the insect world.

Yesterday (Sunday) we drove back up to Lobethal to re-fill my Growler:

On the way back we popped in to stroll around Hahndorf, a pretty little German, touristy town - lots of places to eat and drink. We stopped outside the German Arms and posed in the stocks:

No faces in the son and daughter holes - Ross wasn't feeling too good at this stage - perhaps a little beat of heat exhaustion/sunstroke? - and Kelly had stayed behind to clean the house and prepare tea.

Kelly started to feel a little ill in the evening and went to bed early. She still didn't feel good in the morning - so poorly she never even went to the early morning gym session today.

Chris drove us down to Westfield shopping centre in Marion and we met his Mum and Dad for a quick lunch. David is definitely on the mend now and was a lot chirpier today.

Apart from that, we haven't done much today, although Chris is taking Ross out for a few beers and a pizza with his pals tonight. The rest of us had originally planned to go and see Les Miserables in the cinema but I think we'll put that off now.

We did have a short walk this morning - down the Parade and back up through the side streets. We spotted what I regard as a pretty typical old Adelaide house, complete with grey corrugated tin roof:

So that's me back up to date with my blogging again - bye for now!

KI (3)

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On Wednesday, we booked lunch at the Marron cafe/restaurant, which was 14 kms up a dusty, bumpy track. Marron are crayfish and they farm them here. We shared the special spreads:

Looks wonderful - and it was.

Soon it was time to head back again, with Chris leading the way:

We decided it was time we finally stopped off at Seal Bay, which was very near our resort. They've got nice boardwalks and look-out posts where you can watch the sea lions basking on the beach:

On our final day on the island, we packed up and headed off back to Penneshaw where we stopped for coffee then lunch, with a break in-between when I wandered off along the coastal track:

stopping at the viewing platform at the end, where I watched a school of dolphins at play:

Adjacent were the penguin nests:

The fish and chip lunch at FISH was excellent:

So that was it - back on the ferry and head for the heat of Adelaide city.

KI (2)

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Our first full day on the island was Hogmanay and we drove up to the "capital" Kingscote in the north to get provisions in for New Year. On the return journey, we stopped at Island Beehive where they produce honey from Ligurian bees. We had some nice tasters but we didn't do the factory tour. Their honeycomb ice cream was excellent however.

The next pit stop was KI Spirits - the smallest distillery you have ever seen. It was very homely, but production was little more than a domestic kitchen could do. The sampling session was good however -  we tasted their gin, but skipped their range of flavoured vodkas and went for their liqueurs:

We then compounded the felony and indulged in their Drunken Ice Cream - basically, it was the same honeycomb ice cream we'd already sampled at the Island Beehive, with added walnuts, doused in spirit - and just to make sure, some honey and walnut liqueur was poured over the top! Here's the ingredients:

It was a lovely way to spend an hour or so in a nice homely farmstead setting. Here we are with big grins after the tasting:

We shared dinner at the cabin and stayed up to see the New Year in - a fairly raucous game of cards helped keep us all awake.

On New Year's Day, we decided to head west. We made a quick stop at Vivonne Bay where Kelly and Chris had spent a few hours the day before. It's a gorgeous beach - Jo found a sea horse washed up:

We drove on and stopped for coffee at one of the few places open on this public holiday - the Koala Centre and Walk. We didn't do the formal walk - no need - there were 2 koalas in the trees where we parked - male and female apparently, although we learned that the female was probably sterilised anyway, as they had too many koalas on the island for the eucalyptus trees which they feed on, and they'd had to introduce a programme to ensure numbers didn't keep escalating.

After that, we entered Flinders Chase National Park and headed down to the south west corner of the island to see what they call Remarkable Rocks - and they were. Formed naturally millions of years ago, there were some very strange shapes on view:

We picnic-ed there too:

After lunch, we headed back to the Park HQ and Jo and I went on the 4.5 km walk out to the Platypus watering hole. It was a lovely walk, but it was still way too hot to see any animals - they only appear when the sun goes down and it begins to cool off. Here's Jo at the watering hole:

So that was it - now back to base camp where Ross was taking a day out, chilling and reading.

Kangaroo Island (1)

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On Sunday morning, we drove both cars down to David and Lorene's in Port Elliott, where we transferred stuff from Kelly's car to David's and then headed for the ferry at Cape Jervis for our hour long sail to Kangaroo Island. It wasn't a huge ferry but its manoeuvrability in the tiny port was amazing - it had to turn a complete 180° to get the car ramp facing the right way:

There was a bit of swell on the crossing, but nothing much - just enough to keep Jo quiet for a while, though:

Notice how focussed Jo is, whilst everyone else is chatting away?

The landing at Penneshaw - although a small port, it's not as tight as Cape Jervis:

We made a slight detour to an Arts Centre that Lorene wanted to see. At its entrance was a stone octopus:

KI is quite a big island and we had to make our way all the way from Penneshaw in the far north east down to Seal Bay (near Vivonne Bay) in the south:

We checked in to our cabins near Seal Bay - there were only 6 of them, and we had booked 2. They were basic, but functional, and would be fine for our short break. They had a nice decking overlooking the bush, facing mostly east:

For our first night, we dined at the resort centre. It was fairly basic, but it did the trick. Kelly and Chris took a shine to one of the old benches:

Whilst the rest of us sat at another table:

So that was day 1 - arrival. More to follow.

Between Boxing Day and KI

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Thursday 27th was a quiet day. Kelly and I walked to the park that surrounds the city centre, then  Kelly went off to meet one of her pals, whilst I sat in the park and read - at least until the workers who were erecting stands and fences for New Year finally got to me and I wandered off. It was nice for a while though.

On Friday, we all headed for town in different ways and different times. Kelly, Ross and Chris walked in, whilst Jo and I sauntered down the Parade and then jumped on a bus. Would they take our Senior Bus Passes? Sorry - got to be Aussie ones.

We strolled around the city centre and bumped in to Chris and Ross a couple of times, finally all meeting up in the Exeter Hotel for a beer - a place we had visited before - a bit grungey - not at all up-market, but fine by us. We decided to try somewhere else for our next beer and lunch, but the 2 places we chose were shut until 4 pm! Never mind, we found a nice little Greek restaurant and had a nice time.

When we were at Rundle Mall, there was a petition to save a historic old fountain which they are now planning to demolish for some reason. Here's what might be one of the final sightings of this:

In the evening, we just ate in Kelly and Chris' back court. Ross was making Cuba Libre's:

On Saturday, Kelly stayed at home and chilled out, whilst Chris drove Ross, Jo and I to the Barossa for some more sampling and viewing.

Our first stop was at the famous Jacob's Creek. We didn't really want to taste any of their wines, but thought we would look in to their new visitor centre anyway:

Next stop was an altogether less industrial winery, recommended by Chris - Rockford, located in farm/steading type buildings - look at their front web page - http://www.rockfordwines.com.au/

What a beautiful place - and they had a sideline in preserves as well, so we did a fair bit of shopping here.

From wine to beer - we arrived at Barrosa Valley Brewing (http://www.bvbeer.com.au/Display/) in lovely Tanunda. Great place, super beers and sampler trays too - what's not to like?

We left there to head for the other Barossa brewery in Greenock. We'd been there before but it was shut - and it was again this time, so there's no way we're giving them a 3rd chance. We then hotfooted it back to Tanunda, but also stopped off at another of Chris' winery recommendations  - Torbreck (http://www.torbreck.com/) - super place and quality again.

Back at the brewery, we had hoped to fill our Growler (we'd bought one at Lobethal Bierhaus on Sunday) but they didn't have the licence to do this, so we just settled for another quick beer:

So that was Saturday - the following day we were heading off to Kangaroo Island for 4 nights, including New Year.