Tuesday week 2

We decided to take a drive from our resort in Normanville and headed inland and eastwards on a planned loop over to Victor Harbour and back round past Ingalalla Falls.

First stop on the tourist trail was Selwyn's Rock:

View from above:

Pretty enough, but a little underwhelming. Nice cafe adjacent overlooking the above view and we considered stopping but, in the end, we decided to press on to Victor Harbour. Car parked with 3 hour limit, we hurried off to the Information Centre before walking across the causeway to Granite Island.

There's a horse-drawn tram that takes you there, but we preferred to walk:

We had been advised to walk anticlockwise round Granite Island and this was the view of the causeway and Victor Harbour as we started up the walkway:

We'd been on G.I. a few years ago, but I seem to recall we didn't walk very far. This time we were determined to do the circular tour. We came across some of the odd-shaped rocks that we had seen on nearby Kangaroo Island on one of our previous visits to Oz:

So what do you think we are doing here?:

The idea was to frame the view of the rocks below, which Jo saw as a man lying facing down with his bum in the air:

Once we'd done two-thirds of the circular walk, there's a stairway down to the jetty and cafe:

We had heard about a Heritage Trail and went in search of it, but soon gave up and headed back along the beach when there appeared to be no sign of a proper trail. Lots of seaweed on the beach and scores of what we deduced were probably cuttlefish shells:

Our walk round Victor Harbour's attractions covered 5 miles. Time almost up in the car park, now it was time to head towards the Falls, but we got diverted to the Bluff at Rosetta Head, where there were a number of trails around and up to the top of the hill, which was 340 feet above the sea below. Jo chose to stay in the car park below and read her book but I had to go up:

Eventually we left the Victor Harbour area and found our way to Ingalalla Falls, a beautiful cavernous spot, which must provide spectacular falls in winter, but at this time of year, it was little more than a trickle:

A special place, we both felt.

It was just 5 or 6 miles back to our resort from there, but, first we had to go to Foodland to pick up something for dinner. BBQ chicken and Caesar salad was our choice - easy, cheap and very nice.

I had a quick splash in the pool to cool down and then jumped in to the jacuzzi bath after Jo had finished. Now it was time for G & T's.

Jo had a bad night last night and struggled with her breathing - she was very congested. This morning, I'm blogging whilst she sleeps off and on - I don't think we're going far today.

Sunday/Monday activities

Sunday was a really lazy one. Chris' Mum & Dad, Lorene & David, came over to see us in the afternoon, so we just hung around the apartment in the morning, only popping out to grab some cake to offer our guests. We needn't have bothered - they arrived bearing gifts - edible, of course. We shared this Germanic-looking concoction consisting of pastry containing apple and custard, topped with icing - can't remember the name. The second gift they brought we haven't opened yet - it's a gift pack containing Brioche Crispbread, Masala Jam and Nigella Kasundi, whatever that is. We look forward to trying it out.

We had supper in the on-site Peninsula Bar, where we sat on the veranda, overlooking the golf course, with the sun going down:

For the record, Jo had prawns and I had squid - both very nicely cooked.

Monday morning's exercise was golf. I decided I would like to try and walk rather than buggy - and I did for the first 9 holes, with Jo accompanying (but not caddying) me. Jo's still struggling a bit with a cough/cold - she blames Chris and Miller! - and she couldn't walk any more, so we took a buggy for the back nine. Jo was snapping away with her camera:

I always used to joke that Jo was "barking" and she certainly has been these last few days - she sounds like an Alsatian dog, but we think it's easing a little now and she's moved on to the runny nose stage now. We understand Miller is on the way back as well now, having taken antibiotics.

I'd finished the one and only book I'd brought down to Normanville with me - the others I left in Adelaide - so we went looking for another book to keep me occupied for the rest of the week and we came across a charity shop with a few second hand paperbacks. Nothing much took my fancy but I decided to invest 50 cents in a Frederick Forsyth novel - The Afghan - the first time I've tried one of his books.

The rest of Monday was spent lazing around - a short snooze then a dip in the pool, followed by a jacuzzi bath, then supper - a take-away pizza, washed down with Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cab Sauv. Sitting on our porch, watching the sun go down, we waited for the kangaroos to come hopping over the golf course as they do at this time every evening. A mother and her Joey came right up to the tennis courts beside us. When I got up to take a photograph, I got a proper stare from Mum:

I didn't go any closer and after a few minutes, they hopped off, with little Joey bringing up the rear:

Today (Tuesday) we'll probably drive around a bit - once we've both had breakfast.

End of first week

Leaving a sick baby behind, Jo and I took Chris' car on Friday and headed south to our timeshare in Normanville, stopping first of all at the Old Salopian Inn for lunch:

Our apartment is a ground floor one bedroom one, overlooking the pool and golf course, with a distant sea view:

On Saturday morning, we decided to go for a long beach walk:

Normanville Pier

 At the far end of the beach, there was a small steep hill, which I climbed up:

It was 4.6 miles to this point and we needed to get back to Normanville for lunch. We had a huge meal of 6 plates of various sizes of tapas at the Courthouse - very nice, but we still had another mile or so to walk back to our complex, taking our total walk up to over 9 miles. We knew already that dinner would be a light one again after such a heavy lunch, so we went out in the car to stock up with beer and buy some eggs. The Myponga Brewery was our first stop:

Today (Sunday), Chris' parents, David and Lorene are coming over to see us this afternoon. Otherwise no plans. Jo has had a bad cough for the last few days - it gets worse at night when she barks away. Jo reckons she now has mucus in her stomach which will affect her appetite - that might be a blessing in disguise.

First Thursday down Under

Kelly was at work yesterday and Miller, who had been a bit under the weather the evening before, seemed good enough to go to Day Care, which meant Chris could drive Jo and I out to Prancing Pony's (http://prancingponybrewery.com.au/) brand new brewery - so new, in fact, that the builders were still tidying up as we arrived.

Nice place - and a good lunch - but when we got back, Miller had taken a bit of a turn for the worse and poor Kelly and Chris had a bit of a night of it last night, dealing with projectile vomiting etc. All he wanted was his Mummy:

This morning, Miller seems a little brighter. Kelly's off to work and Chris has gone for a haircut, leaving Jo and I in charge for the first time. Jo took this photo of me out in the back garden with Miller earlier on:

Today is the start of our week long time-share down at Normanville - just an hour and a half south of here. We're taking Chris' car and he and Kelly might come down and join us for the weekend if Miller's up to it. Chris is working next week but he gets the train in to the city, so doesn't need his car, which is handy for us.

Oh - and Chris' Mum & Dad weren't able to come over yesterday as Lorene had an emergency tooth extraction, poor thing. We'll catch up with them another time.

Oz - days 3 & 4

On Tuesday, we wandered round Rundle Mall with Chris and had lunch at one of these quick-as-you-can-eat Malaysian restaurants in the Asian Food Mall. It was good, if a little heavy for lunchtime. Kelly, meanwhile, had left work and was heading for her Citizenship test, which we assumed would take 30-45 minutes. In fact, she finished it in less than 5 minutes and got 100%. Celebrations were held at the Curious Squire before heading back to Derby St., where Chris prepared Spag Bog.

No excuses on Wednesday morning - we had been idle for long enough, so Jo and I went for a long walk south along the coast. We had left fairly early in the morning and planned stopping for breakfast at the first cafe on the shore, but it didn't appear until after 5.6 miles of walking on concrete paths, grassland, beach and on paths in the dunes. Here's a few of the photos we took along the way:

Semaphore Pier at the start of the walk

Finally, the Grange Pier Cafe and breakfast - and a rest

As you can see, it was overcast and coolish - low 20's is as high as it's got so far. The locals are all complaining about the "cold snap".

As we were having our breakfast, at first just a trickle, but then a flood - if that's the correct collective noun - of local lifeguards walked past us. There must have been 30-40 of them, all of them in just their swimsuits and pretty ripped. It was like something out of Baywatch - except no babes. They all had tanned arms and legs, but white on the core body where their vests normally were.

Then it was back to Derby St. for us. the entire walk was 11.3 miles and it took us over 4 hours of walking, not including our stop for breakfast (BLT for Jo, pancakes, maple syrup & cream for me). Check out the stats and route here - http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/842406403

Kelly still had a bit of admin to do on her Citizenship papers so we all headed back to the city with her and from there to fine local brewpub - the Wheatsheaf - where I even managed to get some cask conditioned beer - my first in Oz, I believe.

By now, the clouds had cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day, so Jo and I spent some time in the back garden, reading, snoozing and boozing, whilst Chris prepared salmon for dinner. Excellent.

Today (Thursday), Kelly is back to work, Miller is in Day Care and Chris is doing some work at home. Chris' Mum & Dad are coming over later on, and I think we're just going to chill until then.

Aussie Diary Day 2

My case duly arrived yesterday morning about 10 am, so it was nice to shower and change in to my own clothes.

Jo and I went for a walk and a spot of lunch - along the prom, up to the end of Semaphore Pier and then up - and down - Semaphore Road, looking for a cafe that Kelly recommended. We never saw it so ended up going back to the cafe where we'd all had coffee on Sunday.

There were little specks of rain, but it never came to anything. After lunch we all went to the movies to see Imitation Game - very good - then we picked up Miller at his nursery and went back to have dinner on the decking. Chris had prepared a huge chunk of corned beef - and really nice it was too. Here he is relaxing on the decking with Miller whilst the rain - which was pretty heavy by now - was giving the garden a good soaking:

This morning, the storm is moving east - it's quite windy, but dry and overcast. Today, Kelly has gone back to work and then has her test for citizenship and we're meeting her up town before we pick up Miller.

First day Down Under

The journey was pretty good, considering it's a mammoth 32 hour slog. We rate Cathay Pacific - excellent service, nice food - everything went well, but I'm not sure how it would have been had we been at the back of the bus. On the longer leg to Hong Kong, we both managed to get a decent few hours' sleep in our little pods. The section of cabin we were in only had 8 berths and we were in the middle but we hardly saw each other, the way they were angled.

I watched the James Brown biopic, but there weren't really any other movies I wanted to watch. When we got to HK, we only had about 40 minutes to catch our connection to Adelaide and it was quite a walk - I reckon over a mile! Going east meant we were losing time so this was our second night trip, but neither of us was ready for a long sleep, and we just dozed off and on.

On arrival in Adelaide, we were amongst the first off the plane and whisked through Immigration courtesy of the electronic system. Jo's bag and my golf clubs arrived quickly, but soon there was a call over the tannoy for Mr. Stewart. I knew what that meant - my bag didn't make the final leg from HK to Adelaide.

So here I am, sitting here on Monday morning, blogging away, awaiting a call from the airline, who are supposed to be delivering my bag this morning. Just now, I'm wearing a pair of Chris' shorts and one of his t-shirts - yes, I did get in to them! - but, having worn them all day Sunday, I'd quite like to shower and change in to my own gear now. This was yesterday's look:

Jo and I didn't crash until after 8 pm last night, having survived a long day, Kelly and Chris having picked us up early morning at the airport. It was overcast in the morning but the sun broke through in the afternoon and it got pretty warm later on. We went for a morning stroll, then back for a spot of lunch, then out again in the afternoon for a walk along the beach, followed by a beer, then more beer back at the house, where Kelly and Chris demonstrated how to relax in a hammock:

We don't look quite as relaxed:

Miller was having a great time playing in the paddling pool and the adjacent sand pit, although you could barely tell one from the other after he'd finished shipping sand in to the pool and water in to the pit:

We had G & T's and wine to follow to wash down the lovely meal Chris prepared, then it was off to bed.

This morning we spotted the large Huntsman spider that Kelly and Chris share their house with:

They tolerate its presence - high up near the ceiling - as it is apparently harmless to humans and it eats a lot of the other nastier beasts around.

To close, here's Kelly's typical breakfast - a huge bowl of 6 - yes six! - boiled eggs, pickles and salad:

Whiling away the time

We escaped the high winds in Scotland - in fact, it was pretty calm when we left, but we did spot a couple of trees that had blown over through the night, but otherwise our drive to the airport and the subsequent flight down to London was uneventful - apart that is, from not being able to find Gary's office. It took a couple of phone calls before we eventually met up with him and he dropped us at the airport and took my car away.

We purposely had quite a long wait at Heathrow - just in case of any weather problems - so that's why I'm sitting here in the Cathay Pacific lounge, blogging away - just to pass the time. The food's good and they've got London Pride in bottles too, but have to be careful with the alcohol intake, given the long flights ahead of us. We need to leave some room for our G & T's and wine with our meals on the plane!

That's about it. Two hours till scheduled take-off and then almost 12 hours in the air, arriving in Hong Kong at 17:45 local time Saturday (8 hours ahead of UK). Then less than an hour and a half in HK and back in the air again for another almost 9 hour flight, finally arriving in Adelaide at 6:35 on Sunday morning with our body clocks still ten and a half hours behind Aussie time.

Wonder when Miller takes his nap?

Incidentally, Kelly, if you're reading this, we have 2 suitcases and a set of golf clubs - hope you can manage it all!

Nearly ready

Not long now till we head off - hopefully. This morning's weather forecast wasn't encouraging, however, with major storms on the horizon. 100 + mph winds are forecast for Friday and wind speeds are twice this level at cruising altitude, so I suspect there may be some travel disruption. Nowt we can do about it - just wait and see.

When I went for a beer with Colin on Saturday, there was a really bright full moon out and the angle was again such that I caught a glimpse of it over the cross at the top of the Episcopal church - just as I'd done some months before. This was my first attempt at lining up the photo, looking at the moon through the cross:

You can just about make out the shape of the church roof, but the moon was so bright that the exposure wasn't quite right, so I tried again:

Better exposure, but alignment slightly off this time.

Gary and Luca came over on Saturday afternoon but Jo was out with her swimming group - Luca was really disappointed - at least until I told him he was authorised to use Jo's i-Pad in her absence.

Jo took the Christmas decorations down on Sunday and I took the tree off to the dump on Monday to join all the other rejected trees, which had served their purpose for another year.

I knew I couldn't/shouldn't cycle on Monday as I didn't want to do more damage to my knee before we went away, but, on the spur of the moment, having walked down to the shops with little pain, I decided to take a longer walk up Scolty Hill. It was a fine afternoon and it was nice to at least get a little bit of exercise. I took a few photos at the top:

My knee was a bit swollen and sore when I got back but an icepack soon sorted that - although I certainly didn't get any sympathy from the female members of our family.

Tuesday could be seen as my first real day of retirement as it was the day I would ordinarily have returned to work after the holiday break. So what did I do? Go to Inverurie with Jo to pick up Luca from school, that's what. Furthermore, I repeated the feat today - this time solo, as Jo was swimming. I took Luca for the haircut that his parents thought he needed. Here he was before the event:

and here's the "after" shot:

No cycling for me tomorrow either. Bags are virtually packed so not much else to do.

Gary runs at Lumphanan

Forgot to say about Gary's return to competitive running - he had an excellent result at the Lumphanan Detox yesterday:

Great stuff, Gary!

Knee problems again

My left knee - the one that hadn't been replaced but had an injection just before Xmas - is causing problems. I suspect my cycle on Hogmanay worsened the tear in my cartilage. It was very sore when I went to bed after our dinner party and all day Ne'erday. Yesterday, I did manage to walk - slowly and carefully - to the shops and up to Arbeadie Terrace for the Simcoxes Cocktail Party, but it kept giving way on me and Jo had to act as my crutch.

I can't have the operation so soon before the long-haul flight to Oz - nor for some time afterwards - so I just hope it calms down and lets me get around a bit more when we're away.

Anyway, our traditional New Year's Day steak pie dinner was terrific and Lucy FaceTimed us not long after we'd finished the meal. We caught up with Kelly yesterday morning.

We're still eating away the Xmas/New Year leftovers - there's certainly no need for us to food shop just now. Ross brought us some of the soup he made and we had that last night after we came back from Richard and Gail's. Their cocktail party involved a bit more than the nibbles we expected. They came round with hors d'oeuvres first of all, but then followed it up with little plates of soup. Mini main courses then followed and, of course, there was a dessert course - although we left just as they were dishing it out. A four course mini meal - never seen this before.

The weather's still great - bright and cold. We seem to have escaped the wet weather other parts of the country have had, which included the cancellation of Thistle's match against Celtic on Thursday - a game we were all looking forward to watching after dinner.

No more to say really, but I'll close with this photo of the Feugh, taken at the end of our bike ride on Wednesday:

Note the ice-tinged rocks and the tree debris at the top.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2015 and it appears that all's well with the world - we spotted our little red squirrel again this morning. He/she hadn't shown his face out front recently, but Jo spotted a glimpse of red in the trees out front and exclaimed excitedly - "he's back!".

While Jo grafted away all day in the kitchen yesterday, preparing for our dinner party, I went out cycling - and now I regret it. Today my left knee is so sore I couldn't even walk down to the shops to get my paper. It's over a week now since I received the injection in the knee, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I may have to have the cartilage operation sooner than I'd hoped.

Anyway, we had a lovely Hogmanay dinner with the Kilgours and Masons and we stood on the balcony to watch the Tor-na-Coille's fireworks display from the golf course to welcome in 2015. Here's a brief extract - http://youtu.be/dGKyEcyUV3I.

Once again, I tried to take a photograph with my camera perched on our mantlepiece, and just like Christmas, it turned out all blurry - it must be the light behind causing it. Here it is anyway:

Ne'erday is steak pie day and Gary and Ross are coming over to share. Apart from that, it's been vegetating in front of the usual holiday TV schedule - although Thistle's match against Celtic is on at 5:30 pm tonight.

Luca's birthday

Jo and I drove over to Inverurie late this morning and had a birthday lunch with Carole, Luca and his friend Tyler before they headed off for some Ten-pin bowling. Jo had bought a bagful of presents which Luca duly opened:

At the lunch table, prior to the cake:

The cake duly arrived - watch the video here - http://youtu.be/0R4oHjRvKlg - and here's the photo:

Munch munch

Yes, we're still trying to eat our way through the remains of Xmas and empty the fridges to create space for the New Year nosh. Turkey, stuffing, cheese, smoked salmon, chocolate log, cheescake, mince pies - that's been our meals for the last few days - and there's still plenty of each left.

Although Friday was completely inactive, on Saturday we decided we had to get out of the house, even if it was only to complete a few of the annual CAMRA pub surveys before we go away. We took the bus down to Ballater and did the rounds there. Got a chance to look at a few bikes as well - it's all so confusing. It seems you can get a pretty good bike with most of the things you would want for about £500, but then you see other ones for £3,000, even £5,000!

On Sunday, I went over to Gary's to watch the Man Utd match and have a spot of lunch - egg roll plus the obligatory mince pie. Today I had planned to go cycling again but the skies have been clear for so long that we wake to a good hard frost every morning, and some of the roads and tracks can be tricky and I don't fancy coming off the bike - my joints are dodgy enough, thank you. I actually went out earlier this morning just to test the conditions, but, at that time, it wasn't looking great - and it was really freezing, so much so that my fingers felt like they'd got frostbite. Most of the rest of our cycling group agreed but 2 hardy souls ventured out.

I am getting a little stir crazy, however. It's not retirement - it's always a bit this way at this time of year - especially when plans for exercise have to be cut short or cancelled. The weather is beautiful - lots of sunshine - ideal winter walking weather really. Jo had things to do, however, so we just went out for a short stroll - up through Burnett Park and back down past Inchmarlo. I took one photo at the entrance to Brathens forest:

Today is Dawn's birthday and tomorrow, Luca is 8 - can you believe it? Then, on Wednesday night (Hogmanay), we have the Masons and Kilgours coming over for dinner and to see the New Year in. No doubt we'll be entertained by the fireworks from the Tor-na-Coille and Freddie Duncan's party across the road. On Friday, we're off to the Simcoxes for a little soiree and by then it'll be less than a week until we head off to Australia. Kelly sent us this photo, taken from the end of her street, to let us see what we were heading to:

That's all for now.