On the mend - eating again

Well that was a bit of a lost week - mostly spent in bed trying to recover from a nasty little bug, which meant I hardly ate all week. The upside was that I lost 9 pounds, which compensated nicely for the weight I put on when we were in Australia.

I re-entered the world on Sunday when I managed a round of golf and I went for a short cycle yesterday (Monday) and didn't come to any harm, so hopefully that's the worst of it over. I'm still not drinking tea - somehow the taste turns me off, but otherwise I'm eating fairly normally again.

It's been suggested to me that it was an aftermath from the long journey back from Oz and it's true that I suffered very little jet-lag the first week we were back. Sleeping patterns were relatively normal and I was active, cycling 4 times that week. It all seemed too good to be true - and maybe it was just a case of delayed reaction.

I'm looking forward to a better time this week - and it started off with a beautiful day yesterday. I took the opportunity to clean the decking on our balcony using a wire brush. The forecast is good for this week so I'm hoping it will help fully dry out the boards and I can get another couple of layers of varnish down by the weekend. After I came back from cycling, I washed both cars - they were looking pretty grubby.

To close, a couple of photos pinched from Facebook. First, Gary finishing his D33 run on Saturday:

33 miles = a marathon and a quarter. Well done, Gary!

Next, here's Luca with his football team - and still wearing the plaster on his chin after his little accident last week:

That's all for now. I'm back.

Time on my hands - feeling sorry for myself

I'm writing this, lying in bed, not knowing what to do with myself. I was up half the night with a serious case of "the runs". Today I'm taking in as much fluid as I can to help flush whatever bug it is I've got through my system. I'm still getting stomach cramps - hope it eases soon. I can't even sleep comfortably.

I felt very tired on Sunday after golf but didn't think much about it. Gary and Luca came through and that kept my mind off it for a while anyway. I had a medical in Aberdeen yesterday morning - it seemed to go well enough and I'll get the full report in 2 weeks - but when I got home, I didn't feel great and decided to pull out of the afternoon group cycle. Pity - it was a beautiful day.

But last night was when the bug really got active.

Spoke to both Kelly and Lucy on FaceTime on Sunday and Ross and Lizzie came through last night after work. Guess what? I've now got a house full of birthday beers!

To pass the time, I'm watching the Scotland - Afghanistan match in the T20 preliminary tournament in India. Looks like we're in for another doing.

Talking to Gary on Sunday, he was amazed that we never watched many films when we travelled out and back to Australia. 40 hours or more in the air and I only watched one film - the Steve Jobs biopic. There really wasn't anything else I wanted to see. I did manage to watch 10 episodes of Better Call Saul, however - 5 out and 5 back. Maybe the shorter format suits me better.

We consumed a fair quantity of wine when we were Down Under - although not enough according to Chris, who had filled his cellar in advance of our arrival. Beer too, but we never touched spirits. Our first and last G & T's were on the plane.

I think that's enough for today. Back to the cricket.

First few days back home

Farewells were tearful, but we liked the story Kelly told us about Miller's reaction the following morning, after he went in to our room and saw we weren't there. "Where's Grannie Jo and Granda Ian-and?". Kelly told him we'd gone home and after a second or two, Miller burst out laughing and said "No - gone shops!".

The journey home was as good as it could be - everything went smoothly and on time. It was especially nice to have the chauffeur-driven car waiting for us at Glasgow airport and he whisked us straight home. We pulled in to Arbor Court not long after 2 pm on Saturday - which translated in Aussie body clock time as after midnight Sunday morning.

We plugged everything in and re-adjusted the heating cycles before unpacking and opening the pile of mail. I nipped out to get some bare essentials and we had a quick snack of toasted cheese before heading to bed just before 8 pm.

We slept pretty well and rose at a reasonable time on Sunday morning, seemingly not suffering too much from jet-lag. Jo went to church and I decided I felt good enough to go for a cycle on what was a beautiful day. The afternoon was a football-fest - I watched the first big game at home but then went to the pub to meet Colin - and Ken P - for the next big match.

Ross and Lizzie came round with my car in the evening - he had been using it as his car's battery had died.

So far, so good. Normal bedtime, but much shorter sleep this time. I must have been tired as I made a classic error on Monday morning. I remembered I had to go for a medical shortly after we got back - the first Monday in March, I recalled. Except this Monday wasn't the first Monday of the month, was it? No - it was a leap year - 29th February! I drove all the way in to Aberdeen and in to Nuffield for my appointment before realising the error of my ways.

When I got back home, I felt good enough to join our usual group Monday afternoon cycle, which probably helped me get a good 11 hour sleep in on Monday night.

Tuesday was Luca/Inverurie day - the first time we'd seen them all since early January.

Today (Wednesday), we both seem to be back in the old routine - I went for another cycle (my 3rd this week) whilst Jo went swimming with her pals again.

Enough narrative - now for a couple of photos:

Taken by Chris at the time we were setting up the camera for the end of holiday family photo

This is how much the houses at the former T-n-C filling station have come on since we were away

Half packed - almost ready to go

It's 3 pm Friday. Jo and I have done the shopping and had lunch. Now it's tea preparation, change and zip up the bags.

I managed a short cycle early this morning, but that's my last in Aussie-land this year. My golf clubs have been put down in Chris' wine cellar basement as well for another year. Why did I only play one game in 6 weeks? Same last year too. You would think I would take more advantage of the time, the weather and the courses.

Jo and I had a light snack at the Ballroom Bistro at the Palais, overlooking the front:

Nice spot. Note the fake grass.

We also had time for a quick beer back at Sweet Amber Beer Cafe, which also gave me time to finish off my book. We had originally planned to use our Metro Cards and take the train in to Croydon and visit the one new brewery we hadn't been to yet - http://www.brewboys.com.au/ - but the logistics were against us and we didn't want any hassle or to have to rush around on our last day, so we went local instead. Brewboys is on our tick list for next year however.

OK - that's it for Oz this year.

Penultimate days

Just over a day left down here now - our flight leaves at 10:35 pm on Friday night and we get picked up from Kelly's house at 7:35 pm.

Jo wasn't feeling too bright on Tuesday so we just stayed at the house. I walked along to get some shopping but that was the only time either of us left the premises. It was hot again - I was bathed in sweat when I got back from the shops.

Wednesday, of course, is Kelly's day off and, after she'd been to gym and I'd been for a cycle, she took us for a run down to the lovely McLaren Vale area. Wineries everywhere but we chose just one for a sampling - D'Arenberg (http://www.darenberg.com.au/) - after which we had a lovely lunch at the old Salopian Inn (http://salopian.com.au/) where the bread, in particular - baked on the premises - was terrific and reminded Jo of our holidays in France back in the 70's.

We managed a quick pit stop at Goodieson Brewery (https://www.goodiesonbrewery.com.au/) where we did the usual samples and had a chat with the owner. Miller was getting a little antsy by this time and so we sped back home and got his playpool out. Once he was finished with that, I wrapped one of his many dressing gowns round him:

Today (Thursday), I decided it was about time I actually had a (full) round of golf. Chris was good enough to give up his car for the day so I drove down to West Lakes and managed to squeeze in about 9 am. It was slow and there was a lot of waiting around but I had a good time and enjoyed it:

This afternoon, Jo and I took the advantage of having the car and drove down to Glenelg for a return nostalgia trip - it's where we stayed when we first came to Oz a few years ago. We had a quick wander round then stopped for coffee at the marina:

That's it for now. It's 5 pm now - and you know what that means. I'm off for a beer.

Monday evening - 4 full days left

The clock is ticking - we leave on Friday night. It's been a lovely stay and, thankfully, we haven't experienced the extreme temperatures we've had in previous years. In fact, today (Monday) is the only day we've got near 40 C - the peak was 39.5 C - pretty damn hot though.

Yesterday (Sunday), after our dawn hike up Lofty, Jo and I took Miller out for the afternoon. Our principal aim was to take him on the model steam train:

After the return ride, Miller chased the seagulls for a bit, then we walked along the prom and on to the beach. Miller had to be carried - the sand was too hot and it was quite a strain to get him to the sea, where he wanted to take his half-peg trousers off. I said no as he hadn't been creamed on the upper part of his legs. On hearing this, Miller just sat down in the warm sea, trousers and all. Of course, when he got up, he was soaking and he didn't like that. We had to carry him home. We stopped for a breather in the shade of some trees, where we were approached by two God warriors. Of course, Jo engaged them as I tried to find a way out. Thankfully, Miller provided this and off I headed with Jo following several minutes later.

By the time we got back, Kelly and Chris had done all the house-keeping - whew, good timing.

Today (Monday), Jo and I went in to the city on the rail again, with the intention of seeing a Fringe show, but, it was Monday which is a quiet day, so we couldn't find anything suitable during the afternoon - neither of us fancied staying out for an 8 pm or 9 pm show - that's way past bedtime in the Steele/Stewart household. We had a nice day, however - coffee, book shop then the Belgian Beer Cafe for lunch. It wasn't Brussels, but we still had to have mussels of course:

Last weekend in Oz

Saturday morning is Miller's swimming lesson so we all trooped round. Miller had had a meltdown last week when he came out of the water and Chris tried to get him dressed, so this week, Miller was whisked straight back home, wrapped in a towel - result!

After the usual lunchtime naps - Miller and Kelly, that is - we headed in to Adelaide to take in a bit of the Fringe. We were too late for the children's show that we'd planned to view but we got in to another one easily enough. Miller was a little uncertain but took it all in for about 30 minutes before his concentration span elapsed:

We had a couple of beers and wandered round the Garden of Unearthly Delights. Miller was smitten by some of the rides - none of which he would actually have gone on, even if he'd been allowed:

We ate there and Miller got to make his own ice pole/slushy:

The plan was to rise early this morning and leave the house by about 6 am and head to the hills so that I could hike up Mount Lofty. Kelly offered to chum me and, at the last minute, Chris, who had originally planned to go to the gym, opted to join us as well.

The car park was packed - even at that time of the morning, as everyone tried to get up and down before the heat of the day kicked in. I'm happy to say I made it all the way up, although the stops got a bit more frequent as we got nearer the top:

Off to FaceTime Lucy now.

Friday farewells

After I went on a morning cycle, Jo and I walked to Peterhead station and caught the train in to Adelaide, then walked to the Botanic Gardens to meet up with David, Lorene and Matt for a spot of lunch. There was a bit of confusion about the exact meeting point but we got there in the end.

Chris' brother Matt was on his lunch hour so his time was limited, but his parents drove us back to Semaphore after lunch, with a quick pit stop at the Lion Hotel, which was a regular haunt for us a few years ago when we stayed in the adjacent apartments. I grabbed a quick photo here as we probably won't see Lorene and David for another year:

We had originally planned to go to Entropy for dinner but, for the second Friday in a row, it was booked - this time for a Fringe show, so, instead we had to pick up something for tea - Jo chose Porterhouse steaks again.

Here's one I took of Chris and Miller playing in the garden:

Today (Saturday), Miller has his swimming lesson and we're heading to the Fringe in the afternoon.

Week 5 so far

It's Thursday evening here in Adelaide now and it's been back to work for Chris and Kelly this week - although Kelly had her usual Wednesday off and today she took another day off to attend her check-up at hospital. We went with her - there was a huge backlog there but Kelly was fine. They are going to continue to monitor the baby's growth to ensure there are no size problems with giving birth. Kelly was concerned about a possible C-section, but it seems more likely they will induce if the baby gets too big.

Jo, Kelly and I went for lunch at Peel St. afterwards - very nice it was too. We did the Miller drop-off and pick-up and also got Kelly's car serviced, so it was a fairly productive day.

Yesterday, Kelly drove us out to the hills again to Monarto, which is sister zoo to the main one in Adelaide. They don't cage the animals in this one, although there are several fenced off areas for each of the types of animals. The effect is to create conditions more akin to the animals' more natural environment - mostly like the African plains. They do rehabilitation work and breeding too. The tour of the huge site is done in a bus and here's some of the wild animals we saw;

and, of course, the wildest one of all:

Tomorrow (Friday) it will be 5 weeks since we left Banchory - just one more week left. We're having what will probably be a farewell lunch with David, Lorene and Matt tomorrow at the Botanic Gardens cafe. The Fringe has started here so we'll probably take in a show or two this weekend as well. What else might be on the wish list for our last week? Possibly a hike up Mount Lofty, maybe a return trip to Penfolds - or perhaps none of the above - who knows?

To close, a further observation about Australia - the birds here mostly seem to squawk, rather than sing. They certainly wouldn't qualify as residents of Berkeley Square (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTeiYN_Vq6E).

Weekend in Carrickalinga

We drove south on Friday morning and settled in to the house that Kelly and Chris have fairly regularly stayed at - in fact, they got engaged on one of their visits there. We were allocated the downstairs double bed again - it wasn't occupied thankfully, but the toilet was:

I'd heard too many stories about Australian spiders to act the hero, but Chris came to the rescue and removed it for me, saying it was just a Huntsman - the same as the one that they used to keep in their house as it eats all the other bugs and doesn't harm humans.

Kelly, Jo and I walked across the road to the almost deserted beach with Miller and we all got in the sea. I'd arrived prepared but the girls had to strip to their underwear, whilst Miller saw no need to be that modest. When he'd had enough, however, he wasn't too keen to put his clothes on and had a bit of a hissy fit when his mother insisted as his skin had to be protected from the sun:

It's a very well equipped holiday house - there's even a kayak in the garage plus 4 bikes of varying sizes, so I went on a short exploratory cycle and trail walk on Saturday morning:

Chris had arranged for us all to meet his Mum and Dad and brother Matt for brunch at a nice little cafe in nearby Yankalilla. Miller enjoyed the hippo ornament in the garden there:

We took Kelly and Miller back to the house for their lunchtime nap and the rest of us then headed for the nice Smiling Samoyeds brewery at Myponga for a couple of beers:

After a stroll round Myponga market, we headed back to Carrickalinga, where some of Chris' friends and their families were arriving to help celebrate his birthday weekend. Brother Matt presented Chris with his gift from the family - a retro board, just like the one Chris used to have when he was young - until Matt broke it!:

It wasn't long before they were all trying to re-live their youths:

We watched the changing phases of the sunset that evening:

The big event of the birthday weekend was the fishing trip planned for Sunday. Four of us - Chris, his Dad David and pal Anthony and I - left the house just before 6:30 am and drove to the nearby port to meet up with 5 of Chris' pals for our day-long adventure. The 20 metre vessel had 2 crew - the captain and "driver" Scott and his mate Josh who was the one that set up the rods and bait etc.

After loading the "Eskies" containing our food and beer for the day, we were on our way by 7:15 am:

It was about an hour steaming time until we got to our first fishing grounds somewhere between Kangaroo Island and Cape Jervis. We were after snapper here primarily. Josh baited the rods with pilchard and squid first time around but, after that, it was up to us. No casting - the rods had sinkers and the fish were bottom feeders anyway.

We only caught 5 snapper between us that run - but I'm happy to say I got one of them. Next stop would be out on the high seas, beyond Kangaroo Island. Whilst the first steam had been a bit choppy and I had initially been concerned that I may suffer from sea sickness, I had remembered to keep my eyes on the horizon and felt OK. Now it was a whole new ball-game however. Suddenly, the seas were high alright and the horizon had shrunk dramatically. Now we were in large swells, but again, I was OK. Not so a couple of Chris' pals, one of whom had retched non-stop since we left port and remained that way during the whole 9 hour trip.

On our second stop, we were still looking for snapper, but also whiting this time. Some of the guys cottoned on quickly and did rather well here, but I struggled. I never got one fish, but they got plenty of my bait.

We steamed off again to what was little more than a jagged granite rock in the middle of the ocean. To me, we went frighteningly close to the rocks, but I guess our skipper knew what he was doing with his boat. This time we were after salmon. No bait required this time - just lures which we fed out from the back of our vessel and let the salmon shoals chase us. They snapped at the lures, which were being towed along the surface. You knew all about it when you got a hit and it took a fair effort to haul them in, but they were plentiful and soon we'd had our fill. This was the best part of the trip for me:

Our 4th stop was an attempt to snare some tuna - not easy. Again, just lures were used. We got one bite from a small tuna, but lost it, so after half an hour or so of this, we headed back to port, arriving there about 4 pm, where we posed for a team photo whilst divvying-up the spoils:

You would think that would be that, wouldn't you? As it turned out, we'd hardly started. Although Josh had gutted the snapper, we still had to de-scale it and, worst of all, fillet and skin the salmon, which isn't at all like the Atlantic salmon we're used to - it was a hell of a job, and cleaning up afterwards took some time too - so much so that the girls were wondering if they'd ever eat that night. We made it in the end, and, thanks to some kitchen ingenuity from Jo and Lorene, we had a very nice meal in the end.

So that was it. Monday morning was just a get up, eat up, tidy up morning and we were back in Semaphore early afternoon. Both Chris and I realised that the trip had taken more out of us than we thought - we were both knackered.

Today (Tuesday) has just been a local day for Jo and I - she didn't sleep well last night and we had chores - washing and shopping - to do anyway, so we just lay on the beach for a while then went back to Sweet Amber Brew Cafe for lunch.

Thursday

Nothing much to report from today - although last night was another exciting one for Miller and his parents in a battle of wills. Miller and Chris, in particular, looked exhausted this morning, but, despite that, Chris made it to the gym - as did Kelly. Jo was still fast asleep so that left me in charge, but Miller slept through most of my baby-sitting session:

A similar position to the one we saw on Australia Day:

When he did awake this morning, he was in good form and was no trouble at all.

Jo and I had a quiet day today, although I did get out for a cycle once Kelly was back from the gym and Jo was up. We had shopping to do - Jo's doing falafels again tonight - and strolled to the shops, via the end of the pier, then had a coffee and some dessert at Lickerish - very nice.

Tomorrow we're all off down to Carickalanga again - we went there last year. It's part of Chris' birthday and he has family and friends arriving too - there's a sea fishing adventure planned for Sunday - hope my sea legs are up to it!

Lost on Lofty

We gave Chris a t-shirt from Barrosa Valley Brewery and some white port from Bethany Wines for his birthday and he modelled the former for us:

Jo and I strolled down to the beach on Tuesday morning, with her majesty sporting her latest accoutrement:

Quite the lady, isn't she?

Largs Hotel was where we had Chris' birthday tea:

Kelly ordered dessert - with candles:

It was such a beautiful evening that Jo and I decided to walk back along the beach, having a quick paddle:

Today (Wednesday), everyone awoke having had a bad night, with Miller up and down, so Plan B had to be put in to action - Kelly stayed at home with Miller and Jo and I took her car and went for a drive over to Mount Lofty. It turned out to be a very adventurous day - read all about it in my Hill-walking blog (http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/).

Adelaide update

G'day once more from Adelaide. It's Tuesday morning here and we've been up since 5:30 am. Nothing really unusual about that - we're well used to the schedule in the Steele/Stewart household by now. Today is Chris' birthday and he's got a day off, spending the morning with his brother Matt - they were climbing Mount Lofty at sunrise.

Kelly left for her usual gym session at 5:45 am and we - well Jo and her i-Pad really - entertained Miller while she was away. Kelly's now off to work and she's taken Miller to child care, so it's just Jo and I here just now. I think we're going to have a down day today, just chillin'.

It's going to be 33-35 C again today but we're fortunate in being on the coast where we get some cooling breezes. They've had a very hot and dry summer here but we've been lucky with the weather so far - thankfully it's never approached the horrible 40 C mark that we've had on previous trips.

Yesterday I played 14 holes of golf at North Haven GC. Jo came with me and walked the first nine. We travelled by train after being let down by the bus service. It meant a bit more walking and I was carrying my clubs so we got plenty of steps in yesterday. Here's Jo relaxing beside one of the greens whilst I putted out:

On Sunday morning, I got some cycling in - down to Glenelg - and then Kelly drove us up the Barossa for lunch at the Barossa Valley Brewery and a wine tasting at Murray St vineyard, followed by another beer sampling at Barossa Brewery - different place but confusingly similar names. Here's a few snaps from that day:

Outside the apartment block in Glenelg that we stayed at when we first came to Adelaide 5 years ago

The War Memorial at Glenelg

Murray St vineyard

Murray St again