Outback and more

Before we headed to the outback this weekend, on Wednesday we looked after the boys in the afternoon whilst Kelly went to her hairdresser. Thursday was when we had arranged to meet John and Lorna Anderson for lunch in Adelaide. We met them for pre-lunch drinks in Lady Burra's Brewhouse then walked round to Sean's Kitchen - the same place that we'd had lunch with the McDonalds a year ago - and it was again very good. We got back to Seacliff in good time to pick up the boys from Casa Bambini - it was Kelly's late night and Chris, too, would be a little later than usual as he had an appointment at the hospital re his sinus problems - pretty serious they must be too, as he's stopped drinking wine, as he found out this was bringing on the sinus reaction.

So to Friday and our long trip inland to the Flinders Ranges - specifically to Wilpena Pound, the site of what was reputed to be a long-extinct volcano. Kelly had pre-booked our accommodation, which she described to us as glamping. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but, when we arrived after what was virtually a whole day's drive, we were delighted with the exceptionally high quality of our accommodation, which turned out to be a tent only in name. Really, it was a villa that just happened to have 4 canvas walls - otherwise, everything was as you'd expect in a top resort or hotel - fully plumbed, wooden and tiled floors and proper porcelain:

Once settled in, we were all ready for a cooling dip in the camp pool, after which Chris cooked dinner on the BBQ. We sat on the patio and watched the stars appear.

Saturday was our one full day at the resort so we tried to make the most of it - although, as usual, the best-laid plans etc ....... Kelly and I planned to walk along the trails to the viewpoints whilst Chris, Jo and the boys would drive out and meet us nearby. The walking bit was easy enough but there was nowhere to take a car, so once Kelly and I had finished the walk and climb, we headed back and met up with the rest just leaving the camp, having tried unsuccessfully to drive anywhere nearer the action.

Jo was particularly keen to take a walk and at least see Hill's Homestead and we tried any number of combinations of adults to join her, but the boys wouldn't let their Mum or Dad leave them, so it was left to me to do the trail walk again. By lunchtime, I'd seen a variety of animals in the wild - some, like the kangaroos ventured right up to our tents:

Others had merely left their outer skins behind:

There were emus and mountain goats roaming wild and free and a random guana on our trail:

Not to mention the birds - especially the kookaburra and the magpies, who performed the dawn chorus as makeshift cockerel.

It was dry and dusty everywhere and we came across a trail advert for a feral menu. Fancy this?:

We were largely underwhelmed by our first views of the Pound, expecting to see a deep circular hole, only to find it was not as deep nor as round as expected and the scale of the area was way more than we had anticipated - and it was overgrown with vegetation:

Subsequent viewing on Google Earth gives a much better picture of the geology and, also subsequently checking Wikipedia reveals that it wasn't an ancient volcano after all!

Jo and I were very low on water supplies and had to eke it out, and as it was my second hike of the day out there, I felt pretty sore, tired, thirsty and hungry when we finally got back to our tent. Nonetheless, determined to make the most of the day, we decided - well Jo did - that a visit to the Sacred Canyon to view the ancient aboriginal drawings would be worthwhile, so Chris drove the 3 of us out, whilst Kelly looked after the boys.

Whenever anyone says that the road you are about to travel on is unsealed, you can interpret that as meaning a rough ride - and it was 13.5 km out and another 13.5 km back! We haven't had such a good massage for a long while. The walk from the end of the road to the rock drawings was only a few hundred metres up a dried river bed, which would be teeming with water in winter, fed by a couple of steep waterfalls:

By now, I'd done 22 kms of walking - a record 33,500 steps - and it was definitely time for another dip in the pool - for us all - when we got back, then we had dinner in the camp restaurant.

Sunday morning was when we would start the journey home, but first there was another beautiful sunrise as we walked down for breakfast:

We took a slightly different road back to Adelaide, stopping off at the pretty former mining town of Burra, which had a big Cornish influence:

Site of the old mine

Jo reads while the boys burn off some energy in the playpark

Former miners' cottages

Weekend in Carrickalinga

As planned, Kelly picked us up on Friday and drove us all - minus Chris - down to Carrickalinga on the south coast. We quickly settled in to the usual routine at the Beach House. I took Asher out for a little explore on the beach:

Miller didn't join us on the beach but he was throwing shapes when we got back to the villa:

On Saturday morning, I went out for an early morning bike ride round Carrickalinga and Normanville, after which we all jumped in the car and drove over to Victor Harbour to the Urimbirra Wildlife Experience. This was some of the action:

Asher was fascinated when all of the 'roos suddenly bounded across the park to the fence at the other side - for what, we do not know.

It's not a real croc - honestly

Back at the villa in the evening, it was wind-down time for everyone:

Sunday morning plans had to be changed as the planned horse riding for Miller wasn't available - but we rescheduled for Monday morning. Another trip back to Victor Harbour and the playpark there then, followed by a visit to the South Australian Whale Centre, which held the attention of Miller and Asher far better than we at first feared.

After lunch, we paid a quick visit to Myponga and the Smiling Samoyed brewery:

 
So to Monday and the rescheduled horse-riding episode for Miller at High Country Trails. It was Miller's first time on the back of the horse and he was a bit hesitant at first, but they wheeled out old Fred who was as docile as you can get and I lifted Miller in to the saddle and he quickly settled down. Kelly was given the reins to walk him round the paddock, which Fred did quite happily, apart from two required stops for toilet breaks:

View the video version here - https://youtu.be/ZAy7lqxDp44

After that, it was back to the villa to clean up and then head back up the road to Adelaide to see how the Steele family were getting on with laying the new flooring in their unit.

So, with our weekend away over, it was back to the old routine on Tuesday. Jo and I took the train south to the last stop - Seaford - and walked down to Moana beach:

Then it was back to pick up the boys and have tea with Kelly.

That's all for now, folks.

Adelaide (3)

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It's now Friday morning here in Seacliff, SA and this afternoon Kelly is driving us down to Carrickalinga, on the south coast, where we've been a few times before. It's a house that Kelly and Chris rent a few times every year, but, this time, Chris won't be there as he's ripping up the carpets in their unit and installing new laminate flooring - helped by his brother Matt, his Mum, and his pal Anthony.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes - my last post was Wednesday and we were waiting for Asher to finish his mid-day sleep. We drove to Noarlunga and the kids' adventure park there - a place the boys love. Miller fell asleep in the car and was a little drowsy at first, but Asher was up for it from the start:

Thursday was Kelly's long day at work so we wouldn't see her. Jo and I jumped on the train and headed south a couple of stops to Hallett Cove, where we knew there was a boardwalk extension of the coastal path. We discovered it was in an area designated as a Conservation Park, with a focus on geological history. Here's a few of the views:

We completed our circular walk round Hallett Cove - and this time, we did find a cafe that was open - and then jumped back on the train north to Oaklands to do some shopping at Coles in preparation for the boys - Chris, Miller and Asher - coming to ours for tea.

So, I think that's this diary up to date again. I used the time difference this morning to listen to the Thursday evening Headbangers' show on River Dee Radio over breakfast - nice to hear my colleagues Andy's and Gerry's voices coming over the internet.

Adelaide (2)

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Day by day, we're learning about the things that aren't quite right about our little Air BnB apartment. Last night, it was windy and we found out that all the window frames rattle - we barely got a wink of sleep. Still, it's not as if we've got work to go to or anything.

Back to Monday - we decided to walk south along the Coastal Trail. We were heading for Marino Rocks Cafe. We started off at beach level but then decided we'd better climb up to the official trail at clifftop level. Simple enough I thought, and off I strode. A few minutes passed and still no sign of Jo. I wandered back and found her inching her way up the path, clinging on to the cliff face for dear life, hankie in mouth:

Well, I thought the path was wide enough to walk up - but Jo obviously didn't.

A bit further on, we spotted this message on the beach below in advance of Valentine's Day:

We got to the cafe pretty quickly only to find that it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we decided to walk on, looking for another. Well, we walked and we walked, but it was all strictly suburban - no shops, no cafes. We had no option but to eventually turn back. This little escapade certainly put our steps back up again. At the end of the day, our total was almost 20,000 steps.

We had arranged to pick up Miller and Asher from day care and we took them back to our place and a bit of TV watching:

Chris and Kelly joined us straight from their respective works.

We had a plan for Tuesday - Kelly was on a half day and had booked a table for lunch. We were to meet her in the city. Asher scuppered it all when he came down with a bit of S & D, so Kelly kept the boys at home, whilst Jo and I made our way in to the city for a little bit of shopping, followed by a beer at the Wheatsheaf. We now have our Metro cards, so we are mobile.

We spent Wednesday morning on the beach and are now waiting for Kelly and the boys to come over and we'll head out somewhere.

Adelaide (1)

Having spent our first night in our new home for the next 5 weeks, we suddenly realised what was missing in the unit - a washing machine. The nearest laundry was 15 minutes' walk away - not really convenient when carrying a week's worth of dirty washing, but Kelly came to our rescue and cleaned everything at hers.

Saturday was the day of Chris' proper birthday party over at brother Matt's unit (just around the corner from Chris' and Kelly's). Dad and Mum, David and Lorene, were there, as was Amanda, Matt's ex-wife and their daughter Abigail. The last time we'd been here for a birthday party it was stinking hot and it was a job trying to keep cool. This time, it wasn't half as bad with temperatures in the mid 20's C.

Chris and Matt hit the town later, meeting up with some friends, but Kelly, Jo and I opted for a quiet night.

Sunday morning was "free" so Jo and I walked along to nearby Brighton and had coffee and a cake at one of the cafes that we'd been to in years gone by:

Once we'd walked back along the beach, we arrived at our unit to find a pile of clean washing outside - well done Kelly - that was quick! Kelly took us out to the "fancy" shopping mall at Pasadena, where there were all kinds of delights and we could have spent hours there were it not for the fact that Kelly had to get back to Chris as they were going shopping for new laminate flooring. We would look after the boys for an hour or so.

Chris was cooking tonight - stir fry with black rice - very nice. Miller showed off his present from Santa - a trampoline:

Then he filled the shell:

Now it was Miller's turn to take control of my camera and he came up with the following portraits:

Asher

Chris

Jo

Kelly

 Finally, time for a bit of TV watching with little brother:

Monday morning now and we've been to the boys' pre-school, Casa Bambino, so we're now authorised to take them out and bring them back to our place and Chris and Kelly will come here too for tea tonight - Jo's made Spag Bog.

Our week on the road (3)

Tuesday 6th February - 21,000 steps - 14 kms

Our campsite was a bit further out of town than we had become used to, but when we eventually made it down to the town centre of Port Fairy, it was lovely. Good beaches, river walks, wharf and a small island bird sanctuary. Our first mistake, however, was following a map which clearly showed a causeway from the beach to the island. Not any more - we had to retrace our steps and cross a bridge instead. We walked out to the lighthouse, passing an odd wallaby taking shade under a tree, until we eventually got out to the lighthouse point:

Wednesday 7th February

On the road again, heading for Robe, where we'd been with Chris and Kelly a couple of years ago. We crossed the state line from Victoria to South Australia and the road changed to a long straight one - no more Great Ocean Road. The clock had changed too - half an hour back. We made just one main stop at Mount Gambier, visiting the local tourist attraction of the Blue Lake and its two sisters, all formed by volcanic eruptions back in the day and subsequently filled with ground water which contained some kind of crystals which turns the water a stunning vivid blue at this time of year:

We parked up at the adjacent Valley Lake and had a cup of tea with cheese and crackers, then hit the road again.

Thursday 7th February - 30,000 steps - 19 kms

The campsite at Robe was virtually on the beach but at the western end of town, so it was a good walk back east towards the point where we'd walked back in 2016. In fact, at the end of the day, we did it twice - and a bit more in my case - to notch up a new 2018 daily high of over 30,000 steps. We had coffee at the Marina then walked round the point, past the old gaol and out to the Obelisk:

The return to the town was in the evening when we had dinner at the Caledonian Inn - fish and chips and very nice it was too. Late afternoon, I'd popped down to the nearby Robe Brewery for a chat with the brewer owner.

Friday 9th February

Our mobile home holiday was virtually over now and all we had to do was drive to Adelaide, dump our stuff in our Air BnB home for the next 5 weeks, then return the vehicle to the local depot. There was a slight moment of crisis when we couldn't access the key for our premises - due to an error in the instructions received - but it all worked out in the end.

It was Chris' birthday and he, Kelly, Miller and Asher all joined us at our apartment for a few libations and a meal of prawns, bread, cheese - and cake, of course!

So that was our adventurous week - 17,000 kms in the air, 800 kms on the road, 130,000 steps and 83 kms of walking - whew!

Our week on the road (2)

Sunday 4th February - 18,000 steps - 10 kms

We walked all the way along the beach at Apollo Bay and round the port/marina. As well as the Great Ocean Road drive, there's a Great Ocean Walk that starts here. It's 100 kms long so there's no way we were tackling that in a day:

We spotted the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse so, once we'd done enough walking in the hot sun, we decided to have lunch and a few beers there - and it was excellent.

The facilities on the site were excellent and although we had a shower and toilet in our mobile home, we had no real need to use them. Here's the reception area at dusk:

Monday 5th February - 14,000 steps - 9 kms

On the road again - this time heading for Port Fairy, but with a few touristy stops on the way, the biggest one of which is the Twelve Apostles. Busloads of tourists here - where did they all come from? The roads were pretty quiet along the coast. I guess they must have driven here directly from Melbourne on the motorway. There were so many different bits to visit here - Gibson Steps, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, Bay of Islands etc - and we popped from one to another, taking loads and loads of photos and managing to get 14,000 steps in despite it being basically a car day.

We did eventually make it to Port Fairy that day - more about that later.

Our week on the road (1)

We're in Robe just now - the final stop on our Melbourne - Adelaide drive in our mobile home. Here's the diary so far - I've tried to show different photos from those on Facebook:

Wed 31 Jan

All went well with the chauffeur drive down to Glasgow and the first flight to Dubai was a "mere" 7 hours, so no problem. The second leg to Melbourne was a bit more challenging at 13 hours - especially given the various time differences. The flight took off at 3 am Dubai time, which is 11 pm UK time. We're still game for G & T's, but the first meal they serve you is breakfast. It's another 10 hours or so before the next full meal - although you can snack any time - and that was "lunch" but by this time you're over Australia and the local time is anywhere between 8 pm and 11 pm Thursday night - but our body clocks are still at mid-morning UK time - normally a little early for alcohol, but, hey, we're on holiday - who cares?

We whisked through immigration and our bags arrived quickly so it wasn't long before we were being whisked by another Emirates chauffeur to our hotel - the Crown Metropol. By now, it's the early hours of Friday morning Melbourne time and we were tired enough to adjust easily to the local time by heading straight to bed.

Friday 2nd Feb - 29,000 steps - 16 kms

We arose at a respectable time and headed out to hit Melbourne - we only had one day here after all, so we walked and we walked - along the Yarra, over King's Domain, up to the Shrine, in to the Botanic Gardens, back across the river to the CBD - St Paul's Cathedral and finally, time for beer - one at a new place to us (Penny Blue) and the next one at a familiar haunt - James Squire's Brewhouse, where we enjoyed people watching at an open window seat, just as we had done the first time we came over to see Kelly in Australia.

Me in the shadows outside the cathedral

The trees certainly didn't need any additional heat, so why were they wearing woolly jumpers?

Saturday 3rd Feb

This was our big day - we taxi'd from our hotel to pick up our home for the next week. They were very good - detailed instructions on how everything works and soon we were on our way, but first we had to pick up some groceries at the local Coles supermarket.

The drive out of Melbourne down to Geelong is pretty standard motorway fare, but not long after that we picked up the Great Ocean Road just past Torquay. Many of the famous drives in the world describe themselves as coastal roads, but some disappoint a little as they often veer away from the sea. Not so this one - we were almost driving along the beach all the way to our first stop in Apollo Bay. Nice spot and we got hooked up pretty easily. This camping/mobile home lark is not as difficult as we feared.

More to follow.

Eve of eve of departure

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Almost the end of January and this is only my second post of 2018 - and now we're getting ready to head down to Australia. We get picked up at 7:45 am on Wednesday morning and leave Glasgow for Dubai at 1 pm. We have a two and a half turn-round and then it's the big flight to Melbourne.

We arrive late and spend two nights and one full day in Melbourne. Our hotel (Crown Metropol) is pretty centrally based:

Then it's our big adventure - a week travelling the Great Coastal Road to Adelaide in a mobile home. We have 3 stops at Big 4 campsites:

Apollo Bay

Port Fairy

Robe

We arrive in Adelaide on Chris' birthday and move in to our Air BnB at Seacliff:

So that's about it for now. We're in Inverurie again today and have just returned from Luca's football practice. He's very proud of his new Real Madrid strip: