Renmark

With our planned trip to Bali cancelled this week, Chris and Kelly booked us all in to a 6 berth cabin at one of Big Four's premier campsites in Renmark in the heart of the (Murray) River Country. We knew it was going to be hot inland which would be perfect for the boys to use the water park there - and they did. They loved it - couldn't get enough.

Probably easiest just to upload some of the photos rather than have long narratives, so here goes:

Kelly and Asher

Jo and Miller

Boys on a "twike"

Asher

Miller

Miller and Asher on mini slide

Down to waterfront at Woolshed Brewery

Note daily temperature range

Back in Old Noarlunga, a slightly premature birthday party for Jo - home made cake and cards

All being well, we should be back home in Banchory tomorrow (Saturday). Borders are closing all round the world and airlines are cancelling international flights so we felt we needed to cut short our holiday by 2 weeks and try to get home as soon as possible so we're now booked on Emirates flights tonight (Friday). Otherwise, we might have been stuck in Australia for some months - not that it's a bad life here - far from it - but I think we all need to get back to our own homes and as much normality as possible in these crazy times.

In hindsight, it's just as well we didn't go to Bali on Monday as we would not have been allowed back in to Australia as the Government here have now stopped all foreign nationals arriving. Also, our carrier Malindo Air would have flown us to Bali OK, but they then suspended all flights so we couldn't have flown back with them anyway!

We now hear that UAE have barred all foreign nationals from entering, with effect from 19th March. We are transiting through Dubai so we don't technically enter the UAE, so I'm kind of assuming our flights will be OK and we can make the connection from Dubai to Glasgow. Fingers crossed.

The Steele/Stewart abode

Here we go Lucy - some photos of where we have been staying for the last 4 weeks. We previously posted photos of the front of the house when we were here last year, but here's some other views, internal and external:

Our (untidy) bedroom

Boys' bedroom

Hall

Kitchen

Kitchen/dining from the sink area with the new (old) sliding door to our bedroom

Middle lounge

Back lounge

Garage, garden and washhouse

External entertaining area from rear of garden

Hot news

Here's the latest - Jo and I have decided to curtail our holiday by 2 weeks. We decided that things were ramping up way too fast - airlines cancelling international flights and countries banning all incoming foreigners - and it was just a question of days before our own PM decided to follow suit and stop all incoming flights to the UK.

We were up in the River Country on a short compensatory break for the boys  - some 3-4 hours north of Kelly's and Chris' - when we heard news of worsening and tightening sanctions and Jo and I decided it was time to head home. Otherwise we could potentially be stuck in Australia for several months. Not that it's an awful life here - far from it, but, as they say, there's no place like home - especially at a time like this.

So, we're now back in Old Noarlunga and our flight home is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) night, arriving home on Saturday afternoon. We had a lovely time in the River Country and I will report further on that brief vacation in due course, but now's not the time. Suffice to end with a slightly premature birthday celebration for Jo tonight:

Bali v Renmark

So here's the latest - we didn't go to Bali after all. Things kept changing - on Sunday morning, Chris initally changed his mind and decided to come after all. Then Jo and I checked in online. Meanwhile Kelly went to the gym - when she returned with news of increasingly harder Government lines on the action they were likely to take, plus the news that certain airlines - e.g.Singapore - were grounding their fleet, so we had a brief discussion and decided we didn't want to get stuck in Bali with no immediate prospect of getting back to Australia - and cancelled.

Cue two distraught little boys - Asher had a brand new suitcase and was packed and had been walking round the house for the last couple of days, saying "we going to Bali now?" in that plaintive little voice of his. Kelly and Chris had no option but to swiftly line up an alternative option. Hence the reason this post comes to you from the banks of the Murray River at a Big 4 campsite in Renmark. We're all in a 6 berth cabin - and it's very nice - as is the park itself. It took us about 4 hours to drive here - inland, north of Adelaide.

We've just returned from a session in the pools and waterslides and now Chris has taken the boys off to watch a movie while Jo and I sit on the deck quaffing G & T's. It's much hotter here and we're planning to barbeque tonight.

Going back in time now - on Sunday we drove down to Victor Harbor to see Chris' brother Matt finish the Coast to Coast cycle - 134 kms and then he cycled back home approx 70 kms! The boys had a nice time playing around on the beach and in the playgrounds. One part of the beach has washed up sea debris - seaweed like. You can walk on it, but it's like quicksand in places and you can sink down up to mid-calf - or in the boys' case, thigh-high:

I was, at Lucy's request, going to add some photos of Kelly's and Chris' house, but the internet here isn't good enough to handle any more photos in this blog post. Another time.

Half way

That's us 3 weeks in to the holiday now. Next week is supposed to be our trip to Bali but the corona virus issues are causing some consternation - especially with Kelly and Chris. The implications of Government travel bans and quarantines are much more complicated for them than for Jo and I - although we - especially me - are the ones in the most vulnerable group.

It's obviously going to be a (very) late decision as to who catches the flight on Monday morning. At the time of writing, it looks like Chris will be staying at home, but watch this space in case of any late developments.

Anyway, here goes with another daily holiday diary:

SUNDAY 8th MARCH

We'd had my birthday party on Friday but today it was Amanda's slightly belated party, held at Hallett Cove:

Teacher lectures her class

MONDAY 9th MARCH

Public holiday in Adelaide - it's the Adelaide Cup, a big horse race apparently. None of us were interested in that but it did have the effect of making Monday a busier day than normal at the Fringe - Mondays are usually days of rest for those involved, but pretty much everything was open, so Chris drove us all - bar Kelly, who took the chance to stay home and paint the boys' bedroom - in to the city. The boys had a good time:

On the big wheel - Asher looks away any time you point the camera at him

Miller's not camera shy

Another of Asher looking away

A quiet beer and attempted selfie for Jo and I

TUESDAY 10th MARCH

I decided it was about time I tried a game of golf again, so, after doing our usual routine of taking Miller to school and Asher to "Kindy", Jo and I headed to Willunga. It was to be in the '30's today so I hired a buggy and Jo rode along, alternately reading her book and taking photographs. The outstanding feature of the day was the constant cacaphony made by the cockatoos squawking away, but it was a very pleasant round - and very quick too, despite the amount of time I spent in the trees.

Here we are just leaving the golf club:

WEDNESDAY 11th MARCH

Kelly's day off and Miller was reprieved school today as well. Kelly took the boys with her to the gym so Jo and I decided to go for a short walk along the river and round the village, finishing off at the local coffee shop:

We see these pelicans every day but they're usually in the water - this was the first time we'd seen these huge birds up on a branch

In the afternoon, I took the train in to Adelaide as I'd arrange to meet Chris and some friends for pizza before heading off to the cinema to watch a film about Banksy and his rise to fame in the art world. I went in a bit earlier and wandered around a bit, starting with the Torrens riverbank. It was another hot one so I lay in the shade of a tree for a while and nodded off. Once I woke up, I headed in to the lovely new James Squire brewhouse that has a magnificent spot overlooking the river, the pedestrian bridge and the Oval stadium. I did have a paddle, but it wasn't in the river.

THURSDAY 12th MARCH

Chores completed, Jo and I decided to take a walk up to Victor's Place for lunch - and it was lovely. We only had the light menu but it was delightful - and the beers were good too. We had a tasting first and then selected what we would drink with our lunch. One of Jo's favourites was the Berliner Weisse with a drop or two of sour cherry syrup:

FRIDAY 13th MARCH

Chris' day off. I went for another short bike ride on the local river trails:

2 + weeks down

So here goes again with the daily diary:

SUNDAY 1st MARCH

Can't remember what we did - and no photos to help me recall.

MONDAY 2nd MARCH

With everyone back at work/school/day care, once our chores/daily duties were done, Jo and I decided to do one of the walks across the river from Chris' and Kelly's house - the Old Noarlunga trail, which was, as we had been advised, relatively flat as it followed the river for a while, but then we met the Pipeline trail, which rose steeply. Jo was not impressed, but she made it safely in the end:

Once we got over the top, we realised some wineries were within touching distance - in fact, the whole of the McLaren Vale wine area was in view. The downside was that it would mean more ups and downs:

We managed up and down OK but the nearest winery didn't seem to have a retail outlet and the next one was closed on Mondays, so it was a bit of an abortive extra leg on our walk.

The trail back down over the hills gave us some nice overviews of Old Noarlunga as we descended the sometimes steep and gravelly trail:

TUESDAY 3rd MARCH

It's Adelaide Writer's Week - a festival we'd attended before - and I had spotted one of the shows featuring the fairly well-known former Finance Minister of Greece, who has appeared on UK TV prgrammes like Question Time:

When we had visited with the boys on Saturday, Jo had thought she had better get clued up on what he was all about, so she bought one of his books - a fairly slim volume, intending to finish it before we went to listen to him. However, she's still working at it a week later.

We arrived early for the show so we managed to take in the prior one as well:

WEDNESDAY 4th MARCH

Kelly's - and Asher's - day off, so she drove us all over to Carrick House:

It had been a cool start to the day and we all wore an extra layer, but as the day wore on it got hotter and hotter and we were soon stripping off again - and treating ourselves to ice creams.

There's a kids' storybook trail there which is very well done and Asher loved it. The first photo is from Charlotte's Web, but there were lots of other fairy stories, nursery rhymes etc and even a Harry Potter feature:

THURSDAY 5th MARCH

Back to the old routine and once Jo and I had delivered everyone to their usual haunts, we went for a walk along the riverside trail that I'd cycled the evening before:

Asher spotted me listening to River Dee Radio with my earphones and wanted to share the experience:

At 5 pm, it was Miller's school's Fun Day and we all trotted along to watch Miller take part, including the hurdles:

FRIDAY 6th MARCH

My birthday and I'd asked Chris if he wouldn't mind doing a BBQ and we could invite the family along. Friday is Chris' day off but he was going to be pretty busy getting everything organised, including a lunchtime visit to a speech psychologist in Adelaide with Asher, who also had his weekly swimming lesson to fit in. Jo and I offered to take Asher along to the latter to give Chris a bit of breathing space:

Unfortunately, that didn't go too well - Asher's not quite ready for instruction yet, even on the one to one basis we had today.

Better fun later when we had the BBQ and my beer mug cake arrived:

I had said no presents, but Chris' brother Matt brought me gifts, including these personalised socks:

SATURDAY 7th MARCH

Kelly has work admin to catch up with so offered to drive me and Jo up to Port Adelaide and drop us off at Pirate Life brewery, where they were holding a huge party to celebrate their 5th anniversary:

So that was the week that was - or at least some of it.