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

Saturday - halfway point

City of Bungalows. City of corrugated roofs. That's Adelaide - or at least our impression of it. The suburbs are full of detached bungalows fairly close to each other - not much point in having big grass gardens unless you have the sprinklers on them 24/7. Our first impression of the corrugated roofs was how cheap and tacky they are, but you soon appreciate the practicality of it, and even the look of it after a while. There's a kind of colour coding system in operation - and there's very few tiled roofs. Apart from the city centre, it's very much a low rise city.

Jo kept some of Miller's shorn locks from his haircut on Wednesday:

On Thursday morning, I went for a short cycle and then my first hit of a golf ball this year at the local par-3 Glanville course - a nice gentle introduction for me:

We walked to the golf course and Jo walked the first 9 holes with me then read her book whilst I played the second 9 holes - after we'd both had a Magnum and Diet Coke break in between.

On Friday we took the train in to the city again and walked from there to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, crossing the river Torrens on the new footbridge on the way:

The Aquatic Centre is huge - very impressive - and has gardens to sit in between swims. From there, we walked to the Royal Oak in O'Connell Street for a couple of beers before heading "home" again, where Miller was in relaxed mode:

On Saturday morning, Chris and Kelly did their separate shifts at the gym and then we were off for Miller's swimming lesson. Kelly then took him home for a sleep whilst the three of us had some beers and a bite to eat at the new craft beer bar in Semaphore, which has a nice beer garden:

In the afternoon, Kelly had her appointment for the 3D scan of the next Steele baby boy. We were all allowed to watch on the big screen - it was fascinating. Kelly and Chris have a DVD now and some photographs:

Chris is working tomorrow (Sunday) so Kelly is going to drive us up to the Barossa for some more wine and beer tasting.

Midweek week 3

So I did eventually get out for a cycle yesterday (Tuesday) after all - late afternoon, after a day in the city shopping and lunching.

Today (Wednesday) is Kelly's day off and we decided to drive to the Barossa for lunch and some wineries, but first of all, we had to do the shopping at Westfield, where they had a nice play area for Miller - and his Mum:

Then - trauma of all traumas - Miller went for his first haircut:

Grocery shopping then off to the Barossa for lunch at the Artisan winery, a co-operative of 7 small vineyards, with an adjacent restaurant, whose chef featured recently on MasterChef. Miller had a mini-meltdown:

Kelly took him to play with the cricket equipment:

Lunch was lovely and then we were off to do another couple of tastings at nearby wineries. First of all was Bethany, then it was on to Pindarie:

There's some weather around just now so we're going through a slightly cooler spell - like a good summer's day in Scotland - mid 20's - but it's going to get hotter again over the next couple of days.

Weekend in Robe

It's now Tuesday morning in Adelaide. We've been up for a few hours now and I had thought I might get out for a cycle this morning, but, would you believe it, it's raining! In fact, we've had a fairly damp weekend down on the Limestone Coast. It rained virtually all day Friday but it didn't really matter as we were in the car for over 4 hours anyway.

We got to our cottage in Robe to find the heaters on in preparation for our arrival - in the middle of summer! According to the local press it was the coolest January day for 9 years - it only reached 20 C in Adelaide. Anyway, we quickly settled in:

Dinner was at the local Caledonian pub washed down with pints of Little Creatures Pale Ale.

By Saturday morning the clouds were gone and, after brunch at a local cafe we took a stroll down to the beautiful beach:

Walking on to the marina, Lorene, David, Jo and I had a coffee there whilst Kelly and Chris took Miller back for his - and Kelly's - lunchtime snooze. Lorene, Jo and I strolled along the walkway round the harbour to the Yacht Club:

From there, it was just a short hop to the end of the breakwater:

Later on, Jo and I took Miller down to the small beach near our cottage, where Miller explored the little caves:

On Sunday, our plan was to drive to the Coonawara wine region, about an hour or so away, but first there was breakfast/brunch at another local cafe. The sun was a bit reticent to make an appearance and it was cloudy most of the day until early evening - pity we couldn't get the iconic Coonawara photo in sunshine:

We'd attended a Wynn's masterclass at the Wine Gang's Xmas Fair in Edinburgh just a few weeks prior so a visit to the vineyard was essential. The samples were great and we bought some wine - and chocolate.

When we got back to Robe, the evening sun came out and we went for another stroll round the harbour - this time taking a wider circle round a lovely walkway, exploring other beaches and caves:

The setting sun provided some nice views over the rocks and sea:

Soon we arrived at the high viewpoint:

Chris and I stopped at the Caledonian on the way back for a couple of pints and to watch a bit of the tennis final.

Monday morning came and we were heading back to Adelaide, but, first there was breakfast at yet another local cafe:

We took a break at Meningie where Jo demonstrated her skills on the fitness machines:

It was 32 C when we arrived back in Semaphore.