the long trip home

so off we went....




along the way we had a look at 'oscar', an old steamer which still goes up and down the murray on special occasions. that's the hindmarsh island bridge in the background, the one which local aboriginal women opposed because they claimed it would be built on a sacred women's site. they obviously didn't win the fight.




checked out this steam train at the same time - it's the one that goes from victor harbour around to goolwa





saw some ute boys on the car ferry


did a bit of windsurfing on lake alexandrina


walked across dunes to one of the wild beaches along the coorong. were going to try driving across but were glad we hadn't as the sand was soft and deep and we wouldn't have made it. some spectacular middens on the way.





drove along beach to kingston. this was really fun.

time to leave

we knew it was time to leave when cath took us up a high hill and pointed out the way to canberra.

today's itinerary

started at the jam factory - really nice ceramics, glass and jewellery - excellent!

urban cow studio - funky stuff + barbie on the barbie exhibition


unley - classy shopping street with grape-vined verandahs, mulot's patisserie (closed - how unusual), wheel and barrow house shop with every desirable piece of kitchenware you could ever want, cibo's for coffee, trendy clothes shops - altogether very noice indeed and i want to go back again.

the parade, norwood - beads and panini and delicious gelati

now lofty's home and we're going to visit magill estate - penfold's winery - for a taste of grange.
later on....
well, grange wasn't on the tasting list but a delicious reisling, a sangiovese and a shiraz were and we purchased a few.

here are all the sa wines we're taking home with us

time flies in adelaide

time flies in adelaide and yesterday went so fast i didn't have time to write. we went to the sa art gallery first and it was cool in more ways than one. the artworks were very interesting, through from early colonial to late 20th century australian art, and the air con was very effective. the temperature outside felt like 40 degrees to me.

drove to melbourne street next for lunch at the store and a visit to the best kimono shop - tried on lots but resisted temptation to buy one, or an indonesian hammock or an umbrella from bali.

decided to look at the coast even tho piehands had warned us of the horrors of glenelg. actually found a coastal strip a little further north at henley beach which was quite pleasant and not yet being developed into a resort.

nearer to glenelg the esplanades and tall blocks of holiday flats started and led to a typical flashy beach town but not nearly as horrible as phands had described. batemans bay in midsummer could outshine it in kitsch and crowds.




aid could have won $50 but didn't have a go


the locals don't swim much - too scared of sharks apparently


looks like a scene in venice but no, it's glenelg sa.

clare valley

drove north today in spite of the knowledge that everything happens to the south. once the sprawling suburbs and the city of elizabeth were behind us the landscape changed from plains to gently rolling hills and eventually, the clare valley vineyards.

visited and tasted tim gramp's, tim knappstein's and tim adams' reislings, sav blancs and reds, lunched at kilikanoon and drove back via martindale hall and the mintaro shale quarry. both were closed as it was past 4pm but this was an advantage at the quarry because aid wanted a small souvenir slice of shale which he and lofty gathered.






mintaro was the most inviting little town we saw, with lots of attractive old stone buildings and leafy back streets. worth another visit.










to finish off another great day in the laide we ate big bowls of piehands' summer pudding topped with cream.....delicieuse!

xtreme adelaide

who says adelaide's not xciting? not us! today cath took us on a typical saturday out. first we climbed a wall - she stayed at the top and guided us because she's a regular at the local centre and a fully qualified climbing instructor.

next we did some white water rafting (too risky to take camera so no pix) and then jogged home for breakfast. pulled out some of the tallest thistles in town, made summer pudding and headed off to hahndorf in the adelaide hills.



hahndorf was settled by german settlers in 1830s who left germany because of religious persecution - the town was named after the captain of one of the ships which brought some of them to sa. it's a small town with a number of lovely old buildings which have been turned mainly into touristy arty crafty nick nackery shops with a german theme, so lots of beer steins, cuckoo clocks, bratwurst and apple strudel in sight.

hans heysen lived at 'the cedars', a few kms out of town, and we went on a tour of his studio and house and nora heysen's studio. his studio was a simple stone building with high roof, wonderful light from the huge south facing windows and persian carpets on the floor. a took measurements and is ready to build one similar in the backyard when we get home.

on our way back to erindale we tried to visit several wineries but 4.30pm was much too late for that. however hahndorf hill was still open and turned out to be an excellent find as the wines were tres bien, the winemaker gave us a detailed tasting and obviously loved his work, and there was even a vineyard dog called bacchus, with one blue eye and one brown.

another good day in adelaide!
ps got craig two beer mugs from munchen

city life

adelaideans tell it like it is.

today we explored the city.
trendy street cafes with white tablecloths, buskers, djs and myers, haigh's chocolate. adelaide has it all. bought sunglasses and hat, cath got new shoes on order, aid got a pair of white no tight elastic health socks for wearing with his safari suit on desert expeditions and we all have a supply of chocolate to last us several days. well, at least 24 hours. tried to find coopers beer glasses for craig but without success. will try again tomorrow.

Here's the real Felibree

arrived in adelaide late afternoon after driving across the hay plains and south to the desert capital. 43 degrees at hay, 44 degrees at balranald, dropped to 42 degrees at mildura. luckily cath had the international sign out ready to guide us to the felibree destination. the house is very classy and in a leafy, old adelaidean area. anya and willow took us on a guided tour and showed us to the guest suite where anya checked that the bed was comfortable. it is.

first impressions are that adelaide is a very pleasant place - charming old houses in shady gardens, walks along streams just a few streets away from home, interesting shops, and all set in a huge vineyard. mile after mile of grape vines. cath says she's only shown us the good parts and not everyone lives this same languid, luxurious life. well, she didn't really say that but she did imply that some suburbs aren't quite as noice as here.



day 2 went south as everything good here is south. drove down the coast of the fleurieu peninsular and across to victor harbour. vh is an english seaside holiday town complete with sandy beach, lapping wavelets, cafes, pubs, ferris wheel, bowling rink, sideshows, strawberries and cream, horsedrawn doubledecker tram and, for an exotic south australian touch, camel rides along the beach.

ate fish and chips at the anchorage, with a glass of maclarenvale chardonnay. yum. catherine's toes curled with delight.
granite island is linked to vh by an 800m pier so we walked across and on the way discussed whether the horse actually pulls the tram or perhaps there's a hidden electric motor underneath. either way, it looks an easy stroll for the horse.



then our tour guide insisted that we needed to depart for the berry picking fields of mt compass as summer pudding was on the menu sometime in the next day or two. after all it wouldn't be a real felibree without a good summer pud. memories of fountains abbey and lashings of cream floated back. we ended up with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and 17 different varieties of blackberries. they'd been warned that we were coming, so closed the pick your own facility and only allowed us to buy the ready packed fruit.

Adventures in Adelaide

well, this isn't really in adelaide, it's in boyd's beach house at culburra. king rory is likely to appear often in this blog.