4^th February, Wednesday

I am not going to give you the geography and history on Adelaide, it would be huge and if you really want to know you can google it.  We took our time leaving this morning as we only had 75kms to drive to Adelaide and we couldn’t book in until about 11.30. We stopped off in Freeling which is where Mc Cleods daughters was filmed, the Gungellan hotel was used for the series. We wanted to get a coffee and some toast as we had time to kill but unfortunately there were no coffee shops so we had to drive on. The drive is not particularly exciting because as you leave Kapunda there is a little bit of farmland and then you start getting to the outskirts of Gawler and then Adelaide and it’s mainly industrial and nowhere to pull over for a coffee. We had a packet of Tim Tams in the cooler box in the car but we totally forgot about them, bugger. We have booked into a caravan park that was recommended by friends, Bev and Graham who we met along the way.  We are going to their place for a BBQ on Saturday and it will be good to catch up with them. They live in Port Adelaide right up at the top end right on the coast. The caravan park we are staying at is on in the palatial suburb of Windsor gardens which is on the Torrens river. The caravan park has mainly permanent residents, they are pretty loud and territorial and we are getting thoroughly checked out (shades of Mossman) but they don’t mean any harm as we are just the side show.  One woman was walking around socialising in her pj’s after 12pm and was carrying her little Tupperware container of tobacco, lighters and the rest of the paraphernalia that goes with it. Another bloke walked around for about 2 hours looking for someone who had a potato for him, I think that he eventually found one. There was a woman walking around chatting to the neighbours at about 3.30 in her nightie, it’s an interesting place and it is keeping us entertai

5^th February, Thursday

Today we went to the beautiful little German town of Hahndorf which is situated in the gorgeous hills of Adelaide. Hahndorf is a small town and was settled by Lutheran migrants mainly from a small village named Kay in Prussia which is now called Kije, Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland.  Many of these settlers arrived in December 1838 and the town of Hahndorf is named after a dude called Dirk Meinhertz Hahn who was the captain of the ship called “The Zebra” which brought these migrants to Australia.  Hahndorf is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia, it’s a gorgeous leafy little town with lots of lovely gift shops, heaps of gourmet shops where you can get German sausages, cheeses, preserves, fudge, chocolates, you name it it’s here, most of these goodies are made locally.  We bought some beautiful handmade organic cheeses and some German sausages for Ralph as well as some fudge, Turkish delight and nougat.  Today was about our stomachs. We had morning tea at a gorgeous little al fresco place, tea and scones although Ralph had his obligatory milk shake instead of tea.  This was a real Devonshire tea as the cream was not that whipped stuff, it was as thick as a brick and straight from the cow and was to die for.  After that we needed to walk and of course I had some money in my purse that was dying to jump out so I had to give in and let it have it’s own way in the lovely little gift shops. We booked a table at the Hahndorf hotel for lunch and it was still a bit early and we were still as full as stuffed pigs so decided to take a drive to Mt. Barker. Mt. Barker is an old town and the biggest town in the Adelaide hills. The main street is lined with big leafy trees. It’s a very picturesque town and quite a bustling town. The main street is all shops and coffee shops and seems to be a really laid back sort of place.  We drove back to Hahndorf to fill our stomachs again and Ralph had his long awaited German cuisine and German beer. People up here as so friendly and fall over themselves to be of help and give advice, it’s quite refreshing. The weather is nice but not hot and we were told that this is the coolest weather that anyone can remember having over the summer months. We were told that it needs to warm up as it’s vintage time and grapes need the heat. They will get their wish as the weather forecast states that we are going to be getting about 39 degrees from tomorrow, not sure how long that will be sticking around for though. Back to the caravan park and the permanent people are sitting in the middle of the road having their drinks which is what they did yesterday and I think that they do this everyday. If a car comes past they won’t move and the car has to go around them and believe me when I say that there is not that much space to maneuver around them.  Last night they talked (loudly) until way after 12. They don’t work so I guess this is what they do everyday as there seems to be nothing else for them to do, we shall see what happens tonight.  It’s all very quite in the mornings though, I wonder why?  The car is going in for a service in the morning and Ralph will have a look at the city while he is waiting and I will try and do some painting.

6^th February, Friday

Not much news for today. Last night the permanents were quite but they made up for it this morning, they must have all had an early night so they were rearing to this morning. Ralph spent the day in the city visiting museums etc. as he had time to kill because the car was in for service and it did take the whole day.  He was telling me that he was stopped by some organisation to save the Barrier Reef, they wanted to sign him up for regular donations. They asked if he had ever been to the Barrier reef before and Ralph being Ralph said that yes, he goes there all the time to go fishing. The girl looked horrified and asked him what he normally catches and Ralph told her that he normally likes catching the little nemo fish because he grinds them up as they make the best fish cakes.  Of course, she was horrified and if I had been with Ralph I would walked away because I wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face. I painted another master piece so had a quite day with Hugo. It’s hot today and total fire bans have been issued.

7^th February, Saturday

We spent a lovely day with Graham and Bev, new friends we met along the way in a caravan park and then kept bumping into them along the way.  They live in Port Adelaide next to the marina and we had a lovely day been driven around and shown the sites and been given a lovely lunch.  Hugo being the Gentleman he is crapped all over their garage (so embarrassing), thankfully they are animal people. We decided between us all that while we are in Adelaide that we won’t do the Mac Laren vale area but rather go there and camp.  Bev and Graham will organise the camp sites and we will all tag along together, should be good fun as they are lovely people. Kaz you asked for some of my painting so here they are.  I am not putting them all on, just a few.

8^th February, Sunday

Today we drove into the Adelaide Hills. It was a nice cool refreshing morning unlike yesterday morning which was a stinker.  The Adelaide Hills are gorgeous, the vineyards and orchards are planted up and down the valleys and it’s all so green and lush at the moment. There are quite a few farm stalls selling homemade berry jams and other goodies, we stopped and bought a few jars of berry jam as you can’t beat homemade.  We stopped off at the summit of Mount Lofty and the view of Adelaide from there is spectacular, once again my camera doesn’t do it any justice.  You can see right upto Kangaroo Island from this vantage point. There is a lighthouse type construction there which is a flashing strobe that was erected during the war to improve visibility at night. We did a couple of wineries and had a cheese platter lunch at one of them, the resident dog and Hugo became friends and the house dog (I don’t remember his name) sat under our table right throughout lunch, such a friendly gorgeous little boy. We visited a chocolate factory and the cheese factory next door and now the caravan fridge is choccas, no more shopping for awhile. Back to the van to cook dinner, aircon on as it is another hot day, not as bad as yesterday though.  Tomorrow is my turn to go into the city.  I will catch a bus from here.  Ralph is not that fussed coming with me as I want to do the churches and he doesn’t enjoy doing that sort of thing.

9^th February, Monday

We woke up at about 2.30am with the sound of stuff been unloaded from a trailer.  Ralph got up to check it out and it was the people right opposite us loading stuff from a biggish trailer into their annex, very suss if you ask me and we couldn’t see what was being unloaded as it was too dark,  they were at it for over an hour (This is a strange caravan park). I took a bus into the city this morning. Adelaide is a beautiful old city with so many lovely historical buildings. The library, Museum, University, Parliament House, Art Gallery, Government House are all in one street and close together so the walk is easy. I visited the State art gallery, the old building is gorgeous and it’s a shame that our art gallery in Perth is so modern.  The painting in there really compliment the surroundings. There are some bizarre things in there though like 2 dead horses, the heads have been removed and they join up in the middle one going up and the other coming down.  I don’t think that I would have called it art as it’s really quite disgusting, apart from that I enjoyed all the rest of the exhibition.  I didn’t go into the museum as I’m not really a museum type person (my lack of culture HAHA), I prefer art galleries, historical buildings, old churches, Australian bush history and stuff like that. Ralph went to the museum the other day and and he really enjoyed it. I walked around the whole city, then had some lunch in some Italian place and did some shopping. The city is not that big, probably about the same size as Perth. I caught the bus back and only got back at about 3pm.  I had a good day and I think that the 2 boys enjoyed their R&R while the boss was away. It’s warm today but not too bad, tomorrow and the rest of the week is going to start getting really hot again. We leave here on Friday and heading for the coast as we have promised Hugo a swim. As I mentioned before, Bev and Graham will be organising that.

 

10^th February, Tuesday

Ralph went to the Aviation and Maritime museums today while Hugo and I kept the fort so I’m afraid that there is nothing of note to tell you.  It’s still quite hot and looks like staying hot for awhile.

11^th February, Wednesday

Another warm boring day. Ralph took a bus into the city to sort my phone as the battery seems to need replacing and there is a Samsung dealer in town plus he needs some cables from Dick Smith. So, yet again not much to tell you for the day.

12^th February, Thursday

This morning we had a little visit from a pretty grey cat and we seem to have made friends with him/her.  Hugo has fallen in love with it, I can’t believe how much this dog loves cats, it’s amazing and the cats seem to know that he’s not a threat as they don’t run away, it’s bizarre. It’s a fussy little bugger though because it doesn’t like doggy bikkies or Smackos HAHA, I told it that it’s all I have in the cupboard. We went and did some food shopping as we leave here tomorrow and head for McLaren Vale for about 4 days. The Torrens river runs alongside the caravan park but there is no water in it at this time of the year, there is only small patch with water and the ducks and ibises are using it as well as some dogs that need a bit of a paddle.  Hugo jumped in but the water didn’t even come up to his belly but at least it was a little cool relief for him.