Looking across the grassy square.

A Mudslide for Julie and I and a small ice-cream for Andrew!

Looking down Jetty Road

Babies playing in the fountains.

Glenelg Beach.

Lifesavers' Lookout.

The Big Wheel.

Flumes!

The Glenelg Marina

The free fitness park.

I'm not tall enough for this.

My legs are not long enough for this.

The road from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Part of this road is called the Great Ocean Road and the most spectacular coastal scenery can be seen here. There are beautiful inaccessible beaches bounded by towering limestone cliffs, and in the past, this area of coastline has seen many shipwrecks.
Once away from the coast we saw the longest stretches of straight road ever imaginable, passing over very flat farmland with, first of all, big dairy herds then farther north, beef cattle, all of which have to be fed hay as there is nothing but dried up brown grass everywhere you look at this time of year. Most fields seem to have artesian wells which are used for irrigation on occasion.
Farther north we ran into the hilly country,, known as The Adelaide Hills where many people live to get away from the searing heat of the towns, but there is always the danger of bush fires here as the houses are scattered and surrounded by gum trees which combust very easily.

The Memorial Arch to the men who constructed the Great Ocean Road.

Loch Ard Gorge where the ship of the same name foundered in the 19th century with the loss of all hands.

The 12 Apostles at sunset. Many have now collapsed into the sea.

London Bridge, which used to have another arch adjoining the mainland. A couple were stranded in 1992 when the arch collapsed into the sea!

The Grotto

Not a sign we would expect to see in UK.

Logan's Beach where whales bring their calves during Australia's winter months, so none to be seen by us.

The Blue Lake at Mount Gambier sits in the crater of Australia's most recent extinct volcano.

Some of the countryside is flat.

We met lots of trucks, most of them with long trailers, like this double decked cattle float and trailer.

Some parts are hilly.

The Gold Coast of south Queensland

Part of the beach with it's Surf Club at Currimbin Beach on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.

The skyscrapers of the Gold Coast area of Queensland--the fashionable holiday mecca for many with its fabulous beaches.

Oops!

Panic stations here in Adelaide tonight. I looked at my homeward ticket and discovered I was due to catch my first leg of the flight tomorrow and NOT Tuesday as we had all been counting on here. However packing to go home is much easier than that for the outward journey as I have no decisions to make about what to pack...just throw the lot in the case and remember where the passport is.
It has been a fabulous "fortnight and a bit" down-under with excellent weather, except for the torrential rain in Queensland and I can hardly imagine winter weather again. The "shark bite injury" is healing up well and the mozzie spots are slowly beginning to itch a little less and fade a bit.
Back to "auld claes and paritch" on Tuesday!

P.S. For Sale: 3 sundresses (fairly large size)
several assorted bottles and tubes of insect repellent and sunblock (part used) also available --free to good home.

And the rains came down.............and down.........and down!

Latest from Oz.

Since my last post I have flown to Brisbane, stayed a couple of nights at Currimbin Waters, on the Gold Coast, where it rained, and it was some rain, not the heavy rain of Scotland but real tropical downpours, for almost the duration of our stay there. Then it was on the plane again, heading for Melbourne where we picked up a hire car and set off for the Great Ocean Road on the way north to Adelaide again. I hope to post a few photos of the spectacular scenery of that part of the country once I am home....well, maybe I might just try a few when I've finished this.
Once back home in Adelaide the temperatures resumed the highs of the days before we left for the "holiday within a holiday". Today we were back at my favourite beach at Aldinga where the temperature was 38 degrees.
I've not been without my usual little mishaps. I fell off the arm of my sofa bed when replacing a wall plug and have ended up with what I can only describe as a sort of injury that looks like I've had a close encounter with a great white!..........sounds better than what actually happened, and I have at last learned not to go out after 5pm as the little mozzies come out to graze then and I look like a smallpox victim.....at least not with any bare flesh showing.
It's now 9.30pm and the temperature is 29 degrees. This IS another world!

The ringcraft class in progress on a rather chilly night. There were also other rings going with obedience and working trial training.

The galah, the native cockatoo, one of a fairly big flock landing in the park near the dog training.

Alpaca farming is big business in this part of South Australia, with some being sold as pets.

This lone cow was one of a big dairy herd, but not exactly grazing on the lush grass we are used to seeing in Britain.

The bridge over the mouth of the Murray river at Goolwa.

The long walk over to Granite Island to see the little penguins (none at home), with a small, very excited little boy, rushing about. He nearly took a dive through the railing as he tripped on the uneven surface!

We came back over from the island in this horse-drawn tram as Andrew had given us a few scares as we walked over to see the penguins.

These were the only penguins we saw on Granite Island, near Victor Harbour, famous in the past for the whaling industry.

Change in temperature.

We've experienced a big drop in temperature over the last couple of days with daytime reaching as low as 15 degrees C. Tonight I had to wear my jersey I had discarded into the rucksack at Singapore, on the way out here, plus a borrowed fleece, to accompany Julie to her ringcraft classes held outside, as is the norm here. Last week they had been looking for shade for the dogs, but this week it was more looking for shelter! Let's hope it warms up a bit SOON.
I'm having great difficulty posting photos: so far tonight I've managed only one..........see below.
So far I've had a tour of the Barossa valley, famous for it's vineyards and wineries, seen some old colonial type towns with their covered sidewalks, visited the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, where we saw Granite Island which hosts a colony of the smallest penguins in the world, but unfortunately they were all at sea, in the true sense, during daylight hours, when we visited and today we drove to Handorf, the oldest German settlement in Australia, set up in the Adelaide Hills to the east of Adelaide, with its German style architecture and restaurants. This was followed, on the return journey, by a drive up Mount Lofty with its spectacular panoramic views over Adelaide and the surrounding suburbs, which cover a vast area.
Tomorrow we prepare for a trip to Brisbane where we have relatives who emigrated over 20 years ago.

double-click on the photo to see a rather interesting roadside notice

Site of the future home.

Aldinga Beach, is about a 45 minute drive , south of Adelaide and has the most spectacular beach. Little Andrew loves the water and I can just picture him in the future as a little "surf bum" with his board tucked under his arm setting off for the beach.
The house building has at last got underway and we were quite excited to see the foundations had been dug at long last.

Aldinga Beach

Aldinga Beach and how to park your car in these parts.

view of Aldinga beach from the edge of the Australian Bight

behind the pile of soil is the site for the future home.

foundations now dug.

My first kangaroo!

I almost forgot----we saw this away across a field, today.Can you spot it?!!!

First Impressions

Now that I've had time to draw breath my first impressions of South Australia that I have seen, are heat, drought, brown landscapes, green vineyard valleys, varied styles of bungalow type houses, verandas, roofs of many colours, wide flat valleys, steepsided hills, the most beautiful of beaches and, my favourite..........the gum trees. I'll include some photos of most of these in future posts, but not many as it takes forever to post the photos.

the view out to sea from the front door.

front view of Julie and Ian's house

Bouganvillea (spelling?), which grows bountifully in most gardens.

Day 2

Well I lasted out till 9pm and I don't remember much more till 7.30 this morning...best sleep I've had in years (must do this more often!).
Today was area familiarisation day, starting off in the forenoon with a trip southwards through the vineyards of McLaren Vale then back towards the coast to Aldinga Beach where Julie and family are building a house and there is the most spectacular beach of soft white sand with not a pebble in sight. As is the custom in these parts we drove straight on to the beach and we had a paddle while young Andrew went "swimming". Then it was home for lunch , a quick tour of central Adelaide, with its skyscrapers interspersed with old Victorian type buildings eg banks etc. and eastwards up into the wooded Adelaide hills in search of koalas but none seen today. Back home , after a visit to the showhome, the model of their future house (and very modern too) followed by another meal (BBQ, of course) and finally off again to an agility show where Ian was competing with Roz, their Australian Shepherd they took out with them. The show started at 6.30pm and we got home at midnight. The temperatures were lower today, only reaching mid 30s and nearing midnight I had to slip on a short sleeved blouse as a cardigan as it had got a good bit cooler (mid 20s, by now!) The show was run, for the most part, under floodlights.
I think I'd better get off to bed now as it is 12.30 and everyone else has gone to bed--think I've got my second wind!.....no time tonight to muck about posting photos. They will follow later.
Despite factor 30 sunscreen I've gained a bit colour as I have been out in the sun a bit today.

Australia!

I made it,on my own, and not even a hiccup, even my suitcase, which I hadn't seen since Edinburgh, appearing on the travellator at the airport in Adelaide!....well, all except planes running well behind schedule but I had a good few hours in hand at my connection points in London and Singapore. I did manage to get some sleep but I don't find it easy in the upright (almost) position. It feels like almost a week since I left auld reekie and the heat here in Adelaide hit me like the oven door being opened. The temperature today was recorded at 46 degrees in mid afternoon. I've had a short tour of Julie's area, a suburb of Adelaide, to try to keep me awake till at least 7 o'clock. We visited a huge shopping mall which was full of people of all ages and hardly a parking space in the vast parking area, to be found. Julie says people go there to keep cool as it is air conditioned---a bit like our much, much smaller mall in Perth (Scotland), which is full of elderly people trying to keep warm for free!
I like the sun, but this is far too hot for me to sit outside, even in the shade........maybe much later in the day.
I did take some photos of the wonderful beaches we saw on our short tour but will work out how to post them once I'm able to think straight.
I was very lucky to get away at all after the cancellation of lots of flights at both Heathrow and Edinburgh and I believe there has been more snow causing more havoc in UK.

The Last Post!

No, not that one.
According to the airline website my flights look set to be on schedule for tomorrow, bar any more severe weather. We've had rain here all day till late afternoon when it turned to snow and Chic reminded me that in March 1947 that was how things started. Practically the whole country was at a standstill then,with huge drifts blocking roads. I can remember being off school for weeks. We lived on my grandfather's farm on top of a hill in Fife and all the farm men set off walking, pulling sledges, to the nearest town, a good few miles away, to replenish the cupboards. That was the worst winter I can remember until the severe one of the '70s when we lived near Nethybridge in Inverness-shire.
Anyway, all being well (it has now turned to frost here!) I'll soon be down under....late evening on Thursday, UK time. I'll be back in good time for Crufts---do I care that the BBC will be absent? See you there.

To take off....or not?

It is just over 1 day till take off for the first leg of my journey to Australia and it's not looking very good at the moment. The heaviest snowfall in 18 years has caught the south-east of England on the hop as usual and at the moment there is virtually no movement either at airports, on the railways or on the roads. Regional airports feel the knock-on effect of the cancellations in London, so many more flights to the capital are cancelled. Will I be able to get off from Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon? I'll be watching TV and consulting the internet from now till Wednesday forenoon, when I should leave Abernethy for the airport....here's hoping, but at the moment the forecast is for the band of heavy snow to move north. However, as we Brits all know, anything can happen in the UK, weatherwise, and in a very short space of time and it is also NOT unknown for the forecast to be incorrect. I'm keeping everything crossed that all goes well.

Caledonian Open show, Edinburgh.

Sue with her papillons and viszla and Morag with her Eurasier travelled down from the north and stayed overnight with me to attend the show on Saturday.
The visiting dogs were good as gold but I was ready to exterminate George who had me up and down all night as he barked nervously (and loudly) if he heard the slightest movement coming from their bedrooms. I don't think any of us had much sleep.
We saw the most spectacular sunrise as we passed the Kinross area, on the road south, in the morning, on the way to the show, with the hills standing out against a crimson sky. Apparently, Sue had been hanging out the window of Morag's van to capture it on camera, with Morag chittering away at the wheel, shouting, "Get that window closed. I'm frozen!"
Again, my results were unspectacular, the best being Spencer's 2nd placing in the AV Vintage Dog, under Mark Cocozza.

A general view across the hall.