On the road again...

We fully intended to post more news and photos this month but it got REALLY busy at work and elsewhere and so we didn't manage to follow through. Ah well...

We're on the road again. We flew to Brisbane after school ended and now we're in Christchurch, New Zealand. We're heading south tomorrow to Queenstown and then on to Milford Sound. Sorry...no photos to share as I left my camera on the plane!!!!! (We're going to pick it up from the airport tomorrow. Huge thinks I'm showing signs of early dementia. I think he's not wrong!!!! )

More later...

Marble Hill Ruins

Bush fires are a part of life in South Australia. In the early eighties, even the home of the Governor was taken by this natural force. On the second Sunday of every month, the ruins of this once-great estate are open to the public.




Parts of it have been restored, others simply preserved. The view from the tower was incredible.

A visit to the farm...

Here we are in Minlaton. It's the "Barley Capital of the World." Jackie's brother runs the family farm and he took us (along with a load of grain) to a nearby port.

I got to ride on the harvester!!! It's big sky country for sure!

Our "shack" weekend in Port Augusta

We were invited by our friend Pauline to be "international guests at the shack" and were immediately intrigued. We traveled to Port Augusta for this particular adventure. Another weekend full of good food, Aussie wine, excellent friends (old and new) and laughs. We had the best time. We flew over the Flinders Ranges and the Gulf and went crabbing for blue swimmer crabs. What a great time!

Wildlife sightings

We were privileged several times during this holiday, catching wild things doing their thing. It was incredible to turn a bend and find ourselves face to face with wallabies, koalas, superb fairy wrens and kookaburras.....and various tiny critters...

Great Ocean Road

We left the heat and humidity of Darwin and we flew back to Adelaide. After about a half an hour at home we had dumped our tropical clothes and repacked for the next leg of the journey...The Great Ocean Road!

We took our time... drove a bit each day and stayed in little coastal towns. The air was chilly and the coast was pretty wild. Beautiful!

Darwin, Northern Territory

Our holidays began in Darwin, which is one of the most northerly points in Australia. Wow! The first thing that hit us as we got off the plane was the 35 degree temperature and the humidity. It was quite a change from the chill of South Australia!

We toured around in our rental car through Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. Once again, we were mind-boggled by the sheer size of this beautiful country.

Check out the enormous termite mound!

The Royal Adelaide Show

The Royal Show is like the CNE. Everything from sheep shearing demonstrations and wood-chopping competitions to stalls selling every imaginable treat. This is a big deal here. We spent a Saturday morning strolling through with Jackie. She and Huge are enjoying their "Dagwood Dogs." Mmmmm...tasty.

The bright green guy is a chocolate merchant. Chocolate frogs are very popular here in South Australia. I'm not certain how the pig fit in....but it was as good a place as any to rest my head!

Victor Harbor

Huge and I joined up with some exchange friends to go whale-watching in Victor Harbor. Stunning views...but no whales.

Weekend Getaway

These photos were taken a few weeks ago in Sydney. It's an amazing place...even during APEC! Five km of steel fencing closed down many sections of the harbour and city core, but the ferry was still running. Huge stayed home and Jackie and I flew over for the weekend. Brilliant!