Last weekend I had to work I was down in Victor Harbor teaching some teachies the joys of Activ Inspire whilst Matt went searching for whales off of the coast of Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay. Rather than drive down there (1.5 hours ish) and back in one day we decided to use it as an excuse to stay in a posh hotel for the night. It was lovely to get away and Matt was uber excited by the steak, cocktails and pool table… but mostly the steak. I was uber excited by the giant spa bath into which we poured the entire mini bottle of bubbles. It felt like we might drown in lovely bubbliness – Marvellous! I’m getting me one of those one day!
We stayed at the McCracken Country Club. It’s a beautiful hotel with lovely views over its golf course and out to sea. I couldn’t believe me luck when I discovered it was also just 2 mins from the school I was working at! Get in! Whilst I was enjoying working with a lovely bunch of lovelies and munching on the chocolate mint mouse cake mentioned in the title, Matt had a wander around the town and took a walk up the bluff.
(Sounds a little rude to me but apparently it was rather enjoyable )
I was supposed to join him at the end of the course so we could get the horse drawn tram across to the little penguin covered island just off the bottom of the town. Unfortunately, it was chucking it down by the time I’d finished so instead we drove home via our new fave. pasty place in Noarlunga!
The only whale he spotted was this one…
Apparently it’s perfect for mum’s fish pond?!
You can see the rain here… we weren’t really up for getting as soggy as this ‘ere horsey!
Today being Sunday we decided to go and do something slow and relaxing. When you wander around Adelaide city center it’s nice to follow the remembrance trail to the river. It’s a peaceful and pretty walk. There’s a big ol’ wall behind the monuments and sometimes you can hear people having parties in the garden – perhaps taking tea . I’ve always wanted to know what was behind that wall and I often refer to it as “The secret garden”. Today, the plan was to finally get inside those garden walls and take a stroll where the elite mingle and eat sausages (cucumber sandwiches would be too pommey – sausage sizzle? AUSTRALIAN through and through.
We caught the train. Got there and then saw this sign…
I won’t insult your intelligence and explain the problem. Just take a look at the date of this post and the date on the poster…
So… we’d travelled into the city for nothing – DOH! Then we did actually smell that familiar Sunday sausage sizzle smell and remembered that when we were having lunch down by that aforementioned river on Friday they seemed to be setting up a heap of tents in preparation for something. We decided to follow our noses and discovered Matt’s dream world of doggies. The million Paws walk was happening!
Hundreds of doggies of all shapes and sizes with hundreds of walkers of a similar disposition strolling in the sunshine. Lovely! and what a lovely day for it. We lay, in the sun, on the banks of the river watching doggies go by. Lovely.
Then we went to Bunnings to buy a radiator heater (yawn)
It’s been soo sunny and lovely though and we’ve spent most of the afternoon sat in the garden. YES. we do need the heater in the evening as the temperatures have been dropping as low as about 12 degrees in the evening but in the day it’s a lovely and warm 18 -21 degrees! It’s like summer (UK style) in May…. in the southern hemisphere…(where it’s obviously Autumn) It’s lovely and we’re very lucky. The rains we’ve been having have also resulted in our garden growing a few items for the fridge too. Have a look… and watch out for the wild animal near the end…
When you’re on the Expat forums you here people deciding to fly over to go on a “reckie”. This involves flying out and hanging out in Aus to see if you like certain areas etc. We’re living in the more Northern of the Western beaches at the moment and we’ve been considering where we’d like to live more permenantly. We’ve had our eye on Sellicks beach ever since we drove through it on our way to Kangaroo Island last time we were here. It’s a lovely beach town about an hour south of Adelaide CBD and it’s a lot more under developed than the area we’re living in . In fact it only seemed to have a Post Office and a Pizza house there! It is about 15 minutes from the bigger town of Noaralunga where there are loads of shops and things. I guess it would be like living in Studley, and popping to Redditch for shops etc. Except… it’s next to the beach and prettier.
We had a good drive around the streets (which didn’t take us long – not many there) and had a walk along the beach (which is gorgeous). It’s a very lovely spot and it seems to be being developed at the moment. Devine homes are building there and I the whole town is obviously going to tripple in size very quickly. This could mean that once it’s more developed the houses will raise in value and so it would be a good investment… or… it could mean what is currently a quiet and beautiful spot becomes crowded and we’d feel penned in. I guess it depends on the plot of land you choose to purchase for your home.
As you can see from the piccies above it’s a very beautiful place.
We also popped down to the next beach “Silver Sands” which is even smaller and the houses seem to be a bit more spaced out. There was one property with 14Hectares for sale… That’s way tooo big!! lol It’s way to early to be actually putting down a deposit but we fancied a drive and had a good time wandering around on the beach and having a think about where we might be this time next year. It gave us plenty to think about and consider. We’re going to need to think about what our priorities are in the future. We chose Adelaide because we liked being near the city and the beach and moving down there would mean an extra hours journey both to and from work. We’d need to weigh up whether that’s worth it or not. We are soppy gits and we hate it if we can’t hang out as much as possible.
I was bored and I’ve been surprised at how much my shopping bill is so… I went online to tesco.co.uk and entered in my entire shopping reciept from last weeks trip to Coles. I recorded all the prices into an excel spreadsheet. The same shopping is $40 more expensive in Adelaide’s Coles than it is in the UK’s Tesco. It’s quite interesting what’s more expensive /cheaper! Feel free to look or ignore just click the words “shopping comparison” below to view the pdf
OK… so if this continues for much longer I’m going to need to rename the blog to rockincath (welsh for cat). I know you all love seeing the ‘big moments’ lol so here’s the next one It’s probably the last one… At least I hope it is!
I've found lemons!
They won't see me here SHhhhh.
They’ve had a wander about and those squeaky birds that you can hear keep dive bombing Henny when he gets to close to the back of the garden. They must have a nest somewhere over that way; or they’ve been employed as hit men by the mice… not sure. It’s very strange to see though. They’re not that much bigger than a sparrow! Hen keeps pushing his luck though (as you would expect) I’ve seen him hiding in the long grass (weeds really… should buy a lawn mower!) and them swooping at him until he runs in. Stan doesn’t like them and just runs in as soon as they start! They were the ones who kept sitting on the pergola and squawking at them when they could see them in the window. Matt reckons it won’t be long before Henny eats one of them and then they’ll shut up! I’m not so sure!! Poor little things (birds or cats.. you can choose sides!)
I’ve brought them both in now (it’s midday) as Henny kept going out, getting hot, coming in and flopping on the cold floor and then willing himself back out into the heat. Stan, bless him, kept trying to find a cool spot under something. I don’t think he’s worked out that the sun’s beams are not the problem. It’s not that much cooler under the car, patio chairs, bushes today.. It’s just 35 degrees and that’s that! There’s supposed to be a storm tomorrow at some point though so that should cool it all down.
oh and I have to show you this… how cool! Cat pod! fun! You can follow the links to his blog… he made it! I think Matt’s getting his tools out
I tried to trace the walk on runkeeper but my Iphone’s battery died in my pocket as we wandered. When I plugged it in at the house it decided that I’d completed a 12mile walk with an average speed of 30mph. LMAO!! ooops. It’s a shame though because I’d love to know how long it is and how high up you go as you wander around the top of the canyon. It’s really very pretty!
Here’s todays piccies…
@Mochinbach
Last weekend I had to work 
I was down in Victor Harbor teaching some teachies the joys of Activ Inspire whilst Matt went searching for whales off of the coast of Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay. Rather than drive down there (1.5 hours ish) and back in one day we decided to use it as an excuse to stay in a posh hotel for the night. It was lovely to get away and Matt was uber excited by the steak, cocktails and pool table… but mostly the steak. I was uber excited by the giant spa bath into which we poured the entire mini bottle of bubbles. It felt like we might drown in lovely bubbliness – Marvellous! I’m getting me one of those one day!
Get in! Whilst I was enjoying working with a lovely bunch of lovelies and munching on the chocolate mint mouse cake mentioned in the title, Matt had a wander around the town and took a walk up the bluff.
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