Adelaide 2018 Last Days

Today Chris and I went to Burnside Village for lunch and a spot of shopping. We had beautiful twice baked cheese soufflé and a glass of champagne at a little French Cafe. It was really lovely and the aircon was great as the temperature was 36 degrees. I managed to acquire a couple of purchases before the boys picked us up. 

We had decided that we would find somewhere nice to take Chris and Rob for dinner as a thank you. Our pick was A Hereford BeefStouw, a steak place. It is always a relief when you choose somewhere new to take people and it turns out well. We highly recommend this restaurant, everything was superb. 

We all had a steak and Lance added a crayfish tail to his, this was after Lance and I polished of another dozed oysters (4 dozen in 10 days now). All meals came with fries that were hand cut and just like homemade. Lance and I had bearnaise sauce that was good and plentiful and  Chris and Rob had a pepper sauce that was beefy as well as peppery and the best I have tasted in my short but well fed life.

 We ordered salads and mushrooms which also did not disappoint. After champagne (I know, I am not usually a champagne drinker but have now been cured of that ailment), we chose a carafe of local Shiraz which was poured down a multilevel sort of large marble shoot and into the carafe. The man at the next table told us that last time he was there it had exploded all over the people. Lucky we weren't wearing white! Anyway all was well and we got to drink it. Lance and I shared a desert trio and once again were impressed with the lot. On the whole a very successful evening. 

In the morning we departed for Port Elliot which was about an hour and half drive, well a bit longer with a coffee stop. The temperature had soared to a high if 41 degrees celsius which it very hot for us. We hopped out for a photo at Middleton Beach, it was baking hot and windy like a hot fan heater but a beautiful beach. 

Our next stop was Port Elliot and again it was piping hot and a relief to get into the air cond at the Flying Fish restaurant. The restaurant looked out over the sea and had oysters as a starter so of course, we had another dozen!  That makes five for the holiday! The food was good and we once again walked out stuffed full. Whilst we had been eating the wind temperature had changed and strangely enough it was a slightly, and I mean a slightly cooler breeze. 

We meandered home with a stop to take another kangaroo photo. The scenery was dry but varied and filled with beautiful old buildings. 

It will definitely be a light dinner tonight, in fact we have the yellow fin tuna chilling, all ready to be sliced into sushimi. 

And so ends our Melbourne Adelaide adventure.

We have shopped, sweated, caught crab and eaten crab, and most of all caught up with old friends.  And of course we have had an oyster marathon. 

Back to Auckland tomorrow where they have had a monster storm. We will clean up any damage, do the washing and crack open a wine ready to start planning our next holiday.  Oh and maybe nip down to the seafood market for some oysters, because I hate to end on an odd number. 

Port Augusta 2018 Day 8 & 9

After a long day driving we finally arrived at 'The Shack; Chris had down played the place by telling us that it was just a tin shed by the beach. And actually that is exactly what it was except is had everything that one could wish for including air conditioning, a flat screen T.V and a coal range! We stayed out the back in the retro caravan which also had a T.V and air conditioning. The outside toilet even flushes, luxery!  

And even better the water is only about 20 paces at full tide. It is not really a beach, more of a stoney shore, but beautiful. The weather up here gets very hot and last week got up to 43 degrees celcius, although we have a mild 23 degrees and a light breeze. 

We decided to forgo dinner and had some cheese, salami and things whilst we played card and enjoyed a drink. It was a great evening and we toddled off to bed just before midnight. Lance and I slept well, but did have to nip out to the loo in the middle of the night. I have been very watchful for snakes and lift the toilet seat to check for large or nasty 🕷. 

After a slow start to the day we headed off to Quorn, Chris' home town. The landscape so far has been very dry with not a lot of growth, as soon as we headed into the Flinders Ranges it was still dry but much more interesting with misshapen trees and bushes and even a family of emus! 

The town ship was very old and had some lovely old buildings and homes. We stopped for a bite at Emily's Cafe which apparently used to be a large haberdashery store. Large wooden framed glass cabinets were on all walls and beautiful old wooden counters lined with items from years gone by. Especially intriguing was the cash carrying system that I remember seeing in Auckland department stores when I was a very little girl ( I must be ancient). Wires criss crossed the ceiling all leading to an ornate wooden booth where the owner Mrs Fox used to sit and count the money, returning the change to the counter via the same system. I had a wild peach pie with vanilla ice cream and it was lovely. 

When we got back to 'The Shack' the tide was perfect; donning the correct crabbing attire (particularly on the feet) we grabbed our buckets and rakes and made our way to the low tide line. 

  I have to admit that I felt reasonably confident, after all they are just 🦀. That was until Chris let out a shriek and leapt into the air, she had been nipped, but she paid back when she scooped a huge crab out of the water and popped it into the awaiting bucket. Immediately I started checking the water more carefully, moving away from the stirred up sand so that I had more visibility. Crabs were being caught in a fast and furious fashion, I was a good spotter as the crabs scooted towards the deeper water, but I wasn't game to try my hand at scooping. Then horror struck, the sand under my feet started to wiggle and nippers appeared. Yes there was screaming and hopping. Have you ever tried Irish dancing in water two feet deep with sloppy sand and beach shoes on? And in I went with my new phone in my pocket, I quickly raised my rear end out of the water to save it. The phone was fine, but I only wish that Lance had been holding it videoing my antics, I would have been on one of those funny You Tube clips for sure. 

We hauled our 20 blue crabs in to the shore and began the procedure of preparing them for dinner. And what a feast we had! Along with a couple of bottles of South Australian wine everything went down very well. Thanks Chris and Rob for the adventure. 

I had a slow start, and after bacon and eggs for breakfast we hit the road for home. It was great to finally stay at 'The Shack' and be able to take home our own 'Shack' stories. On the drive out we spotted a couple of emus, so we stopped for a quick pic. 

The temperature over that's couple of days has been lovely, not too hot at all and we didn't even use the air con in the caravan. Tomorrow though it will be 41 and Saturday 46, so we timed our visit perfectly. 

Port Augusta 2018 Day 6 & 7

Our journey from Adelaide City to Port Augusta began without a hitch. Before leaving Chris' magpies arrived for their breaky. She has a little family that visit every day and she can hand feed them. Some days they come right up to her door and call out to her. 

The trip was broken up with a stop in Tanunda to stay with Chris and Rob's friends Di and Wally. After lunch at the club we were invited into Di and Wally's lovely home, with Lance and I accomodated in a luxurious sleepout. 

What a lovely evening we had, playing Finska and having a huge BBQ meal. Finska is a game similar to pétanque however instead of boules you have wooden cylindrical shapes to knock down. Much fun was had over beer and champagne. 

In the morning we departed for Port Augusta and 'The Shack'. During our time in P.N.G Chris had filled our heads with stories of 'The Shack', or what we would call the bach. Port Augusta is a few hours North of Adelaide and was once a Seaport.  

Taking the scenic route we stopped at Seppeltsfield Winery for a taste and a wander. This is a large and beautifully set out winery and was worth the visit, of course we left with a couple of bottles of wine. A Vermentino or two. 

Our next stop was for lunch at a vineyard called Paullettes.  My map took us to the other end of a long road, so we found ourselves travelling a little longer than we needed. However this was not a problem and we arrived right on time after meandering through desolate terrain. A bonus was finding a mob of kangaroo sitting in the sunshine, and a really old village. Lunch was lovely; I had Jamaican jerk chicken with caramelised sweet potato. Then off we went to Port Augusta and the shack stopping for petrol on the way. And I just had to get a shot of the place where you can get air for your tyres.