The weekend in Radelaide

Saturday October 31st was an extremely early start, with a 6am flight to Adelaide. Everything went swimmingly, from security clearance to a nice neighbour on the 'plane, to an easy car pick up and early arrival at my abode. Here I was greeted by the lovely hosts , who have beautifully restored this 50's apartment, right down to the kettle and the couch!

Loved these sculptures in the dunes

They were also amazingly generous, leaving  half a dozen eggs from their own chooks, milk, butter, a bottle of white wine and the most delicious bread from Boulangerie 113. Wow - such thoughtfulness and delicious kindness!

After settling in, I thought I would take advantage of the nice day, and after quickly visiting the (very small) Flinders St Market, drove out to Glenelg, looking for delicious noms. The parking gods were on my side as I found the perfect 3hour park (may have had to do a slightly illegal turn to get to it...) then headed out to assess all the luncheon opti

Why aren't the cafés on this side?!!

ons. The Marina area was weird - all the restaurants faced only the marina, yet they all went through to the beach side, which is where I would rather be. The Surf Club looked OK, but I kept going to the Jetty Hotel and scored a table by the window. However, once I found a menu and decided that I didn't want a $22 burger, or a hotdog, I left, and ended up across the square at the Mosely. Here I was served the most delicious warm bread with olive oil - it was better than cake - and n

Goodwood suburban streets

o matter how I tried, I was powerless to resist it! I could barely finish my pressed chicken (meh) but made sure I consumed my duck dumplings (nom)! I walked the precinct, noticing that Glenelg had clearly not seen platform sandals for some time, nor, apparently, pink hair, or perhaps a leather jacket? Whatever the hook was, I certainly felt like I had my second head on, as we like to refer to this experience. Maybe they're a bit less obvious when I'm with Matt?... I picked up supplies on the way home, and settled in for some relaxation, a small walk around the neighbourhood (picking up coffee for the morning as there IS a plunger) and going to bed by 8pm. The flat at the back was having a party, which was a tad disruptive, but I eventually drifted off.

Loved the rusting on this pylon

Sunday began with some quite lovey 'Laneway' gumboot water (plunger coffee)  and some stretches before heading out to Black Hill Conservation Park for some bushwalking. I expected to head out

there, find a main entrance/parking site from which to begin, but there seemed to be a lot of closed gates and no parking areas. Eventually I found one at the end of a suburban road, and headed in to do the Black Hill Summit track. That was a pretty hard core climb, on a very narrow pathway stacked largely with rocks. Towards the top I found myself under an electricity pylon - the buzzing was quite unnerving, but the rust on the metal was quite fabulous.  It was a little further to the top, then it was time to come down again - honestly, it was way worse than going up - at one stage I did slide and end up on my butt and hands, but luckily didn't hurt anything! I started chanting the usual 'eggs, eggs, eggs' on the way down, and when I got home, put an enormous one on to boil. It was then that I nibbled a corner of the loaf of bread, and was in danger of devouring the whole thing due to it's wonderfulness!!

Hahndorf

Moving right along..... I decided to heed mah Bunneh's advice and head out to Hahndorf - again, like Glenelg, only half an hour away. Again, I was blessed with a wonderful park, and walked the picturesque street. Although the buildings, the trees, the street itself are beautiful, many of the shops are full of imported goods (or is that bads?), so apparent that I knew I didn't even need to

Giant Bunz!

cross the doorway. If you're not after a stodgy German dish, some fudge, or an Indonesian import, just soak up the lovely street atmosphere. Whilst ev

My kind of graffiti!

eryone stares at you. There were 3 'real' shops - the craft co-op, and actual gallery shop with work in it by Penny Eamer and Denise Lithgow, and the Museum Shop. There was a highlight at the leather shop, where at the back they have a Bunneh enclosure!! Here I saw two enormous Bunz - apparently NZ giant Bunnehs! Also some baby giants - squeeee!  I proceeded on to Mount Barker, then headed for home, driving through Stirling on the way back, and getting slightly lost on the way home. Absolutely no matter - I love driving through the streets and looking at the different houses! There are so many Colonial Style houses here - I do wonder where they keep all their stuff when they have no 'under-the-house' as we do in Queensland, and where my entire studio is housed! After a lunch of boiled prawns and Pinot Grigio, I spent the afternoon intermittently reading my Dawn French novel, and looking across the street, before going for a last walk of the day around the neighbourhood. It seems so amazingly quiet, and neater than Queensland - rose bushes, especially white ones, seem to be de rigueur if you have a Colonial stone house! I love stopping to smell them - the red ones are very rich, the pink ones very sweet.