A new home I already had

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My new years resolution is a quest to find more on my family history...
So off I trot from Nelson, New Zealand to see my Papa, wife Heidi, and half brother Paul.
They pick me up from the airport and drive me half hour into the adelaide hills to a cute 'hick' town full of history itself; Kanmantoo. The original streets are dirt roads, dry stack wall fences, and some of the locals still live in the first Bluestone and limestone houses from the early settlers (1840). They are so old they look like they're about to fall over... the houses, not the locals!

The bright blue skies are filled with the squarking sounds and colours from the flocks of pink and grey Galas, and they nesstle in the tall gum trees.
Down the road they're re-opening a mine. Gold, silver, copper, and precious stone will be mined. Down the other end of the road is a simple mini mart, a playground, and a sausage meat factory, where there we were greeted by sausage-dogs with sausage-breath.

Things to do around the hills of Adelaide...
1) A bush walk up Morialta Falls: S.A is currently suffering from the longest drought in 76 years, so when we went up, the Falls of Morialta were dri-za-bone. Still the scenery was breathtaking.

2) A bike ride From Kanmantoo to Callington on the dirt road: A true Adelaide hills experience.
Note; use a bike with suspension. The track gets bumpy and I paid the price.

3) Ride a camel at Monarto Zoo: It's cheap, only $5 per person and well worth every cent. The bus tour around the zoo was worth seeing also.

4) Meet the locals: Down to earth and full of Ozzy character. Drink bush tea with dunkers and say hello to the pets. Pam owns 12 Kangaroos and three joeys. She nurses them in her lounge room untill they are old enough to join the others in the back yard; they are so tame they are like dogs. Their pet Gala roams free & comes back to his cage at his own leisure.
Barbara and keith own 14 ponies, just for the love of them. They dont breed them to sell because they become part of the family, hehe.

Papa and Paul shofered me around central adelaide too. We had a look at 'the Big Smoke' and did some sight seeing at the famous Mt Lofty, a light house lookout on Adelaides tallest (and only) mountain, measuring a 'staggering' 727 meters high... hmmm
At night Windy point was a beautiful view of the city lights.

The weather has been so hot and dry at times (over 40 degrees) we hung inside museums, art galleries, shops, movies, and pools.
When it was not so hot we explored the botanic gardens, tropical glass house, caught a cockle steam train from Victor Harbour to Goolwa, and went on a horse drawn tram over to Granite Island to go penguin spotting.

Back home in toomankan mankantoo i mean kanmantoo...
I was enlightened with dutch history and knowledge on past family events. Projections, photos, and films were dragged out from storage. The puzzle pieces itself together slowly.
My ultimate travel goal; Get to the Netherlands and meet my 24 Aunts and Uncles, all my cousins, and dear Oma before it's too late.

It has been delightful getting to know my Papa, Heidi, and Paul better. They have been so warm & hospitable. I have been welcomed back to live with them if I ever desired. To me...
It's a new home I already had.

Wow 3 weeks passed so fast. Tomorrow i'm back to New Zealand, Christchurch is where i'll stay till my next location...

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Photos

Love at first sight
Pam's pet joey

Cave men
Morialta Falls

Camel ride
Monarto Zoo

3 stooges
Looking over Adelaide city from Mt.Lofty

Horse drawn tram
Victor Harbor to Granite Island

Monkeying around
In the tropical glass house, Botanic Gardens

Trolls under a bridge
It seems the only water around for miles

Like father like son
Local pub, Callington

Comments

[Madel's Mum]

United at last !!
An amazing and new chapter for you Madeleine. God Bless you my lovely child.

[Evelien]

Greetings from Holland
Dear Madeleine, Got your site from my mam. Nice to read about the things you've experienced in Australie and to see you on the pictures! What a pretty lady you are ;) Hope you are doing fine! With me, everything is fine! Soon, I will go to Africa (zambia) for 6 months to do a research togehter with a friend of mine. And of course we will travel around the country. xx Evelien

[Andrea McManus]

Off you go
Very jealous! Very nice first entry. You're off on your trip. hope to run into you who knows where next year when I start my journey's. Take care

[Jean]

Greetings from Oz
Great to hear from you Madeleine. There's no doubt about you, is there? Tripping around again so soon after your US visit. I enjoyed reading about your adventures in SA. I've been downunder for two months and return "home" in a week's time when we plan on doing some travelling in 2007. Alaska is on our itinery.

[katie]

hey baby
hey baby Im so glad everything went well only wish id got down there to see ya ill catch ya soon xox