Blogs from Mount Lofty, Adelaide Hills, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

Reflecting on where you were a couple of weeks ago is good for the soul as you travel ....I look back at the photos and my notes and experience the hospitality, friendships ,food , city scapes and landscapes all over again! Tucked away in narrow country lanes lined with tall firs and eucalyptus trees we approached my “home from home” in the the Adelaide Hills through banks of camellias. Sue and Bryan , my hosts were Home exchange partners and they made me very welcome including Me in their daily life. So it was off to Adelaide city as it was Market day ...what a fabulous market from fruit and veg, flowers and coffee to cannoli and cheeses.... everything you could ask for and always so colourful. Adelaide felt like a small enough city centre to ... read more

This morning at 8am (17/1) after parking cars at each trail head Ruth and I began the Montacute Heights to Chain of Ponds leg of the Heysen Trail. This would ultimately be the toughest leg I have attempted by far and would take the longest amount of time to complete. We began the walk at Montacute Heights following the Narrow Range Rd, here we had a close up look at the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, there seem to be a number of pairs up here and we were able to get close enough to see the yellow patterns on their bellies, we also heard our first grunting Koala though we couldn’t see him in the trees. We then made our descent down a steep hill dropping two hundred metres down to Sixth Creek Road, the slope ... read more

Lady C has not only departed but has arrived- at this stage in Anchorage. Travel, arrival & hotel all A.O.K. The only glitch was in the departure schedule. I had planned to dump herself at the airport drop off zone, depart without any parking fees, and return via Kelsey Cottage for a celebratory meal. Her outdoors put a veto on this and we had the meal on the way down whilst she was still with. Dampened the celebration somewhat but at that stage she was still the one who had to be obeyed. Some of you have visited Kelsey - for those who have not - Come stay with us and we will take you. - Take & if you twist our arms pay for. Regards to all and as things move and info is available ... read more

Finally the rain came and the week after we headed to the hills to see the colours of Autumn. You really can't go past Mt Lofty Botanical gardens - it has a large number of northern hemisphere trees that put on a stunning display - and it aslo includes part of the Heysen trail. You can revisit our last blog about the gardens Apple picking and Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens We saw numerous glimpses of southern brown bandicoots - see pictures scurrying around the place. Rat-like but with short tails. We visited Fern gully - although it took quite a bit of effort to get there - and found it as delightful as ever. This "Dan says..." is a video as he has gone to bed and if I don't get these blogs done now - ... read more

Hello Adelaide, i'm back! So this time i had some time to see Adelaide and it turns out to be pretty good. Visited Glenelg whilst i was here and the Adelaide Hills. Not masses to write about, but some good photos on the way. Bye for now.... read more