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Published: September 14th 2012
7th September 2012
We left camp at around 8:30am and headed towards Adelaide, past green crops, golden canola fields, cute historic farmhouses, sheep and ocean glimpses. It was cool with some wind and rain. We got to our Adelaide Shores caravan park just after noon and set up camp. It looks very nice here, very clean amenities, playground and a big jumping pillow thing for the kids.
I've been to Adelaide airport a few times and once had an overnight stay for a work meeting but have not so far spent much time looking around Adelaide, so we plan to have a few days here. This afternoon we went to the nearby Harbour Town shopping centre for some groceries and other shopping. Uncle Kevan and Aunty Jillian are staying here too.
8th September 2012
All of us caught a tram into the city to go to the zoo today. It was a cool and cloudy day, reaching a maximum of 15 C. We enjoyed seeing the houses as we went in, and the shops along Rundle Mall as we walked to the zoo. It's a lovely zoo, we especially liked the pandas as we had
not seen those before. The flamingos are lovely too, and the gardens, especially the big dragon tree near the flamingos. We had a good walk around. On the way home we stopped in at some of the shops (bike, chocolate, shoes). Mike watched the Dockers beat the Cats in the nice TV room they have here at Adelaide Shores.
9th September 2012
Adelaide showed us some sun today and reached about 18C. We (Mike, the boys and I) went to the Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide this morning. It's a very pretty area, with lots of well preserved old buildings and, for some reason, heaps of yarn bombing (knitted/crotcheted items over posts, trees etc). The museum was very good. It has a Titanic exhibit at present, and also boasts an impressive anchor from Matthew Flinders' ship Investigator, which was cut loose in the Bight in 1803. There are also quite a few striking figureheads from old ships. After the museum we went up the old lighthouse from South Neptune Island, now located at the port. Kyle and Alex were a bit nervous at the top. We wandered through the markets at the port and I bought
a scarf from a grey and purple haired gent who makes his own tie-dyed clothing, and we got some books for Alex and Kyle.
Mike was back in the tv room in the afternoon for the Eagles game and the boys jumped on the jumping pillow for a while, read and played games.
10th September 2012
Mike made some calls and bought three tickets to the Dockers-Adelaide game on Friday night, so we extended our stay here three more nights.
With Mum, we drove to Willunga, where some of my great great grandparents were from. We visited the old cemetery but did not find any family headstones there. I did see a long brown snake in the grass near me, I leapt onto a grave mound (out of the grass) and said "Kyle, snake, come here!" as he was nearer the snake. He said "I can't go there, it's a grave!". The snake went down a hole in the concrete grave cover and disappeared.
My great great grandfather George Sara was a local builder and we saw a very nice two storey stone house he built. My other great great grandfather James Bailey
Bassett and his wife Mary were teachers and we saw their house, where they also taught, and the boys' school next door which is now a National Trust listed building. Willunga is a very pretty historical town, lovely to walk through today in the early spring sunshine.
11th September 2012
A gorgeous sunny 24 C here today. We caught the bus into the city and walked through the Botanic Gardens guided by a volunteer guide called Jill. They are lovely historic gardens, with amazing huge Amazon water lilies and an attractive glasshouse from the 1800s, which used to house palms and now holds dry climate plants from Madagascar to reduce corrosion of
the glasshouse metalwork. There are also very impressive old avenues of figs
and pines.
We then walked along North Terrace past the war memorial (a very striking piece of carving, with the names of those who died in WWI inside), and past the current Parliament House, another lovely building in the Greek style, dating from the late 1800s. The old Parliament House next
door, dating from 1843, is currently difficult to see due to the hoarding surrounding it. It
is getting a facelift at the moment. We had lunch in a Rundle Mall food court and then caught the bus back to our caravan park.
We had a lovely barbeque dinner at a friend's house, and the kids all played together pretty well.
12th September 2012
It was cool with a little rain here today. We had a quiet morning with pancakes, then drove out to Birdwood to the National Motor Museum. On the way we stopped at what is apparently the world's biggest rockinghorse and Mike and the boys climbed it, and we had lunch. A peacock hung around showing us his tail. We continued through scenic countryside and character filled old houses towards the museum. The museum is housed in an impressive modern building and has a huge array of old cars and motorcycles.
13th September 2012
We went for a drive and picked up some parts for repairs/improvements to the camper, from a caravan shop and from Bunnings. We then had lunch in Glenelg and had a walk among the shops, picking up quite a few second hand books. We tried out the exercise equipment
in a park and the boys had a play in a playground.
14th September 2012
We took the bus into the city and went to the SA museum. The biodiversity display was very good, with interactive screens available for most of the displays. We also liked the Ancient Egypt room, and the plesiosaur fossil area. We had lunch in the city and caught the bus back to the campsite. We had an early dinner and shower as Mike, Dad and I were preparing to go to the Dockers-Adelaide game, which was on quite late (8:10pm-11:10pm). A good, close game but unfortunately the Crows were too good this time! Maybe 2013 will be Freo's year.
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