Waking up on the lagoon in Coorong National Park
Cinderoo loves the beachDIARY/PHOTO JOURNAL - Page 26
Week 32 - October 22, 2018 - October 28, 2018
All about around Adelaide! Twenty years ago, I was invited to Adelaide to meet up with fellow wakeboarders and Adelaide remains as one of my favorite areas in the world. With azure blue ocean on one side and rolling hills and wineries on the other side, any direction you go from Adelaide, you are met with reminders of how beautiful the area is. And, as it is similar in latitude to Huntington Beach, the weather is devine.
We made our way from the Coorong National Park, stopping to have a wonderful lunch in Goolwa, and then on to Adelaide.
Waking up on the lagoon in Coorong National Park
Cinderoo loves the beach
Nice to have lunch in Goolwa alongside these classic Triumphs
Goolwa dock on a picture-perfect day
Since we arrived in Adelaide early in
the afternoon, we took a drive through its tourist beach town, Glenelg, and
drove past the hostel I stayed some 20 years ago. It still has its charm
and lots of good memories from the week I stayed there.
Coming into Adelaide
Glenelg Beach Hostel - built circa 1878
Our home for the next week
Sunset from our 'back' door
Our first day, we just stayed around Cinderoo and enjoyed the beach and waited for my much anticipated reunion with my wakeboarding mates, Mark and James. When I was planning my coming to Australia 20 years ago, I posted on a wakeboarding website that if I came to Australia, would anyone provide me with a ride? Mark was the website proctor and he quickly said "Come to Adelaide and we will take you wakeboarding" so I went to Adelaide. With the help of social media, I reconnected with them and we reunited at Mark's house over, what else, a BBQ. To say it was great to see Mark and James (and Bec, Mark's wife) after all these years would be an understatement. The laughs came just as easily as they did then and now that Mark and James have wonderful families, they are even more special.
Mark and James have not changed
The kids celebrating little Henry's 3rd birthday (Ebonie, Dakota, Jake, Sunny,
Lachlan and Henry)
The next day was all about the city itself. We decided to rent a car so we could leave Cinderoo watching the ocean and we could maneuver easier through the city streets and parking garages.
Morning at the Brighton Beach
Just tooling around Adelaide and some nice buildings
We spent the afternoon just cruising
around and eventually ended up at the University of Adelaide's National Wine
Centre. What a great place that was! Upstairs was a wonderfully
informative wine 'museum' that explained about the differing wines of South
Australia and about the methods of production. Downstairs was an automated wine
tasting room with 120 wines from around the region. You just slid your
token card into the slot of the wine bank that held the wine you wanted to try,
placed your glass under the particular spigot, pressed the button for the amount
you wanted to taste, and Voila! The wine dispensed into your glass, your
token card was charged a small amount ($2-$4) and away you go. Gerson
indulged in about 15 wines (25ml taste at a time) and we loved having the room
to ourselves.
University of Adelaide National Wine Centre
Informative displays about wine and the grapes
Lots of wine
I made wine digitally and this was the result. I am keeping my day job!
Cinderoo sporting her South Australia badge and with the exception of Tasmania,
she made it to all the States and Territories!
With the lovely days that are known to Adelaide, we spent a day strolling along the beach, having lunch in downtown Brighton and just putzing around.
Views back to our campsite and of Brighton Beach
Cool sculptures along the way
Brighton pier and that water color!!!
'Cinderoo Blue' water and she blends right in
A local sea lion trying to casually steal the bait and crabs
Local artist and her beautiful sand art
Just a lovely day at the beach
We made plans to have dinner in Glenelg with friends, Frank and Pat, that we met in Coral Bay (see Diary Page 5). We met at a wonderful little restaurant called The Strand and just picked up where we left off.
Stopped by to reminisce at the Glenelg Beach Hostel and its meeting place - the
bar
Glenelg and a monument to South Australia
Dinner with Frank and Pat was wonderful
We could not visit Adelaide
without a trip through the wine country so we enjoyed yet another spectacular
day tooling around Adelaide Hills and visiting Mount Lofty. We arranged
for a lunch with Mark and his son, Henry, and just absorbed the peaceful vibe
that resonates throughout the area. We had lunch at the beautiful
Bridgewater Inn (1842) that was next to the Bridgewater Mill, built circa 1860.
The food was terrific, the company great and the entertainment (provided by
Henry) was adorable.
Mt. Lofty views over Adelaide and Glenelg
We love that Australia provides these 'zip lines' for kids - had fun with Henry
and Mark
Bridgewater Mill
Henry promising not to go in the water - he made it back across with minimal
splash
At a stop, we saw this left-side drive Dodge
Just a nice river view in the hills
Views of Brighton Beach and Cinderoo
We had planned on leaving the Adelaide
area on the Saturday and we were given an offer we couldn't refuse. Frank
and Pat have a beach house on the Yorke Peninsula, just outside of a small town
called Pt. Rickaby. As we enjoyed their friendship and hard to resist a
day at the beach and fishing, we postponed our departure and met them at their
beach house. We no sooner got there and we were being prepared for dinner
at a nearby friend's house (Steve) and the dinner consisted of freshly caught
King George fish and homemade bread.
Steve feeding the pelicans and seagulls with fish discards
On our long trek to Steve's house, a few houses down
Gerson, Steve and Frank did not waste any time
Dinner is served and it was delicious (Steve, Pat, Frank, Gerson and me)
Part of Steve's Aboriginal artifacts collection - fire stones, cutting stones
Sunset on a wonderful day
Fishing was on the menu and we had
almost as much fun getting the boat in the water as we did actually fishing.
Gerson and I reeled in a few fish each and apparently, the King George fish is
considered quite the quality catch. Gerson even hooked a Leatherjacket
fish and as we have snorkeled and dived with these fish, we had no idea they
were good eating.
Love using the tractor to launch the boat
Pat waving goodbye - maybe she knew something we didn't
Frank and Steve were all business
And we caught some very nice fish
It was a happy day!
And the boat comes back out
Love these beach finds
Quite a cozy beach neighborhood
I found a shingleback skink - very cool
Beautiful beach and I made a friend
The Yorke Peninsula is a lot to do with wheat farms
We made it back to Cinderoo just in time to meet up with James, as he wanted to pop in to say goodbye. We already are talking about if we can sell Cinderoo in quick fashion, we may just drop in on Adelaide for a few days while on our way to Sydney to fly home. Adelaide is still one of my favorite places in the world.