ADELAIDE TO MOUNT MARTHA

The trip home - beautiful clouds

Fields of canola

We want to come home - no, really, we do!

One foot in South Australia, one foot in Victoria

Look who you find in Horsham - the Gordons!!

DAY 97 – ADELAIDE TO MOUNT MARTHA                         Friday, 7^th October

Our last day!  Cannot quite believe it!  We were on the road by 7am and went through the same rituals that we went through each time we left a place – a prayer for a safe journey and then playing John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane, followed by Rhymes and Reasons, and Country Roads, and finishing up with Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do.  (It really is better that you don’t ask – I HAVE already informed DHS of the issues). 

The drive down out of Adelaide past Hahndorf and Murray Bridge down to Bordertown and finally across the border into Victoria.  The countryside was really beautiful but so different from what we had been seeing.  It started to look like the home we knew – green rolling hills.  We stopped for our very last “border photo” (one leg in South Australia and one leg in Victoria) and headed to Horsham for lunch where we met …. The Gordons!!  They were in the Grampians for a rock climbing weekend (those outdoorsy types … I don’t know).  How fitting that they were the last people to see us before we left and the first to see us when we got home!  It was great to see a friendly face. 

Our trip home became a little hairy when we got near to Bacchus Marsh.  An enormous storm hit and we narrowly missed a serious accident between a bus and a car in Myrniong which later caused the closing of the highway.  The rain was unbelievable.  We ended up slowing to 60kph which obviously slowed our journey enormously. 

It was so funny listening to Bridgie as we got to the city (“I remember this!”) and the kids reliving our trip across the Westgate Bridge (accidentally) when trying to get to Ben’s Auskick game at the MCG.  (Why do they always have to repeat EXACTLY what you say, when you really wish you hadn’t sworn that much??)

It was lovely to reach our beautiful “new” home at 4 Pardella Place, with flowers and food from Mum, and balloons and a full fridge and pantry from our wonderful house guests, the Rauters.  21,926 kms travelled and so many wonderful sights seen and experiences had.  I may need some time to reflect before wrapping up.  I cannot possibly choose a highlight in terms of places or individual experiences.  But the most precious thing was being with my family for three wonderful months – and nothing can ever take that time or those memories away from us.

ADELAIDE

DAY 96 – ADELAIDE                                                             Thursday, 6^th October

Enjoying an ice cream at Glenelg

In Rundle Street Mall

Tessie is so kind to ALL animals

Riding a pig is one thing we hadn't done on our holiday

I have got my money on Bridgie

Racing "leaf boats" in the Botanical Gardens

David and Beth at the Botanical Gardens

Well, it is actually 18^th October today but I have had so many people say “You haven’t finished the blog!” that I thought I would get down and finish the last two days!  Well, woke up and had nowhere to go on the Thursday!  Have to laugh really!  We had a relaxing morning.  The kids loved zooming around on their scooters around the caravan park while I cut David’s hair and trimmed his beard (wow, I could make a business out of this!).  David then, as positive as always, set about making our day in Adelaide as exciting as it could be – while his wife mopped around just wanting to be home.  It is the problem when you are a control freak like me.  Everything had been intricately planned and had gone like clockwork … until the penultimate day!! 

Anyway, we drove into Glenelg in our jazzy new Skoda wagon and hopped on the tram to the city.  We hopped off at Rundle Street mall and wandered up the mall, watching street performers and doing a little shopping.  We made it all the way to the Botanical Gardens which were nice (but not a patch on Melbourne’s, or Kings Park in Perth!) and then hopped on the tram and back to Glenelg where we had lunch on the beach, watching some of the local ladies being spoken to rather sternly by the local constabulary!  A large ice cream later and back to the caravan park where the kids again spent time cruising around on their scooters.  We packed up most of the van in preparation for our early morning and slept well looking straight at our beautiful new painting which needed to be in the van for protection!