Home at last!

Our last day in Adelaide was perfect weather for the beach. The tram takes you down to the beachfront and many of the urban neighborhoods follow the beach. It's a great city from many perspectives. We had a final flight to Brisbane and an uneventful night and morning before the flight home. The flight home was grueling and still haven't quite adjusted to the change in time, but it is great to be home. Hugo was pleased to see us, but it has taken a few days for him to adjust to having to share the bed with the rightful owners.

It was great to end the week with our son's convocation for successfully completing his Chartered Accounting exams. He will have his final full hours to received his designation by March. This was a great milestone for us and the many friends, colleagues and families who attended

Kangaroo Island (the last hurrah)

For our last few days in South Australia we arranged a trip with Surf n' Sand tour company that runs bus tours from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island. It was, in many ways, saving the best for last. The weather was sunny and hot and the trip was laid back. By coincidence we could not swing the flight times for the three day trip so we joined the two day trip and met up with a group of Canadian ex pats, a Swiss couple, a Brit, an American and a few Aussies for a 'wild ride' over to Kangaroo Island. This island is about 45 minutes by high speed ferry across the south sea to a strip of land about 135 kilometers long and many 5-10 wide. Despite Mike's initial reservations about the trip, we had a great time with the laid back pace and our informative guide, Brandon, on Surf n'Sun. When the scenery was not captivating us, the Canadian ex pats were keeping us entertained. Now we did do some partying in the 1970's but I can't say it was as 'hardy' as the Canadian girls on our tour bus. Never a dull moment!

The trip started early from Adelaide and the entire city was out most of the previous night for the parade and the opening night of the Fringe Festival. The girls didn't come to life until we hit dry land on the island. The day started with a visit to the shops for our supplies for the weekend and that was the start of 'slapping the goon' (a goon is a five liter bag of wine that comes in a box with a spout). By the end of the weekend the girls went through five goons (with a little help from the rest of the bus). However, what happens on the bus stays on the bus and what happens on the island stays on the island!!!!

I will tell you about the beautiful Kangaroo Island that was once part of the mainland of Australia until a separation took place a so long ago and was so complete that many of the species of animals found in Australia did not exist on the island. They introduced the koala bear and it has become so prolific that they had to neuter the animals to keep the population down. The island has a few industries beside tourism, but the most of the island is beautiful beaches, spectacular rock formations (magma and limestone), plentiful wildlife reserves and rolling hills.

We were able to see a colony of unique Australian Sea Lions with their pups lolling on the beach at Seal Bay, a colony of New Zealand brown fur seals frolicking in the surf at the 'Admirals Arch', and wild kangaroos in abundance everywhere (you have to be very careful at dusk not to hit them). We went for a night viewing to see the penguins pass out on shore at night after a day of fishing and an amazing flock pelicans (they are the largest in the world) feeding at Kingscote. Lots and lots of wallaby and koala roaming freely in and around the trees. Despite the fact that almost a third of the wildlife and forest was lost to a severe bush fire last year.

The 'Remarkable Rocks' also stand out as an amazing Australian version of Stonehenge (albeit natural rather than man made) that was stunning to see in the brilliant sun with the blue south sea ocean to offset the scene. The water is a clear crystal blue, but there are lot's of warnings for 'rips' so you have to know the waters.

While there is little by way of industry on the island they still have a great eucalyptus distillery and island beehive with great honey.

We lived large on the island with our 'quad bike' trip at dusk to see wild life. This was up and down rocky trails that I really didn't think anything but a tank should traverse. I have admit I was one of those who were wiping up the rear (it must be my experience in claims that slows me down). We had a great campfire at our sheep shearing shed (our accommodation) and enjoyed two days of thrill rides all over the island. I was having more than a few deja vu moments (must have been 'the goon').

We arrived back in Adelaide all in one piece and spent our very last day at the beach in Adelaide. It was a wonderful trip!

Adelaide, Barossa and the Adelaide hills

Adelaide is a genteel city when contrasted with 'the Alice'. This city, on the south coast of Australia, is home to some of my favorite wineries. In the mid 1800s Adelaide was a haven for Europeans escaping religious persecution and the city retains this liberal character. The 'Fringe Festival' happened to be starting while we were in town and fringe acts from all over the globe were performing in all the venues in town.

We started our visit in the Adelaide hills on Mount Lofty. The hills are a backdrop for this lovely city and sea. The area is a wine growing mecca with the perfect balance of sun, wind and temperature to produce some of the best wines in Australia. We tried some of their signature sparkling reds and sauvignon blancs. The sparkling reds are very popular here and many of the wineries we visited were sold out. There were many boutique wineries as well as the large operations like Wolf Blass in the Barossa valley. One of my favorites was the Grenache from Yalumba. The food matched the quality wines with local flavorings like lemon myrtle and minted goat cheese to accompany the grilled lamb chops and fine olive oils. The hotel where we stayed was once a huge country estate for the Hardy family. It was completely destroyed by one of the Adelaide bush fires in 1983. The hotel was rebuilt and serves a hotel, restaurant and conference centre, but retains the charm of the 19th century grand home that it once was for the Hardy family.

The Barossa valley, home to Wolf Blass and Yulumba wineries, has many small villages with gourmet food shops and cottage industries producing cheeses and chocolates that accompany the wines. The weather was perfect - warm to hot sunny afternoons and cool evenings. The grass is dry and burnt and fire is always a serious threat with the winds whipping around the area. They were commemorating the 183 people perished in the bush fires last year in Adelaide. While I think the weather is perfect I would not want to worry about fire risks.

Our tour included some interesting sites around the Adelaide hills including the largest 'rocking horse' in the world. The best part was the petting zoo, but the wooden toy factory was also interesting.

Adelaide has a lot of character with a beautiful botanic garden and art museum. There was lots to see during the fringe festival while strolling along the Rundle Street pedestrian mall. The outside patios and pubs were completely full during the festival. It seems like a young city with lots to offer including a beautiful university along the Torrens river. The weather was hot and dry, but no fires yet.

The Red Centre (Alice Springs, Uluru and Kata Tjuta

I couldn't imagine a visit to Australia without a trip to the 'red centre'. Despite the temperatures reported in the high 30s and 40s I had to book a flight to see Alice Springs or 'the Alice' as it is known affectionately. It does not disappoint. Alice delivers everything you would expect on a Saturday night in a frontier town. By the time we drove to the town centre it was late afternoon and the town was red hot due to the afternoon sun, but also the Valentine's Day celebration and the usual Saturday whoop up between the police and the aborigine population. Alcohol is strictly controlled requiring a passport or ID to purchase and limiting your purchase of wine and beer to once a day. The police constantly patrol the centre of town making everyone a little uneasy. I was negotiating with the local artists selling their art works on the sidewalk when I first noticed the patrols. I started to wonder if there was a problem with the transactions, but they didn't interfere. Negotiations weren't going that well for the piece I wanted. The illustrious artist 'Delorus Furber' left a price with one of the other native women and they didn't have the authority to negotiate. I had to come back three times for that piece and I never did meet Delorus, but I finally agreed to the asking price and have a great canvas representing the type of art you normally see in this tribal area (lots of dots). Generally the natives sell the art for less than the galleries and the quality was good. Aside from well known artists who likely only sell in the galleries and sell for very high prices. You are probably better off buying directly and cutting out the cost of the agents. Once you buy something you have a lot of desperate last minute sellers trying to unload for Saturday night celebrations and this makes Mike uncomfortable. I found them to be quite charming. At one point I asked 'Maggie' when she had painted one of the two pieces she had laid out on the sidewalk (thinking she would say during the winter or last year) and she replied around 2 o'clock. She was moving her stock quickly. Mike had also asked one of the artists if the piece was signed and she immediately called for a pencil so she could sign it for him. It's quite the cottage industry for the women. i think the men enjoy the proceeds though!

We took our purchases back to the hotel and I wanted to go to the 'Bojangles Saloon' for dinner. It took a bit of convincing to get Mike back to the centre of town given the police patrols but in the end we were well rewarded with a simple, but delicious bush tucker dinner - the action started outside. As we exited two large security were trying to pin a belligerent female guest to the brick wall until the police arrived. It was unclear what she had done but she wasn't going peacefully. A little further down the pedestrian mall we encountered Darcy and Timothy (two aborigine Alice residents) who had clearly started the party early in the day. We had a great conversation about their life in Alice, but I started to get a little uneasy with Timothy's urging that we come to visit his station and lot's about his guns and hunting wild camel that he boiled. It was time to say goodnight!

The atmosphere is laid back in Alice despite the fact that you always get the feeling you are living on the edge. You are also at the centre of aborigine tribal culture and the largest population of aborigine people. It is really important to carry enough water due to the heat and lack of facilities once outside of town. You are really isolated. Alice is really a very small city with somewhere around 27,000 residents, but it services a vast area and is the only sizable community between Darwin at the top and Adelaide to the extreme south. It's raison d'etre was to bring communication (originally telegraph services from the outside world).

There is much to see in Alice including the telegraph where we met 'Alec'. Alec is a guide and caretaker at the telegraph museum who loves to tell you about the place. He was one of the mixed race 'lost children' who were sent off with the missionaries. Born in 1936, Alec's grandfather was one of the original founders and station masters and his mother was a native who was only 15 years old when he was born. Alec tells us there were hundreds of children of mixed race who were abandoned by their white fathers and taken in by the missionaries. Alec had been sickly and his native mother could not care for him. By the time he was old enough and well enough to return, he had no interest in returning to a tribal life with his mother who had 8 more children with a native man. He had a very interesting life story about his experiences during the WW11 and his life in Sydney. He returned to Alice because he likes the weather and clearly loves his job at the museum.

The traditions and beliefs of the native aborigine people are all about their attachment to the land. Many of the land features have a mystical quality and there are many sacred sites in and around Alice and Uluru. We explored the gaps and water holes in the East MacDonnell Mtn range and saved the last part of our trip for the magnificent Uluru and Kata Tjuta to the south and west This area of Australia is very remote and took over five hours of driving to reach. It might have been a bit shorter if we hadn't missed the turn to Uluru and drove another 75km south before we realized we missed the turn. Sounds hard to believe, but there are very few signs along the way. Despite the long drive we managed to get refreshed with a dip in the pool at the Ayers resort and made our way to Uluru. This imposing monolith rises out of the flat plane as an eerie giant that changes shape and color as you drive round the base. There are many different angles and shapes to it, but the overall look is one of a smooth rock surface. It really is a remarkable landmark. There are many powerful and sacred sites around the rock and the native guides give interpretive stories. We watched the setting sun cast shadows and lights over the many crests and crevices. it was a large crowd watching from the viewing area, but everyone spoke in hushed whispers lending a feeling of sanctity to the moment. Because it is so isolated the stars are unbelievable at night. Mike and I sat in the dark on our little balcony and just watched the nigh sky until we were too tired to stay awake any longer. Watching the shooting stars and the every changing night landscape we both agreed it was better than anything on TV.

In the morning we left our hotel in the dark to watch the sun rise over 'the Olgas' or Kata Tjuta which means many domed heads in the aborigine language of the tribal ancestors and caretakers of the sites. The Olgas were as impressive but less well known than Uluru. We watched the sun rise over the mountains and wished we had more time to explore the many gorges and walks available, but we had to head back to catch an afternoon flight to Adelaide. We were sorry to leave 'the Alice', but picked up a copy of a book written about the last nomads and headed off to Adelaide.

PERTH - WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Although the departure from Darwin was sad, despite the heat the locals were really friendly and there was was a sense that you were bound to a history that went beyond time, we arrived in Perth in the dark of night. With our rental car, we managed to find our way to the Indian Ocean Hotel. First glance suggested that it was a real dive, but once we registered and went to the bar, we discovered that it was a lively place filled with locals who were more than interested in engaging in conversation. Advice of what to do in the area was readily given. Unfortunately, depending on who you talked to, there was no consensus on what was ideal for the time period we had. A local, Chris, who had had several beers engaged in a deep conversation with Denise. I spent some time with a retired salesman who had been at the hotel since the beginning of December. He knew his wines and beers and had no problem in providing advice on life in general. Were we trapped in Australia's version of Hotel California from which there would be no escape?

In the morning, after some sober thought, we decided we would spend our time in the Margaret River region. The choice was a good one because the region is the premier wine region in Australia, known particularly for its Cabernet Sauvignon. Besides the wine, it contains some of the best caves in the world, access to the Indian Ocean, and great resorts. We checked into the Margaret River Resort which provided us with a view of the Australian sunset and an awesome view of the Southern sky at night. In the absence of lights, the Southern Cross, Big and Little Dippers, Orion's Belt, and the Milky Way were seen as they should be!

We only had time to visit three wineries. This was not because we were slowing down, but rather because visiting a winery in the Margaret River area was an event. First there was the wine tasting, a chore that Denise handles admirably. The second part is looking at the grounds and facilities. They are somewhat similar to what we saw in Napa Valley, though the gardens are much more developed. The first was Driftwood which was located on the outside of Margaret River. Denise thought that the wine was marginal, but the gardens were developed on a theme of ruins. It was a venue for many weddings in the area. The second, Voyageur had great wines, but the property was outstanding. The garden entrance was superbly manucured and filled with plants and trees that made it like entering a fairyland. The third, Leeuten Estate was one of the oldest wineries in the region. Denise sampled almost their full card and thought that several were extremely good. I viewed the art collection which was made of painting commissioned by the winery to use as labels on the wine bottles. The collection contained paintings by renowned artists such as Coles. Racher, Binspirit... While we were there, the grounds were being prepared for a regional concert featuring Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald. In the evening we watched the sunset, had dinner, took a walk to view the stars. A perfect day!

The next day, we visited the Jewel Cave, one of the many caves in the area. This cave was over 900 meters deep. It was discovered in 1976. It has the fossil of a sabertooth tiger in it as well as the skeleton of an opossum that had fallen in. The combination of tree roots,rock formations and lighting made it stunning. On the way out, we visited Ye Olde Candy Shop in Margarite River. I am convinced that Denise was going through her second childhood. What a place!