The drive into Adelaide was beautiful, with green farmlands and those characteristic stone brick farmhouses scattered in fields and small towns, some habitable and some not. Pink tinted salt lakes and ports also lined the highway at times. We settled just outside the city in Windsor Gardens, a nice spot beside the Torrens River and parkland full of birdlife for a week, to spend time exploring the area and to schedule our third car service this trip...we have now clocked up 30 000 kilometres!
On Monday the weather is beautiful, so we decide to make the most of it and head for the hills! Adelaide Hills is beautiful, with rich greenery and quiant little towns full of character and delight. We start in Hahndorf, a German Village, built in the early 1800s by religious refugees. It is just gorgeous, and we walked the main street excitedly, visiting the lolly shop, the puppet shop and the bakery for lunch and admirering the achitecture along the way. We then drove the hills tourist drive to Gumeracha, where you find the Biggest Rocking Horse in the World and the best wooden toy factory ever! After climbing the rocking horse we visit the toy factory and are amazed at the creativity and variety of wooden toys. There is also an animal sanctuary there, where the kids can feed farm animals and wildlife, and that ends our packed and very fun day in the hills! A fantastic day!
On Tuesday we make good use of another sunny day and head into Port Adelaide to the National Railway Museum. Now I am not a big train fan, but this Museum is awesome! Run by volunteers, so much has been poured into it, and over the next 3 hours, we get to ride in, wonder through, touch and feel the history and science of trains! An amazing school day for all of us. I would recommend it to anyone. The port is full of history and we enjoy the sights and a drive down the Semaphore coastline in the afternoon before we head back.
We have a quiet day on Wednesday while the car is serviced and the day is wet, catching up on bookwork again. The weather is still wet and cold the next day, so we decide to hit Adelaide City and the Museum of SA to be indoors, but not stuck in the van again. The museum is fabulous and free, and the kids enjoy and learn for hours! I am amazed they are not 'over' museums by now, but they seem to get something different out of each one. The weather starts clearing in the afternoon, and we get to enjoy checking out some of the amazing architecture in and around the city. It reminds me a lot of Melbourne, with the historic and modern mix of buildings, the river and the beautiful green parkland around it...just no trams.
Before heading back, I do decide to 'trace my roots' I guess you could say, and find the flat my parents lived in when I was born in Adelaide, and the building my dad helped create as a welder at that time, the Adelaide Festival Centre, as I have never been back since then. It was a pretty cool feeling actually to stand in front of both, though I couldn't really tell you why, it just was.
After another fairly easy day Friday, hanging about the van park, we head to the gardens on Saturday to lap up some more beautiful sunshine. The parklands surrounding our van park are lovely, and we have felt very blessed being able to walk through, play in and enjoy these, but Carrick Hill is just superb! It is a mansion sitting at the foot of Adelaide Hills, with a landscaped property open for public, free use. The gardens are gorgeous and the views overlooking Adelaide and the coast are stunning!
The kids have a ball following the Childrens Story Walk, where they can walk along a path running through the gardens and identify different fairytales or childrens stories like 'Wind in the Willows', Bries favourite, 'The Secret Garden', and 'Jungle Book', where Issy our Cub Scout stood with Akela the Wolf on the Council Rock, and many more. Their imaginations run wild here and the whole afternoon is spent playing games inside giant hedges, in the vege patch with Peter Rabbit and in the restored stables just 'horsing' around (sorry, just had to say it)! Brie and I even got to see a bride! A fantastic day out and fantastic finale for our Adelaide exploring. You will have to take my word for it though, as unfortunately I forgot my phone/camera and missed out on recording this beautiful scenery...one you will have to just go and see for yourself!
Tomorrow we pack up and continue our journey with only 3 weeks to go before we have decided to stop for a very special event in Melbourne. We have loved and cherished every moment of our trip and feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to do it, but I can also tell you that we are all very, very excited to be coming home! One thing this trip has shown us all, is that we are people who love community, and feel very lost without our beautiful neighbours and friends to journey with. We have had to have 'friends for a day' or 'friends for a week' while travelling, and that just doesn't cut it for us. I don't know how people do it forever! So yes, we intend to make the most of the next 3 weeks and will be doing a bit of detouring before hitting Victoria, but man will there be some catching up when we return!!!
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