From Alice Springs, we flew to Adelaide, and back to reality heat wise, a mere 20 degrees down here!! We stupidly left most of our warm clothes in Singapore, only to find that we are in the worst summer Australia has had for years!
We hired our car in Adelaide and drove to the centre to meet Catherine Dick, who I (Fiona) worked with in 1994/1995 in the Cayman Islands.She and I then shared a flat in Edinburgh. I have seen her once briefly about 8 years ago, so it was absolutely fantastic to catch up, and of course for our children to meet. Cath knew Charlie from Edinburgh and when we worked in NZ in 1999, but we hadn't met Cath's partner Duncan, so it was lovely to finally put a face to a name!
The children got to know each other extremely well after dinner in Adelaide.............
They went in the lift on their own together which then got stuck for one hour between floors. An extremely grumpy lift technician had to be called out and advised me that I should discourage the children from jumping in lifts in the future! Anyway, they sang songs and looked after each other - thankfully Eva aged two had not gone in the lift with them.
The following morning, Cath and I left the sleeping men and children and headed for the supermarket which would have been dull if we hadn't chatted the entire way around. We then went to the Adelaide undercover market which is amazing. Incredible fresh fruit and veg, and gorgeous cheeses etc, along with fabulous butchery, charcuterie etc. A complete delight. The men and children joined us for a late breakfast and then it was briefly back to the hotel to jam every spare inch of both cars full of our provisions.
A 2 hr drive then down to Port Jervis, where we caught the ferry to Kangaroo Island
About a 45 minute ferry to Kangaroo Island
Yes Amy, we are still down under!
We arrived at our self catering accommodation within around 20 mins of leaving the ferry. The children were absolutely beside themselves with excitement by this time. Car swapping was already happening and non stop chattering between the four girls, with Eva happily commanding as much attention as she needed from everyone! The four older girls were in the pool within around a minute of arriving!
Homemade entertainment...
The first day, we did not move far from the apartment; a lovely chance for us all to relax and chat, as well as play tennis and just enjoy being together. On the second day, we drove up to Emu Bay which was Pelican City
Emu Bay
Fi and Cath
On the way home, we passed an incredible Salt Lake - irresistible for the children to get covered in muck!
Grubs up in our apartment, Duncan, Evie and Gemma with the girls
Good morning!
Girls walking towards salt lake.....a mistake, it stank!
Will be a salt lake in a few years, trees already dead....
The salt lakes are incredible, but actually just mean death for the whole area it covers.
A wild Wallaby.....taken by Amy
A wee road trip to Seal Bay and Bales Beach
Mail....
Bale Beach
Cath and God daughter (With chipped tooth!) Clara chipped her tooth in the bottom of the swimming pool - trying to push off the side as hard as possible in order to swim as far as possible along the bottom - agghhhhhh
After Bales beach, we headed for little Sahara which was incredible - the sky was just SO blue. Sadly, we did not have the right boogy boards, but as you can see, the children made a pretty good effort.
Picnic lunch
Ice Creams!
The Beach at Island Bay - 2 minute walk from the pad we were renting....
Our last outing was on our second last day. We did a 9k walk in the morning and then headed for the Flinders Chase National Park.
'Remarkable Rocks'
Which are remarkable!!
On tour..
Girls with Gemma - the red stuff is an algae.
Kangaroos came into the garden to say goodbye on our last night
Picture at the LOVELY lunch spot before we parted ways - Cath and me with our broods!
We took a flight from Adelaide to Sydney and then flew to Canberra to visit the Fairries. Sissy is Charlie's goddaughter and was thrilled to see him which was lovely. We had two days there which was a great chance to catch up on some admin, including laundry and a new tooth for Clara!
Clara in the chair.....
Job done - much better!
We visited my Godbug Sissy Fairrie in Canberra briefly before we flew out of Oz and I was very lucky to be shown around their classrooms. They were both on cracking form!
Godbug's older sister Meg
Departing Australia......
Charlie continuing to get seriously in to his camera -
Some arty photos for you........
wow! those photos are amazing. Brought back memories of our trip around there together. Nice for the girls to see where that photo in the sitting room was actually taken. So enjoying reading your updates. not remotely jealous as i'm sitting at my desk! masses of love. skype this weekend perhaps?? xx
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