Aus Days 3 & 4 - Murray Bridge & Adelaide

Wednesday 22nd September Aus Day 3


Another leisurely arising this morning but, down for breakfast by 08.00. Completed a little administrative work and then waited for Valerie to get ready for a planned visit to see Nick’s brother John.

We drove to Murray Bridge and had a nice lunch with John at his house which overlooks the Murray River.

The View from John's House to the Murray River

Another view from John's House - Can you spot the Rabbits?

Valerie at Murray Bridge

View across John's Property showing some of his crop

Following lunch we went for a walk through John’s property where he grows Geraldton Wax and Banksia, on a commercial basis, and then down to the banks of the River Murray.

Geraldton Wax which John Grows and Exports

A slightly different variety of Geraldton Wax

Walking along the banks, initially along the Bilabong, we saw Pelicans sailing majestically along, a pair of Black Swans building a nest and listened to a whole choir of croaking frogs, although we didn’t actually see any. This must be a delightful place to live and work and we eventually bade farewell to John, with me feeling somewhat envious.

Getting back to Willunga, we had decided to eat out in the local hostelry that evening so relaxed for a while before we were due to go. The establishment we went to, the Alma Hotel, is a pleasant enough venue with bar and restaurant. However, we were unfortunate enough to be wanting a meal at the same time as a rather large group of what appeared to be school children were being catered for so we spent some time waiting for our meal. We passed the time with yet more childhood memories over a couple of beers. Having eventually been presented with or meal, we ate up and then strolled home by about 9.30 pm, watched the News on the TV before retiring, in response to Zebedee’s exhortations.

Thursday 23rd September Aus Day 4

Up relatively early at 07.30 this morning as Valerie & I are going into Adelaide to do s bit of shopping and then to the North side of the City where Valerie’s son Ben is taking possession of his brand new house.

Before setting off I took the opportunity to gab a couple of photos of Valerie’s house, “Willunga House”; See below:

Willunga House

Willunga House

And also the Alma Hotel where we had our meal last night.

The Alma Hotel - Willunga

The Alma Hotel - Willunga

The drive into Adelaide took just over an hour, we concluded the business that needed doing and I took the following photos. In Adelaide, one can ride the trams in the central zone, free of charge. An obvious attempt to minimise the City centre traffic. Very handy it is too.

Adelaide from Victoria Square

Victoria Square

Some Waif & Stray Waiting for the Tram

Victoria Statue in the Square

JB In Victoria Square - It's Still Not Warm

We eventually got to Ben’s new property, where he was waiting to have various appliances delivered and services connected. We all had a Thai take-away for lunch, standing up and straight from the plastic containers as Ben still had no furniture of plate & cutlery in the place. Having had a good look around and voiced her approval (or not), Valerie and I departed to return to Willunga but, went via the depot from which I will be collecting the Camper Van tomorrow morning.

We had made arrangements with Michael & Lawrence to meet up and go out for a meal again this evening, although we are going to a different establishment. At 6.50pm we set of for the Bush Inn in Willunga, otherwise known as the “Top Pub” because of its position at the top of the hill in the Main Street. This place was largely as I remembered it from the year before and we were soon seated as Michael had pre-booked a table. As our meal was served, I persuaded the waiter to take the following picture of; from left to right: Michael, Lawrence, Valerie and Yours Truly.

Michael, Lawrence, Valerie & JB

I have to say that the quality of the meal was better than the previous night and we had very soon cleared our plates. Then it was time to retire to the seats round the open hearth log fire for a final beverage, when Lawrence decided that she just had to take a photo of Yours Truly and sister Valerie.


Valerie and JB

Shortly after this we made our way home and at about 10.45 Zebedee gave forth with his usual cry of “and so to bed.” Since I need to be up in good time in the morning I promptly obeyed his request.