Archive for the 'Travel' Category

We had our second extended family gathering today. This time is was Leanne’s mother’s family and we had an afternoon-tea picnic in Hazelwood Park, Burnside – down in Adelaide.

The weather was nice – warm, but not too hot in the shade. Andres got to feed the ducks, but was a bit confused as to why we were throwing good bread away (he loves eating bread!).

Andres takes Leanne for a walk - Hazelwood Park

Mt Barker to Hazelwood Park

Another quiet day today.

Leanne took her parents and Andres down to Adelaide to visit her Grandmother and Great-Aunt and Uncle, so I had some time to catch up with some work.

I decided to go for a walk before lunch – I drove around to the Laratinga Wetland which is just a short drive away from Leanne’s parents’ place in Mt Barker. This unique wetland area is apparently the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, taking treated waste water from the local effluent ponds and passing it through a series of natural wetland zones which reduces nutrient loads and pollutants before the water is then pumped to local irrigators for re-use. The local plant-life that has been grown around the area thrives in this environment, and there is a large number of birds and other animals who have made their homes here. It is a very pleasant place to go for a walk or bike ride, or stop for a picnic.

I took my camera with my long zoom lens attached and walked around the wetlands taking photos.

Superb Fairy Wren (Female) - Laratinga Wetland

White Faced Heron - Laratinga Wetland

Pelicans - Laratinga Wetland

Chestnut Teal (?) - Laratinga Wetland

White Faced Heron - Laratinga Wetland

Christmas day – our first Christmas with Andres! I think Leanne was more excited than he was … but then he is only just over 14 months old.

My sister drove my parents and grandma up from Murray Bridge for lunch at Leanne’s parents’ place – so it was nice to have both families here to spend time with us and Andres. We missed Leanne’s sister and brother-in-law who had to stay in Sydney this year – they are in the middle of renovating their house and it’s not really in a state to be left unattended at the moment.

Andres loved his presents – he seemed especially taken with the music bag we bought for him from Gymbaroo which consists mostly of percussion instruments such as rhythm sticks, maracas, castanets, egg shakers, and a triangle. He has used many of these at Gymbaroo already, so he knew exactly what to do with them and was making noise in no time. He seems to have pretty good rhythm with the egg shakers especially – we are hoping he will have some natural musical talent.

Leanne helps Andres unwrap some Christmas presents

Andres making music (or is that noise?)

In the evening after Andres had gone to bed, Leanne and I went for a walk looking at the Christmas lights in the area and enjoying the cooler air – and also helping to digest our Christmas meals!

Quiet day today spent with Leanne’s parents. Some last minute Christmas shopping and preparing for tomorrow.

Up early for another travel day today. We packed the car once more, said goodbye to my Sister, topped up the car with fuel and then headed off.

It was forecast to be a very hot day with strong northerly winds – catastrophic fire conditions across most of the state. We were a little wary and kept an eye out for anything that looked like a bushfire along our route. As it turned out, there were no problems where we headed and I don’t think it actually reached the 42 degrees that was forecast – but it was high 30′s at least.

We enjoyed our drive down through the Clare Valley, across to the Barossa Valley and then through the Adelaide Hills. We stopped in Angaston to visit one of our favourite shops – Angas Park where they sell all types of dried fruit and sugar or chocolate coated nuts and fruit.

We came in the back way to Mt Barker and avoided most of the traffic and so arrived before lunch at Leanne’s parents’ place.

Clare to Mt Barker

The trip so far