Adelaide / Barossa Valley Wineries

Adelaide is such a beautiful city and it was interesting to hear that the city was settled by free British immigrants rather than convicts. The River Torrens meanders past peaceful parks, well preserved colonial architecture and many sidewalk cafes which there seemed to be an abundance of.

 Above is the most photographed heart in South Australia at Glenelg Beach Adelaide. We took the tram from the inner city all the way out to Glenelg. A 12km trip.

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The beach is beautiful with white sand and gorgeous blue sea.

 The lovely old Town Hall building  which is very well maintained,

 The city centre Christmas Tree with its ever changing lighting. Quite spectacular.

 The old Town Hall in Adelaide where the Beatles appeared on the balcony during a concert visit back in the 70's.

 The changing scenery of the countryside was interesting on our drive to the Borossa valley.

 Wine tasting awaited us at Torbreck Winery.

 The Jacobs Creek vineyards in the Barossa Valley.  A really serene and sophisticated setting but the wine tasting was really just joining a production line of tour groups and the information given and serving of tastings was very automated with no real passion shown from the staff assigned to looking after the tours.

 Richard found this 1928 Chev Truck at Jocobs Creek, which is the same model of the one we had restored at work a few years ago.

 The lovely display of wildflowers at Jacobs Creek.

 Sepelsfield Vineyard.

 To finish off our day we had a delicious lunch at the Boutique hotel Louise. Jellied Beets with goats cheese, marinated relish, and walnuts. Followed by a chocolate mousse, berry sorbet, lemon curd and fresh berries. Not to mention the most tender Filet of Angus steak for mains.

More of Rotnest and Albany

 The sleepy little harbour on Rotnest Island.

 The Quokkas had great camouflage with their surroundings but this guy didn't cut the mustard with his effort!!!!

 Great aqua fun for the kids in a specially sectioned off piece of the bay.

                                         Pelican parade.

 Treated ourselves to breakfast in town in Albany on sunday morning. The cafe, The York, was recommended by the bus driver. There was so much choice. Terrific coffee, great choice of food, friendly staff. Our orders arrived quickly and lived up to what the driver had told us. Mine above, was , smashed avocado topped with tomato salsa and poached eggs with holidays sauce. It was beautiful.

 The main street of Albany. A town about the size of Ashburton. There were many beautiful colonial buildings which housed art galleries, museums and restaurants.

The town hall in Albany.

Rotnest Island Western Australia

 Unfortunately, but not surprising for me, the last post on Perth ended up in between the  Santorini and Crete postings so thats where you will find it if you wish to see where this current journey started. My life is full of mysteries in the technology department. A ramble of discoveries that are not always on the positive side!!

After spending time in Perth and Fremantle we decided to take a day trip to Rotnest Island, 18km west of Fremantle and 40 mins by boat. A beautiful sandy low lying island with a casual atmosphere and beautiful scenery. The Bays and beaches were gorgeous white sand. The island is only 11km long. We took the hop on hop off bus around the island and got to see most of the sights.

Above is a huge Osprey nest made of sticks and twigs. There were several around the rocky parts of the shore line. They are fish eating birds of prey which hunt by diving into the waters surface and gripping fish with the pads on their feet to help them pluck the fish from the water and then carry them for great distances head first to ease the wind resistance. They are huge birds with up to an 180 deg wingspan and 60cm in length.

 One of the many stunning bays on the island.

 Plenty of walkways across the island.

 The number one Star of the island. The Quokka. Very friendly and inquisitive.  They are about the size of a domestic cat. They are supposed to be mainly nocturnal but there were quite a few around the morning we arrived

 The ferry harbour on Rotnest Island.

The Rotnest museum gave an interesting insight into the history of the island.

Petra, Jordan.

 Before we left Jordan we took a day trip to Petra which is an ancient and famous archaeological site in the south western desert of Jordan dating back to 300 BC.
 It was a very interesting two hour drive to get there through the very rocky and mountainous terrain passing small towns which looked very primitive and uninviting. Further out there were many Bedouin dwellers ( nomadic Arabs ) with small herds of sheep or goats to care for.  In Jordan alone there are 380,000 people living this kind of life.
The stop we made above gave us the opportunity to take in the vastness of this landscape and feel very privileged and thankful of where we live.



 Access into the ancient site at Petra was through this narrow canyon.

 The canyon just kept getting higher and higher.

 Looking skyward was a real reminder of just how high it was and how dwarfed you felt.

 The cliffs are a pink sandstone which gives everything a red look.

 At the end of the Canyon we get our first glimpse of the most well known building, The Treasury.

 The Treasury is the most elaborate building carved into the sandstone rock face. It is just amazing and fortunately there were not many tourists the day we were there. Petra was once a thriving trading centre. The city was in near ruins for centuries and it was only in the early 1800's that a European traveller disguised himself in a Bedouin costume and infiltrated the mysterious location to rediscover the ancient town. The town is still being excavated today with 85% still underground and untouched.

 Off course there is always a downside to a lot of these places. In this case the presence of all the Bedouin hawkers confronting you with their wares, cheap jewellery etc bottles of coloured sand, donkey rides, camel rides and horse and carriage rides etc was quite intimidating. Many were young boys who did not go to school and they were  more aggressive and rude than the young men. The poor animals get a very hard time from their owners. Our SPCA would have a field day.

 In spite of these young men trying to force their wares and services on us I have to say from a photography perspective they have certainly added a cultural atmosphere to the setting.

 And now its time for the long trek out. All up hill this time!

 The Boy fancies himself as a Jordanian Arab.

Goodbye to Petra. We really loved the Experience.

Suez Canal passage

 Our passage through the Suez Canal was pretty interesting and took 7 hours. It was of course extremely hot. We attempted several times to sit out on our balcony and go up on deck but the flies were unbelievable which made it really unpleasant. If we thought Australia was bad for flies this was really horrendous. Some residents left their door out to the balcony open and ended up with flies indoors which were almost impossible to kill with fly spray.

We travelled through the Canal in a convoy of nine ships, with ours being in the lead and the only cruise ship. All the others were freight.

At some of the small towns along the way there would be ferries crossing from one side to the other packed with people and cars.

 A welcome sign on the Sinai Desert side of the canal.

 There were sporadic makeshift shelters along the way, probably for workmen, although there never seemed to be much action talking place. Usually people were curious but friendly by waving back.

 We passed numerous small fishing boats using drag nets. There never seemed to be many fish in the nets when we saw a few hauling them in and what they did catch looked pretty tiny.

 Towards the Gulf of Suez end we noticed a lot more trucks with soldiers patrolling the area.

 There was also plenty of evidence of earlier trouble times.

 Every 250 metres there were armed security towers.

No sign of the guards doing their job here. We think they must have gone to sleep.