DISCOVERED: the town in Australia where John wants to live

We began last weekend with some good drugs. Legal drugs of course, but good nonetheless. Ellyn had been sick all week and could not seem to shake a cold she was getting. She went into the local “chemist” (pharmacy) and asked if they recommended anything (thinking they would respond with something similar to DayQuil). The woman behind the counter simply said, “Would you like day and night time treatment?” Well, both, of course! So she asked for Ellyn’s ID and later returned with a miracle. Ellyn took one dose and lie down for an hour and immediately felt better. So we proceeded to our dinner reservations at a local Italian restaurant. It is a local, very small restaurant with few items on the printed menu and a large specials chalkboard. The dinner was amazing. We left there though to go to Cocolat for dessert and over our delicious chocolate, we contemplated opening one in Greenville…

Saturday morning, we got up, packed our bags and headed to pick up our car. We had to take the bus to the airport as the city rental location did not have any cars available. As we were riding to the airport, an interesting gentleman got on the bus and sat in front of us. John and Ellyn were chatting about the bus going to the airport and where it would stop, etc. when the man turned around and tried to explain where we needed to get off and where we were to get the rental car. (As we’d already done this before, we knew exactly what we were doing but being the good Southerns we are, we politely thanked him.) He then asked where we were from and when we said the US, he asked if we hated Canadians. To which we promptly replied, “No, John’s family is from Canada.” Then he asked how we felt about people from the Middle East. Before we had a chance to respond, he pointed to a woman about two rows behind us that had a turban around her head and said, “What about her? How do you feel about that?” Then looking at John, he said, “What would you do if she wore one of those? Would you let her?” Really!? We practically ran off the bus as soon as it stopped.

We picked up our car (finally!) and headed out to Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary about 20 minutes outside of Adelaide in Stirling. We purchased a bag of food and headed into the park. The kangaroos were hopping all over and as soon as they saw us with the food, they came straight over. (See John’s first shot feeding the “roos” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KmuSmGSY0o .) We continued to walk around the park and saw some different birds wandering around and a koala sleeping in the tree and another creature that Ellyn thought looked cute at first until John pointed out it kindof looked like a rat. Not so cute anymore. (See creature… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvogHgJ2bCo .) John also tried to pick up (unsuccessfully!) a kangaroo… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AqAVXDI61Q . There was a duckbilled platypus that lives at the park but he never came on the surface for us to see him. All in all, it was a great visit and fun to get so close to the wildlife.

John and a kangaroo at Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary.

We headed south towards Victor Harbor and saw some beautiful countryside (with “heaps” of cows and sheep). As we headed down, Ellyn read in the Lonely Planet that there was a great brewery in a small town near our destination. So we decided a short detour would be nice! As we pulled into Goolwa, we laughed as we read that Goolwa was the “Tidiest Town” (of what region, we cannot remember). Headed through town and toward the wharf, Ellyn looked over to the left and saw a footy game in progress with a large audience. She commented about it to John (remember – he has declared this the Greatest Sport of All Time). At the next left, our car makes a quick turn and we head to the game! We get out of the car and Ellyn was shocked that in actuality, it doesn’t really look like that many people are watching the game, despite cars all around the field. John apparently was more observant and suggested we grab a beer. What? As Ellyn wondered where that comment came from, she noticed the large bar at the end of the field with a big patio filled with spectators. A beer it is! We manage to get a few beers (some of the cheapest we’ve found in Australia) and headed back out to the patio to enjoy the game. We aren’t sure why but we are pretty sure we stuck out like sore thumbs at this game. We don’t look that different from the Aussies and we were drinking Australian beer and cheering on the home team but we still got the feeling they knew we didn’t belong. At what we thought was the end of the game, we left (apparently it was really just half time, so maybe we don’t understand the rules as well as we thought we did!). We drove around Goolwa (because we were a bit turned around but it was nice nonetheless) and saw the yacht club and vacation homes and the “best beach on the southern coast” (according to the Lonely Planet) before finally making it to Steam Exchange Brewery. As soon as we pulled up, Ellyn was in love. It was a large metal building with huge windows (that presumably open during the spring/summer months) overlooking the bay. The inside was very basic – a bar as soon as you walked in and then barrels for tables and director style chairs scattered around, near the windows. The back of the building and all along the wall opposite the windows housed the tanks full of beer and the lines where the beer was bottled. There was a great crowd just sitting around enjoying a few drinks. We decided to do a taster of all the beers. Ellyn enjoyed the IPA the best while John preferred the Stout. The Stout was delicious and had a coffee/chocolately taste. So it seemed appropriate to have another beer given the great atmosphere and the fact that we really didn’t have anywhere to be!

But since we were driving, we had to stop after that and head to Victor Harbor. We checked into our hotel, which was a typical Australian hotel (hotel rooms on the first floor and a restaurant and bar on the first floor). We enjoyed a glass of wine and some cheese in our room before bundling up to head over to Granite Island to see the Little Penguins come home from a day of feeding. We joined a tour of about 12 people and headed out for a short walk. We immediately saw 2 adult penguins coming in and heard the cries of the baby penguins. We then saw 2 child penguins waiting in their burrow. They crawled out and stretched their arms for the first time! The tour guide said she’d been watching them all week and this was the first night they’d come out of their burrow. It was awesome to watch when the adult came home and feed the babies. We continued on our tour and saw a few more penguins walking around and some waiting in their burrows. We also learned that in just 10 years, the population of the Little Penguin on Granite Island had declined from over 2000 to fewer than 200. Very sad but it looks like the weather (rainwater will wash fish into the sea) this year may be helping them. We’ve been trying to think about this as we complain about all the rain we’re getting!

We headed back to the hotel and changed clothes before heading to dinner at The Anchorage, which was recommended to us by the receptionist at the hotel and the Lonely Planet (which is basically our travel bible over here!). The atmosphere was great, with a nice big fire next to where we were seated and a bar that was made out of a old wooden whaling boat. We enjoyed some fabulous drinks – Ellyn could not make her mind up about anything and luckily John befriended the bartender early and so he gave Ellyn a “taste” of everything she thought she might like to try. Ellyn tried some fabulous sparkling wines and John got to try quite a few new beers. Our dinner was delicious and we decided to stick around for dessert and some fortified and dessert wines, all of which were great. When we finally decided we’d done enough damage, we went to pay. Our bill was ½ the price that it should have been! We both insisted that the bill was incorrect (the only items on the bill were our first round of drinks and our main courses) and that if we could see a menu, we’d point out all that we’d had. The manager looked for evidence of another bill that related to us but not being able to find one, said for us not to worry about it, it was our lucky night. We’d say so!

Sunday morning we got up and walked around Victor Harbor and stopped in a little bakery for breakfast. We then headed back to Granite Island. This time though, we took the Horse Drawn Tram! It is an 1894 double-decker tram pulled by a Clydesdale (our “driver’s” name was Bill). It was cold and windy but we didn’t let that stop us from riding on top for most of the ride over the causeway! (At this point, it should be noted that Ellyn was dressed like someone straight out of the 80’s. Her outfit for Sunday was one that was suitable for wineries (skinny jeans, tunic sweater, flats, etc) and obviously not appropriate for hiking in the cold weather. So, after breakfast, she changed from her flats into socks and tennis shoes. The entire morning she kept talking about how crazy she was going to look and John kept saying he was sure she’d be fine. As soon as she stepped around the car with her skinny jeans and big white tennis shoes, he died laughing and at once knew what her worries had been!)

Horse Drawn Tram to Granite Island

Ellyn's awesome 80's outfit...nothing like skinny jeans and tennis shoes! (And the toboggan and red gloves help the look too!)

Once on the island, we did the Kaiki Walk around the island and saw some seals swimming in the waves and lots of granite rocks worn into interesting shapes by the weather. As we were walking along one portion of the walk (John insists we were not on the trail but Ellyn thought it was just a “smaller” trail), Ellyn was almost attacked by a bird that presumably thought she was coming after her nest. This bird was circling John and Ellyn and making terrible screeching noises and flew EXTREMELY close to Ellyn’s head multiple times. There were people on the other trail stopping to watch! Ellyn had to resort to ducking and covering her head before finally just sprinting through the bushes onto the “big trail”. Not cool.

John in one of the granite rocks.

We left Victor Harbor and headed to Port Elliot where we’d been told whales had been spotted as recently as the day before. We were both super excited about seeing whales. We hopped out of the car and headed straight to the beach. As soon as we got to a good lookout, Ellyn looked at John and said, “Do you see anything?!?!” To which he replied, “I think we may have to be a little patient.” Oh; okay. So we waited. And waited. And waited. John was enjoying the nice weather by lounging on the rocks. Ellyn was on guard looking for the whales and refused to sit down as she might miss something. After a while, we decided today was not our day for whale watching and headed to the booze…McLaren Vale!

We’d previously found a great boutique beer, Vale Ale, that we learned was brewed in McLaren Vale, which was on the way to Adelaide from Victor Harbor. So we decided to stop in the brewery and a few wineries on our way home. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get a map of the area. We were informed that there wasn’t an actual Vale Ale brewery open to visitors but we could visit the Salopian Inn, which is the official “home” of Vale Ale. We asked if there was a good place to go for lunch. The Salopian Inn but, “They’ll be booked today so you should try…yada yada yada.” The thing is, we like to eat at a place that is hard to get in because obviously, that means it good. So where do we head? To the Salopian Inn. We’re not exactly sure what she meant when she said they were the “home” of Vale Ale. We were able to get a table in the bar area but being that it was small restaurant, it was still a great table. They had two different types of Vale Ale on draft (the Pale Ale and a Mystery Brew) but both of the kegs were gone. One would think if it is the “home” of the beer, they might have a few more kegs in the back?! Oh well, they did have the Vale Ale in bottles and a great wine list. So we each ordered drinks and a local platter. It was similar to what we’d had the weekend before at the winery. Local bread, cheese, olives, some duck and rabbit pâté like thing, duck potatoes, and fresh olive oil. Yum!

We left the Inn and decided to head a winery that John thought the name and sign looked cool - Hugh Hamilton wines. He was apparently the black sheep of his family and the winery’s mascot is a black sheep! The cellar door was amazing…literally situated in the middle of the vineyards, it was a round building with windows all around. We spent a while in there enjoying the wine and view but if we were going to make it to another winery, we needed to get moving. As we were purchasing some wine before we left, an older woman walked up on her way out and said to John, “I sure hope you enjoy your time in Australia.” Apparently, when we were walking into the cellar door, he held the door for her and she said, “You don’t have to wait for me; I’m kindof slow” and John replied, “I have all the time in the world.” Such a gentleman!! But we tell you this so you can visualize the next scene. As we are walking out, there is a statue of a sheep on the steps. John proceeds to straddle the sheep while Ellyn took his picture and who was waiting at the bottom of the steps for her ride? Yep, the sweet old lady!! Haha!

John on the Black Sheep at Hugh Hamilton Winery.

Ellyn with one of the sheep signs at Hugh Hamilton.

We decided to just drive and stop at the next winery that was small and sounded cool. After a few that didn’t have the feel we were looking for, we headed to d’Arenberg, a favourite of Ellyn’s from last time. We went in and began on the very large tasting list. We found a few that we liked but nothing compared to the final dessert wine. We each took a sip, looked at each other and then said, we’ll take a bottle of that! We finished our tasting and headed back out to the car. We stopped at the restrooms on the way out. When Ellyn came out of the bathroom, she was looking for John when he came strolling out of the winery with a box in his hand. He’d decided one bottle wasn’t enough and we needed a few more!

Back to work this week and it’s been a pretty long week. Apparently the Aussies have decided to work a few more hours since last time Ellyn was here! But both John and Ellyn’s biggest clients are set to wrap up this week, so hopefully the hours will scale back.

Learn Something New Every Day

We started last weekend with Quiz Night, sponsored by the KPMG Social Club. You were to sign up in teams of 8 to 10…we were part of the “Non-Oz” group (made up of all rotationals). It was quite a fun night, with drinks flowing (we determined it is very difficult to stay sober when you have someone continually putting new pitchers of beer on your table) and a master of ceremonies that was dressed up in true German gear and obviously had enjoyed a few “steins” of beer before the game night started. Our table did fairly well (we somehow still failed to win) and challenged the answers to a few questions (in true John spirit). John was selected by our table to participate in a “challenge”. He had to go on stage and hold a full stein (small, yet heavy, glass pitcher full of beer) while keeping his arm straight in front of him and not bending his elbow. He did a great job and was fourth out of 12 tables. He actually ended up giving up because he decided he’d rather drink the beer in that pitcher than get our table points…wise man!

At the end of the evening, we all headed out to a bar near our place, The Elephant. We had a great time and stayed until kicked out because it was closing. Needless-to-say, our Saturday morning was spent in bed a bit under the weather. When we finally did get up, we headed over to get bikes as we were going to ride to the beach and have a late lunch. Right…so, after a lot of drinking, our muscles were feeling a bit dehydrated and once we got out of the City, we realized how much farther we had to go. Ellyn gave John a look and he immediately said, “Whatever you are thinking, yes!” So they headed back to the City, took the bikes back and hopped on the tram to the beach. About 25 minutes later, they arrived in Glenelg. A great lunch followed with live music at a local hotel/bar establishment right on the main square. We walked out on the beach afterwards and then strolled through downtown Glenelg. We stopped for ice cream (for John) and fresh, hot cinnamon doughnuts (for Ellyn). After a while, we headed back to the City. John was literally falling asleep on the tram, so we decided to take a quick nap before heading out on a date night to celebrate our 2^nd month anniversary (Ellyn’s idea, of course!). But when the alarm went off an hour later, it was quickly turned off and we woke up Sunday morning. Kindof reminded us of our first weekend here and trying to get on Australia time! Guess we aren’t as young as we used to be.

Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the grocery store before being picked up by Hillary and her boyfriend Mark (Americans – Colorado). We headed over to meet Natalie and Quinton (South Africans) and Johann (English/South African) to go to McLaren Vale for some wine tasting and a late lunch. As we were waiting on Johann to meet us, we were all sitting around chatting and planning our day. Once he arrived, Johann, Natalie and Quinton went to their car and Mark cranked,or attempted to crank, ours. Nothing. Dead battery. No one knows why as we weren’t there that long and the lights weren’t on, just the radio. Mark mentioned something about being on a hill and pushing the car down but we all kindof ignored him, thinking, what is this guy talking about?! We called the South Africans for a jump but they don’t have jumper cables. Quinton, Natalie and Johann all said, well, we can just put the car in second and push you and then you release the clutch and it will start. Right… Ellyn thinks she’ll sit this one out. If we can paint a picture for you: small, side street, relatively flat. At the end of this street is a large street closed off to traffic on Sunday afternoons for a market. We were facing the large street with the market. As the three guys were pushing the car (John, Johann and Mark) and Quinton was “driving” they seemed to be going quite fast toward the crowd of people. At some point, Ellyn screams, “Maybe you should move to the front of the car to stop it because this obviously isn’t working!!!” Just about that time, she sees break lights and the car cranks up! Amazing! Now, sorry if others knew about this trick, but we did not. Of course, it only works if you have either a lot of strong people or are on a hill but good to know either way!

Now that we were on our way to McLaren Vale, we could focus on the task at hand…finding great wineries! We stopped at 2 of Hillary’s favorites, only to find they were closed. We then stopped at Maxwells, which had a great view of the vineyards and of the wine processing area. The cellar door had a large fireplace and was very warm and inviting. We stayed for a while, enjoying the wine and atmosphere. We had lunch reservations at Coriole so we left Maxwells and headed there. As we got of the car at Coriole, we saw large flames coming out of a “bush”. Someone mumbled something about an “uncontained bush fire” but no one seemed concerned. Lucky for us, it eventually appeared to become contained (luckily before our lunch arrived because all Ellyn could do was look out the window for the fire coming to get us!). The restaurant at Coriole was beautiful…overlooking a garden on one side and vineyards on another. The ceiling had old grapes vines going from one side of the room to the other. Great atmosphere. We ordered wine and standard platters of food, your only choice! But these platters were amazing. All the food was local: fresh veggies, cheeses, spreads, olives, bread, salad, roasted chicken salad, kangaroo filets and pork sausages. It was delicious!

After lunch, we headed to another winery but were less impressed with it. The cellar door was small, but no fire and the girl working there wasn’t overly friendly. Hillary and Mark had to get back for a basketball game, so we all decided we’d head back too. We rode back with Natalie, Quinton and Johann and stopped in Glenelg to drop Johann. We decided to take a walk around the marina and then stopped for coffee and cake (tiramisu!). Yum!

Eventually, we headed back home – arriving just in time for John to get to watch the end of the footy game with Adelaide (we lost). Another week of work this week, nothing overly exciting. Our plans for the upcoming weekend are still undecided as we determine if any work needs to be done. John and Ellyn have generously allowed KPMG to have this weekend and next as working weekends, ONLY if need be. So trips these upcoming weekends will be last minute and close by. Hopefully, we’ll make the best of them…

Cold Pizza in the Morning


We started last weekend with Ellyn picking up the rental car after work. All day in the office, people were telling her all about the Flinders Ranges and how rain could wash away roads up there and they hoped we didn’t get stranded. When they asked what kindof car they rented and Ellyn responded a Hyundai Getz (small, economy car that appears to be “the car of South Australia” as they are everywhere), laughter erupted. Fabulous.

She went to the rental car place and filled out all the paperwork and got the keys. As she went to the parking lot, she realized they’d reserved the cheapest car they could, which included a manual transmission. (This was done the week before they ended up getting an automatic so surely that would happen this week too…). As she clicked the key fob, a two door, hatchback canary yellow Getz lit up. Wow – as if we weren’t going to stand out enough in the outback, throw in a bright yellow car. And, it was manual. So the first time she would be driving on the wrong side of the road in two years was going to be in 5 o’clock Friday afternoon traffic with a stick shift? No thanks. The guy came over and asked if there was something wrong (apparently she had a worried look on her face?!) She quickly went back inside and explained the situation and by some stroke of luck, the salesperson gave her an automatic. This time it was red and four doors. Oh yeah.

So, they packed the car and hit the road. It was a relatively uneventful trip except for the fact that Ellyn was holding her breath while John was driving as he sped through isolated outback roads with kangaroos just waiting to jump out and get us. Luckily, we made it to our destination just before 11, unscathed. We followed the sign to “Reception”. Let us just say, it didn’t look very receptive. The blinds were pulled, all lights were out and there wasn’t a sign of anyone having been awake for hours. Ellyn used the phone and followed the directions for late check in. She dialed the number at least 3 times and it just rang and rang. John did the same thing. Ellyn was deciding how she was going to lay the seats down so they could sleep in the car that night when John thought they should keep going the way he originally wanted to (away from the reception sign). We approach another building that appears to be somewhat of a reception, but again, not very receptive looking. At least when John uses this phone, we get an answer. “Do you know what time it is? Its quarter past 11.” “Yes, sir…I’m…sorry?” Needless to say, our cabin was unlocked and the keys were in it. We get to the cabin, get settled in and sit out on our little bench overlooking the property before going to bed.

The next morning, we get up early and go speak to the man that we woke up oh so late (11:15pm). He was a bit more welcoming this time and gave us a map with a driving route that would show us a great portion of the Flinders Ranges. We did the tour, stopping at a few lookouts that were truly spectacular. (Here is one of our favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVcWkALiXig )We marvelled at the vastness of “nothing”. We saw “heaps” of kangaroos and emus roaming wild and free.



For lunch, we stopped at a true outback town. Tony, the man at the place where we were staying, described it as what used to be a true outback town, until they “sealed” (paved) the road to it. Well, if this isn’t an outback town, I don’t want to go to a true outback town. We think we counted about 15 buildings, and that included the houses we could see from the main/only street. The town name was Blinman and the Lonely Planet states the population is 20. Yes, TWO ZERO. We see the North Blinman Hotel but Ellyn is convinced this isn’t where we are suppose to go for a great steak sandwich; per Tony, we are supposed to go to the Blinman Hotel. But really, can a town of 20 people support a North Blinman and a Blinman Hotel? We think not. We head in and place our order. There are 2 other patrons at the bar and none in the restaurant. We see two workers. John asks the girl taking our order if the Lonely Planet is correct in its population count. She says yes, the last person born here was about 30 years ago. Ladies and gentlemen, we have entered the outback. (See video of Blinman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkKqmIwFuw )

Upon leaving Blinman, we drive on numerous dirt/rocky roads. The driving tour we were doing basically took us driving north along the Flinders Ranges, then we drove across the ranges, and then south beside them before crossing back over. On the side where we were driving south, we were surrounded by nothingness. (See “nothingness”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsiUbdYpEps ) We drove through some gorges which was interesting to be so low and driving through the mountains. Ellyn did start to get nervous and understand why everyone kept asking what kindof car they were driving when she saw some of the roads they were to go across. She was looking for other non 4 wheel drive cars and had not seen any on the dirt roads since they’d started. She got excited when she thought they were meeting one, thinking surely they’d be okay in their Getz, but she then realized it was a Subaru Outback, I mean its named after our current location!! But her nervousness did not heighten until they reached a small pond blocking the road with a car on the other side of it, apparently refusing to cross. We got out to survey the scene and see if the Getz could make it through. Ellyn thought no. John thought yes. Given the alternative was to backtrack over an hour, John decided to go for it. It was decided Ellyn should stay out of the car so not to distract John with her “ah!” and “ooos!” and “watch out!” John made it through with flying colors! As soon as he got through the small pond though, he hit a large rock! Glad this car was a rental! Now John has a new found confidence in the Getz given that it was just driven through the small pond and was still running. Great, like he needed any more confidence after his driving performance the night before.

We continue back to our cabin, making a few stops along the way, mostly for Ellyn to try and get close to the wild kangaroos. (We tried to document getting close to some, see the video. The people we talk about “coming” who we thought were going to yell at us for messing with the wild animals, actually were just trying to get by and our car was in the way! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd_n0O280bI )We saw so many that by this point, John isn’t getting as excited about them anymore. Don’t worry…Ellyn still did.


They get back to their cabin and get some fire wood. As Ellyn fixed glasses of wine, John was supposed to be starting the fire. About an hour later, we finally had a campfire. Apparently, John was using the wrong type wood (who knew you used different firewood in a different country?!). John even went to another fire near by and asked for some tips! (We’re sure he looked like a very serious fire builder as we did not have a flashlight and had to use the flashlight on our cell phones. We really looked like we belonged.) John did say to Ellyn more than once, “I was a camp counsellor for two years; I know how to build a fire!” We were able to enjoy the fire for about an hour before heading to our dinner reservation at the Woolshed. Now, given our current location and the fact that this place was called the Woolshed and housed in a tin building, we didn’t get dressed for the occasion. We were still in our clothes from the days (jeans, tennis shoes, fleeces, hats, etc.). As soon as we get to the door, we realize we were a tad underdressed. How exactly does one manage to be underdressed in the middle of nowhere? At least they still let us in and thank goodness we had a reservation. It was 7:30 and there was one open table in the whole place. (We later discovered they obviously were very busy from about 6:30 to 7:30 and dead after that. There were only 2 servers and by the time we left at 8:45, we were one of the last tables.) One would think that after trying to pet kangaroos all day, eating one wouldn’t be at the top of your list. WRONG. Kangaroo fillet for Ellyn! John ordered a salmon pizza (go ahead and make fun of him of ordering salmon in the Australian outback, Ellyn did). The food was delicious though and as the plates were being cleared, our server asked if John would like his pizza wrapped up. “Yes, please.” To which the waiter responded, with a singing tone, “Cold pizza in the morn-ing!!” (We recorded this on video simply so you can hear how hilarious it was. We repeated this saying multiple times over the past few days.) We head back to the cabin and our smouldering fire, throw a few more logs on and enjoy some wine and dessert by campfire. It was wonderful! We even saw a shooting star! John admitted his wish was to hit a kangaroo…not so hard to hurt it or the car, but hard enough to see what it would feel like. Um…so Ellyn will be driving from now on!

Sunday, we get up and pack up the cabin and head for the mountains! We’d decided to do the “highlight” hike to the top of Wilpena Pound (natural crater in the midst of a mountain range). It was a 6.1 kilometer hike that was rate “difficult”. Ellyn considers herself relatively in shape and enjoys hiking, but 12.2 kilometers return and difficult…this should be interesting. Much of the trail was relatively flat and we saw more wildlife. There was a long stretch, or should we say long incline, that was VERY STEEP and rocky. But, we made it to the top! There were two different look out spots with great views – one of the Pound and one of the Flinders Ranges. We hiked back down and were impressed with the fact that we did the hike much quicker than the standard hike time.
We hiked to the top of the mountain behind John.

We made it to the TOP!

Our steep/rocky climb back down.

We headed to another small town for a very late lunch. Hawker’s population was just a few hundred people and one would think they would be excited to see new faces but the woman at the deli where we stopped literally barely spoke to us. John said multiple times, “How are you today?” and she didn’t even respond. Then she made some smart comment about why foreigners don’t like beetroot, “Aussies love beetroot.” For the record, Ellyn had the beetroot and it was good.

The drive back to Adelaide was a gorgeous one as we drove through some rain and it made the grass (once we reached an area of the state with grass!) very green. There were gorgeous rolling hills and again, vast nothingness.

We are sticking around Adelaide this upcoming weekend. The KPMG Social Club is hosting a Quiz Night Friday night, then we are getting bikes and riding out to the beach on Saturday and Sunday, a group of rotationals from KPMG and their spouses are headed to McLaren Vale (a wine region).