Adelaide in January 2012

It had been more than a year since we last saw Abi and Declan - in the UK.  This time we decided to fly out to Adelaide and see them there, especially since Abi has divorced from Declan's father, Chris and is now living with a new partner - Carl Kubea.  We decided to go just after Christmas 2011, celebrate the new Year in Australia and then spend a week on Kangaroo Island with them.  Here is the story.

As with all trips of this nature, a number of those unpleasant places called airports were involved. This is the two travellers enjoying a beer at Heathrow

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Twelve long hours later, still 28th December 2011 and this is Lizzie enjoying a Tiger Beer at Changi airport, Singapore

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Abi and her partner, Carl live in a small but very comfortable house near the beach in the Adelaide suburb of Hallett Cove

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Six years old Declan clearly enjoyed seeing his Granddad again and we, in common with most grandparents I am sure, think he is quite the nicest young man in the world

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We were also greeted by the house cat, Eddy.  Eddy recently was bitten by a snake and only just survived. We are so pleased he did. Quite a feline

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The house is yards from the ocean, and we were able to walk every day along the coastal boardwalk and enjoy the warm sea water and splendid views

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The beach is approached by descending from the cliffs, and here Declan, Abi and Carl have beaten us to the sea

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Cormorants sit on the rocks and fly with their noses inches above the waves as they search for fish

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It was very hot while we were there, and the best time to visit the sea was during the evening as the worst of the heat started to decline. Sunset was usually a spectacular event

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Adelaide at Christmas, and it was very odd to see huge images of Santa etched against the blue of the sky and with everyone wearing T-shirts and shorts

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We were able to enjoy the New Year fireworks in Adelaide by standing on the beach and looking north towards the city

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As with previous visits, we visited Glenelg, just to the north of Hallett Cove and walked the pier

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and enjoyed wandering around this popular resort suburb

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The rest of the time was spent in various ways - Abi has a super horse to ride when is able to find the time

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Declan inspected everything and asked questions by the dozen

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and spent some time with his Dad

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While Eddy the cat rested in his favourite location, on top of the air conditioning unit

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While mum just looked glamorous

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And then it was off to Kangaroo Island - a 45 minute ferry journey, costing hugely more than it was worth. Sealink have a monopoly on the ferry and most attractions on the island

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Our rented house turned out to be first class, with lots of space and well appointed. You never quite know with these rented places, but we were very pleased with it. Carl BBQ'd

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And we all enjoyed the food he had prepared

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The house had a large terrace with splendid views of the sea

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And we were regularly visited by local inhabitants, like this wallaby

wobbly.jpg (198552 bytes) We seemed to have our own private beach, a short walk from the house and with beautiful, fine, white sand ki_beach.jpg (196137 bytes)

Just great for building sandcastles

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The coastline was fascinating, with numerous examples of weather rocks like this one

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But on the windward coast it was a different story, with large waves continuously crashing against the rocks

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And creating a perfect environment for Lizzie to sit and watch the waves

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On other days Liz and I went for walks around parts of the island, finding strange signs maze.jpg (592831 bytes)

And wandering along the almost deserted coast with our teggies in the sea.

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We found seals on the western point of the island, near to Admiral Arch. After centuries of slaughter the seals are now protected in this area seal.jpg (347834 bytes)

And we visited a location called "Remarkable Rocks" where weathering has created a series of rocks on a cliff in strange shapes

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But the highlight of the trip was when Carl and Abi decided to become engaged abi_and_carl.jpg (251929 bytes) And Abi was given a lovely ring.  We wish them both all success for a very happy future together ring.jpg (189070 bytes)
And what better way to end the trip than with a trip to the Adelaide zoo on our last day zoo.jpg (356747 bytes)

The zoo entry was very expensive, and maybe because of that we found it almost deserted. We spent a super day looking at all the animals, and at the end it was the otters who had the last word

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