Adelaide: the party

Richard was good enough to have a birthday while we were with them. It was a splendid celebration of both his birthday and some of the very special people in their lives. Di's exceptional organization skills ensured that it all evolved beautifully. She even managed to arrange for this spectacular cloud to arrive just at the right time to begin dinner on a Wow note!

 

 

 

 

Adelaide: the beaches

Glenelg - not bad for a city beach on a Saturday morning ....

Glenelg town hall facing the beach

Christmas decorations among the palms

A wonderful splash pad for little ones to enjoy (and probably for adults to cool off in on days like yesterday). It's in the middle of the pedestrian mall that leads to the beach, right in front of McDonald's.

 

This cottage and its ironwork is mostly original from the 1800s.

kangaroo paw flowers in bloom, both red and gold

a mystery tree with flowers I'd swear to be hibiscus of some kind ... 

...any ideas, Anne, Toni?

 

Adelaide: the city getting ready for Christmas

Lovely old, traditional buildings with classic iron lace adornments either from the 1800s or replicated to look so. Note the Christmas wreaths. It was 33 degrees!

 

A real Christmas tree couldn't have withstood the heat here so this is a huge, artificial one. I myself would prefer to decorate the gorgeous purple jacaranda beside it! However, the Christmas spirit is strong and getting stronger now that we're into December.

Adelaide with Good Friends

What a difference a 2-hour flight south west can make! We left the green and relatively lush east coast and crossed Australia to Adelaide, seeing the land beneath us get browner and browner until we landed. This region hasn't had rain for 2 months until today when a cool change is happening (lowering the temperature from 40 to 30, we're told).
We'll see....

Di in front of beautiful new home in Adelaide

On their favourite beach in Normanville

Pretty but both flowers and insects are unknown to me.

Deep Creek Conservation Area was a new destination for all of us so we took 24 hours to explore it together.

 

watching crested terns on the beach ...

 

 

... while Western Gray kangaroos watched us.

 

Almost always a roo can be seen somewhere in the vicinity.

 

This baby is standing up very straight, just as his mother instructed him!

 

Our home away from home in a ridgetop retreat. Very modern, very comfortable (especially because the night time temperature was quite cool.) It was perfect for an overnight getaway for the four of us.

sunset 

 

 

Early morning in Deep Creek - it was already about 30 degrees by 8.00 AM!

Boat Harbour Beach

 

 

 

Di photographing Kangaroo Island in the distance

Deep Creek's stringybark eucalypt forest with understorey of grass trees, also called "black boys" because of their tolerance for fire, remaining as standing black living beings after fires denude and char them. Not sure if this name is politically correct but it is certainly descriptive!!!

 

so many gorgeous bottle brushes

a lovely mixture of beach plants and rocks none of which I recognize

the rocky shores of Second Valley 

a challenge for a geologist?

 

 

 

 

More Moments from Lamington NP

red-necked paddy melon

Wonga vine

strangler fig tree

Christmas bells

staghorn fern in early stages and ...

... much more mature staghorn fern below with other species of fern growing above it

 

bird's nest ferns

spores on underside of bird's nest fern

Jock on the tree-top walk

another bower of blue ornaments (note all the bottle caps - I can't help wondering what the satin bower bird's decorations were before the advent of blue plastic...)

misty morning on our last walk 

 

 

Jock trying to see the hoop pine's top

hoop pine bark

This brush turkey accompanied us for several KM on our walk and finally turned back at this large hoop pine.

 

We loved walking on the narrow roads through the towering trees of Lamington. I believe that such roads would only exist on private land at home because municipalities are all too worried about liability and cut down everything close to the road. On our way out, we followed 2 large transport trucks being driven by student-drivers. Annoying in the extreme when you're trying to get to Brisbane to catch a plane but we did admire their skill in negotiating these trees hugging the roadsides.

This hill was my cardio workout that morning!

 

looking up ...

colonization

 

These flowering bushes always gave me pleasure

 

 

My last fling with the parrots at O'Reilly's in Lamington NP

 

 

 

Crimson rosellas and king parrots would land on our heads, hats or shoulders even if we didn't have food for them. I wonder if they actually could survive on their own in the wild if they had to...