Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Nuriootpa SA March 31 2015 Short run up into the Barossa Valley this morning, but a really awful drive battling gusty buffeting winds. We are staying in Nuriootpa itself in a pleasant enough van park, right next to two large ovals, where of course they are training for AFL : The Might Nuriootpa Tigers! At the entrance to the van park, they have a 1932 Dodge caravan on display, looks just like a little house on wheels. Mum, dad and 3 kids went from SA right up to the top of Queensland in this, and before any maps and signposts, let alone sat-nav. 1932 Dodge caravan. Nuriootpa SA We went out to Lyndoch to see the 30,000 roses but found a new winery there instead called Chateau Barossa. The roses that we saw were all well past their final blush for the year, something to do with never being watered in this otherwise barren dessert. Chateau Barossa. Lyndoch SA We were actually looking for a ‘platter lunch’ but theirs didn't seem too special so we went to the next...

Adelaide March 30 2015 Ah, a rest day. Didn't bother getting up until late. Ate a  late breakfast, wandered down to Brighton and wandered around the pier and beach and coffee shops (they have about 20 that we could see in the near vicinity). Had a nice coffee and an uninspiring bun with apple init. Judy reckons her Vanilla slice was ok, not quite Beechworth standard but okay nonetheless. From the pier we could see a big boat on the horizon, just coming out of Port Adelaide, which must be 20km north. It has to be the QM2. Pier. Brighton SA Pier. Brighton SA Sculptures.  Brighton SA Later on after we had driven further down south to look at the beaches such as Seaford and Moana, we could see it much closer on the horizon, so i zoomed in and grabbed a few snaps. I had to digitally zoom in on these to get the picture shown, and isn't it odd, it looks like a mirage at sea, the row of lifeboats appears to be mirrored and the boat looks as if its above...

We have just come out of the Rod Stewart concert in Adelaide, and i have only 1 thing to say about that.... It was bloody brilliant!!!! make no mistake, this was a really really good show. None of that soppy American Songbook stuff, just full-on rock and roll, high energy, high volume, 100% effort and entertainment I know my children will be sniggering behind their hands as they read this, but let's be honest, you have to stand up and applaud talent and showmanship when you see it, and following right on the heels of an abysmal Australian support act, you can just tell that this was the real deal. He was scheduled to come on at 9pm. He came on at 10 to 9 and belted it out for 2 solid hours, one hit after another. Fabulous. Included three costume changes and a cast of 17 support stars. Perhaps the highlight of the night was Forever Young, which included the usual showcases of the other talent on stage while he took a wee break and changed costume. While he was off-stage t...

Adelaide SA March 29, 2015 Another early start and a transport section through to Adelaide via Tailem Bend where we stopped for a drink but found absolutely nothing open except the toilet, which we made use of. Made it into the Big4 at West Beach and grabbed our spot. looks like the kiddies are on holidays and they have all come to the beach. Can't blame them really, can you? We had to make a bee-line for IKEA after lunch to grab our drawers that they don't have in Sydney anymore. Judy has been on tender hooks for weeks: they had 30 when we left home, 15 two days ago and 11 according to their website this morning. We found only 3 left, so we grabbed our two and headed for the door, after a lap or two of the store, of course. Time now to spruce ourselves up for our big night out with Rod, Stewart that is.

Naracoorte SA March 28, 2015 Jumped out of bed early and got on the road by 8am, bound for South Australia. In may ways, this feels like the real start of the journey and we’re both keen to get on with it. After a slow start wiggling our way through Geelong, we finally got going and headed up toward Hamilton. It’s an odd thing, but out here all the towns are named after places in Sydney… Penshurst, Mortlake, Camperdown, Hexham (ok so that’s Newcastle but may as well be Sydney). I wasn’t concerned about having taken a wrong turn, my trusty navigator was keeping us on the straight and narrow B140 all the way to Hamilton. Pretty good roads all the way actually As we were on a roll, we pushed on until the car started bleating about needing fuel, so we cruised into Penola with our eyes peeled for the nearest servo. The car suitably replenished, we fed ourselves, and took some snaps of the lovely building in Penola. Penola SA Penola SA Penola also happens to be th...

A quickie tonight as I'm tired and we have a early start tomorrow - heading out toward Adelaide First, I went and did the tour of Fort Lonsdale, built from 1860 to protect the second richest port in the world from the marauding Russians, who had the richest gold port, St Petersburgh and may well have fancied our gold as well. Anyhow it got built complete with umpteen canon, a 20ft wide and deep ditch all around it and communications with Fort Nepean on the other headland guarding the entrance to Port Philip Bay. Needless to say, like most of these things in Australia, it never saw active service and never fired a round in anger and was turned into a school for budding Generals in 1945. Since then the Army have kept it and used it for various bookkeeping jobs but don't really want to spend anything on its upkeep. Some snaps: Fort Queenscliff, Victoria Fort Queenscliff, Victoria  Fort Queenscliff, Victoria  Fort Queenscliff, Victoria After 1hour 45 m...

Carlton Gardens March 26, 2015 Today we had set aside for a visit to the International Flower Show held at Carlton Gardens in Melbourne. Its a hundred km or so but a pretty easy run through Geelong and up the M1 to the big-smoke (pretty easy for me, Judy was driving) and follow the GPS into the parking area under Etihad Stadium. Great plan; for $18 you get to park all day and a nice man drives you up to the show in a big orange bus, and brings you back again. Hard to beat. Anyhow, the flower show was as good as the last time we were here a few years ago, at least Judy was feeling a whole lot better than then. What can one say about flowers? There are heaps of them to see, all the favourites: fuchsia, bromeliad, oncidium and the like. They even had tulips and stuff a la Floriade style. Its just as well we are heading to WA, where they have this disposition at the border regarding fruit, vegetables, flowers, food etc and delight in taking it all of you, or else we'd be overload...

Queenscliff Vic March 25, 2015 Set out cross-country style to get from Bendigo to Queenscliff, using all the A, B & C roads we could find. Fairly pleasant trip actually and we saw a bit of the country and a few little towns like Gisbourne and Bacchus Marsh. Didn't really see them as such, just drove through, didn't even stop for coffee as they are old style towns with no place to park a car and van. Made it into Queenscliff and back into the same spot we had last time. While we were eating lunch we took some snaps of cute little birds in and around the bottlebrush tree.  Look at this cute little guy. Queenscliff Vic Even smaller little yellow bird, but not the same as the one above. Queenscliff Vic No points for naming this bloke! Queenscliff Vic After lunch we took the obligatory run down to the Point to see if the ferry was in and stare at the big boats negotiating The Rip. Boat. The Rip, Port Phillip Bay Vic Boat. The Rip, Port Philli...