What We Did on Our Winter Vacation

We are glowing in the memories of our past two weeks. We have had such a great vacation time. We started on the train from Urunga and made a big, big loop to Port Macquarie, Adelaide, Airlie Beach, Great Barrier Reef, Brisbane, and back by train into Urunga. Thanks to P.Mollahan Travel Agent, we traveled not only by train, but also by plane, car, foot, sailing ship, and fins. All was perfect, even with no water for a time, a wind storm, a late flight, and high seas. Get out your map!

We traveled to Adelaide with Paul and Diana to a home-exchange. We were met at the airport by the neighbor, Bruce, who drove us the hour up to the Adelaide Hills, to One Tree Hill. The home was in the pasture lands, on 10 acres, and had been left to us while the owners were traveling in Europe and the states. It is a lovely place with a wrap-around veranda, big windows looking out, and a non-working fridge and fully-stocked freezer and chest freezer. Oops. We were able to turn on the heat (pretty cold in Adelaide in the winter - low 40's), but not the water or the gas for the stove. Hmmm. A few phonecalls to Bruce later, we did without flushing or our stir fry, and opted for sticking to our separate bathrooms and cold cereal for dinner! We just laughed. After all, we've heard of teaching exchange stories where the families lived like this for the entire year, and this was just 24 hours worth of inconvenience!

After more cold cereal for breakfast, we started out to see penguins (my only request!), and Bruce and the neighborhood team 'o guys arrived to clean out the 10 rubbermaids worth of rotten freezer food and dodgy fridge condiments. They also repaired the water pump, replaced the leaky gas canister, and invited us for "Foursies" Friday at, yup, 4:00. "Tools down at 4:00," smiled Drew as he waved goodbye while we drove away in the borrowed Mazda 2, scarves and jackets on, penquin-bound!

We drove to Granite Island, south of Adelaide, where we would find penguins. These are the Little Penguins, or Fairie Penguins, who swim and feed in the ocean, and then come ashore to tend to their nest and/or babies for the night. We watched them feeding in the rehabilitation center. We hiked the rocky hills of the island for the afternoon, and then at night we went with a group to see others come ashore. Sure enough, these little guys were hiding in the rocks, waiting for us to move away so they could continue on their path to their nest in the hills. We also watched possoms (not the same ones we have at home) scamper about on the rocks. By shining a special "torch," flashlight into the nests, we could see the babies playing and waiting for mum and/or dad. So cute.

We ended the cold but great day with dinner at a pub on the way back. A fire burned in a huge fireplace, and their baked vegie casserole was to die for! Sure enough, we returned "home" to a sweet-smelling fridge, a working stove top, and fully-flushing toilets! All was very good.