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| We saw this little guy on the side of the road. He was awake for a few minutes looking around and then laid his head next to the tree and went back to sleep. They sleep 18 hours a day! |
Coming across the cold Southern Sea of the “Great Australian Bight” we have lots of wind and a very rocky ship. Something we love (while sleeping) but others probably not so much. We passed a lady getting off the ship this morning with a newly broken arm.
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| Beautiful view from the top of Mount Lofty overlooking the ocean and the city of Adelaide. |
Hopefully she did it while doing something more fun like dancing! Ouch! They were on their way to the hospital.
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| Mt. Lofty Lighthouse. |
We took a driving tour of Adelaide and then up to a German town called Hahndorf. The temperature today was perfect. About 75F/23C. Such nice weather to walk around town. Our first stop was at Mount Lofty. The views up there overlooking Adelaide were beautiful and there was a cute lighthouse overlooking the mountain.
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| First day of fall here – leaves falling and colors changing. |
If it snows, which is very rare (last snow was in 1912) there will be some snow covering this mountain but not anywhere else. While walking back to the bus we noticed something in the tree. It was a Koala.
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| German hotdogs! |
It was so cute. Many koalas are in this area. So much so they have signs for Koala crossing and they also have special areas they can cross the highway. We only saw this one on our trip. It was awesome! I’m sure we’ll see more along the way.
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| Loved this sign. |
Another sight we saw on this trip was some of the remnants left over from the fires. Some of the trees were charred black, mainly on the trunks but interestingly, the greenery and leaves were growing back.
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| Lots of shopping in Hahndorf. These window fairies were cute. |
This is our first experience at the leftovers from the fires. Very sad in what Australia went through and then floods on top of that.
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| Need any handmade shoes? |
Adelaide is located in South Australia, so we are at the very bottom of Australia now. It is the capital city of SA and has a population of 1.3 million people. Interesting enough, today, February 29th is the first day of fall. The leaves are seen falling and changing colors. They are very laid back here and don’t get in a hurry.
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| A cute wishing well |
She said if you want fast paced, go to Melbourne. Some things produced here are gypsum, wheat and barley. So, you can imagine how many beers are produced here as well. Many, many silos are around for keeping the grain.
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| A memorial set up for Captain Dirk. Founder of Hahndorf |
While driving in Adelaide we saw some beautiful parks with play areas for kids, walking and biking paths in many places. Much of this area is great for the ones attending the huge university they have in the middle of town.
So huge in fact they have a light rail type of train that is free to anyone shopping or going to school in that area.
Once we arrived in Hahndorf, we were given a couple of hours to roam. This little town is a German town discovered by Lutheran migrants. Many of the settlers arrived in 1838 aboard a ship called Zebra.
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| We didn’t think to see how much the Birkenstock’s were as reference to what they cost in the states. |
The town was named after the captain of this ship, Dirk Meinerts Hann. With a population of 1,800 people, Hahndorf is Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement. We found many familiar German names such as Birkenstock shoes and Bratwurst’s.
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| This guy and his coffee intrigued me. He was in the antique carriage behind the horses. |
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| We spent some time with the horses. They were raising money for the animal shelters. |
We had coffee and carrot cake at a cute outdoor coffee shop. Said it was the best coffee in town, so we decided to try it out. It was pretty good. The carrot cake was better! We enjoyed our tour and logged our 2.5 miles for the day.
It helps to go on tours or at least get off the ship so we can walk some.
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| Holden. Was an Australian made car but they dont make cars in Australia anymore so this is a rare find. |
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| 55 or 56 Chevy. Chuck likes the old cars. |
We’re not walking as much as we normally do when on land. The ship makes you lazy! And, making steps around the buffet doesn’t count! We do get at least 1 mile per day around the ship.
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| Some signs of the fires. |
At least that counts for something and only having two meals a day helps too. Our next stop will be Melbourne. It’s more of a huge city I’m sure we’ll be close enough to the city to snap a few photos.
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| Still quite a bit of greenery over the mountains. |
The 25 foot waves crashing at the bow woke us up a couple of times last night. Difficult to walk straight, so making sure we use the railing at all times. Sure glad Chuck & I don’t have stability issues. Dont want to fall and break anything. We have heard that it is even worse when passing through the Tasmanian Sea which is in a few days. Hopefully it wont be any worse.
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 