Adelaide

We arrived in Adelaide late on Wednesday after having a night in Ceduna, coastal fishing town and then a night in Port Augusta, a bigger port town - with a great train yard which we could see from the van park we stayed at - no telling who was a little excited about that!!! Constant flow of majorly long trains heading west and east, counted 96 carriages on one of them! There was a bit of rain at PA but it had been hot so we managed a swim in the pool before the rain came. Great shot of a train with the Flinders Ranges in the background!

It was great to get to Adelaide and we are staying in the foothills at a lovely van park, also with a pool, which we have made much use of. We went into central Adelaide for a walk around the other day, it is pretty and green, the Botanic Gardens had some huge Moreton Bay Fig trees whose root systems, as you can see, are huge!

We also saw a statue of Charles Sturt who we learnt about last year as the explorer who forged a way north/south over our vast continent to establish the telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin and to connect Aust to England - our study of Australian history has given us an encouraging foretaste of more learning to come!

As we sat at dinner the other night we were stunned to see a koala come out of the bush, race across the ground and then climb a tree near our caravan. It was amazing, he was fast and then he sat in the tree for the next day eating and sleeping. We saw another koala today climb a tree nearby and spend his time sleeping. Apparently there are alot around and they make a rather scary growling noise at night sometimes too, odd for such a cute cuddly looking fellow!

We have had a wonderful time catching up with the Wuttke's here in Adelaide, they have been so hospitable and the kids have greatly enjoyed having some friends to hang out with, play with and get to know. We enjoyed going to church with them yesterday and the fellowship was encouraging and a real blessing to us. We took a walk through Hahndorf yesterday as well. It is a quaint village in the hills of Adelaide, the first German settlement in the area, with trees lining the street, it is full of interesting little shops and is a perfect place for a Saturday afternoon stroll on a mild summer afternoon - only disappointment was I forgot to bring the camera with me!

Today was spent swimming in the pool, it was a warm day and we will get organized tomorrow as we leave for Melbourne on Tuesday. We have really enjoyed this time in Adelaide to stop and take a break from travelling for a few days! But we look forward to the next adventure heading eastwards soon.