I'm on a roll here

Yes, I have to write it down before I forget the details. That's the problem with aging isn't it, things and happenings run into one another so I strongly recommend blogging or other forms of keeping track and it's fun too. I remember my father-in-law, when he visited us in France and we went on some trips together, he always noted down places and things they'd seen at the end of the day. I am ashamed to say that there were a few times when we got a little impatient with this, since we wanted to do other things, but now having reached the age that he was then, I fully understand him doing this. You know when you've been on holidays and you look at your photos and can't remember where or when something was taken, well he wrote down where he took photos, which was lucky because he took many photos of churches and after a while they all start looking the same.

Anyhow, when I went up to the Barossa Valley this man in the tourist office told me to go and see the Whispering Wall which was supposed to be well worth it. It was a little bit out of the way but I went anyway. What it is is a dam, and the material of the wall makes sound travel very far. So when you stand at one end, you hear perfectly well another person whispering even at the other end, a hundred meters away. Very weird!

Driving home yesterday hubby became my hero for the day. He spotted a small herd of about 30 sheep that had escaped out on the road, and there was even one who was down with his/her foot caught in the barb-wire fence. When hubby approached, the poor sheep got so panicky that he/she managed to get lose by him/herself. But hubby had been ready to get in there and lift him/her down had it been necessary and that was very brave in my book. You see, they are bigger than you think when you come close up to them.  Those who know me, know that I have a healthy respect, read fear, of animals. We were very low on petrol at this point but decided that we had to drive to a farm and notify someone. So we drove into the first one we saw and told a young girl there. She said that it sounded like it was their sheep but she wasn't too surprised so it probably happens quite often. So all was well and we made it to the next town to fill up on petrol.


When I say town, it can be a small place with a population of 60 and you almost miss it driving through. The petrol station can be a pump in someone's front yard. It's pretty empty out there.

Miles and miles of emptiness or wheat fields. Fortunately we had something to visit now and again, and this time it was the Big Olive.

Almost home

We are driving back from Adelaide and having a last night staying in Hay at the Bidgee Motor Inn. In fact we are just back from the local pub and a gianormous meal. No one told us that a dish for one person here could actually feed four road-train drivers. Hubby can never leave food and has been know to eat up everything uneaten on the kids' plates in the past,  but this time he had to cede to defeat and leave half of his portion. I had given up ages ago,  I guess we are not farmworkers needing our 8.000 calories per meal like the rest of the clients in the pub.

Anyhow we have had a great time on this trip, and I really like Adelaide.  Before we left Sydney some people poo-pooed it for various reasons, but I really like it. It was small enough to find your way around and big enough to have a lot going on.

I have been to museums and to the Barossa Valley and also to a very German town called Hahndorf. I have also been to the art museum and the opal museum and some other ones as well. Here is one of the pieces of art that was chosen as a favorite in the art gallery, when the public was asked to pick the ones they wanted to be exposed. I think it symbolized early motherhood!

In Hahndorf it was all very German and the reason was that many Germans settled there when they came from Europe in the early 1800 due to religious persecution back home. The restaurants and the pubs are filled with German food. I had a bratwurst und kartoffel salat,  yum, sehr gut!!

I have much more to tell but it is bed time so let me leave you with this little saying that I saw in one of the wineries that I visited, and where, by the way, they sold chocolate wine.