Family visitors came to visit us again, in Australia this time. Excited to see them, we passed through airport security without being stopped and headed to the gate. We were able to wait for our beloved guests to arrive in Australia. The boys could hardly contain their excitement. When they finally came up the ramp, both boys raced to hug Dr. Courtney first, followed by both grandmas who were joining us for a second adventure. The grandmas had flown to San Francisco where they met Dr. Courtney at the airport and continued on with her to a layover in Sydney and then on to us in Adelaide. It was wonderful to see them.

Our first stop with the family was the beach! We saw the people catching blue crab and enjoying their time outside.

The next day was a very hot day 100 degree day. Although we had air conditioning, we decided to go to Henley beach in the morning while it was slightly cooler. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and throwing a ball around in the water while Chelsea, Tom, Courtney and Nadine took a swim in the Indian Ocean. After the beach we headed across the street to 50sixone for lunch to indulge in some of their gourmet desserts.

Later that week, we went on a dolphin cruise in Port Adelaide. It was a beautiful day, but we didn’t see many dolphins until we were on our way back to port. Then we had a bunch of sightings right near the side of the ship. It turned out to be a lot of fun. After the cruise, we spent some time at Pirate Life Brewing sampling beers.

For our 14th Anniversary, we took advantage of having Grandma Cathy and Grandma Dean with us. They were able to watch the boys so that we could take the train into the city for U2’s The Joshua Tree Tour at the Adelaide Oval along with Courtney. It was an awesome night with perfect weather for a concert. The show opened with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. They played a lot of songs from Noel’s former band Oasis and ended with The Beatles All you need is love. U2 came out next and put on an incredible show. They played most of the Joshua Tree album along with several other hits. It was really cool to be able to see them in Australia.

We spent the next day in Hahndorf, a German town, that was founded in Southern Australia. It was about an hour drive from Adelaide up in the hills. There were many shops and restaurants. We decided to stop at the Hahndorf Inn for lunch. We ordered a worst plate, chicken schnitzel, and some drinks. It was all delicious. The rest of the afternoon was spent checking to do shopping and a quick visit to the market.

We set out to explore the Borassa Valley area. Our first stop of the day was the Whispering Wall (otherwise known as the Borassa Reservoir), a dam where you can stand on one side and whisper and hear your friends or family 140 meters away on the other side. It is called the parabola effect. The acoustics were surprising and pretty amazing. The sound amplifies and carries so far.

Next, we stopped at the famous lavender fields in Lyndoch. They had a quaint shop and cafe (we got some lotion, oils, a scone, and some lavender ice cream), but the flies were crazy annoying and the lavender plants were not really in bloom. Grandma Cathy spotted a snake on the path in front of her that she took a photo of. We later found out it was an Eastern Brown Snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Australia is known for its dangerous snakes, and we saw one of the most fearsome right there in the lavender field.

Our first winery of the day was a big one, Jacob’s Creek. Sally our sommelier was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable and a great hostess. Some of our favorites were the Prosecco Spritz, Moscato Rose and the limited release JW blend. While we sampled wines, the boys played outside with lawn games. We joined them for a charcuterie plate on the patio afterward. The setting was even more exquisite than the wine.

Our second winery of the day was called Whistler Wines. This winery was smaller. They had 11 wines to sample. Our favorites here were called Fruit Tingle and Skeleton in a Tutu. While we sampled wines here, the kids played on the playset, met a new friend named Lily, and went to visit the pet kangaroos.

The last stop of the day was Maggie Beer‘s shop. Maggie is a well known Australian food chef, cookbook author, and restauranteur. She films from her onsite studio, gives cooking lessons, and creates products for the shop. She uses verjuice in many of her recipes. We were able to sample a few of her wines as well as her son-in-law’s gin. They had animals here too! We saw turtles in the lake and a big peacock.

We all piled on a train and took it to downtown Adelaide. First, we brought our guests to the Adelaide Central Market so they could check it out. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. We then walked to the Rundle Mall for some shopping before heading back. Mason may have had an epic fit about wanting a toy, but we finally found a way to calm him by listening to a very talented street musician.

Chelsea left us early the next morning for a conference in Perth. She decided to go to the 2019 Association of Academic Language Learning conference to satisfy some of her requirements for her sabbatical. The themes were All Around the World, All Around the Student, and All Around the Technology. Most presenters and attendees were from Australia, but there were also leaders from New Zealand, The United Kingdom, Norway, and Canada.

Left to our own devices, the rest of us took the kids to an amusement park called the Beachouse in Glenelg. The kids had a blast playing in the indoor play area, riding the train and carousel, playing games. They even rode in the bumper cars with Courtney and Tom while they battled it out. After a quick fish and chips lunch, people went on the Ferris Wheel down by the Glenelg Jetty and then the kids played at the park before we departed.

For Thanksgiving, we were able to whip together a pretty good meal! We had roasted chickens, potatoes, gravy, sweet corn, bread, apple pie and some great wine from our trip to the Barossa wine region. It was fun to have Thanksgiving in Australia even though they don’t celebrate it. We missed all of our family back home though. After dinner, the kids really wanted to show everyone their favorite park so we drove over to it and let them play for a while before walking over to Semaphore beach.

Our last activity in Adelaide was to attend the start of the beach games festivities going on down by the Semaphore Jetty. There were about 25 food trucks, we sampled items from several of them. It was a little rainy and overcast which meant there were no lines at any of the trucks. Bad for business but good for us!

Our first impression of Adelaide and particularly our Semaphore area was not great. There were so many flies the first day we could hardly go outside. After a few days, the flies went away and we started to fall in love with the area. We loved all of the beach cities each with their own Jetty, restaurants, and shops. Each one had a unique personality. We made lots of memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. A special thanks to the Grandmas and Dr. Courtney for coming all that way to see us. We truly appreciate it. Thanks to Dr. Courtney for all the puzzle help too. We managed to complete 5 puzzles while she was with us. Until we meet again Adelaide.