Jump!

Today we cleared the new house of the old, tired decor till the skip was overflowing with drab curtains and blinds, broken up wardrobes, drawers, mirrors and tons of greenery hacked out of the once overgrown garden. Job done, we headed up into the Hills to Stirling and had a walk around the Woorabinda reserve. As late afternoon moved in, the sun came out and we drove down to the ocean for an amazing sunset on the beach. We even saw a dolphin frolicking some 50 meters into the water - see if you can spot his fin in two of the sunset photos. All the pics are here.

It's been a good day; a very good day. So......... JUMP!

Rally without a cause

There is an annual rally in Norwood, a bosh (bohemian and posh) suburb of Adelaide, and it brings out the creme de la creme of petrolhead amateurs. It's really just an excuse to take the piss, and there is a street party to prove it, with the whole of the main drag closed off for one afternoon. They race around the Hills in souped up vintage cars (aka old bangers) and then mosy on down to line up on The Parade to show off. All spick-and-span chrome, American muscle cars taking up two parking spaces at a time, MG and Jaguar leading the British pack, Porsche Carreras and Targas, as well as Italian fiery flair led by - you know it - the Fiat Cinquecento. A version of this model used to be the national car of old Yugoslavia, which tells you how good they really are.... If it doesn't start, you can stick it on your stove to boil some spaghetti or in the garden to pot a plant. There were several podium ceremonies, until everyone got a medal. Champagne gushed, eyes sparkled, sausages sizzled on the barbie... Happy days!

    

Sprung

Within a day, at the very end of August, the weather turned to spring. From heavy rain one day, all of a sudden it was sunny the next and the temperature hovered around 27C for a whole weekend. We discovered Semaphore beach, with wide dunes full of flowers, much less crowded, sheltered from the wind and peaceful. Off to the beach...

Postman Pete

Helen opened our letterbox to pick up the post and... a small furry object wiggled out from under her palm. He likes the metal letterbox cos it's warm during the day and safe during the night. His species like to live in and around houses and come out at night to feed on insects, so people keep them as useful pets.

Two days into his sojourn, we realised we'd rather like to keep him - he is very cute and furry! We just need to pick up our post a bit more carefully until we grow more accustomed. It's one thing to be told they are harmless, quite another to believe it!

Friends and family, meet our new Australian pet and sub-tennant, Postman Pete, the friendly neighbourhood huntsman spider :-)