Wednesday 30 October 2013

To Perth and back.


Coming at you from the air aboard a Jetstar flight back from my lightning speed quick trip over to Perth, WA. 

Not usually one to use my laptop on planes but finished my books. So hoping to get this blog post written so I can quickly post it when I get back to the hostel in Adelaide. 

I flew out to Perth, Western Australia on Sunday to have a quick visit with 2 awesome friends : Richelle and Liz. Had to see them before I left and my previous plan on seeing them on a stop over flight on way to Africa didn’t work out since I’m now flying through Singapore. 

Perth is one of my fave cities here in Oz. I was last out here in September 2010 when I took the Indian Pacific train across the Nullarbor Plains ( 3 day trip over very flat land!)  Not really sure what it is about the city but it is a chilled out , relaxed feel. Lovely botanic gardens with an awesome view of the city center and river. 


First stop was Richelle’s place which is a busy place with lovely gardens and lots of cool animals. Blue heelers, cats ( breeders of ragdolls), 4 gorgeous Fell ponies, chickens and I’m sure I’m missing some! 

The 3 amigos - Darci, Soli and Stroller
Flinders


The ponies are adorable. Who wouldn’t want 3 cheeky black slightly spoiled hairy ponies out the back door? Stroller (4yrs), Soli (2yrs) and Darci (4 yrs Fell x trake) and old Mistress who’s still going strong at 27yrs young. Highlight for me was getting to ride! Woot! Haven’t ridden for I don’t know how long (2+ years) which everyone finds surprising since I live on a horse farm. And Richelle may have converted me to ponies with this one ride as well. Stroller may only be 14hand high but it didn’t even feel like I was on a little horse. Will post pics when I receive them from Richelle. 
Richelle and Chapel


Other fun times with Richelle include super yummy Chinese food (supper), lunch at Broken Hill Hotel - oddly named since it is no where near Broken Hill, South Australia. The food there was amazing with a finishing touch of Sticky Date pudding and ice cream. And driving around in circles in the dark since Richelle got lost! Entertaining times and worth it for the views of the city at night. 
Amazing Sticky Date pudding and ice cream

Richelle and I being silly

Monday and today were spent with Liz outside of Perth. We had a late supper at a little Indonesian restaurant that was trying to close for the night. We spent the morning out at her work talking with her boss about horses and traveling. Her boss owns one of mares I use to know. Lots of time visiting with friendly yearlings and mares with new foals. Also ended up finding a very young calf all by herself, curled up in the shade with no mother anywhere in sight or in the paddock. Still don’t know where her mother is since she didn’t belong to any of the cows on property. Calf is now being bottle fed until mother is found. 

Sleepy munchkin

Liz and Lizzy
Yearling fillies being very friendly while I was taking pics.

Cute lost 3 day old calf
I have made it back to Adelaide with only a bit of a flight delay. Will bring you more about Perth later since it is super late and I need to get up early tomorrow.

Thanks again to Richelle and Liz for hosting me. Great seeing both of you and all the animals! xx


Tuesday 29 October 2013

Busy days in Beautiful Burra

I am playing a bit of catch up with the blog since I have been busy running around the country side to catch up with good friends one last time. I took a beautiful drive up through the Murraylands , through the Adelaide Hills , Barossa Valley to the edge of the outback to Burra. It was a gorgeous day driving past lovely vineyards. The Hills are still green and always remind me of England with lots of little picteresque towns and houses.
A winery in the Hills

Murray River

And the Barossa Valley, you can't go wrong there. Field after field of vines. Wish I had time to stop in at Wolf Blass Winery. Wolf Blass himself is a cool dude and loves horses which equals good in my books not to mention his wines are awesome. :D And even managed a "scenic detour" aka I got lost. *rolls eyes* Even with having 2 maps! Just couldn't find the road I needed. At least it was in a pretty area. lol Burra,South Australia is a lovely little town situated on the edge of the Outback.It has an old copper mine and is only 145km from Adelaide and is one of the closest larger towns for people coming off the stations. I was up there to visit good friends Bernie & Tim. They own and are bring Kookabura house back to her former glory. Beautiful views over Burra.
Tim & Bernie with Jessie and Mishka

A quick trip to Clare -complete with yummy bakery, a walk up through World's End Gorge - a creek crossing, a sleepy lizard, some gelahs and beautiful sun and scrub took up most of the day.



And to finish the day off with a trip to the La Pecora Nera aka The Black Sheep italian restaurant for delicious homemade in a pizza oven pizzas. Finishing the night with amazing gelati. Bernie will tell you that the lemon gelati is awesome! Tim and I would say it was very entertaining to watch her eat it :D The faces were priceless!


Now off to Adelaide and flying to Perth, Western Australia for a quick visit with 2 good friends out there. Talk soon! ( This happened a few days ago, currently in Perth.. will catch up blog today hopefully!)

Saturday 26 October 2013

Welcome!

Welcome to my new little corner of the net!

I have just started this blog before I head out to start my new adventures. I am heading off to Africa on November 5, 2013 and seeing where life takes me.

Bear with me while I figure out how to work this blog and get it looking respectable.

Lozza