Wonderful weather

We're enjoying a run of marvelous weather with temperatures in the low seventies. It's Day 5 of the Boxing Day test where Australia fights for and achieves a draw, CJ has a morning walk to the bus information station to retrieve the temporary changes to the local free bus routes. They are temporary for locals but will start New Years Day and be in place the remainder of our stay.

In the afternoon CJ takes a long walk.  He tries a new route that takes him around the north side of the Adelaide Oval, to St Peter's Cathedral, around the hospital in North Adelaide eventually ending up near the zoo. He returns by the north bank Torrens  River path. On the way to the Oval he crosses the Torrens looking toward the Festival Center to the east.

Near St. Peters there is a view of downtown Adelaide in the background with the Oval in the foreground.

 

After having lived here for three years and having visited four time since, today is the first time he's ever entered St. Peters. It's smaller and simpler than he expected.

 He passes under University Bridge.  The tall building is one of the many University of Adelaide buildings.  They can be found all around town along with University of South Australia buildings.

 CJ loves the river walk.  It is always picturesque and peaceful.

Evening brings a patio dinner of wild boar and venison sausage accompanied by mini gnocchi in a brown butter sauce and fresh sage. We can't get sausage and gnocchi like this where we live.

The days finale?  Cricket of course.  The Hobart Hurricanes playing the Sydney Thunder from Launceston, Tasmania. It's accompanied by another brilliant sunset.

Port Moorowie and the Yorke Penisula - Day 2

Under overcast conditions  again, James decides on a drive-about to break up the day. First up is the small village of Edithburg. Two divers are training off the fishing jetty.  The village is in decline.  A pub and restaurant have both closed. One family has Santa seated in a recliner on the roof of the garage.

 

Meanwhile back at the shack, apricots and tomatoes need picking.

 

James managed to get CJ all spun up engaging him in a discussion of Trump and US politics.  He returns and insists CJ put on a pair of shorts, gets barefooted and wear this blue Hawaiian shirt of his with the purpose of chillin. Apparently its all about the shirt and some karma.

Let's have a look at the 'shack'. The grounds are very large with gardens, two huge sheds (barns really), three large water storage tanks, a long driveway and trees; two apricot, six olive and a peach. The ground floor has three bedrooms and a large room with a pool table. All rooms facing the ocean have floor to ceiling windows. The upper floor has the master bedroom and a great room. There are balconies across the front and back of the house. Not really a shack, more like a very comfortable second beach home. Have a look.

 

 

 

Carol, Jackie and Jose take a walk along the beach.  This walk goes for miles along the coast of the Yorke Peninsula. In fact it runs some 18 miles and 7 hours of walking to Edithburg the place we visited this morning.

 

How big is the utility shed?  James is charcoal grilling 'indoors".

 

This is an absolutely beautiful and delicious leg of lamb. Jackie has been busy while James has been cooking. There are six bottles of incredible vintage wines lined up on the pool table.  CJ gets to select two for dinner. The wines are from 1991 and there is no guarantee they remain drinkable but given the pedigree, there is a high degree of confidence. He selects the Peter Lehman Stonewell and Wolf Blass Black Label.  According to James, in the early 1990's they were the two rock stars of Aussie wine making and these were their flagship wines.  During dinner, the wines do their producers proud.

To complete the marvelous day, James serves up homemade vintage port, straight from the barrel.

Port Moorowie and the Yorke Penisula - Day 1

On the Wednesday after Christmas we rock out of the apartment at 0630 for the drive to the Yorke Peninsula. We arrive at the Hahn "shack" in Port Moorowie prior to lunch. It's about a four hour drive from Adelaide. Port Moorowie is on the south coast of the Yorke Peninsula.  Homes on the beach face south and on a clear day you can see Kangaroo Island and the Southern Ocean.

Although Adelaide temperatures are set to top a hundred degrees F, in Port Moorowie it's overcast, cool and windy. There has been a lot of ripening since James and Jackie's last trip here.  Carol harvests tomatoes and admires the apricot fruit.

 

The homestead operates on 100% rainwater. Drip irrigation is installed in all of the gardens. It's been a good year, the three huge retention tanks are full and we're a month into summer.

There are two large sheds on the property.  One is used as a garage.  One is a workshop with storage.  These three barrels contain aged port wine.

Dinner this evening comes from America and France.  Dinner is foie gras, toasted French bread and desert wine.  On offer an Aussie late harvest from Geoff Hardy at K1, Klaus' Austrian import Steindorfer and a world class French Sauternes, Chateau Suduiraut.  It was luscious.  94 pts from Parker.  #9 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2004.

The table is set with three glasses at each place setting.  Quickly we decide to save the Aussie wine for ice cream and apricots tomorrow. All in all a very good first day at the ocean.

Boxing Day

After a week of watching Big Bash Twenty20 cricket on television, it's time to return to test cricket.  Every Boxing Day (26 December) Australia plays a test match from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). This year it's the fourth match of the Ashes.  This year it's also meaningless since Australia have clinched the Ashes.

One might think an entire three session day of test cricket spanning from 10AM to 6PM would be enough. Nay, nay. At 7PM, there is a Twenty20 Big Bash match from Perth. More cricket to watch.

Outdoors there's not a cloud in the sky and the temperature tops 93F.  Probably should have taken a long walk but got interested in the cricket and worked at solving computer ordering problems.  We may finally have our new cell phones on the way; and with the 25% American dollar discount.

Christmas Day

After the massive Christmas eve dinner, we did absolutely nothing on Christmas Day.

We've honed in on James and Jackie's booking at the Intercontinental Hotel for the Christmas buffet.

In the past 13 months we've enjoyed three holiday buffets at good venues.  Today is best of show. The South Australian prawns are better than previous shrimp offerings.  The Sydney rock oysters are incredible.  The three best oysters in the world are Sydney rock, French Belon, and an oyster from north of San Francisco.  Others are good but these three are in a class by themselves.

The entrée offerings were special, particularly the seafood; oysters, mussels, prawns and sashimi tuna and avocado. 

 

The mains were a weakness but we didn't care. They were pedestrian and didn't warrant a photo. Between the seafood and salad starters and the marvelous desert bar life was good.

 

 

 

There was this reindeer ice sculpture and a cheese course.

 

 

Or maybe it was start to finish endless Mumm Champagne that provided an illusion of a good time; not!

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dinner is with James and Jackie at their Adelaide home.  Their address was 12 Tomsey, ours was 16 Tomsey. Carol's Christmas pudding is finally finished.  We walk a few blocks, catch the free bus to the East side, and then walk a few more blocks to the house. It has been a marvelous day; comfortably cool for this time of year. A summer Christmas tree adorns the patio.

Australian Christmas begins with their incredible prawns.  They are always so good. James opens a bottle of his first vintage 1997 cabernet. We've previously enjoyed the 98, 99, 00 and 01 and all have been magnificent.

 

 For Oz, this is a big turkey.  James plates huge portions.

Good wine, good friends, good food and a Christmas pudding.  Doesn't get much better.