Cricket and Recovery

We recover from the black tie affair relaxing watching day 4 of the cricket. Cricket takes a quick walk to the oval to watch the South Australian Redbacks lose to Tasmania. There's a vintage Volkswagen meet complete with bands going on in the parklands.  Slightly downriver there is another festival of some kind.

 

CJ's timing isn't very good.  He arrives at the Oval only a few overs before the lunch break.  It's sad to see only a hundred or so people watching test cricket at the state level.

 

 

Two blokes are in the member's bar with baby carriages, and lots of baby gear.  One muscled father, having finally rocked his baby to sleep lays his baby in a carriage as softly as can be.  It's a beautiful demonstration of fatherhood.  For certain, they won't be able to do this during the crowds of the Ashes.

 

 

For dinner this evening, now that Carol can get the fixings, we're having Vietnamese cold spring rolls for the first time.

 

A Black Tie Event

The hectic startup period is over.  We've spent three quiet days in the apartment watching the cricket from the Gabba in Brisbane. For those unaware, it's an all day affair that runs from 10:00 to 6:00. Lunches have been taken on the patio and we're continuing to enjoy brilliant sunsets.

 

 

 

Carol had a shopping foray into town and on Friday evening we took the tram to the Adelaide Central Market where we had an unexpected paella dinner at a new restaurant stall. Next time it will be  Moroccan cous cous at the new stall next door.

Saturday was a black tie event.  We booked for the menu, an impressive lineup of all South Australian product by one of SA's iconic chefs. It was a combined 90th birthday and honorary for Barbara Hardy, the chief benefactor of Nature Foundation SA.  She has been working in establishing parks, hiking trails and preserving wildlife most of her life.  The fact that she is part of one of the first families of South Australia, the Hardy wine clan, probably had something to do with the number of politicians and Uni attendees.

It was held in picturesque Bonython Hall at the University of Adelaide.  The location is only a few blocks on the same street as our apartment. The food was good.  We won an excellent bottle in the blind wine draw and picked up two children's books in the silent auction.

 

Marvelous being in a room of folks supporting efforts to preserve the environment and wildlife.

McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills

We have a program to visit five wineries and a brewery.  The plan never gets off the ground. We've arranged to meet with our winemaker friend, Phil at 10:00. We're figuring its an hour stop at the longest.  We pull out of his facility at 2:45!

The day begins by sampling a freshly bottled 2017 shiraz and an incredible un-wooded chardonnay in the winery.  Tasting moves to the family house where we sample Phil's pinot noir, Longwood brand, and unlabeled clean skin. The house is sitting on a ridge and has a gorgeous view of the valley.

 

By the time we're done chatting and sampling it's lunch time.  Phil and Lauren invite us to join them at the Salopian, reported to be the best restaurant in McLaren Vale.

Phil has to run back and give a workman access.  We chat with Lauren and their son Nick until he returns.  Next begins a stream of very good food. First comes a slightly different kingfish dish from the one yesterday; Port Lincoln Hiramasa Kingfish Sashimi with Miso, sesame dressing, radish and horseradish. Next are Steamed Free Range Howie Hill Berkshire Pork buns and home style chilli sauce and Steamed Duck Dumplings with coriander, pickled ginger and roasted chilli dressing. We each had a sample of each.

 

Just when we figured that was enough food for lunch a humongous meat pie arrives.  It's size surprises everyone. It is shortly followed by a large platter of Red Braised Free Range Duck with asparagus, fermented daikon, pickled Shiitakes, green pea salad and "Chee Cheong Fun" rice noodles.

The food is accompanied by a rose made by a family friend and the remains of the bottle of pinot noir we tasted earlier.

We return to the winery via the local beer brewery where CJ enjoys a dark ale. On the return trip Phil decides to take a shortcut.  We're in 4WD and off road.

By the time we take on two cases of wine its time to begin the return to Adelaide. We visit K1 by Geoff Hardy on the way back. Their winery is the most beautiful we've seen in Australia.

 

Since its only a block off our route, we pop in on our mates Dave and Kathy for a short talk and to checkout the latest home renovations before the return to Adelaide.

Setting up House/Putting in Wine

We picked up a car on Monday and made a shopping circuit of Cheap as Chips, Costco, LIDL, and Coles (local grocery chain).  We've laid in food for a week and supplies for longer.

Tuesday morning we drove to the Barossa for a bit of tasting and purchasing. Eight or nine years ago we stopped at Langmeil.  Back then when we informed the lady pouring that their GSM offering wasn't as good as another we'd had recently, she asked which one it was.  When we told her she laughed.  The one we liked was made by her husband and his partner.

 

 

Tracey was still there and we shared a good tasting; four cases worth of good tasting.  For the record the Langmeil GSM is much better this time.

She put us on to lunch at the South Australian icon, Maggie Beers.  When we lived here, her farm shop didn't have much of a lunch.  Maggie's daughter now has a restaurant next door and the food was very good. Pictured are a kingfish ceviche with smoked yoghurt, green strawberries and dill; chicken & tarragon fritters with remoulade sauce; spuds with black garlic and vache curd.

 

The next stop was at Teusner, the winery of Tracey's husband. They don't have a cellar door.  We were walking all about the winery. All of the wines were available for our sampling.  In the interest of driving home, we left out a couple.

 

 

 

The final stop of the day was at Rockford. It is an Australian classic and this is the first time we've walked out without a case or two, let alone a single bottle.  Their entire line was disappointing; even our favorite cab, Rifle Range.

Returning at rush hour, the 'no left turn' signs drove us nuts.  A block from our apartment we had to negotiate half way around Adelaide to get the turns to work out and get us home.

Let's hear it for spring dinner in Adelaide with a temperature over 90F.

 

Enjoying our first days

Even though this first week is being consumed by events and setting up house, we're still managing to get a sample of enjoying retirement in Adelaide. We'll not get to walking the parklands until next week but Adelaide has an abundance of parklands to walk. New York had Central Park.  Adelaide's park isn't in the middle, it surrounds both Adelaide and North Adelaide.

The north-most red star is the Intercontinental Hotel where we stay on the way into and way out of town.  The red star across the street is the location of our apartment.  The red star to the east is the location of our house when we lived in Adelaide.

We're already enjoying cocktails and sunsets from our apartment balcony.

 

 

And then there are the restaurants.  We have dozens of good restaurants within a few blocks and many more within the Central Business District (CBD).  Our first two selections within four blocks have been very good; an Afghan kebob place and a Spanish tapas restaurant.

 

 

Too old for this stuff

During the morning we watch the Adelaide Christmas Pageant from our hotel room.

 

 

 

There are very good views of the surrounding area from the hotel room.  We look over North Terrace and the Adelaide Hills.

From one of the alcoves, we can view Adelaide Oval, the Torrens River, Riverwalk, Linear Park, the South course of the parklands golf courses.  The North course runs opposite Neil and Bronwyn's home.

 

 

From another alcove, we can see Adelaide airport and our apartment building which is just across the street.

 

In the afternoon, we move across the street and down one block to our apartment for the next two months.  A hotel porter delivers five suitcases. The apartment is smaller than we had anticipated and not on the side of the building we desired. It's three biggest shortfalls are a queen size bed, the severe lack of storage and a balcony without a barbie. No barbie is down right in-Australian!

 

 

This evening we dine with our African game drive partners, Neil and Bronwyn.  This is our first opportunity to tour their new home which has been under refurbishment for over a year.  It is spectacular.

We arrive shortly after 6:30.  After good food, far too much champagne and red wine and an evening of laughter, we depart well after midnight. We must have had a great time.  We don't have a single picture of the house or dinner.