We are off again

Before leaving Brexit-mad England, we had another great trip with the East Suffolk National Trust Association to Sissinghurst Castle and Garden in Kent. Typically, the weather was not marvellous but we were able to enjoy a ramble through the estate, finding primroses and bluebells in flower and, when the rain let up again, we explored the more formal gardens. The famous White Garden was lovely although of course not up to the full white blooming state that we have seen in the past in the summer. Others areas open onto different vistas and wild snake-head fritillaries looked just as beautifully strange growing among daffodils and tulips as in a wildflower meadow. As we are now in Australia, the photos we can access are low quality and few but, take our word for it that if you are in Kent, this is a 'must visit'.

Tunnel-like view along a walk around the estate

Primroses and bluebells on small embankment

A solitary snake's head fritillary

This time we chose to fly with Cathay Pacific and had one of our best travel experiences to date. Their premium economy seats are very comfortable and although the food was 'airline' food, it was very tasty and enjoyable. Although we want to enjoy our time in Australia, we are actually looking forward to the return flight!

In our short stay in Perth, we caught up with our old friend Len and then stayed with Sue, the wife of Judith's former employer. Mac, unfortunately had to be moved to a care home where we visited him and found him in quite good spirits. Thus far, our cameras, certainly mine, have barely seen daylight but this will soon be remedied.

We had a good flight to Adelaide with Virgin and, after a short panic, found our hire car and made our way to West Beach Parks Resort where we have a lovely roomy cabin - not quite as good as the beachside villa that we had here last year but we were a bit late booking and they had sold out. On our first morning in SA, we had a very tasty breakfast at Deep Blue Cafe, Moana, a few km south of here, with a friend of Judith's from England who now lives here with her partner.

Deep Blue Cafe, Moana SA

Vanessa and Judith after a lovely breakfast

Last time we were in Adelaide we had run out of time to see the old Adelaide Gaol and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Both were well worth the visit although the old gaol wasn't quite as interesting as the old (transported) convict establishments we saw last time around.

Entrance to Adelaide Gaol

One of the wings in the gaol

Inside the 'new' cell block (late 1800s)

The Hanging Tower and the gap between walls where some prisoners were buried after execution or dying in prison

The Botanic Gardens were interesting and very well laid out with plenty of shade and a number of water areas. Although our bird watching thus far has been quite sparse compared with our last visit, we have seen a few as we have moved around Adelaide.

Probably one of the birds seen most through Australia, a Peewee or Magpie-lark

Australian White Ibis - especially for Terry!

Victoriana water lily in flower

Blue water lily in the lily house

Wood Duck preening

Little Pied Cormorant looking the wrong way for food!

Australian Grebe

Blue Skimmer Dragonfly

Cycad fruit

Some of the masses of flower/seed bunches on Koelreuteria tree

Adelaide really is a lovely city and it would have been great to have more time to relax and visit the wineries and many other attractions at leisure but, unfortunately, we have a limited time - and budget! We stayed again at West Beach Shores Resort but on this occasion the lovely villa we had before had already been booked so we had a holiday cabin. This was very comfortable and roomy so we would again have no hesitation in recommending this as a great place to stay.

Pelicans on a water pipe near the resort

Sunset over the Gulf of St Vincent from the resort

Since internet connections have been erratic, at best, since leaving Adelaide, I will try to get this one posted today (in Marree). We have just had a great flight over Lake Eyre but more of that later. The following is just some background for those interested in why we are travelling where we are - following in the footsteps of early explorers. At various stages of this blog, I shall refer to 'discoveries' and these references are to discovery by Europeans, most if not all, already being familiar to the various Aboriginal groups. Once again we shall be travelling in the footsteps (approximately) of some of Australia's early explorers. Last time our route covered ground explored by Edward Eyre, Thomas Mitchell and, of course, Burke & Wills but also touched on many other explorers' discoveries, not least Charles Sturt who discovered and named Lake Alexandrina which we saw behind the Coorong when we visited the area on the last trip. The foremost explorer on our route this time is John McDouall Stuart. On our last trip, when we were in Glen Innes, NSW, I picked up a copy of "Great Australian Explorers" by Marcia McEwan and I have used this since then as my main source, backed up, of course by Wikipedia and the excellent Aussie Towns website. In the Flinders Ikara Ranges we shall be covering ground that both Edward Eyre and Stuart covered in their explorations. In 1839, exploration had only extended about 120km north of Adelaide and Eyre, with his overseer, John Baxter, and their party pushed into the Flinders Ranges before turning back and followed the Murray before crossing back to Adelaide.

From Adelaide, we head north to the Flinders Ranges, partly as we loved the area when we visited last year but also as it is a good waypoint on the way to Marree from where we cross the Oodnadatta Track and William Creek Track to Coober Pedy and points north.