Around the World in 35 Days: Aussie Pics

Adelaide, Sunday, July 14

Last day down under, amazing trip, lots of good walks/hikes, meals and excellent Australian wines. Had a blowout dinner last night with Fiona, Andrew and Annette at a restaurant called Auge, today we took my buddy Duke back to the beach for a great walk, followed by breakfast at a café called Doof Doof (that's food spelled backwards twice...not sure how they got that one, maybe they used the same brand consultant as the Fish Tail winery near Perth, but the breakfast was outstanding) with Peter, Anita, Andrew, Annette and Fiona (Duke stayed home and had a nap).   Later today Sharon and her son James will join Fiona, Tom (Fiona's son), Kitty (Tom's girl friend) and me for a lamb roast Sunday dinner followed by a revenge game of monopoly with Tom (he creamed us in true slum lord fashion last December, now it's my turn for revenge...).

I'd be sad and bittersweet today, however Fiona and Sharon will be up visiting us in about a month, and Reinold and I have already booked mileage tickets to come back down for New Years Eve, so it will only be see ya later at the airport tomorrow.

As promised, pictures are attached of various things below, top 10 from the past ten days:

#10: Mandoon Winery near Perth, for their copious signs scattered about the Swan Valley proclaiming opening hours, only to find them closed and quiet....lots of laughs with Annette on this one.

#9: Belinda the Qantas flight attendant, and her facial expression critique when asked if the chicken salad was hot or cold....we had the sausages instead as a result of her grimace.   Thank you Belinda.

#8:  Fiona's discovery on Wednesday that Sharon had placed our share of the January Barossa rental payment (handed to Sharon and Michael in Washington, DC in May by Reinold, for safe transport to Fiona) in Fiona's suit case, where it had sat since Fiona got her suit case back from Sharon upon her return to Adelaide in May...

#7: Pickled octopus, a new found delicacy in Tom Giles' book - seriously.

#6:  The Mt. Lofty ascent with the Australian bionic woman.

#5:   Amazing massage from Anita on Monday, along with exercise tips, massage ball, and feline astrology guides.

#4:   Tom Booker's bedroom, which he graciously gave up for 10 days so that Reinold and I could have a cozy, comfortable place to crash each night.

#3:   Monday afternoon in the Adelaide Hills, great lunch, three great wineries, awesome time with Annette and Andrew

#2:   Multiple blow out dinners/snacks at Cantina Social, Panacea, Auge, Doof Doof, P'tite Ardoise Bistro in Perth, and the fantastic July 4th on July 5th party, with many wonderful, generous, kind and fun people

#1:   46 St. Lawrence Avenue and it's owner, Fiona, for providing Reinold and me with a home away from home 8000 miles away - thank God for Vietnamese junks is all I'm going to say!

10:40 flight tomorrow morning to Singapore, then on to Zurich and Birmingham, and summer returns. Stay tuned for more...