Cal & Rachel Litwiller's Adventures

Friday, May 23, 2014

Adelaide, Day 2 - May 23, 2014

Our last day in Adelaide! This morning we drove to Cleland Wildlife Conservation Preserve. It was not a zoo as the animals were in large areas. The animals were friendly as they could sense that we had bought food to feed them. It was interesting seeing animals we would not see in the wild. We were walking within their living areas with them.

Plus they had Koala’s. One of the Rangers brought a Koala’s out for us to have a close-up view and we could pet it low on its back – they are so soft. However we feel so lucky that we saw them in the wild the other week. Many Aussie’s have not seen them in the total wild like we did.

Colorful Parakeet like bird

Australian Parrot

Emu

Boxing Kangaroos

Echidna - Porcupine like animal

Pet Koala

Wallabies

Feeding Wallabies

Following this we went to the summit of Mt Lofty for a view of the valley and city below. It was hazy, but we could see Adelaide from above. Adelaide and its surrounding area have 1.2 million people.

On our way back we went into the city - we drove into the downtown part of the city. We stopped at the St Peter’s Cathedral in downtown for a quick look at this old Gothic Cathedral.

St Peter's Cathedral

By now it is time for the Haigh’s chocolate factory! Wow was it great chocolate! Aussie’s best! It was the middle of the afternoon when we returned to the house to relax before dinner tonight. We had happy hour on the 5^th floor balcony tonight – we have been staying in a 2^nd floor condo from where we saw the sun set the other night, but tonight we watched from the 5^th floor level. It was another beautiful sunset. Our hosts live at the perfect spot in Adelaide.

Joining us for dinner was the President of the local Rotary Club (the one we visited the other night) and his wife. We had a lovely evening visiting at a Greek restaurant.

Adelaide Cricket/Football Grounds

Sunset over the lake

Dinner with our hosts and Rotary Club President

Tomorrow it is packing our luggage again for a move to the Barossa Valley, which is about 2 hours from here. We will be meeting our new hosts at lunch. The Barossa Valley is known for its good wines, so I am sure we will have plenty to taste over the next several days!!

Australian Pavlova - Eat Your Heart Out

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Adelaide - May 22, 2014

What a unique day! Each of the team went with their host to the Coorong National Park, about a 1 ½ hr drive from Adelaide. It was an interesting drive through vineyards of grapes that went on for miles and miles (huge fields), olive groves, fruit orchards and dairy country. The grapes are pruned by machine, and picked by machine.

One of our Host Homes along the lake

Boarding the ship for our cruise

Pelicans

More Pelicans

Black Swan

Royal Spoonbill - Black Billed Spoonbill

In the Coorong N P we boarded The Spirit of the Coorong, a tourist boat that took us around the Murray River delta and to the mouth of the Murray River where it entered the ocean. We not only had the boat ride, but we also hiked across the dunes (where there are poisonous snakes) to the ocean. We definitely stayed on the trail after they scared us with snake stories!! The boat ride was great – saw lots of water birdlife, and hunted cockles (look like clams) on the ocean beaches. The aboriginals used the cockles as food, whereas now a lot of them are used for bait. We are glad our hosts wanted to give us this experience. Truly unique!

A Fisherman's Shack along the way

The Southern Ocean - Looking toward the South Poke

Fishing along the Shoreline

The Southern Ocean

We Were There

More Ocean Scenes - How Mesmerizing

The Dunes along the coast

Colorful plant in the Dunes

Hunting for Cockles - Small clams

A Handful of Cockles

A Striking Scene from the Ship

The Adelaide Coastline at Dusk

It was a lovely day and by the time we returned to Adelaide it was already dark (6:15pm)! Dinner was a delicious BBQ with 3 kinds of meat grilled to perfection. We are exhausted tonight and going to bed early, as it was a busy day.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Melbourne to Adelaide – Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Today we left the State of Victoria and flew to Adelaide in the State of South Australia. It was a cool morning in Melbourne, but by the time we got to the airport, it was getting warm, and by the time we arrived in Adelaide it was in the upper 70’s. It was beautiful warm day. We were met at the airport by our host as soon as we exited at the gate. Their security for domestic flights is lax in comparison to the US.

Adelaide has beautiful beaches. It didn’t take long to change into short sleeves and capris – the first I have used them on this trip. As we get north to Cairns I hope to wear them every day!! But back to here in Adelaide - we walked around for about an hour today and saw them fishing for garfish, before returning to the house one of the beautiful Wests Lake. We had snacks on the deck and watched the sun set – don’t forget we are in the southern hemisphere and the sun is setting around 5:17, as we are approaching the longest day in the northern hemisphere.

Beach of Adelaide

Fishing on the Jetty

The catch of the day

View from our host Deck

Sunset over the lake

We then got ready to go to a Rotary meeting, where we presented a program on our beautiful Iowa.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Melbourne -Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Our last day in Melbourne! First we went to the Victoria Market – a market that is not stationary, but under a rood. It had everything you needed - clothes of all sorts, toys, hardware, kitchenware, and leather goods, etc. In a more permanent building there was a meat, cheese and seafood market. After a coffee break we walked to an aboriginal museum. This was very interesting, followed by lunch, before we went to the Melbourne Cricket grounds. This is a huge beautiful stadium where both cricket and Australian rules Football is played. They also have a wonderful sports museum – we ran out of time at the sports museum, as it covered all sports. We went back to our hosts to relax a little before going to dinner at the Copperwood Italian restaurant.

Our Host Home - 100+ years old house

Melbourne Market

A Group of 12th Grade Girls at the Market - Love those Uniforms!!

Our time is over here in Melbourne as by 10:30 tomorrow morning we need to get to the airport. You can sight see in a city, and it is like any other city, but your hosts make all the difference. Here again in Melbourne, as in the last two towns, we have had wonderful host, who are now friends. We met as Rotarians, but leave as friends. They are friendly, helpful, caring and welcoming people. The Aussies are proud of their country, and it is a beautiful place to live. They have all put themselves out for us. We will think of all of them when we think back on our time in Australia, plus when we look at our photos. We will see some of them again in Sydney, in another 10 days, at the Rotary International Convention. Goodbye Victoria!

Morning Tea at the Market

A Maserati - How is that for a Change

Melbourne Cricket Ground - Also Australian Rules Football

Monday, May 19, 2014

Melbourne - Monday May 19, 2014

Today was busy. We first went to Williamstown, as town on Phillip Bay, opposite Melbourne, so that we could view the Melbourne skyline. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Of course we needed a cup of tea along the way. We then went to the Shrine of Remembrance, for those lost in WWI. It is a beautiful big shrine in the middle of Melbourne. We watched a film and also stayed for a little service. Since the café in the Botanical Gardens was closed on Mondays we found another restaurant on Rose Street. Later in the afternoon we visited an impressive Catholic school which was located in a lower social-economic area. It was not one of the elite private schools. They have a large number of Iraq students, who families were Catholic, in a Muslim world, and they needed to flee, so they fled to Australia. l before returning to the house to change clothes for an evening Rotary meeting.