While Not Working

We're all settled in a new house with another elderly gentleman cat. This cat isn't so keen on company: he doesn't spend time hanging out in front of the TV, he doesn't do kittenish things like play with toys and he definitely does not cuddle up on any laps at night. He arrives in the kitchen twice a day and sociably demands dinner, after which he goes back to ignoring us until next mealtime. We had an initial firm discussion on appropriate dinnertime behaviour and then everything was hunky Dory. And then the cat brought us a rat.  Just I wanted!   When we weren't feeding bad-mannered cats and cleaning up their rat presents, we went exploring using Hallett Cove as a base.  We walked through Hallett Cove Conservation park and explored the Sturt River Gorge and the top end of the Fleurieu Peninsula.   Here's a few snapshots of what we got up to. Port Noarlunga, where we watched other people scuba diving in the artificial reef off the end of the jetty We had a picn...

We spent a few days in an AirBnB in the Adelaide Hills, with a view out over the Onkaparinga valley.  It was a quirky AirBnB run by D and her husband J. "I bought it for the view," J said.  "We used to live down in the suburbs and one day we took a friend for a drive and drove past here.  There was a For Sale sign so I slammed on the brakes and bought it." They built a flat behind the house for D's ageing mother who is now in her 90s, robustly living by herself and declining anything so outrageously dependent as living in a flat behind her daughter's house.  D and J collected someone else to live in the flat and then blocked off half the house for an endless parade of people like us. Their guestbook contained entries from way before AirBnB was a thing. J showed us around.  There were three acres with a dam, chickens, and a general air of unkempt wildness. "There's koalas in the gum trees," he said. "But don't walk down there when there...

Back when the wet winter weather started I had a thought.  I thought it would be a very good idea if I took my bicycle mudguards, which had been rattling around in a box for 7 months and at least 7000 km, and put them on my bicycle. Having had my thought, I promptly forgot about it.  Yesterday the weather was, if not nice, at least not raining so I went for a bicycle ride in Mount Barker.  It wasn't an adventurous ride and I didn't go anywhere I hadn't already been.  I rode up to the Laratinga Wetlands. The wetlands had lots of water in them, which was not a surprise, given the recent rain.   There were lots of puddles on the path.  I rode around the puddles, because I didn't have mudguards and if you ride through puddles on a bicycle without mudguards, you get splashed and splattered. I saw a Welcome Swallow at the wetlands. After avoiding all the puddles on the Wetlands paths I turned onto the path beside the disused railway line, and started avoiding all...

Our aim when finishing a sit is to leave the house sparkling and squeaky clean, the fridge stocked with fresh perishables, the laundry all done, and a contented pet lolling happily in whichever spot the pet deems best for lolling.  Thus it was that we left a suitably schmick house containing a cat who now had to use his own cat door and headed out to explore some more walking trails in the Morialta Reserve.  We wanted to make the most of the chance to see the waterfalls while, courtesy of the recent rain, they actually had water in them. Hordes of Adelaideans had the same bright idea as us, so the biggest challenge was how to take photographs that weren't full of people while trying to avoid standing on small children running in  circles and shouting  "There's a koala!"  There was one, too. On the way to the First Falls we found a side staircase to a cave.   It was a big cave with a great view out over the valley.  It was a great place to sit and ...

We walked the Black Hill Summit Track.  It seemed silly not to, given that the trail started at the end of our street and the cold  but rain-free day was perfect for hiking. Let's go.   We were quickly surprised by the number of mad people who, for want of better things to do on a Saturday morning, were out risking ankle fractures by running up and down very steep hills on rough bush tracks.  This was very confronting for everyday (and slightly less fit) people like us who had to stand aside to allow the runners to pass as we huffed and puffed laboriously up the slope. "Thanks!" the runners chirped as they bounced from rock to rock, riding the power of gravity toward sea level while slurping on their water backpack thingies and making it all look disgustingly easy. We followed steep little gullies up into the hills and it wasn't long before the ubiquitous South Australian rocks made their appearance.   Ooh this is nice.  No rocks. I spoke too soon.  Ad...