It's Nice To Be Out Of The City

For the next eight weeks we'll enjoy life on the outskirts of a small country town where birdsong will replace rush hour traffic as our morning wake up sound track. Honey eaters and parrots visit the bird bath outside the kitchen window and we have to remind ourselves to be wary of snakes when accompanying the big fluffy dog outside for his late night toilet trip. The centre of town is an easy bike ride away, bulging with quaint stone buildings, cafes, and coffee shops.  We visited the Tourist Information Centre and loaded ourselves up with pamphlets of things to see and do.

The corellas have moved in downtown, thankfully far enough away that we can't hear them.

Three days ago we waved the home owners off on their adventure in a flurry of last minute instructions. Big Fluffy had a sore foot and needed medication, arthritis being just as much a problem for dogs as humans. "You'll barely see the cat," they said. "She spends most of her time outside and just turns up for food. "

The cat set out to prove them wrong, spending exactly one day checking us out from afar and then demanding much petting and showing a disturbing tendency to leave frequently via the open back door only to demand entry five minutes later at the front. She declined to be a lap cat, preferring to take over the arm of whichever chair we may be sitting on at the time and giving head bumps at inopportune moments involving hot cups of coffee.  

I went for a ride or two, exploring the neighbourhood and cobbling together a route along quiet country lanes with the occasional terrifying excursion on a km or so of shoulderless bitumen road with too-fast traffic.

The grass was dry and sparse, as befitted the end of summer. I rode past ruins at the end of our street.

Olive Tree road, bordered by olive trees loaded down with small green olives. The perfect place for for Big Fluffy's daily walks.

More old stone buildings.

I found out that Strathalbyn had a zinc mine which closed in 2014. It was still visible from the top of this hill up which I pedaled very slowly, negotiating passage with graders and water-trucks.

We got all our Information Centre pamphlets out on the table in the screened outdoor area, made a nice cup of tea, and sat down to work out our exploration schedule for the coming months.  We're within spitting distance of the Adelaide Hills, Lake Alexandrina, and the mouth of the Murray River, so much exploration is planned.

And here is a motorcycle man from downtown. He was very good at riding motorcycles very fast and then, as happens when motorcycles are ridden very fast, he did not survive falling off one. I don't follow motorcycle racing, but I quite like the sculpture.