Strathalbyn take#3

This was our 3rd visit to Strathalbyn in SA, and our second house sit of Hannah.  We commited ourselves a couple of months ago as we thought it would be on our way to Western Australia. But we are finding our plans are forever changing, so we are just doing a short trip SA, before the start of our next big adventure.

We had all the elements of wind, rain, and sunshine on and off, but still managed to walk Hannah twice a day.  Whilst in the region we stayed 2 nights at Murray Bridge, visited Mt Lofty lookout over Adelaide, Hahndorf, walked around the town of Mt Barker and did some interesting river and bushwalks (saw massive wild rabbits) with Hannah in Strathalbyn. The region is so picturesque even in winter.

Hannah trashed our bed 3 nights running,.sometime between 8 and 10 pm.  She didn’t do that last time.🤪


Beautiful stone buildings, lots of heritage, and wild miniature daffodils.

Its been fun, but can’t wait to get back into the Van, ( thinking of calling it “The Manor”), and do some more exploring.

Fun Fact #5 Pink Lakes

We just happened to drive past this Pink Lake west of Dimboola Vic. before crossing the border into SA.  I had to adjust my sunglasses thinking I was seeing things.  Our first Pink Lake.  Western Australia has a few which have made our list, but this was a total surprise, a quick u-ey (u-turn) with the van to the rest stop and we were soon exploring it.

It is a salt lake and the local olive company farms the salt, it is one of 4 pink lakes in the Murray-Sunset NP and Australian Geographic describes the colour as result of a pigment produced by the Salinibacter ruber bacteria.

On the Road Again

We have spent some fun quality time with our Munro grandkiddies during the school holidays, and being unconventional grand parents we hope we bring another dimention to their lives as they listen to us planning, talking and discussing with them our travel adventures.   

But now as kids head back to school we are back on the road again, and back to South Australia for a repeat doggy sit of Hannah in Strathalbyn  and a visit back to Victor Harbor, which Derek loved.  

Everywhere is lush and green

Tonight we are on a powered site in Donald Victoria, just in case we need our electric heater.  We have been spoilt so far this winter with China, Cairns, and a lovely warm home in Finley.  Hope it doesn’t get too cold tonight.

We are camped on a beautiful lake, and had a little time just before dark to explore historic Donald, who celebrate their railway heritage.

Groper Fish from Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and Bullock Head Tree on banks of Richardson River

Rollerskating Rocks

We had the best day rollerskating in Albury today.  We took the grandkiddies a few weeks ago for their first time, and they enjoyed it so much they were keen to go again.  Only 1 hour 40 min drive away, but they were up early, packed a lunch and ready to skate.  This time we decided to join them on skates.  We too can have so much fun babysitting.

Cairns Sunset

Enjoyed this awesome sunset from just above the clouds as we approached Cairns.  We were looking forward to spending time with Craig, Sara, Ayla and of course Lucy over the next few weeks, is has been way too long. An opportunity to help with some babysitting, puppydog walking and some landscaping.

All things Chinese - Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou

Have I said it already, we were pleasantly surprised with our introduction to China and these 3 cities in south eastern China did not dissapoint They were each about 3 hours bus ride apart, and were in the economic centre of China. Each had old and new districts, evident in the multi modern highrises. We visited and stayed in all 3, and stayed quite close to the city centres.  

This afforded us many opportunities to take in lovely scenery, stunning parks and gardens, lakes and canal rides, street food, local restaurants, walled gardens, local crafts, countryside, markets, and even though we broke from our tour group to have some optional free time, we still managed to find Shanghai’s upmarket Nanjing Rd and Yuyuan Markets. We had views from 88 stories high and rode on the fastest train in the world the “maglev” at 451 km per hour.  We really got a good feel for the culture and diversity.  

We even got use to ordering local food for lunches and dinner,  and hung out with four of our travel buddies to explore Shanghai via the Subway system (which was all very orderly colour coded and also in English).  How brave were we?  Breakfast at our hotels was a little hit and miss, Derek found himself having fried rice for breakfast one morning!