Beer, Bowie and Lahksa

M and I had a hearty breakfast, and travelled through the hills to get to Hahndorf; described as a charming European town settled by Germans. Not sure why they fled, I believe it had to do with religious persecution. The town looks very European, with a lot of old building and trees, German music playing from the various pubs with German flags. M and I noticed however that they weren�t so friendly. More like a jaded tourist town which after 5pm, might shut down, and the people playing their parts go home throw their feet on a cushion and curse the stupid tourists with their stupid cameras. I got a feeling of cynicism from most of the people we encountered; all we needed next was to see them dressed in traditional German peasant costumes. On the plus side, the people who smiled at us, and were interested in us as people, not just tourists, we bought souvenirs from them for friends.

I had the best Lahksa in the Hahndorf hotel, with 2 great coffees, and M had a gorgeous caesar salad. We watched these people work, and it was obvious they loved their jobs. It made me wish in a way that I had roots, ancestors or some kind of history that I could relate to, and be part of. You really felt the sense of family and community in this small town, and despite the frowns, there were plenty of smiles and warmth which makes me want to stay and live there.

We took some cool photos which made us grin, some food they were selling as butt burners, but I didn�t want M to buy any. After we did Hahndorf, we drove to Murray Bridge. The journey there on the freeway was pretty good. Once again, no trees to be seen anywhere. Lots of hills covered with yellow grass. We made it to Murray Bridge and crossed the bridge, and did the tourist thing and drove under the bridge, I found another old rundown house so I took a few pics of that, and it was amazing, we found the Murray River, which really was a river. If you look at the pic of the Torrens river, you�ll see it looks more like a dry creek bed than a river.

We headed off for home, and I got lost, taking a wrong turn and ending up somehow driving away from Adelaide towards Melbourne. I woke up M and requested some directional guidance, because I wasn�t doing this very well. Eventually we got home, and got ready for David Bowie.

We got to the Entertainment Centre in time, and seated, to see the opening act for the night, �Something for Kate� and they were pretty good. I think they were a little overwhelmed at being the backup band for Bowie from some of the comments made, but they really played well, and the lead singer/guitarist plays in bare feet!

Bowie came out, and from that point onwards, I was in heaven. We ended up only being 25 rows from the front, and about 30 metres from the stage, we had a great view, if you didn�t mind looking through the back of the head of some teenage boys who stood for the whole concert, stoned. They passed around a couple of joints, and stayed rooted to the ground whilst everyone else around them danced up a storm.

The highlight of the night was his song, �I�m afraid of Americans� Damn, it was awesome and I screamed myself hoarse

Wheels on the car go round and round..

We went driving today. It was decided that a tour of the Barossa Valley would be good, so M and I toddles off to the Barossa to look around at the wineries and do some wine appreciating. Except that we weren�t really inspired. We drove to a few towns, saw a few wineries, but really, there was nothing else which grabbed the imagination. It was like, Margaret River, without the cheese factory, bootleg brewery, chocolate factory, lolly shop� It wasn�t that flash.

We found that we got lost somewhere south east of Adelaide, not hard to do when we don�t have a road map to speak of, and found some perspective on distances. It was like, we didn�t realise we were out of Adelaide because there are so many towns dotted around the place at regular intervals, pretty soon, we found we were more than half way to the Victorian border. In WA, everything is so far apart that you know you are leaving a populated area and won�t see anything for at least another 200kms.

We hooned through the country side to get from one dodgy town to the next and pretty soon we were in the Clare Valley, which was a little more picturesque than I thought and I got a couple of great shots of old buildings.. I wanted to check out a few more historical sites, so after Clare, we went westward to check out this particular place called Rochester Historical site. It was slightly off the beaten track, so we made the long trek through a lot of treeless hills. I have to comment here that there are not very many trees in rural South Australia. I think as soon as it was settled, the farmers removed every tree from the state. No wonder they have issues with weather.

So we get to this historical site, and see - nothing

There was a plaque in the middle of this dirt car park, I drove around the car park and saw some bricks, and possibly some rocks. The plaque told us this was where some guy had built a house and school. We didn�t see the school till we had left the site, M was looking out the window talking about the rubble and I saw some rubble marked with a sign saying �Rochester school� I shouted �oh look there�s the school!� M replied, �Which bit of rubble? I didn�t see the sign and I think I was looking at the wrong pile!� *sigh*

So we have discovered that on this trip, South Australians mark the oddest things as historical sites. We�ve seen about 5 sites marked, which there�s nothing left, except a couple of rocks in a vague house-like shape to show that it had something historical about it.

We went to Kapunda. We went to look at the copper mine, which was just a lot of mountains of green and red tailings. Anything remotely interesting was fenced off with big signs. �Danger, open shafts� We walked around the site, found that some rubble piles were engineering works, or workers huts, but there was nothing left to actually see. They had one unfenced section so we walked down the bottom and had a look at a hole in the side of the wall, with some green tailings, and found out somewhere along the trail this mine was the first Open-cut mine in the country. We made it out of the pit barely alive, gasping for air thinking we need to get fit. We sat down for a rest, and found afterwards my ass was covered in prickles. OUCH.

We drove through Snowtown (the massacre town) and for such a quiet small town, it is amazing that so many people went missing and were murdered and that no one noticed? After hearing about it all on the news, seeing the town itself, the question has to be asked, why the hell did anyone not notice that something was wrong when 12 people disappeared?

We got home after a long long drive and flopped into bed. The end of another successful day, and the next day was to be our journey south, with the concert in the evening.

Lofty Shopping

Well I slept ok, woke up a couple of times, it was odd sleeping in a small soft bed with fluffy pillows that weren�t mine and too fluffy. After breakfast, which was a nice omelette, we headed off to mount lofty and the scenic route, which was, despite the fact it was raining, quite scenic. I�d put up some pictures, but I am on dialup here in Adelaide and it�s not that fast. I also have had a sore throat the last few days and I have been sucking on lozenges to make sure that I don�t GET sick.

I realised today how much of a country bumpkin I am. Perth is generally flat. So when we got up to Mount Lofty, I discovered we were 2300 feet above sea level. That�s higher than anything I have ever been up on, so I was pretty chuffed. I could see the smog line over the city of Adelaide � which made me smile. Adelaide city centre looked funny.. flat land, then right in the centre, a few tall buildings. It is like, one big mortgage belt of Perth.

The drive to M&E�s was interesting, winding roads which were about 4 metres wide at some points, with barely enough room for two cars passing each other. All this with cars tailgating and travelling at 80km per hour. We went shopping at Adelaide�s biggest centre, except that it�s not really as big as Carousel, more like the size of Morley. I found some great chocolates, some souvenirs for me, and some for others. A dice box for a friend � and I got some white chocolate to drink from Gloria Jean�s in Adelaide.. yummo.

The hardest thing to get used to is the driving. Very aggressive people, rushing around. Imagine the roundabout.. once you get to it, you throw yourself in, with a now or never type attitude and hope that you don�t hit anyone on the in, around, or coming out of the roundabout. The funniest thing, was the expression on this guy�s face, when I paused to let him out of a carpark where he had been waiting for ages for a break in the traffic, he was gobsmacked. M was laughing her ass off at me.

I also dropped in to see B&R - they are doing well, and might take us down to see Victor Harbour. I haven’t eaten yet, and I need a drink, and right now Mrs Doubtfire is on TV! boring *yawn* Tomorrow it’s the Barossa Valley! VinoVino

Touchdown

We got to Adelaide without incident today, getting up at 3.30am to catch a flight to anywhere is indecent in my opinion. I am tired and exhausted, but happy to have made it, eaten and watching late night news before going to bed for a new day tomorrow. We�re going shopping, I�ll be taking the camera so we can take plenty of pictures. The hire car I got is a Toyota Camry, it�s an automatic, so should be ok to use. Nice car so far, I am thinking that when we go to M & E�s place tomorrow we take the scenic route through the Adelaide hills.

Drivers in Adelaide have not changed. In Perth, we�re expected to leave breaking space, not speed towards orange lights, you know - the usual safe driving stuff. However, every time I left braking space when following M to the hotel, some driver would get in the way. In the end I had to tailgate. Whilst I am a good driver � tailgating is not something that I usually enjoy, so I�ll be avoiding the city as much as I can.

M�s comment about the city centre of Adelaide was amusing. We were driving through and he was asking where it was - The buildings aren�t so big in Adelaide in there city centre, so when I said, �this is it� M was not looking very impressed. Something else I noticed were the semi trailers being driven around in the city centre. This just does not happen in Perth, and I found it a little nerve wracking to be driving on narrow streets in the middle of a city tailgating next to a semitrailer..

So I�ll be signing off soon so that I can plan our trip tomorrow, where we�ll be going to Marion which is apparently the largest shopping centre in Adelaide. For those who are asking why am I still posting on the internet or using a computer, it�s because M is the one who despite the fact we�re in Adelaide, is still getting phone calls for work. *sigh*

I need sleep. Photo�s will be posted in the next couple of days.

Blogger ate my post. I am not very happy! Not at all.

I know it’s been ages since I last posted, I’ve been getting things ready for going to adelaide tomorrow. I haven’t slept, yet, and I still have work to do today. I won’t be paid for one workplace because they’re stingy bastards, but I’ll get my holiday pay after I come back from holidays at the end of the week. Things I have had to do to get through this week with some organisation for Adelaide, of course I have a list…

Visit Parents
Find someone to look after cats
Find cattery for BC
Find house looker-afterer
Book hotel accomodation
Look at car hire
Call Qantas about ID for tickets
Get BC Vaccinated
Intro others to Dad
Borrow Camera
Get software on computer
Borrow suitcases
Call friends in Adelaide
Call Manager
Do laundry for clean clothes
Clean kitchen
Plan wardrobe for Adelaide
Hide Bowie tickets in organiser
Get $100 phone card
Handover Keys to Dad
Sleep
Eat
PACK
Sleep
Shower
Catch Taxi for 5.30 flight!

I’ll be needing the holiday after all this!

Insect Wars: The Ant’s Strike back

[cue screen with words rolling up about being a long time ago the rebel alliance struck a blow but this time around, the Ant's have formed a force and taking on the rebels once again]

We had a few Ant Platoons strike again whilst we were sleeping and we woke to another carpet of Ants in the Dining room heading towards the kitchen. Once again, we struck back with deadly force repelling the invaders and out came the sucking machine and small stiff 6 legged bodies were removed. This might have been a strike back against us since we hosed down the back porch the night before with water clearing away the ant’s and destorying the nests under the bricks.

On a more amusing note - I was talking to a friend tonight who was staying at his mother’s house. He was thirsty, and found a 2.4L bottle of Applejuice in her fridge. So he drank it over a period of three hours, then his stomach started to rumble alarmingly and he bolted to the bathroom. A little while later he emerged, and looked at the now empty bottle of juice to read the label..
“too much of this product may have a laxative effect, recommended dose: 200mls” - I think he’ll be up for a while yet.

Lawsuit Over Jackson’s Super Bowl Incident Seeks Billions In Damages — GOPUSA: “Lawsuit Over Jackson’s Super Bowl Incident Seeks Billions In Damages
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
February 6, 2004
KNOXVILLE, TN (Talon News) — In response to last Sunday’s debacle over Janet Jackson exposing herself during the half-time show of the Super Bowl, a woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Viacom, CBS, MTV, Jackson and Justin Timberlake to recoup damages for her ‘outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury.’
Terri Carlin, a 47-year-old bank employee from Knoxville, TN, asked her attorney Wayne A. Ritchie II to draft the lawsuit and file it in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.”

How stupid are some Americans?

Can someone please make a stupid sign for this woman and nail it to her forehead?

Ants put Battle of Helmsdeep to shame.

I had a major incursion into my kitchen, bathroom and bedroom of Ants.

I think judging by the numbers, they had been planning this raid for quite some time. Some targets were very specific (bins, petfood) others were illogical (soap, bed).

For inspiration, I think they must have watched LOTR: Two towers or perhaps ROTK - because they came in such numbers, that any of the battles we saw in those two movies, just looked like practice runs for the real thing.

From 3pm until 9pm we battled the nasty little critters, which were like a living carpet on the floor of the kitchen and on my benches. We went and got reinforcements in the form of 2 cans of mortein and filled the rooms with its deadly contents and sat outside for half an hour waiting for the gas to dissipate.

Eventually, armed with a vacuum cleaner and a roll of garbage bags, the kitchen was sucked clean, everything thrown out that we didnt need including spices, various bits of fruit, bread which somehow had ants in it.. and then I cleaned everything, walls, floor, benchtops stove whilst other rooms were similarly cleaned and vacuumed.

I do not think however that this particular war is won, I have a feeling they have retreated back into the walls and down into their nests and are plotting the next attack.