Time keeps on slippin', slippin' into the future- But alas a new post!

Mum amd baby koala!

Way back at the beginning of August when river land visitors toured Adelaide and the SATEL celebration took place where exchangees arrived from all around to thank the organization I intended to create a post. Ah well, if I can remember back that far I will give you an update. Good thing that I have photos to rely on.  

The clever short-time Japanese exchangees
demonstrate calligraphy

Simon and Pascal sing a song from the Reunion Islands

Heather brought along a companion to put finishing touches
on her eloquent speech thanking SATEL

The native-like centerpieces

a truly classy affair

The next day a lively crowd of us went to Cleland where I always love to roam, get a bag of kangaroo food, find a lazy kangaroo that welcomes a good scratch behind the ears, and a 2 for 1 coffee with my membership. It was a $50 dollars well spent as I am a regular having gone up there a few times each season. It was a first for Canadian friends and a first for me to see the well-fed dingos. They are beautiful.

Beautiful dingo

potoroos, I think

extremely well fed dingos

This post is going to be mixed-up chronologically, but I did want to mention our end of term United Nations potluck!

Vietnamese sweet rice, nuts and
saltinas wrapped in banana leaves

Party  manners, for a few minutes

French apple cobbler

a multi-ethnic plate

Iranian pistachio sticky sweet nougat 

It has been busy now that the weather is warming up. I had a great adventure with Anthea riding the O-bahn to her house.  Invented in Germany it is a bus that converts from road to a track. It feels much like driving the little cars on 

Port Adelaide

the autoban at Disneyland.  The O-bahn design is unique among public transport systems; busways typically use dedicated bus lanes or separate carriageways, but the O-Bahn runs on specially built track, combining elements of both bus and rail systems. Adelaide's track is 12 kilometres and is the fastest and longest in the world. Many would agree that it is a hidden Adeladian treasure, while others looked at me like I was crazy when I said it was my weekend outing. So the vote isn't really in as of yet as to whether the trip will make the top ten list. Later we traveled down to Port Adelaide, wandered the market, visited galleries and fared the stormy weather. Thanks Anthea!

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 Julie and Bob treated me to a weekend down the Cooper Coast/Yorke Peninsula the following weekend and we had the first of real spring weather (although at this minute the rain is pounding down). It was hard to determine which direction we were headed as the coast is up one gulf, south then north again, a little east to the following gulf. You get the point.  It felt like pay doughnuts.I referred to the map often and sometimes I knew that they weren't taking me in circles all weekend. We visited Kadina, Moonta, Wallaroo, Port Hughes and Port Broughton.

First stop was the boardwalk at St. Kilda where we walked among the mangroves. The forest was dense bordering salt marsh and adjacent lagoons. It's a habitat for over 200 bird species with the mangroves also being part of a nursery area for fish species. The area was so quiet the morning we visited with rarely a chirp and a few jumping fish.  Bottle nose dolphins are known to come through the inlet and under the boardwalk, but probably not during a dodge tide like the Saturday we visited. I bit into a a leaf from the rhizophora expecting to get a mouthful of salt, (mangroves can secrete salts directly; they have two salt glands at each leaf base) but it only tasted bitter and green. Do you know how green tastes? I have a bit of synesthesia.

Looking toward the ocean

It makes sense that mangrove came
from the Spanish word mangle. 

quiet

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The gulf was beautiful and each beach lovelier  than the next. The water was as clear as ever until it hit the seaweed and then it darkened. 

South Australia has great swimming beaches. Some swim areas are roped off since sharks are sighted at times, but most people around Adelaide do swim without much worry.

We walked jetties where weekend fisher-families were having
leisurely time adding fish to their nelly bins. One little
boy caught a crab on his rope and when
he tried to return it to the sea it would not let go.
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Of course a trip to an Australian rural town often includes a visit to the historic mining centers. In Moonta we stopped in the miner's cottage (I  dream of being a pioneer woman until I realize that I would never have had the stamina to do all the chores required.

We visited the Heritage listed Engine House, the tourist railway, the original
Moonta school house and the mining cemetery. Too many young men died in the
mines and children during the influenza. The history isn't too different from
our own.  Mine strikes, gold rushes, western expansion (although their expansion
 was northern) and the pains of a new nation overcoming obstacles.
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My camera mostly sits on the kitchen table, but on some bike rides along the coast, through the hills, parklands or the city, I snap a shot here or there.

 My bike is a vintage-like cruiser with plenty of gears, a squeaky saddle and a bell that chimes. "Lycras" zip past as if I were going nowhere. I play the wicked witch of the west song in my head at times when I feel that I am in OZ (as in The Wizard of not the nickname for Australia). I must keep riding because in a few short weeks I will be on my bicycling tour in VIetnam!

I rode from the hills to work this morning. It was a great downhill run and I hope to keep that up. The grade is steep and even on my "Made in Taiwan" wheels I go fast.
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Great hike with great friends to Morialta Falls which inspired me to make a plan for Uluru, Kings Canyon, and Kata Tuta------- this weekend! That was spur of the moment! I'm going to the Red Center!

Great mates!

Glossary:

Nelly bin: to keep recently caught fish

Dodge tide:This is a local South Australian term for a neap tide with minimal rise and fall over the course of a day or two

Pang Yang: leftovers (Don't look for it in the blog. I just love its sound)
Pay Doughnuts: going round in circles

Red Center: The Northern Territory

and here's some good slang-What do you suppose it means? 'cattle duffing', 'gully raking', and 'poddy dodging' 

P.S. A beautiful teacher appreciation happened to me today. A smiling student entered the room saying,  China Happy Day teacher today," and dumped a plastic bag on the floor spilling a lovely little purse and a spring floral scarf.
A bit confused I shrugged my shoulders and he did the same, so I asked, "Are these for me?"
Yes, China teacher Day! I have never been given a gift before with someone emptying a plastic bag at my feet. I wonder if it is part of the teacher day tradition. Anyway, I was touched.