Barossa Valley and Adelaide

The Labour Day long weekend provided a great opportunity to get away so we took a couple of extra days off and packed up and took an early flight to Adelaide on Friday morning.  We arrived to a cool, clear morning.  I had taken my bike so after getting out of town I got set up next to a huge rocking horse for a nice ride through to the Barossa valley.

World's biggest rocking horse, Adelaide Hills

We had very nice weather for the whole weekend.  We stayed near Tanunda which was quite central.  We visited a few of the bigger wineries but didn't drink much of their wine, it was nice to just look around.

Turtle at Maggie Beers farm

Maggie Beers lake

Iconic Seppetsfield Road

Kookaburra at Seppeltsfield winery

I had a great ride on one of the days, up over Mengler's Hill (common in the Tour Down Under) and down the Eden Valley all the way to the very German town of Hahndorf.  Kelley followed in the car and it was nice not to have to ride all the way back!

Enjoying a German beer in Hahndorf

We stayed in a great B&B and utilised their BBQ every night and enjoyed the company of their friendly dog.

Dinner time with Lucy the lab.

Enjoying and apple juice.

Evening sky

Sunsets were amazing

More sunsets....

We went for a long walk in the Clare Valley which started off well near a nice winery but then took us away from the main drag and we weren't really sure why.  The flies were quite annoying and we were pleased to get back but disappointed that a boring walk had made us miss afternoon tea at the B&B.  Fortunately it was waiting in our fridge when we got back.

Church in the Clare valley

Underground cellar, Clare valley

Coming back from the Clare valley

We had a couple of days at the end of the trip in Adelaide so we ticked off a visit to the Haigh's chocolate factory, and a visit to the beach.  The city was quite busy as the Fringe festival was on.  We went to a couple of shows and they were a little different, especially the one where a lady laid an egg on stage.....

Fish and chips at the beach

Fringe festival

My birthday weekend

Kelley organised a weekend away for my birthday with Hamish, Gabs and Harvey.  We went to Harcourt, just south of Bendigo.  After a quick stop at a winery / cidery it was direct to where we were staying - it was a great spot but more importantly they had a pool just outside the door so we spent most of our time in it as it was roasting all weekend.  The house had no air conditioning but was very well designed to cope with the heat so it wasn't really an issue.

Hamish surveying the grounds

View from the pool

 

Enjoying the pool

Tennis Season, 2014

The season started for us at Kooyong, at the 'final' between Berdych and Nishakori.  I say 'final' because Nishakori had already been knocked out, by Berdych, then someone else pulled out so it was all a bit of a shambles.  Nonetheless, it was a nice day and we had good seats, closer than you'd get at the Australian Open.  Nishakori won the match which just added to the general casualness of the tournament.

Kooyong final

Berdych serving

 Mum and her friend Elva were here to stay for the middle week of the Australian Open, arriving in 40 degrees and braving their first day in those temperatures.  They handled it extremely well.  After another couple of days and a night session with us, Elva went home and Mum stayed on for another week for a holiday of watching tennis.

Stan serving against Robredo in the 4th round.  He went on to win.

Warwinka v Robredo, night session

Mum and Kelley on Mum's last night in town

Andy and Rachel's wedding, Hawkes Bay

Once again I was guilty of not taking enough photos.  We had a great long weekend in the sunny Hawkes Bay and a great catch up with the crew.  Highlights included the prime hospitality from the Boston's, lunch at the Mission, Dean and Helen announcing they were pregnant, Harvey being an elephant, picking far too many kilo's of strawberries and eating almost as many, 12 before 4 at the Tasting Room, the weather, the company and...oh yeah... the wedding...

At the Tasting Room, enjoying a selection of beers in the sun.

Lads at the Old Church before the Reception

Everyone! (except for the happy couple!)

Laos - Luang Prabang Part 2.

Had to split this post up, it was getting too long and hard to format.  So to pick up where we left of, we had finished donating to the monks and were about to move into our new digs for the last couple of nights, a fancy hotel that Kelley had been looking forward too all trip.  It was a nice way to finish.

A bit more space anyway

Relaxing on the veranda

View from our room to the pool and river beyond

The pool

We had to take the boat across to get into town

Main street

One of the many monasteries around town

Locals playing petanque

View upriver

There was a good hill in the city worth a walk up for the views, below are some shots from up the top.

A nice dinner out.  It absolutely bucketed down and we had a sleep in the restaurant for half an hour waiting for it to stop.

On our final full day we hired a scooter and rode out to a waterfall.  On the way, we came across a bear enclosure which was actually well set up and designed to protect bear from poaching and enslavement.  When we arrived, it was feeding time so we were able to get some good close ups and see some action.

Hanging around before lunch.

Feeding time

This guy just let the food come to him...

Kuangxi waterfall

We went for a walk on a jungle track to try and get to the top.  Someone wasn't feeling too confident negotiating the steep muddy path in sandals.

Let alone the slippery staircase!

Pools below the falls were good for swimming, we took a quick dip.

Scootering

Our final night was the festival of lights, it was incredible and photos just don't do it justice.  There were hundreds of lanterns sent skywards, floating down rivers and all the monasteries had grand lighting designs.

Main street, before the festivities started.

One of the many boats to be carried through town and then launched down the Meekong

Launching paper lanterns

Some more successful than others!

Boat procession

Paper lanterns all around.

Not even the monks are immune from the European soccer champions...

Wandering around one of the monasteries.

Launching more lanterns

Our best even gets on the menu's here - the flashest place in town

Monks launching a few at a time.

Moon starting to come up to add to the effect.

And finally, just before our final boat crossing to go home, Kelley got to launch one.