Dog Days and Sundays

Eager anticipation outside the Orford Hall for the book market today.  I won't test you with more surreptitious photos of unknown people perusing books - have done that a cuppla times previously. Again I went determined to buy nothing

and managed to stick to five.  I've spent the last couple of weeks reading the last batch so I could return them today and leave an uncluttered patch of carpet on the bedroom floor.  Not to be.
And not to forget that it is Sunday.

This church in Orford has recently been converted to a house and looks rather splendid.  Once I would have sold my soul to do something like this.  Far too lazy now.

The Paris End

Some of you know that we live at the Paris end of Melbourne Street.  I took these photos some months ago from the front garden.  We are easily entertained in Tribes.

But we have  our moments of culture and glamour too.

This long weekend we have a Re-loved Fashion Market and another Pop Up Book Stall.  Curiously I was not asked to help out at the fashion do

but I will be at the PUBS for a cuppla hours tomorrow.  Of course it is also the Classic FM Love 100 Countdown which is rather blissful.

As is this photo from the Glorious Bean who was gallivanting around the towpaths and woodlands of England at the time.  The day after I received it by email I saw a very similar photo in an English Country Garden magazine at the Blood Bank.  A sign!  And so I'm re-thinking my garden.

Back at Bunna

I can 't say I didn't recognise Tribes when I got back but there have been some changes.

The supermarket's gone a trendy grey with timber paneling.

I think I've alerted you previously to the gnashers / mako denture shop.  Comfortingly, next door Beauty by the Sea has opened.

There was insufficient time in Adelaide this trip to have my usual Marden toenail makeover so I chanced BbtS and was delighted with my $22 pedicure ($50 on special at Marden).

The Japanese Garden outside the Visitor Information Centre has been re-discovered and is being revived.  I hope to get involved in this project.

The wharf and marina extensions go on a-pace.

The Triabunna Gatehouse has been officially opened

and I hope to bring you more news about this soon.

Gratuitous shot of the red gums (no connection to the denture shop) in front of the Barracks building taken some time ago.

 And life goes on.

Omm Adelaide

Unfortunately Sandrine and I are both able to wake up early.  Thus it was that we were up and about by 3.30 am the next morning and sitting in the dark at the bus-stop watching the big trucks go by at 4 am.  My bus for Adelaide came exactly on time at 5am.  This is a new service designed so that Mildurians can go shopping or keep appointments in Adelaide and be there and back on the same day.

It was getting light by 7 am when we pulled into Waikerie for a pitstop and from then on it was lovely seeing the sights I used to see on a regular basis when I drove from Wentworth to Adelaide.  In fact it was better because I was up higher in the bus and didn't have to concentrate on driving.  We arrived at Adelaide Bus Station on time at 9.30 am and I cut through buildings and coffee-seeking office workers to keep out of the rain and find an O-bahn bus.  Having negotiated all this successfully I arrived at Mum's and crashed for the rest of the day.
I picked up a hire car the next day and Mum and I had the freedom to lunch at Mercato's, get sushi, lunch at The Sussex with Pru and take Madame du Barry to the Flying Fish - not all on the same day, of course.  There were many other delights:

Rundle Street  Mall

a niece who makes chocolate cake

a recently discovered photo of aunts (and some uncles and a cousin)

a visit to the groovy Spinners and Weavers' Guild

and a last coffee at Grange with Heths to fortify us for a wander around Ikea.

I have no photo but a very vivid sound memory of yoga with Fleurieu Floosie at Encounter Bay.  The teacher started and ended the class with three oms and I was startled but entranced with their reverberance.  The last time I had ommed was during an anti Viet Nam war march in the 1970s.  And one last highlight by virtue of having a car:  racing around the backstreets late at night to pick up Tamasin from uni.  I really felt rejuvenated.

Wentworth Revisited

No point going to Mildura if you're not going to Wentworth. So off we went on the Thursday.  It was lovely to walk along these streets again.  Curly Tree is the name of the shop that now operates in what was our heavenly River Bank.

How lovely to go through that portico again.

Inside it's a bit different from our minimalist New York Room.  I was, however, seduced by a watermelon lamp

seen here on the fridge in our Triabunna home.  It's hardly a thing you need but I loved it and watermelon always makes me think of beaches and holidays - driving South Road to Normanville or Port Noarlunga and buying cold watermelon from a roadside stall back in the 70s.
There are still traces of us in Wentworth.

Steve's blackbird continues to sit on the deck overlooking the Darling as does the gazebo that Mum gave us one Christmas.  My grapevine continues to do well.

And curiously some of Steve's works are still in a shop window.
We lunched at ArtBack after a very warm welcome.  We had arrived on the chef's 40th birthday - the chef being John, our former next door neighbour. At John's suggestion I had the amazing dreamily light gnocchi with sausage

and Sandrine had some goody goody salad thing.  It couldn't have been a better day.

On the road again - north this time.

Up earlyish and on the road to Mildura,

stopping for more silos en route

and pasta from this enterprising shop in Hopetoun which makes and sells delicious pasta and sauces.  Perfect idea for a wheat town.

We arrived in Mildura in the late afternoon and ate lunch at this pop-up style cafe on the waterfront.  Mildura is working hard to connect the city with the Murray River.

I was also excited to see that the conundrum about the old hospital building has finally been resolved.  Many had called for its demolition which I thought highly likely for, to me, Mildura is a soulless town without a heritage heart despite some lovely deco features.  The hospital is being converted to apartments and they will be stunning.

Magic trip to Port Fairy

The next day we headed south.  Negotiated Horsham.  Ate delectable chicken sandwiches in Hamilton Botanic Gardens.  Took in Hamilton type sculptures while looking for an appealing coffee shop.  Kicked in toilet door at said coffee shop (ask Sandrine) and proceeded down roads previously untravelled.  The road to Port Fairy differs from the one to Portland which I used when visiting Southern Belle on the long weekend in March each year.

As you can see, Port Fairy is very much to my liking. This group walks their dogs each morning.  All the dogs romp together having a wonderful time.

I chose this room because it had 5 ships a sailing and a foxy red heeler at the door.

We stayed Chez Gail.  The 3 of us used to work together at Mildura Base Hospital.  We pounded the shopping streets and cafes.  Sadly the renowned fish and chip shop was closed but we were well content at this seafront cafe with wine bar next door.

Gail and her husband had only lived in Port Fairy for 6 weeks but they had done their homework and stayed there numerous time before they bought.  Gail chauffeured us like a local showing us, among other delights 'Peasoup' and the above Tower Hill volcano.  You can drive around the volcano but on this day the road was closed because of the rain.
The next day - Anzac Day - we drove back to the cafe in Hamilton with the scuffed and dented toilet door... and had a delicious lunch with the post Anzac Day March crowd.  So fortified were we that we missed the turnoff to Horsham and were nearly in South Australia before we realised our mistake.  We cut across to Edenhope and though we did far more kms than we should have, the road was beautiful and we both agreed that it was fortuitous because we were unlikely to have ever driven that way otherwise.  After a short return to Warracknabeal it was back to Horsham that night for dinner at Ginger Chilli with a gang of Sandrine's amies.