Southern Beaches of Adelaide

Sunday drive time!

Not content with the beach just 15min walk from our front door, we packed a lunch and hopped into our car, and drove 45min south of adelaide to the southern most beaches. Aldinga & Sellick beaches.

The weather started quite cloudy and cool, but by 3pm was full sunshine.

First off is a view from the cliffs above Sellick beach.


As you can see, lovely blue water, and the golden sands... (if I hadn't cropped out most of the sand!)

At Aldinga Beach, there are the semi-burnt remains of what used to be a pier - below


And back at Sellicks beach - you can see from the cliff top, people still drive down to the beach. There was a little white toyota yaris on the beach, which gave me confidence that the blueberry stallion would have made it - but prudence got the better of us, and we'll just have to wait another day before we spin our wheels on the beach!



And too prove we really went out - shots of Lyn at Aldinga beach


And David - also at Aldinga Beach


Have a good week! Back on Wednesday with my next aussie icon.

D&L

October Sunshine!

THE state will this week bask in an early burst of summer weather. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast four days of 30C or higher in temperature – including three days of 35C or above – for Adelaide in the next week.

Already this month the temperature has exceeded 30C three times. Senior forecaster Tom Boeck said it was unusual weather but warm temperatures often occurred at the end of October. The hottest October day in Adelaide was 39C in 1987.

Yikes! That is the latest news from the local Paper - Adelaide Now.

So, I expect this weekend I'll finally have to kick-start the Air Conditioner at home!

-dk

Aussie Icon - MILO

What is MILO? Well, according to the web

"Milo is added to hot or cold milk to give it a malted chocolate flavour and extra texture. When combined with cold milk, it retains the gritty texture of its raw state. Milo can be stirred into steamed milk or hot water to create something similar to hot chocolate or cocoa. Sugar can be added to the milo beverage, but many people enjoy it without the addition of sweeteners, appreciating it for its subtle chocolate flavour. Another possible use is making a normal cup of cold Milo and microwaving it for approximately 40-60 seconds. This gives the Milo drink a biscuity cover on top"

According to me.. well it is pointless!

Anyway, my thoughts aside, MILO is everywhere in Australia. There is the original milk drink powder, the special make your kids smart milk powder (see below), MILO Breakfast cereal, MILO snack bars, MILO chocolate bars, MILO Ice Cream, MILO clothing range, and many many more MILO branded products.


Below, are two shots of a "Cold Milk Milo" - can you guess which one has had the MILO stirred in? (left hand glass)



Anyway, it seems pointless, it doesn't add a whole heck of a lot of flavour to the milk, and the "biscuity top" would be better off, as a just a biscuit.. perhaps a Tim Tam (coming soon!).

-David

DIY Weekend

First off, let me start out by saying it was 33c on Saturday, and I didn't even turn the air-conditioning on.. Which is good, it tells me that our flat keeps itself nice and cool (as if nearly freezing to death in the winter wasn't a clue!)


Anyway - quieter weekend this time - just some random DIY repairs around the place. Last weekend we found a few old pieces of furniture that looked past there prime, but were pretty solidly built. And one of these items was just what we were looking for a new wardrobe- not for us, but for the baby. So, with more time on our hands, and decent weather, we purchased it, and a few other items to take home.



It has a couple of layers of extra paint, and some surface scratches - but nothing that can't be fixed with a few power tools and some decent paint!

So, we've now stripped it down, sanded it, and washed it.. now we just need to paint it, and add some shelves to the inside. And add some new hinges & child friendly drawer knobs..

I'll put the final photos up in a few weeks - with some before & after shots, and then we can decide if we should have just gone to IKEA instead!

Also, this weekend, we started out Christmas shopping... our first purchase... solar powered Christmas lights! I'll take a photo in a few weeks when we put them out! LOL! I was very amused..



D & L

The Backyard veggie patch

Okay, the idea of my entire backyard being covered in Paving stones didn't really do it for me. Fair enough, with South Australia being in a drought, and at the end of Murray Darling River (main fresh water supply for big parts of Australia).

But, with all the water restrictions, you are allowed to water you plants with a watering can filled from the tap - so with Lyn being home these days, and with plenty of spare time on her hands, we've started our own little veggie garden tubs.

I don't think I've eaten as much salad as I have over the past 3 weeks - and there is more and more on the way.

Lettuce


Broccoli :(


Garden Peas


And MORE LETTUCE


-D & L

Aussie Icon - Coopers

Okay, okay..... more of a South Australia Icon - as Cooper's beers are widely available on tap in South Australia, and in some bars in the rest of Australia as specialty beers. It is widely available bottled around Australia and occasionally at specialist importers in other countries.

Coopers is known to make a variety of beers most famous of which is its Sparkling Ale. It is also well established as a producer of home brew supplies and as such is one of the worlds largest producers of home brew ingredients.

While, the Sparkling Ale is good.... I do prefer the Pale Ale (pictured above taken on the Beach just 15mins from our house)

Coopers' bottled beers are characterised by their secondary fermentation technique - some yeast remains in the bottle after bottling - thus the bottled beer contains some sediment. There are two schools of thought with regards to the sediment - some drinkers like to mix the sediment throughout the beer by tipping or rolling the beer before drinking, while others prefer to decant the beer into a glass leaving (most of) the sediment at the base of the bottle. I'm of the first wave of thought - adds just that little extra flavour.

But no matter how I drink it - and it doesn't matter if it is Pale Ale or Sparking Ale - Coopers and I are now good friends!

Spring Valley

It was another warm and sunny weekend. So we jumped in the blue stallion, and headed north this time. Our destination - Spring Valley. A protected wildlife reserve just west of the Clare Valley (yet another wine growing region of SA).

Sadly, the wild life was limited to birds and flowers - but it was very pretty. It is early spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, so the fields were covered in wild flowers.




And there we lovely views of the valley below - the following photo was taken after a 20min walk along the top ridge to a rather seasonal waterflow - and spring ins't one of the seasons.



But, you can see for miles and miles from the picnic grounds


And the local birdlife does come to visit. This guy finally landed somewhere near enough to take a photo, just as we were about to leave. I had been stalking a magpie before this - but the bird was just to darn smart!


This weekend might just be staying home and cleaning the yard. We've got out first landlord inspection coming, and it is as good of an excuse as I can think of to clean the outside!

D&L