Adelaide Summer Dispatch - Sunday, 19th December 2021

Sally was way ahead of her time, wasn't she!

I forgot last Sunday to talk about a quick stopover we had in Port Fairy on our way to Robe. We decided to get out of Port Campbell after I had spoken to Leanne by Zoom to wish her a Happy Birthday, and picked out Bank St + Co as our preferred location. We easily got seated inside & enjoyed stunning breakfasts - Wes had a most beautiful muesli & I opted for a meal that made me think of our dear friend, Jan Pengilley. I am sure she would have approved of dukkah spiced butternut pumpkin with poached eggs, sauteed greens & Persian feta. 

We decided to have a quiet day on our Sunday in Robe. After breakfast at The Adventurous Spoon, we headed back to our apartment for a rest. I still had Saturday's Age crosswords to do & we needed to work out how to get clothes dry in our combination washing machine/dryer, as well as reset the air-conditioner which I had buggered up when trying to move from Heat to Cool! Those things all solved, Wes went for a swim at the little Chinese beach near the Marina, where there is a monument to the 16,500 Chinese who sailed to Robe to walk into Victoria & avoid paying the landing fee. 

Afterwards we went for a walk along the main street & found The Black Swan, a quirky bar, where we tried a couple of South Australian gins. Hendricks still has nothing to fear, although my flowery gin was served with slices of orange, which was very refreshing. We came home via the Robe Chinese Restaurant, one of those set with spoons & forks, and we had to beg for chopsticks. However, our meals were yummy - Wes had duck & I had salt & pepper squid. We've been eating early - 5.30pm, as we don't have lunch after our substantial breakfasts. 

When we arrived back at our apartment, Wes managed to get rid of the closed captions which had been permanently on display, and while doing so, found Channel 7 & we were able to watch the Stars & the Renegades in an exciting Big Bash game. Our TV had Foxtel, but not the cricket station, which is very frustrating. 

On Monday morning, we got up at 6am again and walked along a track that took us past the footy ground & the golf club. We met a man leaving his home, who told us there was plenty of bore water as he put his sprinklers on. Later, he drove past us, stopped & told us about some lovely walks near the lighthouse. Barry is a retired crayfisherman & a very kind man.

We headed to Beachport after a light breakfast at the Union Café and fell in love with the place. There are beautiful little beaches everywhere, water to view from spots galore & plenty of exciting walking tracks. Many of the homes are old & have been looked after, and most of the locals appeared to own boats! We'd like to come back & stay, perhaps with a couple of Labs who would love spending time at the beach. 

One of our walks - to the Lighthouse - took us to this delightful vantage point complete with comfy kitchen chairs

On Tuesday, our early morning walk was along the backbeach area of Robe, near the Lighthouse. We enjoyed watching the waves crash in & thought of our days owning a holiday home at Blairgowrie with Sherryn & Paul Danaher. Wes had a swim at the front beach, while I chatted to Leanne on Zoom and then he prepared a yummy breakfast of tomatoes & avocado on toast. 

For our last night in Robe, we went back to the Black Swan, tried two Tasmanian gins (better) and sampled their Thai fishcakes & Chilli Prawns. We couldn't fault the food & would definitely come back here.

The next morning we did another walk, this time to the Obelisk (built 1855) and back around the Marina, where work was being done on the paths. We are so impressed with Robe - clean, safe, beautiful & the walking paths are well-maintained.

Our drive to Adelaide went well, with a delightful stop at a town called Meningie, near The Coorong. We went to Freshies Café, where we had hot drinks & slices of ginger & walnut cake, sitting outside looking out to the water. The Comfort Meridien Hotel leaves a little to be desired, but it is in a great location on Melbourne Street, with off-street parking. We walked to our favourite spot, Lotus Chinese Restaurant, which we have been visiting since our very first trip to the Adelaide Pink Ball Test back in November 2015. Wendy was thrilled to see us - she & her husband have been running their restaurant in this spot for 24 years!

On Thursday, we got up at 6am & drove the short distance to the nearest COVID testing station, as we had to have a follow up test on our 6th day in South Australia. It took 90 minutes from door to door & was very well organised. They only test one nostril here, so not quite as much pain as in Victoria. 

We had breakfast at The Flying Fig, a Jewish cafe nearby & enjoyed it immensely. We walked back to our hotel and prepared to set off to the Adelaide Oval. I thought I would check our tickets & they had all been cancelled! By the time I told Wes this news I had calmed down & decided we wouldn't be the only ones suffering this glitch. When we arrived at the ground, everyone was having trouble checking in as the sun was so bright. The attendants couldn't see the green ticks & the green vaccination certificates on our phones. After about 20 minutes of panic, we made our way to the turnstiles, only to discover a friendly young man ready to believe what happened to our tickets & let us in. We learnt later that both Ticketek & Medicare had crashed, making life very difficult for everyone. 

The cricket was slow to start with, but then Warner & Labuschagne got going & it was most enjoyable. We were amazed that Steve Smith got a standing ovation at the Adelaide Oval when he came out to bat - not sure that will happen at the MCG. The other surprise was the enthusiastic singing of our National dirge - taking hats off was not compulsory, but singing with gusto appeared to be!

On Friday we slept in after our long & stressful day and drove back to The Flying Fig for breakfast again, before driving to the Adelaide Market to get Wes a new pair of walking shoes. His boots had given up the ghost in Robe & he only had a pair of heavy boots to get him through. We were pleased with the lightweight, waterproof pair of Josef Siebel shoes we found that fitted perfectly. 

It was a stunning day at the cricket if you ignored the 38° heat. We cooled down with a Pimms at the dinner break and were grateful to be undercover and with the benefit of a slight breeze at the Riverview Stand end of the ground. 

Yesterday we made our final trip to The Flying Fig, where we both had the omelette & pots of tea, before heading to Rundle Mall to see if we could replace a few clothing items that were on their last legs. We were totally successful and came home to pack so we can get away early today. 

Our last day at the cricket was very entertaining, as,  after batting well for the first session, the Poms capitulated and were lucky not to be forced to follow on. We were surrounded by young men from NSW, none of them wearing masks unless they went to get drinks! Masks are mandatory but no-one was policing the rule except at the entrance & at food & drink outlets. Our SMS tickets finally worked, we had another Pimms to celebrate and thoroughly enjoyed our final hours in Adelaide.

A rare selfie taken under our favourite Moreton Bay fig outside the Adelaide Oval