Koalas and STD's

Today, I cuddled a Koala, and didn't catch an STD.
In other news...
So, we've been in Adelaide for 3 nights now, and the pace has slowed a little which is why postings have tailed off a little. In the last post, as could be seen in the pictures, wine and beer was drank and then takeaway was eaten. Since then, we have had a trip to Adelaide where we saw a hat shop. In fact, we saw two. I didn't buy a hat, but we did find a coffee shop - that sold Italian craft beer. Beer was drank out of a wine glass. A happy time was had.
The weather has been pretty good, with temps over 30 each day. Just the sort of days that you do with a hat to be honest. We went to a shop and bought a fridge magnet. Our international fridge magnet collection is coming on well. We have bought two so far. I also bought a hat.
Yesterday was Alans last day in work before we embark on a holiday from having a holiday with people Wood and Martin. BBQ was used, meatball burnt, sweetcorn caught fire and Ali made a mess at the dining room table. Oh, and beer and wine was drank.
So, today. Well, first there was the train ride. Tomorrow we travel to Kangaroo Island, so a vehicle has been hired to take to the island. Its a couple of hours drive from Chez Wood Martin. You might be suprised at the level of organisation that has gone into today bearing in mind tomorrow. So, train into city. Hire car picked up in city. Drive from city to the Gorge Wildlife Park about 40 minutes outside of town. This is one cool park. Lots of feeding of animal. Lots of enclosures to walk through. And koalas to cuddle. Happy days. Its been a long time since I have been to a placd like that. The nearest thing to it was the old Penscynnor park that used to be near Swansea. Actually, scratch that. Its nothing like that at all. I never cuddled a koala there. Ali Wood pushed a small child off the end of a bench whilst we queued to hold a koala. She then tried to feed another small child to a rather excited duck. The child cried and ran away.
All this spending time in heat and the outdoors does mean that a thirst can be worked up. It was time to visit Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard. Set in the hills above the city, the vineyard has moved in from being a 'tin shack' as it was described to me, to now being a very pleasent place to spend some time drinking wine (not for me though) eating eating a light lunch with a tidy dessert. No children and no ball games please. Pointing at the proprieter and telling him to build a childrens playground is not the best way to make sure you are welcomed back. Not only was wine drank. It was bought. A single bottle of Rose,  turned to two. And then all common sense was lost and a whole case was added to the bill "because it was cheap". Apparently, there didnt need to be much thought given to this decision making process. I dont understand these things.
Light lunch, dessert and wine consumed, it was time to head off. Now, you might have noticed that beer had not been mentioned so far for today. This was now being solved. Off we went to the BierHous brewery and a tasting paddle was ordered. And some wine, suprisingly. Some really nice beers available from here, but all in the German style, so not really classed as ozzies thinking for themselves and brewing in their own style. Nevertheless, a very pleasent experience, and a good way to spend the day. Interesting articles on the walls to pass the time in the toilet too.
Tomorrow, we depart early for KI. Phone reception is sketchy, so updates might fail. Nevertheless, this a brief rundown....
Beer, wine, wildlife, bbq, nature, astronomy, relax, tidy.
During our travels, we have taken hundreds of photos. I have picked out the most mundane and silly ones for the blog. To see the rest - if you really want to, please let me know, and I will gladly go through every last one with you when we get back :-)
Did you know, a standard can of soft drink in oz is 375ml, not the short measure of 330ml like we have back home? Amazing. 
And the std reference, 
One direction were once worried that they caught chlamydia after a koala urinated on them.
Cheers!

Catchup posting from Adelaide

Afternoon! Before I start, some did you knows about Australia that we found out about along the way...

1.  Did you know, you can not take a pet rabbit from New South Wales into Queensland. If caught, you face fines of up tp $44,000 AUD?
2.  Did you know that most ratings given to how venomous snakes are, are given in relation to how they effect mice?
3.  Did you know that you can get into lots of trouble for bringing fruits like oranges and bananas interstate, for instance between Queensland and South Australia?

So, time for a catchup. We have left Brisbane and arrived at Chez Wood Martin in Adelaide where its been a bit warm. Hovering around the 35 mark. Today was supposed to be cooler, but doesn't feel like it. Think its about 32 today. Anyway, these pictures pretty much sum up the activites of the time between leaving Brisbane and this afternoon so far :-)

Koala no show around Brisbane.

So, tonight's the night as Rod Stewart once said. It's our last night in our little campervan and brings to a close this leg of our jaunt down under. We haven't travelled far, but we've successfuly managed not to see any Koalas despite many roadsigns advising us of their presence all around the coastal suburbs of Brisbane. We took the tourist road out to Wellington Point this morning. Along the way, we saw some ozzie roadkill (namely a dead kangaroo - nice a swollen in the mid morning heat and ready to burst by the look of it) and loads of signs for Koalas. Wellington Point is quite a calm and quiet part of thr coast around here. Its popular for fishing and watersports. The waters are very calm around here, and although tidal, various boat ramps and slips give easy access to the water. It was nice for once to spend some time next to the sea and not have the sounds of crashing waves on rock amd beach. As nice as thst sound is, it was a good change to have some piece.
Whilst there, we had a mesage and some directions for our next hook-up. 14 years ago, whilst working in Embrun, France, I worked with Cara. An aussie by birth, and someone whome I have stayed in touch with since. At the moment, Cara lives just outside of Brisbane, so it was a good excuse to carry out a threat made long ago, for me to come to oz and track her down. Today was that day. After dismissing a number of carparks because of the heigt restrictions, and our van being too tall, we chanced upon a parking space on a street, pulled up and wandered off towards the River to find Cara. In recent years, Brisbane has suffered some severe flooding, as has some other parts of Australia. Since this flooding has happened, many rebuilding projects have been carried out, including the river side which now accomodates a new artificial beach area for public bathing and many pubs, resteraunts and bars along its length. It was in one of these fine places that we caught up with Cara. This was only a fleeting visit. She's a very busy lady! After an all too brief meet up, Cara had to dash and head back to her studies, which left Ali and I to wander around the river area. We didnt really go anywhere else in Brisbane becuase we had to be back to beat the meter on the van. No gold bikini wearing girls topping your meter up around here im afraid.
We made our way from Brisbane to our final campsite  and our final leg of the journey. Tomorrow morning, we head to the Britz depot near the airport and leave the van so we catch our flight to Adelaide. Apparently, its warm there at the moment, in the region of the high thirties. I will be doing as what many of the oriental tourists seem to be doing in this fine weather, and wearing my jeans, long sleeved shirt, waterproof (with hood up) and surgical mask. Go figure :-)