We're back

Title says it all, really. We're now back after a journey no less eventful, as the Victorians would have put it, than the one that took us to Australia in the first place. Those who read my email then will recall that we were delayed 24 hours due to missing the Singapore flight by 10 minutes. This was due to heavy rain at Heathrow that reduced the permited frequency of landing, combined with what seemed like (and in fact was) masterly inactivity from the ground staff.
The return was different. The flights from Melbourne to Singapore and Singapore to Heathrow went like clockwork, but the trouble started when we touched down. There was a delay in disembarkation because the boarding bridges had allegedly frozen solid in the low overnight temperature (I daresay they had saved a few pence by buying a cheapo variety of hydraulic oil.) This may have been a ruse, as the Metropolitan police then boarded the aircraft and arrested the man sitting across the aisle from me. I had thought in the departure lounge that he looked a trifle spaced, not to say zonked, and had offered up a selfish prayer that he would be sitting somewhere remote from us. This was fittingly answered when I noticed that the boarding pass he was waving at the stewardess had the number next to mine. However, he improved on acquaintance and I had a perfectly normal conversation with him just before his arrest. Oh well- if it was drugs, he was better off being arrested in Heathrow than in Singapore.
Marvelling at this, we changed terminals, had a cup of coffee and proceeded to the departure gate as instructed. All seemed normal until there was a peremptory announcement that the flight was cancelled because Edinburgh airport was closed due to the heavy snowfall. No, it couldn't be rescheduled. Passengers must collect their luggage and proceed to the dreaded Zone E in departures. This bore an uncanny resemblance to what happened on our outward journey. After much queuing we were redirected to a desk in the arrivals area where buses to replace the cancelled flights were being arranged. After much more queuing we were finally given tickets to a bus that would leave for Edinburgh at 11.00. Rescheduling seemed very improbable in the pre-Christmas rush and this seemed the least unsatisfactory option.Traffic on the M6 was horrendous and, because of this and the snow, the journey took the rest of the day, arriving here at about 23.00. (All credit to the bus driver. Instead of doing what he was told to do- deliver us to Edinburgh airport- he concentrated on where people actually wanted to be and dropped them off at Carlisle, Hamilton and central Edinburgh as well.)
Readers of my initial email will recall that what upset me then was not the various meteorological causes of the delay, still less the conduct of the crew and cabin staff, but the blase and uncaring attitude of the ground staff at Heathrow. Others have confirmed this impression. In one respect things were different this time- they were ostentatiously caring this time round. Indeed, many of them wore a calming powder-blue sweater with the legend: "Can I help you?" The answer was monosyllabic and involved neither P nor any letter of the alphabet beyond. They were simply there to marshal people into queues. The actual work of issuing bus tickets was done by a grim group of 4 juniors, who took about 10 minutes for each passenger. When my turn eventually came round, I saw that this was because they were having to copy all the paasenger details from the e-ticket or boarding pass onto a bus ticket form- in longhand. I was born in 1942 and am therefore almost completely devoid of IT literacy. But they must have had a database with all the passenger details from the cancelled flight(s) . How long would it take to print out a ticket for each passenger? Then all that happens is that the passenger surrenders the boarding slip, is given his or her bus ticket and a duplicated map showing where and when to catch the bus. Possibly a name on a list has to be ticked. Any unused ticket is destroyed afterwards. Done and dusted. Time per passenger, perhaps 30 seconds. Maybe there is a second career for me post-retirement in business consultancy?
Enough of this. I'll feel better after some sleep, if possible with the jet-lag.
Blog-related matter: since the last log we have been to both islands of New Zealand and visited Melbourne again. I must look at our pictures (new camera, by the way. The old one was dropped on a tiled floor and no longer functions) and see how good they are. There should be one or two postings from these which will conclude (drum roll) our antipodean adventures.

Melbourne visit (family interest only)

Last weekend we paid a visit to Stephen and Vivienne at Melbourne. Opportunities for photography were a bit limited by the fact that it rained there a lot of the time, combined with the fact that we had broken the camera and only bought a new one when we were actually in Melbourne. So we didn't get an outside view of their house. This is their back garden (somewhat sodden.)

And this is the front garden, equally sodden.

Stephen and Matthew

Vivienne

While we were there, Andrea (who was at their wedding) visited with her partner Paul. Here are she and Vivienne with Sarah

Paul with Matthew. The Meccano set seems to be a great success- with a little bit of help from Paul.

Sarah's interests are more in the dancing and singing line, as can be seen here.

On the Saturday we were taken on a drive to Mount Dandenong. On the way, we were treated to a full Devonshire tea in a cafe dedicated to the memory of Agatha Christy's Miss Marple.

The view over metropolitan Melbourne should be fantastic, but weren't on this day. It started to rain in good earnest about 30 minutes after this, so it was just as well we didn't opt for the 10km bush walk.

Second trip to Goolwa

A few weekends age Adelaide was intolerably hot (approaching 40 C, though that is not the hottest it's been) and we were fortunate to be able to borrow the cottage at Goolwa again. It was several degrees cooler and there was a nice sea breeze to give the wind chill effect. No particular reason for posting these pictures except to make you UK folks feel envious. This is the path from the cottage down to the beach.

While the surfers were doing their thing ,

We managed to get cool in a more sedate way. (But we did have a swim the next day. It's as nice as it looks, but the undertow is quite fierce.)

We also visited the National Park at Newland Head. The view going down to the beach is spectacular:

And the beach itself distinctly beautiful.

The bird life is worth seeing, too.

A walk around Adelaide- continued.

The University is built on a series of terraces descending from North Terrace towards the River Torrens. Passing by the side of the Elder Hall, we come to a court with a pond and the popular statue of Confucius. Chinese students make a point of being photographed here on their graduation day.

We then come to the University Plaza, a pleasant open space surrounded by services such as the bank, the accommodation service, the university health service and so on. It is not to remain long. There are plans afoot for a huge Learning Resources centre that will cover it completely. From this it may be seen that Adelaide, too, has a university administration.

Descending steps, we come to Engineering South

which is the only building I know of to boast logarithmic paving slabs,

and Engineering North, which is where I work.

Continuing downward, we pass this courtyard that accommodates the Student Union building and the University Library (behind the camera)

We can then cross the Torrens by the University Bridge

commanding good views of the river,

and so homeward. This is O'Connell Street, the main shopping street of North Adelaide, home to a cinema, a shopping centre and many restaurants that we'll miss.

This is Melbourne street, rather closer to home. Again, there are many shops and restaurants here.
Finally we turn on to Jerningham street, which takes us back to Finniss Street (to the right in front of the block of flats.)

A walk around Adelaide

In many ways, things here are drawing rapidly to a close. We have now vacated our apartment and are back in Kathleen Lumley College. I propose to post a couple of blogs today showing the scenery as one walks into Adelaide from where we live, followed by another on the subject of our last weekend's trip to Melbourne. We shall then be off to New Zealand.

Behind the tree is the entrance to Mattanya, where we were living.

From there we look along Finniss Street.

Walking along Finniss Street, we pass our local, the British. It serves a decent pint (or schooner) and does good meals.

At the end of Finniss Street one comes to Frome Road. This is looking North towards North Adelaide village.

However, we cross Frome Road and pass the hospital

walking west through some rather nice parkland

and join King William Street. This crosses North Terrace and the residence of the Governor of South Australia is on the corner. I should really have included a view of the State Parliament, too.

Crossing North Terrace, we follow King William Street south. The tram to Glenelg can be seen here.

Turning left, we enter Rundle Mall. This is one of the principal Adelaide shopping streets.

Turning left from Rundle Mall, we re-enter North Terrace opposite the War Memorial. There is a series of public buildings as we walk east along North Terrace.

They start with the State Library

continuing with the South Australia Museum

the Art Gallery

and the Elder Hall, where a lot of the concerts take place.

Final view looking east along North Terrace towards the Adelaide Hills.

Flinders Ranges 4- the return

The return path took us back to Quorn once more. There was some delay here and we quickly demonstrated how quickly, for an international group, we had learned some basic lessons, like finding a place in the shade and sitting down.

There was time for another look at the old station

And to read some of the material about the old railway.

We also visited a nice town called Melrose. It is the centre of a network of cycling tracks and is a very popular tourist destination for this and other reasons. One thing it features is an old forge converted into a most tempting coffee-and-baking shop.

The gardens at the back are shady and extensive. The seating is comfortable.

There's enough to see that one can wander about while waiting.

Final group photo.

One final sight well worth seeing in Melrose is the style of the accommodation units that the hotel has installed. The truck cabs seem to be absolutely real- I wonder what clientele they are supposed to appeal to?

After this, we returned by the Clare Valley and a number of wineries and cellar doors. By the third (a Jesuit foundation) even I missed out on the sampling and had a look at the church instead. South Australia produces about 80% of the country's wine exports in the Clare and Barossa valleys, the Adelaide Hills and Coonawarra. Unlike the Coonawarra operation we had seen, most of the wineries here were really rather small-scale and concentrate on the quality end of the market.

Incidentally, the word on Jacob's Creek is that it is "The Fosters of Australian Wine." I think that is intended to mean that the bulk of production is consumed abroad rather than at home.

No more here. There will be a further blog on the general photos of Adelaide and the University that I've been taking over the past week. Then the trip to New Zealand- any further blogging will be done from home.

Flinders Ranges-3

After leaving the airstrip, we headed to Wilpena Gap, the only practicable route between inside and outside the Pound. This is one reason why the Pound was considered good stock country- only one means of entrance and exit had to be patrolled. There is a visitor centre there.

The local trees are mainly redgums. They seem to have a fantastic capacity for regeneration, even when they are so rotten as to be completely hollow. Gums anyway shed limbs naturally with great ease- the advice is not to go to sleep in the shade of a gum.

The upper branches are usually very pretty.

We headed off along the tourist track into the Pound

Seeing numerous kangaroos, this family of emus

and this rather antediluvian-looking lizard.

After a climb that was rather knackering in the temperature (by now 38 Celsius) we got to the top of a low hill with this panoramic view over the inside of the Pound.

We next got back in the bus and headed North to the Bunyaroo and Brachina gorges through the Heysen mountains. This is looking down into the Bunyaroo gorge. The road we followed to get down can just be seen in the distance.

Many examples of extreme folding of strata, leading to nearly vertical rock bands on the hills, can be seen once on the bottom of the gorge. This is the effect of the crustal upthrust mentioned in the last posting.

The strata here are more horizontal. The changes in conditions of the sea that laid these strata results in alternate hard and soft bands that weather into what looks like ornamental brickwork.

We followed into the Brachina Gorge. There was the occasional heat-dazed kangaroo,

But what we were after was the yellow-footed rock wallaby. They had too much sense to be out under these conditions! So the nearest we got was this rather amateurish sculpture at Quorn.


Outside the Brachina Gorge, we debouched into a stretch of much less lush outback country. This still doesn't qualify as "desert".

We made it onto the tarmaced road north to Parachilna. What is it about a pub sign that makes thirsty people stop the bus, get out and photograph it, instead of doing what it says and rushing on to the pub? This place is famous as a bush-tucker restaurant and I'm told that people will drive up from Adelaide purely to eat there, difficult though this is to believe. We didn't sample the kangaroo and emu steaks, etc. The female members of the party had the bush-fruit ice creams while we others satisfied ourselves with Fargher Lager, which has rather more body than Fosters.

Readers will be relieved to know that we turned back at this point and didn't go to the next gorge north, intriguingly known as Mount Buggery Gorge.

Even with the above refreshment, the pool back at Rawnsley was very welcome.