Finally we get to sleep in! Children did not make an appearance until after 8am. Yay! We got up and were spoiled with freshly made waffles and grape Shiraz jelly – yum! We got the whole herd fed and sent them outside for some fresh air while we showered up and packed for our highly adventurous day. George and I took the outside tour and examined the hundreds of recently planted plants and trees they have put into the acreage. When they bought the place 5 years ago, there was nothing here but bald prairie. After thousands of hours of work, they have a beautiful home with amazing landscaping and a phenomenal pool to boot. In another 5 years, it will look even more amazing once the foliage takes off and provides them with a bit more privacy and blockage from the busy highway. After doing a bit of hard core weeding, we took both vehicles and headed out to the Gorge Wildlife Park in the Adelaide hills about 30 minutes away. We arrived with a bit of overcast sky and a mild 20 degrees to tour around in.
We paid the bill and proceeded to the picnic area where they provided bbq’s for us to make hot dogs. After stuffing the kids full of food, we immediately hustled to the front of the line for the Koala holding. We each got to hold a fairly young koala and have our photos taken with them and chat with the keeper for a bit. The line up behind us was over an hour long as we managed to be right at the start of the line. We proceded around the park and saw many different animals from the park north of Sydney – and at half the cost. Highlights included feeding and hanging out with the kangaroos. There were well over 30 of them just hanging out and we got to get right up to them and pet them as they were very tame. We took many photos and saw some very unique creatures.
We grabbed a quick ice cream and off on the road to the giant horse! A huge horse made from steel that you could climb to the top of on ladders inside the structure was the attraction to the Toy Factory that designed and sold hundreds of handmade wooden toys. The dads and kids climbed while the moms took photos. We got an amazing view of the valley from up top and was a good challenge for all the young kids to get up and back down again. We toured the gift shop and picked up a couple odds and ends and really enjoyed our tour.
We stopped in at a cherry orchard and bought a 5kg box for only $20! Normally it was double the price, but we were in the right place at the right time! They were so delicious! We travelled back to the house and let the kids swim for a while as we had had quite the long day already. George proceeded to whoop my butt at bocce ball and followed up by doing the same to Krista. Home court advantage definitely helped him out – but he is the luckiest son of a gun ever… We had an amazing supper of BBQ lamb and chicken with pasta noodles and salads with potatoes and homemade garlic bread. George and I took the kids to the bmx park for a quick spin on the bikes before showers and bed.
We settled in for the rematch of Canasta as the boys had won last night. The girls came back with a vengeance in the second hand and conceding to the loss means it is all setup for the rubber match tomorrow night, our last evening in Adelaide. We are hoping the kids allow us another sleep in – George and Darren are off to play golf in the morning and then going to do some wine tasting in the afternoon. Have a great day everyone!!
Where is that petting zoo? Is it in Adelaide, or outside somewhere?
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