Today was a jam packed day that began when the alarm went off at 8am accompanied by some groans. Then there was some rolling over a few times before the painful moment of getting out of the cocoon of warmth that Kristin and I had formed throughout the night. We eventually made it out of bed since the boys were picking us up at 9. We headed upstairs for our morning ritual of cuppa and a chat with the Tylers. We ended up having a later start than we intended since we took our time drinking coffee with the Tylers’, Ryan, and Tony up until an hour after we had initially planned to jet out the door.
The master plan had been setup for the day and our first stop on the list was the quaint German town of Hahndorf. We met up with Nicole and Cynthia for a bit of brekkie and some more coffee in a cozy café then jumped across the street to a museum that gave a bit of background to history of the settlement. They showcased a few local artists with some brightly colored art, no odd pictures like the modern art from Brisbane -“paint this!” – The museum also included some unqiue articles such as a black wedding dress! You’d think a woman was going to her funeral as the subheading read, “It was a time to put aside girlish frivolity to become a sober matron.” The dress could also be worn at other important occasions and was meant to be practical. I guess every girl needs that “little black dress” but on your wedding day? Pa-lease…then Kristin reminded us that our favorite character from Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingles got married in a black dress – go figure. As we went throughout the rest of town, we tasted some fudge, practically bought out all the boomerangs from the souvenir shop owned by a pretty cool Greek woman, played around with these cool oven mits shaped like Australian animals and marveled at the pig turning over on the spit roasting in the middle of the sidewalk. Would you believe that we also saw Dundee face first buried in the mud? Not to worry, no relation to the Kristin Dundee we have all learned to love.
Our time in Hahndorf had to end for us to get the next stop for the day: 4th of July BBQ at the Magers!!! After meeting Mark the Aussiecan at headquarters and talking about our love for America, he took some pity on us travelers and made it a special day for us by decking out the whole house in red, white and blue. The tablecloth was a collage of American flags and he had Sousa booming in the background as we ate some classic burgers and fries. We topped it off with mint chocolate ice-cream, my fav, and a beautiful tale of how the Magers fell in love across the seas. God had a hand in their love story that basically sealed the deal that they would end up at the same feast site, that despite having 25 standbys ahead of him for a flight to the feast when the time came no one was there and they got straight on the plane! They wrote romantic letters to one another and put them in binders upon their marriage. We were lucky enough to read a few paragraphs which left Kristin and I sighing those girly sighs and the two Mager boys saying, “Dad you were a love machine!” haha
We bid farewell to the wonderful Aussiecan family and made a quick pit stop at the Olive Shop. They had lots of olives to sample; herbs, garlic, chili, traditional. We bought some stuffed olives and Olivemite then headed to Victor Harbour. Now a discussion ensued on how to pronounce/spell harbor. They spell it with the “u” and pronounce it “Haba” or “Abba” so we naturally had dancing queen moves incorporated into the conversation. We had a nice bit of cruising time today in the car learning that no wokka is another form of no worries, ridgadijjy means authentic , a jackaroo is a farmhand and . We saw a sign or heard from Tony or Ryan about Myponga. It is a small town somewhere nearby and when we heard it busted out in giggles and said who’s ponga? Myponga or Yourponga? The pure brilliance of this phrase is that ponga can be anything and it works! Just before writing this blog we looked up the real meaning and it means high cliffs or according to some other locals, ponga means smelly.
At Victor Harbor we went on a walk around Granite Island where there are supposed to be some penguins. It was the perfect time of day when the sun is low in the sky and you have just an hour or so before the sun sets. We strolled along the long bridge to the island while the trolley would pass being pulled by a massive Clydesdale. We took some stellar self-timed pictures on the rocks, climbed a few gangly old trees, jumped around, sprinted/raced each other, piggybacked and hid in some of the caves, watched the sea waves crashing onto the cliff and boulders below, all the while trying to spot some whales since tis the season. We also found that the South Pole was a little over 3000m… away!
The master plan had been setup for the day and our first stop on the list was the quaint German town of Hahndorf. We met up with Nicole and Cynthia for a bit of brekkie and some more coffee in a cozy café then jumped across the street to a museum that gave a bit of background to history of the settlement. They showcased a few local artists with some brightly colored art, no odd pictures like the modern art from Brisbane -
Our time in Hahndorf had to end for us to get the next stop for the day: 4th of July BBQ at the Magers!!! After meeting Mark the Aussiecan at headquarters and talking about our love for America, he took some pity on us travelers and made it a special day for us by decking out the whole house in red, white and blue. The tablecloth was a collage of American flags and he had Sousa booming in the background as we ate some classic burgers and fries. We topped it off with mint chocolate ice-cream, my fav, and a beautiful tale of how the Magers fell in love across the seas. God had a hand in their love story that basically sealed the deal that they would end up at the same feast site, that despite having 25 standbys ahead of him for a flight to the feast when the time came no one was there and they got straight on the plane! They wrote romantic letters to one another and put them in binders upon their marriage. We were lucky enough to read a few paragraphs which left Kristin and I sighing those girly sighs and the two Mager boys saying, “Dad you were a love machine!” haha
We bid farewell to the wonderful Aussiecan family and made a quick pit stop at the Olive Shop. They had lots of olives to sample; herbs, garlic, chili, traditional. We bought some stuffed olives and Olivemite then headed to Victor Harbour. Now a discussion ensued on how to pronounce/spell harbor. They spell it with the “u” and pronounce it “Haba” or “Abba” so we naturally had dancing queen moves incorporated into the conversation. We had a nice bit of cruising time today in the car learning that no wokka is another form of no worries, ridgadijjy means authentic , a jackaroo is a farmhand and . We saw a sign or heard from Tony or Ryan about Myponga. It is a small town somewhere nearby and when we heard it busted out in giggles and said who’s ponga? Myponga or Yourponga? The pure brilliance of this phrase is that ponga can be anything and it works! Just before writing this blog we looked up the real meaning and it means high cliffs or according to some other locals, ponga means smelly.
At Victor Harbor we went on a walk around Granite Island where there are supposed to be some penguins. It was the perfect time of day when the sun is low in the sky and you have just an hour or so before the sun sets. We strolled along the long bridge to the island while the trolley would pass being pulled by a massive Clydesdale. We took some stellar self-timed pictures on the rocks, climbed a few gangly old trees, jumped around, sprinted/raced each other, piggybacked and hid in some of the caves, watched the sea waves crashing onto the cliff and boulders below, all the while trying to spot some whales since tis the season. We also found that the South Pole was a little over 3000m… away!
After we watched the sunset we walked back to the car, and had good ol Tom Tom lead us to the Beach Hotel Café for some scrumptious pizza with Beth, Brian and Ben. From the time we last saw Ben to tonight he has nicknamed me Miss America and Kristin Miss Moo Moo! It was a blast just hanging out over some tasty food after a jam packed day with the fun-loving couple and lively “Ben the Builder.” Beth now has a plan to get Kristin hooked up with someone, have her move over here and we can all work on a vineyard making some fantastic wine or be professional goobers.
The hour or so drive home was complemented with some Norah Jones and Buble – cds courtesy of Mr. Tyler. Of course, on the way back there were lots of Myponga references dropped, but the best came from our newly gangsta friend Ryan who quipped: "Myponga, go on dust the shoulders off." In an Aussie accent of course (which we learn is accomplished just by adding mate at the end of even a British accent- go figure!). We just finished a load of laundry, a cuppa of tea and a bicky and now it’s time to pack for Sydney!!!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment