Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Hot in the City
After making comments to friends how pleasant the first few weeks back have been, summer has hit. Yesterday was 43.7 (110), the hottest day in Adelaide for 5 years. And today, with a forecast of 44 (110) again, we hit 45.7 (114), the hottest day in Adelaide for 76 years. And the forecast for the next 4 days is above 40 (104) and above 38 (100) for the next week!
Back to School
3 weeks and 1 day after we hit Adelaide, the kids went back to school. And there was much rejoicing. Didn't help it was already 36 degrees (97F) when we took this photo at 8:30 this morning. But the kids had a great day at school, catching up with their friends.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Australia Day
"Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free."
Today is Australia Day, the day we celebrate the arrival of the first fleet in Australia in 1788.
The tradition is to have a BBQ and we did just that today at a friend's place today, with a pool as well. The kids didn't leave the pool all day apart from time to eat.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tour Down Under
This week the Tour Down Under has been held on the roads of Adelaide and neighbouring hills. It is Australia's version of the Tour de France and this year had extra impact with the return of Lance Armstrong to professional cycling.
As part of the Tour, their is a day where anyone can ride the same course (or part of it) on the same day as the professionals. The bike group that I used to ride with before heading to the US (and will again once my bike arrives back) known as Mud Sweat and Gears entered as a team and had over 50 members riding, as young as 11 and as old as 83. There were three distances available - the full 155km, 97 kms or a 30 km loop. The majority of our riders did the 97kms.
Here's the group photo for the group doing the 30 km ride.
The jerseys look cool, especially with the team name on the back.
On the way to the ride.
The finish line for today in Angaston in the Adelaide Hills.
Some of the team's riders as they approached at the end of the ride.
A family affair.
This guy had an L plate on the front. At to make it even better, a photo taken of him made it to the front page of the Advertiser.
Some of the team still had enough energy to celebrate their completion of the course.
The gentleman in the middle of this picture is 83, and did the 97 km ride. He was the center of a story on the local current affairs program earlier in the week.
We even had a foreign import from northern California who found out via the internet about the ride and joined us (there were also a couple from England but one was an expat Australian).
This gentleman currently reads the weather on the local television channel, but found time to do the ride with our team.
The group photo (although there were still a few missing/AWOL at the time).
As part of the Tour, their is a day where anyone can ride the same course (or part of it) on the same day as the professionals. The bike group that I used to ride with before heading to the US (and will again once my bike arrives back) known as Mud Sweat and Gears entered as a team and had over 50 members riding, as young as 11 and as old as 83. There were three distances available - the full 155km, 97 kms or a 30 km loop. The majority of our riders did the 97kms.
Here's the group photo for the group doing the 30 km ride.
The jerseys look cool, especially with the team name on the back.
On the way to the ride.
The finish line for today in Angaston in the Adelaide Hills.
Some of the team's riders as they approached at the end of the ride.
A family affair.
This guy had an L plate on the front. At to make it even better, a photo taken of him made it to the front page of the Advertiser.
Some of the team still had enough energy to celebrate their completion of the course.
The gentleman in the middle of this picture is 83, and did the 97 km ride. He was the center of a story on the local current affairs program earlier in the week.
We even had a foreign import from northern California who found out via the internet about the ride and joined us (there were also a couple from England but one was an expat Australian).
This gentleman currently reads the weather on the local television channel, but found time to do the ride with our team.
The group photo (although there were still a few missing/AWOL at the time).
The weather was perfect for the ride and the scenery through the Barossa Valley was spectacular. I'll be riding next year.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
We're Here!
We touched down on time, with ALL our luggage in sunny Adelaide to be greeted by a host of thousands (well tens) of family and friends. Great trip, but a long time from Rome to Adelaide (about 40 hours!), wiht 14 hours in the QANTAS Club in Hong Kong.
More later!
More later!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back Home
Here's a blog for us once we're back home. We're not there yet! Check out http://birdsindc.blogspot.com/ until we're back.
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