Road Trip, Lovely people and Gazinia

This weekend I head back down to Adelaide. It’s been a quick and not uneventful holiday for Catherine, but we have been out and about as much as we could and I think  she has been happy enough. She is talking about coming back in two years. Once I take her back to the airport and stay overnight in the hotel, in the morning I may be heading off to Mount Gambier, which is about a four mile drive from Adelaide. I have been as far as Naracourte  and Mt. Gambier is about 150 klm further on from there – Have Camera – Will Travel ! There is no certainty that this will actually happen and I wont know what I am doing until another day or so, but I am hopeful.

I am starting to come back to the world after a traumatic week.  After having lost The  Man and then Chienne, I was starting to get a bit on the down side and slightly depressed.  I am not sure if it is just a cliche or not but people talk about “The kindness of strangers” and I was overwhelmed by the messages of kindness and sympathy that seemed to just keep coming. The kind thoughts  expressed by  people I had never ‘met ‘ was very humbling and something I will always remember.

A few days ago I pulled the car off the highway to the side of the road, got out with a camera and took some photographs of roadside flowers. These  very pretty flowers are

called Gazinia and in many parts of Australia they are considered to be weeds and  councils have attempted to eradicate them. I am quite thankful to say that here they have not been successful and I do believe they have given up trying. The flower that grow in perfusion are full of life and colour and make a very welcome change from the  (beloved by a very few) Saltbush.  Here in my little corner of the universe, I find the saltbush that I am familiar with dead and boring = dead boring!  I suspect there are species of saltbush that flower and look pretty ( never seen any) and I suppose that saltbush is part of Australia but then, so are flies and I can’t recall anyone ever waxing lyrical about them. The South African  Gazinia, however, have become so popular that many people have  taken some of the roadside plants and replanted them in their garden and have been rewarded with an explosion of

colour. Before you ask, yes I am thinking about it!!

As it happens I am heading to Mount Gambier on Saturday morning. I was not sure for a while but a telephone call this morning confirmed it. I am overjoyed. Bit too early for the Blue Lake I suspect. If I get away from the hotel early on Saturday morning I should be in Mt. Gambier by about lunch and back in Adelaide by mid-afternoon. I don’t think I will be able to drive the whole way home, so we will probably stop off some place for the night  – I expect Highway 1 Caravan Park. A lot will depend on how I feel and it might well be that I will stay in Mount Gambier rather than drive the four hours back to Adelaide. In fact the more I think about that the more I warm to the idea.