Stirling, Adelaide Hills: Big Fish

We woke early, as we had a half hour drive to catch the 8.30am ferry. Olive was excited about going on the ‘big boat’ again. A kid in a seat next to us got seasick, but the journey was quite steady. It has been known to get rocky across this strait. At Cape Jervis ferry terminal we admired the wooden fish carvings for sale on the wall, and decided to visit the artist’s workshop at Normanville, a little up the road. On the way we stopped for coffee at a pleasant bush spot in Talisker Conservation Park. At the carver’s workshop, we chatted with the artist and admired his carvings, eventually ordering one to be custom made and delivered later. We have paid in full, so we hope it turns out all right! We stopped for lunch in a suburban park, then drove back up the Adelaide Hills to visit friends we had met at a campsite in the Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, five months ago – Richie, Melissa and their two kids Alex and Maddie. We all took a walk on a small section of the Heysen long distance hiking trail, which passes close to their house in the hills. The track just happened to lead us to a pub, where we had dinner and Rob joined Richie for a night of poker. Rob had beginners luck, and almost made it to the final table - pity there was no prize money involved. Back in a house Olive struggled with the change in routine, and the access to more toys, and was terribly slow to get to sleep.