Category Archives: Second Valley

As time passes by our interest change – activities and hobbies I’ve outgrown or lost interest in

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

– Jetpack prompt

As I reinvigorate my blog I’m experimenting with different approaches to posts. In my early stages I used regular prompts as an approach, so here I go.

Riding in Sicily

There are many activities and hobbies I’ve grown out of. No surprise there, I’m on the wrong side of 65.

The one that quickly came to mind was stamp collecting. As a primary school child and early teenager, I was an avid collector. I wasn’t the beneficiary of a parent or grand parent’s collection, so I started from scratch. I say that because I used to look on at envy at those who had old albums full of interesting stamps. Mine however was just ‘bog standard’. Aussie stamps collected from envelopes, swapped and bought over time. For a while my sister and I went to a local stamp club where we’d buy a few stamps, as my own swaps weren’t of much interest. I also built up a collection of First Day Covers. However, as I grew older I simply lost interest, and today I’m not sure I even know where my stamp collection is.

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Walks with my dog



Sadly, we have recently had to say goodbye to Rosie, our much loved dog. At around 16 she’d had a good innings, but over the last year her mobility was greatly resticted, and her quality of life deteriorated.

Rosie a rescue dog was very much my daughter’s until she moved out of home. My daughter moved but the dog didn’t!

Why Rosie was abandoned we have no idea. She was impeccably trained for a “Heinz 57” varieties. Perhaps she just strayed one day and then couldn’t find her way back. Very much our good fortune but a pity for the person who trained her.

In early 2010 my 2 daughters and my favourite person went to the Animal Welfare League (AWL) to see if there was a suitable dog to join our family. My daughter says Rosie picked herself. She was her dog and very much not mine! Infact, she was quite aggressive to me which was of great concern, as we had been told that she’d already been returned to the AWL, so the next return meant she would be put down. Aggression towards me or not that wasn’t going to happen. Continue reading

A short trip to Kangaroo Island -Day One

Cape Willoughby Lighthouse

A couple of months ago we booked a trip to Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island is a short drive from our beach house and then a ferry ride of about 45 minutes. A welcome short break away from my studies. 

We left Adelaide just after lunch and drove to our beach house about 90 kms from Adelaide, rather than an early start from Adelaide the next morning. Second Valley is stunning and we never tire of the view.  We are lucky because we are able to enjoy Second Valley anytime, but if Kangaroo Island is on your wishlist, stopping a night on the way at Second Valley and having dinner at Leonards Mill Restaurant makes a great start to the trip.

After breakfast, we made the 15 minute drive to the ferry terminal at Cape Jarvis. We were early, so after checking in we had time for a coffee. We were called to drive the car onto the ferry about 20 minutes before we departed. They ask the drivers to go to their cars to drive them on and the passengers’ board separatley.


It’s only 16kms to Pennyshaw across Backstairs package, it was windy meaning the boat rolled a little on the 45 minute trip. I don’t have great sea legs so it would be fair to say I was happy that it wasn’t too rough. I’d have preferred it to be pan flat as it was one day when I rode my bike across to Cape Jervis and saw a group of jet skiers riding across.

We were quickly off the boat and headed to the Fat Beagle for an awesome coffee. Friendly staff and awesome coffee – the best we had on the Island. As well as enjoying the coffee we used the time to think about the day as the weather was not great. From there we headed across to Frenchman’s  Rock about 2 minutes away. The rock has an inscription made by Nicolas Baudin’s crew on their mapping expedition in 1803. 

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Otranto, Italy – has anyone got a bus timetable?

After a few relaxing days in Lecce, my favourite person and I decided on a day at the beachside town of Otranto, about 45kms from Lecce.

The bus stop for the summer bus service was just around the corner from where we were staying. Armed with our bus timetable that our truly amazing beyond Airbnb super host had given us, we arrived at the bus stop about 15 minutes early. Continue reading

The Cockies are eating our house!

Dusk at the beach, Second Valley

I have written often of the paradise that is Second Valley on South Australia’s Fleurieu Pensinsula. It is idyllic and now regularly written up as one of South Australia’s best beaches. The secret has got out!

 

Waking in the morning to the sounds of the birds, seeing the odd Kangaroo hop past our back door, it’s lovely but for all of this, we have one true menace. No it’s not the snakes, although the dog and I did see a four foot brown snake slithering down the street a couple of weeks ago, it’s the Cockies (Cockatoos)! There are thousands of them. They squawk raucously, strip the trees of leaves and pine cones and make a mess everywhere.

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