Tag Archives: Second Valley

The Diary of a Slow Traveller: Close to Home – Second Valley, South Australia

Leave a reply
Second Valley

Second Valley

I was reading the wonderful blog Windows into History  on the  joy of slow travel, a subject upon which I have often blogged.  It is a reflection of travel close to home in 1900 by Richard Le Galliene, albeit in his case he is referring to the UK. A 100 plus years on when travel to pretty much anywhere in the world is true, Le Galliene’s words still ring true.

For us , unlike last Christmas in the delightful Sirucusa, Sicily we were home for this Christmas. Christmas in Australia is synonymous with Sun and the Beach with Boxing Day seeing a trek down South for many South Australians including us.

Second Valley

Second Valley

Second Valley - the cove

Second Valley – the cove

We are lucky enough to have a beach house about 90 minutes drive from a Adelaide at the idyllic Second Valley.   South Australia, while locally more recently famous for its statewide  blackout in September, is also getting recognition as a destination with Adelaide identified as the place to discover in 2017 and our wonderful Second Valley beach one of the near city highlights. Continue reading →

It’s Negroni not coffee this week

4 Replies
2016-06-10 18.19.02

Negroni – Second Valley style

Well this week we won’t be sharing a coffee rather it will be a Negroni! After all,it is Negroni week .

Negronis have become our drink of choice. A wonderful aperitif that doesn’t seem to be climate dependent. Whether at home, at the beach (Second Valley) in a local bar or somewhere on our travels they have been a highlight. In Australia they are carefully measured, unless you having one of my homemade versions, whereas in many of the bars we sampled them in Italy it was a “glug” of Gin, Campari and Vermouth making them all the more special.

After a Negroni or two the conversation often becomes obtuse. For example – unusual words in songs.

“moot” in Rick Springfield’s Jessy’s Girl – surely a little sophisticated for a song like this?

“gavotte” in Carly Simon’s Your so Vain – Carly Simon in Variety discusses why she used the word which means a French dance. Continue reading →

It’s time for Study!

1 Reply

 

2016-02-29 18.21.54

In recent weeks as our time away recedes to a very lovely memory its been back to study. Days spent walking the Island of Ortigia with the only concern being where to find a coffee have been replaced with meetings with my Supervisors, the research librarian  etc, all part of the early stages of my PhD.  Sure I have high levels of motivation but these are matched by even higher levels of anxiety.

Its time to settle down Continue reading →

So near and yet so far …. Second Valley

2 Replies

We are privileged to have a beach house at idilyc Second Valley just 90kms from the centre of Adelaide. Its a stunning location with a gorgeous beach.

image

From our beach house balcony you can see the city. Infact when they used to play night games of AFL at AAMI Stadium you could see the lights, yet try and get anything to it from Adelaide and you would think you were in some remote location on the other side of the world.

You can see the city from here!

You can see the city from here!

Recently we tried to have a bench top delivered and the quote was roughly double the cost of having the same item delivered to Bejing!

There is a point to this…

On Friday I headed out to watch the 3rd stage of the Tour Down Under. Continue reading →

Just one more assignment to go this year!

1 Reply

IMG_1400.JPG

Just 10 days to go, one more assignment and oral presentation and I will have completed my academic year. So far it’s been 17000 of 20000 words submitted. The last 3000 words are written but are definitely not yet in a form ready for submission. Whilst I continue to enjoy my study, I have to say just now it’s feeling a little like a grind to the line. This was never more evident than last week sitting with my supervisor, who in the most encouraging fashion possible suggested, I might have missed the point!

After I reflected on his comments I had no doubt he was correct, however for someone who has a responsible position and reviews other’s work everyday that was a real wake up call. A few days later and a re-read of key texts and journal articles I am hoping I am on point ahead of one final submission of a draft and final submission by the end of the week.

Included in all of this process is the final step of reading and re-reading including checking the referencing. Even with EndNote getting the referencing right is no small task!

After that it will be preparation for my oral presentation of my literature review and the academic year will be done. Time for some R&R and more time at the Beach!

IMG_1399.JPG