Summer and the Christmas season!

It's basically mid-December and the main reason for this post is to show off the personalised stocking which was knitted for me by my very talented mother-in-law! Please see below - beside it is Jeremy's stocking which he has had since he was young. I think they look rather spiffy hanging from our mantel! I feel like we have really managed to get into the season this year, despite the blistering heat! We have attended not one, but TWO Christmas parades (or pageants as they are referred to here, which I still don't entirely understand). The other three pictures show the Clare parade (erm, pageant) and the Norwood one.

We are also getting ready for some Canadian guests, YAY! First, Tarek will be sweeping in for a short and sweet visit the weekend on the 19th. On the 21st, Ronan and Adam arrive in Melbourne and I fly out to meet them on the 22nd. We arrive back to Adelaide on the 24th, where we will have an orphan Christmas Eve dinner and then head to Clare on the 25th. Jeremy is sadly on call the 24th and 25th but has managed to wrangle a week off from the 26th to Jan 3rd which we will take advantage of (although unfortunately I will still have to work my Tues and Thurs mornings, plus try to get some PhD work done.

As for life in general, that has basically been it down here...working, PhDing, drinking (too much) wine the odd moment we actually get to relax together (didn't see each other for almost 3 weeks over the end of Nov/beginning of Dec). This past weekend was Jeremy's work Christmas lunch, and for some insane reason I decided to be convinced to ride my bike there, which normally wouldn't be an issue except that it was 38+ degrees! Agh! And the restaurant we were going to was at a high point of the valley. We rode about 20 kms and surprisingly didn't die of heat stroke. Just to put it in perspective, there were 5 collapses from heat exhaustion at the Clare pageant the evening before which required ambulances! So really, it was actually quite a silly idea but we did it.

Lago di Como

On our second full day in Italy, Rick and Mary Jo took us to Lake Como.  We went to an area where you can take a ferry between the towns of Bellagio, Verenna and Menaggio which are all pictureque and charming spots.  We explored all three towns throughout the day and there are way too many pictures to post but here are a few!

View from on the lake

Jeremy being a tourist on the ferry in his Hawaiian shirt.

Little touches like this stone archway and beautiful flowers and flowering trees added to the overall beauty of the area.

I made this one extra large so you can see the picture of George Clooney on the left.  You can actually take a "George Tour".  We opted out of this tour.

Wandering through the narrow streets with Rick and Mary Jo.

Cobblestone lanes everywhere you look!

I thought this demonstrated a look of contentment.  Hard not to be content in this setting!

If you look closely, you can see that my earring is a blue cat.  It has a little blue stone for an eye.  We found it at a market in one of the towns, and Jeremy absolutely insisted that I had to have it.  It was a bargain at 1 Euro.  Of course I had to put them on right away, and drama ensued!  One of the cats was fine, but the other cat was improperly positioned so no matter what ear I put it in, the silver backing was facing outward instead of the blue side with the face.  Uh oh!  Mary Jo accompanied me back to the seller, who unfortunately had gone to the bathroom and had someone minding her stall.  Cue three different ladies (including the seller who eventually returned) fiddling with this cat earring with special little tools to try and turn it the right way!  All the while trying to communicate in English and Italian. I'm sure the lady was regretting her one Euro sale, but eventually the cat was fixed!

We had proper Italian pizza from one of Rick and Mary Jo's favourite places.  This pizza was called the "Bum Bum" which elicited mature giggling and elbowing...and then we of course had to order it.

Another lovely day in Northern Italy....writing about it makes me want to go back immediately, particularly as I am in Clare at the moment cooped up trying to write my narrative review and it is cold and rainy!  The weather here will improve soon enough and I'll be complaining about how hot it is!  True Canadian, never satisfied with the weather!

What else?  Jeremy and I have barely seen each other in the last couple of weeks!  He has been working very hard and has done some hospital on call shifts.  I spent a weekend in Adelaide because I had signed up for "Operation Blackhawk", a military inspired obstacle course...basically you spend 3 hours running around, climbing over obstacles, plunging into muddy, freezing, disgusting water, climbing up and sliding down mud hills, etc etc etc.  It was an interesting experience but probably not one I need to repeat!  We missed each other the next weekend as well as I went to Melbourne for 5 days for a conference (Ok, 3 days conference, 2 days fun).  I was really hoping Jeremy could meet me in Melbourne for the weekend as it's my favourite city in Australia to visit and we always have an amazing time...alas, he had an appointment on the Saturday and was on call the Sunday so it wasn't to be.  My two closest Melbourne friends were also out of town for the weekend (arghhh!!) with one of them heading to Darwin for a course and the other one coming back to Adelaide for a wedding!   I was able to catch up with both of the 'away' friends earlier during the week so even though it was quick, I at least got to seem them.  They are both awesome people and they both offered me their homes and cars for the weekend even though they were away...spoiled for choice!  I stayed at Claire's house in Toorak, which is a fancy Melbourne suburb, and decided on her place due to proximity to the city and the fact that she has a cat!  Hehe.  I decided against using anyone's car in Melbourne as I am not familiar with it at all, it's big and scary, and hook turns are completely baffling to me.

Aside: here is a description of a hook turn.  Still confused?  So am I.  Instead of moving to the right hand lane to turn right, you move to the left lane and stop (with your right indicator on) when you're almost half way across the intersection in the cross street. As your lights turn red and the lights in the cross street turn green, the vehicles that have queued for the hook turn complete their turns by crossing ahead of the vehicles that were stopped in that street. 

Despite eschewing driving, I was able to get around quite easily by tram, another benefit of staying at Claire's/in Toorak.  My Melbourne activities consisted of: the conference (which was actually really good/interesting), going to a CAT CAFE (one of my dreams), breakfast with Claire (best one of the year), wandering around the Melbourne CBD with Maria on a Thursday night (and accidentally finding all sorts of interesting laneway places), walking around the neighbourhood of Toorak and taking myself out for brunch, meeting a uni speechie friend for Mexican tapas at the trendy Mamasita and also checking out Madame Brussels (a garden themed cocktail bar) and catching up with our friend Adrian for dinner and exploring the wild and wacky side of Melbourne (e.g. a lab themed place where you get drinks in syringes, "Zootopia" complete with face painting, drummers, and contortionists). 

I arrived back in Adelaide last Sunday night and had a Flinders tutorial Monday morning.  Following this, I drove straight to Clare so I could finally spend some time with Jeremy and focus on my research without all the distractions of Adelaide! 

Over to Italy

After our short but sweet Switzerland trip, it was time to make our way to Italy to visit Rick and Mary Jo!  We took a couple of wrong turns (aka became confused by the GPS) and actually ended up missing a traffic jam where people were getting out of their cars to wait.  It stretched on for kilometres!  If we had been actually trying to avoid it, I'm sure we would have somehow ended up in it, but we were lucky and instead took a very scenic (and pretty harrowing) windy mountain route.  When you cross through the mountains from the German to the Italian part of Switzerland, the scenery and architecture changes dramatically.  The drivers also become noticeably crazier!  We took a slight detour to Locarno for a late lunch before crossing into Italy.  Within 5 minutes of crossing the Italian border, we witnessed our first vehicle accident - in one of the tunnels.  So much reckless driving, many many motorcyclists with death wishes!

Our sojourn into Locarno.  It was a brief stop off and we kind of just wanted to get to Rick and Mary Jo's but it was nice to see another city.

We made it!  Rick had e-mailed and said that we were welcome to call them when we got to Porlezza (a nearby town) and he would come meet us to guide us through the narrow roads (more like lanes!!!) up to their house.  We were planning to call him but then decided to try and brave it on our own.  J and I were both slightly stressed about the driving conditions and the teeny little streets with motorbikes flying out at you from every which way.  With a bit of persistence, we made it to a nearby-ish location and then found their house, which apparently was a pretty surprising feat!

Views of their neighbourhood.  Not too shabby having that mountain to look at right outside your window!  Italy was having an intense heatwave and Rick and Mary Jo said that they weren't able to buy a fan ANYWHERE - completely sold out.  It was the first time in the 7 years they had lived there that they considered buying a fan.  Luckily it seemed the heat was breaking a bit by the time we arrived. 

The next morning, they took us to a real Italian market.  Every day that we were with them was completely filled with exciting activities - they are definitely very good at showing their guests a fantastic time!

This may come as a shock, but Jeremy was immensely excited by the meat on display!  So much meat, so little time.  We loaded up with meat, cheese, bread and olives and headed up to the top of a mountain for a real Italian picnic.

Obligatory posing for pictures at the top of the mountain.  I had only met Rick and Mary Jo once before, at Hayley's wedding (almost 9 years previously I think?)  They were so welcoming and easy to talk to that I instantly felt comfortable and we chatted away like we had been meeting up like this for years!  Jeremy was really happy to have time to get to know his aunt and uncle a bit more as well.

There are endless pictures of just how beautiful everything was - the buildings, lakes, mountains, food!  Everything was novel and exciting.  Such an unforgettable experience.

Update on the lecture (which I promise to never talk about again!)  I did it, I made it through, was complimented by the main lecturer of the course and some of the students.  I was really happy to have already had a few tutorials with the students so they were somewhat familiar, which made it a little less daunting.  I'm not in a huge hurry to do another one any time soon - it took so much prep time and I really should be focusing on my research!

More hiking and Switzerland-ing

To continue where I left off from the last post, we had just made it up to the Faulhorn peak.  We had a brief rest at the little restaurant up at the top (there's accommodation up there as well!) before starting our trek down to Schynige Platte.

Obligatory shot with the Swiss flag at the top.

You can kind of see my orange backpack up there!

The beginning of a looooong walk from Faulhorn to Schynige Platte.

There were lots of these along the way.

Jeremy emerging out of the mist.  He's wearing a short that he was given when he worked at the Aboriginal Health Clinic in Port Lincoln.  On the back it says "QUIT SMOKING NOW". Very succinct.

In the last 6.5 years, I have touched snow twice - once at Milford Sound, NZ and once on this hike.

Sometimes the drop offs would go away and we would be walking through a lovely meadow.  Often we could hear cow bells in the distance from the cows grazing at various parts of the mountain. 

Yep, definitely a mountain!

Coming across a second restaurant/accommodation was a fun surprise.  I liked the pink tables.

Well, since we're here I suppose we could have another beer.  Just a small one though! (When we went to pay, the man didn't believe that Jeremy would have ordered the "small" size beer and was quite surprised when we showed him the small glasses...hahaha)

At this point, it kind of felt like we would never ever ever stop walking.

We made it to the train station with 15 minutes to spare! My hiking boots were amazing and I didn't have any blisters or falling off toenails, but we definitely both had sore feet!

Ah, the train to take us back to civilization :)

Mid-August?!?

A ridiculous amount of stuff has gone on since I last posted. My friends Maria and Shane (who I was staying with in Glenelg) moved to Melbourne. I'm now staying with Jen, Chris and their cat Sagan. Yay, it's nice to have cats at the Clare and Adelaide places :) Jeremy and I had a (too short but amazing) whirlwind trip to three countries in Europe. I started my tutorial support role at Flinders University and I'm really enjoying it! I never wanted to be a teacher, but when you're working with adults in a university setting it's pretty cool! I returned from our trip with two weeks to write my first ever lecture (for a three hour time slot). Jen listened to multiple moaning groaning complaints and didn't sock me in the face, so that's a great accomplishment. Today I sent the completed lecture to the main lecturer for the subject. She just e-mailed me back and said "I think that lecture is brilliant as is, well done. Includes all I would want it to include and more!" I am so happy - I never realized how much time and effort goes into ONE lecture. I have so much more appreciation for the whole process now! I actually give the lecture on Friday, so the next part is to get through that without fainting, vomiting, or forgetting how to speak. Back to our trip...it was so wonderful.

The main street of Grindelwald

Oh, just an amazing mountain view every way you turn

Jeremy not so happy riding up to First in the gondola

Heights don't tend to bother me, so I'm pretty cool with things in the gondola.

The beginning of our hike

Jeremy took this picture because he thought my outfit was funny.  I bought these hiking boots from (the store) Kathmandu a couple of days before we left.  My left big toenail was (and is) still dark purple from our Flinders hike a couple of months ago which I wore running shoes for.  I am SO converted to hiking boots after this!  Turns out there's a reason for this whole specialized footwear for different activities...

Looking back and down from the gondola

It made us want to re-read "Heidi"

Most people stopped at this part of the hike (only a few kms in).  Great spot for a picnic!

It was all up up up at this point so I used any opportunity to stop and take a picture.  Jeremy has much better endurance than I do!

I am actually quite unhappy here - there is still a lot more UP to go!

But....the views are just gorgeous.

We made it up to Faulhorn!  Beer is deserved.

The mountain ranges

Okay, so these pictures are all from Switzerland. We stayed in a place called Grindelwald, which would clearly be an insane place to go in the winter for skiing. It's also worthwhile to go at other times of the year, as we discovered. The first two pictures show a street festival in Grindelwald the evening we arrived (a couple of hours behind schedule due to a slight error/inconvenience with our rental car. Note: don't put regular fuel in a car that takes diesel. Further note: when you rent cars in France, they may not find it important to inform you that the car is diesel). ANYHOW, the point is we did arrive and the car survived after a little trip to the Renault mechanic. We were just in constant awe driving and walking around Switzerland. Everything is beautiful, everywhere you look.We wandered the street enjoying the scenery.  Restaurants had food booths set up, there was live music, and just a great atmosphere.  We stopped for a drink and were very lucky to be treated to some spur of the moment Swiss singing (and yodelling!) I have a video but sadly it is not posting.

We did a couple of laps of the street festival but had an early night as we were taking on the First - Schynige Platte hike the next day. 

Here is a summary of the hike, written by someone other than me:
This must rank as one of the most spectacular and scenic hikes in the Jungfrau area, and offers jaw-dropping views in all directions. It's simply stunning - look down on the turquoise Brienzersee, look far along the Thunersee with the Niesen and the Niederhorn, admire the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys, the impossibly majestic towering range of the Wetterhorn, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, beautiful small lakes, wild scree-covered slopes, it has it all.
But all this doesn't come without a price, however - this hike is tough. It's high, it's exposed, and it's long, with not many opportunities for shortening it. And there's a sizeable climb involved in reaching the peak of the Faulhorn, which adds up to a requirement for a certain amount of fitness. It's a tiring day, which may benefit from being split into two, but all the effort will, of course, be amply rewarded by the incomparable views.

And here's my take: It was definitely spectacular and scenic.  I said to Jeremy as we were hiking that it was one of the best days of my life (clearly not during an uphill portion!)  It was also LONG.  Jeremy agreed that when estimates in Australia say 6-8 hours, we can usually do it in 4-5.  But the Swiss don't mess around - if they say 6-8 hours, don't plan on finishing early, and if you plan to take the mountain train back from Schynige Platte to Grindelwald...make sure you make note of what time the train stops running for the evening (we made the last one by 15 minutes).  Unfortunately (for me) it was pretty foggy and overcast that day, so although we were given plenty of gorgeous viewing opportunities the views weren't as far as a clear day.  Jeremy appreciated this fact as we hiked through a few areas with steep drop offs and the fog/clouds made it much less terrifying, apparently!

I've only posted pics up to the "Faulhorn" peak, otherwise this post would be ridiculously long.  Also, this is out of order since before Switzerland we had a weekend in Paris with Alastair and Hannah, and then a couple of days in Epernay (Champagne central!).  For some reason we weren't using our camera until Switzerland - before then, we were taking pics with our phones and right now I'm too lazy to transfer those pictures over.

It's nice to be back in Adelaide, but the weather is terrible at the moment and I would have loved another week or two in Europe.