Happy New Year!  This year is already starting to get busy and I thought things were going to slow down a bit but I do like to have things planned and things to look forward to so I'm not complaining but I think my dear husband might think it's a bit much but he will just do what he wants anyway so that keeps us both happy.

Our granddaughter turned 18 the other day and we are all going out for lunch on Sunday and we are looking forward to another day with all the family.  Our daughter in law also has a birthday on the same day so we get to see her too, but what to get them is the difficult part.  I think this year we will give them some money to do what they want with it as GD is going on a holiday with friends so money will be useful for her and DIL has a busy life and probably will use it for a relaxing massage.

The grandchildren about 15 years ago!

The other family news is that our GD got her 1st preferance for Uni so she is very happy.  She got a score of 89 for her Yr 12 so had quite a few options, she was a bit disappointed as she was hoping for a score of 90 but we think her score was excellent and she had worked so hard last year as well as having a part time job.  She is a wonderful young lady and we are so proud of her as we are of our other grandchildren, with our 2 grandsons at Uni too and our other granddaughter doing Yr 11 and she has a part time cake making business which she does from home and makes amazing cakes for weddings, birthdays etc.  As you can tell we are very proud grandparents.

The next big event is Australia Day and we are the volunteer BBQ  cooks for our retirement village.  We have done it every year since we have been here so almost know what we are doing, but the village has a few experts to keep us on our toes!  We do enjoy helping out and everyone is very happy with the BBQ.

Last week we took a day trip to Strathalbyn which is about 70km south east of Adelaide on the edge of the Adelaide hills.  The weather was a bit drizzly at the beginning of our trip but by the time we got to Strath the weather had cleared although still overcast but good for driving and a pleasant change from the recent hot days.

A rusty old car in a paddock

We saw a sign to Crystal Lake so decided to investigate and found some interesting sculptures but the lake was more of a pond, but the area is very dry so the lake has probably dried up.

We continued on to Strathalbyn and had a wander around this pretty little town which has a few antique shops.  The one we decided to look through was huge and like a maze but at last we found our way out but didn't buy anything as now we live in a smaller house and have no room for any extra nick nacks!

Some lovely old houses

Kenny Blake sculpture

The amazing, life-size sculpture took over 3 months to build, using around 4000 pieces of scrap metal and mechanical parts.

An old machine in the park

As you can see, the countryside is very dry in South Australia.

It wouldn't be South Australia without some vineyards

Beautiful area around the Angas River in Strathalbyn

I hope you have enjoyed coming on our day trip to Strathalbyn.