Lolling about...

Contrary to what my very grown up and techno savvy children think, 'lolling' has been around for years, and has nothing whatsoever to do with laughing out loud. It is also what Anthony and I have been doing all day today, although with a little less 'dangling'. For those of you who don't know the alternative meaning (and spelling) of lol…. 

After the comparatively frenetic day that was yesterday (really? how frenetic can life on a houseboat ever be?), today has been one of sheer laziness - eating, dozing, catching up with the world, more eating, more dozing… you get the picture!

Anthony reminded me that "time you enjoy wasting is never wasted time" - a timely and self serving justification for today if ever I heard one. Life on a houseboat seems, with its slow, graceful movement, to slow everything else down too. The spot we have moored in is very quiet, save for the occasional passing of a ski boat or jet ski. Two other houseboats have glided majestically by and one very compact paddle steamer snuck past almost unnoticed. The only other punctuations to the day have been the organisation of food and drink - a high priority on our agenda!

In a rather pathetic effort to 'do' something fruitful, I wandered along a dirt track nearby and took photos, wondering at the time just how many variations of beautiful river photos I can manage to insert into this blog before they wear thin. For everywhere along this amazing waterway there are gorgeous vistas, just begging to be photographed. Sadly I am not terribly proficient and owe any vestige of decent photography to the dumb luck which led me to buy my Fujifilm Finepix S. It was bought in a hurry one Thursday night, my previous camera (like the several before it) having met its demise at the hands of one of my school students, this one dropped in the sand, the shutter cover never to work again. In any event, I am very pleased with the new camera - for a point and shoot machine, it takes great photos and makes up for my decided lack of skill.

I guess, having now written this post, uploaded the photos and checked my email accounts, it is probably time for a cup of tea….. or maybe a nap?

Mannum to Piggy Flat

If it were possible to order a picture perfect day to begin writing a travel based blog… today would be it!

I am sitting on a houseboat on the River Murray, it is a dazzling thirty degree day with the most gorgeous clear, blue sky. Kookaburras have just begun their afternoon conversation, and all day I have been witness to the seemingly effortless, but no doubt, athletically demanding flights of hundreds of pelicans.

Anthony, my travelling companion, is busy pottering… but not so busy as to miss the opportunity to startle a skink who was sitting quietly and picturesquely awaiting a photograph. In the ‘not quite far enough away’ distance hums a ski boat, stopped briefly to reconnect with it’s recently fallen skier.

We set out this morning from Mannum, home of the skink scarer – heading up river towards, initially, to Walker Flat. After a festive few days back in Adelaide, our closest capital city and my home, we will return to the houseboat and continue our journey upstream, hopefully reaching Morgan within a week or so.

This is not the first time that Anthony and I have travelled together – and most definitely not the last. Having met in early 2014, the details of which will no doubt regale you in a future blog, we have several houseboat weekends and a trip to Port Lincoln, SA, notched up.

All things considered, we seem to be quite companionable travelling companions…. and this blog will document our travels and the transition I make over the next couple of years from being a full time worker to a semi retired grey nomad (although the grey is well and truly established).

So, back to our current, idyllic location….

  

…. in an area known as Piggy Flat, which is near Bowhill, about 88 kilometres east of Adelaide. For those of you playing along at home, all the details can be found here: http://www.exploroz.com/Places/45016/SA/Piggy_Flat.aspx

As Anthony seems determined to frighten all the local wildlife (shrimp, yabbies and fish included), I have decided to explore on the kayak for a while… it's a tough life!