June 5, 2024
Back in Belfast
Today I got the news around 10:30 am in Cork, that I am scheduled to fly to Grand Canary, Spain at 3pm tomorrow and I can access my baggage on the ship, at noon before heading to the airport. I quickly packed up all my stuff at Edel's and had a quick goodbye, for now, because we are determined to meet up again soon, somewhere warm, so she can have a proper ship experience!
It then took me about 5 hours, to drive back to Belfast in my sporty Kia Rio rental; did I mention I got a standard transmission to make things more of a challenge and exciting! I haven't driven stick in roughly 30 years & add on the opposite side of the road driving! Party!! Poor Edel did a couple of body jerks while riding shotgun and not in control, over our week of touring.
I am staying at a different hotel downtown this time in Belfast and the picture above, the Protestant headquarters, is right outside my window. I am also just 2 hotels down from the famous Europa hotel, the most bombed hotel in the world! Good Karma right!
Late tonight I found out that our itinerary, once we set sail on the 15th, is also changed for first couple of days but it means I am going to miss hooking up with my dear friend Tom Powl in Hamburg, Germany. I talked to him tonight and sent new itinerary below and he is going to see if perhaps we could meet up at another point. I hope so, really would love to see him!
VICTOR HARBOR , is a popular coastal town in South Australia, known for it's beaches, wildlife and heritage attractions like the horse drawn tram to Granite Island and their whaling history. It is about 80 km south of Adelaide, and was our third stop on the Viator tour, where we also had a yummy fish & chips lunch included. Below shows the bridge walkway over to Granite Island, it was lovely soaking up the sunshine .
The quaint german village of Hahndorf in the hills outside Adelaide is charming. Back in the 1830's Lutheran families were being pursecuted in Germany, by Catholics, so a wealthy Minister in Australia reached out to them and paid the passage for a family, that had specific trade expertise to move over. He gave them a piece of land to cultivate and after 15 years of service, it was there's to own. Thus the area of Hahndorf and serveral other villages were established.
ADELAIDE the capital of South Australia is known as the " City of Churches " and is a hub for festivals, food and wine, situated between the Gulf of St. Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges . It was founded in 1836 and named for Queen Adelaide. They used excellent city master planning, that still holds today, and makes it so welcoming. The City is completely surrounded by protected park lands and contains four large parks within it's boundaries. The City streets form a perfect grid, running from the mountains to the sea and extend out through the park lands, to allow easy flow inand out of the suburbs.