Saturday, June 18, 2011

How We Celebrated the Queen's Birthday

Since Australia is part of the Commonwealth, it celebrates the Queen's Birthday holiday on the second Monday of June each year so we had the day off. We looked at it as our delayed Memorial Day weekend. We took the Red Beast out for a ride. First, we drove out to Mount Lofty where we hiked about 2 kilometers up to the summit (equates to roughly 1.2 miles). Certainly no Mount Everest but we still rewarded ourselves once we reached the top by toasting her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, with a chocolate chip muffin. We didn't buy 85 candles to go on the muffins though. Then I thought we took pictures of the views from the summit but I guess we botched that one too.





Further along the trip, we passed through a town called Hahndorf where many of the Germans settled two hundred years ago. We got some blackberry and plum jam from a place called Beerenberg's which brings you out to pick strawberries during the spring and summer....maybe we'll go back later in the year to get the full experience. The jam is delicious by the way.

We ended the Queen's Birthday in Victor Harbor which is a popular summer home destination in South Australia. It's also home to 1-foot tall penguins of which you have to pay to see. However, we tried to take a few pictures peering through an electric fence which came out a little fuzzy as you can imagine. No, it wasn't really electric but the guys did get some thorns in their shoes from the thorn bushes planted to hide the penguins' nests. Also, we saw some camels but didn't get camel rides. Apparently they were introduced in Australia some years ago and now there's an overpopulation issue in the outback. Weird, huh?











Shawn was being eaten by the whale-looking rock (he's in the bright red sweatshirt):


Scott was struggling to make it up a rock. This rock had no easy way of getting up on it. I am still amazed by his determination. Shawn gave him a boost but still...I thought we were going to bring him to the hospital before the day was over:








One penguin behind the fence of which you can hardly see:




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