Gio Blogs I

So I've been kinda occupied with more exciting stuff other than Ph.D work in the last two weeks. This included a flying trip back to Adelaide to show our convivial Italian exchange postgrad, Giovanna (hence forth known as Gio) the sights of South Australia's Capital City! I bored the crap out of the poor Gio by taking her to Harndorf, I'm sure she was thinking "I've been to many quaint little german towns in EUROPE!"

A bit more excitement returned when we headed past the rolling hills and out towards the Murray River Plains and Murray Bridge (Oh! Exciting!). I think Gio was enthralled by the pelicans and river fowl rather than the drivel I was spouting from my non-existent historical knowledge of the area (was the Murray River really clear before the introduction of carp?).

Oh well, wild fowl 1, witty repartee 0. I didn't mind since I had a photogenic participant to try my person photography on.


Ye Olde Murray Bridge


Flood plain and bridge cross struts


Got on the blower to the man upstairs for a picture perfect rainbow and he didn't disappoint, pity I didn't do so good


V. cold by Brissie standards, a lot of Adelaide people scoffed at us for being soft

The following day we headed out to Normanville, Carackalinga, Second Valley, Myponga and ultimately the tourist Mecca of the Fleurieu Peninsula, Victor Harbour. I kinda made a lofty promise about have penguins and whales abound in the region but I was surprised myself when there was a literal menagerie of the wee little things great and small!


Candid Gio near Second Valley


Got lucky with the lighting on this one, dark everywhere else but the wave and rock, 1/640s, matrix metered, S-priority


One of the old trams on the Island Causeway


A word of warning (Pelecanus conspicillatus)


Yay! A Fairy Penguin (Eudyptula minor)


Yay! Southern Fur Seal (Arctocephalus fosteri)


Yay! Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis)

The day at Victor ended with a successful summit of Mt Lofty which unlike our two previous attempts was not shrouded in clouds, revealing a stunning view of shimmering Adelaide.

With only a partial day before we head back to Brisbane, Gio wanted to visit the modest offerings of the South Australian Art Gallery and Museum. But not before a quick trip to the Central Markets.






China Town


Yay! Black Swans (Cygnus atratu)


I think he was a little perplex by Gio's gentle cooing in Italian


I, on the other hand, was perplexed at her fascination with Australian ornithology, though it was pretty fun to watch a pelican hurriedly waddle away from our jovial Italian.


We ended up at good old UoA for lunch with some old friends, Hey guys! (hey crabman!)

I think I did the fair state of South Australia proud with my whirlwind tour of Greater Adelaide. I hope I can count on Gio's tour guide skills when I'm in Italy later this year.

Booyakashah