Jetlagged..............................

It is time for a report of my weekend activities, before I get back into "work" and quilting mode. I need to finish that quilt soon, but this morning has been spent watering again, and unpacking  and I think the "jetlag" has kicked in........A few interruptions and callers later, it is now early afternoon, and I will attempt to finish this post. 

We covered a lot of miles kilometres, and had a great time. Bev and I left Pt Wakefield about 7am Saturday morning and arrived at our accommodation by 1.30pm. I have just done the calculations and my journey from Bordertown to Cleve was 10 hours with a few short stops. (The wedding venue was another hour further on). The return journey for me back to Bordertown took 13 hours with quite a few detours that I will tell you about below.

For those who don't live locally I have scanned a map that shows the journey we took. It felt like we travelled from one side of the state to the other, but this shows how big the state really is.

The up arrow shows the route we travelled to get there, and the down arrow the way we came home.

We found a coffee shop at Port Augusta mid morning, and Bev thought we needed to take a "selfie".

From Pt Augusta, it was a loooooong road down the peninsula. The trip takes much longer, because you have to travel up to Pt Augusta before going down the other side of the gulf. 

It was almost lunch time, and we had made good time, thanks to the fact that we had left Murray Bridge on Friday evening. So we decided to take a small detour and go into Cowell, which is by the sea, thinking that we might have fish for lunch. But the jetty shop priced their fish too high for us, and we went to the bakery instead. And guess what I found alongside the bakery, a patchwork shop!!  I had to run in and take a quick look, .........

..............and guess what I found in the shop!! Made me feel right at home.

We arrived at Cleve about 12.30 and booked into the Motel, and dressed for the wedding. I liked the entrance art to Cleve, which is a renowned sheep breeding area.

My brother and family live at Darke Peak, which is another 50 km from Cleve. This little town is very small, and only consists of one Hotel, an oval with Football clubrooms, and a few houses. They used to have a school, but I am not sure if they still do. Thus the only accommodation was a few rooms at the hotel, and this was booked by family. Unless you camped at the oval, the only places to stay were at Cleve and or Kimba, which are both 50kms from the town. The wedding itself took place in a paddock on the farm, which was another 25 minutes drive on a gravel road further from the town...... and you can see the dust from vehicles on the road. We were really out in the country now!

This was the entry to the wedding....................

....... and this shows the shelter near the cars, for the guests to stand under as they arrive.

The shade was appreciated while we waited as it was rather hot in the sun.

Here you can see the chairs set up for the ceremony. They chose the location with the Darke Peak ranges in the background to feature in their photos.

 The groom and his attendants were waiting.

The flower girl with her basket of petals was very pretty.

Saying their vows..........

...........and Mr and Mrs signing the register.

After the ceremony we stayed for family photos, and I can say that it was rather HOT by then, and I don't think I would have lasted too much longer in the sun. We did have some umbrella's but couldn't use them during the ceremony or photos. Between the ceremony and reception we "cooled" off at the Darke Peak hotel, and it took me an hour to lose my red face and feel "human" again.

The reception was held on the local football oval, they had 2 marquees, and a truck with the band on it, and a dance floor in between. There were a few tables and seats around and the caterers walked around with platters of food all night. A very casual occasion, which was very relaxed. A lot of thought went into planning and setting up for this reception, and the table decorations were fantastic. Sorry no photo, but "country" was the theme.

This was the menu, but it does not mention the table of pre dinner nibbles that was available as we arrived. And following all of this, (which I did not finish), was a table of desserts and wedding cake.

 Fairy lights were strung all around, and looked fantastic after dark. The weather had cooled and it was a very pleasant evening.

A sibling photo was essential as the 5 of us don't get together often, due to the distance.

It was close to the middle of the night when we arrived back at Cleve, after a lovely evening of family time, and meeting some of the locals that attended the wedding.

Bev and I had ordered a 7am breakfast before departure, and we were the only ones in the dining room, which was probably no surprise. She decided we needed another "selfie" before we left. (And my eyes felt as bleary as they looked too.)

We were on the road by about 7.30am, and back on that loooong road again. This photo is of the iron ore mining at Iron Knob.

 I had to laugh at the number plates on the back of this van.........one side says Grey Nomads, and the other side said GBYE KIDS!!

This was heading up to Port Augusta and the Flinders Ranges in the distance.

Another sign I had to photograph as it's not everyday you can buy camel mettwurst!

Our first stop on the way home was at Port Pirie, where we visited with Bev's son, who has just moved to the town in his new job. This is the first of  my sister's family to leave the nest.

Our next few stops were a trip down memory lane for me. This is the house that I lived in for the first year of married life when we were at Crystal Brook. The house looks quite a bit different than it did 46 years ago!

 Our next stop was in the little town of Brinkworth, where we spent our next 3 years, from 1974 to 1977, and lived in this house. There have been a few renovations to this place too.

On the way over, my brother had advised us to leave earlier as there were a lot of road works on the way, and he was worried we would be late for the wedding. (He had driven over the day before). We had planned on leaving early Saturday morning, but changed our minds and went Friday night, to Port Wakefield which did give us more leeway. When we arrived over there, we said to him that we had hardly seen any roadworks, and decided he was just over reacting!?

But on the way home, we came across this sign! I messaged him that we had found his roadworks! He had travelled to the wedding on the road we were going home on! We should have gone home the same way down through the city, but Bev kindly agreed to do a memory lane journey for me because we were so close. So I felt a bit bad for her when we had some hold ups. (As a background to this, I need to tell you that I love to travel in the car and drive the countryside, and she does NOT like travelling in the car!) I was having a great time, and being a passenger was a plus, as I could look around at the countryside.

 Our next 2 stops were in the Barossa, where we visited family. DD2 was at work, but her hubby my 6th grandchild were home when we stopped there. They have recently done some renovations on their house, which look really good. Next stop was to DS' house where Bev played with Miss Bridie, and also met Tate.

From there it was only another hour back to Murray Bridge where Bev's daughter was very excited to see her mum. (And we went through another lot of road works!) Luggage was unloaded, and I left soon after, and went to visit with my mum and dad, and show them photos of our trip.

It was very special for them, that my niece had set up a facetime video for mum and dad to watch the wedding service as it happened, on mum's Ipad. It was almost dark when I left there, and travelled another 2 hours back to Bordertown.

It was a big weekend, but a very special time spent with family, and especially my sister. As I mentioned in a recent post, she is much younger than I, and born after I had left school and moved away from home. This was the first ever time that we have spent one on one time together without other family present. So we have had a lot of hours in the car to talk about a large range of subjects, such as life, families, human nature, relationships and communication.  While my childhood included parents and my 3 brothers, because there was such a gap before she arrived, she was more like an only child. Our memories of family life are so very different, and the last 2 days have highlighted the similarities, and differences between us.

Better get busy and do some work with Max.

Blessings, From Jude