Well I knew this hotel was going to be a little different from the reviews, but I took out my own rubbish to the outside bin, and I shared the elevator with a great dane. He was lovely, but far more interested in the chicken bones in my rubbish than me, LOL.

Had a dreadful nights sleep! Whether because I had had an afternoon nap, or the fact that the a/c goes all night (can’t open the window) or that I might have caught something on the plane, I don’t know. I suppose tomorrow will tell me if I have a cold or not!

Anyway, headed out to Wylie, about 40 minutes north-east of McKinney, where a fund raising munzee paw-print garden was located. Got there to find the park it was next to has been closed for 2 years, so it was hard to get to the munzees everyone had added, and the paw print itself was in a very large, harvested corn field that was not very walkable!

Did a bit of driving around and a bit of walking before heading back across country for Frisco, which is south of McKinney. There was located another fund-raising garden, this time breast cancer awareness ribbons. Mostly located over the BCA Society HQ building and car park, this nevertheless had a beautiful park between it and the motorway. I assume people are used to the constant hum of traffic, but getting back into the car and shutting the door on the noise was lovely!

Came home for a bite of lunch and a rest and then headed out once more to Celebration Park in Allen, just south of McKinney as well. Maria and I cleaned up the munzees there last year, but it had had lots more added. Walked the 4 kms around the park and then headed back to Walmart for some more supplies. Got some throat lozenges for just in case, LOL.  Funny thing was when I went in it was daylight outside and when I came out it was completely dark, had even missed the sunset! I was told it gets dark very quickly, so felt better and I hadn’t been wandering aimlessly forever!

hmm locked gates at Wylie

but the lake beyond would have been lovely to see!

jack-rabbit statues in Frisco and a lovely park
with lots of turtles in the ponds
then Celebration Park in Allen along with its ducks!
 

Well last night I had to call Reception to ask how to change the bath to a shower. With this one you had to pull the bath nozzle down, it’s amazing how many different fixtures there are for this simple task! Anyway it was worth it, the shower was lovely after such a long day!

Didn’t sleep well, but isn’t that always the case in a strange bed, hopefully better tonight. Was awake at the usual time, so played a few games and read a bit before making breakfast. It’s dark in the mornings until about 7 and gets dark around 8 in the evening.

There were a lot of munzees all along the highway outside the hotel, so took an early walk down, then back past the hotel, and then up. No footpath, I don’t think pedestrians are normal as I had 3 people stop to ask if I was OK. Took the road at the back of the hotel, which runs past the school bus depot, so buses everywhere, LOL.

Hopped into the car and headed out to Inspiration Park and the munzee garden there. Started off by driving around the houses, pulling over every so often. The houses were all double storey and new looking, it was also rubbish day (have been told it’s trash not rubbish, LOL) and quite a few lawn mower men working away.

Then down to the park itself, which is lovely and green. There’s a creek running down one side of it where the vegetation is quite wild. Not many birds, but lots of insects and maybe frogs. Walked around the park and got muddy shoes, though not sure how as it was grassed, anyway thought I cleaned it all off until I got out of the car. The shoes are currently waiting for the mud to dry!

Had a bite of lunch and a rest, not really a nap, read a bit, a proper paper book, lol, thanks Rachell, it’s going well! Then headed down the expressway to the multitude of shops where there was also a multitude of munzees. Discovered that if one needs to practice the four-way-stop-sign traffic controller, then that was the place to be!!!

Got home just in time to catch a sunset photo.

Might be a bit small to see, but a panorama of Inspiration Park
A denizen of the park. Mum, the background looks just like that jigsaw but without the yellow flowers, lol

The park from the other end

Don’t know what this fruit is, but obviously neither man nor beast eats them
 
I think these are boat-tailed grackles, but several young without tails. They kept standing with their heads pointed straight up and then moving on to repeat it. Some ritual greeting maybe?

On the way home on Wednesday 13th, stopped in at Mum’s for a roast pork dinner, lovely, thanks Mum. Then home and started the packing. Not too bad with a list, got to bed about 21.30, but didn’t sleep well.
Up at 2.45, and Dad picked me up at 3.30 and at the airport about 4.10. Thanks heaps Dad. I had managed to upgrade to business using points, so it is nice to use the quicker lanes to get through check in and security. A little bit of breakfast in the lounge and then on the plane. It left about 15 minutes late. Managed a little nap. Sydney airport was experiencing strong winds so there was only one runway open for all traffic. This meant a little circling until time for us to land. Then a bus to the international terminal, where the flight boarding was delayed half an hour, but it was an hour later we actually took off. I had a seat near the back of the plane, but I also had an empty seat next to me which was good.

Anyway, 14+ hours later arrived in Dallas, actually 15 minutes before we took off from Sydney, LOL, this date line stuff is weird! And isn’t it lovely and warm, so nice after chilly Perth!!! Had to catch a bus to the hire car terminal, sorted out the car and GPS and got on to the highway eventually, heading for McKinney. As the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car, so are the windscreen wipers and the indicators on different sides as well. I bet a lot of people wondered why I was using wipers on a dry windscreen, LOL.

Found the accommodation and unpacked, then popped out to do some grocery shopping at Walmart. The room has a fridge & microwave, which is why I picked it. Anyway, it’s time for bed, even if it is 9 am tomorrow morning at home!

New South Wales from the air

Woodspring Suites, home for the next 11 nights

Well, here I go again, LOL.
Fly out early on Thursday 14th, Perth-Sydney-Dallas, Texas. 11 nights in Texas, then a flight to Orlando Florida. 6 nights in Florida and then boarding a cruise ship on the 1st October and doing 2 weeks in the Caribbean. Gong to be a bit traumatic I reckon, with all the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. Here’s hoping Hurricane Lee (next on the list) is very very shy!

Didn’t have a great sleep last night, The cold front moved in and the wind set off a tree rubbing and banging against a shed out back!

Anyway, we headed out for a virtual garden just outside the CBD of Adelaide. Mind you we made the most of not many vehicles on the roads and drove through Adelaide a few times. It did rain a few times, just short, sharp showers.  We had a pleasant walk around a couple of open parks and got back to the car for the next shower of rain,

We then stopped for a little street walking and once again made it back to the car before it rained. But the wind was quite strong and rather cold.

Home for a spot of lunch and then we headed out again for some more street walking, but not so lucky with the rain, we had to don rain coats and stick the phones into plastic bags and got a tad damp several times.

Had a good trip, walked around 85 kms over the 5 days, sore feet, and lots and lots of munzees, LOL.

 Helen at the park Maria at the parkGetting ready for rain

Another warm start to the day, but it got much colder later.

Gary dropped us off at a munzee weapons cluster, so once again walking the streets looking at power pokes and signs! Some old houses and interesting gardens. We have seen lots of fruit & nut trees including persimmons, apples and walnuts. Lots of dahlias and lavender as well.

Only stayed out for a couple of hours or so and then spent a couple of hours at home. Then we headed out to the Adelaide Easter Munzee Event a little early. We did a walk around one side of the park until the start and then had a meet and greet session with the locals.  From there we then walked around the Thornden park itself, which had once been a reservoir. The water tower is still a feature and there are lots of natural areas as well as park land, picnic areas, barbecues and playgrounds. We had to walk around the whole area to find the special event munzees and also solve the 15 Eventzee clues for the photo scavenger hunt. Great fun and a lovely walk. Home again for dinner! BTW, we did find a geocache this morning. We were scanning a munzee on the side of a bin when the lady walking her dog came past and said we were cold. What we were looking for was under the bridge, We explained munzee to her and then looked for the cache!

 Old house  Trees and power lines! Wooden echindas Wooden wombat Some seeding plant!Helen & emus

Thornden Park

Thornden Park

Bit of a mixed bag today.

Gary dropped us off south east of the city centre and so we had a walk through some nice suburban streets and some parks, Finishing off with a walk along the Torrens river. After having lunch and a little rest we were dropped off north of where we are staying and did another fire garden, so more street walking. We split up and went 3 ways to maximize our captures, but sadly my highway walk had mostly missing munzees. We were going to walk off to another patch but decided after our 30,000+ steps already that it was really time to go home. So Gary picked us up and we came home for diner and the end of the day!

 Morning coffe Swallows under bridge

Well dopey here forgot her Fitbit, so haven’t done any steps, LOL. Mind you we didn’t do much walking today but it would still have been nice to have them recorded.

Anyway, we went for a drive today. Gary stayed home so with Helen behind the wheel we headed north to Gawler. There are lots of virtual resort munzees out there, so this was the only way to get some of the may here around Adelaide. We drove through the Barossa Valley and stopped in Lyndoch for a cuppa, but the cafe was closed, so we carried ion to Tanunda where we had a coffee break. From there we headed back to Gawler and then carried on to Semaphore on the coast (well the shore of the St Vincent Gulf).  We stopped for lunch at a seaside cafe and then drove south again to Glenelg. Continuing south again we headed for the Onkaparinga River Regional Park where Helen and Maria become mountain goats and I ventured a little way up the hill!

We then headed back to home base via Glen Osmond and Mardun as we didn’t want to drive through Adelaide as the traffic is awful!

Once home had a little breather then headed out for 90 minutes of munzeeing. Met a local munzee hunter and had a chat and then headed home for dinner.

 Odd place for a bull! SemaphoreSemaphoreHelen was at the top Maria is at the top!

Well we had a different day today, only managed 30,000+ steps today, LOL. H, M & I left just before 7 and did some walking, Gary picked us up about 10 and we went home for some refreshments and a break. Us girls went out again for a little while again and then met Gary at the local shops for a shopping expedition for those essential things like food, LOL.

After lunch around 2 we all left the house just after 3 and headed for Glenelg about 45 minutes away. The traffic was quite heavy so even though Glenelg is relatively close it took a long time.

We had a walk along the park and then across the bridge, carried on along the shore and then back home.

historical marker Glenelg pier Glenelg beachGlenelg beach Historic ship restaurant

Sunset at Glenelg

Well, what is needed this evening is a foot masseuse. After 34,500+ steps ones feet are a little stiff and sore, LOL.

H, M and I left home at 6.30 am and walked the streets. Adelaide has lots of lovely old houses, as well as the University and Cathedral. Lots of parks and gardens around the place. It was cool to start off but warmed up to being almost to hot to be out on the streets.

We got back for lunch and a rest and then left here again about 2 and Gary dropped us off near the city centre and we did a bit more street walking after which he picked up up again and now we are relaxing, cooking dinner and writing blog!

Here are a few photos from today!

 Flying foxes The girls & Cathedral Huge Morton Bay fig Interesting mural Don’t know what this is?