Silos, sculpture, scenery and so much more! - The Silos

Recently we spent some time in South Australia. We went to Adelaide as my brother was hosting Christmas, and we thought we would take the opportunity to see a bit of the state given that Robert's work has a compulsory shutdown period. We decided to focus on the Eyre Peninsula, as I hadn't spent as much time there as I had in other places.

In order to try and share as many pics as possible without taking up too much space, I was going to try creating some groups of slideshows. however I couldn't really get them to work so apologies in advance but this post is very image heavy! Originally I was going to do the silos, sculptures, scenery etc in just one post, but I think I will break it up into different posts just to make it easier!

I have shared some individual photos here and there over the last couple of weeks, but this will be more comprehensive.

So let's start with the silo art. We have seen quite a few art silos now. You can see others by clicking on this link. Most of them have been in Victoria but we had previously seen one in South Australia and one in Western Australia. Our route for this road trip was really designed to see as many as we could, but we did surprise ourselves by adding an extra in on the way to Adelaide that we hadn't actually planned for. 

We then planned to see more on the way to Wallaroo where we stayed one night, and a couple more on the Eyre Peninsula. All up, I think we saw 13 different silos on this trip. Actually, we saw many, many more of them but 13 of them had art on them. Now when I see unpainted silos I just see a blank canvas just waiting to be decorated.

We won't mention the fact that I got sea sick on the ferry trip from Wallaroo to the Eyre Peninsula

Horsham - we had seen this one before!

Arkona - This was a new one to us, and was interesting because it is an invisible man, and something a bit different. The way I interpreted it was about how important sport is in country communities.

Albacutya - This was one that we only realised was close by when we were at Arkona. When I say nearby, it was about 70kms away, there and back. Distances is relative right?

Kaniva - We had seen this one before, and I only had a couple of minutes to grab a photo because I had added on more travel time by going to Albacutya 

Coonalpyn - The first of our South Australian silos. This one is right on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide and so we have seen this one before!

Eudunda - This one is about story and books, and honours a famous South Australian author called Colin Thiele who came from near this town

Farrell Flat - Great colours on this one!

Owen - We have seen one of this artists other silos in Victoria before. 

Bute - All of these have lovely details in them. In this one I liked how the flowers seem to be flying off her dress.

Wallaroo - This one is a bit different in that the silo isn't painted, but there is a light projection that is shown every night as it gets dark.

Cowell - This one commemorates a local legend and his camels! Yes, we have lots of camels in Australia. 

Tumby Bay - I swear you can feel the joy in this one!

Kimba - The last of the art silos for this trip. Kimba is approximately half way across Australia going from East to West.

I will be back with the customary What We Ate of Holidays post for Weekend Cooking in the next week or so and the other posts in the next few days, hopefully!

I have added the map below to give some idea of where we went. The blue line is a very approximate idea of the route we took.  All up we travelled approximately 3500 kms, so it was a fair bit of driving. We did try to plan to only drive a maximum of 4 hours each day after the first day,  and we mostly stuck to that!

Statues and silos!

In my post last week I mentioned that we had recently visited a town colloquially known as Cowtown, and all down the main street there were a lot of painted statues of cows.

It got me thinking about the other statues we have come across both at home and on our travels, so I thought I would have a bit of fun by sharing some photos from various locations.

My interest in this kind of thing started with the baby elephant named Mali. Back in 2012 there were 50 painted elephants all around Melbourne to celebrate the birth of a baby elephant named Mali at the Melbourne Zoo. There was a map to help you find all of them, and my goodness, I walked all over this city so that I could say that I found them all.

When my son was in America for college he lived in a small town called Concordia in Kansas. In that town, there is a museum for the Orphan Trains remembering those children that were relocated from the East Coast to the midwest. All around Concordia there are statues representing some of the stories of the children involved. Whilst they aren't painted it was interesting to wander around this small town in Kansas and read some of the stories.

The first time we went to visit him, we had to drive from Concordia from Wichita, and along the way we stopped in a town called Lindborg in Kansas. The town claims to be Little Sweden, and all around the town there are painted wooden horses, known as dala. In addition to being a beautiful little town, there was also an awesome coffee shop there!

In Wichita, there is a large statue called The Keeper of the Plains. It looks amazing on a beautiful autumn day and spectacular when it is lit up at night. At the time we visited Wichita, there were mini versions scattered throughout the city. I say mini but they were all 10 foot tall painted statues. With limited time, we obviously didn't have time to find all of them, but we did find a couple of them.

Just in case you think that this is all about America, when we were in Capetown in South Africa, we stumbled across some painted rhinos at the docks in Capetown. Such a beautiful place.

 Whilst I have been talking about mini things, we have also spent some time wandering around the western part of Victoria looking at the painted silos that are out there. In due course we intend to go looking for more of these all round the country. We have seen maybe 6 silos, but all up there are about 35 across the country, and it turns out that there are 40 painted water towers as well. I feel a road trip coming on to go and look for some more of these

We did stumble across another painted silo when we were in Albany a month or so ago too.

I love these painted silos and can't wait to see more. As you can see from the video below there are some amazing pieces of art out there waiting to be appreciated

Have you come across some fun statues or something similar to the silos either in your home town or on your travels?

Weekend Cooking: A quick trip to Adelaide

 Last weekend my husband, my sister and I undertook a quick roadtrip to Adelaide for my brother's belated 40th birthday celebrations. 

Normally when we do this drive, it is get in the car and drive, only stopping at certain designated places. This time, because it was my husband's first time of travelling this road we stopped a lot to see various sights along the way. Here are a couple of photos:

First, there is the Big Koala (Australia likes big things) which I prefer to call the scary koala! We also added 3 more  of the art silos to our list, with the bonus of painted sheep all through the town of Horsham! You can see other examples of silos we have seen before in these posts.

I am aware that this is a Weekend Cooking post, so here are 5 food related things from our trip to Adelaide

1. Delicious pasta - We didn't book anywhere for dinner on our first night in Glenelg, so we just went to an Italian restaurant around the corner from the hotel. This was Fettucine Al Pollo - so good.

2. No more bowls of coffee - The last two times we have been to Adelaide, we have gone to a cafe called Swedish Tarts where the highlight for my husband has been the ability to have a bowl of coffee (literally). They don't do the bowls anymore (insert sad face here).

3. Burrata - Until a couple of weeks ago I don't believe I had ever heard of burrata, then I heard of it twice! So, when it was on the menu I knew we had to try it, and it was totally delicous. Creamy cheese, delicous bread, balsamic vinegar and heirloom tomatoes. I was kind of expecting it to be served warm, but it wasn't. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of the cheese ball before I cut into it. I guess that means I need to order one again!

4. After a really good steak dinner, it was time for dessert and I chose "Davidson plum and rhubarb crumble with  pepperberry custard, macadamia & honey ice cream, freeze dried davidson plum powder, murray river salted tuille". Oh my goodness, this was so good!

6. Hahndorf - On the Saturday we went for a drive through the Adelaide Hills. There are plenty of foodie places through the hills. We decided to visit the town of Hahndorf which is famous for it's German heritage. I was hoping to have something distinctly German for afternoon tea but instead I had a giant cream donut. So delicious!

Whilst in Hahndorf we visited the Fruchoc shop. What you might ask is a Fruchoc - well,  it is a South Australian favourite. It is a small ball of a paste made from dried apricot and peach which is then covered in chocolate and my South Australian friends go mad for it! We bought home a bag but havne't cracked it open yet!



On the way home we took a detour to a historical railway station in a tiny town called Serviceton. Once upon a time, it was a bustling border station between Victoria and South Australia where people changed trains. I have seen the sign for the station so many times but this was the first time we visited. What an interesting place!

 Weekly meals

Saturday - Birthday dinner

Sunday -   Beef brisket rolls

Monday - Butter Chicken Pizza

Tuesday - 

Wednesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice

Thursday - Stir Fry

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

This week

I'm reading

My reading was more normal this week than it was last week!

I was pleased to finish my selection for the Classics Spin with a couple of weeks to spare. This time, the selection was The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Not only did I finish reading it, but I also managed to get the review done which you can read here. 

I also finished my second Christmas novel for this year which was The French Christmas Market by Gillian Harvey. I like her books and this was another good one! 

On Thursday, I reviewed three Japanese novels. I was hoping to get through a fourth but my reviews were all done before I finished reading the fourth one which was Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. I ended up finishing it over the weekend

I also started reading The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath. I have loved both of the Sue Heath books I have read previously and I have high hopes for this one!

I'm watching

A couple of months we watched archaeologist Dr Alice Roberts as she went in search of the Ottoman Empire by Train and really enjoyed it. This week we saw that she has a new series out where she goes in search of the Roman Empire. It feels like there is plenty of Roman history around but we will still watch it as her shows are always interesting!

Max

Max went on holidays this weekend. It's the first time he's gone sightseeing around the state. He got to work along the edge of Lake Mulwala, he got to see New South Wales, he got to explore lots and lots of new places!

Life

Last week was a crazy, crazy week including a banking outage on pay day which was pretty stressful. Thankfully the bank system came back up at around 7.30 and the bank extended the deadline so everything got sent in due course. It was only a four day week as we had a long weekend with Friday off, but it felt like five days worth of work!

You may have guessed that if Max went away for the weekend, then there's every chance we did too! We went up to stay with friends who moved to a town called Yarrawonga. We had a lovely weekend. We had a chance to catch up, we went to lunch at a winery that has been in operation more than 100 years old. We crossed the river and went to a town called Corowa in New South Wales, where we visited a mill that has been converted into a Whiskey and Chocolate Factory, including an amazing events space and a cafe. We also managed to see two new art silos

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Spring TBR 
Mini Reviews: Three Japanese Novels
Cook the Books: Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
Classics Club Spin: The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

This week.....

I'm reading....


What I learnt this week is that if you don't sleep at night you can read entire books! Actually, this isn't a new lesson for me, but it has been a while. Normally I play some games and then I can get back to sleep but it wasn't happening this week. The book I read over the course of two sleepless nights was The New Beginnings Coffee Club by Samantha Tonge and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I possibly would have benefited from sleeping instead of reading but never mind!

I have also started reading Tiny White Lies by Australian author Fiona Palmer. I have known about this author for a long time but this is actually the first time I have read her.

This wasn't the book I was intending to read just yet but I had an odd experience this week. When I got this book from Netgalley, I also go a book that also had the word Tiny in it. I sent both books to my Kindle, but when I went to open the Kindle this book kept on opening instead. So even though I had two different titles featuring the word Tiny, I really only have the same book twice. I've never heard of it happening again. I've requested the other Tiny book from the library so hopefully I will get to read it soon.


I'm Watching.....

I worked late every night last week so there wasn't really much time to watch anything, although I did watch the first couple of episodes of Sanditon. I have had it recorded on our Foxtel box for more than six months so it was probably time to start.

Life....

It's been a rollercoaster of a week emotionally. The things that were going on last week were still ongoing. In addition it was end of financial year and I have worked probably about 15 extra hours this week, (not counting the full day on Saturday) and most of those days have been stressful, or super stressful. At one point I am sure I could feel my heart racing on Thursday as I tried to get everything done.

In addition to that, my husband had to have a small procedure done on Wednesday which resulted in an overnight stay in hospital. I think that is only the second night we've spent apart since he moved in a couple of years ago. I didn't like it.

On the plus side of the ledger though we became the proud owners of a nearly new car this week. I have never owned a new car in my life. This one is about 6 months old and has only done 6000kms so far so it is close enough to new. The bonus was that because it isn't brand, brand new it was around $10000 less than a new car. We love the colour and it has all the bells and whistles! The salesman was going through all the features and we said you need to understand that our current cars only have a horn so we are already impressed!

And when you have a new car, you have to go for a drive right? So on Sunday we went for a drive to a town a couple of hours from the city to have a look at the painted silos. I have posted before about the silo art that is springing up across the country, and this is a town where they now have 5 different painted silos. It turned out there was another town half an hour away that has some painted silos too so we had to go and visit them seeing as we were so close!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday - Tenth Birthday Edition
Library Loot
Weekend Cooking: June Bakes

Sunday Salon: Bestsellers around the world

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date