(And also, Day 3 of my 30-day blogging challenge.)

Today we drove to Mount Lofty, taking the scenic, windy route from McLaren Vale, where thick vineyards give way to dry, hilly meadows, and the narrow lanes that crawl to the summit made me carsick…

The view from the top of Mount Lofty was gorgeous: the city of Adelaide surrounded neatly by its gardens, the coastline in the distance, blending into the horizon. We’d had lunch already, so once we’d finished admiring the landscape, we headed back to the car, wondering what to do next. After a quick Google, it was settled: we’d check out the wildlife park down the road. We spent our afternoon surrounded by swamp wallabies, bettongs, native birds, and kangaroos. The wallabies and bettongs weren’t kept in an enclosure but instead roamed free around the park, so they darted about the vegetation, the swamp wallabies often coming closer as we passed, expecting food (they were very tame). Their little paws would clutch at our fingers as they ate right out of our hands!

A highlight for me was the woodland aviary, which was so beautifully noisy and busy with birds: whipbirds, princess parrots, kingfishers, budgies, zebra finches, curlews, a tawny frogmouth and more I’ve forgotten the names of. We spent a long time spotting the many different birds among the branches before heading back.

I’m really tired now, and I’m hoping to write during the day tomorrow instead for this very reason…

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend.

E. xx