Early morning hikes are the best. The air is fresh after a night rain and the sun is just beginning to warm the air.
We met our new friend Margaret at book group and she invited us to hike Chambers Gully, which is next to Waterfall Gully, which is a part of Cleland National Forest. The forest abuts the city of Adelaide so it is close to our house and an easy trip to the hike.
Unlike our scrambles up the rocks in South Africa, this is a hike over a broad trail in a eucalyptus forest.
The air is filled with birdsong. 
The birds in South Australia have the loveliest, complex bird calls. Warbles and trills fill the air as we walk.
We see a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets guarding their nest. They seem to be communicating with each other, touching beaks and heads, as they tend the nest. They take little notice of us though we are a few feet from them.
We also see a number of beautiful, large, white cockatoos perched and in flight. Though it doesn’t show in this photo he does have the rosy cheeks and yellow green topknot.
We spend much of the ascent talking and I learn that Margaret was an instructional designer who got her masters degree in education with a thesis in distance learning. I got my masters degree in communication with my thesis in distance learning. We have much in common.
One of the amazements on this trip is meeting and getting to know people in the different cultures we visit. The breadth of the similarities and differences is compelling.
As we crest the top of the gully and start our descent, we catch a glimpse of the city of Adelaide, from the suburbs all the way to the ocean. There is a bit of a haze over the city but we can still see many of the familiar buildings and pick out our neighborhood.
After the hike through Chambers Gully, we drive up the road to visit Waterfall Gully. What greets us is familiar as this waterfall resembles Taughannock Falls in Ithaca, New York. This falls is especially important to Dana and me as we took a walk to this falls on the morning of our wedding day. There is a little restaurant at the bottom of the falls and we will make a reservation to celebrate our 31st anniversary there.
MedFlies 