Aldinga Beach was our longest stay so far – 97 days in a row. We booked a long stay because CC had an operation scheduled in Adelaide – and so we needed to stay somewhere for a while while CC recovered.

This was our first time staying in Aldinga Beach, but we had been there many times before as we had previously stayed three times in the neighbouring suburb of Port Willunga.

Our accommodation was half of a house which had been converted into its own residence. It had its own front and back gardens and driveway and was separated very well from the other part of the house. The only clue that it was part of one dwelling was the occasional noise through the wall and the shared hot water system.

As we were staying there for so long we took on the garden-watering and fish-feeding duties. There was only one fish to feed and it lived outside in a birdbath – we decided to name the fish ‘Pescado’.

The owner didn’t live in the other part of the house, but they did live nearby and they very kindly invited us to dinner the weekend after we arrived. This weekend coincided with a visit from our friend JH who was in the area for work – and so the owner very kindly invited JH as well.

At the dinner we met the owner’s partner, who happened to be a keen badminton player. They invited me to come to the local ‘Social Badminton’ club, and I ended up playing there most weeks during our stay.

While we were waiting for CC’s operation day (the first six weeks), we went on day trips to Adelaide a couple of times, and when our friend JH was here we visited the d’Arenberg Cube – an art gallery / wine cellar door in McLaren Vale. We also went back to a few of the craft beer places that we had been to when we stayed in nearby Port Willunga.

After CC’s operation we mostly relaxed at home while CC recovered – reading in the garden, cooking, and going for short walks. CC also found a place to go swimming in nearby Seaford and went there a few times a week.

As per usual in this area there was plenty of wildlife spotting – kangaroos, snakes, seals, bobtail lizards, and hooded plovers (our favourites).

We also discovered that in the nearby Hart Road Wetlands there were Black-tailed native-hens – a bird that we had never spotted before.

Just before we left the owner invited us to a Christmas party at their house. It was a very festive occasion with about 50 people attending. There was plenty of Thai food which had been brought by some of the guests, and the owner dressed up as Santa and gave out ‘Secret Santa’ presents.