Easter Sunday, no parade but an international kite festival at the beach.

Yes, there were kites,

lots of them....

Towards the end of the afternoon there was a kite fighting competition complete with string cutting and some rather dodgy tactics. There were about sixteen white, Japanese fighting kites involved.(and the odd one in it for the publicity!)

My favourite!

Easter Monday. A friend I met at a concert offered to show me round some of the little villages around Mount Lofty so, despite the cloudy day we left the city for the hills.  First stop was the Mount Lofty Botanical Gardens, where the trees and shrubs have just started to take on their autumn colours.

There were some spectacular views over the Piccadilly Valley

and some superb displays of autumn flowers.

The gardens are divided into sections, camellias, rhododendrons, rose gardens and so on so there is always something different to see. Because it is on the side of the mountain there are some beautiful vistas through the trees. We then went on to Bridgewater Mill and the huge (working) water wheel.

Next we went  to Stirling for lunch in a very quirky organic cafe and then visited Sir Hans Heysen's studio and house, The Cedars. The studio is the first purpose built (1912) studio in Australia.

On the way home we stopped at St Paul's monastery to see the Sacred Garden. In an immaculate garden

are fourteen Cararra marble sculptures depicting the stations of the Cross. They are from the  Ferdinanda Pallo studio in Tuscany and each station is a tableau of three or four half life size figures weighing half a ton each. They are believed to be the design  work of Franco  Miozza and the detail on them is extraordinary.

A peaceful and tranquil garden, "dedicated to reflection and prayer". I was grateful to my friend for her local knowledge; this does not appear in the guide books!