So having left my Aus family I briefly got to see my own!! They landed in Brisbane the night before I flew out. It was a very surreal experience, after going so long without anyone or anything from home. But it was lovely to see them even for a few short hours. We went and had some brunch and Pimms on the Sunday before my flight. And then I was by myself again... Dun dun duhhh.

Flew into Adelaide in a thunderstorm which was a tad scary, anyone who knows me will know I'm not a great flyer! Once I reached the hostel I was pretty tired and relieved. Went up to my room to be ignored by those who were in there so I wasn't overly impressed. Unfortunately I have met a few people like that along my travels where they don't seem to have much interest in socialising. Each to their own I guess...

Monday morning I decided to treat myself to some retail therapy. After being on a farm for 4 and a half months my clothes were no longer wearable and it felt good to look like a human again! Although, it was the best thing in the world when you would roll out of bed, no make up, hair up, old clothes, without a care in the world. Anyhow, I bought myself some new clothes and shoes to replace those I had thrown and spent a few leisurely hours wandering around Rundle Mall revelling in all things girly. By lunch I was all spent out and looking for something laid back to do. I decided to head to the Australia Museum for something free to do but I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting some of the exhibits were. There was a wildlife photography exhibition which contained some fantastic shots, obviously my own photos are something of that standard... And there was a lot on aboriginal culture where I learnt quite a bit. Being in Australia for nearly 7 months, I've heard lots of bias stories but never had a neutral stand point so that was quite refreshing.

Tuesday I ventured over to the Migration Museum to learn about the history of colonisation of Australia, who came over, how it impacted the natives and the wildlife etc. There was also an emotional exhibit on the life of a woman who was part of the holocaust and the experiences she went through prior to moving to Australia. It was very moving and after studying the Holocaust at uni I found it very interesting. After a thought provoking morning and lunch I headed down to the river that runs through the centre of Adelaide to go for a long walk. The weather was lovely and not too hot either. After a couple of hours walking, I headed to the cinema to watch Gone Girl. CREEPY AS. I was the only one in the cinema and it completely freaked me out. I made a speedy exit once the credits were rolling, even felt a bit of a rush once I'd left like I'd just escaped from her. This is why I don't watch horrors! Not that it was even a horror... Why I don't watch films by myself just in case. First time I've ever been to a cinema on my todd! Headed back to the hostel and grabbed a drink at the bar to calm my nerves! Started chatting to a couple of guys from Scotland and some of the girls who worked there who were from England. And that night there was no one else in my room! A little eerie, but did mean no noisy roommates to wake you up!

The next morning I had a Skype date with Charlotte which was lovely as I haven't spoken to her for ages! Got to see her lovely kittens who have gotten so big! After that I went down to the Adelaide Zoo. I always knew I was an animal person but over here I'm just drawn to all things wildlife related. They had a giant panda exhibit which was really cool. They looked so cute and cuddly munching on bamboo! I went to a few of the shows they put on throughout the day, I liked the blue gold macaw one best when he was doing flight demonstrations straight over our heads! Good job he didn't poop... Had lunch with a wildlife photographer who was also there by himself, he was saying how he'd travelled all over the world (apart from England haha) to take photos. Sounds like a pretty sweet job! After I'd finished at the zoo I wandered back through the Botanic Gardens and ended up having a lie down in the sun. It was so tranquil and relaxing I could have easily spent a day there. I'm still amazed at how these lush areas are in the middle of a city and yet you don't even realise when you're there how close buildings and traffic are it's that quiet. It started coming to evening time and was getting a little chilly so I headed back to the hostel and got an early night ready for the big day on Thursday!!

Thursday was probably one of the BEST days I've had since being in Australia. I swam with wild dolphins! Ahhhhhhhhhh. Words really can't quite describe how amazing the experience was. Dolphins have always been one of my favourite animals and as a little girl I wanted to be a marine biologist so this was pretty special! I've swam with them in a pool but this was so different. When I got to the harbour there was already one dolphin swimming around, catching fish and I knew it was going to be good. Once we got out on the ocean the crew used binoculars to spot the dolphins, they didn't lure them in in anyway. When we had a sighting, the swimmers had to get ready and slide off the back of the boat and hold on to a rope while the boat was still moving. The dolphins then approached us and starting swimming alongside and under and jumping up out of the water. We had snorkels on so we could see both what was happening in and out of the water. It was incredible. Like nothing I've ever heard of before! Once the dolphins had moved on we hopped back into the boat and the search began again. I think overall we must have had more than an hour in the water with the dolphins. The rest of the time we had lovely views and a nice boat ride on the ocean. We spotted some sea lions and penguins as well casually swimming around. The boat I went on was called Temptation and I would highly recommend the trip to anyone! Once we got back, I went and got some lunch before spending the afternoon down on the beach at Glenelg. Fell asleep in the sun after having such an early start (5.30am!) and may have caught the sun a little, oops... When I got back to the hostel I went and showered as I was covered in sand and sticky from the sea water and sun cream haha before chilling downstairs in the communal area. Started chatting with some more people and got (easily) convinced to go out that night. Thank god I had a nap! We had a few drinks at the bar in the hostel before we went to a bar/club called The Duke. It was pretty cool. It had a massive beer garden out the back where live music was being played. There was a bigger queue to the garden than there was to get in! Had a lot of fun that night, music was good, company was good. Stumbled in in the early hours after being awake for pretty much 24 hours, tired was an understatement!

Friday was a very relaxed day, not that I could have done much if I wanted to! I woke up pretty early considering the time I went to bed and slowly prepared myself for the day. I was on a bit of a mission for food. I went over to the Central Markets and grabbed something to eat before needing to sit down. I decided that the sunlight, heat, moving was all a bit too much and went to find my bed for a nap. A couple of hours later I was feeling much more refreshed and luckily just in time for the Halloween Party (couldn't have missed that!). There was a big thing going on at the hostel where lots of people dressed up and games were taking place. We ended up doing some drinking games so my intention of staying in went quickly out the window... The party must have finished around midnight and a few of us went to a local bar, which for a Friday night was pretty quiet! They had some live music there too which was cool so we had a little boogie before they closed. Sam and I then decided we wanted pizza and we were on a mission to find it. We roped some poor girl dressed as Saw into helping us locate the nearest one... Turns out it was a straight road but anyway... Once we found it we headed for the hostel. We walked past the Adina hotel where I was staying with my family the next night and Sam was going on and on about how posh it was until he saw my face and realised that's where I was staying. His face was priceless! We also picked up Michel who was staggering back by himself and was such a funny sight bless him! I was glad to see the hostel as the heavens started opening and we were pretty wet. But that pizza was so damn good! Worth it.

The next morning I think the majority of the hostel were hungover. Hearing the entertaining stories of what people had got up to. Some girls had got given fines for crossing a road on a red man and then started a fight in Hungry Jacks! Michel was a sorry sight. He was usually so bouncy and energetic and today he was like a zombie haha, poor thing! We all spent the morning having a giggle, eating and reminiscing. My family was due to fly in just after lunch so I'd already checked out so was bedless much to my dismay, could have done with a few more hours! Once I got picked up we headed to the 'posh' hotel and dropped our bags. It was quite late in the afternoon by the time they'd gotten there so I showed them briefly around the area we were staying in before we went to get some dinner. I think we were all pretty knackered as they'd been up early too so we got a fairly early night after a couple of drinks at the hotel bar.

On Sunday we went to the Barossa Valley to have a day visiting the wineries. We had some yummy breakfast in a cafe called Nosh in Tanunda before driving along Seppeltsfield Road which had some gorgeous scenery was renowned for its famous wines. We had a wander around a couple before heading over to Jacob's Creek winery and saw the actual Jacob's Creek creek! They had some really nice wines so we ended up purchasing a few bottles! By this point we felt a tad tipsy so thought we should really get some lunch! A late lunch at that. On our way back to Adelaide we made a detour to Hahndorf, a famous town known for being very German-like. By the time we got there most things were closing down but there were still some nice boutique shops open and bars. So we had a drink before heading back to the hotel. Once at the hotel I decided I needed to do some exercise after the last few days I'd had so popped down to the gym and then used the pool... Followed by the jacuzzi and sauna! Haha so worked out pretty well. It's a hard life!

Overall had a really good week in Adelaide! Met some lovely people that I hope I'll cross paths with again and had some pretty unforgettable experiences too! I think it may be my new favourite city, I can easily imagine myself living somewhere like that.