Took a 10-hour night bus to Adelaide and arrived at 6:00 a.m. Walked a mile to my hostel in the dark but it felt safe. Only cabbies out. Adelaide is known as the "City of Churches" so I set out to see as many as possible. Also visited the Migration Museum, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the State Library, South Australia Museum which featured an extensive Aboriginal exhibit, Old Parliament House, Government House, the National War Memorial, University of South Australia, University of Adelaide, and the Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden has an International Rose Garden that was spectacular with over 5,000 rose bushes from all over the world. They were segregated into countries. The Australian and French roses were the winners by far. The garden was 3.7 acres so it took most of the day to view everything. There was a "National Trial Garden" which was for new, unnamed roses. They must grow there for three years without any pesticides before it is determined if they are hearty enough to get a name.

Rundle Mall is a long street in the center of town with trendy shopping, nice restaurants, musicians, mimes, magicians, etc. It's a happening spot.

Things lost:

Tweezers, 70% of my body fat (yeah!)

Things gained:

Stronger calf, thigh, arm, and shoulder muscles from lugging my ridiculously heavy pack around, extra patience

Vegemite:

It looked harmless (a darker version of Nutella) and how bad can concentrated yeast be? BAD! It's possibly the worst thing I've ever tasted. No, it is the worst thing. It's saltier than soy sauce, saltier than fish sauce, saltier than eating a handful of salt. Forgive me if I've offended any Aussie's here.

Desires:

To try every bakery item I see (this country is crazy about cakes, breads, biscuits, scones, pies, etc. and they really know how to bake them up nice!)

To have a conversation with anyone over 35.

To spend a night by myself in a hotel. I'll settle for a motel at this point.

Ailments:

Thought I was the only backpacker out there with ailments (road rash, stiff neck, swollen knees, head cold, permanent sunburn, blisters, bruises, permanent sore spot on the top of my head from banging it on bus luggage racks, ceilings, and the bottoms of top bunks) but was relieved to see others with stiches, bumps, scrapes, bruises, road rash, burns, etc.