So, we finally set off from Canberra (thank god, we thought we were going to die there!) around 9pm on a pretty uncomfortable greyhound bus (Australia should definitely invest in the sleeper buses like Vietnam, would make sense considering its such a massive country to cover over land!) So we had 17 hrs to kill with about 30 stops before reaching our final destination….they played Wild Hogs movie before dimming the lights and I was outers before the end of the film. I've gotten so used to sleeping on any public transport these days, I wish I was able to sleep this much when mum used to take me up and down the country with the tennis…im a pro at sleeping now (but maybe this journey had something to do with the few alcoholic beverages we had in the Irish pub before hand! Hahaha.We set off west from Canberra across the New South Wales outback towards Mildurra and at 6am we stopped in the middle of nowhere for our breakfast break. It was freezing outside and except for the gas station the area was non existent of any life! Just rural outback and a big long road!!!! But we had the most awesome sunrise, the colour changes in the sky and on the horizon were just so awesome, we didn't really expect that to come included in our trip!!! We finally arrived into Adelaide around 2pm in the afternoon (clocks went back 30mins, whats all that about…Oz has so many random time zones, some do daylight saving hours, some don't!) So anyways…we finally made it! Absolutely shattered but hurrah we did it! Our plan was to stay with Ainsley my tennis friend but we had a communication breakdown over new yr so we stayed in a hostel across the road from bus station on our first night. Clean, 10 bed dorm, just felt very quiet but it was ok for the night! We didn't want to waste the whole day so we took a walk into Adelaide CDB and we chilled in Victoria Sq with a drink and our books. Our first impressions of Adelaide were very small, clean and quiet, there is some beautiful 19th century architecture, we just have to keep reminding ourselves that Australia is such a new country and their history doesn't go very far back! But still, parts of the CBD had very pretty Victorian style buildings and we even walked passed a statue of the lady herself! We caught the free bus to the River Torrens which looked so pretty and laidback. We walked along the river front and came across our first sight of 3 pelicans up close! A guy was feeding them and we watched them eat these big fish whole! It was great, they are such cool birds…it was our highlight of the day (seen as we'd been in a bus for the rest of the day!) The river front promenade is great for cycling and walking too, one way takes you to the foot of the Adelaide hills and the other way takes you to the beach at Glenelg. So far, so good…..Adelaide does feel small, maybe a bit like Perth and although we thought it was lovely, we weren't struck by it.On our second day communication with Ainsley was back on track and she was picking us up at our hostel after here tennis tournament so we had the day to kill! Went to central market which sold lots of fresh produce and was really big and clean, puts our markets to shame! We caught the free tram to the other side of town and took a look around the South Australia Museum which had a lot of aboriginal artefacts and information and education on science, animals and science! It killed an hour anyways!!!!! The museum was right next to Adelaide university which is such an impressive old building, a place you'd be quite proud to say you went to and we carried on walking to the Botanic Gardens. Another pretty gardens with lots of different plants and flowers. Had a sneaky peak at the Amazon Lilly Pads which were gigantic. Darren enjoyed roaming the Cactai house we spotted our first Kookaburra! We had an enjoyable relaxing time, ventured over to the National Wine Centre and then found ourselves back at the river where our 3 pelicans passed us by at a different section of the river!!! Ha-ha, we loved them!Right….so to the best part our Adelaide adventure! Ains picked us up late afternoon and it was so lovely to see her, she came over to the UK for 2 months to play in tournaments and we got friendly and played doubles together and we have been in touch ever since and when we said we're heading to Oz, she said we had to go visit!!!! I met her mum in UK and it was lovely to see Lisa again. They live about 20 mins out of town by Brighton beach and we fell in love with the area instantly! The 3 of us went for a catch up drink by the beach which was beautiful. Long white beaches like in Perth with clear waters…perfect! We came home and met Rob, Ains' Dad and her boyfriend Andrew came over too. We had the best bbq ever, all different meats, salads, corn on cobs…aww it was just so yummy! We didn't expect anything like that so we were extremely grateful!After dinner (and a lot of wine!) we went to watch a beautiful sunset (it's a hard life eh?) and then came back and drank more wine!!!!!! They live in a typical one storey oz house with rooms going off in all direction, it was so cute….and the other thing(s) that were cute were Ainsleys two rabbits and two cats! OK I can tell this is going to be a long blog (as you can tell, we were having a ball in Adelaide). The following day we got to see a bit of the Brighton area. Not very big but it has your usual shops and Ains took us to a great coffee shop. We spent the rest of day at Glenelg Beach which is their busiest. We had a look around some of the little shops before walking back along the beach all the way back to Brighton (3 miles without interruption on the sand….lush!) We had another stop at a pub before heading back to the house for dinner where we were spoiled again with another delicious dinner and we got to meet Nana Fairhead who was lovely!!!The nest day we got up early to run along the coast and see if the dolphins were about as they regularly swim 10feet from the shoreline in the morning. We didn't see them but we had a good jog (knee is better as we jogged in Sydney too). Ains had tennis again today so Lisa was kind enough to take us to see the Adelaide hills, 30 mins away. The area is just so pretty and there are awesome views from Mount Lofty looking down onto the CBD and you kind of realise that after a few suburbs of the city there is nothing! Just fields and empty land, its crazy! We went to Clealand wildlife park and met our first kangaroos and kualas! We were able to feed them and stroke them, it was sooo much fun, we felt like little kids again! We saw all kinds of Ozzie animals, wallibies, wombat, tazmanian devil, dingoes etc. We had a great time and it was really quiet so we got to meet heaps of Skippies! We grabbed a quick coffee in Sterling Village in the hills, all picturesque and in wilderness…and only a stones throw away from central Adelaide.That evening Ains and Andrew took us out for a night on the town in Glenelg (their version of Mumbles but a bit more upmarket with more winebars) but it was great! Ains friend Cam joined us and the 5 of us had a ball!!! There was lots of stereophonics being played which was pretty good! We all enjoyed and Daz now wants to buy a digeridoo after having a go of Andrews!! Watch this space!!!!On our final day (with a tiny hangover) Rob took the four of us to the McClaren Vales which is about 30mins south of Brighton beach for a treat of wine tasting!!!! And I especially had drunk a lot of wine the previous night so it was an interesting event!!!!!We had the works at our first winery as Rob is very good friends with the owner….we got to taste all sorts and try their olive oil too!!!! Such good fun and also the surrouding areas with the vineyards was just perfect! Cant complain when the sun shines all day too!!! Although the green fields were a little bit more yellow than green as South Australia has been in drought for the last 12 years. They hardly have any rain but still the wineries were so pretty and the hills in the background looked breatlhless! We went to quite a few other places where you can just try their wines and you don't have to buy!!! Darren and Ains got right into it, Andrew and I did a little bit but maybe that was because of our antics the night before (soz mum n dad!) Great night though!!!!And what an afternoon we had too, we had so much fun and got to another part of the Adelaide area that we most probably would never have seen if we were on our own! Its so lovely all around and the beaches are fab!We had the most amazing time in Adelaide, we were spoilt rotten and fed and wined(!) like royalty during the whole 4 days. We were so grateful for Ainsley and her parents hospitality we hope one day we can return the favour and show her the beauty of Gower, as I know I go on about how beautiful this place is but home is pretty cool too eh?!!!We were fed another awesome dinner before we left and headed back to the bus station for our 10hr bus journey to Melbourne!So Ains, if you ever read this, thank you thank you for the best 4 days ever!!! We had a blast and you're eggs at breakfast were the best! Lots of love and speak soon!!!!Yep, Adelaide was wicked, don't knock it down just because the CBD is smallish and quiet. There was so much to see in the surroundings and we didn't get to do it all, so we'd definitely love to go back and do some more!!! We had a ball!!!