Adelaide
We arrived at Adelaide airport to be greeted by Julie who we would stay with in Adelaide. It made a nice change not to have to find our own way from an airport and an even better change to stay in a proper house, with a comfy bed, with a good shower, proper towels, complete kitchen, unlimited of Weet-bix, full library, access to 'hire' car and no other smelly travellers. Thanks again Julie!
Having read our blog Julie had spotted that we liked to walk so the next day we made the steep climb up Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills for some great views over the city. On reaching the café at the top we found that our hiking time of 1 hr 10 minutes was some way off the best time of the day of just 26 minutes.
As we were unsuccessful in our Koala spotting endeavours on the walk we headed to the nearby wildlife sanctuary where, despite the pessimism of the ticket clerk ('you probably won't see much'), we were quickly rewarded with our first Koala sighting of the trip. We also saw a ringtailed possum and an albino Kangaroo along with some turtles.
That evening the Julie's family came round for a proper Aussie BBQ. It was great to catch up with Keith and Heather and meet Leanne, Sean, Jasmine, Tamika and Angus. It was good to be able to put faces to names!
The following day we headed to the Adelaide Oval for our 2nd cricket ground in so many weeks. We took the tour which was interesting though I nearly passed out when the guide said it would take 2 hours! We were able to get inside the historic and architecturally listed scoreboard which was pretty impressive, even to a non cricket fan such as myself. After I had received a quick lesson on the plane on who Donald Bradman was I was also able to appreciate the Donald Bradman collection.
That day saw a lot of rain which we weren't dressed for, having not quite learnt to look out of the window before getting dressed - surely its always hot in Australia?! The afternoon was spent on indoor pursuits as I managed to get David to visit both the SA History Museum and the SA Art Gallery.
After a relaxing day, Friday night saw us sitting outside on bean bags at the moonlight cinema which is sited on the edge of the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Adelaide. We ate a leisurely picnic as we waited for darkness to fall. We saw District 9 which we wouldn't recommend, but the experience of sitting outside with a picnic and a bottle of wine was definitely worth it.
On Saturday we took the tram to Glenelg on the bay and had a walk along the seafront. It was nice to spend a day just pottering around in and out of the shops. In the evening we went to Julie's local for a few beers where we felt very underdressed as there was a wedding party there and the horse had been on, though it made for some great people watching opportunities which as it turns out is a hobby which I share with Julie.
On our last day in Adelaide we headed up to Port Adelaide and hired kayaks for a few hours. The day was absolutely glorious although at times the stiff wind did make paddling hard work. The aim of the kayaking was to see dolphins and we weren't disappointed. We saw five in total and were able to paddle near them for about an hour as they went about their business. It felt a real privilege to be so close for so long.
Next we head to Kangaroo Island for a couple of days...