Average daytime temp- 15degrees Average night time temp- 6 degrees We arrived in Adelaide on the 24th June, via a short but sweet visit to the Barossa Valley. Its hackneyed to say it, I am sure, but the wine is amazing! I feel like I have never really drunk good wine before after going to a few cellar doors here..(sorry Coolangatta). Fave wine of the Barossa? A Zinfandel from kabmyne( I think that was how it was spelt.) am seriously considering getting a case shipped back to Shoalhaven. The weather has been uniformly cold with occasional moments of sun to leavan the gloom, but I am happy to say that we have still found Adelaide to be the relaxed, groovy city that I had hoped for and that Tom remembered. The bike path along the Torrens is a masterpeice of urban planning- it links up all the major bits of the city and happily diverts you from the traffic. Ned and I cycled in and out on the first day and did 10km without a problem. Am also happy to report on the bike front, that Oscar has also managed his first bit of training wheel free bike riding along a bike path. There will be no stopping him soon!

The boys have enjoyd the excellent aquatic centre at Marion with its giant curly water slides and diving pool. Tom and I had a pretty good time too- its been heavenly to swim again after almost 10 weeks without getting wet. The boys have also enjoyed spending the remnants of their birthday money, at the giant mall- thankyou family.

The centre of Adelaide is what really impressed me though. Along North Terrace you have the beautiful old university buildings, art gallery and on the corner of King William Street, the war memorial. This is an obliquely placed edifice, with 12 ft carvings of archangels gathering up desperate, ragged humans on either side of a marble room that contains all the names of the dead from the two world wars. It inspired a feeling of worthiness for the sacrifice these faceless names gave, along with a nod to the glory of life beyond death that may have been the reward. ( my inner cynic is of course shouting at me now that its all rubbish and there is no such thing as angels, but I am refusing to listen...) Ned is fascinated by all things army and the world wars in particular- he looks at all the monuments we pass and reads all the names, so he spent some time inside this one.

Beyond William Street you drift gently into the glorious Botanic Gardens, with the fabulously restored art deco style glass house which houses all manner of plants- all from Madagascar?! Not sure why only Madagascar. but there you go. Fantastic Fig trees as well with their buttress roots like mini ramparts. Tom says that the last time he visited Adelaide, the Botanic Gardens had a butterfly house. We were very excited at the prospect, but if it was there, we didn't find it this time. Tres desolate. Never mind, it was a beautiful sunny morning and we had a thoroughly good walk, nonetheless.

Our last couple of days in the city were spent on the front lawn of Nev and Jackie's house while Tom put a roof over Nevs pizza oven. Nev is a lovely man who we were camped next to at Keith for the duration of our stay. He educated me in the mysteries of the 12 string guitar and made us a trivet and grill plan out of scrap and a kettle holder for our fire, not to mention giving us boxes of the sweetest oranges from his tree in Elizabeth ( suburb of Adelaide). We felt very privelidged to have met him and his lovely wife Jackie and so endeavoured to stay an extra day to put up his roof..next stop, south, to the Yorke Peninsula.