1st February
Because it was so hot last night I forgot to put the awning in. Predictably in the early hours of the morning the wind got up. Shortly afterwards so did I, to put the awning away to stop the annoying flapping noise. Even more predictably shortly after that again, the wind dropped.
Narrowly beat the 10:00 exit deadline thanks to the chatty neighbours next door. Mind you I now know that if I have any problems with my digestive system and or excruciating stomach cramps in the night leading to lethargy and fatigue – I should try switching to a gluten free diet. It certainly worked for our neighbour.
Took the short drive up the coast to Glenelg and got out for a wander around. I think I could live here, very pleasant indeed with all the apartments and town houses along the front. Stopped off at Maccas to try their frozen coke (on the recommendation of Amelia from Chapel Hill Winery). To be honest she did say the Hungry Jacks frozen coke so maybe that's why we didn't enjoy it so much, but it is cheaper than two iced coffees at a cafe. Anyway it gave us a chance to read the papers. The world seems to be coping alright without us.
Headed on over to the Adelaide City Caravan Park and checked in for two nights. On the way we even managed to drive round the very edges of the Adelaide CBD with no dramas. The park is very nice and situated just across the road from the Adelaide Zoo and Botanic Gardens and only a 30 minute walk, on the pathway beside the river,into the CBD. Mind you they certainly make the most of the space they have available. This would have to have the smallest sites of any park we have stayed at. There are some sites that are literally a car space. Like Byron though the average age is considerably less than other parks and there is a large proportion of European back-packers. The average age is somewhat raised by the German couple next to us who are in their 70's. Amazingly they have been coming to Australia for 18 years, for 3-4 months at a time and travelling around in a campervan. We struck up conversation because their van had a sticker from Southern RV, where we bought MM. Small world ey? They said they bought their van in Geeeeelong because as English was their second language it was easier to understand the people there because they speak slower.
Editors note: OK that appears like a gratuitous cheap shot at Geeelong and I apologise profusely to the majority of our readers who are actually from Geeelong. To those readers who are not from Geelong and are laughing, please stop now. To be fair I think we should all be blaming the German guy not me though.
Our internal debate about whether to walk all the way into the city was resolved when the bus pulled up just as we got to the top of the street. Apparently Adelaide looks after it's full fare paying passengers better than Bathurst (refer earlier blog) and we managed to get away with a $1.90 fare each. We also got a very entertaining ride with the couple behind us having an animated discussion that involved, family, kidnaps, threats of and actual physical violence as well as some colourful language that encourages us to give up travelling by bus when we get home.
Spent a pleasant afternoon strolling the main streets of Adelaide (both of them) and noting yet again that other capital cities seemed to have protected their older buildings much better than Melbourne.
One of the older buildings they have looked after in Adelaide is the old railway station, which is now also the Casino. Ever the fans of old architecture, we ventured inside. Imagine our surprise when we discovered it was full of gaming tables and pokies. So shocked were we that we had to sit down. At a pokie machine. But not for long because it was nowhere near as generous as the NSW club ones. However by signing up for the Casino Rewards program (ok, I know we won't be coming back, but I felt sorry for the trainee they sent around to sign people up. And no Vicki, it was not a young girl in a short skirt, it was a guy). Anyway that entitled us to to two free, very small, soft drinks each from the dispenser.
While we were there we witnessed the start of the poker tournament. Organised mayhem, with about 80 entrants sitting down for about 12 hours of poker. Well actually only 2-4 of them were going to last the 12 hours, some of them were out in the first 15 minutes. It was nowhere near as organised or glamorous as on the TV.
After that excitement we jumped on the free City Circle bus narrowly avoiding a rather irate phscho woman who was ready to fight the world because of family problems. She may or may not have been related to the earlier couple. But at least Di remembered the golden rule: “do not make eye contact with nutters” and we boarded the bus safely.
Travellers tip: do not board a free City Loop bus at the height of peak hour, it takes longer and you potentially miss some of the view while sandwiched between commuter buses.
Given the traffic we walked back to the van park through the Botanic Gardens narrowly avoiding another “incident” when Di, sensibly, declined Steve's advice on a “short cut”.
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| No honest Di - if we cut through these trees on the left it will be quicker than following the path |
Wednesday 2nd February
In a flashback to my working life the day consisted mainly of a very long lunch. We were catching up with a colleague, and his wife, who I met over 12 years ago when I was working on a project in Adelaide. Lunch at the pub followed by iced coffees at the cafe district filled in the afternoon beautifully.
Spent the evening on Skype with El working on the plans for the UK leg of our trip.
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