Adelaide

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Sunday 16th
6pm we arrive in Adelaide just as I see Karen drive past. No time to go back to the house so we go for a walk through the park and catch-up, then head to church. Wonder what's happening with church - doesn't look like anyone's there - there is Carols in the Park tonight so maybe that's it. We do a circuit back to the church and I see 'Carols in the City', Town Hall, 730 - separate event so we head there. Get there in time for a good seat and the show begins - quite rocky, 'bit too TV' as we described it, but a good message re: not forgetting others at Christmas. Back to the house for food, to meet Karen's sister Amanda (who lives in the house), late night chat and to bed!

Monday 17th
A lazy day, a sleep in, gather beach gear together and head for Glenelg. Karen finds a free parking spot and puts that essential accessory in the windscreen - the aluminium sun-guard. We head for the beach, grab a book, then decide to test the water... A bit chilly but you get used to it! Back on the beach, heads in books (Karen likes lots of the same books as me - grew up with Anne of Green Gables, and is a Georgette Heyer fan!), when a drunk guy approaches us and asks if we mind if he lays his towel down. Couldn't stop him although the beach was otherwise empty, so we soon found a need to go for lunch!

Mama Capriosa (or some such Italian name) got our vote, before we headed for ice cream and an old fashioned/ex-pat candy store - found some Vimto sweets - nice! We headed back to the other side of the beach, relaxed again, admired the strange rings around the sun before heading back to catch up on more sleep - post-dinner!

Tuesday 18th
Met Karen's friend Hanna at Adelaide Central Markets (difficult to park for more than an hour), and enjoyed a veggie lunch at Bliss Organic Café. My custom made jeans from Vietnam decided to break at the zip at this point in the day - thankfully I was wearing a bum bag, We wander into the market, taste and buy some cheese and chocolate, have a typical Australian Lamington, then decide to head for Central Plaza where the Target store was sure to have some jeans - and, being Bargain Bex, I found a pair I liked reduced to $26 (about GBP11), plus some Board Shorts - everything else I put down! Back at the house we had leftovers with cheese and dug out the Wii and played Super Mario Party... And I phoned Virgin Blue to try and sort out the fact that I'd put Bex rather than Rebecca on my ticket! Doh!

Wednesday 19th
See Ooo, which port shall I choose?

Thursday 20th
Today, it's feeling like Christmas - why - because I'm in a shopping mall and except for the shorts, it's like any shopping mall at Christmas - frantic shoppers, heaving crowds, Christmas decorations/adverts all over. We have a good wander, I find a santa hat for next week, and we find some more minty chocolate as we'd had at the market!

We stop for lunch in the food hall and I find somewhere dishing up roast turkey - probably as close as I'm going to get to a Christmas Dinner this year. As Karen's picking up her photo, I sneak into the bottle shop and find the port she liked at the winery - result! She looks happy when I return with it, and we head back, I finish packing and we head to the airport early to see if I can get on the flight as Bex Lewis (gotta get something written in my passport!)! Because of the notes written after my phone call, it's pretty smooth, and Karen can come through security with me so we have a beautiful hot chocolate, before she heads off. My flight is delayed an hour, but I watch Australian Deal or No Deal, have a small pizza and relax! Flight to Sydney nice and straightforward, check into hostel, find the internet briefly, and go to sleep!

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Photos

Adelaide
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