A new member of the Kenyan Rugby 7s Appreciation Society

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Keeping with the rugby theme of my travels so far, I headed off to Adelaide for the 7s at the weekend… After a v early start from Sydney on Saturday morning, I landed in Adelaide to beautiful sunshine (made all the more funny by the fact that England was under inches of snow that day!) - headed to the hotel to get the key and then went for an exploration run around the botanical gardens (think that every city in Australia must have one of these) and along by the river. Heard shouting from the Adelaide Oval as I ran past, boy these rugby 7s supporters are a noisy bunch!

A quick peak in the Lonely Planet and I headed off down King William Street and ended up in Victoria Square and found the Central Market, admittedly more by luck than judgement. Spent some time wandering up and down looking at all the food stalls - and saw my first kangaroo meat in the form of sausages. Chilled in the sunshine of Victoria Square for a bit and then decided to head to Rundle Street for a bit of shopping… As I was walking across Victoria Square I saw out of the corner of my eye a group of Aboriginals and one was heading towards me - with her arms outstretched! Well, unfortunately our paths collided and she said something to me (which I didn’t understand) and tried to hug me. Hum, no thank you.

Shopping wasn’t that great in Adelaide so headed back to the hotel to pick up a book to take to the read in the sunshine by the river. Set myself up opposite the Adelaide Oval so I could hear the cheers - and couldn’t believe it when I learnt that Kenya had beaten England. Go Kenya! Went out in the evening to the 7s Team Hotel and met the Kenyan team, before having a few drinks…

Sunday was spent at the 7s, as felt after one day that I had pretty much seen all that Adelaide had to offer. Sat all day in the gorgeous sunshine, drinking Cooper’s Pale Ale and if I’m honest not really watching the rugby too closely (apart from when Kenya were playing, of course!). Then headed out to the 7s Team Hotel later again in the evening and went to the ‘after party’ where all the teams were - but then left to go to the Kenyan after party at ‘The Edinburgh Castle’. Was a bit of an alcoholic night and ended up back at the Hilton for ‘one more drink’, although when I left the hotel it seemed that some of the rugby groupies had had one too many - as there were two girls outside the hotel on the pavement with a couple of ambulance men for company.

I’m glad I went to Adelaide, but am not planning on heading back there again - well, maybe to go to the 7s again or the cricket…

L xxx

P.S. Check out the ‘Kenyan 7s Appreciation Society’ on Facebook and join it so that you can see all the photos and videos - some of them are so funny!!!

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