Adelaide

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After leaving Phillip Island we decided to stay in St Kilda a few minutes away from Melbourne city centre. Nick thought he’d seen a hostel last time we’d gone to St Kilda so we walked down the street from the tram stop only to find he was mistaken. It took ages to find a hostel as it was the week of the Melbourne cup and they were all full. We eventually found one for $40 a night, which was really cheap. As always really cheap meant it wasn’t the cleanest of places and was in the dodgy area of town. Whilst in St Kilda we walked down to Luna Park which is an old school fun fair with a massive clown face as the entrance which looked really cool. We walked down to the main shopping and Café Street and the first thing we noticed were the amazing cake shops on it which looked so appetising. We stopped for an $11 burger and beer meal which was absolutely massive and left us both feeling extremely full. That night we read a little before going to sleep and just as I went to put my book down I saw a small bug run across my bed! I squashed it and loads of blood oozed out, I was sure it must have been either mine or Nicks which was disgusting! I’ve never seen bed bugs but I was pretty sure that’s what it was and spent the rest of the night worrying that more were going to come and bite us! The next night was even worse as Nick woke me up at 2am flashing the torch around and hitting his mattress; I thought the bugs were back and told him to turn the light on so I could check my bed only to find that a cockroach had run across him and that’s what he was chasing! DISGUSTING!! I can honestly say that I was not sad to leave that hostel!
Next we went to Ballarat, a small town on the way to Adelaide which was set up in the gold rush years. We didn’t expect there to be much for us to do there but we didn’t want to get to Adelaide too early and run out of things to do. Our first problem was finding somewhere to stay because everywhere was full thanks to the Melbourne cup; eventually we ended up staying in the YHA 3km out of town. The weather was miserable for the 2 days we were there so we ended up just going out for lunch and then playing cards and drinking back in our room.
Our bus from Ballarat to Adelaide took about 9hrs but went quite quickly as they played 2 videos for us, which was a nice step up from some of our previous bus trips that’s for sure. There were some really nice views from the bus of the flat land with big rocks in the distance similar to Ayres rock which I thought was cool. We sent a text to some family friends we’d arranged to stay with when we got closer to Adelaide as they’d offered to pick us up from the bus station. I was a little bit nervous as the last time I’d seen them was 12yrs ago and I couldn’t even remember that. I realised when we arrived at the station that I didn’t know what Penny looked like and got a little worried but as we walked down the steps a girl holding a chihuahua smiled at us and I knew it must be her. We drove for 20mins to get to her house in Eden Hills in the south of the city. When we arrived Penny’s dad Boz and sister Lisa were there to greet us which was really nice and we spent the evening in the kitchen chatting and drinking local wine. They were all really welcoming and made us feel at home straight away which was nice. The next day we woke up to the smell of bacon and quickly got out of bed, we were surprised when we saw them cooking bacon and eggs on the BBQ! Turns out that they almost always cook their meat on the BBQ no matter what meal you’re having, which I thought was quite cool. After we’d eaten our breakfast Boz called me outside because he’d heard a koala close by, unfortunately we didn’t find it but I heard it and it sounded like a pig grunting which was funny. Penny’s boyfriend Gareth came over and they took us down to a little market before heading down to Glenelg, Adelaide’s closest beach town. It was a beautiful day so we bought some ice-creams and walked along the pier. Gareth had an indoor football match at 4pm which we went to watch and although it was only 15mins each way it was really intense and Penny and I were shouting loudly from the side lines! We got back to Penny’s just in time for roast pork with crackling…YUM!
Boz had given us some tickets that his sister had bought for the public transport system but hadn’t used up so Nick and I caught the train to Adelaide city centre. We forgot to take a map and got a little bit lost when we first arrived in town but eventually we found the main street. As we walked down Rundle Mall we noticed a large crowd gathering in front of us and when we go there a magician was performing in the street. He was really good at the cup tricks with balls underneath and then upgraded to oranges ad even a melon! Once the show had finished we walked down North Terrace where all of the old buildings are, including the library, museum and art centre. We decided to go to the museum as we hadn’t been to one in a while. I’m glad we did as the museum was mainly about the aboriginal people and their traditions with lots of videos and other interactive displays to keep interested! We then had lunch in front of the large war memorial before catching the train back to Pennys. Boz got us to watch an old comedy called Black Books in the evening which Nick found hilarious and got addicted to watching!
On Wednesday Penny took the day off to spend with us, although the morning was mainly spent lazing around in bed. Nick did make some delicious scones for us which we had with jam and cream! In the afternoon Penny drove us to a nearby German town called Hahndorf which was filled with little trinket shops and cafes. We met a couple of eccentric old women that Penny knew which was really funny, one of them called herself Lady Fantassel and owned a tassel shop! That evening Nick became even more like a house-wife as he got out Boz’s old school sewing machine and turned his trousers into a pair of shorts! Although Penny was meant to work on Thursday she came home early and we spent the day sunbathing in the back garden as it was a toasty 32degrees! In the evening we’d arranged to take everyone out bowling as a thank you for letting us stay. Luckily for us it was only $12 on Thursdays when it’s usually $22 which saved us a fair bit of money. For the first game I was allowed the barriers up which definitely helped and I managed to come third; Nick came second. However for the second game Nick put the barriers down and my score dropped dramatically, I managed to somehow sneak past Penny though and not come last! After bowling Penny and Gareth took me and Nick to Spats for pudding which was delicious! On the way home we stopped off at Windy Point to look out over the city which was pretty but it certainly lived up to its name and was very windy!
Penny had the day off again and we decided it was about time we went shopping, especially with my birthday coming up, so we drove down to Marion and bought a few things. I bought a really nice green top for the weekend, a black dress for my birthday and some high heels to match, Nick bought himself a shirt for the weekend as well. That evening we decided to go for a few drinks with some of Gareth’s friends which was lots of fun and gave me an excuse to wear my new top. They were all really friendly and we had a brilliant evening, though we didn’t stay out that late as Penny was up early the next day to go on her works xmas do!
On Sunday we treated ourselves to lunch at the Warradale which looked really nice and had outside seating in the sun. We didn’t feel that hungry so ordered a Mediterranean platter and some wedges to share. We were so surprised when the platter came out as it was 3 tiers of food! The platter consisted of kangaroo, chicken, salami, pepperoni, octopus, mozzarella, salad, bread, dips and breadsticks! It was extremely filling but we still found space to have a strawberry glacier for pudding! After lunch we went to pick Gareth up for his weekly game of indoor soccer and were surprised when he asked Nick if he wanted to play. Nick was really up for it even though he hadn’t done any exercise in a while. He actually did really well though which I was surprised about!
On Monday we went for dinner at Penny’s mum Sue’s house. Sue met my mum at university and that’s how we know the family. It was really nice to see her and fill her in on the happenings in the UK. We stayed for a few hours before heading back to Penny’s and playing cards. Tuesday was another beautiful day so we took the dogs for a walk along Brighton beach, Nick took a ball and tennis racket for Tom to play with but tired Tom out so much he had to lift him up into the car afterwards! At one point there was a great dane on the beach which looked hilarious next to Elsie the little Chihuahua! It was nice to do some exercise out in the sun though as we’d been eating a lot since we arrived in Adelaide. At midday I went to have my hair cut and dyed as a birthday treat; it took 3hrs but looked and felt gorgeous when it was finished. Wednesday was spent on the beach relaxing and eating nice cool ice-cream which was nice. We also met up with Kirsty who we first met in Thailand, it was really nice to see her and catch up.

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