Australia - Adelaide

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ADELAIDE

Monday 10th May
I was up at 7 for a 7.20 meet with Lena to get some breakfast and a 7.35 pick up (we were all going except Stephanie who was leaving Adelaide that day and Markus who I think wished he was coming). We needed breakfast as were going for a day's wine tasting in the Barossa Valley (which is famous for its Shiraz. And Jacob's Creek. Clare Valley is famous for its Sauvignon Blanc and the Adelaide Hills for its Riesling). We stopped off on the journey, where I had a cheese toastie (in addition to the earlier cheese sandwich) and English Breakfast tea in a glass mug, random. The journey to the Barossa took a couple of hours over very green rolling hills, was pretty and autumnal. All the leaves were changing colour except for the evergreens. We stopped off at the Barossa Valley Reservoir to have a look at the Whispering Wall which is basically a dam where if you stand at one and whisper, the whisper can be heard at the other end. I believed JP (our guide) when he told us this but didn't expect it to be quite such a clear sound. We knew as soon as we were in the Barossa as there were lots of vineyards, which I guess wasn't surprising, with the Barossa ranges in the background. There was also a nudist colony, with a huge fence around it, interesting! Our first stop was Jacob's Creek - which I'd been looking forward to as have seen (aka drunk) so much of it at home! We tried 7 wines, including a Sparkling Red which was a bit odd, not sure I liked that. By the time we left at about 10.30am we'd had 1 1/2 glassed of wine. (And the photos of me were not looking great. The photos of me since Melbourne have been getting worse and worse. So I apologise to anyone looking at them. It's quite embarrassing. Bless the other guys, they tried hard to get some good ones but it just wasn't happening). I saw the actual Jacob's Creek, which had no water in it. Our next stop was Vinecrest Wineries, a lovely small family owned place. The wine was really good. I wanted to send some home but as it costs 3 times as much to post the wine ($400) to the UK as it costs to buy it I thought better of it (sorry Mum & Dad!). Another 1 1/2 glasses later (total of 3 so far by at 12pm) we headed to our third winery Richmond Grove which was older with a lot of history. It was nice nice wine. Another 2 glasses later (total of 5, at 1.30pm) we had lunch which was a nice BBQ that JP had prepared for us (BBQ quiche for me, was really good). Then onto our last winery, Seppelsfield. That was nice, they specialised in fortified wine (i.e. port) so it was all a bit sickly sweet. Another 1 1/2 glasses there and we finished on 6 glasses at 3pm and considering it was quite a lot I wasn't drunk, just happy! At Seppelsfield they also do homemade chocolate; one of which was a surprise flavour. Marc got that and gave me some and we had to guess the surprise. I knew it was something familiar and in the end went for pepper, and was right! It was salt and pepper chocolate! Actually quite nice. We had a nice journey back to Adelaide, with lots of sing songs!

When we got dropped off we had a quick change then straight back out as Nienke and Marta were due to leave the next morning and they wanted to see the beach. It took us a while to get going as Nienke had trouble with the travel company (a word of warning, if you are thinking of going to Kangaroo Island, which is just Adelaide in May, expect cancellations, everyone except Marta had problems, so that’s 4 of them) and in the end we decided it was too late and would be dark by the time we got there, so Marc, Lena and I headed to Chinatown for something to it. We had a great time, no alcohol, just lots of fun, mostly at my expense with them trying to get some nice photos. In the end I resorted to trying a 'skinny face' pose which we all then did for the rest of our time together. After dinner we met Markus and headed to the Grace Emily, which had been recommended to us as the place to be in Adelaide on a Monday night. It was a bit quiet so we went to the pub across the road to get some cash out and ventured into the Games Room which was full of Pokie machines. I had never had a go on them so thought I'd try. I put $1 in had no idea what I was doing and ended up winning $10 with my first press of the button! I kept winning $2 a time until I decided I'd better quit whilst I was ahead! I was so chuffed. We then went back to the pub and it was still quiet but not for long. It really really kicked off and within a couple of hours it was packed. There was a mix of locals and backpackers, more locals though and some of them were a bit random (one spent 10 minutes telling Marta and I how he was in love with his doctor...!). JP and another guide Rob were there, they were a bit drunk, was funny to watch. A German girl from Rob's outback tour was very Very VERY drunk (and apparently not a very nice person, had upset everyone on the trip) and she'd obviously taken a shine to Rob and kept dragging him outside trying to make conversation. It was amusing to watch as an English girl from the trip also really liked him and it was getting messy! At one point the German girl took the English girl outside “for a talk”. The English girl asked me to go and save her after 15 minutes which I did (us English have got to stick together!). Even I ended up nearly in the middle when I heard the German girl ask Rob why he was flirting with the other English girl, i.e. me (he really wasn't). I did get asked out by two locals, wanting to meet up with me before I left Adelaide. I made plenty of excuses and got out of it which was a relief. I could have been flattered, but luckily not as I found out they were mates and one of them had asked out several others girls already! One girl guide from the tour company we’d been with took a shine to Markus, and when she decided to walk the German girls home (it was only a 5 minute walk) she insisted on Markus going with her. Markus promised to come back for Lena and I (Marta, Marc and Nienke had left) but as he didn't come back for 1/2 an hour we thought we'd best go as JP and Rob were leaving. As we were leaving the pub about a 50m up the road we saw Markus and the girl guide struggling to make the German girls walk. They hadn't got far in that half an hour! As Rob did not want to bump into them we had a hilarious 15 minute walk home trying to keep hidden a good distance behind, watching all the goings on! The whole night was brilliant, I can't describe and you really had been there but it's right up there at the top of my best nights out of the trip, and probably my whole life. Thank you guys 😊

Tuesday 11th May
Even though we'd had a very late night Lena and up were up for the free pancakes at 9. Then we met Nienke and went for coffee where Markus met us and we had a funny time re-living the events of last night. We got the tram to Glenelg, the sort of Adelaide seaside resort. That took 1/2 an hour and we got chatting to a nice English conductor. Glenelg looked a bit like Manly in Sydney in layout, and had an English seaside town feel. It was so cold and windy (definitely like the English seaside then!). We went into the 'Bay Discovery Centre' where there was an old seaside penny machine place. That was interesting and we had a go on the fortune teller machine, I was told to 'listen to my head as it knows best'. We spent 1/2 an hour talking to a retired couple that work there a little bit, they were lovely. We then got the tram back, spent a couple of hours in the mall and having lunch (where I found somewhere that could sort my feet for $10) then the afternoon on our own doing things like washing (I had to wash my clothes again as they didn’t smell so great after being dry for a couple of days) and finally drying them (the hostel gave me my money back for all the wasted washing and drying). Nienke met me at the hostel and we got chatting to the new guy in my room, Sebastian and asked him if he wanted to come out for dinner. Markus and Lena came up and met us and then we went for a bit of dinner at the bar next door. It was cheap but unfortunately I'd given Sebastian wrong directions (I thought we were in Marlborough bar, it was Marble bar). He eventually found us and we moved on as Nienke and Lena wanted Bailey's coffees. We walked for ages, nothing was open in Adelaide. I can see why not many backpackers like it or stick around long (they obviously didn't go to the Grace Emily on a Monday night!). We heard music coming from a hotel bar and decided to give that a go. We got stuck in a stairwell unable to open the door and when we made it in they were closing (it was half 9!). We eventually found somewhere and I'm glad it took a while because it was a nice place with nice people. It was a coffee bar which sold alcohol and Nienke ended up with 3 Bailey's coffees as they were trying out different ways of doing it. We then walked back and it was early to bed.

Wednesday 12th May
I was awake at 8.30 and took my time to get ready as was not due at the feet place for a while. I was so relieved to go and have my feet sorted, it was long overdue and I’d left it too long as they got really bad, then got better so I thought they'd be OK. I went through a cycle of them getting so bad I couldn't walk, a bit better but I still couldn't touch them so wouldn't have been able to have them sorted, then ok but I wasn't in a place where I could get them sorted, then I'd forget about it then they'd get bad again. The Thai lady was brilliant and did a great job, it didn't hurt at all, I was expecting it too. She was telling me all about her love life and the different men who wanted to marry her (it's all right for some!). I was upset when I left though as it took twice the time expected and I missed Andrew Fisher, one of Drew's distant relatives I'd met the year before, who I was due to have lunch with and a walk around the city. As Andrew didn't have a mobile I couldn't call him, I think we ended up in different places anyway so if I had been on time I think we still would have missed each other. I felt awful though. So I had some lunch, treated myself to a good book, sent a very important letter home that hopefully will mean I have more money available to me and then got packed and sorted. In the evening Nienke invited us to her hostel, so Markus and I walked there only to find that we were not allowed to drink in there and really didn't seem welcome! So Nienke left with us and we went back to The Astor where I had something to eat and Sebastian and Marc who was back from Kangaroo Island with loads of amazing photos (next time in Adelaide I am doing that!). It was a nice evening and I was sad to say bye to Marc and Markus, I'd be seeing Nienke again in Perth.

So that was Adelaide. I really liked it. There isn't much to do in the city, all the good stuff is outside so ok if you have a car, and as the nightlife is pretty quiet I can see why backpackers are not fans of it. But I had a brilliant time, because of the people I was with. I genuinely really like all of them, and was very sad to say bye. I hope we see each other again and any of them are welcome over to Oxford for a visit.

I'm now in Perth, until the 17th then going on a trip to the South West of Australia which I'm looking forward to as I don't know much about it other than that it's supposed to be nice. Perth is nice, was really cold when I arrived but warmer today, I'll write about Perth next time.

Lots of love Xx

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