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Published: April 2nd 2011
I slept like a log on Friday night and woke on Saturday morning feeling really refreshed! I got up around 8:30 am and immediately started sorting laundry. As it turns out, the washing machines were too small and I had to do 2 loads. Slightly annoying, but either way, I was abou to have clean clothes and much needed clean clothes! I had some of the free breakkie - hot tea and toast with jam and peanut butter. Today was a catch up day for me. I did the laundry and then caught up on blogs and then headed out to the market.
I had heard from a couple of people that the Adelaide market was the best and the owner of the hostel said it was better to go in the afternoon, so I went into China town for lunch - really interesting pad thai - unlike anything other pad thai I've had, but I loved it! Then I made my way into the market. The market overall was not that large, but the action was fantastic! Again, it had stalls with everything you could possibly want - pickled items, nuts, flowers, meats, fruits and veggies, cafes, ect. But
He kicks...he scores!
The crowd going crazy!unlike some of the others, this one is more permanent and more organized. I treated myself to a chocolate from one of the specialty desert people and then wandered. What I realized was that since it was the afternoon and Saturday, the vendors were at the point that they just wanted to unload their items. Evrything was on sale! EVERYTHING! I got 4 apples for 55 cents. Are you kidding me!?!?!? So as I walked up and down, I kept my eyes out for deals and bought a few little things. I was leaving the next day on the train and you can't take fruit across territory borders (strange rule, but yes they have it) so I didn't buy as much as I wanted. Either way, it was really fun. They had amazing butchers, great fish vendors, and the veggies were incredible! I loved this market. And yes, it became my favorite! I hung out for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hostel. For the evening, I had big plans...it was opening season for the Crows, the Adelaide Aussie Rules Football team. I had gottan a ticket for $30 that included free transportation on a shuttle
The scarf
That's right...I went to the concert, I bought the t-shirt and then wore it to the concet! I'm a nerd, but I was much warmer LOL bus. The stadium was about 30 min outside of downtown. The game was at 7:10 pm. I had to change clothes and layer up for the game. I don't have anything really warm with me so I ended up with a tank top on, then a t-shirt, then my sweatshirt and I took my wind breaker was with me. I was glad I did. I had to walk through most of downtown Adelaide to get to the bus. I was glad I did. I had not seen much of the city and it was actually quite pretty. Nothing spectacular, but a very clean city. The bus ride was fun. I was able to see some of the suburbs and the fans (fanatics) along the way. 2 girls were putting on face paint, a couple of guys were sporting the other teams gear. It was fun! When we pulled into the stadium area I was really excited. I was hoping to check out some tailgating, but there didn't seem to be much of that going on. I saw some fields with cars parked and only a few had tents or tables set up. Perhaps I'd gottan there too late...I wasn't sure,
but either way, I did not end up crashing a tailgate. I did however realize how cold it was goign to be, now that the sun was almost down and decided to pop into the team store. I was hoping for a long sleeved t-shirt. They didn't have any (what is wrong here peopel!) and so instead I got a scarf. These are hugely popular and all sorts of people had there's on. I was just happy to have something to help keep me warm! Once inside the stadium, I quickly figured out where I needed to do. The stadium was bustling. I found out that not only was it the opening game of the seaon, it was also the 20th Anniversary season for the team and 20 years ago on this date they played their first game against the same team. I was pretty excited that I was seeing such a special game. The stadium was full of rowdy people and I knew I was going to have fun! I got in live for a beer. Get this...you can buy up to 4 at a time, they never stop selling them but if you want to take it to
Wide open spaces
Check this out...no roads or anything! This is the Northern Territory from the train. your seat, you have to put a top on it - like its a coke you get through the drive thru window at McDonalds. I asked the couple behind me in line...turns out too many people complianed about having beer spilled on them. I found this hilarious! Next stop, food. I decided to try the gourmet dog. It came with grilled onions on it and I picked up some mustard to add to it. When I finally made it to my seat I was super excited! The teams were out and warming up and my seat was in the Crows end zone section. This was going to be fun. I quickly found my seat and was sitting next to two families. I settled in and started on the gourmet dogs. For those of you worried...I will definitely be coming back to the US for the crappy hot dogs at our stadiums. This was more like a sausage and it had chunks of cheese in it. So not for me...but I tried it!
By the time the game kicked off, I was up and cheering. Footie is a really fast moving game. Its like rugby in some ways, its also got a bit of soccer to it...let me put it this way, its constant running like soccer but with all the scoring you wish soccer had! The final score was 105 to 95. That's what I'm talking about! The do some tackling and the ball is a rugby like ball but the players have to bounce the ball or pass the ball after so many steps and they have to kick the ball through the goal posts in order to score and there are penalty type kicks...it was really interesting. I was happy to have the loud guy behind us that knew more then the refs and the players and kept telling them all so. It made me laugh. The fans are extremelly passionate! The best was the 2 old ladies sitting across the aisle. They were easily in their 70s and the one kept yelling at the players, pick up your man! PIck up your man!!! She was not messing around. It was great stuff! When the Crows scored, the place went crazy. They had about 43,000 people there and I'd say 42,500 of them were Crows fans. It was fun! I totally got into it with my scarf on and all! I was up and cheering and clapping and screaming when they scored. Good times!!! Another funny Oz word....the umpires are called Umpies. Classic! The umpies were also funny in terms of what they had to do. These guys ran almost more than the players did. And, when the ball went out of bounds, they had to stand backwards and throw the ball in. But it had to go really high in the air. There were all these crazy things about the game. After a score they started play again in the center of the filed with the ump bouncing the ball really high off the ground. I'm telling you, if you're in Oz and its footie season, go to a game. Its a great experience! When the game ended, oh, the Crows won, all the players sign a ball and take them to the sides of the stadium and give the ball to a kid. There are like 25 players. How cool is this program! It seemed like a really cool family activity and I would definitely go back. On the ride home, I had to find the right shuttle bus and then cram on with all the other people. I ended up getting a seat because I don't think anyone wanted to sit with this man. He may have had one too many beers, but he seemed harmless to me. He was just excited that a blond sat down next to him. Turns out, he's a season ticket holder and his wife and her friend were sitting in the seats in front of us. They were great people. We laughed the whole way back to the city and he even gave me his hat. He was so funny! He's a season ticket holder and they gave them hats for the opening game. Since he and his wife got one, he wanted to give one to me. I really appreciated that. I got back to the hostel at around 11 pm and went right to bed. I was still catching up on sleep from the last several days.
I woke up on Sunday and really just had to re-pack and get ready for my train trip. I decided to take the Ghan. A train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin and I was getting off of it at Alice Springs. Its said to be one of the great train journerys in the world. I was super excited. I was booked in a regular seat and the trip was about 24 hours long. I was just hopeful that the train would not be full so that maybe I could get 2 seats next to one another. There were 3 other girls from the hostel also taking the train so we loaded up and Paula, the Irish lady from the hostel drove us over to the station. She was so nice and helpful and even gave me a suggestion for a place to sleep and food in Alice. I had yet to book anything...finally getting into how I like travel :-)
At this train, you had to properly check in and check in your bags and all sorts of stuff. As it turns out, I was assigned an aisle seat. There were two cars designated at the Red Carriages. Basically this means they are the cheap seats that all the back packers ride in. I checked in with the 3 other girls from the hostel and we all became fast friends. As it turns out, we were on on the same car. This train was amazing! It was over 700 meters long and they had 2 cars that just carried cars. It was just really impressive. When we were finally able to board, I was pretty excited. The seats were really large and the leg room was great. Just before final boarding a young guy got on and as it turns out, he was in the seat next to me. Shoot! They closed the doors, and a lady came into the car to tell us all about the safety instructions and food car and whatnot. There were some empty seats at the front of the car and when she was finished she said, if you'd like to move around at this point you can. I quickly snatched two empty seats and claimed them as my own! Sweet...2 seats to sleep in. The train took off and it was super smooth. I couldn't believe how comfortable I was. No swaying or jerking like on the other train ride. So, I busted out my book (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and settled in. I'd read a chapter and then look out the window for a bit and then read and look and so on. It was a great mix. At first the scenary was just hte suburbs and small towns, then it turned into more rural country. LIke outside of Melbourne, once you get outside the city, the rural areas come pretty quick! The landscape gave way to wide open spaces with lots of white/light sand and small bushes and trees. It was really pretty and quiet. I ate lunch on the train and had a beer. By the time evening came, we were well north into South Australia and close to the desert. The sunset was amazing! I got up out of my seat just to see it better. I stood inbetween two cars at a large door window and watched at the desert glowed. It was almost as if there was a reflection off the sand. I thought to myself...how lucky am I. How fortunate am I to see something so incredible. After the sunset, I settled into my seat and hoped for some decent sleep. They turned off the carriage lights at 9 pm, so I closed my book and eyes. I slept as well as could be expected. I was cold most of the night and they didn't have any blankets. But I figure on average I got about 6 hrs of sleep.
When I woke up in the morning the landscape had changed again. The desert really was upon us and it was beautiful. You could see for miles - or what seemed like miles and the sand was more orange/red than anything else. It was great! We passed the border between the Northern Territory and South Australia - my first official border crossing! And passed a momunment that was put up for those that built the rail. We also went over the Finke River which is the oldest river in the world that does not change its course. It was actually quite full of water and even the train announcer was surprised by how much water was flowing. With all the rain the region has seen this year, it was quite full. Normally, its a dry river bed. I heard a stat that this part of the country gets rain like this every 30 yrs. So I'm seeing something quite impressive.
We finally pulled into Alice Springs around 1:30 pm. I headed with Karen (one of the girls from the Adelaide hostel) to the Haven Hostel transfer. She has pre-booked and said there was a free shuttle. So I tagged along in hopes that I could also stay there. The hostel was a short 2 min drive from the train station and they did indeed have a room for me. I get settled in and then talked to reception about booking a tour out to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The one girl didn't know much, but the other girl was very helpful. She told me to go with Emu Runs Tours because they were not only the best in terms of swags and food, but that the guide was great (40 yrs old and very knowledgable) and that this typically attracts older backpackers. Well, that last bit was all I needed to hear. I booked and as it turns out, I got a free nights stay at the hostel as well. Sweet! I then headed into town and found a deal on a hot air balloon ride (doubly sweet!) and then walked in and out of some shops. I was being picked up early on tuesday morning for the tour (5:45 am) so I made it back to the hostel early for some good sleep. The next 3 days were going to be long and I was super excited for them, so I wanted to go into refreshed.
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Elise
non-member comment
how fun!
it all sounds fun from the game to the train ride! Can't wait to hear about the balloon ride!