Advertisement
Published: March 15th 2008
Edit Blog Post
G-day mates,
greetings from the sunny and hot city of Adelaide.
When I arrived here and of February, Tim came and pick me up and we went to Victor Harbor, about 80 km south of Adelaide. He went there to visit two friends: Nicole and Candice. We had some beers and played some board games till late that night. The next day we went to see Victor Harbor and later in the afternoon we went back to Adelaide, where we had dinner that evening with Tim's mom and other family members. The dinner was organized for Tim because he was leaving Australia for a year. The next day we went out in Adelaide, where Tim met many of his friends who also came to say "goodbye" to him. At the moment Tim is somewhere in China. First he left to Sydney, where his brother Daniel lives, and then he board the plane to Tokyo. He will be visiting India, Finland and Estonia a.o before he arrives in Slovakia, where he might stay for a few months teaching English. In December this year we both want to go to Panama, also because our friend Edgardo is going to get married.
Victor Harbour is a small city but it's quite nice. It's on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula and about 13.000 people live there. It's more like a holiday destination for locals who want to escape the busy city for the weekend. It has some nice beaches, beautiful white sand and clear water...but the water is too cold to swim in. The downtown is small but pretty. Off the coast there is a small island called "Granite Island", which is connected to the mainland with a pier. A horse tram rides between the island and the mainland. There is not much to do on the island. There is a shop, a bar and restaurant...and some rock formations you can climb on.
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and has just over 1 million people. The city is often underrated by travelers saying that it's a very boring place. I found the city to be nice, nicer that I expected. It's called the city of churches, due to the many churches you'll see everywhere in the city.The city center is basically designed in the form of one big square, completely surrounded by parks. The outer parts of
the city center are the North-, East-, South-, and West Terrace (the name of the streets), and the rest of the streets run parallel to those four Terraces. It's a good time to be in Adelaide, as there are many activities going on, like the Festival of Arts and the Adelaide Fringe. Many people perform on the streets, especially Rundle Street, which is filled with crowds especially at night. When going out, Hindley Street is the place to be. There are dozens of clubs and pubs and if you stand for a few minutes somewhere in this street, you'll see many beauties passing by (opposite of Darwin, where there's a shortage of females). These last 10 days it has been very hot in Adelaide, temperatures reaching 40°C a few days ago, and at least 38°C everyday. One day I went to
Glenelg, a suburb at the coast, with some people from the YHA Hostel (where I stayed 2 nights). The place is pretty, the beach was better than I expected. The water was clear and a little bit cool, but not to cold to swim...so I went for a swim which was good, because it was at least 37°C then.
Barossa Valley is located about 70 km northeast of Adelaide. Many of Australia's best wines come from this region. The landscape here consists of many hills with little vegetation...it's very dry, similar to the landscape in countries like Italy (Toscana). We visited four different wineries and tasted many different wines. At the last winery I didn't taste anything because I had enough. We've been told about the history of the region and about how they actually produce wine. They showed us inside the winery where they have storage tanks, the fermentation basins etc. The wine brand Jacobs Creek, which is supposed to be famous, also comes from this region. We also visited a dam called the "Whispering wall". When you stand at one side of the dam and you talk to wall, people on the other end of the dam clearly hear what you're saying.
Kangaroo Island is a small island located just west of Fleurieu Peninsula and has only about 4.000 people. I booked a tour to the island and they picked me up around 6:00 am in Adelaide. First you drive all the way south and then you take the ferry. Kangaroo Island had huge bush
fires last December and you can clearly see this back in the landscape. The island has beautiful beaches (water is a bit cold though) and lots of wildlife. We visited Seal Bay, where dozens of sea lions lay down on the beach. These animals spend 3 full days in the sea, sometimes up to 70 km from the shore, to hunt for their food. They don't sleep for 3 days and when they're back on the shore, they spend most of their time sleeping. Seal Bay is a protected area and you're not allowed to come too close to the sea lions. The Remarkable Rocks are on the coast and they are beautiful and indeed "remarkable" rock formations. Another beautiful spot is the Admirals Arch, which is a natural arch and underneath the arch there are many seals laying down on the rocks near the sea. These two places are in the Flinders Range National Park. We spent the night somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the island, where the tour company has it's own house. We had a good BBQ and in the evening we went for a walk near the coast and saw many penguins. In the
morning we went to some sand dunes and did some sand boarding, which was absolutely great! It's basically going on the top op a sand dune, sit on a board and slide all the way down. We visited also a distillery where they make Eucalyptus oil, which was interesting.
At the moment I'm staying in Joslin, a suburb of Adelaide. It's the house where Tim used to live last year and he called those people to ask them if they have an empty room for rent. I'm renting the room now and I have three house mates: Samantha, John & Stephanie. They are nice, no complaints. I'm paying only AU$70 per week which is cheap and that's why I really want to stay around for a month because it's hard to find such cheap accommodation elsewhere. It's not too easy to find a job. When you see a job advertisement and you call for the job to a company or employment office, they always tell you to bring or email your CV and they'll call you back, but they never call back. The same last week, when I had an interview to work as a waiter for 12 hrs
a week in a restaurant. The guy made me fill in the tax file papers etc. but he still didn't call back. That's the thing I really hate from this country and I've heard these stories from many other travelers...and I'm getting sick of it! The next time they tell me that they'll call back, I'll explain that they really should call back...at least tell me that the job went to someone else for example, instead of not calling at all. Last week I did fruit picking (grapes) for one day...but no way I'm going to do this anymore, not in this heat. I was prepared though, I had my water, sunscreen, hat etc. but it was too hot and the job is easy but sh!t. I got just a job for 3 days now, starting tomorrow....it's about packing down a festival site in one of the parks of the city center....but that's just temporary of course. If I don't find a job within a couple of days, I think I'll leave to Melbourne. i applied also for a job in a hotel in Marree, a small hole (town) in the outback of South Australia. I hope to get something
soon, I have to be busy doing something otherwise I'll get bored! Tobi, my German mate will be arriving in Adelaide soon and we should go for a ride on his motorbike in the Adelaide Hills.
Anyway, that's all for now. Take care you all and till the next blog entry!!!!
cheers,
Elton
Advertisement
Tot: 0.565s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 30; qc: 138; dbt: 0.1868s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
Carmen alias Stitch
non-member comment
Prachtige foto's Elton! Bo ta biba bo bida hopi bon! ;-)