Chilling in Adelaide

9 November

Early in the morning a few of us went on a sunrise plane ride over Wilpena Pound. We were in a 6-man plane piloted by Randall - who so obviously wanted to be Tom Cruise in Top Gun. I've never flown in such a small plane; you can really feel the pressure as the plane climbs and falls and goes round corners etc. Such cool fun! Wilpena pound is made up of a range of hills, one of which we then climbed to the top of - Mt Ohlssen Bagge. It was an extremely strenuous hike, but considering we're spending so long sat on our bums in the bus, I feel the need to make the most of the open air as and when I can! Plus, the views from the top of the hill were pretty rewarding.

Later in the day we drove on to Parachilna - our bed for the night. Parachilna town has 7 inhabitants, most of who appear to work in the local pub which also serves as the supermarket, gift shop and post office! We had a bit of a party in the evening which involved much boozing and culminated in everyone being thrown into the swimming pool fully clothed. Such wonderfully childish behaviour! For dinner we also got to try some local delights, including Kangaroo steak (very yummy), Camel sausage (okay, but in small doses) and Emu burger (totally yucky).

10 November

Basically made our way down to Adelaide today. It felt really sad seeing as it was the last day of our tour. We've all got on so well and had such a good laugh that I didn't really want the tour to end. In the evening we had the usual end of tour night out = meal followed by boozing & boogying. Our tour guide came from Adelaide and so he was able to take us round all the hotspots in town.

11-15 November

I decided to spend a week or two in Adelaide. Of the people I'd spoken to about Adelaide, whilst on my travels, half were really positive about the city, whilst the other half were none too impressed - saying that there was nothing to do, nothing to see etc. Well, I set out to "discover" Adelaide and decide for myself, and have concluded that it's an absolutely fab city - with plenty to see and do if you look a bit further than the end of your nose! (Right, I'll get off my high horse now!) So, what have I found to do in the grand city of Adelaide?

Well, for my first few days in Adelaide I was sharing a dorm room with some of my tour buddies so we spent a lot of time just chilling out in the town. One day it was a little hot (around 38 degrees), so some of us ventured to Glenelg Beach for the afternoon. We took a tram there and back which was excellent fun - apart from when one of the guys I was with was asked to put his T-shirt back on as there were "ladies" on the tram (I don't even think the tram driver was referring to me!)

One afternoon I went for a wander around Adelaide Central Market with Julia, another tour buddy. We were completely overwhelmed by the number and variety of food stalls and tacky souvenir shops, which engrossed us for several hours. There were free tasters outside "The Smelly Cheese Stall", so I made Julia walk up and down the same aisle with me half a dozen times to make the most of it! I felt like a student all over again. Brilliant!

The next day I bumped into Asa (a Swede who I befriended in Alice Springs last week). Hurrah! After I'd transferred myself and my belongings over to the much much nicer YHA hostel (as my current hostel was yuk), I met up with Asa and we went off to the South Australia Museum - which is also known as SAM! There was loads of interesting stuff on aboriginal history, art and culture, as well as on Australia's indigenous animal populations.

We spent the next day exploring the Botanic Gardens - simply stunning. We wandered back through town, along Rundle Mall - the main shopping street in Adelaide. I can't get over the fact that it's Christmas soon. It's so bizarre seeing all the Christmas decorations and displays - a lot of which show snowy scenes - when it's so hot and sunny. I don't think I've ever been away from home for Christmas before, so it feels very strange indeed.

16 November

Woke up at 7:50 to the realisation that I was supposed to have been downstairs five minutes earlier, ready and waiting to go on a Barossa Valley (wine-tasting) trip for the day. Aaaargh! Was manically leaping round my dorm, throwing on clothes and chucking things into my daypack, when Asa appeared at my door - she'd been sent to check up on me! Downstairs in the lobby, some ten minutes later, our Groovy Grape tour guides for the day (Dave and Tom) asked me if I'd just woken up and I was like, "Oh no, it takes me ages to perfect this look! to which Dave replied, "So how come you still have creases from the sheets on your face?"!!

So, eventually, we were on our way. Apparently Barossa Valley is Australia's best-known wine-producing district. Well, I didn't know that! Our first stop: the world's largest rocking horse. This 60 foot high beast fronts a nature park and wooden toy factory, even though it's made entirely of galvanised steel. Hmmmm, go figure! We spent the day visiting various wineries - including the Orlando Winery - home to Jacob's Creek wine. By the time we'd got to our fourth winery we were so full up of wine that some of us could only manage a glass or two of ... water! What lightweights.