Stamford Grand Glenelg

We had a wonderful buffet breakfast in the hotel before taking the shuttle back to Sydney Airport. Check-in smooth and Virgin Blue flight to Adelaide without incident. The weather seemed a little cooler. We took a taxi from the airport to our exchange house in Malvern, a fairly elegant suburb south of Adelaide. Sara Henschke met us there, with milk, bread, salad, juice and quiche to get us settled. Phil and Laurena had left us sparkling shiraz in the fridge. There were ...

... from Adelaide?) hang out. Glenelg is a lovely spot by the sea and a great place to people watch. There's a Marina there too. Then, Michael found a buy a meal get one free on the back of a receipt so we hopped back on the tram to get North of the City for Mexican. We walked about 50 mins for food which was great in the end but all receipts with the word 'free' were going into the bin from here on in if Ailbhe had anything to do with it ...

... beaches on the way, avoiding the freeway/highway. We had a picnic lunch and then went on an extensive walk along the foreshore, across the jetty and onto Granite Island, along the boardwalks, checking out the miniature penguins and back again. We finished our day trip off by heading off to Wellington following the coast along the other side and then over the Murray River at Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge. Just off the ...

... we may be the only four English speakers in a restaurant of one hundred people and after a few minutes find that we know some of the same people. You. I have to write a blog soon about these encounters. Many of you will be surprised. You can never know all the people who know of or about you or when and where your name comes up in conversation. You are in more thoughts than you can know and as 2009 approaches I wish you all, a healthy as can be, 2009. What else do you really need?

... part of the week from Sunday night to Wednesday night, or maybe it's because there's not much to do in the centre of town. In my quest to visit as many sporting arenas, zoos and museums as possible I went along to see the horse racecourse at Victoria Park. Boy, that puppy hasn't seen racing for a while, nor will it again as it seems to have been mothballed for some reason. Also visited Adelaide Zoo (surprise, surprise ...

... take them up to Alice. Neither of them actually drives and Mark casually dismisses this fact saying he'll learn as he goes along - the car's ' automatic ' isn't it - How hard can it be ? That's the attitude I love. Almost a whole day is spent in the dorm room grunting and eating limp slices of delivery pizza. My former dorm mates from Perth - Neil and Andrew, have now moved in here. There's a Japanese chick in the bunk above me and she seems quite comfortable to share the ...

... me the bother by telling me she doesn't need the money after all. What you'd call a ' result '. I cut back on my spending a little and make some visits to the supermarket - which is where you'll find most backpackers in Australia. Lurking around the meat counters, waiting for the ' mark-downs ' at about 5 o'clock. I change my phone's SIM card too and take advantage of a new phone number and some free air time. Next ; A helping hand