The City of Churches... and Chocolate...

  Adelaide, Australia
Saturday, May 10, 2008

you don't get these on the Sligo roads!

What an introduction to South Australia... Adelaide is known as the City of Churches but John met me at the station and within half an hour we were on a tour of Haigh's Chocolate factory... and what a chocolate factory! Small, but the kind of quality that reaches my exacting choc standards - naturally I was only interested in the free handouts and I was a tourist so they were generous with me! Another few inches away from fitting into those jeans...

hello joey!

food? ooh yes please...

Adelaide may not be a cosmopolitan metropolis compared to the likes of Sydney, but after 10 months in Asia it struck me as a very civilised, European-style city. Wandering round the central market the next morning, after Rod and Coralie's wonderful hospitality, I was entranced by the range of breads, cheeses, coffees, olives and other delectable goodies which I've missed over the past months. We stocked up for a mighty picnic! Even better was our afternoon visit out to the nearby hills to check out some of the indigenous wildlife - I'd seen distant roos from the balloon but it was amazing to see them up close and feed them: they ranged from the joeys peeking out of their mums'

ready to bounce...

Cuddly the koala!

pouches to lively athletes bouncing around to the lazy lumps stretched out in the trees' shade, looking as if they were waiting for their next beer to appear. I was like one of my old junior infants at Santy time when I saw the koalas... they are impossibly cute and it was hard not to koala-nap one and bring it along as a pet. I also met the odd-looking wombats and some fabulous drama-queen pelicans - mom, we tried to get a replica pic of me and the pelican in Scotland, circa 1970-ish, but it didn't quite work!

beak to beak

what a good looking couple!

me and my NBF Mr Roo

Where's my beer?

mum & joey

ps, stephen, don't suppose you'll like these animal pics, there aren't enough identical ones of hens and horses...!!!!