Adelaide
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
36
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Adelaide,
Australia
Monday, September 8, 2008
Well, our flight to Adelaide was delayed and we got in around 8pm including the 1.5 hours time difference. We had booked a small Toyota Corolla hire car but on collecting it we were told there were no GPS' available so, after emitting a small groan and slipping in that it was our honeymoon, we got a FREE vehicle upgrade......to a Toyota Aurion! Basically, resembling a silver bullet-proof Posh 'n' Becks Rolls Royce!!!!!! OMG!! Inside was a plethora of buttons and gadgets and exceptionally cool stuff to play with and leather seats!!!!
So, naturally, we had nowhere to stay. No problem. We cruised around town exploring in our sexy celebrity car to find every single hotel was chocka due to conference overload!! We then headed just out of town. You will never believe this - we came across two small areas.....called........Brighton and Hove!!!!!!!!!!!!! and they were also right next door to each other!!! I was going mental in the car!!!!! Hove was a used-car-haven and nothing special. Brighton was ok. It had a huge casino hotel with pumping 80's music and neon lights, few shops, nothing to blog about. There were so many towns named after English places, it was crazy. Clapham, Mitcham, Norwood, Kensington and a place called Marion!! mad!
We eventually found a room in a really weird place. A massive block of modern swish apartments right in front of the ocean in Glenelg - a small town just outside of Adelaide. Residential apartments, but some are rented out as hotel accommodation.
Glenelg walkway
Our 'apartment' had a little kitchen, living room etc and faced the ocean but it was just Soul-less. Like sleeping in a grey ghoul-like showhome. Awful.Next day we wandered around Glenelg to explore. Glenelg is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We love it!!!!!! it has a wonderful little pedestrianised part facing the ocean where you can sit in the hot sizzling summer sun in front of the splashing fountain and idly sip coffee and watch roller bladders and joggers while nearby sun-worshippers lounged on the endless golden sandy beach. There is a long decked walkway out to sea where you can stand and mesmorise at the turquoise ocean, there is a long street full of little shops and CHEAP SHOES!!!! Everyone was friendly and happy and it was a really cool, chilled out area. Love it! Oh, but what really did it for us was the banner strung up over the street cafes advertising the "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" in Glenelg. This proved it was a cool place to live!! (David: Albeit identical to a British seaside town. Nice though). It was nothing like an English seaside Town.... (David: Every other shop sold Fish and Chips!) You can get fish and chips in Istanbul.....(David: Ok, it was identical to a Turkish seaside town then!?!)
We jumped on a tram from here that takes you right into the city of Adelaide in about 20minutes. The city was lovely. But a bit like going back in time to the Wild West!! Most of the buildings are ominous colonial stone-built offices and impressive columned town halls with roads wide enough to get four horse-pulled wagons and a gun-slinging cowboy standing in a row! There are tons of shops and really calm traffic.
Glenelg
No city stress-driving or hooting. We went to the Migration Museum which we thought would be really interesting - how Migrants came to Australia to escape war, poverty, deportation etc. A tiny museum with some sad stories. There was a class of children being taken around, having an 'official' give them a talk. We overheard what she was saying: apparently, all Europeans wear suits and ties and wouldn't dream of going to the pub without them...(!) and early immigrants came looking for a better life... (David: yeah, if 'better' means not being banged up in a cell for 23 hours a day). There was a little notice board where you could leave an answer to the question: 'What one document would you most hate to lose'. Some were interesting: 'My marriage document, because I love my wife' or 'My car keys'. Obviously, some Australians have trouble with the concept of what a document is. David wrote: 'My get out of jail free card'!!Anyway, then there was a separate section in what used to be the old lunatic asylum building and the maternity ward. It told of how many orphans were housed here onetime and detailed their meagre diet which caused hundreds of deaths. (David: On second inspection of their 'meagre' diet we concluded that they were better fed than we were!! they were allocated 300 grams of beef or 400 grams of lamb per day! As well as vegetables etc. Not quite sure what was so hard about it really.)
We drove up to Adelaide Hills to Cleland Wildlife Park. Adelaide Hills are only half hour from city centre and is a rich forested haven of trees lining small winding roads through tiny villages and dotted yellow 'beware koala' road signs.
Adelaide City
Cleland was fantastic. Its primary attraction was: holding a koala and stroking kangeroos. However: yes you can certainly hold a koala and have your photo taken....by a professional photographer which costs a small fortune! No professional photographer, no hold a koala. Stupid. We didn't go for the scam but were told we could still stroke them anyway. The wildlife park is all open and natural so the animals have their own fields, orchards, enclosures to roam around in and be free. We went straight to the koalas, to find a keeper and the koala having a big hug and she was rubbing his back gently. She whispered to us that she was just putting him to bed but another one would be out soon. The koalas were like babies!! Eventually, one came out and was gently placed upon a tree branch at chest level. (David: I'd like to point out that Koala's are massive. If placed on the ground they could probably reach up to somewhere around waist height. They also have really old looking wrinkled eyes. Essentially they are Yoda with clothes on. They certainly appear to have a working grasp of the 'force' since they seem to have everyone happy to run around pandering to their every need... and coo-ing while they do it: "Now clean up my shit"... "Yes, Master"... "coooo")
Now we could stroke him but only on his lower back. His fur was incredible. Not at all soft and downy like I imagined but really thick and coarse. While Sidney was stuffing his face full of eucalyptus leaves he didn't give a Castlemaine XXXX who or what was stroking him.
Ahhh Me Heartys! Talk Loike a Poirot...
Except when David was taking photos, Sidney slowly turned his head to face the camera and just froze and posed for the camera with this really bored expression! When David returned our camera to the case so Sidney returned to his leaves! So funny! Sidney was beautiful. (David: Clearly he recognised a fellow Jedi.)All around the park little Bandicoots run around your feet and dart out of bushes. They are slightly larger than rats and similar but they are brown and they hop like roos and are absolutely beautiful. They come right up to you for food or to be stroked. Their hair is really silky and smooth. One was so cheeky - he knew we had a bag of food pellets and he would stand up on his little hind legs and sniff and bob his head trying to see. When we fed him, he'd hold onto our fingers really gently while he licked up the pellets from our hand. We love them and want them as pets. So gorgeous.
Next: the kangaroo park where most were fast asleep in hilarious positions on the grass or play fighting with each other. They're used to people so are very very tame. But the adult kangas are H-U-G-E and really intimidating so we steered clear. I didn't stroke any of them, not even the babies but David did. When they hopped towards you they were so gentle and slow not aggressive at all. There were also emus striding about the place, creatures that I loathe, they're vicious bastards so we steered clear of those too.
Adelaide is larger than Perth but still quite small which is nice. Big cities terrify me. They're just so big and you're such a tiny fish in it! While waiting for a tram, two policemen told a man off for not crossing the road at a designated pedestrian crossing point. Apparently, this is called Jay-walking and America has this rule too. I had never heard of it and didn't believe David when he said that other countries other than America has such a mad rule. But I had to eat my hat when I saw the evidence. Suddenly, the UK isn't such a bad place....!
We've soon learnt that although Australia is lovely, they seem to treat their citizens as if they're stupid! There are rules and guidelines for everything you do in life just in case you do it the wrong way or don't do it at all or get killed doing it! We thought the UK was bad for this kind of attitude but Australia is rife for it. If you're planning on emigrating to Australia to get away from a Nanny state Britain then seriously think again - they've gone health and safety bonkers - perfecting it to an art!! More on this in other ozzy blogs!
Love, us xxxx
