Oz Attack

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Monday, December 16, 2013

'G'day Mate' is common parlance in this neck of the woods, or so I was led to believe and to my disappointment I have yet to hear it. We arrived in Adelaide at 9pm local time, after a long but straightforward journey from Wilderness Lodge, via Christchurch and Melbourne.
We have both felt the travelling today and have tried to have a reasonably quiet day, so not a vast amount to report.
We have pottered around Adelaide, which is an attractive and very liveable city without strong fireworks, if you get my drift. The Sebel Playford,where we are staying, is heavily Art Nouveau in style, so very much up my street. We did have a slight surprise on checking in. The young receptionist beamed and said that on our tariff, anything we chose to do and consume within the hotel was covered by Trailfinders! How ghastly that could have been for them if we had chosen to dash upstairs and drink the minibar dry! All sorted out this morning, sadly a mistake in their paper trail and only a packet of peanuts eaten. Story of my life!
There is more sign of Christmas here, but obviously nothing fresh in plant material or trees due to the heat. It does seem really strange seeing Christmas decorations in the heat; oddly out of context. We were surrounded by young things partying last night, as we had a drink in the bar and instead of velvet and sparkle, it is frilly pieces of nothing in all hues. No black, red, purple, green. We naturally fitted in like a dream. I kept expecting someone to suggest we went home to our Horlicks! Fortunately, we appeared to be invisible as of course happens when one reaches a certain age. It does have it's advantages!
It is 30 degrees today and predicted to climb to 40 by Thursday, so certainly warm, but a dry heat, so pleasant. We move on tomorrow up The Great Ocean Road and so our Australian adventure begins proper.Read more