well i’m on my way…

My first day in Adelaide I caught up on lost sleep.  I ran into a guy from the Ayers Rock tour and we went out with some other guys in the hostel-it was an early night, we only went through 3 jugs.  (A jug in Australia is what Americans would call a pitcher.)  I woke up the second morning and made my way to the beach.  Glenelg beach is nice and the water is oddly warm.  It was ridicously hot that day-I think around 40 C-and the water was not much of a relief.  The wind was hot too! 

My third day in I decided to mail some things home.  I developed my pics from the Great Barrier Reef-since I couldn’t mail a disposable camera-and was so disappointed.  10 of the photos were a fuzzy black, the rest had bad color and were a bit out of focus, and 4 actually turned out good.  Better four than none!  I mailed them by sea so it can take anywhere from 6 weeks to three months to get to the States.  Crazy!  I went out that night with a friend I met in Berlin when I was there a year and a half ago.  We were the only non-German 12 year olds on a school field trip staying in the hostel, so we became quick friends.  David and I went out for Vietnamese food and he drove me around his city.  We saw his high school, places of work, a beach that I forget the name of, and the skyline of Adelaide.  We drove to a high point out of the city so we could look at the lights.  It was amazing!  And eerily looked like the same light-filled city that LA is depicted as in so many movies….

The next day I went with my friend Cynthia-a girl I roomed with in Alice Springs-to the Central Markets.  The markets sell food-it was such a beautiful display of colors!  I finally found avacados that are cheaper than at home-massive guys for $1 each!  Cynthia and I enjoyed a cup of coffee-one thing that we both miss.  We wandered our way to the Art Gallery and looked at every piece of art in the place.  I always enjoy going to museums by myself, so I can go at my own pace, but it was nice for a change to go with someone-we could make comments and show each other what we were seeing.  We found the Botanical Gardens and sat for a few hours, just enjoying the scenery and talking.  After a while, we noticed we were surrounded by couples so we started walking around the gardens, since we had only stopped about 50 meters inside the gates!  Adelaide Botanical Gardens are beautiful!  I highly recommend to anyone.  Have I told you how much I enjoy the trees in Australia?  They are so amazingly huge and wrinkled-a sure sign of their age.  It makes them so beautiful.  (If I wasn’t a tree hugger before, I definately am now!)  My dinner today consisted of avacado spread over toast with a piece of cheese covering it.  It was probably one of the best dinners I’ve had in a long time.  So simple, yet so delish!

Day 5 was a bit discouraging.  My original flight had me flying out of here on the 17, which was the next day (today January 17).  So I called United and they told me that I could change my date,  but not my route…after a few hours of coming to terms with this, I called back.  My flight leaves here and arrives in Chicago May 12.  I cringe writing this, but I know that very soon after arriving in my home city, I’m leaving for Europe.  So it’s not so bad.  (There’s real Mexican food in Chicago, and so are my tennis shoes.)  I went out with my friends from the outback for a few beers.  We were all so tired, we could barely keep our eyes open!  I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been so tired…probably because I’m not doing anything but lounging around? 

I went back to the beach today to work on my tan some more.  It was a bit chilly out (no idea what the actual temp was, but I’m guessing around 75 F?) so I didn’t make it in the water.  Just laid there, feeling the breeze, listening to the water, and half paying attention to the volleyball competition that was going on.  Now I’m sitting in my hostel telling you about my last week while doing laundry.  I just went grocery shopping, and don’t you know I bought more Tim Tams-the original are just as good as the caramel!  I leave here tomorrow for Perth via the legendary Indian Pacific.  I’ll board the train at 730 Sunday night and won’t get to Perth til Tuesday morning!  

See ya! 

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 at 2:01 am and is filed under Australia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.