Saturday 9th December – Exploring Adelaide

I feel a bit guilty when we get to a new place and really just want some time to relax first but that’s what happened today. After the long days of driving we just wanted to chill out and desperately needed to get some washing done.  We met our host, Andrew, this morning, who couldn’t do enough for us but it was still a little strange tiptoeing around someone else’s apartment. He must be one of the tidiest people on the planet, so I was still concerned about rummaging around in his drawers (oooer) to try and find things and put them back in the correct place.

It said pm on the clock and was two washes later by the time we stepped out into Adelaide.  We strolled towards Victoria Park where there was a full day of events going for the inaugural Adelaide Rally.  Having found a sneaky, almost track-side way to spy on the action through the fence we were then approached by a couple who said they had finished for the day so did we want to use their tickets?! Okay, we’ll give it a try, we replied, but sadly it wasn’t to be as there was a no re-entry policy.

It's expensive to be a race fan.....

A sneaky peek at one of the F1 cars on the track

Audi R8 partaking in the rally

We decided to split up for a few hours – Simon bought a ticket to go and watch the remaining racing whilst I went to take a tour of the City on the free bus shuttle (City connector).  I was glad in a way that we’d gone our separate ways, because Si didn’t miss much!  I waited for nearly half an hour for the next bus, after which the windows had plastic coating on them meaning that the ‘view’ of the City wasn’t great.  The tour took me to North Adelaide with its very leafy suburbs full of pretty houses. The tour loop lasted about an hour. I attempted to get off at the last bus stop before the one I had jumped on at.  But that stop turned out to be closed and so I ended up being dropped back precisely where I had started, giving me a walk of a few blocks back to the botanic gardens.

Impressive rain forest house at the Botanic Gardens

I then received a random missed call from an unknown number.  Si had borrowed a security guard’s phone at the race track because his mobile phone battery had run out from taking too many pics, not long after I had left him!  He left me a message explaining that I wouldn’t be able to contact him but to keep to our arrangement to meet at junction of two streets near our Airbnb.

An example of the wide streets and architecture of Adelaide

I enjoyed my stroll in the gardens and we met up as arranged just before 7pm.

The courtyard of a funky New Orleans' themed bar..

As a rare treat, we had a beer or two in a couple of different bars before eating dinner at another pub.  Then it was soon time to head back to our room to pack all of our by-now dry washing so that we would be ready to go to the airport in the morning.