An Adelaide Adventure

Short on time, I am going to write quickly, simply. I found Megan easily at Sydney airport and our flight to Adelaide was fine, somewhat in spite of and somewhat because of a gentleman sitting beside me, a flight attendant for another local carrier. Dear Alex kindly picked us up from the airport and took us to our hostel.

Thus the adventure commenced.

Our hostel, Annie's Place, was a disaster. Old. Dirty. Badly run. All this complimented by the full-size black and white model-style photographs of topless people - men and women - covering one entire wall of our room. Needless to say, we sprung into action to find a solution to our newly-formed housing crisis. We had to stay there that night as we had to pay for the room either way. We managed to find and book two spots on a two-day tour leaving the next day for Kangaroo Island, a large island off the coast near Adelaide that has become known for its plethora of wildlife.

The KI tour was amazing. Leaving our luggage with Alex and carrying only what our small backpacks could carry, we caught the bus at 6:30am. We saw some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen - made particularly special by the fact that few people have ever set foot on them. We saw tons of koalas, kangaroos, and wallabies. We sat on a beach and were examined by sea lions, including one particularly inquisitive cub. We saw New Zealand fur seals. We witnessed the hectic feeding of some Australian pelicans. And we went sand boarding (think snowboarding on sand but with no boots or bindings, more like a skateboard). Our all-purpose tour guide/driver/chef/expert-on-all-things-KI was great. Not only did this tour solve our accommodation problem, but it was exciting, interesting, and provided experiences I certainly have no expectation of getting any other way.

We crashed on Alex's dorm room floor last night (which left no additional floor space in his sizable-for-one-person room). Today we hit up Glenelg beach in the 43oC Adelaide heat. Now the three of us (Megan and I and Alex as our resident wine expert) are heading out to the Barossa Valley for two days to tour vineyards and sample wines. We certainly had a bit of an adventure, but we've still had fun and seen a lot. Making the best of things!