Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Adelaide...

My time here in Adelaide isn't quite what I had planned, but it has allowed me to break the cycle of planning! Originally I wanted to come here and catch up with friends and work for 4-6 months and save save save. However, as it turned out Adelaide didn't really have any work opportunities for young travelers wanting temporary work. I stayed for 2 months before I decided to move on to a place that apparently has nothing but temporary work opportunities for travelers! This place is Brisbane. But before I talk about that, here is what I did in Adelaide...

I spent time catching up with friends mostly. I was able to stay with my friends Tristan, Lex, and Luke, thanks guys! I setup a corner in their sun room with a bed and some sheets as walls, this was home sweet home for a while. I spent a lot of time with my friends Alex and Keren and their kids Chelsea (11) and Jacob (6). Jacob is a goof ball full of entertainment. I think he will for sure be a comedian of some sort, he is so creative and loves to make you laugh. Chelsea is a beautiful and brilliant young girl that is definitely on her way! She lent me all her Harry Potter books while I was there, this kept me busy. I only got through the first five, but am determined to find the other 2 in Brisbane, thanks Chelsea. It was really good catching up with Alex and Keren as well. Alex I had me at school at Flinders, and I of course met Keren then through him. Alex is diligently working on his PhD in meteorology and doing quite well as people he has never met keep contacting him and wanting to work with him or give him money. Keren and I got to catch up on girl time and hang out a lot. I stayed with them my first weeks in Adelaide. Thanks guys for your unconditional hospitality as I was there :) Unfortunately for them, I was sick upon arrival and Keren nursed me back to health with a regiment of lemon and honey tea, yummm...

I also went up to my old school while I was there. This was a great thing to do as it totally reinspired me towards Oceanography. I met up with my old prefessors who were quite happy to see me and encouraging towards getting back into Oceanography when I wanted to. They all understood of course why I was traveling and thought that was great too! While I was there I was invited to attend some seminars on Oceanography and Meteorology. The learning and research environment there is one of the best and i was totally inspired :)













While I was in town, I also got to catch up with Azz, Josh, Brendon, and Damo, the boys of the band Lady Strange Love, which they formed when I lived with them in the dorms at Flinders in 2005. They have come a long way and are now opening for The Black Keys in Melbourne and Adelaide. It was good seeing and hearing them!


Another thing I did while there was go south for a long weekend with Aria to visit Hailey in Mount Gambier. The 3 of us had a blast and basically spent the time hanging out and catching up.
















In the last days of my time there, I finally did something I had wanted to do the first time I was there and never made time for, touring the wine country of Barossa Valley! I did this with Anushka and it gave us good time to catch up and re-bond! The day was a blast! My favorite wine of the day is pictured here.
I was sad to cut my time here in Adelaide short, but glad to be going on the road again. Thank you everyone, hopefully our paths will cross again!