Mom, Dad, and I at Port Arthur
After Tasmania, we flew to Adelaide- which was really nice. It was a cute, quiet, laid back city and we did a lot of walking around. We went to an Aboriginal museum, Ayers House, and did some tourist shopping. My Mum's eye was bothering her, so we went to the ER and turns out she had pink eye! There is something weird about my family and pinkeye, because we get it all the time!
Anyway, we had some delicious meals in Adelaide- and I got to have some crocodile, kangaroo, emu, wallaby.... I think that about covers it. The first night we ate at a pub, and my parents were all weirded out because we ordered the food at the counter- which is something that isn't really done in the U.S at a place where you are going to eat dinner. But the food was amazing and it was really fun. We ended up walking back from dinner and saw a nighttime art display, of some artwork being projected onto a building. Pictures to come.
The next night, we as we were walking to dinner, we stopped along an overpass, on the sidewalk. My Mum was taking photographs, and I stood next to her, looking down at the traffic passing below us, and the tram tracks. I decided to check my phone, and reached into my purse.... grabbed my phone.. and then it accidentally slipped out of my hands... and FLEW off the overpass! I watched it land SMACK onto the cement, on the tram tracks, about 30 feet below. I couldn't believe I had just dropped my beloved blackberry off an overpass! I bounded down the stairs to down below, and went to pick up the pieces of the phone- everything was all in one piece, but the battery and back of the phone had come off. Luckily there was no tram coming, and I put my phone back together. The whole time my Dad was saying "There is no way this is going to work again"... and he was waiting for my "tantrum" to start.... well, to everyone's disbelief, my phone WORKED! I have had no problems with it... it's very confusing, considering when I dropped it 2 feet onto the bathroom floor last summer it broke... I guess I was just very lucky!
Anyway, after Adelaide, we headed to Kangaroo Island, on a dinky little 33 seater propeller plane. The flight was only about 25 minutes, and turned out not to be bad at all. I had never been on a plane that small, but it was pleasant. We rented a car on Kangaroo Island and drove to the otherside of the island, away from Kingcote and got to our hotel, which was gorgeous and was set back in the bush. There was wildlife all around! We went through the national park and saw lots of seals! We also stopped at a wildlife park where we saw all the native animals, and I fed lots of Kangroos. One slobbered all over me! But it was cute. Also had a conversation with a parrot. That night, at our hotel, we were sitting at dinner on the enclosed veranda- and the resident kangaroo hopped in and started sniffing around the table!
The next day in Kangroo Island, we headed to Kingscote and stopped along the way at a Sand Dune, which was totally awesome but felt out of place. It was a huge Sand Dune and people were sledding down. I wanted to, but I didnt have a sled and cardboard didn't work.
Me on the top of the Sand Dune
Later on, we made a surprise stop at Sandra's Bed and Breakfast. I had met Sandra on the wine tour up in the Yarra Valley, and was told of her B&B- so my parents and I headed over to her place. It was so nice to see her- I'm so glad we got to stop by. After that, we stopped at a honey/bee producer and had a little tour and taste of honey. Delicious. Only a few kms down the road, was our hotel and we checked in and quickly headed to see a Pelican feeding at the harbour. Later that night, we went on a penguin tour!
Pelican Feeding
Arrived in Adelaide yesterday but rented a car and drove out to the Barossa Valley. It is a beautiful wine region, that specializes in the production of red wine. We went to Peter Lehmann, Jacob's Creek and Penfolds. My favorite was probably Jacob's Creek, which we visited this morning at 10am. It was a nice morning boost. After staying overnight in a cute cottage accommodation, and trying wine at Jacob's Creek at 10am, we headed down to Mt. Gambier.
Jacob's Creek, Barossa Valley
From Mt. Gambier we drove back along the Great Ocean Road, stopping at all of the main attractions, which I had seen on my first trip out there. It was particularly windy and cold that day, so our stops were brief. We did a Treetop walk, which was totally awesome- the metal walkway is elevated in the treetops. So neat.
All and all, it's been a great tip. We've done so much, seen so much and had quite a few laughs, particularly about my parents new vocab word: "bogan," in which they enjoy using freely and in the wrong context.
After we arrived back to Melbourne, we had a few touristy days together. Mum and Dad went off to explore while I had class, and then when I had my Tuesday off, we went to the Melbourne Gaol (pronounced Jail), which was super cool and was the site of the execution of Austalian's version of Jesse James. After experiencing what it would be like to be arrested, we headed off to the MCG where we took an hour and a half tour of the stadium, getting to see the locker room and upscale bars that we wouldn't normally be able to see. We also got to sit on the players bench.
Us at the MCG!
It was amazing being able to see my parents!
No comments:
Post a Comment