Adelaide

Wednesday 24th January
What a long day! People don't realise how far New Zealand is from Australia. With 2 flights, a 4.5 hour wait in Brisbane (with huge queues for customs) and then getting to our hotel on the City Shuttle, it was more than 14 hours door to door. The Grand Chancellor is a perfect hotel in a central location with a pool that we used straight away to cool off in. We had supper in an Italian restaurant round the corner, sitting outside as it was still 31 degrees.

Thursday 25th January
As we've had another time change (2.5 hours back) we get up very early and have a good breakfast before heading to the i centre (tourist info). How lucky were we? We met Lisa, a volunteer guide, who was waiting to take a group round at 9.30 but nobody turned up so it was just us. We thought she was a bit slow at first but, with the heat cranking up, it was just right. Lisa introduced us to the quirky side of Adelaide (pigs etc) and took us to some important buildings - war memorial, museum, library - and took us into the original Arcades which still have the old lighting, seating and independent shops. She was great - a Red hat lady!

Later in the afternoon we took the tram down to Glenelg beach (40 mins). We managed to use the sun loungers and parasol at Mosely Beach as long as we bought drinks and food, so we shared some calamari and had a few drinks. We swam in the Gulf St Vincent sea which was warm with big waves. Before returning to Adelaide centre we had a very simple burger whilst watching the Australian Open tennis (Edmunds got beaten by Cilic in the quarter final).

Friday 26th January
Today is Australia Day, celebrating the arrival of the first settlers (convicts) on Australian soil in 1788. We go out early to escape the heat (forecast 38) and the streets are very quiet as nothing is open yet being a bank holiday. We made our way to the Botanical Gardens and wanted to visit the Australian Wine Centre but it wasn't open today and then it started to rain quite steadily.

We sheltered under the eaves of the Wine Centre and watched the many parakeets in the trees and eating the grapes on the vines. We explored the Botanical Gardens and then walked all the way home, realising we had less than an hour before going to the Adelaide Oval to watch the England/Australia ODI. Another walk, this time across the river and we were high up, out of the sun, in this huge magnificent stadium. It wasn't full but there were still plenty of people. England started so badly and lost 5 wickets for just 8 runs very early, (an absolute disaster) so it was no surprise that Australia won the match despite making heavy weather of it.

We knew that Australia Day fireworks were to be set off at 9.30 pm but still had an hour to wait. So we went down to the riverside and laid down on the grass among hundreds of other people - lots of families and small children. The fireworks started with a huge bang (Tricia jumping 2 feet off the ground) and they were incredible. We have never before been so close and directly under fireworks. We just lay on the grass looking up at this terrific spectacle raining down above us. Some looked like giant jellyfish falling on us. It was brilliant and a great end to the day.