Day 59 – Christmas day! We had a quiet morning opening a couple small gifts (the rule was under $20 and consumable). We watched some Netflix and generally had a chill day. In the afternoon we made a spur of the moment decision to made a Christmas dinner. It came together very well with stuff we had on hand. Roast chicken, baby potatoes, maple glazed carrots, apple braised cabbage, and pumpernickel bread. And there was some wine to get through.
After dinner we needed a bit of exercise, and going to the beach is the Aussie thing to do on Christmas. The evening was cool enough to be enjoyable. Many families were out having a barbie in the park.
Day 60 – Off to Victor Harbour to explore – about an hours drive from our house. The foreshore was very busy with holiday makers, and significantly cooler than Adelaide due to the ocean breeze.
There is a horse drawn carriage that runs along a causeway to Granite Island. There was a long line and it’s not cheap, so we just pet the horse and walked across the causeway.
Granite island was excellent – there was hilarious statue art all around the ~2km trail. We particularly enjoyed a series of directional signs you don’t usually see.
We had some lunch in Victor Harbour and then headed up the coast to Sellicks Beach. The beach was packed with families in their vehicles with picnics and chairs. The water was really shallow for quite a distance. We paddled around and enjoyed watching the windsurfers further out. There were such vivid colours with the hills, sky, and water. It’s hard to capture with photos or explain how striking it was!
Day 61 – Today we took the train into the city once again. No visit to the train station is complete without a stop at the EXELOO. The self-cleaning, security controlled, timed, automatic soap dispensing, automatic flushing, musical trackside toilet. Christopher Cross must we rolling in the royalties from the toilet tunes – Arthur’s Theme – you’ll have the ear bug now. If you get caught between the moon and New York City… It’s like a little concert hall. 🙂
Besides the trackside concert, our first stop was the Himeji Japanese garden. It was smaller than we expected, but was pretty and tranquil.
Bron had read about a chocolate factory that did tours with samples so we walked there next. Unfortunately it was closed for the holidays, so no chocolate. It was getting hot by this point (about 40C) so we escaped to the State library and its aircon. It is described as ‘Hogwart like’ which is totally fitting. Many people were set up working to take advantage of the free wifi and cool.
Right next door to the library (limited outdoor exposure) is the state museum. Another free air conditioned space! There were lots of well done exhibits. Bron discovered that even though she’s not working as a geologist anymore she still loves rocks. The minerals gallery was awesome.
Day 62 – For our last day we went an hour or so North to Port Adelaide. We’d read there was a dolphin sanctuary there and a train museum which Brent was excited about. Dolphins first – we asked at the visitor info center where was the best place to see them. The helpful staff said they hated that question for fear of disappointment, but directed us to Garden Island as a likely spot. It didn’t disappoint! There was a pier out along the edge of the water and we saw >10 dophins right from there. One was fishing and came pretty close to the pier. It was a magical time and an hour passed in the blink of an eye. We needed to move on as we were at risk of catching fire (from the strong sun).
Bron had planned to just drop Brent at the Railway museum and go read a book but the visitor info people recommended it even for people who aren’t obsessed with trains. Brent was in his element. Bron didn’t hate it.
After the trains we went up towards North Haven to try and see more dolphins over lunch. We didn’t see anymore dolphins but the scenery and beaches were beautiful. We drove back along the coast through Glenegh. Unfortunately is was so hot and sunny we were a bit spent (and afraid of spontaneously combusting) so enjoyed the coast line and beaches from the car. As it wasn’t far out of our way we stopped once more at Mount Lofty as the smoke had reduced and there was a much better view.
All in all Adelaide was a pleasant surprise. We’d picked it originally because it looked ‘southish’ on the map and we thought it would be a cooler place to spend Christmas. We were totally wrong about the ‘cool’, not realizing they get blasts of hot air straight from the center.
However the sights and activities in the region were really good. There are so many day trips within an hour or two and a lot of variety. The wine was VERY good. The coffee couldn’t hold a candle to Melbourne though….
Day 63 – Our earliest start in a while as we had ~7.5 hours driving to Hay (halfway to Sydney). The first hour or so over the Adelaide hills was scenic, but it quickly became pretty bland outback. Normally we would have broken up the drive with short walks and stops to check out local sights, but it was 45C so we were happy to stay in the aircon in the car. There was a bit of sadness as this felt like the beginning of the end of our Australia trip. It was the first time we were ‘headed back’, not forwards. Only 2 weeks remain!
Day 64 – (Dec 30) The original plan was to spend New Year’s Eve in Sydney and take in the super famous habour bridge fireworks. But – during the planning we discovered between hotels and tickets to stand and watch said fireworks it would have be close to $1000 for the night. It just didn’t seem worth it. We loved our time in Murranbateman outside Canberra so we decided to stop in the city and head to Sydney on Jan 1. Canberra was a bargain as most people come for parliament/administrative reasons and all of that was shut down.
It was about 5.5 hours drive from Hay to Canberra. We were watching the fire tracking app closely and everything was fine but some smoke was certainly visible from fires a few kms off the highway. It was still >40C and pretty gross outside.
The downside of Canberra is most people come for parliament/administrative reasons…. so not many restaurants were open. After trying a few places that turned out to be closed, we ended up at a Canadian themed bar, lol. The food wasn’t actually very good and they didn’t have aircon….. but it was an experience anyway. The beer was cold. It was novel to have a Molson Canadian. Not outrageously expensive, and one of only a few brands available in this location. Imported by Coca-Cola.
Brent And Bron Abroad 