Friday 13th January - Adelaide

Yesterday we drove down to Bray in the Brisbane to stay at the essence apartments (again) before our early morning flight to Adelaide. Gaz and i thought we would treat our parents to a hogs breath cafe...we took Gaz's parents to the one in Hervey Bay and they loved it...they cook the steaks for 18hours but are succulent and very yummy. Mum had a steak and loved it but dad had a chicken ceaser wrap. We got back to the hotel and had an early night.

At 4am our alarms were ringing to get us up. We were very punctual and left just before 4.30am and headed to Brisbane airport. Gaz and i had early morning pancakes at one of the cafes...in hindsight probably didnt need those pancakes dripping in maple syrup. The plane left at 6.15am and we were in Adelaide by 9.20am (Bare in mind Adelaide is also 30minutes ahead of queensland time). We went to pick up our car at the hertz garage. There was a problem. I had booked a toyota corolla sedan...the woman behind the desk informed us that our car had been given to someone else! Its poppycock because i booked that specific car and they have  your flight number so they knew our flight was on its way yet they still gave it away! the woman said she would give us a toyota corolla hatchback...the boot of which can just about hole on e large suitcase. I explained that was not the car i had booked and we would require lots of space for luggage as we will be spending a lot of time in the car. She umm'd and arrr'ed for a few minutes and asked if we had used hertz before. I explained we used them on 2 occasions when we had the car take us up to hervey bay and also when we had a car for a few days to drive us around hervey bay. For some reason this changed her mind and she offered us an upgrade to a bigger, better car...free of charge! perfect...but that should have been offered to us straight away as it wasnt our problem she had given our car away in the first place!

Gaz drove us to our hotel in Adelaide city centre. Its in a great location, right on the main street where 'its all happening'. The rooms are spacious and modern and we have a king sized bed...im even more impressed with the free toothpaste and toothbrush in the bathroom! (yes i am easily pleased). We wondered around the city centre for much of the morning/afternoon. It really is a lovely city...there are so many shops! And a very cosmopolitan feel to it, a bit like some areas of london...with lots of cafes and restaurants with seating outside along the street. Some of the buildings are old and quaint mixed among the more modern, artistic of buildings. The city is surrounded by parkland and the botanical gardens were beautiful. When the sun shines here its very hot...but the wind is cold. I joined mum in the outdoors jacuzzi of the hotel...it was great to relax after an early start.

This evening we have been to the Schutzenfest beer festival in one of the parks. The hotel was not too far away..there was a free shuttle bus but we thought we would walk it to see a bit more of Adelaide. It wa busy inside the grounds and mum and dad enjoyed a beer or two...Gaz and i enjoyed a sausage or two...it was great until the sun disappeared and then it began to get chilly so we caught the free shuttle bus and walked back to the british pub we had seen earlier in the day. You would think, being british, we would be entitiled in to the british pub...but no....we had 'sneakers' on (trainers) and were not allowed in because of our footwear...we were even more british than the bouncer yet not allowed in...how ironic. Instead we headed back towards the hotel and had a drink outside one of the pubs nearby that welcomed our sneakers. Tomorrow we will be heading south of Adelaide to kangaroo island. VERY excited!