Well we are up early again and all packed up and on our way to the city caravan park. Its only 20 minutes drive but plenty to see on the way and helps us get our bearings around the city. Didn't take long to setup and have a walk around the park, it has a small camp kitchen and a pool! So we have a chat with some neighbours and decide that we will treat ourselves and go back to the Garden and see one of the big shows! We chose "Le Soire" which is a cabaret show, so just had a lazy day, cooked dinner (as we are spending a bit on the show we dont want to go overboard with dinner out too) got ready and into the city.
We started by walking down Rundle Street as its a hub of excitement with buskers everywhere and a great atmosphere. Then onto the garden and collect our tickets, then some wine and and a walk around before queuing to get into the tent. Once inside we saw that it doesn't matter where you sit you should have a good view of the show as its a circular tent with a central circular stage with acrobatic ropes and swings above us. I noticed a familiar face in the front row and not until she turned around did I realise we were a few rows behind Melissa Bergland from Winners & Losers!
The show started and we were amazed by all of the performers... it was a full 2 hours of fun and laughter, from acrobatics, stripping, male and female, to hoola hoop performers. The highlight for me was a guy in only a pair of jeans(and what a body he had) in a bath full of water who proceeded to do acrobatics from the bath using some ropes and soaked the audience in the process! He was soooo sexy! The ladies were screaming! The highlight for Tommy was Ursula Martinez doing hanky panky! Click on the link to see a full strip tease! Tommy was sitting right where she comes down off the stage to shake her shammy right in his face!!! Sooo funny! By the time it finished we had sore cheeks and sore hands from laughing and clapping! Great night and would highly recommend going to see it if its in your neck of the woods! As we walked out Melissa was in front of us and Tommy says "lets ask her for a photo?' Well I turned into a blubbering teenager! Oh no I dont want to! But he insisted and next thing I know she was putting her arm around me for a photo! She is such a lovely lady and stood and chatted to us for a few minutes... well chatted to Tommy as I could barely speak! Star Struck! Her mother even took the photos! We rounded off the evening with a drink at the hotel balcony across the road and a walk along Rundle Street. Great night!
Sunday 15th we had a lovely bike ride, bike path is just around the corner from the caravan site and goes all the way into the city. We passed the zoo, the botanic gardens and then we heard some music resounding around and followed it to the Adelaide Oval! Didn't even know that the Cricket was on! There was a band playing out the front and swarms of Irish and Indian supporters making it feel like a party and we took our helmets off and parked the bikes up to have a look around. The oval is right by the river, so as you look out from the entrance you get a brilliant view of all the scenery and water fountains. Truly spectacular and a lovely feel about the banks of the river, really relaxed and everyone friendly.
We crossed the walk bridge and next we entered what we thought was just an underground path, turns out it was a walkway through the train station taking us out onto the street on the other side. Well, this is not just any old Train Station! Its spectacular, as you can see from my photos, it has been lovingly looked after and restored to its original glory and the high ceilings, mahogany doors and cabinets, sandstone pillars, marble tiles, original looking lighting and old bench seating made us feel like we had stepped back in time! Just awesome! We spent a while just walking from one side to the other viewing the walls of history, checking out the ancient clock, looking at the ceiling murals and just generally soaking it all in.
When we came out into the sunlight again we continued to push our bikes up Rundle Street and headed again for the Garden of unearthly Delights. As we walked up Rundle Street we noticed a few of the buskers and as I jumped into a few shops, Tommy sat and listened them. As I came out to find him I heard some of the music and just couldn't believe how talented these guys were! We actually bought some of their CD's, just in case they are famous one day and we can say "we heard them busking in Adelaide!". When we got to the Garden of Unearthly Delights, we heard music and wandered up to the bandstand and managed to find a few chairs and a table under a tree. The guy singing sounded awesome and when he finished his song he started telling the story of why he was playing. Guess what? He is Scottish and lives in Alice Springs! He lives with an Aboriginal girl and their family of shared kids and had been there so long (and was so good) he had been asked to close the Aboriginal set at the fringe. He played a few other songs, a couple with his partner who was also very talented, and then the next act followed. Tommy decided to go talk to him and ended up getting quite friendly. He came over and we bought some of his and his partners CD's, what a great afternoon we had!
They all arrived and parked outside the caravan park to come in for a visit and we all sat down to share our adventures. Next thing we knew it was late afternoon and we had just had cheese n biscuits for lunch and the kids were getting hungry. So they decided they might just stay at the caravan site if they could get booked in! They managed to get a site 3 or 4 vans down and got setup. Next we had to think about dinner and before we knew it we had rustled up something for 6 from our leftovers! We had a fantastic night, the adults sharing stories while the kids had a relaxing time lying on our sofas watching tv, next thing it was 10 o'clock and we were making arrangements to meet up the next night!
Next day we decided to go look for new camp chairs as our last ones had got a bit torn....Got a nice couple of OzTrail chairs (yes Charlotte mine is green!) so came home happy! More drinks n dinner with the Grahams!
We decided on the Friday we would visit the Adelaide zoo together as the kids had caught up with their schooling and needed some relaxing time. We all got on our bikes and hit the bike trail right to the gates of the zoo, very handy!
We took a picnic and ate our lunch under a huge rotunda with the sound of the lions being fed and the monkeys screaming at each other. As you can see from the photos the adults had just as good a time (if not more) as the kids!
That night we had another awesome family dinner - this time pizza with leftovers from both fridges! Yum Yum!
Another fun family night at the Movies just down the road - "HOME" kids movie...loved it! Then back for dinner at our van and tonight Paul is cooking! He has made a lovely meatballs dish and we all were full by the time we have rice and bread with it.
Next day we had a lie in as the kids are having a school day and then going to the museum and we have other things on our minds! Went to Coles and got some baking supplies as I fancied making some bread and maybe some cookies from scratch!
Well surprised myself and made 2 batches of cookies while my bread did some rising in a bowl and they all turned out OK! The first batch of cookies got a bit burned as it was my first time using the weber as an oven... second batch turned out great! Then it was time to put the bread on.... I was nervous..... took a few peeks before it was ready then voila! Two perfect loaves! It has risen brilliantly and just the right amount of browning! So pleased with myself! Tommy & I ate one of the first batch of cookies before everyone came over and they seemed ok, but when Melissa tried to bite into one half an hour later, she nearly broke her tooth! They went in the bin! Never mind there was just enough in the second batch for everyone to have a few! Must have been good as it took only a few minutes to finish them off! Had another nice night watching a movie outside with my Mac on a table with us all sitting around...Blended was a great movie!
Next night was a quiet one as "the Grahams" leave tomorrow! A wee cup of coffee and a chat and we all went to bed early. Tommy & I were up early to see them away and took a few shots of them before they left. We should catch up with them further on our travels so its not goodbye just "see you soon!"