hello, goodbye
Well, it's that time of the year, I guess. The time to say goodbye to a life of comfort and leisure (and employment!) and venture back into the land of the unknown. Yes, folks, I've left Melbourne.
I finished off my last few weeks in Melbourne with some great adventures: a trip to Gippsland, east of Melbourne, to visit the hometown of my co-worker Prue; last-minute invite to the Melbourne Cup, the premiere event of the Spring Carnival racing season (fancy dress required); giving notice and working my last shift at Slow Down!@Harley Court; a farewell shindig; and of course, no trip to Australia would be complete without the doomed romance. Yes, I managed to squeeze it all in since my last blog post!
Photos of most of these events can, of course, be found on facebook. Saying goodbye to Melbourne and the friends I've made there was very sad and difficult. I spent 9 months and 1 day there, held down 3 official jobs, and a variety of various and sundry forms of employment besides those. Living at 91 Chapel Street for 8 of those months was perfect, and I wouldn't go back and change a single thing about my time in Melbourne. Now how many people can say that?
Alas, my departure date arrived on the 8th, and so teary goodbyes were said and I jumped on the plane to Adelaide. Well, I waited in line for about an hour and 15 minutes, then got on the plane and flew for about an hour. That's discount air travel for you!
Arrived in Adelaide emotionally and physically exhausted, and couldn't bring myself to get enthusiastic about anything. But after a good night's sleep and a chat to those I missed most, I managed to get going. Yesterday I took a bus out to the Adelaide Hills, home of Cleland Conservation Park and Mount Lofty.
I didn't realize that the bus would actually take me to the summit of Mount Lofty, which I had planned to walk up myself. Oops! So I hopped off and was greeted with a stupendous view of Adelaide and the entire region. Somewhat flummoxed by my error, I wandered into the "information centre" and received no helpful information whatsoever, so instead ventured back outside and found a sign pointing me to the Cleland Wildlife Park, 2.9 kms away. Off I trotted, water bottle in hand, sunscreen applied, walking shoes and sunglasses on. Well, the problem with starting at the top of the mountain is all paths lead downhill. Pretty steeply downhill, I must say. And somewhat anticlimactic when I'd anticipated a strenuous but rewarding journey to the summit. This always happens to me. But it was a warm, sunny day, and the altitude provided a cool breeze, and not too much time later, I arrived at Cleland Wildlife Park. However, I discovered at the start of my journey that the batteries in my camera were dead (of course), so decided not to fork out $17 for patting wildlife I wouldn't even be able to get pictures of, and instead found a path which directed me to Waterfull Gully, 3.6 kms down the hill. I planned from here to catch the bus back to the city. Well this path seemed even steeper than the last, and so I was basically slipsliding my way down the whole way. The sun was on its downward path, and so beating directly on me it seemed. I was hot, tired, and running low on water. I arrived at Waterfull Gully (still no camera) and was thrilled to find toilets and a sink to fill up my water bottle. But alas, it seems you cannot catch the bus from Waterfall Gully, but have to walk back up the hill to Cleland Wildlife Park. Yes, another 3.6 kms. This always happens to me!
I did make it, however, and with time to spare before catching the last bus. I will admit the journey uphill was extremely strenuous, and I might be somewhat grateful I didn't have to do the entire journey to the summit.
After a shower, dinner and another good night's sleep, I was geared up for a day of museums and sightseeing in Adelaide. I visited the South Australian Museum, which had some great galleries on Aboriginal culture and Pacific Island culture. Next I hopped over to Tandanya, and Aboriginal arts gallery, which was small but had some beautiful and interesting work in it. After a break for lunch and a change of shoes, I ventured out on a walking tour of Adelaide's many churches. Adelaide is known (among other names) as the City of Churches, so I picked up a map which listed them all, and got to work. There are 24 in total listed in the brochure, but I only got to 13 of them. Still, I think this is impressive given that I started at around 4 pm and finished before dark!
Some were more picturesque than others, but all perfectly lovely, and a great way to see Adelaide as well. Pictures, as always, to be found on facebook.
For dinner, could not be motivated to go far, but managed to crawl to Ying Chow, an authentic Chinese restaurant beloved by locals. It was cheap, the service was good and fast, and the food was pretty good! Treated myself to a Coopers Pale Ale, a South Australian beer. It seemed fitting.
And that's really all for now. Tomorrow I head to Perth, where I will see what adventures await me in Western Australia.
I finished off my last few weeks in Melbourne with some great adventures: a trip to Gippsland, east of Melbourne, to visit the hometown of my co-worker Prue; last-minute invite to the Melbourne Cup, the premiere event of the Spring Carnival racing season (fancy dress required); giving notice and working my last shift at Slow Down!@Harley Court; a farewell shindig; and of course, no trip to Australia would be complete without the doomed romance. Yes, I managed to squeeze it all in since my last blog post!
Photos of most of these events can, of course, be found on facebook. Saying goodbye to Melbourne and the friends I've made there was very sad and difficult. I spent 9 months and 1 day there, held down 3 official jobs, and a variety of various and sundry forms of employment besides those. Living at 91 Chapel Street for 8 of those months was perfect, and I wouldn't go back and change a single thing about my time in Melbourne. Now how many people can say that?
Alas, my departure date arrived on the 8th, and so teary goodbyes were said and I jumped on the plane to Adelaide. Well, I waited in line for about an hour and 15 minutes, then got on the plane and flew for about an hour. That's discount air travel for you!
Arrived in Adelaide emotionally and physically exhausted, and couldn't bring myself to get enthusiastic about anything. But after a good night's sleep and a chat to those I missed most, I managed to get going. Yesterday I took a bus out to the Adelaide Hills, home of Cleland Conservation Park and Mount Lofty.
I didn't realize that the bus would actually take me to the summit of Mount Lofty, which I had planned to walk up myself. Oops! So I hopped off and was greeted with a stupendous view of Adelaide and the entire region. Somewhat flummoxed by my error, I wandered into the "information centre" and received no helpful information whatsoever, so instead ventured back outside and found a sign pointing me to the Cleland Wildlife Park, 2.9 kms away. Off I trotted, water bottle in hand, sunscreen applied, walking shoes and sunglasses on. Well, the problem with starting at the top of the mountain is all paths lead downhill. Pretty steeply downhill, I must say. And somewhat anticlimactic when I'd anticipated a strenuous but rewarding journey to the summit. This always happens to me. But it was a warm, sunny day, and the altitude provided a cool breeze, and not too much time later, I arrived at Cleland Wildlife Park. However, I discovered at the start of my journey that the batteries in my camera were dead (of course), so decided not to fork out $17 for patting wildlife I wouldn't even be able to get pictures of, and instead found a path which directed me to Waterfull Gully, 3.6 kms down the hill. I planned from here to catch the bus back to the city. Well this path seemed even steeper than the last, and so I was basically slipsliding my way down the whole way. The sun was on its downward path, and so beating directly on me it seemed. I was hot, tired, and running low on water. I arrived at Waterfull Gully (still no camera) and was thrilled to find toilets and a sink to fill up my water bottle. But alas, it seems you cannot catch the bus from Waterfall Gully, but have to walk back up the hill to Cleland Wildlife Park. Yes, another 3.6 kms. This always happens to me!
I did make it, however, and with time to spare before catching the last bus. I will admit the journey uphill was extremely strenuous, and I might be somewhat grateful I didn't have to do the entire journey to the summit.
After a shower, dinner and another good night's sleep, I was geared up for a day of museums and sightseeing in Adelaide. I visited the South Australian Museum, which had some great galleries on Aboriginal culture and Pacific Island culture. Next I hopped over to Tandanya, and Aboriginal arts gallery, which was small but had some beautiful and interesting work in it. After a break for lunch and a change of shoes, I ventured out on a walking tour of Adelaide's many churches. Adelaide is known (among other names) as the City of Churches, so I picked up a map which listed them all, and got to work. There are 24 in total listed in the brochure, but I only got to 13 of them. Still, I think this is impressive given that I started at around 4 pm and finished before dark!
Some were more picturesque than others, but all perfectly lovely, and a great way to see Adelaide as well. Pictures, as always, to be found on facebook.
For dinner, could not be motivated to go far, but managed to crawl to Ying Chow, an authentic Chinese restaurant beloved by locals. It was cheap, the service was good and fast, and the food was pretty good! Treated myself to a Coopers Pale Ale, a South Australian beer. It seemed fitting.
And that's really all for now. Tomorrow I head to Perth, where I will see what adventures await me in Western Australia.
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