I took the shortish flight from Sydney to Adelaide to meet up with Richie and Vicky. I first met these guys when I was living in Sydney 10 years ago. They're both from the UK but have recently emigrated to Australia. Due to the vagaries of the Australian immigration rules they've found themselves in Adelaide as the points entry system here makes it easier to come to Oz if you're prepared to live in somewhere like Adelaide rather than Sydney or Melbourne.
Richie picked me up from the airport and drove me back to their place. They'd just moved house and were trying to fend off an ant infestation. It was a sunny afternoon so we had a relaxing sit down in the garden. Our peace was soon invaded when one of Rich and Vik's old neighbours who had helped them move turned up. He sat down, demanded beer, swore a lot and told stories of his time of the army then eventually left again. Richie apologised for his presence and said we would make our excuses if he turned up again.
Vicky turned up a little later once she'd finished work and we all caught up on old times. Viks cooked up a rather tasty curry - the first of many top dishes she would cook for me while I was there.
Rich and Viks both had work the next day so it was up to me to entertain myself. There had been some discussions the previous evening as to whether there was actually anything to do Adelaide. Neither of them, Richie particularly, seemed to hold Adelaide in high regard.
I hopped on a bus and took it into the town centre. I made a quick visit to the tourist centre and picked a pile of leaflets on places to go by public transport - which I didn't have much intention of reading at any point. I bought myself a sandwich and a drink, took it to the the Botanical Gardens and had a mini-picnic. After a fairly pleasant walk round the gardens I paid a visit to the State Art Gallery. There were a few pics here I quite liked. After walking round there for an hour or so I'd really had enough excitement for one day. Richie was on his way home from work so he picked me up and we went home.
While we were waiting for Viks to finish work I got roped into the task of helping fill in the inventory form for their new house. This involved going from room to room scrutinising walls, carpets, fixtures and fittings for any wear and tear. Viks got back cooked up some Mexican food and we sat down to a controversial game of Monopoly.
I was left to my own devices again the next day. The weather was pretty miserable so I hopped on a bus to a nearby shopping mall. I killed a little time there then retreated back home in the pouring rain and sat on the net until Rich and Vik got home. It was a Friday so as well as being served up more tasty food we had a few beers and more contentious games of Monopoly.
The next day hailed the start of the weekend. There had been some heated discussions as to what we were going to do over the weekend - most of which I stayed out of. In the end Richie drove me to a big hill to get a good view of Adelaide and the surrounding area. It was grey and cloudy so the views weren't that great - but at least it wasn't raining. In the evening we went round to their friends place for a bit of a party. Their friends were staying in their uncle's rather plush house on the outskirts of Adelaide. The place had a pool table and the biggest flat-screen TV I have ever seen.
The party really was a lot of fun. We all laughed a lot. Richie downloaded a song called 'Hide the Sausage' to play to everyone. I'm not sure what happened next but for some reason we started downloading Chas and Dave's back catalogue. We had all the classics blaring out - 'Snooker Loopy', 'Rabbit Rabbit'...
The unquestionable highlight of the evening was the spy toy - a little gadget for the Playstaion 2 console. You fix a camera up above the TV screen then can play lots of games and appear on the TV screen. Who would of thought making cocktails, smashing up tomatoes, doing the 100 yards dash and heading footballs in a virtual environment could be so much fun. We were all rolling round the floor in hysterics.
We crashed on the sofas in the early hours of the morning. When we woke up we were all treated to a cracking cooked breakfast then wasted away the afternoon nursing hangovers and watching movies on the massive TV.
I had a couple more days to kill in Adelaide while Rich and Viks were at work. The weather was wet and grey so I spent them pottering round the house, fixing up their laptop and net surfing.
On my last evening Richie got a bit of a sulk on. "You lucky bastard, Marcus. You're leaving Adelaide." he kept saying. It's probably fair to say I haven't painted a great picture of the place in this entry. I'm sure the Adelaide has a lot more to offer than the few places I visited. Despite that I did have a great time here. My main reason for coming here was to catch with two good friends and that I did do. I was well fed, laughed a lot and thoroughly enjoyed their company.
Richie dropped me at the airport early the following morning. I was heading to Darwin to catch up with yet more old acquaintances.
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