Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween from the land down under!!

Well, it's Halloween here and it is definitely nothing like home. We've seen some directions around and know that some people are going to dress up, but really nothing like home.

A lot has been going on since my lost post...

Last Saturday, Kathryn and I went on a tour to the Adelaide Hills and it was so enjoyable!! We first went to Gorge Wildlife Park where we held a Koala, saw various others animals and played with Kangaroos!! We then went to Hahndorf which is a small old "German village" up in Adelaide Hills. We had lunch there (AMAZING dessert) and walked around all the neat shops. From there we went to a local chocolate factory and cheese factory. Both were amazing. The cheese was all goat cheese, but each was done differently. Kathryn and I sampled every single one, then each got 2 and had a great time snacking on them with crackers and some local South Australian wine. We then went to Mount Lofty which looks over the whole city/area. It was gorgeous even though it was a tad overcast. Needless to say we really enjoyed that adventure and it was great to get out of the city. Especially since I basically spend my whole time here. Kathryn at least goes out to the university for her research.

This past Wednesday we went to a movie because this theater has what they call "student rush" and it's a discounted ticket along with a free beer, wine or popcorn. We saw Julie & Julia and really enjoyed it!! It was a such a warm evening and so nice out that after the movie neither of us wanted to go home. We walked around and found this neat cafe that Kathryn had been to before and loved. It was like the first super warm night so everyone was out and about. This was all on Rundle Street which is on the other side of Rundle Mall (an all pedestrian, outdoor shopping area) from Hindley Street which we live on, and it so much nicer!! Think of Hindley Street as Destin or Myrtle Beach and Rundle Street as Charleston. Needless to say we love going down there and getting away from Hindley Street for the night. My boss says she refers to Bourbon Street in New Orleans as "Hindley Street on steroids". Which is very true! It's a toned down Bourbon Street. But anyway, we had crepes for a dinner (and I also had it for lunch the next day).

Thursday was exciting for me. Work was having a fundraising cocktail party and silent auction. I spent the day in North Adelaide at the place setting it all up and then stayed to greet the attendees and then later handle all the payments for the auction. I wasn't very excited about it at first because it was mainly all older people but it actually ended up being very fun and was for a good cause! There were dozens of Gold Medal Australian wines for auction, I had never heard of any of them and I might remember a few if I saw their names again.

Friday was a nice day and we headed to the beach. I know I am not known to wear sunscreen at home very much, but I definitely lathered up. The sneaky sun still managed to get me though and I got some random burns. The sun is SO strong here. There is literally a hole in the ozone layer over Australia. It has something to do with the wind currents from Antarctica. So burnt skin happens very easily. Despite burns and lathering up, I am still getting tan.

Today we went sea kayaking with dolphins! It was absolutely beautiful. We went down to Port Adelaide and where we were is now a dolphin preservation area. It all started when a dolphin was given lots of notice because it would race in the river along side the race horses running on the land. The dolphin, which became known as Billy, always came near to play when the horses were out. What's also cool is this dolphin also started doing the trick that dolphins do at Sea World and other parks where they ride the water standing up on their back fin. This is obviously nothing they would need to do in the wild and no one taught her, she did it all on her own so it's really interesting it even happened. And now there are a couple other dolphins that have been seen doing it too after learning from her. It's a river that leads into the sea, but the dolphins love being there because it is the main breeding ground for fishes. There was also a lot of neat water birds present for all the fishes. We lucked out and saw many dolphins and there were also two shipwrecks there that are apparently worth millions to archaeologists. We then went to the Mangroves that are very tropical trees that grow at water, and considering we are not in a tropical area...it really is a freak of nature they are here. It was all so beautiful, we enjoyed it so much.

The tour group we went with also does sea kayaking out in the ocean near cliffs and in sea caves. That tour is full day and sea lions are part of the great views!! We're hoping we'll be able to do that, but we will see!

On next Thursday we will be leaving for Melbourne, and are both so excited to see another city!!

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