Touchdown in Adelaide, SA

Don’t get me wrong, we knew we were arriving in Australia in the depths of winter, but we weren’t expecting it to be this cold! On arriving from Sydney it actually felt pleasantly warm, and we were incredibly grateful to be dry for the first time in days! The next morning the sun was shining and we were walking along Adelaide’s Brighton beach (they love naming suburbs after UK towns here - there’s a Hove, Clapham, Mitcham, Fulham, etc.) and wondering why all the locals were in wooly hats and down jackets, and then the wind hit. Whilst the city itself is a little sheltered, when a southerly wind hits the coast in this part of the world it is coming direcly from Antarctica and you can tell! We have now learnt our lesson and check the ‘feels like’ temperature before we head out. Packing five jumpers, two jackets, a bobble hat, and a snood felt extravagant when we were leaving the UK summer, but they have all been thoroughly used during the first month of our trip so I’m very glad to have them. My skiing thermal base layer hasn’t been needed just yet though, but better to be safe than sorry!

Admin Time

Most of our time in Adelaide has been taken up by admin for the rest of the trip. Within the first few days we sorted bank accounts, registered for tax numbers, James registered took and passed his South Australian driving theory test (you have to do it before you can get your learners licence here). Most importantly we sourced a couple of tennis racquets and some balls and scouted out the nearest free-to-play courts.

Between our highly important tennis sessions, a few pub quizzes, and sunset beach walks, we managed to spend a lot of money over the next couple of weeks. We sourced ‘Nigel’, our new road trip vehicle and home on wheels, and spent some money getting him rego’d (taxed and insured), checked over, and prepared for the thousands of km’s we plan to cover in the coming months. We bought all the essential camping kit to get us started on our road trip, and practiced our woodworking skills building a basic bed/storage platform for the back of the car.

Seeing the Sights

We ended up spending just over 3 weeks staying with my brother Jim and his partner Rikki in Adelaide, and as it was James’s first time there we had to tick off a number of the touristy things. We spent some time in the city centre, visiting the central markets on a couple of Friday evenings for dinner in the Asian food court and to stock up on fruit, veg, bread and wine at the market stalls. It was also ‘Illuminate Adelaide’ festival during our stay, which involved a number of buildings being lit up and installations of light-based artwork around the city centre. We spent a cold evening wandering around some of the free artwork and playing with the interactive light up exhibits.

On a couple of the days with nicer weather we headed on some bushwalks. Firstly out at Onkaparinga with Jim and Rikki one Sunday afternoon where we ticked off the first two on the list of quintessentially Aussie wildlife sightings - a Koala, and some Kangaroos. Later on in our stay we did the popular Mount Lofty climb, it’s only 7km return but a fairly tough hike with around 700m of elevation gain up past waterfalls and over streams up to the top of Lofty where there’s a viewpoint looking out over the city to the sea (and a well placed cafe!).

Further afield, we accompanied Jim on a surfing trip down to Middleton, where we pulled in at a whale watching platform and happened to arrive just in time to see a Mother and baby Southern Right whale about 50m out from the beach! We watched them swimming about on the surface and blowing water into the air for about 15 minutes until they started moving back out into the deeper water. We also headed out into the Adelaide hills one afternoon and visited the ‘German’ village of Hahndorf, which was originally founded by German settlers and still trades on that heritage with lots of Schnitzel, Strudel, and Pretzels on offer alongside local craft shops and lots of wineries.

Onwards and Upwards (literally)

Before we outstay our welcome at Jim and Rikki’s house, it’s time to head north in search of some sunshine, and some of the unique sights of central Australia. Nigel is ready to go, loaded up with everything we own, with a reasonably comfy (full-sized double!) bed in the back and some fresh tyres on. And James has been practising driving with his ‘L’ plates on so we can share the drive. The route is pretty simple; we’re going to head North out of Adelaide and hit the Stuart highway which leads us right to Darwin in just 3500km! We’ve got a few stops planned on the way, so it’ll probably take around a month to get all the way to the top. Let’s go!