Grand Final Day

Out for breakfast then on to a colleague's for lunch and to watch the grand final.  The grand final is a huge deal over here, the Adelaide Crows didn't make the final so support went to Sydney Swans as there is a huge rivalry between Victoria and South Australia and I've been informed that no South Australian would  support any Victoria team.  As I'm a guest in the lovely SA, I'll happily support who I'm told.  It was another close game, very enjoyable and Swans won by about 4 points (which is less than a goal).  

                                                                                 Saturday evening was a meet-up meal down in Brighton, we had a lovely meal, met some people I'd met before and some new people which is always good.  

                                                                                        Good food, great company.  We had such a giggle & got so engrossed in our conversations that we were still there when the restaurateur was turning off the lights (our cue to leave!)

Holidays!

We have been on holiday for the last week which feels really weird as normally we would only be a few weeks in to the term back in the UK.  I've done more exploring of Adelaide which has been great. Sunday evening was spent up at Ubrae which is in the hills, the picture above was the view of the city at night which was far better than the picture suggests!

I've travelled around many of the suburbs which have great little boutiques, cafes and bars.  The weather has been stunning for most of the week; right up to 28 degrees on Thursday and then there was a hail storm on Friday and the temperature was back down to about 16.  Apparently that is spring in Adelaide for you - very changeable.  

On Wednesday, I visited Semaphore which is meant to be a beautiful place  I got off the train to this and was beginning to wonder if I had the right place!  

A short walk down a lovely cafe-lined road led me to this beautiful beach. It was incredibly windy but people were still in the water - I did wonder if they were English!

  

  Beautiful sand at Semaphore but I was aware of the snake warning although I think it probably wasn't warm enough to see any of them I didn't stop and rest amongst the dunes to find out!

On Friday I was invited by the lovely Di (centre) to a posh lunch hosted by a local winery.  I thought it would be rude not to go so, I of course went along to sample some delicious food and taste some great wines.  

 A novel way to cool down you hot feet after wearing heels all afternoon!

It seems that everywhere in the world, there is someone who has had too much and needs a little snooze!   As you can see, it's not even dark at this point.  Possibly suggesting a rather too liquid lunch!

The people were great, the food was delicious and the wine was gorgeous.  There was fantastic company and I managed to chat to such a variety of people from all walks of life.  I was actually sitting next to a lady from Glasgow who was over visiting her son and daughter in law who worked as a rep for one of the wineries.  She had me in stitches with her dry sense of humour. 

AFL & more

Some of the parents of children in my class invited me out to dinner the other night (my 3rd meal out of the week!)  We had a really nice meal in a local pub and a good chat.  There doesn't seem to be any problem socicalising with parents here.  It did get me to wondering why it is such a big deal at home.  We had a lovely meal and general chat.  Food for thought..


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I watched my first Aussie Rules football game last night and have to say that I really loved it!  There were lots of goals being scored and I even found myself getting stressed and right into the game.  It's very serious stuff here and I'm looking forward to watching the grand final next weekend with some new friends at a local pub.

Good vs Evil party

We had a staff party last weekend where everyone had to dress up as either a good or evil character, we also had to take good or evil food dependent on which group you had been assigned to.  I was, of course evil.  All the staff who went made a huge effort to dress appropriately.  It was great fun.  As you can see from the pictures, I'm working with a fantastic group of people who love to party!!!

I've also joined a 'Meet Up' group which offers all sorts of activities.  I've been to coffee and a chat, out to dinner and drinks and met some really great people from all walks of life.  On Sunday, I met up with a walking group and walked from Brighton jetty to Glenelg jetty and back again (about 8km) and then had dinner at a pub on the seafront. 

One thing I have noticed here is that the streets aren't very well lit at night & you hardly see anyone walking which can make getting about during the evening a bit eerie & anyone who knows me will know how much I jump at anything at all!

Cleland Wildlife Park

A one legged duck - so cute!

Lunch time

Another beautiful spring day with a slight breeze - perfect day for a bit of a wander through the hills.  Cleland Wildlife Park is set in the Hills around Mount Lofty, the grounds are beautiful and there is plenty of wildlife to get to know.  A bonus was that there were hardly any people there - we almost had the place to ourselves, it was very peaceful up there.

Potoroos

Can you spot the joey?

Dingo

Turtle

A rather frisky kangaroo

Spring must be mating season as many of the animals were quite frisky - this fellow above was certainly a little frisky!  Just as we were going to meet the koalas, a couple of large ducks decided that they would chase us which was a bit hairy, we found out afterwards that they just wanted some food but I did think they were after my legs!


 

It's a hard life chewing gum leaves all day

Meet Lucy

Wind

The calm before the storm? South Ave & the sunset over the sea.

OMG! It was so windy last night that I thought the roof was going to blow off at about 2am.  It was howling like nothing I've heard before, rattling all sorts of things.  At one stage I thought I was going to be whisked off to Oz to see the wizard!  I was then woken again at around 4 because it sounded as though hail stones were pelting against the window.  It only lasted for a few minutes (or I fell back to sleep) but it was pretty fierce.  Then this morning, the sun was shining, it was fairly blowy but nothing compared to the night.  The news said that a man was critically injured by a falling tree - that justified missing my morning run!

Yurrebilla Track

The  start

 On Sunday, I was invited to go on a 12km walk with other exchange teachers both past and present.  The scenery was absolutely beautiful along with the weather.  I wore sunscreen and still managed to catch the sun.  We saw more wildlife and had the most amazing views over the city and the beaches.  Almost the whole of Adelaide was visible from the top of where we walked.

Bugs!

I actually look like I know where I'm going!

We saw a host of animals including small furry ones of a few descriptions.  I have to admit that I prefer the ones further down the page -very cute and pretty clever to stay on the tree while they're sleeping.  I also learnt something about them in class this week.  I hadn't realised that koalas are marsupials and when they give birth, their baby is the size of a jelly bean - no pain control needed there then!  We actually saw 4 of them in total, one on the way back up to the cars at the top of the hill which was sleeping in a branch level with the side of the road.   
 

The backdrop is the view which we could see over lunch

Cute!

 It was a beautiful walk but my legs are still aching from it today (Tuesday).  Not quite as bad as when we did Snowdon but not far off!  I hope I'll be walking normally tomorrow rather than like an old lady!

Are we there yet?

One Tree Hill

We made it!

Another one