It’s the 4th of
July, and what a way to be celebrating it! My roommate of four years from Ohio
Wesleyan, Sarah, is here visiting me for a month! She arrived in Adelaide two weeks ago,
and since then we’ve had some fun adventures.
I picked Sarah up from the Adelaide airport the
morning of June 20. I had planned to drive my car to the airport and pick her
up alone, but car troubles quickly changed that plan and Steve, Claire, and
Chris ended up driving me there. I waited anxiously as her plane pulled in and
as she came off the plane. I looked for her through the glass windows and even
before seeing her face I could tell it was her when I spotted her. Four years
of living together in college really lets you get to know someone!
Picking Sarah up from the airport!
Since my car wasn’t working,
we went back to Chris’ place instead of heading straight to the YHA hostel in
the city. We dropped off our bags and then took the train to the city to explore
a bit. I wanted to keep her awake until a fairly normal bedtime hour, as that
would help her jetlag the next day. She did remarkably well at staying awake.
We did some shopping along Rundle Mall and of course took some touristy
pictures. It was really nice that I kind of knew the city so I could act as
“tour guide”. It was also nice to have some “girl time” with an old friend.
Sarah acting like a Rundle Mall pig.
“Kissing” the pig.
After walking around for a
few hours we headed back to the hostel and chilled there and waited for Chris
and his mom to drop off our luggage. Despite her best efforts, jetlag
eventually got the best of Sarah. While we were talking in our room she began
to get a bit lost in the conversation. She was telling me about her fish at
home and how the algae grows in the tank and the fish eats it, and then
suddenly she said, “And you need a key for it”. I cracked up as she nodded off
to sleep sitting up! She had put up a good fight during the day and she
deserved to rest.
Thursday was a rainy day (the
whole trip was quite wet). We slept in and then headed back to Rundle Mall
again for another lazy day of walking around and to purchase a few things we
had seen the day before, but unfortunately all the stores were out of the sizes
we needed! While we were a bit bummed I guess we did save money...That evening
we had a lovely dinner at a Thai restaurant in Chinatown.
So yum!
On Friday we woke up “early”
(before 9am) so we could get more done in the day and had a nice surprise of
free pancakes made by the hostel staff. Yum! After the delicious meal we struck
out for the South
Australian Museum.
By the time we made it there (after a slight wrong-turn detour) it was lunch
time, so we ate in the food court across the street, where we had to move
tables because apparently we sat in a specific store’s section and we hadn’t
bought food there. Oops. One notable thing about Australian food courts is the
lack of Mexican food. In the US Mexican food (or at least the Americanized
version) is everywhere! And so are Hispanic people. That’s not the case in Australia. The
population in the areas I’ve been to is mostly white and Asian, and not much
else. It’s quite an interesting change.
Once in the museum we headed
straight for the Aboriginal exhibit (naturally) and spent about an hour looking
around. I had been there several times with Chris before, but we made it up to
the second level, which I hadn’t been to before. We had to leave at 3:00 to
catch the train back to Chris’ place so I could pick up my fixed car, but we
did a quick run up all the floors. There are so many exhibits, including ones
about ancient Egypt,
the deep sea, mammals of the world, geology, etc.! We’ll have to hit it again
next time we’re in Adelaide
so we can fully look at everything.
Look, I’m in the Outback!
That night we went out for a
night of dancing, which neither of us had really done since graduation last
year. Our feet were ready for some good tunes! At one of the places Sarah and I
took the lead in the Macarena and soon had the rest of the dance floor
following suit. We went to several different places over the course of the
night, and I noticed something very different about the dancing here compared
to the dancing in the US.
Here the dancing is lacking the African American and Hispanic cultural
influence. In my opinion it’s much less “club-like” and more “middle school
dance”, complete with groups of people standing in circles. Plus, the music was
often several years behind the US,
so we heard songs that we hadn’t heard since freshman year of college! It was
quite an interesting experience for both of us!
Our hostel room. The messiness reminds
me a bit of our college dorm room...
Saturday was a very lazy day.
We had planned to go to the Central Market, but hadn’t realized they closed at
3pm on Saturdays. Needless to say we didn’t make it there. We walked to
Chinatown for an early dinner at Dumpling King (if you’re ever in Adelaide I highly
recommend going there and getting the pumpkin cakes and the fried silver bread
as desserts) and then settled into our room for a movie and an early bedtime.
We woke early the next
morning to go kayaking on Dolphin
Island, the same place I
kayaked with my mom, aunt, and Chris back in February. It was a tad cooler when
Sarah and I went, but we lucked out with no rain and a fairly calm day. We
hired a double kayak for a three hour self-guided session since I had been
there before and knew where to paddle (plus it was cheaper than a guided tour).
As soon as we set out we saw dolphins and got quite close. It made for some
good pictures! We explored the mangrove forest and then paddled down the bay to
the Shipwreck Graveyard, where we spotted more dolphins. It was a great day for
a paddle!
Sarah's first wild dolphin sighting ever.
This time we got to go up to the shipwreck and touch it!
After our kayak adventure.
We stayed at Chris’ place
until Monday, when we headed back with Chris to Naracoorte (a.k.a. “real
life”). On Tuesday we celebrated Sarah’s 23rd birthday by getting
pizza and watching Star Wars. She also saw her first kangaroos, which I think
is a cool present. Her excitement and rapid picture-taking reminded me of
myself when I saw my first kangaroos last year. Now they’re just part of
everyday life, like deer in the US!
Wednesday we had another
dinner outing to celebrate Chris getting a travel grant to attend the
Australasian Bat Society “Bat Blitz” in Cape York
later this year. Congrats Chris!
Sarah about to blow out her birthday
candles.
Sarah, Chris, and me at the Kincraig Pub to celebrate Chris' travel grant.
The rest of the week I mostly
spent catching up on the emails and work I had gotten behind on when in Adelaide. Chris and I
also spent the week getting sick. Neither of us had been sick for over a year
until Sarah came along. Only a few days after she arrived, Chris got sick with
a cold, and then a few days later I got it too. Thanks Sarah for bringing all
your germs from the US!
Despite our colds, we joined
the park guides for a farewell party for Chris. Chris has been volunteering and
then working here since last year, but he had to go back to Adelaide to finish his last semester of
university. He left on Monday, and I already really miss him...
Speech! Speech! Throwing a farewell
party for Chris.
Before Chris left, the three
of us went on a Bat Tour (through the Bat Observation Centre and Blanche Cave) led by Jinhwa. It was great to
show Sarah around where I live and work.
Grrrrrrrr.
An at-least-40-year-old mummified possum in Blanche Cave.
Of course I couldn’t have
Sarah here without taking her on at least one Adventure Caving tour. Gavin, a
very fun and laid-back guide, took us through Stick Tomato
Cave, one of the easy
adventure caves. This was very different from the adventure caving I did with
my mom, which entailed a lot of not-optional army crawling and squeezing
through tight holes. Stick Tomato is much more open and all the “challenges”
are optional because you can walk around them. Of course Sarah and I did them
all.
About to enter Stick Tomato Cave for our
Adventure Caving.
She’s flying!
Our caving adventure is complete.
Today Sarah and I are doing
two of the other cave tours, Alexandra
Cave and Victoria Fossil
Cave. Then tomorrow we
head off for the Great Ocean Road
and to spend the weekend in Melbourne
for another taste of city life! After that we’ll spend another partial week in
Naracoorte and then spend the weekend before Sarah leaves in Adelaide. Stay tuned for OWU Roommate
Reunion: Australia
(Part 2)!
