...we decided to take on accepting the invitation from Ritesh's friend, Nikhil in Adelaide.
Ritesh had a complete 8 day shutdown (from 25th Dec to 1st Jan) in his office and we were planning our vacations when his friend called. Adelaide anyway, is very close to Ritesh's heart as he has spent his initial years after coming to Australia for doing his Masters there. Made great friends out of complete strangers, who studied together, struggled together and had fun together.
Air-tickets at this time of the year are extremely costly, moreover we had a lot of time to spare and hence decided to drive all the way to Adelaide. It takes about 15 hours and 1200 km to reach there.
Ritesh, being a very methodical person (unlike me, that's why we make a good couple ;)), searched on net, discussed with his colleagues and came up with the best possible route to take.
2 days journey with a night halt in between was the plan.
We left Canberra on Christmas day at around 11 in the morning and half of our luggage was food. We were adviced to carry lots with us as we were travelling on Christmas and Boxing day when not only the food-joints but many fuel-stations too remain closed which we observed was right. It was a clear, sunny day and our spirits were high, thanks to the methi parathas, cookies, chips, fruit-juice, museli bars etc we carried with us. After a couple of hours, the sun was so bright that I was sitting in the car with my hat and summer coat on, and of-course had applied sunscreen generously.
We forced ourselves to eat a peach & a banana each (to minimise wastage) before entering a 'fruit-free' region. The idea is to save the crops from fruit-flies; nobody is allowed to bring fruits and tomatoes in that region. There are bins kept specially for this purpose. We emptied whatever little amount of fruits left with us. We disposed off the tomatoes, we carried for making veg-sandwitches and were ready to go when we noticed a board with a warning saying- Maximum penalty can be upto Aud 11,000. Oops! We threw our cucumber too (just in case..)
I saw what Australian Outback is like. We were going on a road in between plain grounds with absolutely no surprises...the kind which makes you want to believe that the earth is flat! Have a look...
There was no vehicle in view for more than 1.5 hours, no village, no town, no trace of any living-being(except ofcourse the two of us).
The wait seems longer if you are in urgent need after having consumed a couple of litres of liquids.
Wondering, what we did then...Well, some things are better kept secret!
We finally reached 'Hay', our destination for that day. Had cup-o-noodles for dinner & retired early.
We started at about 8 the next morning and kept taking short breaks after a couple of hours to relax, refill or exchange seats. We entered Adelaide at about 5 in the evening. We were welcomed at Nikhil-Mohini's place with hot poha & tea. I must admit that we were sufficiently refreshed before we planned to visit Glenelg Beach.
Us on the jetty...
Do we look tired here?
The beach
Among several locations for British settlements in 'South Australia', Adelaide was chosen by Governor Hindmarsh in 1836.
The Britishers came on Glenelg Beach, the anchor used then is also preserved here.
(Just observed while writing this post that Glenelg is a Palindrome.)
We waited till the sunset
and it was certainly worth it!
Couldn't stop from clicking this where kids were having a gala-time with small fountains of water randomly coming out of floor...
We spent a day catching up with friends and shopping with a 36 hours sale going on. It starts after the boxing day and the shops remain open continuosly for 36 hours. That was one day when I wondered whether really Australia is the least populous continent on this earth.
Next day we went to the hills surrounding Adelaide. There is a beautiful town,
Handorf which was settled by Germans in the early nineteenth century. There were lots of handicraft shops, old cafes on the main-street. We then went to strawberry farm.
I couldn't start collecting strawberries till I had completely filled myself with those fresh, delicious, red and juicy things.
After filling ourselves here, we went for wine tasting! And later in the evening, after missing a couple of EXITs, reached Mt. Lofty-the place which gives a complete view of Adelaide. There we decided to be a bit adventurous and went on a discovery trail, in between the forest.
With Nikhil & Mohini(Clicked by hubby dear, in auto mode)
Next day,with others working, Ritesh and I drove through Adelaide, saw his university, his old apartment, the shop where he worked, all the places which were part of his life then. I was excited to get a peep into his student life. On the way, Ritesh told me about various 'heritage buildings' of Adelaide and how the owners are not allowed to change the exterior of those, no matter how modern they convert the interior into, to preserve the feel of 'that age'!
And yes, ofcourse we visited this!
That day, being our last in Adelaide, we all were awake till 2 in the morning. Then, we slept not because we had finished chatting but because those poor fellows had to go to work the next day. We woke up late, readied ourselves and all of us were out at 10am- they for office & we for Canberra.
On our way back, we were pleased that it wasn't a bright scorching sunny morning ...
But, rather a rainy & foggy one!
Only to realise that driving in such a weather was more difficult due to fast winds. And when the rain subsided, we were faced with dust storms... I am sure all this was just to make our drive back exciting.
On the next day, I missed a left turn while driving on a highway with speed limit of 110 kmph. Having soon realised my mistake, I stopped outside the left boundary of the road inorder to take a u-turn. Another car had stopped behind me, as I saw in the rear-view mirror. The thought that somebody else has done a similar mistake, lifted my spirits, but only for a few seconds. I saw a police-man coming out of that car towards us and gestured us to wait. Now, I was nervous...would be an understatement. I don't have an Australian license till date. I am legally allowed to drive on my Indian license but for some specified time and within that time it is required for me to procure the Australian license. How much that specified time is, I have no idea...
Standing practically outside a road and taking a u-turn is actually no offence. But, what if that officer was for random check or for some reason asked for my license. It was too late to exchange seat with Ritesh. So, all we could do was wait patiently. He told us that it was a high accident zone and lot of vehicles meet their fatal end by getting crushed. Oops, a very sad start. I was speechless. He then explained the right way to take a u-turn on such high speed zone roads. We thanked him and he went his way... A really nice man.
Praying for no more surprises we continued our journey, again passed through Narrandera, a place near which vast spans of plain lands are streched and nothing else. There's an Australian saying- 'One who passes through Narrandera is a man'! We stopped there to have a look at the World's largest playable guitar...
(Dimensions- 5.82m X 2.019 m)
And, finally we were back in Canberra on the eve of New year. After a great vacation, we decided to spend the first day of the year just relaxing and being together at home.
