The highlights of our Adelaide Adventure.
Walking on parts of both the Somerton Park and Marion trails was exactly the remedy I needed too. As was seeing and walking the new section of the Hallet Hove trail. To say nothing of the incredible luck of encountering and feeding eagle rays at Seacliff.
Susan was the source of many vital pieces of information, which quelled the cultural overwhelm early in this adventure but also the first to make me feel like I am in the company of likeminded people again. My catch phrase for this trip home seems to be ‘ maintaining connections with likeminded people’. A few overindulgent evenings of cheese and wine also didn’t do any harm as long as it doesn’t become the norm.
Residing in the city brought new levels of comfort and familiarity. How great it has been to be able to walk everywhere again from the apartment and return to a more balanced routine instead of bouncing from one event to the next and fumbling the public transport options. Not that that was an issue this time, but the sting of the last trip’s misadventures there, is a good reminder.
Several trips to the market, a few medical appointments and checkups, getting to our storage unit and attending to long neglected issues has us finally feeling like we’ve got this and many of the things we hoped to achieve will be able to be attended to. The balancing act has not been easy but being with Tait is very grounding. Despite the significant differences in where we live the disconnect and frantic level of socialising, having family commitments too and a lot else also on the agenda is certainly very similar for all of us and a daily cause of gut laughing on occasion.
The pre-booked and paid for day at WOMADelaide made my heart sing. It’s been over a decade since we did that and it was a total red letter day. It used to be a whole four day event for us but 40°C days mean one is more than enough now and I don’t have the funds or stamina for more than that now anyway.
A bunch of old mates numbering about 10 gathered in Botanic Park. Anna did the admirable and challenging job of ensuring we all kept together with 7 stages and 4 other venues to isolate between that was a bit like herding cats.
For us it was a start at noon event because we wanted to see the “welcome to country” by an indigenous performer so we were there at noon in the worst of the heat. It’s been too long since I last saw one.
How that very practice has become controversial has me deeply concerned about how the gains made in the past are now being lost.
There were many exceptional performers and moments of awe, bliss, connection and confrontation but we loved it. We felt pleased to have researched and made choices before arriving whilst also compromising and listening to the advice of dear friends, who do know better. It’s impossible to see all you want to, but we managed to hang in there until 11pm and still walk home.
Elisapie from Canada was the stand out for me. She sang covers of 80s songs in Inuk which was wild. Everyone knew the music - no one knew the words! She was skilled at engaging the audience with tales of the significance of her selections and her own observations of culture and current affairs. She also did her own originals and her music is now on my playlist for life.
We are now feeling that we are ticking boxes and attending to all the things we must and even some we were planning to avoid as well as doing some of the activities we promised ourselves we would but somehow usually get set aside.
Seeing Chihuly in the Botanic Gardens inspired me to book to see it illuminated at night as my birthday treat.
Regular swimming times luckily became possible again too by rejoining my old gym from when we lived here. Keeping up the walking and ensuring we continue to climb stairs regularly also makes us feel like some semblance of our simple, slow, sustainable and safe lifestyle are back on track again now that I’m feeling well.
Family time, our short trip to Mt Gambier and the innumerable catch ups with the friends, who we have know forever, has been prioritised and that too makes us feel the connection and realise that despite how far away we usually are, we still belong. Likeminded people moments strengthen that bond.
Biting the bullet and seeking out some professional financial advice gave me a degree of peace of mind and that brought about the realisation that while we are not well off, we have managed our situation as well as can be expected and needn’t fret about the future, quite as much as I tend to. Given the uncertainty of these political and financial times that is not to say that further diligence and management are not required. They are in fact essential.
A long overdue walk in the Morialta Conservation Park with Virginia turned out perfectly: weather wise, transport wise, food wise and timing wise.
We helped a poor woman who face planted on the footpath on her way to work at the bus stop and felt good about that. A daily act of kindness should occur. This is the new habit we can thank Soon for. Life lesson for the uninitiated- more than ever I feel like an alien in my own land.
We knew that in the middle of a drought, water in the falls at Morialta was unlikely and set our sights on spotting koalas and kookaburras and were delighted with the entire experience.
The highlight of the Fringe programme, we saw, was the “Yoah”the latest work by the Japanese circus company "Cirquework", which combines physicality with digital visual effects. It was in a massive tent in the new Gluttony zone, which was an additional venue we didn’t know anything about. Apart from the aircon being set to stun it was incredible.
The diabolos were the most impressive to me but probably because I usually don’t like them at all and these used internal lights and kaleidoscopes to create digital effects on the screen being used as a backdrop.
We chose not to include anyone in my birthday celebration and reserve the whole day for ourselves. It was fabulous.
In Dymocks Bookstore I found five of the books on my ‘want to read’ list and I was thrilled. Ian generously purchased them for me as a birthday gift but wouldn’t buy the one he wanted, frugal Scot that he is. I was opting for a day of opulence and extravagance for a change. The two other books pictured were gifted to me by a friend I cherish and this is exactly why we bought additional luggage weight for our homeward journey.
From there we wandered home and changed in time to get to our late lunch, early dinner booking at Sofia. Everyone has been raving about it and the food really was sensational. The small dishes option meant we could try several different veggie dishes and almost eat a rainbow too. Sitting at the bar wouldn’t have been my first choice but it was all that was available. As it turns out, it was excellent as we saw the huge oven being loaded and the plating up procedures as well as the dynamic bar staff in action. I found the concrete, tiles and glass interior very loud and ended up being very glad that we were at a bar with our backs to the room and a lot of the noise. If we’d had a tiny table for two in a run along the window we would never have even been able to have a conversation.
The staff were a very young and upbeat crew, who could adapt and switch roles providing any service required from taking orders to mixing drinks, plating up, taking additional walk in bookings, answering the phone or serving food and drinks, while maintaining a cheery banter and ensuring everyone got what they needed and felt valued in a packed venue. The cocktail bar person also took a lovely shot of the two of us for me.
The evening entertainment was Chihuly Nights and it was superb. We didn’t need to be there when the gates actually opened but once the sun set we really enjoyed it. Having been during the day we could navigate to the pieces we really wanted to revisit and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the ones we hadn’t already seen inside the conservatory. Many pieces really came into their own in the gorgeous setting illuminated but I also thought a few were actually better in daylight.
The perfect day dialled up by me and enjoyed to the maximum.
