On April 18 we flew from Tonga to Adelaide, Australia. About 7 hours. One of the things you catch on to is that, upon arrival, if it’s not too late there is usually some kind of “event” put on to distract us while our luggage is transferred to the hotel. These events usually disappoint because all anybody is thinking about is getting to the hotel and relaxing. The event upon arrival in Adelaide was a tour of the local produce market followed by a “tasting” of local produce and wine. The food and wine were great and normally this would be a fun event. However, it was with relief we finally got checked in and immediately went to the Executive lounge for drinks and snacks. This ended up being dinner and was fun with all our travel friends.
Next day (19th) we set off to tour the Adelaide Hills. A big highlight was visiting Cleland Wildlife Park where you can not only see all the strange and wonderful animals, unique to Australia, but you can also get close and feed them. We saw Kangaroos (of course), Wallabies, Dingos, Potoroos, Emus, Tasmanian Devils and Koalas. Carol was especially thrilled at getting to cuddle a Koala.
The whole thing was a great experience because you could get close and personal with some of the strangest creatues on the planet. A bit like Jurassic Park for Australia.
After the park visit we went to a village - Hahndorf, Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement. It was nice to wander through the village but it was really cold and, after Tonga, we weren’t really into getting our butts frozen. So this was a bit of a high speed wander. nevertheless, it was picturesque, especially with the fall colors.
After this we went to a local winery (Lane Winery) for lunch. This is where our group really excels - consuming great food and wine! It was a really nice lunch, and warm too. We rolled out of there about 3pm and half of us went back to the hotel while some others visited a local artist.
That evening we had a talk from Mick Davie, a Nat Geo documentary film maker. Fun and interesting talk.
Tomorrow, off to Kangaroo Island.