Adelaide

Adelaide is a pretty busy city. Its not terribly pretty or clean, plus there are quite a lot of rowdy swearing teenagers and "weirdos" walking the streets... rather more like a normal city in Europe than anything Ive experienced in Oz yet. Its like Brisbane, only less clean and built in a grid-like plan - which ironically also makes it the EASIEST city in Oz to navigate in the car!!

The city DOES have some stuff going for it though: old colonial buildings... loads of em! Its also called "the city of churches" and with good cause, theres a large cathedral-like building on almost every street corner! There are a hefty load of museums too... Today I went to the Migrant Museum which gives clear info about the contribution all the nationalities have made to Ozzie society, plus their individual histories particularly some info about the Irish. Something I found quite startling was how German migrants were treated badly during the outbreak of WW1, housed and beaten in detention camps despite being Ozzies themselves.

The library here has free internet access INCLUDING e-mail!! Wahay! Also last night I found a parking spot down near the park where King William St begins. Unfortunately there are no real obvious shower facilities in the city (not even in petrol stations) so I had to make do with the very public seaside showers down at Hendley Beach (wearing a swimsuit!!)

Im investigating visiting Kangaroo Island - a veritable refuge for hundreds of sea-lion and seals, plus abundant Oz wildlife unaffected by European colonial activity such as koalas and kangaroos. Itll cost about 230 dollars to get there and back with my car, including the entrance fee to several national parks. Its also in great demand which means I have to book ahead. Im thinking about it... maybe Ill drive down to Cape Jervis and wait around there, or wait in Adelaide...