Day 49 - Wednesday 15 February - Adelaide surrounds

DAY 49

WEDNESDAY

15 February 2017 –

Adelaide

For a change I was up and awake first, but instead of staying up like Paul, I went back to bed to read. I think Paul was excited to get the day underway and ride the bike on those roads in the hills.  We shared breakfast, before he readied himself for his ride, grabbing his bike gear, camera and GPS. We took the bike off the rack and before long he was off.

I was happy to potter about, trying to get the internet to work (grr) and having a shower. I gave the van a quick clean up, before taking photos of the sulphur crested cockatoos, gleefully peeling bark from the gum trees next to our van and dropping the pieces to the ground below.

I then wandered up to the kiosk to find out where the nearest, big shopping centre was and then returned to the car to head on out to Westfield’s Tea Tree Plaza for a bit of a wander.

The plaza is much like all the Westfields, it is big with plenty of shopping options. I wasn’t really there to purchase anything, just to keep myself amused while Paul was out carving up new roads.

At 12 he rang me to say he had made it home, so I finished up what I was doing, returned to the car and made my way back, meeting him at 1. He was all smiles and full of stories of the roads he had found and enjoyed, many of them were ones we followed yesterday, while some were wrong turns that turned out all right. He had ridden all the way back to Prancing Pony brewery for a stout, then stopped in Hanhndorf for a pastie before winding his way back through the hills, admiring the sites.

Once we had both had time to settle, we opted to head out to the coast and check out the beachfront, starting at Henley Beach. This has been recently upgraded and looked like a cool place to hang out. We walked the boardwalk in the sun, then it was back to the car and heading north.

Unfortunately the road doesn’t hug the coast staying about 500m in wit housing blocking any view you might enjoy that is until you reach Semaphore. We found a park on the beachfront and then got out and walked around checking out the various pieces of art and architecture before walking along the jetty where Paul could talk to the fishermen trying to catch crabs and fish, while I took pictures of the beach, buildings, ships and views of Port Adelaide.

We returned to the car and continued to head north as far as we could before letting the GPS lead us home, even if it was down major roads in peak hour.  By 5pm we were sitting back enjoying a cold one, while defrosting the fridge which was frostier than the inside of a snowman and organising dinner.
With all the tasks out of the way, we made it out on our nightly walk, this time combining the two walks of yesterday. I am glad we did as it was my first chance to spot a koala in the trees, happily grabbing for branches and posing for my pictures.
While wandering I made a phone call to Cheryl to organise a catch up over the weekend, while Paul got the low down from Jaden and Ballsy. An hour later we were back at the van. It didn't take Paul long to crawl into bed, while I finished off the photos I had taken and did some research into tomorrow's adventure. Soon after it was lights out.