Martin and Val
21-05-2008, 06:03 PM
A day to day account of our recci earlier this year, just thought I would add it here. Not full of info but we enjoyed our selves.
Adelaide Recci 2008
Friday 25th Jan: After what seemed a very short flight to Singapore although 11 hours and 50 mins long it went very quick. I found how to play super Mario brothers on the in flight Nintendo and after a complete hash of that I decided that watching `The Great Escape’ yet again would pass the time, and it certainly did.
We arrived at Singapore and sat by the beautiful waterfall adjacent to the piano bar. Val after her look around the shops settled down to her book while I settled down to the Carlsberg, very nice to it was!
We arrived in Singapore at about six pm their time and had a wait of five hours before we needed to board our next flight that was due to take off at ten to midnight. We were by now eight hours ahead of England and I was beginning to feel a little tired having been by now, awake for thirty hours and only catching around an hour’s shut eye on the plane. Val, on the other hand had spent a lot of the flight mouth wide open making those noise’s I’m often accused of `zzzzsnorezzzz’.
Oh well, time moving on and we must go and have a wash and brush up prior to the next leg of our trip, a seven hour flight to Adelaide. I see more Super Mario Brothers coming on and maybe another re-run of `The Great Escape’......................
Saturday 26th: We arrive in Adelaide on Australia day 26th January at a little before 9am, on a very hot Saturday morning. Oh no we had some salted peanuts and some boiled sweets in our bag which we had to declare to customs. Yes as we had declared them we had to go into the queue for a full bag search! Well after a short interrogation by the customs officer we were allowed on our way. We set off through the doors to the arrival hall to be greeted by our cousins children waving Australian Flags and blowing party buzzy things and not to forget the green and yellow wigs adorning their heads. What an Aussie welcome they gave us along with their mother, grandparents and others.
After a few hours back at Martin’s cousins house we checked in to our hotel the Mercure Grosvenor at 125 North Terrace in the City of Adelaide. Suite 401 we dragged our cases to and then set off to collect our hire car from Thrifty in Hindley Street. Good old Virgin Holidays had given us false information, we arrived at Thrifty’s to find it closed and after ringing the phone number on the door were told that they had no car hire booked for us. Great! But in true Aussie fashion the lady on the other end of the phone wanted to help. She phoned around for us and rang us back saying we were actually supposed to collect a car from Hertz at 1pm earlier that day in another part of the city and that they too were now closed. Anyway to cut a long story short we collected our hire car a day late from Hertz and got proof of the mess up to take back to virgin for our claim of one day’s hire cost back. Well anyway during all these phone calls and walking around we decided that we really needed to go to bed as we could hardly keep our eyes open anymore. We were going to go back to Martin’s cousins that afternoon but had to ring and say sorry, we had to retire for the day.
Sunday 27th Jan: Sunday morning came sooner than we had thought it would and after breakfast and collecting the hire car from Hertz off we set to pick up the relations who had very kindly agreed to show us around the shops etc to help us sort out a few things we needed. Rainbow flavoured ice cream was as on the agenda and the little one’s face showed how much he had enjoyed it!
Moving on to Monday morning, it was Martin’s cousins birthday and although we had brought a card and a small gift with us we set off after breakfast to buy her a birthday present prior to seeing the family for dinner. Of course it was bank holiday Monday and all the shops were closed. After a short detour to Henley beach we managed to get a box of chocolates from a petrol station, not any old chocolates they had to be Cadbury’s as Cadbury’s were the best, Adam had kindly informed us this the day before. Anyway after dinner and Ice cream cake, yes Ice cream Cake! (Don’t knock it till you have tried it, it’s very nice and the candles on top did not contribute to it melting but maybe the number of candles did!) We all went for a walk along the beach. The water was warm as we strolled through along the edge. Rachel collecting shells and small Jelly fish, Adam running from one big puddle of sea water to the next, darting around the beach like a ping pong ball. As we walked we came across small fish swimming around our feet, a cuttle fish which I was surprised to find as the last one I had seen was it a bird cage and that had cost me money. We came across a Star fish which we scooped up from the beach and took him back to the Ocean and then a not so friendly crab who after being surrounded by all us huge human beings decided it would be good idea to show us his claw almost as if he was waving at us. This claw came up out of the water and had a little nip at my thong which thankfully I wasn’t wearing at the time, I had removed my thongs to walk along the beach when we had arrived rather than get sand in them. Oh just in case you’re wondering thong’s in Aus are Flip Flops! (Well you didn’t think I would be walking down the beach with Flip Flops on did you?) The evening was rounded off by a lovely meal at the Lakes Hotel overlooking west Lakes with other cousins attending.
Tuesday 29th Jan: Firstly a lovely big breakfast to set me up for the day, Val only had those not so healthy Bran Flake things! Following this a visit to the Lakes Shopping Centre so Val could buy yet more shorts and we also made an appointment with Westpac Bank for the Thursday morning. After collecting some family members we set of to Brighton to visit yet more cousins and look along the coast line at different residential areas. We finished the day off with tea back at our cousins house where we gave out late Christmas present to the children.
Then we set off back to the Hotel and how cleaver we were we got back without the aid of TomTom who for some strange reason had gone on strike!
Wednesday 30th Jan: Well a big breakfast start for us both and then over to West Lakes Shopping centre to see Kym O’Loughlin at Westpac Bank for our eleven O’clock appointment. We opened our bank accounts, a current and a savings account each. We should receive our bank cards etc within a week. We then drove to Mawson Lakes to view some new houses. The area was like a complete new Town had been created along with shops and businesses and all that would be required for a new community. It was very nice with some stunning looking houses.
We then drove a little further to Golden Grove, this area was very nice with older houses which occupied larger plots than those at Mason Lakes. Again very nice this was not for us as it was very hilly with almost all houses set on the hills with steep driveways. Really nice but as we intend this to be our last house before the use of Zimmer frames becomes our normal mode of transport the hills may become a little hard going. With this in mind and the chance of bush fires in certain areas we have decided this is not for us.
Thursday 31st Jan: Today after breakfast we had a day of wine tasting in the Barossa Valley, Can’t really add to this only to say we had a great day tried loads of wines and I’m off to bed now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday 1st Feb: After yet another large breakfast we drove down south and looked around Hallett Cove and the surrounding areas. Then a short phone call to Lisa from Adelaide Bound for her address and off we went to her house at Port Neaulunga South. We sat out on the decking just chatting and admiring the beautiful view out to the ocean.
Returning to the city TomTom wanted us to take the expressway back, but unlike any road I have come across before. The expressway is one way, with a difference. Into the city in the morning then it’s closed down cleared and then opened in the opposite direction out of the city in the afternoon. Well the evening was soon upon us and our Pom’s In Adelaide meeting at 7pm was fast approaching. Sixteen Brits all chatting about personal experiences, areas or jobs they are doing. A great night was had by all who attended as far as I know.
Adelaide Recci 2008
Friday 25th Jan: After what seemed a very short flight to Singapore although 11 hours and 50 mins long it went very quick. I found how to play super Mario brothers on the in flight Nintendo and after a complete hash of that I decided that watching `The Great Escape’ yet again would pass the time, and it certainly did.
We arrived at Singapore and sat by the beautiful waterfall adjacent to the piano bar. Val after her look around the shops settled down to her book while I settled down to the Carlsberg, very nice to it was!
We arrived in Singapore at about six pm their time and had a wait of five hours before we needed to board our next flight that was due to take off at ten to midnight. We were by now eight hours ahead of England and I was beginning to feel a little tired having been by now, awake for thirty hours and only catching around an hour’s shut eye on the plane. Val, on the other hand had spent a lot of the flight mouth wide open making those noise’s I’m often accused of `zzzzsnorezzzz’.
Oh well, time moving on and we must go and have a wash and brush up prior to the next leg of our trip, a seven hour flight to Adelaide. I see more Super Mario Brothers coming on and maybe another re-run of `The Great Escape’......................
Saturday 26th: We arrive in Adelaide on Australia day 26th January at a little before 9am, on a very hot Saturday morning. Oh no we had some salted peanuts and some boiled sweets in our bag which we had to declare to customs. Yes as we had declared them we had to go into the queue for a full bag search! Well after a short interrogation by the customs officer we were allowed on our way. We set off through the doors to the arrival hall to be greeted by our cousins children waving Australian Flags and blowing party buzzy things and not to forget the green and yellow wigs adorning their heads. What an Aussie welcome they gave us along with their mother, grandparents and others.
After a few hours back at Martin’s cousins house we checked in to our hotel the Mercure Grosvenor at 125 North Terrace in the City of Adelaide. Suite 401 we dragged our cases to and then set off to collect our hire car from Thrifty in Hindley Street. Good old Virgin Holidays had given us false information, we arrived at Thrifty’s to find it closed and after ringing the phone number on the door were told that they had no car hire booked for us. Great! But in true Aussie fashion the lady on the other end of the phone wanted to help. She phoned around for us and rang us back saying we were actually supposed to collect a car from Hertz at 1pm earlier that day in another part of the city and that they too were now closed. Anyway to cut a long story short we collected our hire car a day late from Hertz and got proof of the mess up to take back to virgin for our claim of one day’s hire cost back. Well anyway during all these phone calls and walking around we decided that we really needed to go to bed as we could hardly keep our eyes open anymore. We were going to go back to Martin’s cousins that afternoon but had to ring and say sorry, we had to retire for the day.
Sunday 27th Jan: Sunday morning came sooner than we had thought it would and after breakfast and collecting the hire car from Hertz off we set to pick up the relations who had very kindly agreed to show us around the shops etc to help us sort out a few things we needed. Rainbow flavoured ice cream was as on the agenda and the little one’s face showed how much he had enjoyed it!
Moving on to Monday morning, it was Martin’s cousins birthday and although we had brought a card and a small gift with us we set off after breakfast to buy her a birthday present prior to seeing the family for dinner. Of course it was bank holiday Monday and all the shops were closed. After a short detour to Henley beach we managed to get a box of chocolates from a petrol station, not any old chocolates they had to be Cadbury’s as Cadbury’s were the best, Adam had kindly informed us this the day before. Anyway after dinner and Ice cream cake, yes Ice cream Cake! (Don’t knock it till you have tried it, it’s very nice and the candles on top did not contribute to it melting but maybe the number of candles did!) We all went for a walk along the beach. The water was warm as we strolled through along the edge. Rachel collecting shells and small Jelly fish, Adam running from one big puddle of sea water to the next, darting around the beach like a ping pong ball. As we walked we came across small fish swimming around our feet, a cuttle fish which I was surprised to find as the last one I had seen was it a bird cage and that had cost me money. We came across a Star fish which we scooped up from the beach and took him back to the Ocean and then a not so friendly crab who after being surrounded by all us huge human beings decided it would be good idea to show us his claw almost as if he was waving at us. This claw came up out of the water and had a little nip at my thong which thankfully I wasn’t wearing at the time, I had removed my thongs to walk along the beach when we had arrived rather than get sand in them. Oh just in case you’re wondering thong’s in Aus are Flip Flops! (Well you didn’t think I would be walking down the beach with Flip Flops on did you?) The evening was rounded off by a lovely meal at the Lakes Hotel overlooking west Lakes with other cousins attending.
Tuesday 29th Jan: Firstly a lovely big breakfast to set me up for the day, Val only had those not so healthy Bran Flake things! Following this a visit to the Lakes Shopping Centre so Val could buy yet more shorts and we also made an appointment with Westpac Bank for the Thursday morning. After collecting some family members we set of to Brighton to visit yet more cousins and look along the coast line at different residential areas. We finished the day off with tea back at our cousins house where we gave out late Christmas present to the children.
Then we set off back to the Hotel and how cleaver we were we got back without the aid of TomTom who for some strange reason had gone on strike!
Wednesday 30th Jan: Well a big breakfast start for us both and then over to West Lakes Shopping centre to see Kym O’Loughlin at Westpac Bank for our eleven O’clock appointment. We opened our bank accounts, a current and a savings account each. We should receive our bank cards etc within a week. We then drove to Mawson Lakes to view some new houses. The area was like a complete new Town had been created along with shops and businesses and all that would be required for a new community. It was very nice with some stunning looking houses.
We then drove a little further to Golden Grove, this area was very nice with older houses which occupied larger plots than those at Mason Lakes. Again very nice this was not for us as it was very hilly with almost all houses set on the hills with steep driveways. Really nice but as we intend this to be our last house before the use of Zimmer frames becomes our normal mode of transport the hills may become a little hard going. With this in mind and the chance of bush fires in certain areas we have decided this is not for us.
Thursday 31st Jan: Today after breakfast we had a day of wine tasting in the Barossa Valley, Can’t really add to this only to say we had a great day tried loads of wines and I’m off to bed now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday 1st Feb: After yet another large breakfast we drove down south and looked around Hallett Cove and the surrounding areas. Then a short phone call to Lisa from Adelaide Bound for her address and off we went to her house at Port Neaulunga South. We sat out on the decking just chatting and admiring the beautiful view out to the ocean.
Returning to the city TomTom wanted us to take the expressway back, but unlike any road I have come across before. The expressway is one way, with a difference. Into the city in the morning then it’s closed down cleared and then opened in the opposite direction out of the city in the afternoon. Well the evening was soon upon us and our Pom’s In Adelaide meeting at 7pm was fast approaching. Sixteen Brits all chatting about personal experiences, areas or jobs they are doing. A great night was had by all who attended as far as I know.