Adelaide 2011 Day one Mawson Lake

Today is finally the day. The day to Adelaide. I have been waiting for it since 2009 when I first went to Adelaide. I have received the notice of the need to go to Adelaide in the beginning of March 2011. It is a very shot notice but it took me two days to arrange for both accommodation and airline ticket. And with these two done, we are all ready except for the telecommunication and nland transport which have to be arranged in Adelaide.

It is an exciting day waiting for the night flight because I was no longer working. Yup. Rest a lot to get ready for the movies on board the plane. As the saying says, I gonna spend all every last penny of the amount I spend for the air ticket.

Took one whole day to check and re-check the luggage to ensure that nothing is left behind, I take off to board the bus at Woodlands to take the direct bus to the Airport. It is a darn slow and long ride. More than 1 hour to be precise. All because the new route of the bus have changed and it stop at more places. Previously it took me less than 45 minutes to get to airport. And now, it took more than that. I SHOULD HAVE TAKE THE TRAIN~! IT IS MORE CONVENIENT WITH TWO TRANSFER. And it may take the same time. And it is more air conditioned the bus I took is hot and stuffy like the aircon is not switched on.

Airport.

After I reached the airport at 1830, I went straight to the Airport to eat dinner with darling’s parent. Wow. It is as if the whole family come down and I have none.  And since I am not going to have any porky pig there, I get the Bak Gu Teh with the rice. In Adelaide, I am not planning to eat any more porky and rice since I am going to go for the lamb and oysters.

It is only the vacation for me and my darling who will be attending the important event there and also to show her how attractive Adelaide can be. We first want to go into the departure lounge for a look inside the Terminal 3. The main attraction over there is for the butterfly garden that s only available to departure or transit passenger. We went to the butterfly garden and before we went in, as usual we both try to check in to the airport. As it is night time, most of the butterfly do not fly around. Instead, they are resting on the leaves and look at us as we are busy photograph them.
After that, we took the sky train back to terminal 1 where we will take off from there. It is a long walk as the departure lounge for our flight is at the far far end of terminal 1. Our flight is QF82, A Qantas flight. As everyone knows recently news report that there are a lot of problem with Qantas flight, I put in my full confident to the hands of the Qantas flight. This is because I find that Qantas flight is smooth and the flight attendants are friendly and helpful. Even if there is a problem, Qantas is able to give a correct solution with their abundant experience in flight. Looking at the screen right infront, we learnt we are 5,407KM away from Adelaide in the place where we are in now. Mr Xiao Lao Shu as usual, comes with us.

Unknown to darling, we have a mysterious person coming with us too. Hope I dun have to open my luggage in Adelaide. For the supper, We are having fried fish pasta, salad and some wine. Watched some show on the flight and they are quite new and there sure is a lot of video to watch. It is a 6 hours flight and we have some bun fruits and orange juice for breakfast. Darling fall asleep halfway probably because of work in the day time. We manage to see a bit of the sun rise but the angle is not right for the full view of the sun. And when the sun is up, we can see a lot of cloud looks like marshmallow. Looks yummy. And then after it dropped out of the cloud, we can see it, Adelaide.

The beautiful little town of Adelaide with low houses and clustered housing. We got through the checkpoint and out to the airport. Finally, we touched Adelaide. As usual, Adelaide never seems to have changed since the last time I see it. We went straight to the bus stop to wait for the bus that will bring us to the city. It is J1 and J1A in case you wanna know what bus number it is. “Metro info station” is a must stop to establish land transport. We took the bus with the bus ticket we bought on bus. It is A$9.60. We have a long wait for the bus but eventually it arrives and it is a really cheap alternative than taking a cab. Darling is busy looking around during the journey and as mentioned, Adelaide is a place with their air-conditional switched on and the off button fail to off it.

We went straight to Metro Info Station to purchase the bus ticket for the rest of the journey. Then went to rundle mall, to get a local sim card. We passed by Haigh Chocolate, which is very famous for their chocolate. Yum yum. I just can’t wait to get it but I can only buy it on the last day with the spare change that I have. Looks so yummy. Went all around and found a shop that sells the international Calling card. Asked for a few type of card, but they dun sell it. Finally, he has the “Green Card” The card that is quite cheap too. The guy who sells me the card said I must have done a lot or research to get the card and even ask me why I choose it. Well, Thank GOD for the internet. It took me whole day to find out a lot before going to Adelaide.
We took a few photos at the rundle mall, and even though the flowers are common to them, but to us, it looks really special. Finally, the last puzzle has been fitted. A stop to the phone shop where we get a prepaid phone card. Getting a prepaid phone card is a must so that we can pay their local phone rate instead of our home telco roaming services. With the Prepaid phone card and the international calling card, we can call back home anytime we want.

We went to take the bus and go to the accommodation. As we are suppose to check in at around 8AM, but due to the fun of walking around, we almost lost track of the time. Luckily the bus route has not changed for the past two years, we get to North Adelaide with the bus 222, 226 , 224 or 228. Same as G10 and G11 is able to bring us to go to the hotel in North Adelaide. The hotel is exactly not a hotel but an apartment. A fully studio apartment where we can cook and have a peaceful time. The place is called Picadilly Apartment at Gover. I chooses this is because it is near to the city, close to eateries, self-serviced and the best part is it is cheap. In fact, I believe it is the cheapest apartment we can find in Adelaide that comes with it’s own bathroom and cooking facility. I need the cooking facility so that I can coos some of the local seafood products, such as black lip mussels. I loves black lip mussels and because it is Australia, Black Lip mussels is simply very cheap at A$5.99 per kilogram.

We seem to be early because the room is not ready when we got there. However, the person in charge is of great help by allowing us to put our luggage inside first while the housekeeper cleans the room instead of letting us wait outside. As I look around, I noticed there is no heater. I talked to Jimmy, who humbly helps to look for a heater for us because the air-conditioner is not heat supported. Lucky me.

Then the first task, I went with Darling out to the bus stop and we takes the bus to faraway place to Mawson Lake. This is a very bad move, because throughout the journey, we are both sleepy and both of us fall asleep on the bus. Then we woke up and realized we have missed the transfer stop. Awww…. We walked a long way back and then wait for the next bus that will bring us to the place where she wanted to see. When the bus came, we board it and I am really very tired. We reached the place, University of South Australia. Yup. The main university in Adelaide.

We have a walk around and also see some the University surrounding. This is the University that I came for study two years back. And new buildings are seen which is different. The Mawson lake is really very beautiful. I am so happy to be there and if I get a place there, I would be happier. Mawson Lake is like a self-sustain town with it’s own supermarket and food stuff, hair dressing and dining. It even have it’s own small casino.

We stop by the Woolworth, the Australia supermart which sells practical everything. I ran immediately to one food that is not available anywhere in Singapore and one that I crave for it for a long time: TURKEY DRUMSTICK~! I found it and immediately snatch it off the shelf. And then the next will be LAMB CHOP~!! And lastly, the EGGS. Yum Yum. Then we get cooking oil so that we can have fried egg or boiled egg We have some walk around the University and as it is late evening on Saturday, a lot of people are not there except for some students who are at the computer pool. We stopped by a café and have an early dinner. And best to start with, Live Oysters yum yum. We later get some food but before that, I forgot our meal comes with a free garlic bread. Woof. So much to munch munch.

Later we went for a after-dinner walk to the train station. It is a distant aaway but believe me, once we get to the train station, it will be easier to get back to the city. The bus trip simply took a way long time. We waited at the station for 23 minutes as it is not a regular interval for the train to come. We waited till I fallen asleep. When the train arrives, darling is so exciting to see it come and we took few photos with it. We went in and I showed her how easy it is to buy a ticket even on board because there is a machine that sells the train ticket. The train brought us back to the city to Adelaide Railway station.

Every train in Adelaide stops here and transit from one line to another. While we are walking down the street, we chance upon a wedding couple. I walked up and ask to take a photo with the bride and bridegroom. The friendly couple agrees and we had a photo taken too bad we din get one with the car cos it is a very big wedding car. We walked to the Adelaide Convention Hall, because on Monday, we will be here for the ceremony. So exciting.



When taking a bus back to North Adelaide, I stop at another bus stop where we go for one ice cream. The Cold Rock Ice-Cream. Yup. Eating ice cream in the 15 degree Celsius environment is simply fun. Darling also finds me mad at first eating ice cream on a cold weather, but she loves it later. Cold Rock is also available in Singapore, but the feeling of eating in Adelaide is really different from eating it in Singapore.

When we reached the apartment, we settle down and finds the heater around. As darling went for a bath, I put a mysterious guest secretly in the cupboard. And when she opens the cupboard. She shouted:”Bokku” Yeah. Bokku is here with us too and she hug hug bokku the korea polar bear. And so, it ends our first day in Adelaide.