A last minute trip home for family reasons was not what I expected on my trip but it turned out to be a great decision to go home.
I was picked up at Adelaide airport by my Mum, sister and my sister’s German Short Haired Pointer puppy, Oakley – oh the joy of being welcomed with puppy cuddles which was topped off by another puppy being added to the mix once we arrived home, my Mum’s English Staffy, Peppa.
The next couple of days were spent catching up with the family, celebrating the life of my Poppa and going through old photographs – geez there were a lot of funny old pics..
As my sister, Alex, and her boyf, Todd, had just purchased their first house, I was home in time to make it to their housewarming. This meant a visit to my favourite foodie markets, the Adelaide Central Markets with the old man and sister to stock up. Mmmm so so much amazing food around..
All this food helped make my sister’s masterpiece – her magical foodie platter. Now this was a clear fav as people arrived.!
It was good to finally meet a lot of Alex and Todd’s friends and we all played a few drinking games which went into the early hours of the morning. Good fun.!
The next eve me and the bro, Jaidan, headed into Adelaide city as it conveniently happened that I was home for the best time of the year, Fringe Festival!!
We watched 360 Allstars at the Royal Croquet Club which was interesting and grabbed a bite to eat before heading home, we were pretty pooped from the night before still.
The Sunday was a busy one starting with a coffee and brekky catch up down the Bay with a long time friend, Alysha, who was about to pop with her first child – very exciting!!
From there I picked up the bro to head down to Victor to take our Grandpa out for lunch and then a quick catch up with some other friends in Victor.
Back home and back down the Bay for a big family catch up – I slept well that eve.!
The next week involved a few errands, catching up with friends over coffee, spending time with my Granny, beach hangs with the pups and getting a few yoga and gym seshs in..
The Saturday we were back in town for lunch in the Garden of Unearthly Delights followed by fun times on the dodgem cars and then another Fringe show, this time Cirque Africa – now this was cool..
That evening the bro took me out to the Royal Croquet club where we met up with a whole heap of his footy (Aussie Rules of course) mates and it turned into a rather large eve. We struggled to do much the following day (except puppy cuddles) and the bro, sis and I ordered curry for a yummy dinner in.
More beach walks with the doggies and I was back in the Garden for more friend catch ups and this time a comedy – fun!
As my sister had a couple days off we chilled and went out for lunch with the old man to my fav local café – Agatha’s – the bomb!!
Some friends arrived from Interstate and we took the Staffy pup down the beach for a swim followed by heading into the Garden to meet up with some more mates and check out the Tesky Brothers – an awesome blues band. We chilled in the Garden for a few drinks before picking up some tix for the comedy show of Tom Walker – entertaining..
A lovely date morning with the Ma and sister of brekky, getting our nails done, walk on the beach with the puppy and a yummy lunch of locally caught fish and hot chips sitting on the beach for a glorious day – bliss.!
Myself, Alex and Todd took their puppy, Oakley down the beach for her second time ever – such joy in the pup and she loooved the water going straight in to follow them.!
A glorious day down in Porties meant Dad and I took the paddleboard out to the reef and went for a snorkel – the water was a lot colder as to what I am used to on island but it was such a nice day..!
On Friday I had another one of my long time friends (who lives interstate) visiting for the weekend so we all headed out in a group to the Royal Croquet Club to watch DD Dumbo. Turned out another rather large night but was great catching up with long time friends..
Saturday I went with the old man, albeit feeling very average, to watch the footy which I didn’t realise how much I missed!! Followed by a dip in the ocean with some mates to help freshen me up!
That evening myself, Alex, Jaidan and Todd had a quiet eve going out for a drive for some yummy dessert – we pigged out.!
A super early start as my bro took me fishing/squiding in his and Todd’s new tinny (boat). Coffee and brekky on the way and we launched the boat.. First spot we checked out was Horseshoe Reef (pretty close to home) but the winds weren’t ideal (annnd nothing biting) so we moved closer inland to a bay which was protected from the winds.
Here we managed to get a few nibbles of smaller fish and we reeled in a few puffer fish (pests), sweep and a leatherjacket.
I, of course, caught the biggest fish, a sweep, but we decided not to keep. Had no luck on the squid either so we did go in empty handed but I had such a joyful morning out on the water with the bro.
That afternoon myself and a couple of friends headed into the city to check out Womad festival. We started with a couple of drinks in the Garden and then met up with our other mates to check out the amazing Remi and Sampa the Great – they were incredible and such good vibes.
From there we were pretty well on our way with drinks and having a great time, we checked out a couple more artists then it was time for the incredible feather show – now this was like nothing I had experienced before. It was a French company Gratte Ciel performing Place des Anges, an aerial ballet show which involved incredible acrobatics up in the air and a whole ton of feathers dropping all around us. It was magical and we were in awe.
We continued having a few drinks and checking out a few more artists before the festival ended for the day and we went to a bar in town for the rest of the evening.
Safe to say we all felt very average the next day but I returned home to my brother wanting to check out the Adelaide Cup Races (it was a public holiday Monday). So showered, dressed and had a drink before we were dropped to the races.
We cruised around running into a few of Jaidan’s mates and having a few drinks – obviously I was a little slower on drinking as was feeling quite rough from the night before.
It was a great day though and we eventually made it home for a last dinner at Dad’s place – yummmm!
Up the next morning (my last morning) to get some washing done and gather my things. The sis and I went out for my last brekky at Agatha’s before we picked up some paint to start painting her feature wall.
We completed the first coat and chilled out before a dinner at Mum’s – it was Jaidan’s birthday and a few other family members (as well as my last night of course) so we feasted on yummy food before I said my goodbyes.
I had the best time at home and was so amazing to spend some quality time with the bro and sis and just maybe made me think of living back in Aus one day again (not for a little bit yet though – still so much more exploring to do)..!
Now it was time for the start of my journey to Rio to get back on with my travels…!
