Friday 29th December

Merry X Mas and a happy new year everyone! We are now in Sydney after spending an incredible 2 weeks in Adelaide, Southern Australia. Below is a quick summary of our adventures for the past two weeks:

Adelaide... We are going to try to reduce our adventures in Adelaide down to a few paragraphs, as we had so much fun that we did not find the time to update our journal frequently enough to remember dates and times... My (Kerry's) cousin Lynne was wonderful enough to offer us a room for our stay in Adelaide, as she lives in Salsbury North, which is a short train ride from the City centre. We were intending to burden her with only a couple of nights of our company but she was sweet enough to house us throughout our whole two week stay. This was the first time that I had met Lynne and it was a pleasant experience, as she's a lovely lady. I was soon to discover that I have a whole heap of family on this side of the world, more so than I have in England in fact!

My new Adelaide family are; (Partners are in brackets)

(My Dad's side) Auntie Barbara & Uncle John
Their children: Lynne, Diane (& John) and David (who lives in Sydney and whom I shall include in once we meet him on the 4th Jan...)
Lynne's children: Andrea (& Heather), Nic (& Steve), Tara (& Scott)
Diane's Children: Daniel (&Monique), Jodi and Josh
Nic's Children: Jamie, Nick, Melissa
Tara's Children: Emilie and Jordan
Daniel and Monique are expecting their first baby in March so for now we shall call him "bump"

(My Mum's side) Uncle Eric & Auntie Jo
Their son Keith (& Yvonne)
Their children Sam and Brodie

Everyone has been great and their hospitality has enabled us to see things that without them we would never have seen.

Christmas Day with the family Everyone went to Nic and Steve's for Christmas Day. We had a feast of turkey, ham and seafood along with a few of Lynne's exceptional cakes. Everyone talked for hours and had a great day and night of socialising and drinking.

Adelaide Zoo- A nice zoo with crocodiles, primates (including Darren) and many larger animals, although our favourites were the smaller meerkats and otters

Kangeroo Island - 3 day adventure on Australia'a third biggest island. Heather and Andrea were incredibly kind to allow us to borrow their Toyota Rav 4 so that we could properly explore the island. We saw some incredible things including wild Seals and Fairy Penguins and also wild Possums and small kangeroo's that are endemic to the island. We saw some incredible natural sights including Admirals Arch, which is a huge hole at the end of the coast which is due to collapse, Remarkable Rocks, which were a bizarre array of rock formations set upon natural granite caused by volcanic lava and we also walked a 3.5Km bush walk along a dry river bed with the prize at the end being a stunning secluded lagoon with huge cliffs either side.

Botanic Gardens- A stunning area which captivates the beauty of Australian nature, with hundreds of varieties of trees (many with their roots exposed, which were larger enough to sit on), plants and birds. We visited the gardens with Jamie (19) and Mel (14), who were great tour guides!

The River Torrens- Beautiful river which runs through the Ciy. There are black swans patrolling the river, which look a lot less friendly than the white variety!

Speedway- A great night out with cousin Keith. He races cars and knew a lot about racing. We went to see sprint cars, which are funny looking, with huge wing-like panels, to help keep the cars grounded. We didn't realise but they moisten the top layer of dirt before the races and as we were standing so close as the races started everyone got covered head to toe in filth (hard clay actually). It was really funny as we all looked ridiculous. The races were exciting and noisy and the night flew by. Keith was kind enough to show us round the pit and we watched the cars' teams work on the mechanics and cleaning of the sprint cars before their races.

2x Wine Tasting- Our first day included a wine tasting evening at the local cricket ground. We had a lovely evening and were given a free bottle of bubbly, which made the evening even better! Our last day included a wine tasting tour to the Barossa Valley with Andrea, Heather, Diane, Daniel, Monique and Josh. We visited the famous Jacob's Creek vineyard, along with the Peter Lehmann, Richmond Grove and Grant Burge wineries. We have both discovered that we do not like Merlot and prefer sweeter wine. We bought one bottle for us and one for Lynne, which was pretty well behaved for us, as we liked many more but refrained as we only had the one night left before our flight to Sydney. The valleys are stunning and at first you cannot believe how so much of the world's wines are created within this haven, but after a while of driving through the area you realise that the grape vines appear to be endless, continually disappearing over the horizon. We have decided that we would love to work their as the scenery is so special.

Rundle Mall- A fun Mall, which is really high. There are only around 10-15 stores on each level, but there are a lot of floors. We had fun window-shopping here. Outside the Mall there were quite a few street performers, the best of whom being a street dancer/ magician. His illusions were inspiring. For one illusion he 'swallowed' a 2 foot balloon, which never reappeared! He also made a boucy ball float and made paper disappear. His dancing was a cross between a robot and Michael Jackson and he was very interesting to watch.

Melba's Chocloate Factory- Heaven!!!!!!!!! Lots and lots and lots of chocolates with free tastings. Yummy!

Central Markets- Think of your average British market and multiply it by 10. Next erase all of the clothes stalls and multiply the fruit, fish and meat stalls by 20. There you go- Central Market!!! Good for cheap fruit and produce. It is very loud though and you have to put up with the fruit seller yelling a lot. One visit is enough for a short stay in the City.

Meals out- We had some really nice meals out, varying from a full fish and chips with Eric and Jo to scones with tea with Andrea and Heather.

Adelaide seems more like England than the West Coast, probably because we were able to talk about Rayleigh with a few of the family remembering it, and also because the popluation is more dense here. The atmosphere in town was friendly and it is easy to see why people settle here as jobs seems easy to come by and the city itself is clean and pretty.

We have now been in Sydney for a day and a half and have already been to the harbour bridge and famous Opera house which looks even more spectacuolar close up than in the pictures. This morning we have been up to the huge tower at centre point which allows you to see a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city. We are now off to visit the Aquarium and tomorrow we will visit Torongo Zoo on the other side of the bay. We hope you are all well and we really appreciate the comments you all leave on the message board. Hopefully we will be able to text you all on New Years but we know what the mobile phone networks get like so we will also wish you a happy new year now and hope that you all have a good one. x