Our first day in the our new house in Adelaide we enjoyed the luxury of a nice queen size bed in spacious room with all our stuff unpacked and getting up to go to bathroom instead of squatting or sheweeing behind a bush somewhere!! We had a lovely day in the house a proper jim jam day didn't get dressed at all. I had bit of a pamper shaved my hairy forest legs, enjoyed a nice long hot shower and got washed up squeeky clean while Gary was hogging netbook job hunting and applying. Enjoyed the sofas and bit of daytime telly too, lovely chill day. Next day we switched over my turn to job hunt and apply for jobs online in the morning. In the afternoon we walked to Arndale only 10 minute walk our nearest shopping centre with a Coles and everything. We had a nose around Big W kind of like an Asda without the food. Gary went out in the car with Angelo for walk along the beach at Semaphore a good 15-20 minute drive away while I stayed in and chatted to home on Skype. Made tea for Gary, Angelo, Alice and me before watching a movie in bed for an earlyish night.

Saturday we were lucky enough to join the guys for a drive to Victor Harbor as they had never been. We set off for the day took about an hour and half to get there. Gary and me went over to Granite Island first, as we walked along the causeway bridge to the island I said to Gary I want to live here, it was like paradise. We found the penguin centre and we went in to finally meet Dorothy, a lady I have been emailing about voluntary work with the penguins for quite some time. Was lovely to finally meet her and Keith her partner, very friendly people. She was very helpful in helping us find somewhere to live in Victor Harbor. We left it then that I would come in and visit her when we had moved down. Gary and me went over to the bistro for an ice cream and chilled enjoying the awesome views. Met up with Nick, Angelo and some of their friends that came with us all, although Gary and me headed off on our own again in search for somewhere to stay, we started with campsites. Unfortunately it is coming into tourist season in this area which is good for jobs and atmosphere but hard to find somewhere to live, the campsites had no cabins or caravans available as all booked up for the season :( We decided to leave it for now and went for lunch before the rainy storm caught in and ducked into subway. Late afternoon we rejoined Nick and his friends on the grass and messed around with a volleyball deciding our next move. We were hoping to go to a vineyard on our way home but on Saturdays everything closes early so we just headed home instead via a Vietnamese restaurant for tea together. Enjoyed some wine and good chats back home before bed. Nic and Angelo were lovely enough to cook us all cooked breakfast Sunday morning before they headed off to church, was very yummy English Breakfast. At midday we had all planned to go and see Madagascar 3 at the Arndale cinema which was good fun, Gary and my 2nd time seeing it and it was still great. Afterwards, we drove to North Park for a food shop and the guys decided to go to Sempahore beach for a BBQ so off we headed :) The guys did some exercise while Gary and me had little walk found a busy bar with live band and popped in for a bevvy before meeting back with the guys for the BBQ. Was so windy and quite cold but we managed, the boys did great job of the BBQ while Alice and me chopped up some veg and kept things on the table with the wind haha. That night Gary and me chilled with some wine and played cards.

Monday morning up early to start researching Victor Harbor accommodation I couldn't shift the want to move there even though we had a lovely house and awesome housemates. Victor Harbor is to far away to commute to the penguins and there was no good public transport so it was either buy a car or move down. The penguin work was really important to me, it was the reason we ended up in Adelaide so to come all the way to South Australia and not do it was not right. Unfortunately there was not as many options as I hoped, we called round all the estate agents but none of them were interested in anything less than 6 months and we only had just under 3 months in the area so that was no good at all! We did come across a hotel in the area which was the Grovensor Hotel and they were able to offer us a double room for our time, no kitchen facilities, share bathroom and we would have to move out every now and then when fully booked. Starting to worry and get quite disheartened we had to leave the research, get dressed and out of for an interview on Flinders Street, a good half hour or so away towards the city. The interview was for a sales type job to raise money for charities in shopping malls. We got the interview by talking to a young girl doing the job who took our names and said someone would call. We thought it was worth going as its something, some money on the off chance nothing else came up. Interview was fine went in together guy talked about the company asked about us and gave us a 2nd interview tomorrow morning. We caught bus to the city had a stop at muffin break as we hadn't eaten all day and chatted for a while before getting bus home. Talked to home on Skype about Victor Harbor dilemma it was stressing me out as it seemed strange to leave such a lovely place to go and stay in room with not much facilities and it felt quite selfish. Although I did feel Victor Harbor would have good job opportunities for us which tempted Gary some more. Drank a lot of wine and chatted to the guys before bed. Up early again didn't go for 2nd interview as woke up assured that I wanted us to go for Victor Harbor and gave Gary the choice if he wanted to stay at house that was fine and I would help with money best I could but he was also happy to come with me so all was good. Got researching again on the internet and managed to find a bedsit really cheap and available for 3 months so gave them a call. It was through an estate agent and we made a time to go and have a look, booked a car for the day and started packing up our stuff. We also got another interview for tomorrow which we didn't go to for Aussie Farmers to be sign people up for milkman services and fruit and veg boxes. I called our landlady Anna about our plans as we had to give her 2 weeks notice, so she was not happy at all, which is to be expected but she knew we were genuinely sorry and it couldn't be helped, we did lose our bond which was a shame. Talked to mam again about new plans and had a little chat before Gary and me went out for a walk to Regency Park just 5-10 minute walk from us to the Cafe Primo for a meal and chat. We were both excited about our new plans although sad to be leaving the house so soon and of course the guys! Had a late night up talking and drinking more wine with the guys!! Really going to miss them :(

Up early on Wednesday morning for moving day :) walked up to Arndale centre to get bus to Acacia car rental (this place was where we dropped off our Batman camper) so we knew where to go. Picked up our car, little white dude and drove to Arndale for quick breakie and lunch stop before home to pack up and go. Anna was at the house when we arrived which was great to talk things out and she was fine so we were much happier leaving on good terms. We headed off later then I would have like with talking to Anna so we were running late and hit traffic and road works on the journey so had to re-arrange the viewing from 12.30pm to 2.15pm. Only I could drive the car as it was cheaper to get a manual drive plus Gary had been up all night with Nic to watch the Man-U game in the city so was good he could snooze in the car. We arrived at Victor Harbor and headed to the Big W to have a look around while we had time to kill, we got ahead of ourselves and started buying bits and bobs we knew we would need in the bedsit such as plates, cutlery, slow cooker and we even got an Xmas tree, thought we would make most of having a car. 2pm soon came round and we drove to the place, is on Hindmarsh Road and it was an old run down motel now used as rentals. We met with the agent called Heath who showed us the bedsit. We were happy, was actually bigger than we thought by the photos and said basically straight away we will take it. Unfortunately, arsey Heath forgot to mention on the phone that we had to apply for the bedsit and be accepted before we could move in, on the phone we asked whether we would be able to move in straight away and he said yes so we were disheartened. He gave us forms to fill in and said it would take 24-48 hours and the quicker we got forms, in the better. So we quickly filled in forms, photocopied our passports and all other details they needed and handed it back to Heath. We asked when we were likely to hear as we were all ready to move in and only had the car for the day and he said probably tomorrow afternoon. I then asked could we move in as soon as we get accepted and he said no probably be a few days. Unhappy and unsure of where to go from here we drove back to Victor Harbor asked the guys if they minded us staying the night which they didn't, bless them. We went to Hungry Jacks for tea and then the cinema in Arndale to see Looper - totally awesome before heading back to house for the night. I wasn't too comfortable being in house as we had handed our keys back to Anna, although we did have 2 weeks notice we weren't too sure how it worked so we left the house quite early to go out for the day, we extended the car from another day and just kept it packed up. We drove through Belair National Park, up to Windy Point and Mount Lofty, amazing views. We stopped in the cafe up on Mt. Lofty for cuppa and banana bread as we hadn't eaten and chilled there. We hadn't heard from the estate agents and we were getting concerned it was going to be the next day so Gary called and basically we wouldn't find out until tomorrow at earliest and it would be a good few days until we could move in I was absolutely gutted. I was stressed out of my mind, Gary and me fought for a while he wanted to go back to house save on money and stuff but I didn't want to stay at house behind Anna's back plus I wanted to go to Victor Harbor, pay to stay somewhere and then we could at least start looking for jobs and get to know the area. We drove to Cleland Wildlife Park but we were both in a bit of a mood so we didn't bother going in but we did drive into Stirling for a walk around and for some lunch. We chatted some more, still disagreeing, luckily Mandy was up through the night and agreed with me about going to Victor Harbor, good having some extra support and Gary decided to come along. The cheapest option was the YHA in Port Elliot so on route Gary booked us up for 2 nights and we would go from there, aaarrggghhhhhhhh very stressful time. We arrived at the YHA and it was awesome so lovely just like sitting at home, nice big rooms to chill in, games room, TV room, big lounge area, lovely fully equipped kitchen we asked the guy Ben on reception straight away whether they did long-term options. He said no at first but as we got talking he seemed to want to help, normally YHA have a 2 week policy limit but with us being travellers and not here too long he said yes. That night while we cooked some food (we had quite a lot of food with us from the house) I was calculating money between the YHA and the bedsit, of course the YHA was more, $25 a night each over $75 a week for the bedsit but the kitchen and areas on the YHA was just so good I was really tempted. The only real problems where it was a 4-share so we wouldn't have our own room and was shared bathroom where the bedsit allowed us privacy, our own room and bathroom. It was a tough decision, plus Port Elliot is about 7km from Victor Harbour which we also had to consider. I wanted to stay in the YHA, it just seemed right like moving to live by Victor Harbor did so we did pros and cons and Gary was definitely leaning towards the bedsit. We left it for now to think about, while I kicked Gary's ass at monopoly yay!!!!

Friday we were up relatively early showered and dressed, printed off CV's at the YHA, talked to Ben some more about staying he offered us to stay in the twin share for the same price as the 4 share, was better for him as he could use the 4-share for families. The twin room was awesome for us, means we would have our own room and be downstairs where there is less rooms and nice and close to the bathroom ooohhhhh so tempting!!! We walked down to main street of Port Elliot only really small but were able to dish out some CV's. Gary went into Hotel Elliot to hand in CV and they made him make a coffee for a worker straight off!!! He did good but unfortunately they are not looking for staff for a couple of weeks yet. We drove down to Victor Harbor and did the same good few opportunities and promising places for Gary, Crown Hotel lady seemed interested and got him to fill in a form and said she would call about an interview on Monday so things was looking up. We also wanted to make the most of having the car so we drove along Victor Harbor up the Bluff, awesome, unbelievable views and 60km to Cape Jervis. It was a great journey out but we didn't realise Cape Jervis was really only for the ferry to Kangaroo Island there was no town there. We did find one shop nearby to stop for ice cream was such a hot sunny afternoon before driving back to the YHA. Gary surprised me and booked us up in the YHA until Friday the following week, he had decided he wanted to stay there and I really did too so yay we finally had a home, we moved into our new room downstairs number 3 and unpacked our bags and settled in. There were still a few niggly things such as we had bunk beds and we had to move out a few times during our stay such as the next weekend for 3 nights. We kept extending the car each day as it was worth keeping it with our stuff in it, plus we wanted to go back to Adelaide on Saturday night for a BBQ at the house for Angelo and Gary's birthday which worked out well as we had to drop the car back off in Adelaide. I decided while we had the car and a free day with the car on Saturday I would bring forward Gary's birthday thankfully he didn't mind and so I got things booked up and sorted, exciting times. That night the YHA was very busy, big group of friends were having their annually meet up and had a very organised weekend planned including a BBQ and quiz night which Gary, me and a lovely German girl Astrid, were enthusiastically put in and fed gorgeous homemade puddings, very entertaining especially after all the wine drinking they did, a very good night.

Saturday we were up 5am, I had pre-packed our bags for the day, made pack lunches and set out our clothes so we just had to grab it and drove all the way back to Adelaide to seaside place called Glenelg, a stunning and quite posh area stopping for a McD's breakie on the way. I hadn't told Gary what we were doing or where we were going, I wanted it to be a surprise. When we got to the area I got a little stressed as I couldn't find the place but I didn't know to just park in the car park and we would go by foot to find the place, however, turned out I had parked in the perfect place as the boat was right there. We went up the stairs where at the top was a sign for Dolphin Swimming and I just turned to Gary and said that is what we are doing he was chuffed to bits :) He had been guessing all the way but he didn't actually guess dolphins, everything else yeah but not dolphins so I was doubting my plans but he was really happy and excited. We departed on the boat around 7.30am got given wetsuits and a briefing we spotted a seal perched on a rock and chilled on boat while the workers spotted pods of dolphins, over the 4 hours or so we must have seen over 40-50 wild dolphins from the boat including a baby. When dolphins were spotted we all had to head into the water via the back of the boat where there was rope out in the water for us to hold onto, we had to climb into water as quietly as we could as any splash would disturb the dolphins. We had snorkel gear on and had to look and wait for dolphins to approach us closer, we weren't allowed to touch or swim close to them. Luckily Gary and me had a great spot where 2 dolphins swam by us really close and we could see them so clearly underwater it was truly amazing. We saw them a few times in the water which was cool, it was so bloody cold the wetsuit didn't really seal around the neck so water was going down us and we had no gloves or shoes and its the coldest ocean in the world so we were all freezing. Some people only went in once and didn't want to go back in, there was a hot tap onboard which was lovely and everyone enjoyed. We were in and out the water various times as we travelled the sea for different pods was one of the best mornings ever! One of four workers on board was actually a young lad from Heaton, small world! We got back to the marina around 11.30am and we had a little walk around the Marina before heading to car. For the afternoon we went to Adelaide Zoo, parked in the city Botanical Gardens, enjoyed a little walk through the gardens before and after the zoo. The zoo was nice, it was turning into a lovely day, sun shining so we chilled and ate our pack lunch in the zoo grounds before walking around. Not a huge zoo but still really quite nice, we kept the Giant Panda's until last but unfortunately we were unlucky with time, as when arrived there the pandas were sleeping and both awoke and walked into their indoors homes and there was a sign to say no Panda's on display from 2.30pm - 3.30pm and it was 2.25pm. In a way we were lucky to see them at all and it was good to see them move haha. They had great areas so we were hoping to spend some time there admiring them, never mind. We had a look in the shop before slowing walking back to car. It was now late afternoon and so we drove to the house for around 4pm Nic, Angelo and Hilaria had the BBQ well and truly on its way with way way way to much food. We had a great night, a few more of Nic's friends came round and we chilled in the garden for a while before starting drinking cards in the house starting on the vodka's, some dancing and a lot of fun. We stayed over that night!! Sunday we were up early again to take the car back, however with it being a Sunday and no one in, we were instructed to ring a number when we were at the car rental place and they would give us instructions what to do. When we got there and called a dozen times no answer. We hung around for half an hour hoping someone would call but heard nothing. We had to catch a bus to city and then a coach to Port Elliot and there was only one coach today with it being Sunday so we parked the car up onto their property, dropped the keys in the letter box left a message to say what we had done and went for our bus and coach. Just before we got on the coach I thought it best we bought some drinks for the 2 hour coach journey especially since we were so tired and slightly hungover, however, my card was declined. I had been too scared to check my balance and knew my money was running low and so I was stressed to bits I had no other money and wasn't expecting my money to have gone yet. We still haven't got jobs or even close to jobs, although Gary got a call for an interview on Saturday for interview today at 4pm at an Italian Restaurant Nino's, go Gary!. I managed to nap a little on the journey I was quite stressed about money urgh! We got back to Port Elliot around 11.30am walked to YHA into our room and had a snooze we were shattered for the full on previous day. Up and showered a few hours later we walked to Victor Harbor for Gary's interview :) it was a good hour and half walk but gorgeous coastal views. I chilled on a bench waiting to Gary and got talking to a lovely local couple although the guy was pretty drunk then Gary came and joined us for little while before we headed to Big W before it closed at 5pm. Gary's interview went really good he got a trial for Tuesday yay!!! At Big W we went bike shopping as we really needed bikes to travel round and we had found ones for $100 in Big W and pretty nice ones too. We hoped we would get them and be able to ride them back but unfortunately they had to be built by their bike builder and for a $17 fee. We considered building them ourselves but we wouldn't get the 12 months warranty and well we didn't really have any tools haha. It takes 1-3 weeks for bikes to get build so that was a shame but still exciting we had bought our bikes. We had our tea at Mac's before our walk home admiring the lovely holiday rental houses on our way and stunning views. I used my card by the way to buy the bikes and it worked fine so I still have money I still haven't look to see how much but no longer stressing as much phew!!

Jobs day in on Monday in the YHA, job applying, sorting photos and stuff. Gary got an interview for the Crown Hotel tomorrow yay! Talked to home well tried to crappy internet signal haha and got bite to death sitting outside talking grrrr!! Tuesday we hired bikes from the YHA only $15 for the day, well worth it. We got dressed, had breakie and cycled down for Gary's interview at the Crown Hotel at 10am. Went really well and got a trial there on Friday 12pm :) woop woop go Gary! We walked over to Granite Island to see Dorothy and arrange a time to start helping out at the centre :) decided on tomorrow while Gary had his trial, how exciting. We then walked up to the bistro as I wanted to hand in CV, Dorothy said to as they always want staff around now for the busy season as I went in a lady said "Oh you here for an interview?" I said "No just wanting to hand in CV for any job opportunities" and she took me to a table where I met Dayna and Reuben and was given an interview there and then, talk about good timing. It was a strange interview as I was in shorts and t-shirt and totally unprepared and them equally unprepared, we chatted generally for a little while so they could get to know me, they asked about my experience and some more serious interview style questions although didn't write anything down on their papers. Reuben was bit weird just looked at me and watched me while Dayna seemed interested said I had the right personality and things so it was a mixed one but still good overall I hoped. We opted for Mac's again for food tut tut before going for a food shop and a work shop for Gary and his trials and then cycled home, early night with a movie in bed. Wednesday we rented bikes again and cycled down to VH for Gary's trial at Nino's at 12pm. I walked over to Granite Island for 12.30pm to start voluntary work at the centre, it was good, quite quiet not a lot to do but nice talking to them in the staff room. Dorothy and Keith are both from the UK so its nice and easy to talk to them and have a good banter. She talked to me about the penguins and rehab centre. There are 9 in the centre at the moment, 6 are too severely injured to be returned back into the wild, two were breed in the centre (they previously breed in the centre and the chicks went to Adelaide Zoo, but then that got maxed out and so Amy and Sophie ended up staying at the centre). The other one who is Charlie was from Adelaide Zoo but they had too many males and so the Centre now care for him. They have a lovely natural area, nice big pool and pond, fed twice a day, nice cosy little burrow homes each have partners and happily loved from Dorothy and other volunteers. She then showed me the till and I served any visitors that came, its $6 per adult and $4 for kids to come and see the penguins. There is also a children's room with touch table, colouring in, two lizards and a cool holographic presentation of the factual life of penguins for people to watch and learn. I only worked a couple of hours the first day but did get the confidence up to start talking to the visitors that came to the centre, I really enjoyed it. Gary met me from his trial he thinks it went well and will hear over next few days, although its the Crown Hotel job he wants really. Both finished around 4pm we walked to Coles for few bits and bobs food shopping before cycling home, unsure of how to celebrate Halloween we decided to leave it as it didn't really feel like Halloween anyway but we did have a curry which was like orangey colour haha. Played monopoly again but a guy from London joined us this time to play :) Gary won grrrrrr.

1st November Garys 25th Birthday!!!!!! We actually had a day in chilling, the weather was terrible rainy and windy and with Saturday being a busy day out, he was quite happy with a chilling day in. I made us cooked breakfast and microwaved homemade cake (somehow turned into a brownie) and sang Happy Birthday haha. We had to packed our stuff up as we had to move out tomorrow morning down the road to Hotel Elliot for 3 nights as was fully booked with school kids at YHA. We later walked down to Port Elliot bought us some wine and take-away to celebrate his birthday night and again he chose to play Monopoly him winning again. He also got a card and pressie from my rents and sister which was nice, was hard it only being us and I didn't have a present for him with us doing his present on Saturday but I think he still enjoyed his day.

Up and scooted out of the YHA by 10am leaving all our stuff in YHA storage for now as Gary had his trial at the Crown Hotel at 12pm and we had to walk as our bikes were ready to be picked up :) While Gary was at his trial I volunteered for the afternoon at the penguin centre, meeting a lovely volunteer Norma also from the UK. I got to feed the penguins which was great. Gary met me at the centre and he got the job yay!!!! So proud of him and such a relief. As we went to leave the centre, Dayna had come to talk to Dorothy and she spotted me and said "Oh Jenny I needed to call you today, would you like to come for a trial on Monday at 11am?" Wow Yyaaaaayyyyy!!! Gary has a job and I got a trial, things are looking amazingly up and very quickly. We had a Mac's again to celebrate haha before picking up our bikes, buying our helmets and bike locks and cycling home. Our bikes had not been built well, they both had pretty flat tyres so we had to pump up at petrol station, my seat was super low and Gary's was too high for him so we swapped, although Gary's gears were not right, the chain was too loose and kept causing problems, we swapped again on our way home cause mine was so low it was tough to ride it. We had cold showers and changed when back at hotel we were sweating from journey home. Both quite shattered by the time we had moved our backpacks and checked into the hotel, we decided to chill in the room play cards and finish the bottle of wine from Gary's birthday to celebrate.

Saturday Gary started work at 12pm so cycled down earlyish to allow time for our crappy bikes, luckily a worker at the hotel found us a spanner to adjust our seats. I went to help out at penguin centre while Gary worked. Got to feed penguins again and met another lovely volunteer called Merri-May. Gary finished work around half 4 I got a drink in the bar while I waited for him. We had tea at KFC as both hungry, not had anything to eat then cycled home. We showered and changed and went for beer downstairs out in the beer garden to properly celebrate Gary's job :) Sunday Gary was working again :) 12pm - 4pm, I cycled down with him but had a day off from the centre and opted for a shop day to buy some work clothes for tomorrow's trial. It was a lovely night we sat and had fish and chips on a bench in the sun before walking along the beach and lay chilling. Cycled home and enjoyed our last night in a double bed at hotel, went down for drinks at bar again as both boiling and fancied a cold pop drink.

Monday morning came round, weather was awful really windy we were up early to get packed up and leave hotel room, move our stuff to YHA storage and cycle down to VH for 10am allowing us time to chill before my trial and Gary had work. My trial was cancelled, Dayna called when we got down to re-arrange my trial for Wednesday as the tram across the island was closed and so not many people if any will come over to bistro I was gutted. Gary and me went to Big W complained about our bikes, they took our numbers and going to call us when they know the bike guy is available to look at our bikes. Then we had breakie at subway before Gary had work 12-3pm and then 5-8pm a split shift and I cycled home and unpacked our bags and settled us back in. Talked to home that night until Gary came home from work, another storm, he was so wet coming in. I got to watch some awesome lighting bolts across the sea this afternoon, unbelievable views.

Tuesday Gary had day off so we decided to have a day in no cycling as both feeling tired and Gary feeling a little run down. We researched up our trips after the New Year and figured our rough budgets so we knew how much we needed to save up. Planned out our time in Thailand and India and stuff was good job done. Watched a couple of movies in the front room bit and chilled out. Wednesday Gary was also off but cycled down to VH with me as we got a call yesterday to bring in our bikes to get fixed this morning before my trial. We dropped off bikes and walked to Granite Island eeeeej I was so nervous, I started at 11am and finished around 2pm and I got the job yay!!! We were both sorted with jobs what a relief, during my trial I saw seals swimming around (Gary saw wild dolphins) which was pretty cool, it's an outdoor restaurant on Granite Island with amazing views. Went to see Dorothy and Keith to tell them my news and ask whether I could pop in to help tomorrow they were so pleased yay!! We went to Macs, Gary was hungry and I was so thirsty and need to sit down. We went to Big W picked up our bikes and cycled home. Cooked tea, had some wine to celebrate and played Scrabble.

So now as you have read we are all sorted here in our new home of Port Elliot. We are loving being in the YHA even enjoying our bunk beds now like big kids. We both have jobs sorted and really happy. My work at the penguin centre is awesome and we are enjoying our bike rides to and from home, think we are both feeling a bit fitter with our 14km roundtrip daily. Gary had a nice 25th Birthday and we are nicely settled here until the end of the year when we head back to Sydney for New Year!!

Port Elliot and Victor Harbor is like paradise. The areas are so beautiful, we are seeing all kinds of wildlife from big spiders, cool lizards to wild dolphins and seals, loving our little life here.