Owyagowin? Well it's been an eventful few months since I last blogged.

On my return to Brisbane from Sydney (returned early due to serious illness of travel-buddy Sara) I experienced the devastating January flooding, which made world news. It was pretty scary to witness to be honest, my route to work was completely submerged & I saw so much debris floating down the river - there were jetties with boats attached to them which had lost their moorings, entire restaurants along the river were destroyed. Parts of the city were evacuated during the worsts parts & power was cut to the CBD - it was really eerie just hearing sirens & helicopters in the area & not the usual hustle & bustle. Thankfully the rain stopped so the floodwaters stopped rising & life began to slowly return to normal.

My birthday occurred during the flooding so less people attended than perhaps I (selfishly) would of liked but I still had an excellent weekend & got suitably drunk! For my birthday i received a ticket to Big Day Out which is a hugely popular music festival that tours Australia every year. I had a great day, the weather was glorious & there's nothing better than listening to live music (although if I'm honest I didnt know some of the bands). There were some interesting outfits on display at the festival - full body suits, guys in dresses, girls in, well not very much (unfortunately not many people can pull off string vests & hot-pants) but you know kudos to them for making the effort right? The following week I attended my first cricket match and, wait for it, I actually enjoyed it! It was good fun, I think the fact that fireworks went off every time someone scored a 6 helped matters! I celebrated Australia Day (when in Rome & all that, would be rude not to really) by having a bbq & spending the afternoon sliding down a soapy 60m tarp - trust me reeeeaaaallllly goood fun, although the bruises I acquired weren't as much fun.

So after being back 3 weeks & still having no luck with getting a job (my office job relocated to Yatala so I no longer could work there) I decided it was time to visit Adelaide or Radalaide as it's known.

On my first day there I spent my time at Glenelg which is a beautiful little beach about 20mins outside the city centre (handily accessible by tram). Unfortunately it was super windy that day so my relaxing day on the beach turned into "lets find the place where I will get the least sand in my mouth!". I then met up with a friend who was looking after me for the duration of my stay who took me to Port Noalunga for fish & chips , yum yum :)

Day two saw me exploring the local area & then conducting an impromptu 2hr trek in Onkaparinga Gorge, where I saw a kangaroo in the wild & ended up at a peaceful waterhole at the bottom of the gorge, which made the hike back to the top worthwhile.

Day three was a really fun day - we drove to Hallet Cove and walked to the Sugarloaf formation, which is an interesting land formation & along the beach. We then went to the Mclaren Vale Wine region & went wine tasting at Hugh Hamilton's Winery & to Wirra Wirra Winery - all I can say is I'm glad I didn't have to drive!

Day four heralded a walk through Waterfall Gully & a trek up to the top of Mount Lofty, which rewarded my effort with stunning views of the city & out to the coast. It was a lovely walk but I was so hot & sweaty I look a mess in all the photos! Oh well I can't look awesome all of the time now can I? Hahaha.

Day 5 - was spent in the city, the South Australia Museum was pretty interesting & a good way to pass a few hours. One of the main shopping streets in Adelaide is Rundle Mall which is regularly home to street performers & buskers - have a look at some of the videos I uploaded on facebook to see the awesome Limbo Guy as I have named him. Then I went to another cricket match - I know i'm becoming quite the fan! It was the 20:20 final beween South Australia and New South Wales, it was very exciting & a really good atmosphere. South Australia won so there was celebratory fireworks & the home crowd was going wild - 1 guy took it upon himself to storm the field in victory but was thwarted by the security guards - one comedian in the crowd threw a tennis ball which hit one of the guards on the head, I was amused (quietly).

Day 6 brought me strawberry picking in Beerenberg (home to world famous jam) - it's safe to say I ate enough to compensate for the $3 picking charge! Close to Beerenberg is Handorf, a lovely quaint German town with lots of little shops & cafes. I was then taken to Melba's Chocolate factory, I was in heaven! Products were actually made on the premises which was cool to see. That evening I failed completely at bowling, I of couse blame the lanes & the balls, but it was still muchos fun.

Day 7 - Christies beach was the nearest beach to where I was staying so I spent most of the day hanging out there - the water is so calm & flat & shallow. South Australia is home to some of the best & safest beaches - no fears of jelly fish or sharks - hooray!

Day 9 - was an adventure - we went cheese tasting at Alexandria cheese factory then we drove to Victor Harbour where we took a horse-drawn tram across the causeway to Granite Island. It was so cool, exploring the island which had huge boulders scattered across it, I felt like I was on an island the Famous Five would be exploring had they been Australian! We then drove around the area to Port Elliot & through Middleton & Goolwa & the Fleurieu wine region befor ending the day at Port Noarlunga beach. Good times.

Day 10 - we went to Aldinga Beach & wandered around Aldinga Scrub which is a small area of land theat has 4 different types of vegetation in one location (apparently it is unique worldwide). There are coastal, wet-land, plains & hills vegetation. We then sunbathed on the beach - the scenery was stunning, it looked like hills in the distance were a painted backdrop.

Day 11 - we explored the city a bit more, walking up to the top of Montefiore Hill, which gave a good view of the city. Adelaide's city layout was actually planned rather than colonised like Sydney, which means all the roads are straight & the city is organised into blocks. We tried to visit St Peter's church (Adelaide is know and the City of Churches because there are loads of them) but it was shut so we went for a walk through Rundle Mall & Rundle Street & back along the riverbank to the Oval to watch the football match. It was Adelaide vs Melbourne (there is a real rivalry between these two teams, so a lot of police were in attendance & the crowds had to be moved further & further apart throughout the game) and Adelaide won 2-1, the crowd went wild throwing flares & bottles. Really good atmosphere! Although a little bit scary as some people were clearly looking for a fight.

Day 12 - I attended my first breakdancing competition, which was pretty good fun. It was held in the little basement in the city, there was a good atmosphere & a lot of camaraderie between everyone who participated, although the two teams in the final did try to psyche each other out. Unfortunately the team from Melbourne won but to be fair they were the better team. Every year Adelaide hosts the Fringe festival (a lot like the Edinburgh Fringe in the UK) & turns part of the Botanical Gardens in the City into the Garden of Unearthly Delights which is pretty awesome. The area is decked in fairy lights, with bars, food stalls, market stalls, seating areas & places to watch some of the acts, it's very atmospheric at night. We ended up going to see a show called Nothing Is Really Difficult which was surreal to say the least. I sat in a big wooden box for 45mins watching 3 men miming & do weird things like simulating urinating on each other - so random but amusing at the same time!

Day 13 was spent getting to know the city better. Every Sunday they have a market which I spent ages walking around before perusing the art gallery, which was most enjoyable. There were some excellent paintings that I actually sat down in front over to look at more closely, which is unusual for me.

Day 14 - I went on a 20+km bike ride to Moana beach, along the coast to Noarlunga then back along the river & through a nature reserve. It was beautiful & a really lovely day but my bottom felt like it was being severely punished! :(

I spent Day 15 recovering on the beach, my bum was actually bruised from the bike ride! I think I deserved a day off!

My last day there was really good. We drove to Myponga Dam/Reservoir which was beautiful then hung out at Normanville Beach for awhile. It was stunning, horses were being trained in the water & the beach went on for miles & miles, with the rolling hills in the background. We then continued along to Second Valley to a tiny rocky beach & went for a little walk. The next stop was Rapid Bay then onto Cape Jervis, which is where you go to get the ferry to Kangaroo Island. It is also the beginning of the Heysen Trail which is a really long walking trail that follows the route the artist Heysen took many years ago. The scenery on the drive back was spectacular, some of it reminded me a bit of the scenery you get in the Med as Adelaide is very dry.

I'm planning on going back to Adelaide in the near future as I thought it was awesome & I didnt get to see everything I wanted to see. As long as you like being outdoors I would recommend it to anyone.

Back in Brisbane I spent an awesome afternoon riding around the Botanical Gardens & riverbanks on a tandem bike with Ben! Yes, they really do exist & they are great fun, although turning a corner can be a tad dangerous hehe.

I was lucky enough to meet up with Bex & Nile for a few days as they were over for a visit so we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which was pretty cool as I got to pat kangaroos & koalas. Although we didnt have nearly enough time there. Was so lovely to see a someone from home!

I attended Soundwave at the end of February which is another yearly Australian music festival, it was such a fun day! I got to see some great bands like Stone Sour, Primus, 30 Seconds to Mars, Queens of the Stone Age and Iron Maiden! Woop woop! Iron Maiden were amazing, Bruce Dickinson has a cracking voice & so much energy on stage. It was a truly excellent day & the weather was fabulous which always helps :)

My friend Kate & I spent a day exploring Mount Tamborine, which is about an hour's drive from Brisbane. It was a lovely day, despite the occasional drop of rain. We went to the Skywalk, which is a canopy walk through the rainforest. I think the title "Skywalk" is a bit misleading as I was expecting to be a lot higher up, you know, like in the sky! Don't get me wrong, we were pretty high but just not "sky" high. We then went to a glow-worm cave, which was really cool - did you know that the glow from a glow worm is basically a chemical reaction in their digestive system, so it is basically their poo that glows?! Also, glow-worms only glow when they are hungry, the glwo attracts their prey. All very interesting stuff. After the cave we drove aroundt he area for awhile then wandered around the Botanical Gardens, which we stumbled across quite by accident! It was very peaceful in the gardens, a lovely place to spend a few hours chilling out. We then headed to Cedars Creek which was a waterfall & then a creek running through the mountains. We also discovered Thunderbird Park, which has rope courses, mini golf & Laser Skirmish which is basically a cross between Laser Quest & paintballing! It sounded amazing so we will definately have to return there to have a go at that!

I've been spending my time enjoying the free comedy on offer on a Sunday night at the Powerhouse & perusing the Gallery of Modern Art. I have also attended a few classes of Water-Zumba which is, well, what it sounds like - Zumba (the dance based fitness class) but in water. It's one of those scenarioss in which if there are aliens monitoring the planet they would be like "what the heck are they doing?!" there a group of people flailing/dancing around in the shallow end of a pool all in the name of fitness! Excellent.

Anyway that brings me back up to date with what's been going on in my life. Hope everyone is keeping well xx