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Today I woke up to find a Koala in the garden! Can you believe it, a real live Koala, a piece of native nature in our back yard. It is an incredible sight; he or she is enormous, the size of a ten year old and hanging on twigs no thicker than, well, a twig. I swear the branch was going to snap under the weight. The Koala is not quite as cuddly looking as you would imagine. It has huge talon like claws and the sound it makes is rather amazing. It grunts very loudly - like a Neanderthal having sex is about the only way I can describe it. Hehe.
All in all, the past week has been lovely. The weather up until Monday was disastrous; wet and cold, more like Wales than Australia. I went into the city for the first time on Friday. Caught the train with Aunty Josie. Adelaide is so clean, a fresh city and the shopping is rather good. Their main shopping street is Rundell Mall and it is very much like Cardiff but at least three times the size! There is a fantastic shoes shop called 'Zu'. Very tempted, but justifying taking high heels backpacking with me is a little interesting! I have however discovered Haig's Chocolate. Resistance was futile. By far the best chocolate I have ever tasted! I have already consumed a vast amount, not helped by the fact that every time you walk into one of their shops they hand you free tasters which tempts you to buy so much more that you originally planned. When food is involved, you know me - saying "no" is not an option! After a brief visit to the mall we went down to Victoria square on the tram and to the Central Market. I have never seen a place like it in all my life. I was midday and it was heaving - people everywhere. There must have been over a hundred large permanent stalls selling everything and anything from fresh fruit and veg to fresh squid. A butcher selling kangaroo meat in every form you could think of -steak, mince, burgers and meat balls to name but a few. Then there were the cafes and the delicatessens selling eye boggling cakes and pastries. I was in heaven!
The city is vast; so much to see and do. Yesterday I ventured in on my own to study a bit of culture. I first visited the Traveller's Info Centre and picked up a huge amount of leaflets and brochures on things to do in South Australia. The Flinders Ranges, four hours north of the city, is somewhere I would love to see. It's a desert wilderness in the outback with huge mountain formations that are meant to be an amazing sight. Vineyard tours through the Barossa Valley and a trip down the limestone coast are also high on my list. Following on from the Traveller's centre I visited the South Australian Museum; an impressive sandstone building beside the State Library and the South Australian Art Gallery. I must have spent a good two hours in there wondering through the exhibitions. They had a two floor display on Aboriginal Life. The Aborigines are amazing people they survive in the harshest of environments but so effectively. How they manage to live off such an arid land is bewildering, but they do and have done for thousands of years.
The rest of the week I have been pootling about, doing various household jobs (not cooking for which Uncle is very thankful) and lying by the pool reading. It is great, like being on a permanent weekend. On Saturday I was mulching. In Australia, bonfires are banned because of bushfire risks so everything has to be shredded. In the evening the whole family were invited to a Halloween party. I had somehow completely forgotten to pack a Halloween costume when I came away and was quite impressed with my efforts when I managed to transform myself into a mad scientist with the help of a lab coat from Uncle's office, a pair of safety glasses and a fair amount of make-up. The girls looked far better as witches but Uncles efforts were unfortunately not quite understood when he turned up in a witch's hat and a number of bags filled with sand hanging around his neck. Quite simple really - he was a 'sand-witch'. It flew over most people's heads. I arrived at the party not knowing anyone but soon fell into conversation with a number of people. The main subject of our conversation seemed to be Australia v UK and gave us a fair few laughs. Here are a few examples of what they get wrong over here
Flip-flops- Thongs (can be quite confusing)
Trainers - Sandshoes
Cool Box- Esky
Peppers- Capsicum
The rules of Aussie Rules Footie were also explained to me but like Uncles 'sand-witch' they washed straight over my head.
On Sunday we visited the Circus. It was small but very amusing. It consisted of a hopeless clown, a bloke on a three wheeled unicycle and a balancing act from Russia with a very tight leotard. Uncle enjoyed it . Following on from the circus I had my first ever visit to an IKEA. It was huge but our trip round it was very quick. We went to pick up a sofa bed which Megan helped me build that night. They say you should never trust a woman with a set of tools. To an extent they are right. We finished building the bed at about 11.30pm after having to take half of it apart again because I had used the wrong screws and put the wrong pieces in the wrong place - ooops!
I am really happy here. Missing home and especially missing Archie. I speak to Mum, Dad and Phillip quite frequently on Skype but it will be nice to see them when they come over in about a month!
Au Revoir for now, speak soon.
Kathryn xXx
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