I’m starting with the weekend before we celebrated both Gemma and Lana’s birthdays – 8/04/17 . Lana had arranged a surprise meal and night out with everyone. We all met up for some afternoon drinks at home and then all jumped onto a TBus and headed off to dinner. Unknown to Gemma we arrived at the only restaurant that looks over the whole of Adelaide with some truly breathtaking views – Windy Point. The location was awesome, and so was the food – I had my first taste of Kangaroo which was surprisingly tasty. We all headed out the restaurant and waited for the TBus to pick us up and head back down into into the city – although a hummer pulled up and we all dared Gemma to flag it down so we could jump in. Little did she know that Lana had booked it to pick us all up – watching Gemma play along was comical – but she was overwhelmed when she realised it was for us.
Here’s my reaction if you haven’t seen it already: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSn1m3JA2yx/
We ended up at a club called Electra House where drinks were had a plenty and we all danced into the earlier parts of the night (well most of us).
Gemma’s actual Birthday arrived the following week and after all the excitement and celebrations over the weekend Gem was happy with a quiet meal in (cooked by me of course). We all welcomed baby Finn into the world on the same day as well! Me and Gemma are over the moon for both Paul and Georgia and of course Baby Finn and can’t wait to watch him grow up over the next 12-18 months. It’s going to be great to see both Halle and her baby cousin grow up together!
That week Ryan and Jess also rocked up to say hello! Gemma’s friends from Cambridge, who had been travelling across Australia for the past 3 months in a converted van. It was great to meet them and hear of so many stories of how they had been travelling and giving us plenty of food for thought and some top tips for our own adventures to come! I’ve already started looking at Toyota Hiace’s to convert into a camper van – more on that I’m sure in later posts
That Friday was Good Friday and we all headed down to Hallett Cove to attempt the famous 5km boardwalk and back. The walk was amazing and we saw some great views of Adelaide’s coastline. I ended up running the last 1km to get within the two hour mark, with it being three weeks before I tackled a half marathon – this was my first bit of training before the big run. We ended the day back and Paul and Georgia’s for some down time and fish and chips, it was Good Friday after all.
The long 4 day easter weekend was a nice break from my first month at work and me and Gemma decided to head up to Port Adelaide and go on the dolphin cruise to see some dolphins. It was about 40 minutes in and I thought the whole thing was a con, but sure enough some dolphins began swimming towards us and we got to see the magnificent creatures – well worth the four dollars we paid!
Our first Easter Sunday in Australia then saw me, Gem, Andrew and Halle head down to Semaphore Beach for Australia’s National Kite Festival – I decided to take it upon myself to run there being that my half marathon was in less than 2 weeks away – a solid 8km in the bag. The kite festival was pretty awesome seeing kites of all shapes and sizes, parading in the sky. Halle had her first ride on a carousel which she looked terrified on but think she enjoyed it by the end. Me and Andrew stopped off at the oval on the way home to kick a footy about and test out my new footy boots (another bargain from Harbour Town Shopping Outlet). In true Aussie fashion, we finished our night with another BBQ accompanied by Paul, Georgia, baby Finn and Elle (Georgia’s sister who drove from Melbourne to met her new Nephew Finn).
Easter Monday me, Gemma, Andrew, Lana, Halle and Rita headed down to the German village of Hahndorf, the village situated in Adelaide Hills is classified as Australia’s oldest surviving German settlement. We explored all the village had to offer and visited a lot of small craft shops and of course fitted in a Kopenhagen ice cream. We ended the afternoon playing some hotly contested mini golf – after a shocking start I managed to pull things back and slotting a hole-in-one on the 18th hole put me in number one spot and beat Andrew by a shot.
Before we knew it the long weekend was over and I headed back to work. That week Gemma had bagged herself a job with Salisbury Council as a casual Librarian! With her start date imminent she was making the most of her week by volunteering at two of Andrew’s events at the Mawson Centre – “Movies at Mawson” was a huge hit! The four day week flew by and before we knew it, it was the weekend again! We had a fairly relaxed one, we went to watch Andrew play footy on the Saturday and Sunday I managed to dig deep and find a 17km run/walk to Semaphore and back.
The following Tuesday, 25/04/17 was ANZAC day – another public holiday that marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand Army Core. We spent the day up at Paul and Georgia’s where we had an epic BBQ (yup another one) and watch the footy. We spent the night playing board games and had a few rounds of Guess Who sticky on the forehead which was pretty fun. Again the week flew by, filling myself with a lot of pasta meals and trying my best to stay off the beers with my half marathon in just 5 days time now.
The day before the half-marathon me and Gem headed off to watch Andrew play footy again, unfortunately it was the teams first loss of the season. That night we all went out for dinner with Paul and Georgia to a tapas restaurant in the the City called Panacea. Probably wouldn’t return but it was nice to try somewhere different.
Before I knew it the big day had arrived – with a total of two training runs I was nowhere near the level of fitness I had been when I last did a half marathon about a year ago in Dartford. I headed out to Athelstone where the race started and found myself amongst another 700 runners. The course was pretty undulating and I made it my mission to get in under the 2-hour mark. For the first half of the race I struggled hard and felt like the 2hr pace runner was getting further and further away. Suddenly after the 12km mark, I felt strong and a new lease of life had been given to my legs. I managed to overtake the 2hr pace maker and before I knew it I was motoring passed a good 30-40 of my fellow runners. I came in at 1hr 55m 30s, surprisingly 16 seconds slower than my personal best! It was great to see the guys at the finish line cheering me on.
After the race finished we headed over to a local bakery called St Peters, known to be extremely popular amongst the locals, for some well deserved breakfast. Gem of course had a curry pie and I had a delicious kransky. Me and Andrew that afternoon had a FIFA sesh with Paul and his mate Micky whilst the Girls were at a baby shower which Gemma I’m sure will bring you up to speed on in her next post. We ended up watching the Hobbit to top off a great weekend!
Here we are just short of a month left in Adelaide before we head back to the UK for the De Lange wedding in Skiathos!
Tom.