2002 Day 1 - Adelaide

Left Perth on time at 9:00am aboard Virgin Blue - nice leather seats and stuff, was sitting next to an elderly couple, the guy had been a farmer on the Yorke Peninsula for 50 years and we were discussing salinity in WA. The flight actually took us over some quite sobering areas which were just basically salt plains... very sad to think this was all once pristine forest.

Oh and among the 6 or 7 items other than food you could buy on the plane, Richard Branson's autobiography kind of stood out :) The air captain also had a good sense of humour, which made for a very different safety presentation.

Photo 1 - View from plane over Adelaide.
Postcard - Victoria Square, Adelaide, from the air.

Arrived in Adelaide, got taxi to the hotel and was very impressed indeed with the motel (Royal Coach Motor Inn - check Google for info). The room's more like what you'd expect for a hotel. I headed out almost immediately and did the O-Bahn, which is a guided busway in Adelaide. Was very interesting - looked like a railway line made out of concrete except it was for buses! It's supposed to be the longest of its type in the world and the only one in Australia.

Met my friend Andrew at Tea Tree Plaza and we took the "scenic" route (90km!) back to the city via the Adelaide Hills, went through all sorts of little towns. If I ever do drive in Adelaide, I'll make sure to get a car with very good power steering - windy roads up and down steep hills seem to be the go here. Had a very good Indian dinner at Tandoori King (don't ask me why I went for a beef vindaloo which said "Hot!" on it in a menu written by Indians... but it was nice when I got over the burnt tongue) Got to see a bit of Adelaide nightlife in the city... it's not exactly stellar but I guess it serves the local purpose.

I've just walked through the eastern end of the city and am now at a net cafe.

Fun, fun, fun

Having lots of fun planning my trip. Only 2 days to go! It's scary how much you can preplan these things. It looks like my time in Melbourne will be very busy - with out-trips to Phillip Island (commercial tour), Mt Dandenongs (on public transport), Mornington Peninsula (on public transport) as well as just getting around Melbourne. Having money is good *nods* I'm also going to get in as much of Launceston as possible in the two days I'm there.

That being said, I think I'll rename this trip from a friend's suggestion of "Andy's tour of the coldest parts of Australia" to "How to spend lots of money on public transport all in the name of having fun". :P

Anyway, cheers. I think this is the first day it's finally hit me that I'm just about to head off into the yonder!

Dec 2002 Trip - Itinerary

A few people have asked me this, so I thought I'd post it here and people can copy and paste at will :)

(CDT = WST+2.5h, EDT = WST+3h - so 9pm in Perth is 11:30pm in South Australia or 12am in Victoria/Tasmania. Please keep this in mind when phoning me :)

Fri 29 Nov, 09:05 WST - Depart Perth (Virgin Blue Airlines)

Fri 29 Nov, 14:25 CDT - Arrive Adelaide



Mon 02 Dec, 07:05 CDT - Depart Adelaide on Wayward Bus

Thu 05 Dec, 12:00 EDT - Arrive Melbourne



Mon 09 Dec, 11:30 EDT - Depart Melbourne (Virgin Blue Airlines)

Mon 09 Dec, 12:30 EDT - Arrive Launceston, TAS



Tue 10 Dec, 07:05 EDT - Depart Launceston on Under Down Under

Mon 16 Dec, 18:00 EDT - Arrive Launceston



Tue 17 Dec, 13:00 EDT - Depart Launceston (Virgin Blue Airlines)

Tue 17 Dec, 14:00 EDT - Arrive Melbourne



Fri 20 Dec, 07:10 EDT - Depart Melbourne (Virgin Blue Airlines)

Fri 20 Dec, 08:30 WST - Arrive Perth.

It is safe to assume that where there is a space between the lines I am contactable, and when there is no space, I am not contactable - either due to air safety regulations or lack of signal (I will be doing some pretty remote places this time around :)

Hope this helps.