Day 4 - Travel to Adelaide

Wednesday, August 27 - Sydney to Adelaide, Australia - blogged from the Adelaide Hilton Hotel Not a whole lot to report today. It was a travel day for us most of the morning and we got on a flight from Sydney westward to Adelaide in South Australia (state name). The trip was smooth and fairly uneventful. There was a computer glitch that made us about a half hour late taking off and that coincided with Ashlee reading that there had been major delay in air traffic in the U.S. yesterday due to computer problems. That had us a bit concerned that it was going to repeat here in Australia, but "no worries" as the folks down here say when the problem was solved fairly quickly. Another nice flight served up by Qantas including a delicious and bountiful breakfast during the two-hour flight. We spent the afternoon exploring Adelaide and we have to say it's...kind of strange, actually. The cabbie from the airport said 1 million plus lived in the area, but what do they do?? There do seem to be some corporate headquarters downtown, but we have yet to figure out what employs the masses here and what aids them in the cost of living...i.e. stuff in Adelaide is priced HIGH. We looked at Keen and Merrell shoes we could buy in the U.S. and they were the double the price here. Everything has been high in Australia: food is high, drinks are high (bottled water $3 in a convenience store), souvenirs, etc. but Adelaide prices have been the worst so far. Our favorite Australia staple has become their potato "wedges" that have a nice coating of some sort of mild spice and come with a chili/sour cream dip.

Perhaps our bus tour tomorrow or Wikipedia can provide that answer as to what makes Adelaide tick. The city is a large planned layout that looks fairly clean, but honestly is a little bland. Nothing too exciting to gaze upon unless it's through a wine glass or the bottom of a beer mug (finally some good ales for Rob - thanks Cooper Brewing). I guess Sydney spoiled us. They do have a nice beach area a few miles from downtown called Glenelg. We rode a (free to us) trolley to it (we just couldn't figure out how to pay - no ticket booth, no ticket machine, that had ticket vendors but they didn't ask us directly for a ticket?? - as we said the prices are high here, so it was about time we got a price break from Australia - thanks City of Adelaide - we don't mind an honor system, but at least make it easy to understand how to pay. We ended the evening back in the Executive Lounge of the Hilton (thanks to Ashlee's many nights spent alone working in Arkansas, Memphis, etc.) and enjoyed some tasty snacks that were bountiful enough for us to call it dinner and some complimentary beer and wine. Australian TV sucks by the way (they have some odd obsession with "Two and a Half Men" - we've seen it on the plane, on TV in Sydney and now again on TV here in Adelaide - funny show, but not that funny. So we opted for "Oceans 13" on Rob's laptop, but we both fell asleep within a half hour with dreams that our tour to the Grand Barossa Valley will rescue our hopes of an interesting trip to South Australia.