Adelaide

Yes dear reader we are back. The dreaded pandemic continues but borders within Australia are open. Finally. A federated country. Don't start me. Even WA is receiving other Australians. Apparently. I haven't forgiven them yet so the Coral Coast blogs may still be some years away. The same applies to Queensland. Premier Palachook (pronounce it correctly dear one) still has a few years to serve on her ban. Although, there could be a reprieve in June. I'll keep you informed.

The title? Well, a tad obvious but Ben Folds recorded a song entitled, Adelaide. A no brainer to commence this little holiday. Should I use the word 'holiday' now that we are both retired? Something to ponder. I will accept feedback. Polite words only.

The day began as usual in Sydney. Rain. It's not funny any more. Totally over it. Thankfully we have the Murdoch press to remind us that it has always rained in Sydney so this isn't anything unusual. Yeah right. However, the rain was not nearly as bad as last week when we flew to Melbourne to visit Nanna. Cabs wouldn't stop for us. We Ubered to the airport for the first time ever. 

No such problem today. Once Jayne was able to establish that there could be cabs in multiple lanes, some available, some not, we managed to secure one.

Airport trip, uneventful. Business lounge, disappointing. We arrived at a liminal time. Not quite breakfast, not quite lunch. While breakfast was finishing, lunch was not commencing and the food selection was, well, piss poor. Yes Qantas I'm looking at you. 'Arrive early,' the text from Qantas said. So we did. To find ... nothing, really, no queues. It was very quiet. Not complaining, just saying.

The flight over was also uneventful. Totally full, but uneventful. Even one of the stewards make a comment that everyone is heading to Adelaide. I know the Adelaide Fringe Festival is on, but seriously. And people on the plane wanted to be friends and chat. What? Just no. We don't do that in Australia.

We picked up our hybrid car. A Camry, not the Corolla requested. No queue there either and drove to the hotel, being careful to follow their instructions due to road closures. Road closures that had finished before we arrived. Anyway. We are staying at the Crowne Plaza. And it is busy. Really busy. I doubt they have any rooms left. There are queues everywhere. And celebrities, but more of that later.

After negotiating the vagaries of the car parking and growing a beard while waiting for the lift to reception.... and growing an even longer beard at reception, we made it to our room. Views to the hills from one window and across Adelaide Oval to the gulf from the other. Nice. Whatever. Why did I upgrade? It was now close to 4pm on a Saturday there can be only one destination. The bar. Champagne time. 

The beard I grew waiting for the lift

A relaxing time, one would think, dear reader. No. No. Definitely not. Despite the very high ceilings in the bar area, the clientele felt the need to SHOUT AT EACH OTHER RATHER SPEAK WITH AN INSIDE VOICE. Normally this would provide me with an opportunity to make a comment about the gauche behaviour of the younger generation. Sadly, not this time. It appeared to apply to a cross section of society. Certainly not us, nor the table directly behind us, but I could have joined into many a conversation around the bar area while not leaving my seat. Of course I could hardly hear what Jayne was saying. It reminded me of an episode of After Life. What? You haven't see it. Netflix, my dear reader. Just do it.

Room with a view

Whilst the champagne was enjoyed and I was lambasted by a friend from afar for drinking "French plonk", as he put it, while in the heart of the Australian wine industry, it was not an enjoyable afternoon. Why do people feel the need to shout when someone is merely across the table?

Tommy Little is here. In the hotel. Well, the pool area actually. Did I mention that? There are others that also refer to themselves as comedians but I don't find them amusing, so I shall not name them.

Same room, different view

Following our champagne, we retired to our room, pre-dinner, so we could converse without SHOUTING. It also gave me some time to commence the blog. It's been a while and things have changed. I'm having trouble loading pictures. Sigh.

Anyway. Dinner was fabulous. We stayed for dinner in the hotel because we thought it would be too difficult on a Saturday night during the Fringe to get a table at a restaurant. To be honest we weren't expecting much. Wrong. The food was brilliant. So much choice. We couldn't decide and opted for the share plate menu for 2. Just awesome. Great wine list, not cheap, but great wines. The food was excellent. I should have taken photos. Should have. I remembered the wine ... I love viognier, you don't often see it as a white wine, it's usually in a blend.

Following a wonderful meal, it's bedtime.

Until tomorrow.

Or when I can be bothered to sit at the keyboard.