Adelaide, Australia

You may be itching to correct the title, so allow me to clarify that this was the longest day for me. A haha. The early flights are the cheapest, so I was flying from Brisbane to Adelaide at 6.15. 6.15! No public transport at that time, but I’d found an airport transfer service which meant I needed to walk to a nearby hotel for 4am. Heck of an early start; and not the ideal welcome for my new roommate, who had come from Bangalore by way of Sydney for his next new job here. At least he could roll over and go back to sleep, though.

I stood outside in the dark, waiting for my minibus and plotting alternatives in case it didn’t show up. It was there bang on time, driven by a German and carrying a young Yorkshireman for company. We were at the airport before 5, very early, and through security within 10 minutes. I was then back out of security and into the terminal, because I’d forgotten to get a refund for my Go card. I had to hang around to wait for the station to open, but had plenty of time and then off we went.

Adelaide is about a three hour flight away, with a half hour time difference. I hopped on the bus to town and changed to the bus to Paradise. That sounded promising, but I got off before Paradise; it just wasn’t time for that. My Airbnb accommodation is out in the suburbs, owned by a Malaysian student and starting off with a UK/Aus – a total dude, but I missed his name and it was something complicated like Radavan, so I didn’t dare ask again – and a US flatmate, Dan. It was still only 11am and I had travelled by minibus, plane and two buses. Adelaide is going through changeable weather, but it had settled on warm for today. I explored a little, finding my local area fully suburban, with parched lawns and low houses. Not every house is single storey, but the vast majority are – whenever I got out, it feels as though I could get a great view over everything if only I could jump a couple of metres.

I dozed in the afternoon and finally got up for a run around 5. Rad and our host, Yvonne, were just coming back from a visit to the German village, Hahndorf, and he decided to join me which was great – it saved me from having to find a route. It was a suburban journey of exploration, a few miles down the main road, round a large area of scrub and parkland and then back. Rad had had (ha) enough 6 miles in and ran the last 2 home, but I made it a 12 miler, not bad in the sun.

Back at the house, dinner was provided, which was a huge bonus, and then, after Yvonne had avidly watched a Narnia film while we boys had given it cursory attention, we played best of 40 on the PS2. Games with 4 – a great way to end a long day, but the marathon version that we were playing took hours. It was only halfway through that Yvonne confessed she’d not played the long one before but never mind, my reward for staying awake was victory, and immediate bedtime. After 3am to post midnight, that’s as long as I can go.