Playing ball

Seems like my basketball efforts are yielding some results. Having used Gumtree to find a team to play with on Sundays, in the boondocks, I've been invited to join a second team - the Kings - who play on Tuesdays, just around the corner.

It turns out I need a white jersey to match their current outfit; and when I say match, I mean it needs to have a white base and whatever else you wanna put on top of that. I didn't want to go with a Serbian thing, nor a British thing, nor any down under jokes - so to speak - so I came up with this ingenious design!

The two squares actually came up by default as they could not do the special Serbian characters in any font... I plan to just write them in with permanent, waterproof ink :-)

A friendly hug

Here's a story to remind yourself of the diversity of creepy crawly flora down under :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23254178

And here's us handling one of its (much smaller) cousins in December last year!

Hallett Cove

About a week ago we checked out Hallett Cove, a somewhat posh suburb of Adelaide situated on the coast. It's packed with the 'second' houses of the rich, some situated right above the beach and most with a stunning view of the South Ocean. I wish I could say we were house hunting - more likely checking out how the other half live down under.

Motor brrm brrm

It only seems right that the South Australian government give you a brand new car when you turn up in Adelaide for the first time. It's a wonderful Australian custom of welcoming new arrivals. And the streets are paved with gold too...

Helen landed her new job within a month of arriving, and it included the use of a company car. She was given a chunky grey Holden (Ozzie equivalent of Vauxhall/Opel) to use until her new car arrived.

A week or so ago, the new set of wheels was ready - a white Honda CR-V - and yes, it's an SUV :-)

It was the first time ever that either of us picked up a brand new car straight from a dealership.

We literally drove it off the shop floor, via the forecourt and onto the road - a weird experience. The thing was too wide to fit through the double doors, we had to fold the side mirrors... I can report that the rumours are true - I could hear the value drop by 10% as the tyres touched the tarmac. Check out the total mileage, or rather, kilometrage.

Main thing is, I can finally be a kept Essex house-husband, Ozzie style. Give me a barbecue, spray-on  tan and oversized 'sunnies' and the transformation will be complete!

Walk in Morialta Gorge

As one of our first trips, on Sunday we went for a walk around the Morialta Gorge and Falls, a 20 minute drive from Adelaide. It was a cold but sunny morning and as the day progressed, the sun grew stronger and the temperature rose to around 18 degrees C.

We topped the day off with a coffee and the best muffin in the greater Adelaide area, at the Organic Market and Cafe in Stirling, a picturesque little town in the Adelaide Hills.

Enjoy the photos!

Directions to Oz

Face south. Put your feet together, look straight up, spread your arms. Jump up and fall off the face of the Earth. As you fall southwards, take your time, chill and enjoy the clouds, the sun and the breeze. Let the Earth spin round to slide Australia closer underneath you. When you see New Zealand far off ahead in the distance, turn right, and you are there. If we are not home, try the beach.

Cycling, beach and a persistent pelican

Yesterday I went for a little cycle - my second visit to the ocean since I arrived. Adelaide has a 15 km cycle and pedestrian track along the Torrens River; it starts in the northern suburbs, runs through the city centre and ends up right on the beach. It's a wicked ride and the weather was warm and sunny so I took my time.

Once I got to the ocean and on to Henley Beach, I strolled out on the pier - ice cream in hand, yummy wildberry yoghurt flavour if you wanna know - and found this rather persistent pelican perched on the promenade. He kept striding up and down the pier and you got the feeling he was a sergeant major overseeing the two angler grunts as they pulled up HIS fish. And if he didn't get the fish... well, you just didn't want to go there, believe me!