Adelaide departure

Come on, the painful puns have been few and far between...

Tinkerbell, that redoubtable old chariot, is in need of some repair work, and Mr Ultratune can't fit us in until Thursday. So rather than the two or three days planned, we'll be staying in Adelaide for a week and a half. Not that we've seen a week's worth of the city. Our caravan park is more central than most we've stayed in, but it's still a half-hour walk into town, and frankly, we've had a busy few weeks and we've got a hired telly in the van. So it's been a lazy few days, punctuated by the occasional very pleasant meander along the Torrens river into the city. Australian TV is pretty dire - most evenings' highlights are one of the several million US detective shows, most with tough-sounding initials like CSI or NCIS or, erm, Law and Order. But for the first few days at least, it felt great to slob about watching the box and eating dinner in bed. Now it's starting to drag a bit. Just like Perth really - we loved the creature comforts of that apartment for a few days then the old guilty feelings started to emerge, like shouldn't we be doing better stuff with this time away from home than working out if it was the identical twin who did it.

And so yesterday the news that we'd be here for another three nights was not what we'd hoped for; I was thinking that we'd be in Melbourne by the weekend, and by the following weekend would know where we're going to be living. That decision can't come soon enough, as we're starting to plan stuff for the next few months, yet we can't very well make it without having seen Melbourne.

But what of Adelaide? Well firstly, I wish it would make up its bleeding mind what season it is. It was mid-twenties when we arrived on Tuesday, peaked at 37.9 degrees a couple of days later, then by Sunday evening we were watching The Bourne Identity from under the duvet, wearing fleeces and woolly socks. And today (Tuesday) it's hot again. 37.9 degrees! In mid-spring!
It's a pretty place, with loads of parkland and the aforementioned river surrounding the few blocks in the centre. It's got a big university, some good bars and restaurants. Again, like Perth - it's nice, but it doesn't have that buzz you get walking the streets of proper big cities. If Melbourne doesn't have it either, my vote will be for Sydney, for sure.