Well today it is on to Adelaide. Most non-Australians are probably wondering, "Where's that"? If you are following on a map, go to Melbourne and look just west. It is about an hour flight from Melbourne. It is a coastal town, like all of Australian large cities. So why go there? Wine and the Barossa Valley. This area is known to be the equivalent of the USA's Napa Valley. Barossa is known for their famous Australian Shiraz, one of my favorite red wines.
I leave Melbourne with mixed feelings wondering if I will ever come back this way. It was my home 2011-2012 so its a place I can never forget. There are several survey's about the most livable city in the world and Melbourne, along with Sydney are always found in the TopTen. That is no accident. There is not a finer, cleaner, friendlier and healthier place than Melbourne.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/melbourne-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-the-fourth-year-running/5681014
I have now officially moved to a "bigger boat" to carry my gifts and souvenirs. What is crowding and making this bag heavier is the number of books and brochures that I'm bringing back. This bag has no wheels so it needs to be carried the old fashion way...with muscle...in this case the muscles of a 62 year old that's wrestling days were over 40 years ago. Okay so its one bag with being pulled with wheels, a second smaller bag with wheels, a heavy back pack and a 40 lb. bag shlepped over my shoulder. Quite a sight. I find a cab pretty quick and it takes me to the Melbourne's central transportation center, Southern Cross. I think I mentioned before, this is where all local, regional and national buses and trains leave. I catch the bus that takes me to Melbourne International Airport but I'm going domestic again on Virgin Australia. I leave the priority bag tags on my two heavy bags from my last flight on this airline, that hopefully will help me show the check-in person that these bags have be "approved" before on their airline. The backpack and wheeled carry on...that now serves only as a "dirty clothes and shoe bag goes on board with me.
I get to the counter and the lady sees my bags tagged "Virgin Priority" and they are pushed on through to the baggage conveyor belt. I get my boarding pass, that gives me access to their executive lounge, since I'm a Delta Priority member, which Virgin honors. Again, they have their own security check-in, which I'm the only person... biff, bam, boom I'm clear. I enjoy the next two hours, of course, having breakfast, reading the first USA Today I've seen in a couple of months and give a ring to my mom (the worry wart).
The flight is off on time and we are on approach to Adelaide in just 45 minutes. We come in from the ocean and have a great view of the green landscape that makes up Adelaide. As we get close to landing you can see the clear blue and green reefed waters off it's coast.
For the next two nights I'll be staying at the Adelaide Hilton, then its a 2 hour drive to Angaston in Barossa Valley for three days, before heading to my last stop on this wonderful trip in Cairns. So there is no taxi involved so how I'm I going to get around?...rent a car. This means I will need to navigate to drive on the left hand lanes on the highway in a car where the driver seat is on the right side of the car. Not an easy task. The last time I did this is where I was in Spain, almost four years ago. It worked out okay since I drove along the Spanish Mediterranean to Gibraltar and back to Malaga.
So I move on over with my cart full of bags in the 94 degree heat (again remember it is summer here) on over to the Hertz desk. Everything has moved well today, no hassles, until now. For what every reason my drivers license is not in my neat little cloth wallet I carry in my front pocket. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I have seen it on this trip. Well I can't drive without a license and I'm not prepared to take the Australian drivers test. Okay now David think! I do remember that I took a few credit cards and other papers out of my big wallets and put them in a plastic bag, but where is that plastic bag. It makes sense it would be in my backpack...nada. Okay look in the big bag with all the other 60 lbs. of stuff...nada. I know it's not in my new big bag of gifts and souvenirs because I just re-packed that this morning. So that leaves the dirty clothes and shoe carry-on bag...nada. Then I remember the big duffel 60 lb. bag has a zipped section that runs along the bottom of the bag. I unzip the bottom of the bag and rummage through the winter/cool weather clothes that I will not need the rest of the trip. I find one plastic bag of cards and papers to include all my boarding passes that I saved and there it is. Like every time else when you are missing things...it was the last place that I looked.
Okay I'm all legal now and its time to move out to the highway. Luckily this car has a GPS so at least I can keep my eyes on the road...left side of the road. The main road leading out actually leads me right to the road that the Hilton is located. Okay I can do this, just stay on this road and follow the car in front of you. I was doing just fine until we came to a "roundabout". I roundabout is used on a road or highway to direct traffic to turning lanes without having to use a traffic light. So if you are going straight you actually will have to turn left and circle over to the other side of the highway. I start my turn left but I'm in the wrong lane to get off to my highway road, so I start circling and circling until I get over to the next lane and on to my road. That was quite an adventure. The next five miles or so I'm doing quite well...no more roundabouts. I can see the Hilton in the distance. It should be a simple right hand turn, I'm in the correct lane..oh crap another roundabout and this one has about six streets that flow into to this circular street. Needless to say I panicked a bit..well a lot..and missed my cut off street again. Around and around I go again...and determine which left turn out I will need to take. After the third....or maybe the fourth trip around I make a dash for the left turn that looks like it is in front of the Hilton. Made it. I pull up to the front and decide there is no way I'm looking for public parking because it is on the other end of the building. Valet today!
I exit my car and the nice young man collects my car, I get a receipt, and I'm only taking two bags in with me. The heavy duffel and backpack, easy pezy.
I check in, get my free upgrade to a mini-suite. It's is now about 3PM so I decide to take a short nap since I've had some battles sleeping lately. Plus I have no particular agenda until tomorrow when I meet Julie Clifford, who was the college director for me at Carrick College in 2001-2012, a few of her friends and husband. I wake up around 5PM, go downstairs to have dinner and come back to try and finish Call of the Wild.
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