I'm from Adelaide

"Penguins"at Granite island, Victor Harbour

Adelaide site, Belair NP

Three nights off the grid was enough. Sara a little better. We packed up and set off for Murray Bridge for some running repairs on the van. Kids and Sara spent the day at the skate park and playground next door to the local bunyip. I walked into town, read the paper, had a coffee, and did a few jobs. Meanwhile Trevor and Carole did a great job fixing the van and we were back on the road by 3.

Unfortunately, we hadn't banked on the Australia Day weekend. We called 5 parks before we got into the Belair National Park Caravan Park. We wished we'd called it first. This park is in the middle of a national park, 8k's out of Adelaide. It's up in the hills, and the drive into it was hairy, but the park itself was beautiful. Trees all over. You wouldn't know you were so close to the city.

Sara had taken a turn for the worse, so I ordered pizza. Expensive dinner, but really good. We stayed put the next day exploring the park. On the Friday, I got to tick something off the bucket list and spent the day on the hill at the Adelaide oval watching the cricket. Sara and the kids went to the zoo. I won. We did a day trip to Middleton Beach and Victor Harbour. Surf was good. Ivy stood on a board for the first time. She's a goofy foot with an effective but unusual frog like stance.

When in Adelaide we caught up with Katie, Bruce and Declan. I used to live next door to Katie when we were growing up. We all (not Sara) went to the cricket on Saturday for an hour to watch the Aussies led by Captain Clark (can't warm to him, and Haddin is a goose) finish off the Indians who I think had been on the plane home since the test started. That night we had a barbie in Belair NP and ate some Coorong mullet with fresh vegies from Katie's garden. Bruce gave us an introduction to the local birdlife, Katie told us which snakes to avoid, and then they argued over why exactly a koala I spotted would be so close to the ground and not in a eucalypt. Probably sick was the conclusion.

Adelaide is a great place. Big enough to be a city with all the comforts someone from Camberwell could want. Small enough to make it feel not like Camberwell, and more like a country town. The museum and gallery were first class. We met some locals too. Chris and his family were staying opposite us in their new Winnebago. They'd driven from Happy Valley, 5 minutes down the road. If you live in Adelaide, why would you choose to holiday anywhere else.