We had spent most of our time in Adelaide passing a cold between ourselves, and were consequently feeling pretty rough. Hostels aren't the best places to be when you are feeling unwell, there is little peace and even less privacy, we were however about to get pretty lucky. It was Friday and we had to move out of our hostel and we had nowhere to go, but in the space of one hour the endless phone calls that were made without success were about to become a distant memory. Not only did Quest Mansions offer us a serviced apartment for the weekend, we also received a phone call from Angela at Namaste restaurant to offer us a complimentary meal for the Saturday night.
Cities are often like this for us. We can go for days without any success and the gulf between our situation and those around us seems to be at its widest. With no money to spend and most people busy, cities are often the hardest places to get by. For us to have somewhere quiet and private to relax is a big deal - and to be offered a slap up meal in a nice restaurant, allows us to slip back into a relatively normal life, if just for a little while. For the opportunity to do this huge thanks must go to Brian and Angela Stebbing at Namaste.
We followed up their initial phone call to make sure it would be okay to turn up in our rags as we didn't want to offend their patrons, and after promising to dress as smartly as we could we spent the next 24 hours salivating in anticipation.On our arrival Brian and Angela greeted us and as they were very busy Angela led us to our table. After handing us our menus and recommending a few dishes she then said we should feel free to eat and drink what we liked. We were to be treated like normal customers. Normal customers! Overjoyed we thanked her and eased into our chairs for the duration.
The food was exceptional. This fine food was eaten with bottles of beer and glasses of wine, as we relaxed more with each passing minute and eased even further into our chairs. When coffee and desert were offered we had to pinch our selves.
As people drifted gradually from their seats and departed into the night we continued to enjoy our food, and for us, this rare taste of the lives we used to live. Just as we thought the night couldn't get any better we were invited to stay a while longer. It was the chef’s birthday and the staff were staying around for a few drinks and some food. We were so full that we couldn't conceivably force any more food into our rotund bellies. We did have room however for a few more drinks as we savored the company of our hosts and the restaurant staff.
We are exceptionally grateful to Brian and Angela for their act of generosity. We left Namaste with bellies full of divine food, but also having enjoyed some much needed and seldom enjoyed time away from the consuming nature of 'the trip'.
The word "Namaste" translates as "I respect that divinity within you that is also within me."
Read a cheeky bit more!
Adelaide - The Cold, the Flu and Someone has been Humping my Pillow!
More spanners in the works.
Gareth’s visa is up again and he has had to jump out of the country again to renew it. This time he has skipped out to New Zealand for a few days. In the mean time Phil and I have been put up in a great apartment, Quest Mansions, for a few days over the weekend, right in the city. It is pure luxury to be able to do simple things like sit on a sofa and make a cup of tea whenever we like. Charlene, the manager has even taken our washing down into the restaurant below, washed our clothes and fed us. This is a treat.
Lilly flowers in Adelaide Botanic Garden
When we arrive in a city we always have to make use of the free public facilities such as library internet access and newspaper reading rooms. Days are spent in the library trying to catch up with emails and writing up everything that has happened during the long periods on the road when we have no internet access and catching up with the news.
We find a place to relax in Adelaide Botanic Gardens
When we have time we visit tourist information to get free maps and find out what treasures we can see for free in the city, and we are always surprised at how much you can do without money. In Adelaide, the South Australian Museum has a huge array of exhibiions under one roof, free of charge. As we wondered around we noticed the Veolia Nature Photographer of the year 2008 Winners were being exhibited.
Below is my entry to this competition.
An interesting plant stem found in the Botanic Gardens
Just a month previously I had entered this picture in the 2009 competition, thanks to my sister Tara paying the £20 entry fee, and I was eager to take a browse around at the kind of standards I was up against. Luckily, we were given complimentary entry into this separately charged exhibition but as I walked through the gallery of astonishing shots, as I walked from frame to frame, I could see my chances of getting anywhere with my entry diminishing with every step. Take a look here at the amazing online gallery.
The hilariously named 'Mother in Law's Chair'
Another fantastic free attraction is the Adelaide Botanic Gardens featuring historic, scientific and educational exhibits of native and exotic plants. Filled with all sorts of people enjoying lunch under trees, taking pictures of specimens and taking a break from the office, this is a green haven of relaxation and peace, slap bang in the middle of the usual hubbub of city frenzy.
A Street Entertainer on Rundle Street Mall
Adelaide itself is a lovely city. If I had money to spend it would have been a great place to try out all the amazing looking cafes, and eateries. But even without cash it was still nice to wander around and happen upon some wonderful pieces of street art.
So far we have managed to go without doing these extremes
A few days later the temperature dropped.
We had been kitted out in clothes fit for intense humid summer only and now we have just landed in what feels like winter. Luckily I was given a pair of jeans from Sheree in Esperance but if it weren’t for that one pair I would be without full length covering my legs. I am still yet to be given any shoes and my toes are usually a pale blue colour. Sleeping in the van which is tightly parked in the small car park of a The Travellers Inn Hostel, (to whom we are very grateful for allowing us the use of their facilities including phone and internet). It’s so cold that I am wearing nearly every clothing item I have been given, I can't stop shivering even though I'm lying under a pile of sleeping bag, blankets and coats and I can’t bring myself to open the window to help remove the germs from my cramped environment for fear of letting more cold in. I have the dreaded flu.
Teenage lovers carve their declarations of love on the bamboo canes in the Botanic Gardens making some interesting graffitti art
I don’t know if it was the scrubbing of seagull poo out in the open, wearing next to no clothes, in Esperance; the sudden drop in temperature; or both, that got the better of me, but I am pretty miserable at the moment.
The camoflage pattern of this London Plain tree must be the inspiration for army wear
Headache, muscle ache and sinuses completely blocked, I have to breathe from my mouth, and I can’t stop the insane cycle of 3 sets 8 eight sneezes in a row per tissue.
Water fountain at the Botanic Gardens
Of course, we all know a cold is untreatable, but there are things which you can do to relieve the symptoms and to remove the germs from your environment.
Unfortunately for me, I can’t do any of these things. I can’t wash my pillow, put on warm clothes and lie in a comfy bed in a heated room with a bowl of chicken soup. In fact, I can’t eat any food items which would do me any real good right now. We are eating out of tins and it may well be the lack of fresh food in our diets that has left me susceptible to catching this cold. I don’t want to wash my hair because I haven’t used a hair dryer in over half a year and I know my long hair won’t dry properly for days in this wet cold weather.
Yes, the trite little mundane issues we most often find difficult to deal on this trip, have for me been turned into huge maudlin complaints now that I have flu and feel sorry for myself. The hackneyed sentences ‘Oh, if only I had a……..’ and ‘I would be better by now if I just had a……..’ splutter about my vicinity whenever the boys are near, but due to our circumstances, the only thing Phil can do to comfort me is make cup of tea after cup of tea (with no milk though I want it white).
Well, I won’t die but I don’t half feel the need for a few comforting things right now. I’ve just used my last tissue. Phrump.
So, looks like I won’t be doing much work in Adelaide.
We spend most nights in the van but do have some nights in a couple of hostels around town and are reminded about how disgusting other travellers can be. We found this cheese sandwich on the window sill, one bite taken out of it and the rest just left there for days. It was there when we checked in and was still there when we checked out, ants crawling all over it, a few days later.
Anyone who has ever stayed in a cheap large dormitory room knows how great and easy it is to meet fellow travellers and find a sociable group of people. However, along side this togetherness and friendly socialising, comes a few annoyances too. For example the ‘dorm rustle’. It starts with one or two of the dorm occupants going to sleep at a reasonable hour in preparation for that early morning tour they have booked, which has a pick up time of six am sharp. The fun starts as the rest of the bunk bed residents slowly decide to hit the sack in drips and drabs at stupid o'clock throughout the night in varying states of inebriation.
A water fountain on the streets of Adelaide displaying Aboriginal statues
Of course, with a room full of other people trying to sleep, putting the light on would be a big no-no, so, with up most respect for others the ‘rustlers’ creep into their corner of the room, and the fumble in the dark begins. Every item they need in order to prepare for sleep is in their back pack, somewhere, but will most likely at the bottom, the plastic bags within rustle, bin bag protecting clothes are searched through, afterward shopping bag are riffled and finally bags containing toothbrush rustle free of their bristle sticks.
Finally the rustler is ready to bed down and they hop into bed banging their head on the top bunk on entry, the under sheet of plastic on the mattress rustles as they find a foetal position facing the wall. And then a few minutes later, the next party goer returns from a few beers on the town, trips over a few plastic bags and starts his own rustling. All the while I’m trying not to listen to the rustling around me, trying so hard to get some sleep, but I am lying awake in my bottom bunk, staring at the disturbing bit of graffiti someone has written on the underside of the top bunk, which simply states:
‘I’VE BEEN HUMPING YOUR PILLOW.’
Doing a very small amount of fund raising around a few pubs, doing newspaper and radio interviews and we tried to make up for the fact we were all feeling a little caught out by the weather and cold temperature but all in all we really didn't feel too constructive in Adelade due to our failing health.
We interviewed in the ABC Adelaide studios
Read a cheeky bit more!
Gareth’s visa is up again and he has had to jump out of the country again to renew it. This time he has skipped out to New Zealand for a few days. In the mean time Phil and I have been put up in a great apartment, Quest Mansions, for a few days over the weekend, right in the city. It is pure luxury to be able to do simple things like sit on a sofa and make a cup of tea whenever we like. Charlene, the manager has even taken our washing down into the restaurant below, washed our clothes and fed us. This is a treat.
Lilly flowers in Adelaide Botanic Garden
When we arrive in a city we always have to make use of the free public facilities such as library internet access and newspaper reading rooms. Days are spent in the library trying to catch up with emails and writing up everything that has happened during the long periods on the road when we have no internet access and catching up with the news.
We find a place to relax in Adelaide Botanic Gardens
When we have time we visit tourist information to get free maps and find out what treasures we can see for free in the city, and we are always surprised at how much you can do without money. In Adelaide, the South Australian Museum has a huge array of exhibiions under one roof, free of charge. As we wondered around we noticed the Veolia Nature Photographer of the year 2008 Winners were being exhibited.
Below is my entry to this competition.An interesting plant stem found in the Botanic Gardens
Just a month previously I had entered this picture in the 2009 competition, thanks to my sister Tara paying the £20 entry fee, and I was eager to take a browse around at the kind of standards I was up against. Luckily, we were given complimentary entry into this separately charged exhibition but as I walked through the gallery of astonishing shots, as I walked from frame to frame, I could see my chances of getting anywhere with my entry diminishing with every step. Take a look here at the amazing online gallery.
The hilariously named 'Mother in Law's Chair'
Another fantastic free attraction is the Adelaide Botanic Gardens featuring historic, scientific and educational exhibits of native and exotic plants. Filled with all sorts of people enjoying lunch under trees, taking pictures of specimens and taking a break from the office, this is a green haven of relaxation and peace, slap bang in the middle of the usual hubbub of city frenzy.
A Street Entertainer on Rundle Street Mall
Adelaide itself is a lovely city. If I had money to spend it would have been a great place to try out all the amazing looking cafes, and eateries. But even without cash it was still nice to wander around and happen upon some wonderful pieces of street art.
So far we have managed to go without doing these extremes
A few days later the temperature dropped.
We had been kitted out in clothes fit for intense humid summer only and now we have just landed in what feels like winter. Luckily I was given a pair of jeans from Sheree in Esperance but if it weren’t for that one pair I would be without full length covering my legs. I am still yet to be given any shoes and my toes are usually a pale blue colour. Sleeping in the van which is tightly parked in the small car park of a The Travellers Inn Hostel, (to whom we are very grateful for allowing us the use of their facilities including phone and internet). It’s so cold that I am wearing nearly every clothing item I have been given, I can't stop shivering even though I'm lying under a pile of sleeping bag, blankets and coats and I can’t bring myself to open the window to help remove the germs from my cramped environment for fear of letting more cold in. I have the dreaded flu.
Teenage lovers carve their declarations of love on the bamboo canes in the Botanic Gardens making some interesting graffitti art
I don’t know if it was the scrubbing of seagull poo out in the open, wearing next to no clothes, in Esperance; the sudden drop in temperature; or both, that got the better of me, but I am pretty miserable at the moment.
The camoflage pattern of this London Plain tree must be the inspiration for army wear
Headache, muscle ache and sinuses completely blocked, I have to breathe from my mouth, and I can’t stop the insane cycle of 3 sets 8 eight sneezes in a row per tissue.
Water fountain at the Botanic Gardens
Of course, we all know a cold is untreatable, but there are things which you can do to relieve the symptoms and to remove the germs from your environment.
Unfortunately for me, I can’t do any of these things. I can’t wash my pillow, put on warm clothes and lie in a comfy bed in a heated room with a bowl of chicken soup. In fact, I can’t eat any food items which would do me any real good right now. We are eating out of tins and it may well be the lack of fresh food in our diets that has left me susceptible to catching this cold. I don’t want to wash my hair because I haven’t used a hair dryer in over half a year and I know my long hair won’t dry properly for days in this wet cold weather.
Yes, the trite little mundane issues we most often find difficult to deal on this trip, have for me been turned into huge maudlin complaints now that I have flu and feel sorry for myself. The hackneyed sentences ‘Oh, if only I had a……..’ and ‘I would be better by now if I just had a……..’ splutter about my vicinity whenever the boys are near, but due to our circumstances, the only thing Phil can do to comfort me is make cup of tea after cup of tea (with no milk though I want it white).
Well, I won’t die but I don’t half feel the need for a few comforting things right now. I’ve just used my last tissue. Phrump.
So, looks like I won’t be doing much work in Adelaide.
We spend most nights in the van but do have some nights in a couple of hostels around town and are reminded about how disgusting other travellers can be. We found this cheese sandwich on the window sill, one bite taken out of it and the rest just left there for days. It was there when we checked in and was still there when we checked out, ants crawling all over it, a few days later.
Anyone who has ever stayed in a cheap large dormitory room knows how great and easy it is to meet fellow travellers and find a sociable group of people. However, along side this togetherness and friendly socialising, comes a few annoyances too. For example the ‘dorm rustle’. It starts with one or two of the dorm occupants going to sleep at a reasonable hour in preparation for that early morning tour they have booked, which has a pick up time of six am sharp. The fun starts as the rest of the bunk bed residents slowly decide to hit the sack in drips and drabs at stupid o'clock throughout the night in varying states of inebriation.
A water fountain on the streets of Adelaide displaying Aboriginal statues
Of course, with a room full of other people trying to sleep, putting the light on would be a big no-no, so, with up most respect for others the ‘rustlers’ creep into their corner of the room, and the fumble in the dark begins. Every item they need in order to prepare for sleep is in their back pack, somewhere, but will most likely at the bottom, the plastic bags within rustle, bin bag protecting clothes are searched through, afterward shopping bag are riffled and finally bags containing toothbrush rustle free of their bristle sticks.
Finally the rustler is ready to bed down and they hop into bed banging their head on the top bunk on entry, the under sheet of plastic on the mattress rustles as they find a foetal position facing the wall. And then a few minutes later, the next party goer returns from a few beers on the town, trips over a few plastic bags and starts his own rustling. All the while I’m trying not to listen to the rustling around me, trying so hard to get some sleep, but I am lying awake in my bottom bunk, staring at the disturbing bit of graffiti someone has written on the underside of the top bunk, which simply states:
‘I’VE BEEN HUMPING YOUR PILLOW.’
Doing a very small amount of fund raising around a few pubs, doing newspaper and radio interviews and we tried to make up for the fact we were all feeling a little caught out by the weather and cold temperature but all in all we really didn't feel too constructive in Adelade due to our failing health.
We interviewed in the ABC Adelaide studios
Read a cheeky bit more!
Adelaide - You Mad Cows Can't Donate Blood
Does Mad Cow disease explain our crazy travel plans?
When we have a bad day, when things don't seem to pan out well, when we have to eat that stale bread without butter and sleep on the bottom bunk of a six dorm room that has decided to have a party around us, we look to other things to make us feel better. Without money it is impossible to reach for a bar of chocolate or a beer to comfort us, we have to think of other ways to take our mind off the things we covet.
Bad days for us are pretty tough. No food, no bed and no phone credit not to mention the SA temperature is dropping and we are only kitted out for tropical heat. This kind of bad luck usually only holds for a short while, we know from past experiences that we will eventually have good fortune.
In Perth, our new found friend, Mike Gilbert, turned one of our worst days yet into a joyous occasion when he decided to help us out when he was himself having a bad day, so we decided to take a leaf out of his book. Walking the streets of Adelaide we came across a blood donation centre and decided to give blood. Being the recipient of donated blood myself I know how important this kind of service is so we walked with a needle nervous stride to do a good thing. If we could help someone today then maybe due to karma we would have a better day tomorrow.
However, what we found out about our potentially tainted blood shocked us.
We can’t give blood because we lived in the UK for six months during the period 1980-1996 for fear of vCJD (the human form of ‘mad cow disease’). We three mad cows are not eligible to be donors.
Interestingly, if we had genital herpes or had smoked marijuana we would have still been eligible.
We walked out feeling a little perplexed, we didn’t feel ‘mad’ but then it would explain a lot, maybe it even explains the reasons behind us doing this trip.
Read a cheeky bit more!
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