Adelaide & Perth Australia

This week I traveled to Adelaide, Australia for 3 days, then over to Perth for the remainder of the week. Traveling to Australia from KL wears me out, since both outgoing and incoming flights are all red-eyes. Some people sleep away the overnight hours on these long flights and arrive at their destination fully rested; I am not one of these people. I'm pretty much wrecked when I arrive. I will say that, after logging almost 300 hours flying time in the past 12 months, I am getting better at it.

I arrived in Adelaide at 7:00am and made it to my hotel by 9:30. After a 2 hr power nap, I was picked by a colleague and we drove an hour into the mountains to watch the "Rally-SA." (SA is the abbreviation for the Australian state of South Australia) Since July-Sept is Winter in Australia, the weather was a cool 12 C (54 F). We drove past rivers, small towns, lakes and even a wine vineyard. It was almost like being home in the Black Hills. Once into the foothills, we came around a corner and saw this road sign.

I said "Hmmm...that would be cool to see a Kangaroo!" To which my colleague relied "I sure the hell don't". I guess a kangaroo is just as much of a nuisance and a hazard to the Australian driver as a deer are to the US driver. But, still, I wanted to see one. So I kept my eyes peeled, but no luck.

We then arrived at the "Rally-SA". This was one stage of the Australian Rally Championship. This is one of those off road stage races where the driver and navigator make their way across hundreds and hundreds of kilometers on windy tree laden gravel roads; at really fast speeds. Sometime they catch some good air or even slide off the road on a mis-judged corner. The weather was cool, the air was fresh; burgers and hot chocolate were abound. Some families even had their own campfire.

We had a good spot right along a long straightaway. We could first hear the cars approaching (about 2 minutes apart), then they would jump into our view just over the rise. They'd accelerate through the straights and I'd think to myself there is no way this guy is going to make the corner. Just then they lock the brakes, drop a couple gears, pitch the car sideways and accelerate though the corner. At least that's what the good ones do. Once in while one will brake too hard, or too early, and simply drive around the corner. On a couple of occasions, they came in too fast and slid completely off the road. That really gets the crowd excited.

We drove back to town and had a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant, then I finally got some serious shut-eye. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Work, work and more work. Tuesday night I flew from Adelaide to Perth, which is only about 4 hrs. Perth is located on the lower west coast of WA (Western Australia). Again, I spent most of my time working and entertaining customers. I don't have too many pictures from Perth, as I have yet to see anything really iconic about the city. If it weren't for the local accents or the cars driving on the left-hand side of the road, I really couldn't tell the difference between this Australian city and a typical American city. I did find interesting, however, the way they control pedestrian traffic at intersections. When you walk up to an intersection, like anywhere, you have to hit the crosswalk button to cross. After a few minutes, all the traffic lights turn red, stopping cars in all directions, an all cross walks turn green. This gives pedestrians right-of way in all directions, even diagonally. I thought to myself "hmmm...thats a pretty damn good idea."

I did learn to speak some Australian. Most of the time, just end the word with an "i" or "y" and you will be fine.

Uni = University
Sunnies = sunglasses

Footy = Australian football

Icy=Popsicle

Choci's=chocolates

Lollies= candy

Mozzies=mosquitoes

Dilly=small bag

Nappy=diaper