2 baby showers: Polly and future baby Mateo (up), and Karla and Adrian and future baby Daniel David (down)
Lots of fun, lots of friends, thank you all!
Where is Adelaide?
Adelaide is in South Australia. The city has been described as the "City of Churches", "Athens of the South", "The Wine State", "The Festival State" and the State of the Arts". It truly lives up to all of these titles. It has a moderate, mediterranean climate, with long, warm to hot summers and short winters. Its popultation is 1.4 million lucky souls. Adelaide is also the capital of the Wine State. A must see is the new Wine Centre, which showcases Australia's booming wine industry and is situated on the extension of North terrace. South Australia produces more than 60% of Australia's wine in 7 differnet wine districts, all of them with a special character of their own, the most famous is the Barrossa Valley.
Adelaide at night
Wherever you want to go in Adelaide is easily accessible, there is an absence of traffic jams. This is in great part thanks to the legacy of Colonel William Light, who laid the city out on a square mile grid, with quite wide boulevards. Colonel Light also surrounded the city with a buffer zone of parklands, very well preserved: leafy streets and squares are present everywhere. Culture, art and entertainment is live. Beaches figure largely in the life of Adelaide. This is not surprising when you look on a map- a long sandy coastline goes from Gulf St Vincent and down to Capre Jervis. Kangaroo Island is a main attraction.
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island is Australia's third largest island - after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is 112 kilometres southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf Saint Vincent. About 4,400 inhabitants live on the island, 1,800 of them in Kingscote in 2001. The economy is mostly agricultural (wine, honey, wool, meat and grain). Besides this tourism and fishing play a significant role.
Uluru - Ayers Rock
Uluru, formely named Ayers Rock, is a massive monolithic sandstone rock in Central Australia, convering an area of 3.3 square kilometers.
Sydney
Did you know? Sydney is NOT the capital from Australia, the capital is Canberra, which is the only large city in Australia with no beach. But Sydney is the largest city in Australia with over 4 million people (less than half a million in Canberra).
The Opera House in Sydney
It is the most famous landmark in Sydney, like Uluru for Australia.
Surfing
What is surfing but an outlet for anxiety and stress, an inlet for nature and satisfaction, a connection between you and the ocean with your board acting like some semi-conductor of magnetic and gravitational forces pulsing from the center the sprawling expanse of nature itself? Sounds a bit fluffy, huh? But stay with me on this. It’s this connection that is at the very core of the surfing experience. This connection is addictive, all-encompassing, and sometimes all-powerful. This connection enthralls many to forsake relationships, careers, and even their own health only to emerge ten years down the line, weather-beaten and alone with only memories of great waves and great times. Go surf! It is better to try it and leave, than to never try it at all...
Wine in Australia
South Australia, mainly around Adelaide, is the perfect weather for wine, both red and white. Australian wines are largely exported, the principal destinations being England, USA, Canada, Germany and New Zealand.
So, do Australians really eat kangaroos?
Yes! Indeed... it tastes strong though... There are 55 species of kangaroos native to Australia, they vary in size and weight, ranging from half a kilo to 90 kilos! All commercial shooters of kangaroos must have a licence. The red kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo and western grey kangaroos are 90% of the ones that are eaten. There are 50 millions of these 3 types of kangaroos only...
And TAZ?
The Tasmanian devil doesn’t only exist in cartoons! They are a most unusual mammal, found only on the island state of Tasmania, a part of Australia. Why the “fiery” name and reputation? Early European settlers heard the eerie growl a devil makes as it searches for food. And when a group of devils feeds together at a carcass, harsh screeching and spine-chilling screams can be heard. Devils are also black in color and are said to have fierce tempers!
What about the other animals?
You must know that the Australian continent is a land like no other. More than 80% of the country's flowering plants, mammals, reptiles and frogs are unique to Australia, along with most of the fish and almost half of the birds. The koala is unique to Australia, unfortunately, also are some not so cute animals like spiders, snakes, crocodiles and spiders: of the 770 Australian reptiles, 685 are found nowhere else... Also 90% of Australia's insects and arachnids are unique to this country...
Who is Nemo?
Nemo is a Clown Fish. The Clown fish lives on the sea floor usually in anemones. It inhabits the warm waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Crocodiles in Australia
There are two kinds of crocodiles in Australia: the Estuarine, a saltwater crocodile and Johnsons, a freshwater crocodile. Both are found in the hot, tropical northern part of the continent. They both eat meat. They are dangerous, even though Steve Irwin died doing what he loved best, getting too close to one of the animals he dedicated his life to, and that was not a crocodile...
The rainbow lorikeet
More than 750 species of birds have been recorded in Australia, 350 of which are found nowhere else in the world. Among them are the koakaburra, the rainbow lorikeet and fairy penguins.