McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Not so hot Adelaide, but so much to do.

Today we head back into a city, I am a bit anxious as we don’t know the roads let alone what the traffic is going to be like, but surely being a Sunday morning it wouldn’t be too bad. Oh and the fact that we also had a navigator to help us out with directions. It was all going well and we were nearly there when suddenly there were all these signs up saying ‘Bridge Closed’. Okay, that is great but which one and when? We had to just keep going and see what happens. Suddenly we come across a lot of traffic and people and our hearts sank thinking we had taken the one road we couldn’t take. In the end we were fine, there was some car racing going on but it did not impact our trip and we made it safely to the caravan park.

Parking the caravan was a bit tight as whilst there was plenty of room for the caravans there was not much extra room for car parking. This meant that a lot of the cars are half parked on the road, making the reversing space even tighter. Luckily the guy across the road from our sight was home and temporarily moved his car. Better still we got it in first go and the gentleman who have moved his car even complemented Jason on his park. Of course it was also my guiding him in (hey I can take partial credit otherwise Jason would have to admit he doesn’t listen to me).

As we had the caravan booked in for a few odd things the next day we didn’t even bother setting up outside. In hindsight I should have better organised our arrival to say arrive on a Monday so we would get the caravan work done before going to the caravan park. However the caravan park had a special on and it was check in on a Sunday and stay 5 nights, so sometimes it is out of your control if you want to make the most of a good deal. Though I found it very hard to relax knowing we still had to go out the next day and drive through the Adelaide traffic to the south side of town, get the work done on the caravan and then come all the way back!

The benefits though of arriving early and not having to set up was that we decided to head straight down to the beach and check the place out. The beaches were just stunning. We had been to Glenelg before and that was pretty but we never knew about these ones around Semaphore Park. Better still, there were awesome playgrounds every couple of hundred metres for the kids, and even better again there was a mini carnival down at the main pier. You should have seen Hamish’s eyes light up when he saw it all. Then his excitement when we agreed to stop and he could have a ride on a few of them.

He was just so excited.

We did get a good laugh after all his complaining of having to walk these long distances of tracks to see sights in the outback and suddenly off in the distance there are rides and he is off and running. We even had to ask him to slow down and wait. Maybe we need to pretend there is a carnival ride at the end of each walking track we do in the future! It was great to see Hamish and Kayla so happy going on a few of the rides, and even Jason went on one to help Kayla through it all. We then had a nice feed of fish and chips before making our way back to the caravan.

I think he could have played on this all day.

Jason and Kayla coming down the slide, they did this one another 4 or so times.

Hamish getting through the moving walkway.

Jason and Kayla's turn - they did well.

Kayla loved this but still wouldn't smile.

Gosh I remember these as a kid.

I had seen some signs for Christmas carols so I did a little google research and found out that the main Adelaide City Christmas Carols were on that night. We weren’t sure if we should go or not as we had once tried to go to the Brisbane ones and the gates got shut so early because they were at capacity, so I wasn’t keen to get all that way in and be turned away, but then I love Christmas and the idea of going to them would be awesome. So we thought why not. The kids would love it so much so why not give it a try. Finding a park was the hardest part but we eventually scored one and when we walked through the gates I breathed a sigh of relief that we had made it in.

The next bit I hadn’t really thought through and that was how we would entertain the kids until the Christmas Carols actually started. Luckily for us the organisers had planned for that and had a few elves’ walking around giving out colouring in packs. Then there was also the Woolworths tent where they could make Christmas wrapping paper. Not to forget the food stalls that were just selling lots of fun and sugary items. Our kids also seemed to find their own fun and Kayla enjoyed just trying to squeeze through two rubbish bins and found putting on her jumper back to front fun.

Making her creation.

Hamish got right into it.

See Mum, this is heaps of fun.

Where is Kayla?

When the carols finally started I got a bit excited but it was quite old school songs which are great but not really going to capture our kids attention, let alone sing along to. Though when the main part started it picked up some more, but I didn’t realise that we would have all the add breaks where they would stop, play a Woolworths add and just draw it out until the TV was ready to have us back on-air again. We had told Hamish that there would be fireworks at the end, but about 15 minutes before them he fell asleep. Obviously it was a big day for the poor little guy, so I took the opportunity to take a snap of him as I feel they look so beautiful when they are asleep.

Have their candles ready and are just waiting.

Just all too much for one little boy.

Santa up on stage.

The fireworks where spectacular and before we knew it we were packing up. We had to carry Kayla back to the car with Hamish in the stroller. It was a big night for us all and we all slept very soundly that night. The next morning we eventually dragged ourselves out of bed, tried to make the caravan look reasonably clean, and made our way over to the Coromal Service Centre. We were there to swap over the tyres, have some fans installed behind the fridge and some minor little things fixed up. Once we arrived we had to reverse it into a spot to wait its turn. Jason was fine but gee there were a few impatient cars where they needed to get past and didn’t wait for him to finish parking before squeezing past at lightning speed. Obviously never get in the way of them with their poker machines as there was only the service centre and a tavern on that turn in!!!

What I didn’t anticipate was how awesome the service guy, Craig was and whilst I watched the kids Jason chatted to him. So that day we also ended up having some extra awning bars added and some anti-flap kits put on. It doesn’t stop there though; we are now coming back to Adelaide in the New Year to have some solar panels added to the roof which just happens to coincide with a tennis tournament. Mind you I am happy about that as they are going to be way lighter and out of the way. Whilst the caravan was having the work done to it we went out and had a coffee at McDonalds as Hamish hadn’t been there in like forever! This is where we first read of the Sydney siege and we realised the innocence of those people going for a coffee like ourselves and their day turning into their worst nightmare. I suddenly didn’t feel comfortable being surrounded by so many people and wanted to go to the middle of the outback again.

Next we went and checked out Glenelg Beach. We didn’t stay there long though as it was quite windy and cool and we didn’t really come prepared for that. There was a busker near the pier making huge bubbles and it was so awesome. Hamish and Kayla both had a blast watching it and chasing them down. A few collisions of kids were narrowly avoided and we managed to walk away from it unharmed with a bit of their energy burnt off. We did a quick little tram trip down the road for the kids to experience that before making our way back to the car and hitting the Marion Shopping Centre. Buying the ticket to ride on the tram took a while as neither of us could work it out for a while. We are now true tourists!

Checking out the water.

Hamish enjoyed his ride.

Someone wouldn't even turn and look at me for the photo.

Look at all the bubbles!

I don’t know if it was a good idea or not as we later found out it was one of the biggest shopping centres in Adelaide but we managed to score an easy and close carpark to the entry. Jason lined up with the kids for their Santa photo whilst I ducked into Myers to knock over some of their Christmas shopping. I quickly paid for it and made it back just in time to help Jason get Kayla to smile for the photo. We failed miserably there, as she wouldn’t even sit near Santa. I thought if I hopped in that would help, but nope, Jason had to also. So we got a family photo with Santa and still Kayla wouldn’t smile. If anything she is giving that look of embarrassment as to what her family put her through.

One family Santa photo.

By now we had received the phone call that the caravan was ready so we set off to pick it up. Just outside the carpark Jason asked if I had picked up the photos. Umm no, you said you would, so we had to quickly duck back and grab them. Okay really Jason ran in whilst I stayed with the kids in the car. We picked up the caravan, Jason had another good chat to Craig whilst I prayed that he wasn’t going to add more to the list of modifications and I would have to work my magic more with the budget! We did however learn a lot from Craig and his extensive knowledge of the industry and Coromal caravans.

Our drive back to the caravan park was uneventful and we learnt that BMW and Mercede’s drivers were the worst for letting us move over a lane. As by now it was the end of the day and we had joined the commuters making their way home from work. Still it was nice to arrive and set up knowing that we didn’t have to move the caravan again for another 6 nights. We met the family in the Jayco Swan behind us and they had been travelling for five months with only one month left to go. Unfortunately though they were leaving the next day. Hamish enjoyed playing with their kids before we deemed it too cold to be outside as I was already in a long sleeve shirt and tracksuit pants and was still cold.

The next morning we really were not feeling very energetic and we had quite a few important jobs to get gone, one especially important one to help out a big man in a red suite. We had planned to be up early and go to the Adelaide City Markets but the early part did not occur. Eventually we made our way there, with me driving into the city. I don’t know what I was thinking but by the time I scored a park we decided Jason was a more relaxed driver and I was a better navigator. After that experience I needed a coffee so the first stop was a lovely coffee shop with some beautiful treats. I have no idea what they were. I just picked four different ones from the window, but they were all delicious. Next we hit the stalls, buying up big on the fresh produce. Lots of fruit and vegetables were purchased before letting ourselves near the cheese and cured meats. There was also a momentary stop at the lolly stall for two kids who were very much getting over it all. It kept them entertained for a while.

Inside the Adelaide Markets.

Love this place - so many options.

On the way home to the caravan, Kayla fell asleep so we decided that Jason would stay back at the caravan with the kids whilst I ducked down to the local (and smaller) shopping centre to finish the Santa shopping. It didn’t take me long to get over shopping in a big shopping centre again and trying to decide what to buy was hard as it had to meet the criteria of not too big and not too heavy, yet still fun for the kids. Part way through Jason called to say that the wind had picked up a fair bit and that we should probably bring in the awning. Even with the anti-flap kits, Craig still recommended that you put in your awning when it gets over 30 km/hr winds. So I rushed back to help do that as even though you can do it on your own, in strong winds it is harder so we are better to do it as a team if you can.

As I didn’t get to do the food shopping we had to return to the shops to do this mundane task. We decided to all go, probably our biggest mistake as the kids were over it, but by the time we got into Woolworths they had cheered up somewhat. On our return to the park, a new caravan had set up and it was a family with three sons. For us it felt like winning Lotto, lots of friends for the kids to play with and they played until dinner time.

After dinner we went out looking for lights. There was a whole street done up and was very pretty. In the middle was a beautiful heritage house for sale which I fell in love with and thought I belonged in this street of lights. Pity it just cost a fortune for a small house, besides I think the cold summer weather would get to me. We went looking at a few more lights and we came across Lleyton Hewitt’s old mansion that he only just sold. I scored brownie wifey points for recognising it and telling Jason. He didn’t believe me so I had to google pictures and show him. Back to the caravan we went for some much needed sleep.