Road Trip Australia: Adelaide

It was a spur of the moment decision - a friend was coming down from Singapore to Adelaide for a conference, and asked me to remind him which state of Australia I was in again.

And before I knew it, I was on a plane to Adelaide, for the first time ever in my life, not only to catch up with him, but with some other friends that I hadn't seen in forever.

I touched down and absorbed the airport with my eyes, and walked steadily towards the exit where a friend was waiting to pick me up. I hadn't seen Sel in 7 years, and it was like we never left. Sel has this amazing sense of humour and the best/worst stories ever from his schooldays. He dropped me off at where I was going to live those two nights.

I was going to bunk with Vic at Hindley Street - the King Street equivalent of Melbourne. If that still doesn't make sense to you, think poles and women dancing on it. Scantily-dressed women.

It was quite a vibrant part of town, and Vic and I was walking up and down the streets looking for something to eat (and if there happened to be pole-dancing women in the establishment, well, so be it. Hahaha!) but most of the restaurants were closed and we ended up having dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.

Day 2

I got up really early the next morning as Vic had to attend his conference, and I wanted to take in the scenic sights of Adelaide.

The first photo worthy picture on the top left - seriously! But it did get better after that! :)

It took me about half an hour of walking before I actually saw anything photo-worthy in Adelaide! I must have been walking in the wrong part of the city, but I was really giving up on finding anything, when everything fell into place:


Beautiful gardens in the city periphery - the poor girl has been squatting there forever while people try to suck on her brains.

The University of Adelaide is really quite stunning, with rolling gardens and ancient buildings right here in the City of Churches.

Adelaide, the City of Churches - where they have so much money they use it as floor decoration!

I had breakfast with S, Z and J, three friends who I hadn't seen in 7 years. It was a really good time of catching up and laughing over a Malaysian breakfast. Z was always anxious about how the quality of the food was compared to Melbourne ("Aiyah, nothing compared to the Malaysian food in Melbourne, I know lah!") but it was really quite good, and I was just happy to be there sharing a meal with long-lost friends.

Lunch was with S as both Z and J headed off to work - I was brought to his favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Yen Ling. It was actually really good food, and S convinced me to try the Vietnamese coffee, which looked suspiciously like petrol with condensed milk. Tasted really good, though - like the kopi susu back in Malaysia.
Most "power" coffee ever!

We talked about everything under the sun, like two friends catching up at a mamak stall, and exchanged stories of life and love. I have never laughed so hard, or thought so deeply for awhile now.

We picked up A, who S had been dating since our Uni days from their hospital, and I finally got to see their workplace where all their wonderful stories came from.

On the way back to their house, the coffee I had earlier started to kick in, and I had the Worst. Diarrhoea. Ever. I was squirming around in the back seat, begging for S to stop at the next nearest restaurant.

Let's just say that after I was done, that particular McDonald's which I went to doesn't serve Happy Meals anymore, if you know what I mean.

We went back to their unit and were too tired to go out anymore, and so just called in pizza and soft drinks while we talked delved into nostalgia that night. Another friend J who I haven't seen in forever, and recently married, popped in and the reminiscing just escalated from there!

Day 3

I caught up with V briefly before saying my goodbyes to him, and promising to meet up again in Singapore.

And then it was off to see the Three Stooges - S, Z and J for one last meal before heading home.

They brought me to this place in Hutt St in the posh end of town called Citrus, and there we had the best-breakfast-I-have-ever-had-in-Australia-bar-none. I had the humble French toast myself, which was done really well, but the rest of them had this chilli, garlic and basil scrambled eggs that was beyond description. An egg-gasm, if you will.

The gang at Citrus - two minutes before my head exploded at how good the breakfast was.

And then the last leg - off to the airport where all three of them had saved their best jokes for. I was laughing to the point of begging them to stop.

I sat in the airport lounge once more, waiting for the plane that would take me back to Melbourne, and wondered why on earth it took me seven years to catch up with them.

Indeed, how can we explain the friends that we swore we would keep in touch for life just slip away by the wayside as we chase for the things that we thought mattered.