This past week was the mid-semester break (despite it happening in week 9, but I digress). My friend invited me to go to Adelaide with them for a family wedding and the Easter holiday. Of course I couldn’t refuse, and soon after, the tickets were booked, and my bags were packed.
My adventure to Adelaide started with quite the kick – I missed my flight. Yup! Me! Missing my flight! One thing about me is that I am a planner until the day I die. I take pride in maintaining an organized calendar, having a structured weekly to-do list, and always being five minutes early to every event. I try not to miss a simple lunch meet up, let alone a whole flight! In all fairness, the flight was scheduled to take off at 7:20am, and I woke up at 7:00am. So, if I lived a little closer to the airport I probably could have made it (or so I tell myself), but unfortunately that just wasn’t the reality. So, after waking up with a jolt, a long phone call to the airline, and a $100 missed-flight-fee, I managed to book us another flight for 1:00pm. Thank goodness, because I don’t know what else we would have done with our week!
Eventually, after a long stressful morning, we landed in Adelaide. As I previously mentioned, we had a wedding to go to. Did I mention that it was the same day as our flight? Yeah – the wedding was the same day as our flight. We ended up getting dressed in the airport gender neutral bathroom, which is no easy feat. There was one point when I was leaning against the wall trying to put on my shoe, when suddenly my butt hits the door-open button. There we were, carry on contents spewed across the floor, my friend is trying to put product in their hair and I’m struggling to stand on one foot while I put my shoe on. The automatic door opens painfully slow, only to reveal a small crowd of onlookers waiting for their turn for the bathroom. I profusely start apologizing while simultaneously smacking the close-door button. Unfortunately, the door must have had some sort of timer, because it stayed open for a solid thirty seconds before slowly, so slowly, closing again. Talk about awkward.
We unfortunately missed the ceremony and the first thirty minutes of the reception, but everyone at the wedding was so happy that we made it. Now, I had never been to an Italian wedding before – but wow – these people know how to have a great time. Not only was everyone so kind and welcoming, but there was dancing and food galore! Everyone was happy to be together, and the newly-weds had the time of their life. If you ever have the opportunity to go to an Italian wedding, I would highly recommend it.
The town that we primarily stayed in is called Murray Bridge, a petit little town with a collection of bakeries, rivers, and of course, bridges. We were able to go on a family friend’s boat and cruise down the river, where I tried to wakeboard, something that I had never done before. I wasn’t able to get up, but I gave it my best try and (I feel) that I did pretty good for my first time.
Before getting on the river, everyone kept warning me of ‘the bunyip’ – an eel-like creature that lives in the water. I was told that they’re super dangerous, and quite scary. Being in Australia, a place known for their freaky animals and deadly beasts, I was a little on edge, to say the least. Thankfully, I didn’t see the bunyip until a few days later, where it was revealed to me that it’s an urban legend created by the native peoples of the land. The story goes as follows: there was a greedy man who was catching far too many fish. The elders weren’t happy that he wasn’t respecting the laws of the land, so they turned him into the Bunyip – a half man, half fish creature – and banished him to the river forever. The story of the Bunyip was used to teach children to not swim alone and to only take what you need, nothing more. As great of a lesson the Bunyip is, the commemoration statue is a different story. Well, it’s not exactly a statue – more like an aquatic animatronic that emerges from a small pond and roars when you click a button. I had a good laugh, to say the least.
I also went to the Monarto Safari Park, which was a really cool experience. We took a bus that drove us all around this safari park. We drove into the enclosures of the animals (including lions, giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, chimps, and of course, kangaroos). The animals seemed to be used to the busses rolling around in their enclosures, as they weren’t skittish at all. In fact, they were all very up close and personal with the busses, which was great for sight-seeing. Additionally, this safari park is the largest open-range safari experience outside of Africa, and actively help several different species fight extinction through ethical breeding programs.
Overall, as stressful as the beginning of this trip was, it was really great to get out of Perth and see some new scenery. I was really grateful to have some family time, even if it wasn’t with my family per say. I felt right at home, and I wouldn’t have changed anything!
DU Abroad 