Rating : 23 / 20
Facilities : First class facilities & company. Flat & undercover pitch (aka garage)... only complaint is the garage could have done with being a few inches higher for the roof rack to fit under too ;)
We had only intended on staying at my Uncle's place in Adelaide for just 3 days but I think we were just having far too much fun as we were there for nearly a whole week.
Tom and I were so lucky to be welcomed with open arms into a family's home of whom I had barely known. I, regrettably, admit that I could count on one hand how many times I had seen Pete & his wife Sherree and their three kids Georgie, Sam and Lachie. It was great to be in Adelaide & to familiarise myself with it all, my mum's whole side of the family all grew up in South Australia so there certainly was a lot of history to be told.
Mum's response to this photo? "I hope they're plastic!"
The boys found a great opportunity to have a little look under the hood... Charlie's hood that is. After an oil change and a bit of nipple greasing (!%$#?) Charlie had been given quite the makeover. And the verdict from Mechanic Pete on the Troopie's mechanical condition? Two thumbs up, he was apparently quite impressed by how clean the engine bay was and said all is good under the hood ;)Sherree almost had both Tom and I staying there for the next three months... and how could we leave? We were made to feel so amazingly welcome that it was just so hard to leave. I don't know how Pete & Sherree manage to keep up with running at 502 miles an hour, their household is just non stop! But somehow, they managed to find some order in their hectic lifestyles and managed to bring up three very well mannered, happy children.
Georgie is 14 and is an avid Netballer. Watch this space folks because I guarantee you she'll be an absolute star one day, playing for at least SA if not Australia. We were able to see evidence of her incredible abilities with our very own eyes. This Goal Shooter (who's taller than me I might add) was kind enough to schedule her grand final in for the first night we got there... with a final score of 29 v 24 in favour of Georgia's team, I'm pretty sure I was that weirdo on the sideline shouting so loud the rest of her team's spectators slowly shuffled away in an attempt to disassociate themselves from me.Sam just about jumped out of his skin when I told him that Tom played the guitar and could show him a thing or two. The "Smoke On The Water" bam, bam, bow, bam, bam, bam, bow will always play in my head whenever I think of Sam sitting there practising it to perfection. I have no doubt that this 12 year old will always be one of those guys who just picks anything and everything up in a matter of seconds. (Lucky fella!!)
My Grade 5 Maths was put to the test when Lachie asked me to help him with his homework two nights in a row. Let's just say that Maths certainly is not my forte (Oh actually, I did get Dux of Spak Maths in grade 12, does that count??) I found myself sneakily using the calculator to double check my fractions when Lachie wasn't looking (but then got frustrated with the calculator cause I couldn't quite figure out how to get fractions on the bloody thing). It brought a tear to my eye, on our final night, when Lachie handed me an A4 notepad and told me it was for me to use when we're away to write letters to him. I don't think he realised how incredibly thoughtful he was, I just hope I can live up to expectations and put that notepad to good use!
I passed down the Foster traditional Chocolate Pudding to Georgie & Lachie. Our Nanna used to make the yummiest pudding in the world. While I certainly could never perfect it the way she made it, I'm sure she'd be very happy to know of how much joy her recipe brought to so many faces that night. Now all Pete needs to do is figure out how to bribe the kids into baking it for him more often.
We took a day trip to Melba's Chocolate Factory... each of us agreed to buy just one thing each. So, I spent 20 minutes hunting down the single biggest item of chocolate in the entire factory.
Georgie, Tom and I treated ourselves to ... PANCAKES FOR LUNCH!!! At The Original Pancake Kitchen ... can you see a bit of a sweet tooth trend happening here?
Next I would like to explain to you a little predicament Tom, Georgie and I found ourselves in after stuffing ourselves senseless with chocolate pancakes. As I mentioned, we removed the roof racks from the Troopie in order to squeeze into Pete's garage. Sweet! Tom and I thought, we're now a whole lot shorter and can actually fit into a secure car park in the city. So, we found a car park with a height restriction of 2.03 metres. We both knew it would be tight so as Tom drove down the gently sloping driveway and under the height bar, I was hanging out the passenger window checking that we weren't going to hit the roof. It was quite tight but we still had an inch or so as leeway.
At times like these, you should always evaluate an escape route prior to reaching the point of no return. Driving up the ramp was fine. Getting a park was fine. Driving down the ramp was fine. It was the exit that was the issue. It was a completely different ramp at a different slope that we had absolutely zero chance of getting through. Oh dear god... who gets stuck in a secure carpark? US!! 30 minutes later, after to-ing and fro-ing and quite a few eye rolls and sighs we finally managed to get the Troopie out without a scratch. But how did we do it? Well deflating the tyres just was an absolute last resort as it would have taken ages to re-inflate and our air pump was on the roof rack.. in Pete's garage. We drove out the entry ramp.. backwards and it was bloody tight. Very entertaining no doubt for poor Georgie quietly sitting in the back probably wishing that she actually had gone to school that day.
Amongst all of the other perks we had about living under a roof, for the first time in a very long time, Tom and I actually watched an entire TV show!! The TV show was the hit Australian drama "Packed to the Rafters". It told a story of Rachel, the eldest daughter, who had been offered her "dream job" and was made to choose between either her career or the love of her life, Jake.
I remember drifting off into a daze and contemplating my situation. I quickly realised that no dream job or career opportunity could drag me away from what we were doing. We have the rest of our lives to be defined by "what we do" and "how much annual leave we've got left"... we were busy creating lifelong memories that could never be created by fusing over who we were employed by.
There I was on a trip very few people do in their lifetime - let alone at my age and it is very safe to say... I wouldn't give it up for a pay cheque and an office with a view. (Although a pay cheque would be nice).
I prefer this view anyhow... Mt Lofty overlooking Radelaide...
1 comment:
Now look what you've gone and done my sweet tooth is crying out for some yummmmy chocolate. So you made a complete galah of your self at the netball game, dosen't hurt one bit to show support at all no matter what other people think :-).
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