I have to apologize for the crummy pictures from the get go for this post. I didn't have my Sony camera on me for most of the events as it was dirty and needed a good cleaning. All photos are from our iPhone. Enjoy!
Last weekend was filled from Friday to Monday. On Friday we met up with Dylan and Laura in CBD for a street party. One street in the CBD was closed and set up with a few bars, food stalls and a spot for a band to play. I really hope you're catching on to the theme in Adelaide over the last month. Festivals, pop-up bars, food stalls and people enjoying the outdoors of the city. This wasn't a festival. It was the city trying to promote a specific area in CBD. To us, it was an excuse to get out. Anelle and I walked from our apartment and when we finally found Dylan and Laura, we all decided to move on as we didn't really enjoy the vibe. It was too loud and crowded. Yup. We sound a bit old. But with age comes smarter life decisions…one hopes. We left and walked towards the river in order to meet Dylan's mate Dave for some drinks at Surrender. Not to be confused with the Surrender we love in Las Vegas, this Surrender was simply another outdoor venue connected to The Fringe Festival. This turned out to be a much smarter choice. It didn’t take long for us to realize we made a wise choice! Dave is one of the guys I often play basketball with and on this particular day we were celebrating his birthday. Surrender was themed as a new part of the world. We even got passport stamps on our wrist when we entered. It had a huge bar, an even larger BBQ area serving up delicious foods, and stations making cardboard hats and armor. Somehow, they made it fit into the theme and I didn’t hesitate to get on board. A bit strange but it was fun.
Last weekend was filled from Friday to Monday. On Friday we met up with Dylan and Laura in CBD for a street party. One street in the CBD was closed and set up with a few bars, food stalls and a spot for a band to play. I really hope you're catching on to the theme in Adelaide over the last month. Festivals, pop-up bars, food stalls and people enjoying the outdoors of the city. This wasn't a festival. It was the city trying to promote a specific area in CBD. To us, it was an excuse to get out. Anelle and I walked from our apartment and when we finally found Dylan and Laura, we all decided to move on as we didn't really enjoy the vibe. It was too loud and crowded. Yup. We sound a bit old. But with age comes smarter life decisions…one hopes. We left and walked towards the river in order to meet Dylan's mate Dave for some drinks at Surrender. Not to be confused with the Surrender we love in Las Vegas, this Surrender was simply another outdoor venue connected to The Fringe Festival. This turned out to be a much smarter choice. It didn’t take long for us to realize we made a wise choice! Dave is one of the guys I often play basketball with and on this particular day we were celebrating his birthday. Surrender was themed as a new part of the world. We even got passport stamps on our wrist when we entered. It had a huge bar, an even larger BBQ area serving up delicious foods, and stations making cardboard hats and armor. Somehow, they made it fit into the theme and I didn’t hesitate to get on board. A bit strange but it was fun.
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As it got later in the night, people started to go their separate ways. That left Anelle, Dylan, Laura, Dylan's mate Matt aka Smokey, and myself. Smokey was visiting from Melbs and wanted to check out The Garden. After saying some goodbyes, we made our way to East End. When we got to The Garden, Anelle and Laura bought proffiges. People kept telling Anelle about how great they were. Turns out they were similar to mini pancakes and not too impressive. They weren't bad but they definitely weren't worth the 15 min wait in line. Either way, we devoured them happily. We all hung out for a bit before calling it a night. On the way out, we saw two Aussie possums in the trees. Aussie possums are pretty cute. Cute to the point that you would stop and want to hold out some food for them to approach you and grab (like a squirrel). Nothing like the possums we have in the States that look like Satan's minions. When I see them in the backyard, I just want to swing a bat at them. If you haven't seen an Aussie one before, Google it!
After a quick shift on Saturday morning, I walked over to Dylan's apartment and we headed to the North Terrace court to meet up with the usual basketball crew. I haven’t discussed it much but, I play Basketball on the weekends with Dylan and few other guys. I’ve really enjoyed it because it’s allowed me to meet a few other people while being active in something competitive. Originally, I planned on playing soccer to make some friends and while I recently found the fields where people play pick-up soccer, I’m perfectly happy to stick with basketball. I was particularly excited to play on this day because I would be debuting my new basketball shoes! I had been playing in some Adidas casual walking shoe, which was not at all nice. Normally, I would have bought Kobe shoes but since I'm playing in Oz, I decided to get some shoes that belonged to someone with Aussie blood.
After a quick shift on Saturday morning, I walked over to Dylan's apartment and we headed to the North Terrace court to meet up with the usual basketball crew. I haven’t discussed it much but, I play Basketball on the weekends with Dylan and few other guys. I’ve really enjoyed it because it’s allowed me to meet a few other people while being active in something competitive. Originally, I planned on playing soccer to make some friends and while I recently found the fields where people play pick-up soccer, I’m perfectly happy to stick with basketball. I was particularly excited to play on this day because I would be debuting my new basketball shoes! I had been playing in some Adidas casual walking shoe, which was not at all nice. Normally, I would have bought Kobe shoes but since I'm playing in Oz, I decided to get some shoes that belonged to someone with Aussie blood.
Anelle and Laura got some girl time trying to put together Anelle's outfit for the Adelaide Cup that we were attending that Monday (It's a holiday in Adelaide). When Dylan and I got to the courts, a couple of newbs joined us. We were happy to have them as it meant having a 4 vs 4 game instead of our usual 2 vs 2. After a few hours of balling, Dylan, Dave, Peaky and I all went for our usual stop for ice coffee. After cooling down, Dylan dropped me off at home and picked up Laura. There was only a couple of hours to shower and rest as the plan was to meet at Dylan and Laura's apartment for dinner with them and Smokey.
Smokey is originally from Adelaide but always comes back for WomAdelaide or Womad for short. He and what seems to be every other Adelaidian at some point in their life, hops the fence in order to sneak into this music festival. That's right. ANOTHER FESTIVAL!!
For dinner we had tacos that Laura and Dylan prepared. Anelle and I brought salsa, chips, and beans. So, we did what we could to put together a Mexican meal. We got through 2 bottles of wine that Smokey brought along with the beers we had. Consequently, we did what any rational group would do, we left and walked around the corner to Ebenezer Street and went inside East End Cellars for a new bottle of wine. After polishing off another bottle and failing to see Smokey approach one of the female workers he was eying, we decided to make our way to Womad. With liquid courage in our system and a sense of adventure sprinkled with fears of being caught and deported we planned to jump the fence and sneak in. Hop a fence, blend in and dance the night away. It seemed like such a simple and achievable plan. The only thing we achieved was getting over the fence. I'll give you some time to develop the obvious jokes...good? Ready? Ok, moving along. I thought I found a good spot. I offered Anelle help first and wound up witnessing her quickly jump and climb over. I followed and we quickly made our way towards a crowd. Next thing I know, a hand was on my shoulder clutching as much of my shirt as possible. My initial thought was that it was Dylan but then I turned around only to see it was a security guard. We had been caught! The only thing I could tell you about Womad was what I saw as we were being escorted out. It seemed like people were having fun and the air was filled with marijuana smoke. I feel as though having a great time at the festival was highly probable. Get it? Anyways, as we were being walked out, someone inside also ratted out Dylan and Laura. Smokey was the only one to make it. We were warned that if we were caught again, we would be fined over $700. A bit of an adrenaline rush for all of us. While we all did get caught, we had a fun time. Anelle and I will simply add it to the list of stories that start off with, “Remember when we lived in Australia and ___.” We all decided to head over to our apartment and hang out. We shared some tequila, stories, and laughs and then called it a night.
Sunday didn't bring nearly the amount of excitement...at least for me. Anelle went wine tasting in nearby wine country with two of her friends from work. They went to McLaren Vale. From the sounds of it, she had a lot of fun. And predictably showed up at home with a new bottle of wine. She will have a separate post on this in the coming days
Smokey is originally from Adelaide but always comes back for WomAdelaide or Womad for short. He and what seems to be every other Adelaidian at some point in their life, hops the fence in order to sneak into this music festival. That's right. ANOTHER FESTIVAL!!
For dinner we had tacos that Laura and Dylan prepared. Anelle and I brought salsa, chips, and beans. So, we did what we could to put together a Mexican meal. We got through 2 bottles of wine that Smokey brought along with the beers we had. Consequently, we did what any rational group would do, we left and walked around the corner to Ebenezer Street and went inside East End Cellars for a new bottle of wine. After polishing off another bottle and failing to see Smokey approach one of the female workers he was eying, we decided to make our way to Womad. With liquid courage in our system and a sense of adventure sprinkled with fears of being caught and deported we planned to jump the fence and sneak in. Hop a fence, blend in and dance the night away. It seemed like such a simple and achievable plan. The only thing we achieved was getting over the fence. I'll give you some time to develop the obvious jokes...good? Ready? Ok, moving along. I thought I found a good spot. I offered Anelle help first and wound up witnessing her quickly jump and climb over. I followed and we quickly made our way towards a crowd. Next thing I know, a hand was on my shoulder clutching as much of my shirt as possible. My initial thought was that it was Dylan but then I turned around only to see it was a security guard. We had been caught! The only thing I could tell you about Womad was what I saw as we were being escorted out. It seemed like people were having fun and the air was filled with marijuana smoke. I feel as though having a great time at the festival was highly probable. Get it? Anyways, as we were being walked out, someone inside also ratted out Dylan and Laura. Smokey was the only one to make it. We were warned that if we were caught again, we would be fined over $700. A bit of an adrenaline rush for all of us. While we all did get caught, we had a fun time. Anelle and I will simply add it to the list of stories that start off with, “Remember when we lived in Australia and ___.” We all decided to head over to our apartment and hang out. We shared some tequila, stories, and laughs and then called it a night.
Sunday didn't bring nearly the amount of excitement...at least for me. Anelle went wine tasting in nearby wine country with two of her friends from work. They went to McLaren Vale. From the sounds of it, she had a lot of fun. And predictably showed up at home with a new bottle of wine. She will have a separate post on this in the coming days
Monday brought the Adelaide Cup, which Anelle and I were excited to get a little dressed up for. The gates opened at 10am but we took our time and got there around 3pm. We jumped on the tram for about a 20 minute ride and it dropped us off right at the race track. A stroll across tracks and we were at the front gates. We walked around and checked out the scene for a bit, got our complimentary drinks, people watched and judged their outfits. It turns out both of us may be a tad judgmental. But being dressed up, being seen and checking other people out is an event within the main event so it’s all good. In fact, we caught the very end of the fashion contest for best dressed male and female. It was a great atmosphere filled with women wearing fascinators and men in bright ties and bow ties. Definitely, our type of vibe. We explored a little more and visited the horse stalls for a bit before placing our big bet of $5!! Anelle placed a $5 bet on Lucky Lucky Lucky. At the end of it, Lucky Lucky Lucky didn’t do so well. I am assuming his name came from having the opportunity to be there. Even though we lost, we had a great time.
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When we got back to the city, we were starving. We stopped for some pizza and then called it a day. It had been a long weekend and we were both ready for some rest.
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