Fringe Opening & A Tea Party

We got home Friday night exhausted and ready for bed, but the night wasn't quite over. We came home to FINALLY having our internet installed and a new, working fridge! I missed cold food. We hooked up the internet then headed out to check out the opening night of the Fringe Festival. 


The Fringe is a really big festival here in Adelaide. It includes lots of arty shows and acts, and Friday there was a big parade for the opening day. We could hear the commotion from our apartment, so decided to go check it out despite realllllly wanting to hop into bed. The idea of stopping by Hungry Jack's for some quick food was also pretty appealing since after being away for 2 days, and not having a working fridge, we didn't really have any food to speak of. 


When we got down to the streets, it was sheer chaos. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but the number of people who had all gathered really surprising. It felt a bit like I was in the middle of Times Square. In the end we actually had missed the parade, but we were so tired that just walking amongst the crowd was enough excitement for the night, so off we went to bed.

Saturday we were invited to a tea party for Cameron and Aisha's birthdays. We all donned some floral outfits and took the train out to meet Justin on the way to the shack. They had put together a bunch of picnic tables, made some oversized toadstools, and had pretty tea sets and cake stands everywhere. There was even a sword fighting ring to one side. It was really well done and reminded me of all the themed parties we used to have back home. The big difference is that we were constantly on film haha. I'm used to photographers being around (hi Jon, hi Jen), but Justin's friends veer more towards videography. I've seen some of their stuff, so I'm sure it'll turn out brilliant. 

The tea party was really sweet, but we were all dying of heat on the 40 degree day, so we eventually abandoned the tea in favour of a dip in the river. The river was followed by pies for dinner (Australia has the best meat pastries. I never knew there were so many different types), which was followed by strobe lights and dancing, a night dip in the river, a warm up in the bath, and then a crash wherever you could find a place to sleep. 

Everyone had told me that if I left for Australia, I might not make it back home. I expected to have a good time, but I didn't quite understand the not leaving part. I could never quite see living in another place feeling like it's home. Australia still isn't home, but I've definitely fallen in love. It's so different here, and yet so much the same. This place is pretty amazing.