Orientation and an introduction to the Hills

On Sunday Justin invited us out to his friend Dave’s for a BBQ. He told us to hop the train and bring our bathers and he’d pick us up on his way. Being the gracious host that he is, he took us on a detour to Mt. Lofty (an amazing name, I know), the highest “mountain” in Adelaide. The view was amazing. We could see the city and surrounding ‘burbs, and in the distance we could see the whole shoreline to the ocean.

Views from the top of Mt. Lofty 

Dave lives in the Hills around Adelaide. It’s a bit more rural than the suburbs, more like Cumberland in Ottawa. A big group of us went kayaking and swimming in the river on his property. Many fun times were had on Steve (the air mattress turned raft), and the Greatest River Race of All-Time included many winners and losers. We even spotted our first two wild koalas in the tree over the river. Unfortunately I was swimming and therefore had no camera for pictures :(

The BBQ portion of this outing contained many grilled onions, and of course, lots of seafood. Bowing to peer pressure, I tried some cockles (quite salty, not a big fan) and a type of fish that was a king something-or-other that was actually pretty good. Other bathtub and twister shenanigans ensued and a good time was had by all.

Outside on the patio

Apparently warming up in the bath after a cold dip in the river

Double mat twister

Orientation started this week. There’ve been a few helpful hints, but generally it seems the whole international week is mostly to help those from countries that have a greater cultural difference. Mostly, the information has been either common knowledge, or stuff that we’ve learned in first year, so we’ve been skipping a few sessions. 

One thing the sessions have been helpful with is meeting people. We met one girl from a school in Toronto in Interior Architecture, and another girl from Holland in Communications who we’ve been keeping in touch with all week.

As 3 girls on exchange, we didn’t exactly have any grandiose plans for Valentine’s day. So when Lisa (our new found friend from Toronto) invited us over for some drinks and conversation, we weren’t exactly opposed. Valentine’s day in Australia was spent on Lisa’s patio, sipping sparkling rose, and watching the sunset. The night was finished off with a trip to McDonald’s for a McFlurry. Perfect.