After going a bit left field last week & mixing up my posting schedule I feel it’s time to finish my story. The aim for this trilogy was to record a travel diary so in years to come I can look back & relive the happy time I had on this trip.

My final night on the Indian Pacific was lovely. I’m very happy to report the dinner service was spot on. The vegetarian option had changed for the main to a very nice, fresh, hot & tasty tagliatelle. Gluten for punishment I ordered the mushrooms again. I think I got a bad batch the first night second night was vastly improved. Dessert was a very delicious almond chocolate cake. How I over looked that the first night I do not know.

At dinner I experienced hospitality at it’s best. A French couple were shown to the table next to us. They had enough English to get by but they didn’t need to worry as one of the staff conversed fluently in French with them. Such a nice touch. I’ve found in Australia that this is very rare. We are an English speaking population. Everyone is expected to fit in with this & speak English. It did make me smile that the train did have at least one-second language speaking staff member. I’m sure this skill goes to long way to get great gigs.

Arriving in Adelaide at 7:20am Tuesday morning meant an early start. A morning tea style breakfast was being served between 6 & 6:30am. With no phone signal my alarm didn’t go off. My mum tapping on my door woke me. Leaping out of bed thinking of my stomach first of course I was ready in a matter of five minutes. I was super impressed with the food. Muffins, pastries, breads & scrolls a plenty. Towards the end of the service there were still loads left.

The train drew in ten minutes early, the luggage arrive ten minutes afterwards, three minutes later we were in a taxi heading into Adelaide city. We’d booked a city sight seeing tour to fill the morning, as our hotel wouldn’t be ready till 2pm.

It’s been about nine years since as was actually in the city centre & I couldn’t remember any of it. It’s bigger than it seems. Our three-hour tour was going very quickly & it felt like we’d not really seen too much. It was great to just be driven around & take it all in. I was getting very used to being chauffeured.

Adelaide has a lot of churches. I mean a lot, one on nearly every corner. Our first stop was well a cathedral that boasted some very impressive stain glass windows. One window was fairly new & depicted the story of Mary Magdalene. I’m always drawn to visit temples when in Asian countries but I never seem to take advantage of what I have on my doorstep in regards to churches & cathedrals. It made a peaceful change to just sit in the huge, quiet space for a while.

The Magdalene Window, St Peter’s Cathedral Adelaide

The Haighs chocolate factory was of course fantastic. You can only get Haighs in South Australia in their own stores as they do not ship. Haighs are famous for their chocolate frogs as well as their Rocky Road. They make their own marshmallows. Being just after Easter there wasn’t much action in the factory as the staff had been given ten days off after making a quarter of a million Easter eggs this year. The chocolate is rather nice & we bought quite a lot of it. Hello chocolate macadamias!

After the tour is was time to pick up the hire car & head to Glenelg our home for two nights. I’ve stayed in Glenelg before, it’s a cosmopolitan beach side town that is known for it’s jetty & laid back atmosphere. Being a bush rather than beach kid I decided the ocean was calling us to be close by. Perfect choice the sunsets were spectacular.

Glenelg Jetty, SA.

The car we hired was a Toyota Yaris. Hilarious! I’m used to driving a big old sedan so to get in this tiny buzz box was so much fun. It had a real kick to it for a small car. It was a dream to park even so my Dad was super paranoid about me scratching. We couldn’t get the GPS to work properly so we ended up taking a different way around than I expected to after reading the map. It felt strange to be in the driving seat after being transported around.

The next few days were delightful. I really like Adelaide. People bag it out for being boring but it has a great energy about it. I feel this is because it’s not as over populated or such a tourist hot spot like Sydney & Melbourne. Sure there is plenty to do that is touristy! How can anyone be bored here. I’d happily have stayed a while longer if time allowed. Thinking about it I live in Perth & many people ask ‘what’s in Perth, isn’t just really remote with nothing to do?’ Maybe I’m just attracted to the non mainstream.

Here are my Adelaide highlights:

• Staying by the beach in Glenelg. Long afternoon walks on the seafront & great sunsets.

Sensational South Australian sunsets!

• Having an in person mentoring session with my Soul Mentor Elizabeth Peru. It’s always great to connect in person. Just being around people of higher & pure vibration can be very healing in itself. It makes me feel very supported & not alone in this lifestyle I’ve chosen to live. Elizabeth’s energy is contagious I always leave our sessions with such clarity, confidence & love. Brimming with new ideas & inspiration to bring home to action.

• Driving round the hills in the buzz box. Due to a road closure we ended up taking a very long way round to Mount Lofty. GPS was not happy.

• Mount Lofty on a clear afternoon. Spectacular views over Adelaide right down to the coast. Also got to catch a bit of the Royals visit on the news when we stopped for lunch. They were just up the road in the SA town of Elizabeth.

The view from Mount Lofty

• The German town of Hahndorf. A very quaint & picturesque town in the hills. Loads of unique shops to explore. I found some great hand made organic beeswax products. The architecture was stunning up the main tree lined street.

The charming & quaint German town of Hahndorf.

• Meeting new friends. Connecting over yoga & organic food. I was blessed to meet a fellow Bikram teacher & Bright Eyed & Blog Hearted course mate. We took a yoga class together at the Glenelg studio followed by a lovely chat over breakfast afterwards at the Organik Store. It’s awesome when you just ‘click’ with someone. No awkwardness or long silences. Meeting your ‘tribe’ of like minded people is so important. Again no one is ever alone, there will always be others on the same wavelength & they will appear when needed.

Amazing apres Bikram organic breakfast

• Crystal shopping! With a few hours to spare before our flight I’d Googled a metaphysical shop near by. Crystal Wave is amazing. Mum & I spend nearly an hour working our way through the shelves. I picked up some great pieces to bring back. Including my first Merlinite. Mum found the most beautiful Baltic Amber pendant. A great pick. The staff were very helpful & friendly. One complimented me on my massive selection & gave me some advice on making grids.

Stunning Baltic Amber pendant.

• Saving Mr Banks movie. To round off the trip I got to see a movie I had wanted to watch for ages on the flight back. I’m a huge Mary Poppins fan & thoroughly enjoyed watching Saving Mr Banks. It was so tempting not to sing out aloud with the soundtrack!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time away. I could quite happily have stayed in Adelaide a few more days but my parents had to get back for their flight home. There was a lot I learned from this trip looking back now. A change of space can really freshen you up & bring in new lighter energy. A whole new blog post in the pipeline I feel…

I’d love to hear your experiences of how a travel trips have freshened up your Soul & replenished your mind. Please feel free to share in the comments below.

Till then, love K xxx