Home

The Ghan

Trans Siberian

Travel Information

Useful Contacts

Travel Journals

Find out what to see and do in Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs and Adelaide

Learn about the history of Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs and Adelaide

Homeward Bound

Previous page - Hahndorf and Port Adelaide

It's Sunday - going home day. We packed our gear up and the hotel staff kindly let us store it with them until it was time to head out to the airport.

We enjoyed a light breakfast at Brunelli's in Adelaide

We walked down the Rundle Street Mall and were disappointed not to find the Sunday Markets. "Oh well, it is Easter, we thought".

We kept heading down the street and found Brunelli's where we stopped for breakfast. We wanted something light so we settled for toast. It cost us $4.90 each and we each were served with 4 lovely big pieces of toasted Italian bread, along with butter, vegemite and jams etc.

It was lovely - just what we were after.

Toasted Italian bread at Brunelli's

We continued on down Rundle Street and found the street was blocked off to traffic. Lo and behold, here were the Sunday markets (after all). We had a look around but didn't buy anything. We had a few hours to kill before heading out to the airport but we had little energy or motivation to do anything. We had gotten ourselves into "going home mode" too early. We checked out a cinema but nothing suited us time-wise. We just wandered. Then we saw the entrance to the Botanic Gardens and decided to have a peek. Boy were we glad we did!

Adelaide Botanic Gardens

It was the most beautiful place to spend a few hours. Despite being the end of summer everything was so lovely and lush and green. We wandered and wandered until our feet were nearly worn out. There was so much to look at. We found bamboo that had initials carved into it and it was actually quite artistic. I never thought I would say such a thing but it was attractive in its own way.


Luckily we found the Botanic Gardens		Bamboo with initials carved in it


Blue Lotus of Egypt		Lily Pond in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

The Lily Pond excited us. The leaves of the plants looked like gigantic flan tins. There were lots of shady spots, seats and lawns. The Botanic Garden was huge and right in the centre of the city. I swear if I worked in the Adelaide CBD I'd have to eat my lunch in the gardens every day. Thank goodness we stopped to have a look. It would have been a crime to visit Adelaide and not see it.

We finished the gardens and walked back along North Terrace feeling a bit pooped. We stopped in at the Railway Station to use their loo's which we had found to be reliably clean. We only fancied a quick light lunch so we went to McDonalds and bought a chicken wrap each. It was the first time either of us had eaten them at McDonalds but I don't think we'd bother again. The actual wrap was quite doughy and heavy - not what you want to consume when you are about to travel on a plane. I was expecting more salad than just lettuce too. Maybe I misunderstood.

We found some tramps in the street with some second hand shoes set out for sale at $10 per pair. Sadly they weren't doing a roaring trade. We wound our way back to Haigh's Chocolate Shop. We had read about their hand-made chocolates and had promised our kids we would bring some back for them. A look at the prices made us shudder. Why do we make these promises to the kids? We knew they would be lots dearer than the average chocolate because they are hand-made but we felt we couldn't justify over $98 per kilogram. We saw beautifully boxed chocolates selling for $56 for 500 gms. Both our children are very budget conscious like us so we knew they would be shocked if we had bought them the hand wrapped chokkies so we settled for a couple of 200 gm slabs which set us back only $7.50 each.

Haigh's beautifully decorated chocolate shop

We walked back to the hotel to grab our luggage out of storage and immediately located a taxi in front of the hotel. The location of the Mercure Grosvenor Hotel really is a bonus.

It cost us $20 to ride to the airport. Again we had an Indian taxi driver. He'd been in Australia for 8 months and is studying Multi Media Graphics.

We are at the airport early but we have run out of oomph. Through the window in the lounge we can see plane windows being cleaned.

Haigh's beautifully presented chocolate shop

		We've just phoned Jeremy to tell him we'll soon be on our way and to have the kettle on ready for our return. We have both missed a "proper cuppa" in a "proper big mug". The Qantas 737 is only 2/3 full which is nice. The staff are glum and unfriendly. The Ghan staff could teach them a thing or two about customer service - even if only lessons on how to smile and say "thank you". We are served a tasty hot meal and I forgot to take a photo of it., followed by an ice cream on a stick. Very nice!
A man sits on the ledge to clean the window

View of Westrn Australia as the plane crossed the coast

We had a lovely smooth flight back to Western Australia. Nearing Perth we saw a bushfire. We could actually see the flames it was so big.

Finding our luggage in Perth airport was easy and we were soon out through the airport doors and onto a shuttle bus heading back to the Long Term Parking area.

The car was safe and sound and it only cost us $84 for the 8 days the car was there. We were happy with that.

View of Western Australia

When driving back to Bunbury we were diverted due to the same bush fire we'd seen from the air. Fortunately the diversion didn't add too much time onto our two hour journey which ended as we pulled into our driveway at 9.15 pm.

Sure enough the kettle was on and we soon had our "proper cuppa" in a "proper big mug". All in all a great holiday. We take our hats off to Great Southern Rail - they've done a top class job with the Ghan.

Our trip in the order it all happened:

Preamble - how it all began

Getting organised to go

Gathering travel facts

Packed and ready to go

Up, up and away - Darwin here we come

Sunday afternoon in Darwin

Playing the tourist in Darwin, Part 1

Playing the tourist in Darwin, Part 2

Stressful day In Darwin Part 1

Stressful day in Darwin Part 2

Ghan stops in Katherine for sightseeing