28th January, 2007 - Adelaide/Barossa

Sean, Juliet and Jodie went to visit grandfather again this morning; it would be the last time Sean would see his grandad alive. A teary farewell.

We drove to the Barossa for a daytrip. The weather wasn't great, but that meant some nice photos.

Here's the view from Bethany Wines, out across the valley.



We bought a bunch of wine, organised for it to be posted back to Sydney, and then drove on to Tanunda. We decided on Hotel Tanunda for lunch - yummy German-inspired counter meals.


Juliet and Jodie


Daniel and Sean


Who should we run into there, but Natalie D'Enyar, an old choir friend from Christ Chuch St Laurence! She was on her way up to the north of South Australia to visit some friends. Its amazing that 1) she decided to lunch in the same pub as us, and 2) we both happened to be in different states and meet at that exact point.

Then it was back to Adelaide for our flight back to Sydney. Monday was almost upon us; each of us were going back to work after more than 5 weeks off. Scary...

27th January, 2007 - Adelaide

Sean and Jodie had organised to go visit their grandfather; I figured I'd use the day to do a bit of exploring, not wishing to be the third wheel. They dropped me off at a clothing store, as I wanted to get some new jeans (I'd only brought shorts with me). After finding a pair I liked, I walked up to the Roman Catholic Cathedral; it was one place I hadn't had the chance to visit on my numerous trips to Adelaide, so was quite looking forward to it.

Unfortunately there was a wedding about to take place, so I walked around the outside of the building instead. I then jumped on the free City Loop bus, making my acquaintance with a rather nice couple, who told me where to get off in order to walk to St Peter's, Adelaide's Anglican cathedral. Before that, though, I thought a quick visit to the Adelaide Library would be in order, to see if they had any scores I could pilfer and republish. Nothing though, so I made my way to the cathedral. I purchased a photo permit (for the princely sum of $2 - I think they should charge more!).

Here are some of the results:


West End


The beautiful West Rose Window


The Hill, Norman & Beard 4 manual organ


Looking down the central aisle to the West Door


Detail of the reredos

After spending 20 minutes talking to the lovely verger-ladies, and purchasing a copy of the choir's new CD, I made my way back to the CBD. When purchasing the jeans earlier that morning, I decided that a new belt wouldn't be a bad thing. So, the eternal quest to find the perfect belt began, lasting 4 hours and 25 clothing shops later, I had it! Ever on the hunt for interesting CDs, I went to one of those discount shops that sell everything for $10; I came away with a recording of Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite, and selections from his score for Romeo and Juliet - good stuff! I also bought Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, as it was something that I've been meaning to buy for quite a number of years, but somehow hadn't. Time for a beer, and then I was collected by Sean and Jodie. The visit went reasonably well, and Sean was a bit happier that he'd got to chat to his grandad, after 2 days before being half a world away (quite literally!).

We collected Juliet, Jodie's girlfriend, from her work (she works in this awesome pet store - its huge!), and made our way to Sean's Mum's place for a barbecue dinner that they'd organised for us. It was great to catch up with his Mum and Terry (her partner). It'd be nice to see more of them, but given the distance between Adelaide and Sydney, its not as though one can just drop round to say Hi!

26th January - Australia Day

Sean arrived back in the country the day after me. How things can change in 2 days.

I received a phonecall from him during our farewell dinner in Los Angeles; his sister had called him to tell him that his grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer. All very sudden, and certainly not the best news when you're half way around the world, alone in an hotel room. He booked a flight from Sydney to Adelaide there and then. Back at the hotel after dinner, I booked one also - I figured even though I'm not direct family, he'd appreciate me being there to support him.

His flight from San Francisco arrived in at 8am on Australia Day. He came home, did 2 loads of washing, and packed bags again, and made our way to the airport late that afternoon.



We'd barely had time to even catch up on the last week we spent apart! The flight to ADL was pretty empty; there was a young gent who had been at the Sydney Big Day Out and was rabbiting on, slurring his words. I reckon he was more than a bit pissed.

As we rolled down the runway and soared up into the evening sky, we were finally on our way to be closer to his poor grandfather. I'd never met him, but Sean was understandably rather close to him. The next few days were gonna be tough. I held his hand as our plane banked left, the increasingly distant lights on the ground glinting, almost smug in their self-assuredness. They'd never die.

Big Day Out kid decided he was gonna be sick; so, a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, opened the seat pocket and let fly. Except not only did he get it in the seat pocket, but he managed to coat a good portion of the seatback as well. It wasn't long before the biley stink made its way over to us. Cabin crew were good though, they gave him a towel to clean himself up some.

We were met by Jodie, Sean's sister, at the airport. We were going to be staying with her while we were in Adelaide. We stayed up chatting for a while...I turned in and left them to talk things over.