Day 3: Adelaide Australia!

Today I got up early in my windowless hostel room (quite annoying actually, since it's impossible to tell what time it is or what the weather is like, and sleeping (read: hungover) people are always bothered when you put the light on, etc.  Anyway, I got myself up early and took myself to the airport, where I boarded a flight for Australia to see my friend Eve.  I made it through lots of customs and passport control, (I got scolded because my chapstick and contact lens case (my liquids) weren't in a ziplock bag - I think the security people might have lost sight of the larger picture of their job) and arrived in Australia about 5 hours later.  Once there I found it pays to be on a flight from NZ to Australia with a US passport because while everyone else was waiting in the NZ/Aus passport line, I went straight to the head of the "other passports" line.  Additionally, if you have things to declare at customs in Adelaide, apparently this is also good because most people don't, so I didn't have to wait in a line there either and I flew through passport control and customs.  The woman who checked my hiking shoes and poles to make sure that I wasn't bringing any foreign dirt or seeds into Australia looked at my fleece jacket and adroitly informed me, "you won't be needing that jumper."  When I walked outside I found this to be completely true, as it was over 100 F in Adelaide today.  A bit hotter even that NZ, I think, and hotter than what I have been used to these last few months.  (I hear that there is quite a snowstorm on in Maine at the moment, sorry about that guys.)   My friend Eve then collected me at the airport and whisked me off through Adelaide to begin the Australian leg of my adventure.

We joined another of her friends on a trip to the Burnside Mall, which is Adelaide's trendiest mall, I'm told.  It is a collection of stores along the sides of a covered walkway.  We had some ice cream to cool down and later headed out to the Glenelg beach with another friend.  It was nice and cool down by the water and we sat on the sand and ate some chips (fries) from a beachside shop.  I stuck my feet in the water and it was colder than I expected it would be, but that might have been because the air temperature was so high.  I started asking about shark attacks and poisonous snakes and spiders, and Eve and Hannah's answers disagreed somewhat.  Eve doesn't want me to worry.  I think Hannah is more concerned with truth.  Either way, I don't think it's an enormous concern, but probably not a bad idea to be educated on these things.