We have arrived in the beautiful Adelaide, Australia.
Blown away by the beauty of this city. Since arriving we have loved everything about this place. Access is so easy with public transport, granted its nothing like New Your City, or London Underground, but its simple and efficient and between the trains, buses and trams we are able to get anywhere we wish in the city and surrounds. A trip can cost you anything from $2.50 – $3.70 depending on the time of day. Also a handy trick we learnt if you travel multiple trips within 2 hours, you only pay for the first trip. So when we having a cheap day,we catch the train to the beach, spend 1.5hrs on the beach then head home and only pay for one trip, its amazing!
Oh and the beaches, they are beautiful, warm, turquoise waters and white sands, but no shark nets?!??! SO that was weird. Thank goodness the water is so clear, and no waves so I just paddle around close to the shore.
Being able to walk the streets of Adelaide late at night is another aspect of living in Australia we are absolutely loving! Everywhere has crime, sure, but in general its pretty safe to walk around and there are people in the streets all the time.
So all in all our first impressions of Adelaide exceeded all expectations and we cannot wait to explore the city more and the wine estates, Botanical Gardens, and The Outback.
I hear they have really good wine in The Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. SO Ill have to share that with you in the near future.
Adelaide you BEAUT, we love you!
City BuildingPigs in Rundle MallRundle MallOut to brunchCity BuildingCity BuildingHaigh’s Chocolate ShopCity Statue
We decided to make a holiday out of our stop-over in Dubai, probably not everyone’s cup of tea, we we just had the most amazing time in Dubai. From the weather everyday to the people, public transport and the beautiful dessert, we defiantly gave Dubai the thumbs up as a stop-over destination.
So after almost 2 years of paperwork and planning we received our visa for Australia, YAY!! When we went ahead and used Pentravel to book our flights, we realized how long the journey to Australia would be from South Africa, so we decided to make our stop over a holiday, after all there is always time to take a holiday.
After weeks of packing we hit the skies! Landed in Dubai in the early hours of the morning and set off for our hotel. The hotel was great we had this amazing roof top pool which had amazing views over Dubai, we were close to the train station so access to anywhere in Dubai was so easy. And we were walking distance to the mall of Emirates.
The highlight was the dessert safari that we did. First day we arrived, we were picked up at our hotel in the afternoon and driven to the dessert (approx 60min drive). It was beautiful the sun was out, and the sand looked so inviting. Cruising through the dessert was wild, fast and exhilarating at times. How we didn’t flip the vehicle I have no idea. We arrived at our dinner spot where we enjoyed camel rides and a fantastic buffet dinner, henna tattoos, and a show of belly dancing, flame throwing and so much more! Our evening was fabulous! You have to experience this when you’re next in Dubai!!!
Any of your hotels would be able to arrange an book a Dessert Safari for you.
Breakfast was well earned as we were off to explore. We walked around the beautiful marina, filled with fancy yatchs and high rise glass buildings, then we were told to head to the observatory in The Marriott Hotel to enjoy a beverage and watch over The Palms. Our afternoon we spent on a beach with The Burj Al Arab as our backdrop. Our day was almost complete, but we had to make one last stop, the singing fountain at The Mall of Dubai! It did not disappoint, there were hundreds of people surrounding the dam, Whitney Houston started to sing through the speakers and the water rose into the air, it was incredible, this was one of my highlights of our trip, although don’t be late, its one song and thats it, if you miss the show you have to wait until the next show in 30mins. There is also a cool aquarium inside the mall which is a must see, you can either pay to walk through the aquarium or just enjoy it whilst walking by the mall. We ate dinner at the mall which was very expensive, so make sure you choose wisely.
Our last day in Dubai we decided to have a lazy day up on the roof around the pool, we ordered lunch and swam and enjoyed the warm winter sun on our bodies. Then we headed to the airport and caught a 2am flight to Adelaide, Australia.
Dubai has a lot
of attractions to offer, I recommend 3 nights near the city, we stayed in Jumeirah area as its close to everything and considered one of the nicer areas to stay. Winter is the best time of year to visit which is December through to March.
Enjoy xxx
Dessert SafariDessert SafariDessert Safrai – camelDessert Safrai – Belly DancerDubai MarinaMallThe PalmsBurj Al ArabMall of EmiratesMall of Emirates
After a few lazy days we decided that some adventure was in order so we booked a dolphin interaction and a quad bike booze cruise.
An early morning wake up and a short walk into the town we arrived at the meeting point for the dolphin interaction. I was thrilled this was something I was waiting to do for years.
We were educated in the conservation of the dolphins in Ponta de Oura and how to interact with the dolphins – who knew that when the dolphins “smile” at you, showing their teeth, this is actually aggressive behavior and usually means you should swim away from the dolphin.
Off we went, it was about a 20 minute drive out on the boat to find these dolphins, once we spotted a pod of dolphins we would situate ourselves about 50 meters in front of the pod and all jump into the water.
Being underwater is my absolute favorite thing, it was dead silent until…we could hear the dolphins coming! High pitched screeching and chattering amongst themselves, it felt like hours until they appeared right underneath and around us. Their big eyes watching us as they go by. Some of the younger dolphins were inquisitive and stuck around us and did somersaults to show off how excited they were. The feeling of having 30 odd dolphins surround you is something Ill never forget, you dont realise how large and beautiful these animals are until they are right next to you.
After being out at sea for about an hour we made our way back in. BEST experience ever and so professional, I highly recommend this if you have never swam with dolphins.
We got back into town and grabbed a quick bite before we were off quad biking. So this was a sunset cruise which started at 3pm and we cruised through town to a local bar for our first beverage, then off to the next and the next until it was 9pm and we landed up at a club in town many drinks down, sun burnt and just loving life in Ponta de Oura.
The next morning waking up to coffee and sunshine was rough but we had a great time and were ready to celebrate my good friend Charlene’s Birthday. She turned 30 and it was amazing, we ate and drank and celebrated with good people in paradise.
Our holiday came to an end and whilst we all could of stayed another couple of days we all had jobs to go back to and knew that that meant we could now start saving for the next holiday.
Mozambique you were a treat, we loved our time spent here and if you’re looking for a small town, beach vibe, white sand and turquoise water holiday this is the place for you.
