Radelaide! I had big plans for this trip. It was going to be part fun and part work. Fun all day and work in the evenings, beginning with the trip over. I brought a couple papers with me to read while waiting for my flight.

But you know how airports have those pesky bookshops? Yeah. Reading papers didn't work out. That's okay, though. Tomorrow is another day and all that.

The first morning, I started off bright and early with a trek out to Morialta Conservation Park.


Got a bit turned around at first, so the walk that should not have taken more than 2.5 hours took a little more than 2.5 hours.


And either a few extra hills sneaked in there or sixteen months of doctoral studies have atrophied my muscles more severely than I thought, because by the time I'd hiked up, around and down the gorge, back to the bus stop, through the Central Market and twice across the city, was I ever knackered! Far beyond the point at which reading about motor imagery theory was possible.

But that was cool. Once again, tomorrow is another day.

And Day 2 did, indeed, look promising on the work front. It was pouring rain when I woke up and who walks themselves to exhaustion when it's chilly and wet outside?

Well, I do, apparently. But what can I say? There were pandas to see at the zoo and free samples to be had at Haigh's Chocolate Factory.


There were friends to be made...


And weird-hey plants to photograph at the Botanical Gardens.


There was also cheap curry to eat at back at the market. And it's not my fault that these things are spread out all across the city. I didn't design the place. Needless to say, reading once again fell through that night. I think I was asleep by 9:30.

And Saturday. Saturday was my last day. And wouldn't you know, I found myself a Santa Claus Parade!


Which I just had to watch because I've never seen a Santa Claus Parade without losing feeling in my extremities due to coldness before. Then I found myself an Art Gallery with a free tour through the new Aboriginal desert exhibit. Had to cut short my visit to the Museum of South Australia - right in the middle of an excellent stuffed bird display - to make it to the airport on time.

And I would have done a bit of reading then, I really would have, but I didn't want to smear chocolate all over the pages. It's pretty hard to stay neat while eating a giant caramel square.

So that was Adelaide! Bushwalking, birds, bruised feet and pandas, washed down with two days of rain and several mounds of chocolate - all, thankfully, uncontaminated by motor imagery theory.