Me and the cats

So it's just the three of us now.  Jeremy arrived safely in Port Lincoln Saturday afternoon.  I just Skyped with him after his first day at the Aboriginal Health Clinic.  So far it sounds like a bunch of introductions and learning how the clinic runs.  He has already been on a four hour hike in a nearby national park and has found the local pool as well.  He is using his time wisely!  It would be quite soon, but he might possibly be back this weekend.  You see, our friend Jen (sometimes known as my first friend in Australia) has a job interview in ADELAIDE on Friday!  She texted a few days ago and I almost squealed with excitement at work when I heard the news.  It is excellent that I will be having an unexpected visit with Jen - and I know Jeremy would love to see her too if his schedule permits.

I was very lucky this weekend to have two wonderful friends visiting which helped take my mind off Jeremy's departure.  Lisa arrived Friday afternoon and from the moment I finished work on Friday, I don't think we stopped the action until last night!  Jeremy wanted to make Lisa her annual 'birthday' dinner (never mind that her birthday is in November...we likely won't be seeing her at that time of year) so that was our plan for Friday night.  We had her traditional choice of spaghetti bolognaise, along with garlic bread and salad.  Jeremy made the pasta from scratch...that pasta maker birthday present I gave him a couple of years ago has been quite the handy tool!  Some other friends, Jane and Candy, came to join the celebration.  We didn't too too much celebrating that night though, because the next day was packed full of fun adventures!  I started off Saturday morning with a 7:30 am cardio class - made me feel less guilty for the decadence to come. Saturday morning was also when the lovely Claire flew in from Melbourne to join our weekend of Adelaide fun :)

I outlined the walking chocolate tour and old & new wine bars of Adelaide tours a couple of entries ago.  We arrived at the designated meeting point for the chocolate tour at 10 am and after waiting for a couple of stragglers (who happened to be in our group of friends...oops!) we were off.  We tried lots of delicious chocolate concoctions - it's difficult to say which one was my favourite.  It was probably the chili hot chocolate at Steven ter Horst.  I had walked by this shop but had not wandered in previously.  I think I will be going back!  Claire was particularly excited that you could buy a 'Claire' chocolate and she even bought one for me to sample!  There was also a 'Lana' - but no Leana.  So close.

Buzzing from a chocolate filled morning, we did some light shopping to kill the time until it was time for the wine bar tour.  Funnily enough, the guide from the chocolate tour (Romina) was coming on the wine tour as a guest rather than a tour guide - she was going along the learn the ropes in case she ever needed to fill in for the regular guide.  We went to four wine bars and sampled the wares.  The clear winner was The Apothecary, which was also the only one I had been to before.  At this point, we probably needed to get some real food into us so we headed to Ruby Red Flamingo, one of my favourite Adelaide restaurants.  We figured that since it was only 6:30, there wouldn't be much of a wait....well, an hour and a half later, we were seated.  Luckily we enjoyed the time we spent waiting as we had a little balcony to ourselves with comfy seats, drinks, and a heater.  The food was yummy as usual - would totally recommend it to tourists if they are prepared for a wait.

Sunday morning arrived too quickly and Claire, Lisa and I were off for brunch at 'The Loose Caboose'.  Poor Lisa spent the weekend freezing (NOT A REAL CANADIAN!) and it didn't help that at brunch we were seated outside (no heaters and a bit rainy).  There was at least an over hang for protection from rain, and blankets were provided on each seat to keep toasty.  We continued on to shopping, a gold class movie, dumplings, and then the making of maple bacon cupcakes.

All too soon, it was Monday morning and I was waking up for work and the girls were headed off to catch their flights.  I am lucky to have incredibly fabulous friends!