Lazy days & Supermild Nights!

Hello to all you fine readers :)

Today (Friday) was a really good day. I got up and got ready for work - translation: Hilary got up, changed clothes, brushed teeth, ate brekky and then headed off out the door to walk a mile by 9:30am. I arrived at the Magill office to find that Helene had set up a surprise day for us. She had basically given us the day to journey around the city and gain a historical background on South Australia.

So we started off at the Magill Interpretive Trail just south of the office. There was a little walk way set up that helps provide historical information about the Magill area and the Kaurna people who lived in the area before the White people settled it. It was a really cool to be able to learn about things and areas and line them up with what I know. I love the feeling of understanding something and just gettin' it - ya know?

The Magill Interpretive Trail sign with me next to the only area that wasn't birdpoop stained.

I will admit it, I am ridiculously proud to be a Methodist - so I take pictures of Methodist things whenever I can because Methodists don't exist in Australia.

I thought I would have some fun trying to climb this wagon wheel.

This is what part of the trail looked like - these stumps were painted by local children.

After the trail, we went off to the Pepperstreet Museum only to find it was closed until noon. So we walked across the road to the Magill Shopping Centre. I bought a Hawaiian pizza at Baker's Delight along with a White Bap. They were delicious! Then we journeyed to this coffee place where Morgan ordered a cup of nasty smelling coffee. After this it was back to the museum which had opened. We walked through to find a small shop where local artists sell their jewelry, paintings, etc. There is also a coffee shop inside the museum, but we didn't take advantage of that. The paintings were absolutely goregous! They were by a South Australian artist and were in watercolour or oils. Beautiful. If only I could paint like that.

We returned back to Magill for lunch at about 12 something and then were off again to the City to see the Migration Museum. I took in so much info at the Migration Museum that I had to stop and ask the others if we could come back another day. There was just so much information I couldn't take in anymore - and I wasn't even done with half of the museum.


I learned this at the museum:

That the United States annexed the Phillipines and the Phillipines fought back. And there was a war (Phillipine-American War) over it - I never learned about that in history class. If they left this out of history class, what else is being left out? A lot actually. Take the time to actually research where you come from. It's heaps helpful so that when you go to museums you aren't sidelined with knowledge you didn't know or when people at the Casino quiz you about George Washington.

That the Phillipines have a woman President right now: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (and she is the country's 2nd female President).

Aboriginals were considered black. This shocked me because they don't look black to me and weren't slaves. But then again I was associating with American history as I read this section of the museum.

Possums are considered a sacred animal by the Aboriginals. They made fur coats out of them for the winter time. Only 15 are left in the world and I've seen one.


To get into Australia - you had to be British. Many others were sent back home because they were Irish, German, etc. If you were applying to come to Australia to live - you would have been required to take a test (and it wouldn't have been a language you know) and you would have failed. Thus you would not be admitted to the country. Sorry 'bout that.

When people were choosing where to emigrate to you know what they sat and debated: America? or Australia? Over 32 million people migrated to America; only 3 million came to Australia. Just think about your ancestors and the decision they made. Australia or America? You could have been Australian. Fancy that.


The way you take your tea says a lot about you. (This makes me wonder about the way that I take my tea and the way people percieve me.)

The Bible was a big foundation for those coming to Australia and specifically Adelaide. Adelaide is known as the "City of Churches" as you will find one (or five) on a single block. And I really am NOT over extending the truth.

The Aboriginals were treated just like our Native Americans. If you would like me to expand on this later - write a comment and I will post a blog about it specifically. And just last year on February 13, 2008 the Australian government FINALLY apologized to the Aborigines for everything they had been put through. And don't think that our government is any better just because they apologized earlier or gave compensation. An apology doesn't erase the years of pain, torture, loss of family and friends, rejection and other numerous traumatic events that can damage a person forever.

There were plenty of other things that I learned as well, but these were the things that stuck out in my mind the most as I am sitting here writing this.


After the museum, El and I caught a bus back to Magill. Morgan was catching a bus to Blair Athol. We stayed at the office for a bit and then journeyed back to HH. There I called my friend Matt to see if he could recommend any good places to go to on a Friday night. Lo and behold, he wasn't doing anything tonight so he offered to come pick us up and show us around. Hell yeah. Nothing like a local to ease your worries. So I got ready and then we went to find Matt. He had parked out on the roadside, and was waiting for us. (Our driveway to HH is quite big and therefore we never actually know where someone is going to pick us up - front, middle, back or road? So many options.) I rode shotgun and listened to some Joshua Redman - a jazzist. It was quite relaxing and thus I missed out on a good portion of the conversation in the car. But I really don't mind when the music is extremely good.

We parked (finally - parking takes forever in Adelaide) and then walked to this bar called Supermild, but it didn't appear to be open yet. So we went next door to this bar called Elysium. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to drink - but I ended up ordering a Strawberry Stripper. The guy didn't know how to make it, but luckily I do. This was the BIGGEST Strawberry Stripper I have ever had in my life. Amazing!

Me with that ridiculously huge Strawberry Stripper!

(All photos by Hilary Wieck)

After chilling at Elysium for a bit, we decided to venture next door to Supermild. It was "supermild" to say the least for the first half hour. We went to order and this lady walked in and bought us all (there were like 9 of us total including the bartenders) a round (or two) of French Pussy shots. Yuck. But who refuses a free shot? I didn't think you would either. We met some of Matt's friends - I swear you can't take anyone anywhere around here without them knowing someone and this city has 1.1 million people. Geesh. :) I ended up having another Strawberry Stripper at this bar and I was done for the night. Drinks are expensive, even though I didn't pay for the shots or the last Strawberry Stripper. And the funny thing is, I really don't even drink when I am back in the States. We danced some at Supermild and just chilled some more. I learned quite a bit about Matt and was excited to get to know him more. He's a 3rd year jazz saxophonist at Adelaide University and is graduating this year. He's really interesting and just knows loads of stuff about Adelaide, uni, etc. It was a nice night.

After deciding to leave Supermild, we headed for the car and found parking again. We were off to The Fringe. It was the second day it had been opened. It was a mass of people which I was not too thrilled about since I don't like crowds. At all. But I just kept thinking of Moulin Rouge just on a lighter scale and with no prostitutes (that I know of) around. There was the twirling sticks shop, the freak show, the pot smokers, the crazy candy shops, etc. And it was cold and I was walking around in the grass in 4 inch high heels. So you can expect that I wasn't extremely happy even though I've walked further in my heels. So after spending some time just people watching we were back off to the car and on our way back to HH. Then I hit the sack.

Cheers.