Home comforts. Adelaide

Our journey west along the great ocean road into South Australia takes us from touristy Apollo Bay to dour Portland with a final stopover in the pretty little waterside resort of Robe. From Robe it's pretty much one long straight and seemingly unending road for 350km until Adelaide, and it pours with rain most of the way.

Arriving into Adelaide is briefly a shock. All of a sudden there are people, and cars, and houses, none of which had been much in evidence the last few hours of driving. But it's a smaller, calmer city than Melbourne, with an unhurried, easy-going vibe that sets it apart. We stay as guests of Bev and Mike, Sian's friends from way back - both originally from South Africa but long settled in Aus. As well as offering us their generous hospitality, they also show us the sights in and around the city - out to dinner with their son David and daughter Karmen and her partner Richard, the next day a tour of the wine-growing (and wine, and beer,

tasting) region around McLaren Vale and the day after that into the hills to Mount Lofty and the remarkable Cleland Wildlife park, where we make up big-time for our lack of kangaroo sightings,  Sian gets cuddly with a Koala called Stephen, and a gaggle of exotic geese mistake her for a mate and try to eat her shorts. A rare chance to get up close with a huge variety of beautiful bird and animal life without hordes of other tourists milling around.

Tomorrow, the Ghan - the train that runs the spine of Australia from Adelaide all the way to Darwin. Two days and two nights on board; we are looking forward to it.