The flight was terribly long (left Nov. 12/22 at 6pm+ and arrived Nov. 14 at 3:30pm…. actually is ONLY 25-26 hours) but I was able to sleep in bits and pieces. I would recommend “premium economy” cuz your chair is much bigger and it reclines. I cannot criticize Air Canada…..we were well fed (even had real eating utensils….when was the last time you had that on a plane), drinks, blankets, little pack with toothbrush etc. in it.

So far we are disappointed…..disappointed in the weather (it’s been windy, rainy…pants and jacket weather) and disappointed that the excursion that we all were hoping to take today and was suggested as an optional tour by the tour company, is not available….they didn’t get theirs shit together cuz Australia has just recently re-opened. We (probably 10 of the 13 people on the tour) all wanted to go to Kangaroo Island…..to see the kangaroos and koalas. Lets see how the day goes. A couple of gals from Ottawa and Port Elgin have something planned.

This trip was costly to begin with but by the time we buy all the meals that are not covered, I could be in the “poor house”. The exchange is good for us but the price of everything is way higher than at home….don’t anyone complain! No tipping though & the taxes are incl. in the prices!

The first day of tour…in Adelaide-Nov15/22

Adelaide has a trolley that is free within the downtown area so we hopped it and went to the Central Market. It is a huge market that has predominately foods, including kangaroo meat. Jeanette also got a massage there that she is still talking about. After wandering there for a while, we hopped the trolley to the end of the “free line”, then back to hotel.

Later we checked out the Himeji Garden…. Small but oh so beautiful. Across from our hotel as well as circling the entire downtown area is a huge park. We saw some beautiful birds including lots of Australian magpies and Eastern rosella. The park is used for grammar school Phys. Ed including broad jump. All kids were wearing uniforms.

We didn’t meet the CEO (chief experience officer, Luigi) and the rest of the group (there are 13 of us) until 6pm. There are 6 from Canada, 2 from UK, 4 from Germany & 1 from Switzerland…. Only 2 guys in the group plus Luigi. After we walked to a restaurant and then walked and walked to get an Australian SIM card. $30 AUD for a month with a huge amount of data so that we can keep in contact with the group and CEO. 9943 steps.