Thursday 20th December - in Adelaide

We awake to a beautiful day in Adelaide but a few degrees cooler than Perth. Our hotel, the Playford is Art Deco in style and is apparently regarded as the best hotel in Adelaide. Our bedroom is very nice but could do with quite a lot more storage space, even for travellers such as we who make a point of travelling light.

A good breakfast was enjoyed as we had a leisurely start to the day before taking the tram to the botanic gardens.

The gardens are lovely with Rosemary's favourite Lotus flowers being the stars of the show.

We stopped for some cold drinks one of the cafes in the  gardens where a local admired Ray's Belgian Beer T Shirt.  No not the one with the logo - I prefer Belgian Blonds - I suspect the LLW has retired that one some time ago!

Later it was time for a cycle ride along the Torrens River taking in the Adelaide Oval and great views across to the city centre.

At the end of the ride there was a degree ceremony at the University of South Australia and it was clear that the vast majority of those been awarded a degree were of asian origins. A sign of the times particularly in Australia.

Time for dinner and Ray again discovered that most of the recommended restaurants were asian. Our first choice a Korean restaurant was thwarted since they have already closed for the festive period. However, just a few doors away was a Vietnamese restaurant which turned out to be terrific. Noodle bowls with crispy pork belly, and mini spring rolls of crab and chicken both with lots of chilli source were supplemented by chicken skewers and vegetarian spring rolls. Absolutely excellent and all for the princely sum of $Aus 50 or about £35.