The CrossingAdelaide And McLaren Flat
Adelaide: Christmas in July
Adelaide turned into Christmas in July, complete with sweet treats, donated meals and a pizza fundraiser at McLaren Flat. One last visit with Ols' family passed far too quickly.
Day 65 was a full rest day.
HAA rest days were rarely empty. People, food, messages, thank-yous, supplies and sore bodies all caught up while tomorrow’s walking waited in the background.
Adelaide felt like Christmas in July. There were packages, parcels, gifts, donations, and food appearing through the support network. The Fleurieu Kitchen had sent sweet treats for the team: macarons, berry and frangipane tartlets, and the kind of indulgent food that made “carb loading” sound much more sophisticated than it probably was.
Later we went to Port Noarlunga to collect donated food from The Fleurieu Pantry. Karly and Laurie were there. My friend Michelle of Michelle’s Race for Miracles had gone to school with Karly and arranged the introduction.
From there we had a little drive through McLaren Vale and out to McLaren Flat, where Geoff and Jane Smith, Michelle’s parents, had organised a lunchtime pizza feast. They had a pizza oven and cooked a number of different pizzas, invited friends over, and turned the whole thing into a fundraiser.
It was brilliant. We chatted with everyone, and I had a moment where I could talk a bit about what we were doing and say thanks properly. After so many days measured by kilometres, road signs, feet, food, sleep, and repeat, being hosted that way was wonderful.
Michelle’s family had already appeared once before, when her uncle and aunt gave me somewhere to stay during the Bunbury-to-Perth practice walk. Now here they were again, feeding the three HAAmigos in South Australia. There would be another Michelle-family moment later too, but that belongs further down the line.
Underneath all of that, Jim and Renae’s place was still our Adelaide base. They were Ols’ uncle and aunt, and they had opened their home to us for two full days and nights. Their son Stuart was following HAA as well. Comfy beds, a warm house, proper meals, and clear instructions to “make yourselves at home” were not small things after weeks of campervan life.
By evening, Adelaide already felt too short.
I wanted to come back for the historic buildings, cafes, restaurants, wineries and scenery. I wasn’t going to see them while walking across Australia. I started east again in the morning.
Adelaide had been the huge milestone ahead of us for so long. Suddenly it was about to become the place behind us.
Images From The Day
