Big Ol' Day

Hi!
I went out last night with Eliza and a bunch of other really cool people so this morning I was feeling a bit less than energetic. I was huuuuuuungover. I spent the first couple hours of my day lazing around, watching TV and eating hard-boiled eggs. Definitely not my first choice for a breakfast meal but the only thing my fridge was offering me today. Next thing on the agenda: groceries!
After an awesome skype date with Mr. Goodman, I ventured out into the world, sunglasses donned against the raging sun. It was actually a gorgeous day again today, not a single cloud in the sky, and the fresh air did me good, I was feeling recovered almost immediately!
Today was a day of parks.
I meandered through one of the city's 4 huge parks first, on the corner of north and east terraces. this little guy greeted me:

I embarked on my journey today with the intention of doing this 'observation' report thing, a first assignment for one of my courses. People watching: awesome! I decided on Rundle Mall, a busy walkway downtown which is buzzing right now due to Fringe. There are buskers everywhere, shops, restaurants, people of all ages and not a single car in sight. I drank some juice, it looked like this:

(as you can see, pure australian fruit!)

People watching was fun but when the busker near me stopped playing his guitar I knew it was time to call it quits. I then decided to (finally) visit Adelaide's Botanic Gardens so off I went, in a leisurely fashion, as everything was closing down around me.

The gardens were DELIGHTFUL! Something about being surrounded by green that just calms me and soothes my soul and recharges my battery. It was so peaceful in there! I think this trip has made me a little obsessed with trees. All the Australian ones are just so twirly and swirly and twisty and COOL! And huge! 

Everything was all fine and dandy, i was sitting on a bench, reading when 2 park dudes rolled up on their john deere and informed me that I only had 5 more minutes before the park was closed. no biggie, I was planning on leaving soon anyway, to hit up the uni library and catch up on course readings. So, I started gathering my stuff up and then another guy roared up and this time offered me a ride right up to the gate. What service!

I started on my way, waking towards the uni when I saw this great photo opp and reached for my camera.........uh oh, I started pawing through my purse and pockets but I definitely did not have the camera. The last pic I took was that tree up there, which was in front of the bench I was reading on so it must still be in the park! I hurried back, confident that I could catch the attention of one of the park rangers so I could go back in and retrieve the camera.

I showed up at the gate and saw a couple on the other side of the locked entrance, arguing over whether or not they should climb the gate or look for another exit. Shoot! That was discouraging. There was a funny old man on the "right" side of the fence, encouraging the girl to get over her fear and just jump the gate. He got curious when he saw me trying to climb over the gate so I explained about my camera. He showed me a shorter part of the fence and was so helpful, offering me a boost up but, ha! I didn't need that, I'm an independent woman!

I got on top of the fence but then the scary part was jumping over, since the ground was a lot further away than it had been on the other side. I had attracted a little bit of a crowd, as I stalled ontop of the fence, trying to psych myself up for the jump, which I should note was going to take place in flip flops.

I jumped, it was fine and everyone up top gave me the thumbs up and good lucks for finding my camera. I beelined it back for the tree, found my camera and then came the tricky part of getting out. Since the fence I jumped over was way higher from the parkside, I knew I wouldn't be able to get out the same way so I started walking through to the otherside, all the time hoping to run into a park worker who could just unlock the gate. 

The park was totally empty which was weird, that is until I came across  a guy doing what looked like clipping samples from a bush. So, without my glasses, I assumed he must work there. I went over and learned that he was not, infact, employed by the park and I had to be the one to break the news about us being locked in. I have to pause here to wonder where were all the park people? They couldn't have done that great of a job if there were at least 3 people who had no idea the park was closed haha. The guy and I joined forces and tried to find a way out.

We ran into the couple from before, who were at the gate when I was jumping the fence. The four of us banded together and eventually made it back to the entrance gate, where we found a low point in the fence, with a convenient rock that acted as a little step to make the process even easier! Awesome!

I'm off to bed, adios amigos!