Seppos in Radelaide

Lydia and I decided to take a long weekend and embark on our first Seppo Road Trip.  We've had our car for nearly 8 months and we really haven't taken full advantage of our improved mobility beyond greater Melbourne, so we decided to take a long weekend and check out Adelaide.  The trip is about a 9 hour drive from Melbourne to Adelaide (and back) along the Western Highway:



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Having both driven extensively around the States in our respective childhoods, we're pretty familiar with the road-side scenery of Americana, but we had no idea what the Australian expanse, particularly west of Melbourne, had to offer.  As it turns out, it isn't much... For anyone who's driven in the States from Atlanta to Chicago via I-65 through Indiana, it's a lot like that, except less interesting. Over the nine hours, we passed through a total of 5 towns, many similar to what you'd see in south Georgia, except instead of one-stoplight towns, they're one-roundabout towns.  The highlights of the drive include the extensive bright yellow-flowered Canola fields, which are appealing at first, but after about an hour, become a bit mundane, and the Grampians, a mountain range west of Melbourne, that are pretty cool.  We may plan a camping trip out there in the not-too-distant future.  Driving through small-town Victoria and South Australia, we definitely invited some sideways looks from the gas (petrol) station employees.  Although all very nice, we on more than one occasion received the, "You're not from around here, are you?"

One rather notable experience was when we stopped at a gas station along our ride from Melbourne to Adelaide, I was privy to a truck driver's phone conversation with another truck driver.  Almost in shock, at last I found the Crocodile Dundee accent here in Australia- it's championed by the Australian road warriors!  I kept on hoping he'd find it necessary to comment on the inferior size of his colleague's cutting utensile, but sadly it never arrived...

The drive aside, we had a pleasant weekend exploring "the city of churches" and Ben Folds' city of residence.  We enjoyed sampling the local cuisine, including the notable Adelaide Pie Floater:

 
And we had a great time exploring the Barossa Valley and sampling some of the best Australian wine.  Check out the Seppo Radelaide video documenting our trip:

We really enjoyed our long weekend, although I'm not sure we'll be returning to Adelaide anytime soon.  And if we do, we'll choose to fly.

Movie Night: Mary & Max

Lydia and I happened upon Mary & Max, a claymation black-comedy film about a gawky girl from Mount Waverley (a Melbourne suburb) who, through letters, befriends a middle-aged man with Asperger's from New York City.  Max and Mary share a common bond in their difficulty fitting in in their respective worlds, and form a friendship through their exchange of letters and sampling of their respective country's sweets.

The movie is incredibly funny, albeit dark, and captures many of the subtle nuances between American and Australian culture. By far, one of the best movies I've seen this year, I can't recommend it enough.