This is our third full day in Adelaide - and it has been very hot. Apparently it will be even hotter tomorrow - 26 degrees is expected. The house is cool and there are lots of ceiling fans if we need them. Graham is spending most of his time outside as always. Rupert the dog has gone on his hols so the constant need to throw a ball is over and so he has a more peaceful sit.  We went to St Oswalds on Sunday morning and got a very warm welcome - the children had all made us welcome cards and had written lists of things we should do while we are here. The lists included eating a frog cake and a pie floater (local delicacies - probably a bit like chips, cheese and gravy on the IOM!) They also want us to go to the zoo to see the Pandas ( must do that!) 
I've not had much work to do yet - but I have to open the church at 7:30am and close it at 5:30pm  - remembering where all the light switches are is a bit of challenge! There are some amazing trees in the church grounds and I am wondering if they have to have Tree Surveys. If so they would look rather different to ours which just seem to list how many sycamores we have...these two (I actually think it is one tree) seem to be very close to the Parish Hall....can I hear my churchwardens groaning?

They seem to have a lot of staff, including a lovely retired Bishop - they have all been very welcoming - so I will just be fitting in with them.  I will preside and preach on Thursday morning and next Sunday.  It's a bit like the old ASB days with lots of turning of pages back and forth during the service so I'll probably get in a muddle - should be fun! Makes me appreciate what a good idea seasonal orders of service are - both for those who lead worship and for everyone else, especially visitors.  The children and their parents all sat at the front of the church and there were activity tables at the front. Before the sermon one of the ministers went and sat with the children and told them a story - everyone listened to that - it all seemed to work well. The children were all extremely well behaved and seemed very at home and the parents were very relaxed.
We have been into Adelaide today. We walked in and got a free tram back. It 's a lovely city but  crossing the road is a bit of an adventure. There are plenty of pedestrian crossings  - but the traffic doesn't necessarily stop. We've worked out that cars can turn left and right across the pedestrian crossings - they are supposed to give way to pedestrians but I don't think anyone has told the drivers that!
We spent some time in the Botanical Gardens - that's two Botanical Gardens in three days - is this a record?

The bird life is amazing - we need one of our 'twitching' friends here to identify them all. There are loads of Pipping Shrikes ( white backed magpies) - no wonder it's the 'national bird' of South Australia, they are everywhere. They are aptly named - very noisy.  There are also lots of brightly coloured birds in the trees - some of them look like parrots - they are all extremely noisy.
It gets dark here are 5:30pm so the days seem very short. we've just been out into the garden to look at the stars ( to the accompaniment of a choir who are rehearsing in the parish hall) Quite a spectacular heavenly display - different stars to Yorkshire!