O-Bahn Adventures

The quick visit to Adelaide stretched to 10 days while my bicycle holidayed in Renmark, growing alien life forms based on snow peas left in the bar bag.

Adelaide cityfrom Mt Lofty on a rainy day.

I helped Roger move into the next house sit. We'd done this one before: no pets, just a slightly leaky house backing onto the River Torrens linear park and 6 minutes to town via the O-Bahn which, I might add, was the only O-Bahn in all of Australia.

"Let's have dinner in town," said Roger on my second-last night before I was due to bus back to Renmark. "If we catch the O-Bahn there and back in less than 2 hours total it'll only cost me $4:60." 

I ride free on the O-Bahn because I'm an old woman now and have a Senior's card, something I may or may not have skited about as I gaily tapped my card onto the O-Bahn. Off we went.

Vroom zoom.

We had a very nice dinner in a pretend American Diner. Outside the city heaved with football fans in town for Gather Round. A grand Mall Football had even joined, nay eclipsed, the usual Malls Balls. Cold rain fell but the football fans, warmed by the fires of food, fandom, and dare I say a beverage or five, were happily boisterous. 

Adelaide has a thing about balls in the Mall.

We jumped back on the O-Bahn with time to spare for Roger's free trip home. "Should we press the button?" I asked, as we zoomed up to the Klemzig Interchange. 

"Nah, its a major interchange and it'll be full of football fans. They'll stop."

We zoomed right through the interchange. "Shoulda pressed the button!" Said the woman in the seat in front of us. "Better press it now for Paradise." 

I pressed the button, the bell dinged, the light lit up, the driver kept on zooming and yelled at the top of his voice "I'm not stopping!"  I did a quick calculation. We were either in a real life version of Speed and some sweaty action hero would pop up to save us, or we had inadvertently caught an express bus and were bound for Tea Tree Plaza whether we wanted to or not.

"Its an express bus," said the woman in front of us. She was getting rather too much enjoyment from our numpty O-Bahn adventure.

Bummer, no action heros to the rescue then. We settled in to enjoy the trip to Tea Tree Plaza, which I'm sure would have been very scenic were it not for the rain and the dark of the night.

"Just go across the platform," said our friend when the bus stopped at the Plaza. "Get on another bus, but not an express one or else you'll go right past Klemzig again." I forgave her the snigger as she said it: she was obviously desperate for entertainment and now had a story to tell her family over dinner.

"I've only got two minutes to swipe on before I have to pay again!" Roger was desperate.  The bus came, he dashed and swiped, the machine pinged 'transfer' and all was good in his world. I took my time because, as I may not have mentioned before, I had free public transport on my Senior's card.

The bus stopped at Klemzig. We walked home along the river, through the sectet path between ancient olive trees, and in through the back gate.

Path between the olive trees in the morning.

I like riding the O-Bahn.