Gnocchi...pronounced "Ga-nya-key"

It is about 7:30am on Friday where I am now.
Yesterday was amazing. After I wrote last I had breakfast, which included Aussie Coco Krispies. They were the only recognizable cereal out of 5 or so available. There were things to make lunches out, which will come in handy. The weather here is the hottest it has been in 70some years. We have been told that when we arrived on Wednesday it was the hottest ever. It was 45.something Celsius, which means around 117 Fahrenheit. Yesterday only got to around 44 C I believe. I spent some time sitting outside reading, in the shade.

The trees near this are the trees that I have been told to look for Koalas in. The heat is bringing them down from the hills in search of water. The trees in the background of the first picture below are the Eucalyptus, of which the Koalas actually only eat leaves from about 3 kinds. The other picture is the view from there of more of the campus.

Around lunch time Helen, our site director/connection picked us up. We went to a supermarket to get some sandwich fixings, which she called salad things. Fresh fruits like peaches, nectarines, and peach-arines are in season here and they are delicious. We went to the office to meet some of the other staff and eat our sandwiches. When we were finished eating the power went out. Which we discovered is pretty much expected because of all of the power being used for air conditioning. Apparently sometimes they block power intentionally because of this. Helen used this time to take us to some of the other offices which are all over. We met lots of different people that we will be working with. We also started to hear the first bits about what we'll be doing. For example, we will be attending 2 camps, one as a participant and the other as a group leaders. Almost everyone that we met offered suggestions for things to do, and some even offered to take us to do them. It was amazing.

We went out to eat with Helen, her husband Peter, as well as Helene (a co-worker) and her family (husband and 3 children). It was wonderful. We ate at a rather nice Italian restaurant. After reading through the menu, I chose an item called Gnocchi. Most of the table participated in a discussion over the correct pronunciation. We came up with something like "knocky". When the waiter took our order, though, we discovered that we weren't quite right. He pronounced it "Ga-nya-key". After our meal, Helene and her family offered to take us to see the lights of Adelaide. We headed up to Lofty Mountain, which is really the Adelaide Hills that border Adelaide. On our way up, we saw our first Kangaroos.

When we reached the top we waited for the sun to set and then were able to see the lights from all of Adelaide shining. There is an effect of the lights that make them appear to be twinkling. Supposedly the only other place where this effect happens is Los Angeles.

Helene took us back to Hosanna Heights were all 3 of us almost immediately crashed. It was a long day, but quite amazing.