Andy - Day 4, Adelaide

Andy went to Adelaide to visit and do some work at the Mobil refinery. He was warmly welcomed there, and he was assured that there was plenty of work for him there. So much, in fact, that he could probably work full time in Adelaide. That's not going to happen, of course, but Andy will probably commute each week there.


My plane to Adelaide didn’t land until after 10 pm, and I’m now exhausted.  Or it could be the jetlag catching up to me.  Nonetheless, I got up early for a few conference calls, printed a few letters, then headed for the refinery about 20 km (14 miles to the south). The map I had printed out told me to get on the M2 South Expressway, but when I got there, the on ramp was closed, and I had to practically navigate by the sun (and my Blackberry GPS, which I now love, by the way).

I managed to get to the refinery by 11 am,a bit late due to navigation issues, and taking the long, slow route instead of the Expressway which I could not figure out how to get on.  I was greeted quite warmly by my (former) ExxonMobil colleague, Brian, and he promptly indicated that he needed quite a bit of help to keep projects moving along, and that I was in the right place at the right time to help him out.  It looks like I’ll have work coming out my ears quite quickly.  

After a long day of meetings and watching safety videos, I was pretty tired.  I aced my test on the safety program (100% correct, 17 out of 17, even getting the trick questions right).  I met with Brian one more time, then headed home, taking the scenic route along Brighton Beach.  It was absolutely beautiful. I pulled off the road a few times to take pictures. (more in the next post about this)

I drove for a while more, but not wanting to go back to my hotel room, which leaves a lot to be desired, so I stopped off at a Thai bistro for a bit of Pad Thai.  I was going to go with the curry, but with my stomach still a bit queasy, I went with the bland dish.

Mobil refinery

Another view

Walking trail

Beautiful beach