Sampling all the joy that Adelaide life can offer

As I write this I am babysitting three of the cutest kids serendipity could provide, while their father works in his home office up the hallway.

Quite courageous, really, as they are all under 4-years-old, and very, very busy.

Buzz Lightyear is preparing for take-off "to infinity and beyond", and the remains of the morning's breakfast are in evidence everywhere - plus, hungry lions are hiding behind every chair just waiting to bite my leg. Scary.

I had quite forgotten the trials of bringing up little children - the constant demands for attention; the perils of walking barefoot through a sea of toys on the floor. Did you know that a Lego block can cut you to the bone if you don't spot it among the camouflage of other toys?

It's been well over 20 years now, and my reactions are not as finely tuned to baby-minding as they once were. I have made the hop across the ditch to Adelaide for a few days ... the trip's been made a bit more of a trek because if you buy the cheap seats you have to spend a night in Auckland, both there and back. The flight across the Tasman was made more acceptable by spending the extra $20 and sitting in the emergency exit row, and finding more room for my economy-sized frame.

Adelaide is a very beautiful town, with a wealth of colonial architecture. Planned by the same town planner who planned Christchurch, with strikingly similar features - sans the earthquake damage, of course.

With much of the town built with unreinforced masonry, any shaking would be far worse here, but the climate calming effect of the stone construction is probably the only thing that made life bearable 100 years ago. Temperatures here are regularly in the 40s, making visiting in summer not for the faint-hearted or the frail.

It has rained every day and, no, it does not make me "feel right at home" as I come from a city with the third most temperate climate in the world, (or so the story goes).

Have you ever thought about the wisdom of claiming only third place for Wanganui in this "contest"? There will always be vocal competition for the first place, and possibly the second, but the third place? Now that is real wisdom from earlier city fathers.

Adelaide is soon to complete a flash new stadium rebuild worth zillions, and the confidence in town is exhilarating. A Field of Dreams ... build it and they will come.

But with a population of about 1 million (1,263,000), this town is still a bit small to find gainful employment for my son whose qualifications are too esoteric for the requirements of business here, and he may have to look to a larger centre. It is no wonder we have trouble keeping our young people in our area when they spread their wings.

On Saturday we will visit the Barossa Valley where they craft my favourite tipple. My daughter-in-law comes from Anguston, which is right in the domain of several large wineries - Jacobs Creek and Woolf Blass to name but two. I may have to sample their latest offerings ... it would surely offend if I don't. I will be back in New Zealand as you read this. Recuperating.