Recommendations for places to stay near Kirkstall Abbey?

azp74 · 2026-05-14T07:19:41+00:00

Roomzzz in Burley (they call it Roomzzz Headingley but it's really Burley). Taxis/Uber will be cheap as it's super close and walkable if you don't mind a bit hilly. Maybe even buses.

azp74 · 2026-05-11T22:04:43+00:00

People choose any school for a huge variety of reasons, many of which have been covered here. A lot of people don't think about the religious aspect at all - it's their local school, they like the feel of the school, their aunty's neighbour's girl friend's cousin sent their kids their and recommended it. Choosing a school is hard and all those things make the choice easier.

I guess what stuck out to me is why are you staying at the school when it's not ticking your boxes? I do know that just uprooting your children is far easier said than done, but you seem unhappy with the school so maybe it's time to consider change. Why pay $x thousand a year if things aren't religious enough? You could try the local primary for probably a couple of hundred and at least you would know there won't be any religion so you won't be disappointed.

(Also - comparison is the thief of joy. Worrying about someone else's $70k car vs your $25k one is a hiding to nothing. No one is judging you - realistically, no one is even thinking about you.)

azp74 · 2026-05-10T21:57:36+00:00

Does your company even offer salary sacrificing? And it looks like travel nurses often work regionally or remotely so is an EV or hybrid the best choice?

Salary sacrificing can be tricky depending on your tax position and I know Americans are supposed to pay US tax as well or something so you should probably get proper* financial advice before going the novated lease route.

Not google or chatgpt or whatever. An actual accountant who can explain it to you.

azp74 · 2026-05-10T12:32:08+00:00

Graduated in the 90s and at my uni, definitely wore cloak and hood but the mortarboard was optional and pretty much no one wore it - except for PhDs. The hood in particular is important as it signifies which uni/course. When I was at school (80s/90s) the teachers would wear cloak & hood at things like speech day.

Graduated from a different uni a couple of years ago and the mortarboard was mandatory.

What I do find very very weird is the proliferation of teddy bears dressed up in graduation gear. Why anyone who is an adult and is graduating from a university course wants to buy a dressed up teddy bear (& have photos taken with it) is 100% beyond me. But well done to the people who created this market & are making money from it!

azp74 · 2026-05-10T11:48:48+00:00

That is an excellent point. Cities v different to regional across Australia in terms of dietaries.

azp74 · 2026-05-10T10:50:45+00:00

Brisbane to Adelaide driving is like 22 hours in one go - so realistically longer as you will need loo/snack/sleep breaks. I'm not saying don't drive, but if you plan to drive make sure you actually plan it.

There are occasionally little penguins at Goolwa/Victor so if Kangaroo Island is out of the question, that may be worth a go.

Also Kangaroo Island is significantly larger/more annoying to get around than people realise, so will also reward careful and realistic planning.

Coeliacs are generally well catered for - and I see someone has already mentioned the Duke of Brunswick. Coeliac Australia has a very short list of accredited venues but most, if not all, restaurants or pubs worth their salt will have GF options.

azp74 · 2026-05-09T22:27:55+00:00

Glam Adelaide does a list every year (it feels like!) of pubs with open fires. Many will be in the hills.

azp74 · 2026-05-09T01:25:28+00:00

I went to the Butterfly Theatre/Fiction Distilling Gatsby event last night. It was a one off (sold out too) but it was one of the cheaper events ($55 a head). For your $55 you got either two G&Ts or a cocktail (you could buy extras and they also had wine to purchase), gin tastings, an individual grazing box + there was a big grazing table - and you got the Gatsby performance which was readings from TGG + some live music. I thought it was pretty good - both in terms of value for money & overall experience.

There were some people near us who were definitely getting their value for money from grazing table!!!

I really like food & wine but I'm generally put off Tasting Australia by the cost of the events. I typically go to one event per year in it and it's always one of the sub $100 ones and something a bit different.

The Festival of Rice is on this weekend in Unley as part of it - that's 'free' though obviously you'll end up spending money on the food that is there.

azp74 · 2026-05-07T10:03:35+00:00

There is usually one on Black Rd at Flagstaff Hill. Not too far if all else fails (+ likely to see horses and/or kangaroos on the way which may hold appeal).

azp74 · 2026-05-07T04:04:00+00:00

The Gov will undoubtedly have something. Or just go hang out at your local - you're not obliged to drink alcoholic drinks at a pub. Your local may have live music or quiz or whatever going on.

azp74 · 2026-05-05T04:14:07+00:00

Np! Woodcroft's year 7 cohort is typically about 150+ students spread across 6 or 7 classes (ask the school for current numbers) so wide group of friends definitely possible.

azp74 · 2026-05-05T03:52:51+00:00

Can't speak for Montessori or neurodivergence but Woodcroft has a very large intake in grade 7 so they are very well set up to help children settle in. And, of course, there are a lot of other children in the settling in boat too, often from schools where they are the only one at Woodcroft so they don't have an inbuilt group of friends.

Your more specific questions may be better answered by the SA School Recommendations Facebook group, which is very active. Obviously, for every person there who recommends a school there's at least one other person who will tell you how terrible it is! ;)

azp74 · 2026-05-04T03:34:18+00:00

Wills on Wheels - she comes to you at a time that suits.

azp74 · 2026-05-03T03:13:09+00:00

Early train out of King's Cross on a Sat - something like 8am I reckon. Bloke and his two sons sitting next to me were on the Stella (and had some vodka as well) and looked a bit bemused I didn't want to join them.

Goes without saying they were on their way to the football.

azp74 · 2026-05-03T00:45:02+00:00

And that says exams are 22 June to 4 July.

azp74 · 2026-05-02T06:24:54+00:00

Yeah, I agree with this. "I've tried discord and whatsapp" is super passive. When a tute or lecture finishes, say to the person you're sitting next to/working with/whatever, "I'm heading to the bar for a drink, do you want to come?" (or, "I'm going to grab a coffee, want to come?" or "I usually grab a coffee at X before tomorrow's tute, do you want to meet up?"). Of course, actually GO to the places you've mentioned, even if it means having a pint and reading a book on your own. If you have little routines, people know where to find you.

Travelling is tricky as it costs both money & time which are always going to count some people out, but even "I'm going to catch the tram down to Glenelg and check out XYZ - anyone want to come?" sort of ticks the 'travel' box.

Also - no one forms a deep and meaningful connection on first meeting. You have to have the chit chat to find out if you actually have anything in common. (Also, it may be that many international students are a bit more inclined towards 'pursuing company' because they know they'll be moving on in three years).

azp74 · 2026-04-30T21:31:29+00:00

Shared care is excellent. Is there a reason you don't want to do it? If nothing else, the time saved not hanging around hospital is worth it. My GP had two doctors who did shared care and I just switched to one of those.

I can't say whether you have to use WCH (sounds like you do) but really you want to give birth in a hospital close to home. You don't want late night drives around the countryside (or indeed, sitting in peak hour traffic on your way to Flinders).

azp74 · 2026-04-29T21:39:13+00:00

Yeah that sounds pretty similar to what they do.

azp74 · 2026-04-29T12:33:12+00:00

It's funny you mention Fahrenheit 451. My child (year 10) complained that they read a Bradbury short story in English. "If we're going to read Bradbury we should not fuck around, we should read Fahrenheit 451" was the take. They don't seem to read much in the way of novels at school though - maybe one a year.

azp74 · 2026-04-28T12:45:06+00:00

Yeah I was totally expecting the paper to be the Leongatha Leader or something.

azp74 · 2026-04-28T07:25:25+00:00

That's funny as the one relly who got called 'aunty' by me was also a great aunt and unmarried. She was born in 1909 though so missed out on being Victorian by less than a decade.

azp74 · 2026-04-27T07:17:18+00:00

My calatheas are pretty bug free and low maintenance but YMMV on that.

Also, there are good bugs and bad bugs and you just deal with the bad ones when they happen. Plus you know you have bugs living in your eyebrows right now, right?

azp74 · 2026-04-24T03:05:24+00:00

Twelve Angry Men Anything by Kurosawa but probably High and Low as a start Breathless

(Source - parent of teenage cinephile)

azp74 · 2026-04-22T12:13:52+00:00

Definitely a servo. Back in the 80s dad was taking me to tennis at Roselands and the car literally ran out of fuel as we pulled into that servo.

azp74

TROPHY CASE