Adelaide in Phuket

5 October 2007

HMAS Adelaide (II) (CMDR Robert Slaven, RAN) sailed from Phuket Island, Thailand recently following a very relaxing and enjoyable four-day port visit. The visit was Adelaide's first opportunity to relax since participating in Exercise Malabar in the Bay of Bengal.

Following the high tempo of the exercise, the crew was eagerly looking forward to visiting Phuket, the majority taking the opportunity to spend a night or two in one of the many affordable hotels along Patonga Beach.

Adelaide's visit coincided with both the AFL and NRL Grand Finals, so the respective fans eagerly seized the opportunity to pack out any venues that were showing the games. The port visit to Phuket was also the first time that Adelaide's Rugby Union fanatics were able to view the Rugby Union World Cup.

Being a 'low-key' R&R visit the Adelaide 'Bears' Rugby team took up the offer to play against the local Phuket 'Vagabonds'. The game was hard fought with both teams evenly matched for the first three-quarters of the game. However, in the end, the Bears' stamina proved to be the difference with Adelaide victorious with a final score of 27-10.

As always, the Thai hosts were fantastic with some interesting visit arrangements in place for Adelaide's arrival. One image the crew will not soon forget was the sight of an elephant awaiting Adelaide as she berthed. The elephant became the official transport for the Commanding Officer on his Official Call to the Thai Naval Commander - 3rd Naval Area.

Following a brief stopover in Singapore Adelaide will arrive home to FBW on 10th October, marking the end of the ship's final deployment before decommissioning early 2008.