Adelaide - South Australia

We went to visit the capital of South Australia, Adelaide. I had never been to South Australia (SA) so I was quite excited. SA is the only state in Australia that does not have a historical beginning centered around a penal colony. In fact there was never a penal colony in SA...a fact that the South Australians are VERY proud. I heard this fact within 30 minutes of landing and then repeated multiple times over the weekend by different individuals. Very proud!

We were greeted at the airport by our amazing tour guide friend. She took us on a tour of the city. Like all major Australian cities, Adelaide is situated near a mountain range and the ocean. It was a planned city. There are four quadrants built around the central Victoria Square. Each quadrant has its own square of green park space. They are extreemly organized.

This vision was that of Colonel Light. He selected the location and designed the quadrants and parks. Against much opposition, Colonel Light's vision is the backbone of Adelaide. Overlooking the city is a monument to the founder of Adelaide.

I like Adelaide. It is a very livable, neat little city. It has the best aspects of a large city without the downsides. It offers great public transit in the city center, professional sports, and a university.

Cricket is huge in Adelaide. The Adelaide Oval is their massive cricket pitch, seating 36,000 people. It was established in 1871 and has a rich history. The University is charming. On one side of the university is a walking path along the river Torrens complete with a picturesque footbridge. The river Torrens could be mistaken for a creek from what we saw. The irony of the name was not lost on us.

Rainforest Building

Just down from the university is the Adelaide Botanic Garden. It is free to enter and worth the visit. There is a nice walking path around several ponds with ducks and water lilies. We watched a tree full of brightly colored parrots that were hanging upside down. The succulent garden had some crazy plants including what Matthew described as "fractal broccoli cactus". The rose garden is extensive. Even in the late winter, we found some roses blooming. The rose garden lies in the shadow of the "rainforest" building. It is a large, modern, spacey (or Spanish explorer hat) design.
Near the entrance to the rainforest building was a tree that has been dated to be between 1500 and 2000 years old. It fell when it was 500.
An oddity were the plaques around the garden. We found a plaque to commemorate a lunatic asylum from 1852 to 1902. I can not imagine the person who decided to spend public money on the plaque...interesting thing to commemorate.

Giant Fig Trees

Outside the garden were HUGE giant fig trees. I loved them. The roots were taller than I am! I could stand next to the tree and not been seen. They are beautiful graceful trees.

The botanical garden in the center of town is not the best botanical garden in Adelaide. Mount Lofty Botanic Garden has a Rhododendron Path that was still in full bloom in September. The azaleas and rhododendrons were stunning.

There are lots of jokes about the "Special Bus". Well...Adelaide is apparently the place where one can catch the Special Bus. The center of the city is easy to navigate. A free bus operates around the perimeter of the city center.

We decided to explore the city market. Adelaide's market is a block from Victoria Square. Like the city itself, it is remarkably well laid out. It was clean and extremely bright. It was a sharp contrast to the markets in Melbourne and Sydney. This market also only has food, unlike the larger markets that sell just about anything.

There are also trams that run regularly from the city center to the beach town, Glenelg. Tickets are sold on the tram.
This beach town looks and feels like any other generic beach town. We walked to the end of the pier. The day we visited, the wind was so strong that some of the sea spray was splashing up on the pier.
The view from the pier is a bay so big that you cannot see across. It was crazy windy and the waves splashed up to the walkway. The fish measuring station would have made my father excited.

Even though it was chilly and windy we did as you would do in any beach town, we grabbed ice-cream. We found a place that has a station to apply unlimited nuts and toppings on your ice-cream. The place was called Copenhagen's. It was down the walk from another ice cream place named after a European city. Ironically, a popular ice cream place in Europe was "Australian Ice Cream". This idea Australian ice-cream in Europe but European ice cream in Australia. Hmmm.

Adelaide is full of history. We walked around the hills above Adelaide to the Glen Osmond silver-lead mine.
It was the first metal mine in Australia. The fortunes of Adelaide rose and fell with the mines. Miners flooded into SA but quickly cleared out to follow the gold rush in Victoria. It was impressive to look in and see the beginning the mine shaft. I would hate to have worked down there.

The city was full of animals. I had one of the most up-close and personal experiences with a koala that I have ever had. We were sitting in a spa (we would call it a hot tub) and heard scratching behind Matthew's head. There, about 1 foot from his head, a koala was trying to climb up a palm tree. Poor guy could not get up as his claws could not dig into the trunk of the palm. He tried a couple of times and then gave up. He was so little and fluffy and cute. He looked at us, then up the tree, and then to us again. I can't believe how close I was to a wild koala! He walked to within a foot of my head on his way to a tree with bark. It was amazing to be in a city and yet so close such an amazing animal.

From Adelaide, you can drive up to the Flinders Range for hiking or down to Kangaroo Island. On the way down south is a wonderful place called Second Valley. We went to go kayaking.

We grabbed lunch at a traditional Aussie pie place. Pies and rolls are a staple in Australia. Like in the UK, they put all kinds of savory meat fillings inside a pastry wrapping. We also learned about the South Australian's affinity to flavored iced coffee and milk drinks. Egg nog is one of the most popular flavors. They were surprised that egg nog is not available year round in the United States, where it is exclusively a holiday flavor. By the way, egg nog flavored milk in SA has a much lighter flavor and is not as thick as that in the US.

Second Valley is a neat place along the ocean. Apparently when Colonel Light first went to SA, the first valley they found was named Rapid Bay. They used the creative name of Second Valley to....yep...the second valley they found.

Donning the "slenderizing" wet suits, we jumped into kayaks and started our battle against the brisk wind and cold waves. We were kayaking along amazing cliffs. The cold and wind were even worse once we started paddling. Luckily, the wind was blowing back into shore so we had to work to get out and would get the wind to help us back. It was HARD to paddle. We stopped for lunch at one of the few scattered beaches down the coast.

Metamorphic, sedimentary schist sounds like dirty words. The rock was jumbled up over time with cliffs that drop straight into ocean. It had such an old feeling. The beautiful colors of rock next to the cold, tropical, turquoise colored water was spectacular. Along the waterline it had been worn smooth by the waves. It was fantastic to climb around these old rocks.

The layers of rock carved from wind and waves were fun to walk on. The different levels offered foot and hand holds. We walked to a cave at the next beach down. There is a seal colony just pass Rapid Bay. We kayaked past an old jetty around the headland. It was like going through rapids. There were dozens of seals lounging on the rocks. They were smart and not struggling through the water like we were. After clearing the headlands, we wind took us on a ride back to the jetty. I was cold and tired but happy about the experience exploring the quiet valley. The hot shower was heaven!
Rain moved in on our way back to Adelaide. We saw a double rainbow. Stunning!

Overall we really enjoyed Adelaide and South Australia. I plan to go back to explore more on my next trip to Australia.