Monday 7th November
Went out to explore the Botanic Gardens which were lovely in
the sunshine but more European than I had expected, with classical statues
among the greenery which wasn’t particularly Australian. There were plants from
all over the world including a giant water lily (Victoria Amazonica) from the
Amazon which had been brought to Adelaide with much fanfare in 1868, housed in
its own purpose built greenhouse, which has since been replaced, and was
visited by an estimated one fifth of the Adelaide’s population at the time. You
can see a time lapse video of it opening at:
It didn’t put on much of a show while I was there.
After exploring most of the gardens, including a huge
selection of roses, it was time for a coffee
and biscuit but the “Heavenly Delight Date and Ginger Biscuit” was horrible, incredibly
sweet, the texture of dried cake and lacking any ginger. The “two for $6” cookies
in the convenience store were infinitely better. And what idiot introduced Myna
birds to Australia? They seem to have co-evolved with outdoor cafes where they aggressively
raid the tables. At least the coffee was OK.
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| Classical Style Statue |
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| Roses in the Botanical Gardens |
Had a pleasant and relaxing cruise on the river and then
walked over to the “Oval”, a huge sports stadium, and along the North side of
the river, dotted with statues of famous sports people of which Donald Bradman
appears to be the main hero. I decided I
could live without visiting his museum.
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| Cruising along the River |
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| Pelican on the River |
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| Pelican Yawn |
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One of Adelaide's many Black Swans
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| Adelaide's Anglican Cathedral |
In the evening had a beer and upmarket hot dog at Bread and
Bone in Peel Street.
Walking round Adelaide I had noticed many buildings adorned
with large blue and white signs reading “POLITES”. What did it mean? I found
the answer at:
Tuesday 8th November: Glenelg
Decided to take the tram to "historic" Glenelg where
the first settlers of South Australia landed in 1836. The tram turns out to be
the only tram route in Adelaide and conveniently runs from just outside the
hotel. Very crowded when I got on but it soon thinned out so I was able to get
a seat for the ride through the Adelaide suburbs, several miles of detached,
single storey bungalows, until we arrived at Mosely Square just by the sea. It
was a brilliantly sunny day with an almost cloudless blue sky but as soon as I
got off the tram I encountered a cold wind from the sea. Between the tram
terminal and the beach there is a massive monument commemorating the
proclamation of the colony of South Australia which took place here while the
land that was to become Adelaide was still being surveyed. Glenelg has a broad sandy beach but it
definitely wasn't swimming weather although a few brave souls were playing
cricket on the beach in shorts. Walked out along the jetty but it was too cold
to stay there long. The town itself reminded me of upmarket English seaside
resorts with a few large hotels, dozens of cafes, souvenir and beachware shops.
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| Tram to Glenelg |
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| Mosely Square, Glenelg |
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Monument commemorating the proclamation of the
Colony of South Australia |
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| Tram arriving in Glenelg |
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| For Fishing on the Jetty |
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| Someone Loves Glenelg |
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| Marina |
Part of the 19th century town hall has been turned into a
museum which provided a useful explanation of the founding of South Australia,
based on a distinctly different model from that of the other Australian
colonies. The original plan was published by Edward Wakefield who was spending
time at her Majesty's pleasure for abducting or seducing a 15 year old heiress.
Also in the museum was a section on the changing fashions in beachware from
Victorian times onwards. After deciding
I had explored enough of Glenelg I caught the tram back to Adelaide city
centre.
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William Light’s Plan of Adelaide, 1837
More at:
http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/panoramas/lights-plan-of-adelaide-1837 |
Later in the evening I went to see Fawlty Towers at Her
Majesty's Theatre. I remember enjoying the TV series but on stage it didn't
work for me at all. The actors did a great job, looking, sounding and behaving
remarkably like John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sax and Connie Booth but
it just felt tired and stale. Thought a glass of wine at the interval might get
me in the mood but the improvement was only marginal. The theatre is in the
Asian part of town so I was hopeful there might be some places for late night
food but everywhere was shutting up shop for the night. Found the Pancake
Kitchen just off Hindley Street where I had a tasty "Stockman's
Brekky" which was just what I needed.
Wednesday 9th November: Wine Tasting
Pick up just after 9am for the McLaren Vale wine tasting
tour, which I had booked with “Adelaide's Top Food & Wine Tours”.
There were just five of us, a newly married, young couple
from Melbourne, an older couple from Northern Ireland and myself. Plus our
guide and very knowledgeable driver, Dan. We drove out through the Adelaide
suburbs, back to to Glenelg and then south along the coast through more suburbs
before arriving at the vineyards. Unlike the wineries near Canberra, there are
miles and miles of vines. The first winery we stopped at was d'Arenberg where
we tasted a good range of a couple of bubblies, several whites, reds and a surprisingly
good rosé, a type of wine I am not usually enthusiastic about. Amazed at the
range of wines a single winery produces, very different from France where most
chateaux specialise in one or two wines. One of the wines, a full bodied Shiraz called Dead Arm, named after a grape disease, has apparently been very highly rate by the experts. Learnt a new word “cenosillicaphobic”,
fear of having an empty glass! Outside the winery building a new futuristic “cube”
is being built which will eventually provide additional tasting space.
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| The Dead Arm |
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| d'Arenberg Cube |
Next stops were at Fox Creek and Leconfields where we
repeated the exercise. Noticeable that the woman from N Ireland was getting far
chattier as she imbibed but her husband, a software engineer, stayed quiet.
Stopped at Paxton's to sample some more wines followed by an excellent lunch of
bread, salad and cold cuts along with another glass of wine sitting outside in
the warm sunshine. Wineries always seem to be in beautiful countryside, with
equally beautiful weather and these were no exception. How better to spend a
sunny afternoon than eating good food, drinking good wine, listening to the
birds and admiring the roses and
flowering trees? Learnt that the young couple from Melbourne both work for a
company that provides software for property companies. Apparently 70% of
apartments in new residential developments are sold before any public offer for
sale, mostly to investors from Asia.
Our final stop was Tamlin’s Wines where they follow the “pile
it high and sell it cheap” philosophy with bulk generic red and white wines at
under $2.50 per litre in bulk!
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| Pile it high and sell it Cheap |
Thursday 10th November: Last Day in Adelaide
After checking out of the hotel, made my way to the nearby South
Australian Museum which was founded just a decade after the first settlers
arrived and occupies one of the impressive Victorian buildings along North
Terrace. It has a good range of exhibits, some of them in galleries which are
themselves of historical interest, reflecting the style of museums I remember
as a child, with lots of spears and shields from Papua New Guinea in glass
fronted cases.
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| Old Style Museum Exhibits |
Later had a walk round in the sunshine along
the Anzac Centenary Memorial Walk at the side of the Governor’s Residence.
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| Governor’s Residence |
Then
had a look round the State library, most of it light, airy and modern with some
interesting displays there is also a lovely traditional book-lined Victorian
gallery.
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| Traditional Library Gallery |
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| Traditional Library Gallery |
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