Adelaide
Sunday 22nd October 2006
The first thing noticeable about Adelaide is that the temperature is undeniably cooler than what we have been used to in Central Australia (outback). It gets cold in the evening, a bit like our summer evening’s at home. Also, in the day, it is nice to sit in the sunshine, but in the shade it does get a bit chilly. Maybe I am just a whinge bag and had got acclimatised to outback weather – I dont miss the flies though. Ug, they are everywhere in Central Australia and are so annoying. No annoying flies here!
In Adelaide we have visited the State Library, bought matching mood rings (I know it sounds pathetic but it was sooo funny – I think you had to be there!). We hopped on the free city loop bus, which does at it says on the tin, and got off to visit Adelaide’s Art Gallery, which has so many paintings and such a vast array of art work I had no idea where to look. In the evening on Thursday we watched ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ which was made in 1994. It was great to watch this as it contains lots of scenery and landscape from the outback and Kings Canyon, which is where we have just been. It’s such a funny film too.
On Saturday we got up early for free breakfast at our hostel and, of course, Haigh’s Chocolate Factory. At this factory you can go on a free tour and learn all about how they make the chocolate. They do not export internationally so we thought it only right to sample as much as we could while we are in Australia. Yummy it is too. We bought some small chocolates from the shop and ate them in the park opposite. We then visited the ‘JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design’ shop and exhibition gallery. This is supposed to be the best Australian designer made glass, ceramics, jewellry, textiles, wood and metal objects. We actually saw glass blowing being done there. We had lunch in my own chain of fast food restaurants, ‘Hungry George’s’ – funny really – I seem to get everywhere. We then decided to go and chill by Adelaide River. We drank coffee and chatted all day. At about 7pm we decided to move and went to Adelaide’s Central Markets. In these markets, which were still buzzing, and it seems continues to do so until 9pm, there are loads of fresh produce and food. Anyone living here has absolutely no reason to visit the supermarket, its great. They sell fruit and veg and everything else in these markets and the smells are great. We decided to have dinner here, by Chinatown and we got the biggest portion for $6.00. Very tasty and cheap. In the evening we watched ‘The March of the Penguins’, a lovely film about penguins – quite random.
Monday 23rd October 2006
On Saturday we got up and made our way to Adelaide’s Central Markets. We bought some fresh food there and went and sat in a park nearby and had a little picnic. We had the best day just chatting and lazing in the sunshine. In the evening we watched ‘Walk the Line’ which is a film about Johnny Cash.
Yesturday we got up early to go on a wine tasting tour of the Barossa Valley. We began our tour stopping off at ‘The World’s Largest Rocking Horse’, even though it doesnt actually rock. It is very big though. They have a toy factory there where they sell all sorts of different toys made from wood. We then visited the ‘Whispering Wall’. This is actually the Barossa Dam and it acts a bit like the gallery in St Pauls Cathedral where you can stand at one end and say something and someone at the other end can hear what you are saying very clearly. Our first winery was Orlando, at Jacob’s Creek. We were told of the history of the winery and how they make the wines there. Janine and I then had our first ever structured wine tasting. It began with a sparkling rose and progressed from white to red wine and then finally a port. As this was our first wine tasting I felt that it only proper to taste as much of the wine as possible, following in my Fox footsteps I believe. The second winery we visited was named VineCrest Wines and was run by a married couple. This winery was on a much smaller scale but I thought that the wines were the best of the day. The third winery was Richmond Grove. Another big winery which took us on a tour of their place and showed us the presses that they use and explained how they make the wines. We then stopped for lunch here where we had a BBQ – good old Aussie favourite I think. The fourth winery was named Bethany winery. Here, they do not do a structured wine tasting, you simply go up and ask for the specific wine you wish to taste. Some of the wines were simply delish! When we got back to our hostel we were both very hungry so we nipped out to a cafe that sold the best risotto and lasagne.
This morning I got up and went on a free guided tour of Adelaide’s Botanical Gardens on my own. Gillian, my guide, was very informative and explained lots of interesting facts about the trees and plants they have in the gardens. It is also a glorious day today, bright sunshine and much hotter than it has been the last two days.
Tonight we are off on an evening tour of the town. Tomorrow I go it alone on the Great Ocean Road for 3 days, hopefully reaching Melbourne at the end of it.
Tags: Adelaide, Australia, Travel
georgiebees
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