Adelaide in five days - Adelaide, Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Where I stayed
Marion Caravan Park
Thursday 14th November 2013
Making my rather scary way through the eastern and southern suburbs of Adelaide I arrived before lunch at the Marion caravan park. This is a little gem, an oasis of green and tranquillity in the somewhat ugly suburb of Marion which is made up of strip malls shopping centres and busy main roads. The small caravan park has about 36 lovely grassed and shaded sites and the same number of cabins, it is remarkably well maintained and the facilities are the cleanest I have come across, The gardens are beautiful, there are two pools (indoor and out), a gym and games hall and even big pots of herbs for the use of the guests.
I was given a site under a jacaranda tree and having set up I just spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the lorikeets, taking the nectar from a nearby tree which was covered in orange blossom. With a small creek running behind the park there was also an abundance of ducks and ducklings wandering through the parked caravans. I went to sleep to the sound of frogs in the nearby creek and I can't deny the distant but very bearable rumble of traffic on the nearby freeway. When I woke the ground around the van was covered with purple jacaranda flowers and unfortunately a poor little dead possum lying by the door. This was rapidly removed by one of the many very polite and friendly staff.
Having recovered from this sad event I caught a bus from outside the gate for the 12 Kms trip into the city centre, this took about an hour, not the prettiest journey through the southern suburbs but easier than negotiating the traffic by car.
The first settlers arrived in South Australia, in 1836 with surveyor colonel William Light who proceeded to survey a suitable site for a new city while the settlers waited on Kangaroo Island or Holdfast Bay, now the coastal town of Glenelg. The survey was completed in record time and Adelaide came into being in March 1837. Light planned a city which was laid out in a grid pattern over an area of 1 square mile surrounded by parklands on all sides. To the north of this there was a residential area (North Adelaide) exactly half the size and laid out in the same grid design.
The first residents, all free settlers there were no convicts sent to this state, set out to create a European style city building many imposing civic buildings which remain today. Of course the square mile has expanded greatly over the years and the city now stretches from the sea in the west to the Torrens gorge in the East. Port Adelaide to the north on the imaginatively named 'Port River’ served as the port for the new city and continues to do so today.
I found the city to be very busy and in spite of the grid layout quite difficult to get around. There were ample buses but unless you were an expert on the timetable it was impossible to know where they were headed. There was a bus which completed what was called a city loop but the route was very limited. I guess I miss the excellent and comprehensive free transport system of Perth. I walked from the city centre past the Town Hall and the Old Government House to the Migration Museum which was a bit of a disappointment, the place was full of school groups with very strident teachers and the displays were quite muddled. From there I slogged on to the Botanical Gardens where I stopped for lunch. I hoped to look around Ayres
House, home of the explorer but the tour was cancelled and there was no self-guided option so passing through the Rundle Mall shopping centre I made the long trek back to the bus stop and back to Marion.
Saturday 16th November.
Today I went to the cross country stage of Adelaide International Three Day Event which is held in Victoria Park close to the city centre. Not a lot to say about this, it was interesting to see the horses pounding through the park and crossing several major roads, which of course had been closed for the day. The water jump was situated in the ornamental lake in the park and the whole event takes place overlooked by the tall buildings of the CDB.
It was a kilometre walk from the bus stop to the park and having sat in the sun for most of the very hot day , and then walked back again to the bus stop, I felt quite unwell by the time I got back to the campsite but soon recovered after a short lie down in the shade.
Sunday 17th November.
Port Adelaide has a Sunday market at the old port so this was my destination today. With the modern port relocated to the north of the old port the wharf area is being gentrified and many of the old buildings have been saved and converted into offices, shops, cafes and so on. The old hotels with their ornate upper floor balconies and which would have been the first stop for hundreds of the early settlers are still in operation as bars and restaurants. The whole area was very reminiscent of Fremantle, the port serving Perth. But as yet is lacking the vibrancy and café culture of ‘Freo’
The market was a little disappointing the stalls being principally second hand knick knacks and books nothing very interesting. From here I visited the Maritime museum which was well laid out in an old building housing a complete fishing smack and many interesting displays. Towards the end of my visit the place was invaded by a family with three children who were allowed to run rampage throughout the museum, quite uncontrolled by the parents. I beat a hasty retreat leaving two rather worried museum staff to deal with the invasion.
I then drove past the ugly but functional current port and continued down the west coast through the seaside resort of Semaphore with its beautiful beaches and early 19th century houses overlooking the sea. As it was Sunday the area was very busy, parking was difficult so I didn’t stop but continued towards the city. Taking advantage of the quieter Sunday traffic I drove into North Adelaide which is a very attractive residential area, built at the same time and in the same grid system as the CDB. The old houses in their tree lined streets make it a very desirable and presumably expensive place to live.
Monday 18th November.
Back on the bus today, this time to visit the Adelaide Markets in China Town. As it was Monday, some of the stalls in this enormous market complex were closed but there was still plenty to see and plenty of places to spend my money. I wandered around to start with imbibing the atmosphere and finding my bearings. I noted a huge food hall with hundreds of tables in the centre and surrounded by food stall. Of almost entirely Asian cuisine, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and every other nationality you can think of. After cruising the markets and buying a rather nice handbag from Iran, I stocked up on fruit vegetables and pork sausages! How nice to find English style pork sausages instead of the common beef variety. I then decided to push the boat out and have a meal in the food hall. The difficulty was deciding which one out of the hundreds to choose. It was encouraging to see that the tables were full of Asians of all nations so I imagined that the food would be pretty authentic. Finally after a prolonged period of indecision I settled for a fairly safe Chinese crispy chicken and noodles. It was delicious and for just $8 it was a huge portion, even I, a champion eater and wastaphobe (can there be such a word?) couldn’t quite finish it and reluctantly had to leave a small part on the plate. Feeling replete and satisfied I lugged the shopping, (naturally in the excitement of seeing so much variety I had bought far too much) to the bus stop which was fortunately close by, and returned to the camp site where I had to find space in the small fridge in the caravan. Fortunately I have the Engle in the car (for my English friends this is a portable 12/240v fridge which will run off the car battery and is an essential in the summer particularly in WA) so between the two managed to store everything away. Now I had a wonderful selection of food to choose from but was so full up with lunch that I could only manage a small snack before settling down for the night with a good book.
Tuesday 19th November 2013.
My last day in Adelaide, I feel I have not done the city justice having only paid a couple of brief visits but at the end of the day it is a city and much like many others.
Today I had to catch up on some housework, yes even when camping this has to be done. I caught up on the washing, cleaned the miniscule floor in the camper and tidied the cupboards and drawers before setting of to risk my money at the gigantic Marion Shopping Centre. Here I was forced to buy some clothes and a Lonely Planet Guide to Victoria before continuing eastwards to Glenelg the closest seaside town to Adelaide. It was here that the first governor of South Australia proclaimed the possession of the territory for England beneath the old gum tree and here the first settlers waited for the city of Adelaide to be surveyed. Many of the wealthy settlers built homes here and a short cruise around south Glenelg reveals many beautiful houses still in existence. Unfortunately I did not leave myself enough time to visit all the sights the town has to offer, the Discovery Centre sounded interesting, but after a short time watching the brave souls on the beach, it is still a bit too cold for me to brave anything but a very brief paddle, I had to fight through the rush hour traffic back to Marion. My next stop is The Fleurieu Peninsular and hopefully Kangaroo Island.