Monday, July 09, 2007

Sights of Adelaide

I just came back from a 4-day 3-nite trip to Adelaide - the so called City of Churches. It was a memorable trip and Adelaide has lots to offer, contary to the popular belief that it is a dull and boring city. You just have to know where to look.


St Peter's. One of the many churches in Adelaide.

I took around 360 amazing pictures of the place. I would loved to put them all in this blog, but due to the various constraints.. blah blah blah... So in conclusion, will just put some of the more significant/memorable or interesting pictures here with a summary of the trip.

Day 1: Road to Adelaide

There are actually two roads from Melbourne to Adelaide - and Woon Pang, Danny and me went there via the 'hill-lovers' route - the one that travels inland via Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham.

Map of Melbourne to Adelaide.

We started off at 6.30am and reached Adelaide at 3pm.

On the way there are lotz of breath-taking scenery, including this taken at Tailem Bend, a town just before Adelaide. The river is the Murray River.


View of Murray River from Tailem Bend.

At Adelaide, we settled our accomodation and hit the town. The first port of call is this Adelaide Riverbank. It is as beautiful as the waterfront in Melbourne. We also wandered around the town and had our dinner at Adelaide's small Chinatown. Then it is off to bed coz there is nothing going on at night in Adelaide.. even on Friday or Saturday...


Adelaide scenic riverbank.

Day 2: City and beach

It was a rainy day (again). Started our city tour on Rundle Street, the main shopping arcade of Adelaide.


Rundle Mall. The pavements have embedded coins and there are pigs milling around.

Then visited the University of Adelaide as well as the City Library and South Australia Museum (due to the rain).


South Australia Museum: home to the biggest Aborigine artifacts collection.

In the afternoon, took the only tram in Adelaide to Glenelg beach, a popular tourist attraction. Due to the weather, the beach is virtually devoid of people.


Glenelg beach and jetty (and me).

In the evening, we took a bus to Tea Tree Gully just to sit on the bus- this bus is special coz it can travel on rail lines and reach a speed of 100km/h! It was very interesting. Imagine a flying bus!

Day 3: Port Adelaide and Adelaide Hills

The weather picked up a little in the morning as we journey to Port Adelaide. Like Adelaide, it was very empty - only a few people milling around. Nothing much to see.. but it was a quite pretty place.


Lighthouse at Port Adelaide.

Then we travel to Adelaide Hills - one of the most picturisque place on Adelaide.


Of rolling hills and winding roads and dry grape vines.

There are acres and acres of grapes vines and apple trees. We stopped at a mediaval castle (a suprise find - more on next blog), wineries, small towns, a chocolate factory, Bereenberg strawberry farm and the historical German town of Hahndorf.


Melba chocolate factory.


Me in historic (and rainy and cold) Hahndorf.

The next destination is Mount Lofty: a place where you can view the whole of Melbourne, that is if the sky is clear. Which alas, as you guess, is not the case.. the whole view was completely obstructed by clouds and mists.


The light house on misty Mt Lofty

At night, had dinner and met with Chang Yang, Xuan Ni, Wee Loon and Violet who were coincidently in Adelaide for a medical convention. It was a funny feeling meeting with Melbourne friends in Adelaide.

Day 4: Victor Harbour and home!

The last day of our trip - time to say goodbye to our hostel.


The three travellers: Danny, Woon Pang and me.

We travelled south to Victor Harbour and Granite Island. The highlight is sitting on a tram pulled by a solitary horse. Amazing power.


The one and only horse drawn tram.

Granite Island is also a very beautiful place (damn..running out of adjectives that are synomyns of beautiful. Anyway, you get the idea.. Adelaide is simply beautiful).


The view of Granite Island from Victor Harbour.

Reached Melbourne at midnight, travelling home via the 'sea-lovers' road - via Mt Gambier, Warnambool and Geelong.

It was fun. And Adelaide is beautiful. A 'must go' place.

More photos on interesting things and events tomoro.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow..the pictures you took were really quite spectacular. you see, the reason why i am interested in looking up pictures of Adelaide is because i will be furthering my studies in Australia in July this year. and currently, i am having a dilemma trying to decide between Perth and Adelaide. i have always dreamt of moving to a place which is serene and quiet, with beautiful scenic landscapes. for example, the picture you took of the hills in Adelaide, i would really love to visit it.

Adelaide Hills Accommodation said...

And those photos are sure very inviting. Adelaide is one of the world's precious and ideal place with great spots. With Adelaide's impressive and attractive tourist views you sure will be unwind, relax, and enjoy the scenery.