Adelaide, Australia

Since leaving Perth, it took us two days to cross the Great Australian Bight. It turns out that a bight is a long, inward curved coastline, so it wasn’t as mysterious as it sounded. Frequently, we could see land in the distance.

Approaching Adelaide, we sailed through Investigator Straight into the Gulf of Saint Vincent. Adelaide is the capital of the state of South Australia, which is on the south coast of Australia. The state is four times the size of the United Kingdom, with only one and a half million people. The first settlers from Britain arrived in South Australia in1836. German refugees arrived in the 1860s and created the vineyards that have made the wines produced there famous throughout the world.

It was a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky the day we arrived. The sun was warm but the breezes were cool. We have been quite fortunate in the temperatures we’ve experienced in Australia, especially since we just missed a really hot spell there.

The greeting we received when leaving the ship was impressive. A band played on the dockside and dozens of volunteers, the “Adelaide Greeters,” handed out information about the city and answered questions. The Adelaide Greeters also provide a free 30-minute First Steps Orientation Walk, which departs from the Adelaide Visitor Center each weekday. Visitors can also pre-book an Adelaide Greeter for free and spend two hours exploring the city with a volunteer.

www.cityofadelaide.com.au/adelaidegreeters.

No matter where we went, we found the people friendly and helpful. Several times as we stood on the street looking at a map, people would stop and ask us if they could direct us.

Tours of Adelaide, Hahndorf, a nearby town that shows it’s German heritage, and the vineyards of the Barossa Valley are available through Cunard. Since we previously visited Adelaide and toured the surrounding areas, and armed with so much information about Adelaide, we decided to take the shuttle downtown, about a 30-minute ride, and tour on our own. Several passengers got rail passes for about $9 and went to Hahndorf on their own. We wouldn’t be sailing until 11:30 p.m., which gave everyone plenty of time to get back to the ship.

One of the most interesting areas of Adelaide is North Terrace, a long street where the historic buildings of the University of Adelaide, Government House, Art Gallery of South Australia, Parliament House, and the National War Memorial are located. We spent an enjoyable morning wandering around the buildings and seeing the sights.

National War Memorial

The war memorial is being renovated and a walk added as an ANZAC Centenary Memorial. It was 100 years ago that thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers were killed during WWI. ANZAC Day observances are held each April to honor the Australian and New Zealand members of the military who have given their lives during the wars. 

A number of statues and busts honoring various individuals are located along North Terrace. Most statutes erected are of men, so I was particularly interested to see the memorial to Mary Lee, Secretary and Leader of the Women’s Suffrage League of South Australia. It was inscribed with her words: “My aim is to leave the world better for women than I found it.”

Mary Lee

At lunchtime, we were delighted to find an Australian version of a Cornish pasty and a custard tart. John is just as fond of custard tarts as Lionel on “As Time Goes By.”

Rundle Street is a pedestrian shopping area where you can find all kinds of stores. Australians love their hats and we passed several hat stores, especially in the Adelaide Arcade. The arcade, off Rundle Street, is one of at least two Victorian shopping arcades in that area. The stores inside are a good mix, but it is worth stopping to see it just for the architecture, especially the intricate tile floors.

Adelaide Arcade

Street entertainers (also referred to as buskers) performed along Rundle Street. One played a variety of aboriginal instruments, including a didgeridoo.

Performer

Bronze Statues Along Rundle Street

Another interesting area of Adelaide is King William Street, leading down to Victoria Square. On the other side of North Terrace, it becomes King William Road and leads to the embankment along the River Torrens and the Adelaide Oval, all within walking distance of the shuttle drop-off spot.

The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide at the junction of East Terrace and North Terrace is a beautiful place and worth visiting. The Amazon lily pads were the largest we’ve ever seen. They have to be seen to be believed.

Adelaide is a beautiful, vibrant city with lots of activities and performances. We passed dozens of signs for events, including a display of the costumes from the Australian TV detective series, “Miss Fisher.” Unfortunately, after having been on display for several months, it ended the day before we arrived. The series is set during the 1920s and the costumes have been spectacular. I was disappointed to miss seeing the display.

Rugby Union and cricket are big sports in Australia, and the new Adelaide Oval, a stadium used for matches, is a huge place downtown, which we passed traveling into town. A couple of passengers from Wales that we’ve gotten to know are great cricket fans. They walked over to see the Oval and were thrilled to discover that a match was going on. Because it was a free admission day, they got to walk right in and see part of a match. That made their day.

In addition to the free cricket, we saw a notice that free Wi-Fi is provided for the whole city. Also, Adelaide provides free bikes with bike drop-off points throughout the city. The bikes and the free inner-city bus transportation are some ways Australia is working to keep inner-city traffic down.

Although we didn’t get there, we heard that the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute on Grenfell Street has the largest display of Aboriginal arts in the country. There were so many things to see in Adelaide but, unfortunately, we only had one day there.

When we visited Adelaide before, we found it a most hospitable place. We were glad to find that it is still a terrific place to visit and the people even more welcoming.