^ City centre by night.
I liked that Adelaide was a nice size. It was pretty, clean, scalable, had frequent parks around the city, and was easy to navigate due to its grid composition. On first impression, it was way more exciting to look at than I had anticipated. My prejudice started with a rickety old wooden railway station, tumbleweeds and dusty roads. It was more outdated I agree, attempting to get its development up, but people I had spoken to described it as a desolate town from an Old Western... It was not. It was actually developed like Melbs and Sydney, but with less to do! Hurrah.
The Barossa Valley day tour was good! The wine quality there outdid that in Hunter Valley…sorry NSW. It was a lot sweeter and I LUUUUHHHH the sweet stuff! The scenery however was less appealing, heightened by the greyer sky backdrop probably. Nonetheless, the tipsy wine tasting and Haigh’s Chocolate Factory visit was fun! Haigh's is the oldest founded chocolatier in South Australia and still going authentically strong.
On that day we visited the mount to view out all over the city followed by a small mosey around Hahndorf- a secluded German town up in the hills. It was strange but kinda fun. Lots of cafes, hand-made trade, cheeses, gourmet ice-cream, gem stone retailers, weird souvenirs and German architecture.
There was a big dead and slaughtered horse hung in the Art Gallery. No comment.
Glenelg beach was beau! It’s a small beachside town, with a vast waterfront and a long pier out to walk on. Take a tram down there from the city (about 40 mins) for a cute day out. There’s a small domain for shopping. I didn’t swim it being Winter and all, but the views were serene. It’s not too exciting so don’t get your hopes up. It does need a bit of work as it appeared to be undergoing waterfront development with lots to be finished.
‘The Lanes’ e.g. Peel and Leigh Street, are great spots for eating, drinking and coffee culture. It’s trying to be all quirky and artier than the rest of the city, like the genre in Melbourne.
I ticked off most the must-sees such as The Central Markets, Parliament House, Adelaide Convention Centre, Botanic Gardens and Adelaide Festival Centre area. If I was to ever return, Kangaroo Island and McLaren Vale (wine land number 2) would be good to see in Summer time.
I actually didn’t do too much here- a lot of window-shopping, of which the Rundle Mall area was prolific for and further down towards the Eastern edge of the city. Actually that area was pretty kooky too- I did coffee writing days down there a couple of times. It contains more designer, independent shopping establishments. OOh actually I went to a one day yoga festival in celebration of International Yoga Day at Adelaide Pavilion. It was semi-nice, semi-'I'm-going-to-go-now,' when the freestyle kumbaya dancing occurred to improv guitar playing...bit too out of my comfort zone there.
Overall Adelaide, sorry love, you get a 5/10. It wasn't picturesque or vibrant enough for me. Great for a 3 day break, better for the older demographic I’d say.
