Adelaide in 10 Simple Verbs

1.  Eat

Every visitor to Adelaide is soon told that this was never a convict town. Free settlement attracted people, and their cuisines, from many cultures, and the city’s hundreds of restaurants are the legacy. Rundle Street has alfresco dining, and at Eros Ouzeri below a frieze of dancing Greek goddesses I eat tender arni souvlakia. Gouger Street is solid with restaurants – Italian, Asian, Indian, Argentine, Malaysian, French – and Nu Thai’s coochee prawns with chilli, basil and coconut milk are succulent. The Central Market has a wide range of eateries: at Lucia’s the old family recipe for tomato sauce is jealously guarded.

2.  Taste

For nearly 140 years Adelaide’s Central Market, the biggest in the southern hemisphere, has brought fresh produce into the city. It’s a bustling, colourful foodies’ paradise where I taste my way around on Mark Gleeson’s tour: to the Russian Piroshki stall to try these little pasties, to the Croatian coffee stall for a fierce espresso, to Kate’s Patisserie for a pretzel, to the Tbar for a brew, to Marino’s for some hand-cured prosciutto… It’s a kaleidoscope of tastes and colours, the only common elements the passion, pride and expertise of the stall-holders. This is a tour for an empty stomach.

3.  Drink

“Fantastically bad – warrants a Public Health Warning. Resembles some by-product of the petrochemical industry.” At the National Wine Centre, aspiring vintners can make a virtual bottle for computer tasting: mine was a disaster. On Ralf’s Life is a Cabernet tour, I visit several wineries in nearby McLaren Vale: red wine country that also produces some of Australia’s best chardonnay. After a day that includes pelicans, penguins, antiques, rolling hills and a delicate fillet of King George whiting, I stand looking over autumn-red vines and enjoy a Ménage à Trois: a blend of three fine Hugh Hamilton wines. Verdict? Fantastically good.

Adelaide Video

4.  Shop

“I never know whether I’ll be washing blood off an Akubra or sewing feathers on a hat for the mother of the bride.” Milliner Amanda is happy with the variety of her work in the pretty Adelaide Hatter in the equally pretty Adelaide Mall, which has 70 shops and a ghost. Nearby Regent Arcade is also elegant and charming. Both are in Rundle Mall, a pedestrian precinct of 800 shops of every type. The Harbour Town outlet mall gives visitors with a Tourist Card an extra 10-15% discount. Marion Shopping Centre, twenty minutes away, is the largest in South Australia.

5.  Look

North Terrace holds Adelaide’s history and cultural riches in dignified sandstone museums, galleries, memorials and Government buildings; even the Casino is housed in Victorian splendour. It’s grand but welcoming too: there are trees, gardens, benches and usually no entrance fees. The Museum’s exhibits range from a 550 million year-old fossil to an astronaut’s suit, plus a fine Aboriginal collection. The Migration Museum pulls no punches telling the stories of immigrants to the city, while the Art Gallery has free tours of its wonderful colonial art. Along at the JamFactory grapefruit-sized lumps of molten glass are turned into huge vases.

6.  Watch

In such an English-looking city, with its green squares, towering oaks, fine stone churches and statue of Queen Victoria, it’s only proper that cricket is a passion here. For nearly 150 years the Adelaide Oval, the most beautiful cricket ground in Australia, has echoed to the thwack of willow on leather. All the cricket greats have played here, notably Sir Donald Bradman, after whom the stand is named. His statue stands outside, caught in mid-cover drive. The Oval is busy in winter, too: Aussie Rules is followed fanatically here. The fabulous Festival Centre is where Adelaide’s legendary arts festivals happen.

7.  Drive

Jan from Tourabout Adelaide takes me up into the hills where tucked into the valleys are little old stone-built villages like Stirling and Hahndorf. The first, with its pub, cricket ground and hot-chestnut stall, looks quintessentially English while the other shows its distinctly German heritage. Bridgewater has a beautiful old stone flour mill with a huge water wheel. At The Cedars, home of Hans Heysen, the celebrated German artist, I admire his still-life over the mantelpiece: Anna Pavlova offered him a blank cheque for the painting, but he had given it to his wife and he refused to sell it.\

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8.  Bike

I can’t waste a flat city, so I borrow a free bicycle from Bike SA. It’s an easy ride to the Botanic Garden where 140 year-old fig trees shade the lawns. Flocks of bright rosella parrots swoop through the branches and the beautiful Victorian Palm House looks like a magnified terrarium. I pass the zoo where monkeys are hooting, excited maybe about the arrival of two Giant Pandas next year. I glide along the river through Linear Park down to the sea and find coffee shops, jetties, and a train to take me and the bike back to the city.

9.  Paddle

The tram to the seaside town of Glenelg passes gingerbread cottages in stone and brick, roses growing through their wrought iron lace. At the end of the line are shops, cafes and a lazy sea lion lolling in the waves under the long jetty. The people are relaxed too, sprawled on the beach where, the museum says, three men were arrested in 1933 for topless bathing. Up the coast is Semaphore, another seaside village with a wide street and long jetty. Fishermen are hoping for bream or whiting, the little steam tram is tooting and the sand is soft and white.

10.  Savour

It wouldn’t be a holiday without a little wicked indulgence. Helen’s Chocolatte Tour begins outside Haigh’s striped Beehive building: this local family firm has been making fine chocolate since 1915, the only one in Australia to do its own roasting. It’s a long process from bean to box, 72 hours of beating needed to get the right degree of smoothness, but the samples we’re given dissolve into pure pleasure on the tongue. Cocolat has 40+ flavours of chocolate truffle; Swiss Glory has champagne bubble truffles. At the Hilton it’s sparkling Shiraz and chocolate fondue. This is a challenging afternoon.

© Pamela Wade 2008

Visit Pamela’s travel blog at www.travelskite.blogspot.com

Start planning your South Australian holiday today!

Order a free info pack here

FACT FILE

Getting there:

Air New Zealand flies direct to Adelaide from Auckland.

Where to stay:

The Hilton adjoins the market and has a top-class restaurant; the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel is handy for Rundle Street shopping.

What to do:

Life is a Cabernet Wine Tours, Tourabout Adelaide Tours, Central Market Tours, Chocolatte Tour .

Further information:

Go to www.southaustralia.co.nz .

 

Published 29th Apr 2010

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