1. North Adelaide. I don't think any other city in Australia has such a concentration of impressive 19th century mansions, houses and public buildings as Adelaide does in North Adelaide. I had lived in Adelaide for about 2 years in the 1980's, so I knew North Adelaide was a nice area, but I had forgotten just how impressive the buildings are. (Have a look at this Flickr set which contains quite a few from the suburb.) This visit, we in fact stayed in North Adelaide in a little 1870's cottage which, sad to say, had a hot water system which suited its era, and an airconditioning system which did not keep the living room warm. But still, it was in a great location and is without doubt the oldest building I've ever stayed in Australia, so that counts for something:
Doesn't seem to be haunted, either.
2. Eating. We enjoyed a great tapas style dinner at Sparrow Kitchen and Bar in North Adelaide. It's only been open since Christmas, apparently, but it seems terribly popular, and justifiably so. I can't recommend it highly enough - at least for tapas and its Spanish wines.
3. Cheese. Look, even Queensland does cheese well now, but we did particularly enjoy the cheese from Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley. Our favourite: a washed rind goats cheese from the Barossa Valley Cheese Company which is gooey straight out of the fridge, with that powerful, hard to describe washed rind flavour.
4. The Adelaide Hills. Seems to have a lot of wineries now, and is a significantly prettier drive than the Barossa. Here's a shot of cows in the mist, at least showing how green it is at the moment:
My photos of the Barossa don't look all that different, I guess:
But trust me, much of the Barossa is more like an open plain, and it's hard to see how it ever got the name "valley" attached to it:
I know from past experience that, in summer, those baked brown plains are not particularly attractive. Barossa Valley towns are also nothing special to look at. Angaston is probably the pick. (And it has that cheese.)
5. The South Australian Museum: it shows up how inadequate the Queensland Museum is. I've been meaning to do a whole post on this topic, but the Queensland Museum is just terribly inadequate. For example, it devotes just about a whole floor to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island stuff, but it feels mostly empty. The Adelaide Museum has a much better indigenous section, where you can actually learn things, although the lighting is keep extraordinarily dark and "moody" for some reason. In the oldest part of the museum, they have a very old PacificIsland section with such fun bits like decorated skulls and talk of headhunters. Yes, children can learn the lesson from a museum like that their modern Western culture is a considerable improvement over some of it predecessors!
They have some interesting science stuff too, including a mini cloud chamber which lets you watch radioactive particles zipping by in front of you. But the only photo I'll include is one of a space suit Australian astronaut Andy Thomas wore on one trip. Not that you can tell from the photo, but he must be pretty short:
6. A new airport. Gone are the days of it being an overgrown shed. It's really quite a lovely airport now.
7. Coffin Bay oysters. They seem pretty cheap and plentiful. Maybe a bit too big for my liking, but not bad.
So, even though I really disliked living there in the 1980's, a short visit in the 21st century proved to be quite enjoyable.
Update: I forgot to mention:
8. Smoked fish. There seems to be a big interest in smoked fish in Adelaide; much more so than in Brisbane. We picked up some (cheap) smoked tuna in a fishshop in the Adelaide Central Markets, and were suitably impressed. (But let's face, I like just about anything smoked. Shoe leather probably tastes good done that way.)
9. Adelaide Central Markets: well, I've been talking about food so much, you probably already knew that I went there and liked it. One practical feature I admired: a big carpark with cheap fees adjoins it.
Now, there must be something to get this list to 10. I'll put my mind to it...
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