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Published: August 23rd 2007
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I arrived in Adelaide early Tuesday morning after boarding the Indian Pacific Train Sunday night. The train ride was about 30 hours, one full day and two nights sitting in a car. It's actually much better than it sounds: there was a dining car with tables, a lounge car, showers and we watched two movies. I had the cheap seats, which means chairs for sleeping, not a sleeping compartment. These were available for four times the price of the chair. My seating carriage was nearly empty, so we all had two seats to ourselves.
I took the shuttle bus to the downtown centre and promptly found a hotel. It's winter here, and in South Australia, it definitely feels cool. It never gets about 20 degrees and in the evenings and mornings you have to wear a jacket, especially if it is breezy. My first day in Adelaide was just to get my bearings, and book my Kangaroo Island Tour. I got to midday and I had to sleep, I suppose my body was craving a horizontal snooze. I woke, got some laundry done, got my hair cut, had dinner and watched television. A sort of holiday from my holiday.
Yesterday was my first real day to explore the city. I went to the South Australian Museum. The most impressive item there were the fossils from the Ediacaran Period. That's before the Cambrian Period, way before the dinosaurs. North of Adelaide in the hills is a world famous site. A few years ago, a geologist accidently stubbled across these very old fossils, about 650 million years old (the fossils, not the geologist or his jokes). No fossil bones, as everything then was soft bodied, these are impressions and molds in the mudstone. Lots of other mineral samples, and models of animals from around the world were also on display.
I walked to the Botanical Garden, and the Wine Institute. The garden had it's share of flighty parrots, but the Wine Institute was undergoing rennovations so no tours or sampling was available. Adelaide has a beautiful mixture of old buildings, and newer buildings. The museums are in heritage listed buildings.
Today I rented a car. I took the plunge and ventured out onto the roads, on the left side of the road. It was a good day, I never felt like driving on the right side, because that would
mean facing traffic head on. But also just having the steering wheel on the right side of the car prevents this. It's odd looking left to look in my rear view mirror, and it's a challenge to have the front end of the car (called the bonnet) on my left. Just how close to the edge of the road am I?
I drove into the Adelaide Hills, a few kilometers away. I first went to Mount Lofty Summit, about 700 m in elevation and looked down upon Adelaide, it's suburbs and the sea. Then I drove to a German town, then to the Motor Museum. Over 100 cars spanning the entire 20th Century. The scenery can look quite English with rolling hills, green pastures and cows. But the trees are Eucalypts, and if you listen, you hear the squawk of parrots. And there are many vinyards. So all those years ago, the first settlers tried to make this exotic land look like home, either German or English.
I rented a small automatic car, I didn't want to complicate things by shifting gears with my left hand. I had no navigator, so I had to plan my trip ahead.
My return trip was through the Torrens River Gorge, a very windy road. And very scenic, but keep your eyes on the road.
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solarsteve
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Mature blog
Nice to read a travel blog not done by a 20 something wanting to regale readers with their latest drinking/party stories. Keep the western au place name stories coming. We'll be there mid September, so your blog is most helpful...SS