15th February - Adelaide

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Arrived in Adelaide at 07:20 am
Getting our luggage went really smooth and there was a limousine waiting to take us to the hotel (The Majestic Roof Garden Hotel). Arrived at the hotel at around 08:00 am, we had suspected that we would have to wait until afternoon before we could check in, but the room was ready which was a real boost, as it enabled us to get unpacked and settled in.

Started to explore the city. The first thing you notice is the broad streets and thoroughfare reminiscent of may European cities. We firstly made our way to Central Market, here they seem to sell everything, the fresh fruit and cheeses look particularly good. There is a Chinese section, and the restaurants food in this section looked really good as we passed through while the city office workers were taking lunch.

We then started to make our way back to Rundle Street to get some lunch. I was busy taking photographs of some of the older buildings, after I had snapped a number of Churches, it came back to me what my friend Graham had told me that Adelaide is called "The City of Churches". I can see why now, there appears to two on every block!

On our way back to Rundle St, we came across a site that was set aside for Beach Volley in the middle of the city. It appeared to be pretty competitive stuff with an umpire on each court.

We had a good lunch on the corner of Rundle and Frome St, seated on a balcony in the restaurant with a great view of the streets.

After lunch we made our way to the Botanical Gardens. These are really Beautiful. What I like is the way people wile away the day under large shady trees either reading , sleeping or just talking. We saw the same the same thing in the Perth Botanical Gardens. I could do that!

Next we made our way to the National Wine Centre, which is adjacent to the Botanical Gardens. I don't know if we missed some of the displays, but it was a bit disappointing. We did enjoy a nice sparkling Chardonnay wine in garden outside (more wine!!!).

We then made our way back through the Botanical Gardens, and came across a group practicing acrobating, not sure if they were just passing the time of day or were part of a "fringe"performance, as it was fringe week in Adelaide this week. We stopped of at the Exeter Hotel, which is apparently the best pub in Adelaide, it seems to attract the avant-garde youth (not sure what we were doing there!). The lager was good and sitting by the roadside people watching was a good way to finish the afternoon

Made our way back to the hotel, and went out for dinner. Looking forward to a good nights sleep this evening, as last night on the train was not particularly restful!

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