Advertisement
Published: January 14th 2024
Misc. Photos Around Adelaide, Australia
‘Tis Still the Season to Be Jolly – At Least at the AirportTour Days 88–93 – The plan was to make the journey from Melbourne to Adelaide by rail, The Overland. I had a hotel reservation walking distance from the main train station, Adelaide Railway Station – the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. The Overland, as well as the Indian Pacific, uses Adelaide Parklands Terminal which is 4.2 kilometers or 2.6 miles from Adelaide Railway Station. I strive for attention to detail but, fortunately, missed this one. Had I recognized the difference and booked a hotel near Adelaide Parklands Terminal, that is if there even IS a nearby hotel, I would have found myself in an industrial area. As fate had it, my hotel, and Adelaide Railway Station, are in the heart of the older part of the city, and I found a lot of the area in a state of transition. Massage parlors, gaming, establishments, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants have opened next door to 5-star hotels and expensive eateries. Exit left from my hotel to find the railroad station and the old neighborhood, turn right to go to the Adelaide Convention Centre complex, the Adelaide Riverbank Lawns and other newly built facilities as well as a walking/cycling/scooting path
Misc. Photos Around Adelaide, Australia
A First for Uncle Larry, Sweet and Sour Fish Nuggets and, of course, River Torrens. The best laid plans of mice and travelers, however, didn’t factor in the return of folks to the hinterland from Sydney and Melbourne to whereeversville after the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays. When I went online to buy The Overland train ticket a couple of weeks beforehand, the train was booked solid. Plan B directed me to a flight on Regional Express Airlines, Rex, which was an unknown to me. The flight was fine, and the Uber pick-up location at the Adelaide Airport was CLEARLY marked.
If one were to remove the outings peddling wine/food tasting and river cruises, and then eliminate day trips costing over AUS$200 (about $150 US) from the “twenty most highly recommended tours in Adelaide” per tripadvisor.com, there would be about three choices. One looked interesting, the Barossa Valley Inc Maggie Beers & Hahndorf (German Village) tour, but the “fine print” description, again, had vineyards and wine-tasting in the Barossa Valley as the focus and Maggie Beers and the German Village seemed to be “oh, yes, and by the way” add-ons. So, Uncle Larry made his own entertainment. On the most beautiful day of my stay, I visited several
Misc. Photos Around Adelaide, Australia
Sometimes Differentiating the Genuine Old from the “New Made to Look Old” Is Difficult memorials – in spite of my Google Maps app. I set out for the most distant objective from the hotel, the Vietnam War Memorial. I knew the Aussies had participated but didn’t know to what degree. Fifty-eight Australians were killed in that conflict. I was surprised the number was that high. Seventy-five meters or so away, I visited the Vietnamese Boat People Monument. Most of my readers probably won’t remember that a tour companion of mine in Morocco in 2022 was a “boat person” himself. He celebrated his eighth (as I recall) birthday while I was in Vietnam marking my twentieth birthday. He fled Vietnam in his 20’s, found his way to America, became a priest and now lives in Michigan.
Oh, yes. The Google Maps app had me venture through the Adelaide Convention Center grounds to the riverfront and down a footpath along the river to a point where I was to turn onto King William Road. The foot/bike/scooter path was excellent and the weather was beautiful. I was preoccupied with people/critter/flower-watching while depending on my phone to vibrate as a change of directions or some other action was required. Finally, I realized I should have had an
On the Walk to the Veterans’ Memorials
Might This Be the Work of Michelangelo or Rodin? alert and looked at my phone only to see “searching for GPS.” You must be s**ting Uncle Larry. On a clear, beautiful day like this, there is no GPS signal. I made my way up the steps to street level and, while looking for street signs to get my bearings, I spotted the Adelaide Zoo entrance about two hundred meters away. I had seen the zoo on the map as I was planning my walk but decided it was too distant for an out-of-shape old fart, especially when one considers the additional walking within the zoo itself. I reversed direction and walked several blocks in the direction from whence I had come before regaining my GPS signal only to find I was a several hundred meters past the Vietnam War Memorial. Remapping back in my room, I found my walk of 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles) had become a walk of 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles).
Some time back, I had received an email from Journey Beyond Rail, the purveyor of the Indian Pacific, as well as The Overland, railroad excursions from Adelaide to Perth, inviting me to a “Flavours of South Australia welcome dinner,” and requesting, “Please arrive at the
terminal between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm for a showcase of fabulous food and world-class wine.” No mention was made of the day or date of the dinner. Ever since the planning and booking stages, Uncle Larry had expected the train’s departure would be sometime in the morning for this “three-day trip.” So, he figured, the dinner had to be an “evening before departure” shindig. It seemed a little strange but, sometimes, it just “is what it is.” I booked an Uber to get me to Adelaide Parklands Terminal fashionably early, only to find the train station secured. As I was waiting, the light bulb began to brighten. I remembered the boarding time for the train was about 2000 hours – strange, I thought at the time, for a “three-day” trip but now – aha, the vision is clearing. I’ll arrive with luggage in tow, check in/check luggage/socialize/consume cocktails/have dinner and then board the train. I guess I’ll find out the sequence of the second group of activities when I arrive. Travel definitely removes boredom from the ADLs. I called for an Uber, returned to the hotel, walked to a nearby eatery and had dinner – Salt and Pepper Squid,
On the Walk to the Veterans’ Memorials
My Hotel Is There in the Mix Somewhere one of my new-found favorites.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0744s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
