{"id":571,"date":"2010-08-12T06:56:32","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T22:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/?page_id=571"},"modified":"2017-08-17T00:47:13","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T16:47:13","slug":"adelaide-2009","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=571","title":{"rendered":"Adelaide 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mon 9th<\/sup> November
\nMadness.\u00a0 I had to set the alarm for 4am to take my first dose of travel sickness tablets!!!\u00a0 Then back to sleep until 5 when we both had to get up.\u00a0 Talk about a change from the normal routine of going to bed at 2 or 3am!\u00a0 We threw the final things into our cases, had a cuppa and off to Morley where we left the car at David\u2019s parents\u2019 home and rang for a taxi to the airport.\u00a0 All went well and as usual I took the cabin luggage through the scanners to make sure nothing was knocked back and rang David to say it was OK to check the suitcases and then he joined me.<\/p>\n

It was a wonderful short flight.\u00a0 Less than 3 hours and, although we\u2019d been told we wouldn\u2019t get a movie for that length flight, we did get one.\u00a0 And a nice breakfast.\u00a0 And the next thing we knew we were starting our descent!\u00a0 The flight path took us next to the city and we could see that Adelaide is smaller than Perth \u2013 awwww, sweet!<\/p>\n

We landed at 1:50 pm, the exact scheduled time, and took a very short taxi ride to the Rockford Hotel, quickly settling into our room.\u00a0 We\u2019d booked an \u2018executive spa suite\u2019 which was nice \u2013 our only complaint being that there were no net curtains at the windows!\u00a0 How very strange!\u00a0 It had an entrance hallway and a large room with the bed in it, and a strange, diagonal partial wall of ceiling height which housed a wide-screen TV.\u00a0 Behind this, next to the window and really squeezed in was a desk and chair and the other side of it, also squeezed in, was a table and 2 chairs.\u00a0 We had a microwave, kettle, tea and coffee and 2 lounge-style chairs.\u00a0 Then there was an open \u2018room\u2019 with the spa in and, off from this, a separate bathroom.\u00a0 For any privacy in the bedroom or spa you had to shut the heavy curtains and use electric light.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we donned our walking shoes and went off to explore where we were and soon found Rundle Mall, the central shopping precinct of the city, and enjoyed a general walk around the surrounding area.\u00a0 We found a tourist information kiosk and got some details on the public transport system for some trips that I\u2019d planned.\u00a0 It was 37\u00b0C so pretty warm and we were grateful for our hats and eventually came back to the hotel to enjoy a cooling swim in the rooftop pool followed by dinner in the hotel restaurant which was very nice, and it always feels so decadent to wave a hand as you leave saying \u2018please charge it to our room\u2019.\u00a0 During dinner I\u2019d been blinded by the setting sun through windows with no blinds or protection, but better sun than rain and cold.<\/p>\n

\"Adelaide

Adelaide Tram at the Terminus<\/p><\/div>\n

After dinner we went for another walk in the cooling evening and found the tram terminus so hopped on board.\u00a0 The tram was free within the city block so great fun to just use it for the sake of it!\u00a0 And an added bonus on the hot days; it was colder than the average fridge!!!\u00a0 After reaching the southern boundary of the free zone we just hopped back on the next tram for the return trip.<\/p>\n

And so to bed for our first day.\u00a0 We tried to snuggle up but the large bed was actually 2 singles pushed together so the ridge down the centre of the beds was high and hard and we gave up.<\/p>\n

Tue 10th<\/sup>
\nBuffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant.\u00a0 David had managed to get these included in the cost of the room; my little bargain seeker.\u00a0 Breakfast consisted of toast you made yourself, bacon, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, dried-up looking eggs Benedict, baked beans, soggy hash browns, mushrooms, cooked tomatoes, cereals, sad tinned fruit, natural yogurt and fruit juices \u2013 orange, pineapple or apple.\u00a0 Oh and a very small basket of pastries which showed signs of having been freshly baked the day before LOL\u00a0 These included some small croissants with assorted jams and, if you got in early, some tiny, bite-sized chocolate muffins.\u00a0 We happily ate our fill whilst being blinded by the morning sun streaming through the window and made a mental note to sit in the shaded part of the room in the future.<\/p>\n

We asked at reception where the nearest stop was for the free city loop bus and found it to be just 20 metres or so from the hotel.\u00a0 The bus showed 99C on its destination display which of course I always referred to as the \u201999 cent bus\u2019.\u00a0 David got chatting to the driver and it turned out he had relatives in Perth.\u00a0 Not only that but I used to work with the wife of one of them.\u00a0 It really is a small world isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0 Amazing!\u00a0 He told us where to get off hehehe for the Botanical Gardens and we found ourselves a map of the gardens just inside the gates.\u00a0 We\u2019d timed it to get there for the guided walk at 10am but were a bit early so wandered along admiring the view and the many statues.\u00a0 We also found a greenhouse full of lilies in a large raised pond.\u00a0 Only one flower was to be seen but it was very pretty.\u00a0 Then we attempted to find a spot labelled for the beginning of the walk.\u00a0 We should be so lucky!\u00a0 It was pure guess work and we imagined ourselves waiting past 10am at the wrong spot while the walk began from elsewhere.\u00a0 Eventually I persuaded David to ask the girl in the kiosk if we were in the right place and her reply was that she didn\u2019t know but thought perhaps we were.\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n

We sat at one of her tables in the shade as it was already warm and reached 39\u00b0 later that day.\u00a0 And listening to the sound of a hugely raucous steam cleaner working just feet from us we waited for about 20 minutes.\u00a0 Eventually, David saw a man put a sign out just near the souvenir shop and we idled over to read it.\u00a0 \u2018Walk cancelled due to heat\u2019 it announced.\u00a0 Urgh!\u00a0 By this time there was a lady talking to the man and it seems that she\u2019d come a long way for the walk \u2013 her second attempt.\u00a0 She had even rung up to make sure it would be on and the person on the other end of the phone must have been the girl in the kiosk as apparently she\u2019d been completely vague.\u00a0 Poor lady was not amused, but was still very polite all the same.\u00a0 I asked the man, the volunteer who would have conducted the walk, if he could at least write on the garden map where he would have walked us so that we could do it ourselves.<\/p>\n

\"Adelaide

Adelaide Botanic Gardens GlasshousePorous Rocks<\/p><\/div>\n

Believe it or not, the answer was no!\u00a0 We pressed further, along with the disappointed lady, and he did give us a vague idea so we set off anyway, keeping largely to the shade and had a bit of a wander around.<\/p>\n

Inside this glass house were various cacti and a lovely \u2018natural\u2019 style waterfall made of the most interesting rocks.<\/p>\n

But we soon decided \u2018enough of that\u2019 and the next thing on the list was an Aboriginal Gallery named Tandanya on Grenfell Street.\u00a0 As we\u2019d come in on the 99 cent bus I\u2019d seen a street sign pointing to it so off we strode confidently.\u00a0 And we walked, and walked, and walked, and never did see it.\u00a0 Eventually, stopping to look at the street numbers and getting the brochure out of my bag, we discovered we were now the absolute wrong end of the street.\u00a0 I would still swear the sign had been pointing this way down Grenfell but obviously it hadn\u2019t.\u00a0 So, dodging the crowd that all huddled on the shady side of the street, we retraced our steps \u2013 not only to where we\u2019d started, but beyond, almost to the outskirts of the city block.\u00a0 At least when we found it, it was welcomingly cool inside.\u00a0 There was a gift shop with all sorts of Aussie artefacts, and then a gallery of art and sculptures which we enjoyed looking at.\u00a0 There was one beautiful painting in the \u2018dot style\u2019 that really drew me to it but unlike some of the others it didn\u2019t have an explanation of the meaning.\u00a0 I\u2019d still love to know what drew me to it so much!\u00a0 Something to Google one day when I have time, perhaps.<\/p>\n

One art work will remain in our memories forever.\u00a0 It was about 8 feet high by about 4 feet wide, made in this pattern, repeated over and over\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Bagties

Bagties Artwork<\/p><\/div>\n

Each of the squares had a little \u2018tag\u2019 on each corner because\u2026 it was made entirely of white bag twist ties. \u00a0At a price of $1,200.00!!!\u00a0 Obviously the price was for labour and not material costs!\u00a0 (Photographs were not allowed so that is my interpretation of the work!)<\/p>\n

From here we walked back along Grenfell Street, which now seemed very familiar, and then to Rundle Mall and the Myer Centre and had a look around.\u00a0 There were glass lifts so David suggested going in these.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like lifts, they make me dizzy, but the hotel one was gentle and I foolishly presumed this one would be too.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say that as soon as it started moving I said a mildly naughty word \ud83d\ude09\u00a0 We came back down using the escalators thank you very much!\u00a0 We also went into Harris Scarfe and bought a sun hat for David, a very light-weight shawl for me and also 2 dresses, 1 tank top and a pair of \u00be length shorts for me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have many hot weather clothes so these were all good buys as they had a sale on.\u00a0 We went down to the food hall and had a light lunch, watching the workers eat theirs quickly and feeling wonderfully relaxed ourselves as we dawdled luxuriously.<\/p>\n

Next to find the Charm Shop which was wonderful.\u00a0 They have gold and silver charms for bracelets and I\u2019ve never seen so many in my life!\u00a0 You name it, they had a charm to suit, it was so interesting and I saw a beautiful bell one that I\u2019d have loved \u2013 but I\u2019d been spoiled enough already with the new clothes.<\/p>\n

It was a lovely day of exploration and from there we went to see the Sky City Casino which is in the old Railway Station building.\u00a0 David checked with the very<\/span> hunky guy at the door that our dress was acceptable \u2013 we were pretty casual \u2013 and he said we were fine.\u00a0 The entrance hall was massive and they\u2019d kept the place exactly as it used to be, complete with station clock.\u00a0 It was interesting walking around watching the one-arm bandit devotees and even some people playing black jack etc.\u00a0 Seemed very strange to us at this early hour of the afternoon.\u00a0 There were 3 floors, all with people gambling away.<\/p>\n

We walked back to the hotel for a cool drink and to cool off a little before venturing out once more, this time for a walk up Morphett Street, which became Montefiore Road, to Light\u2019s Lookout.\u00a0 Along the way we crossed over a railway bridge and couldn\u2019t believe how many tracks there were.<\/p>\n

\"Adelaide's

Adelaide's Train Track Tangles<\/p><\/div>\n

We were later told by a local that the rail system was pretty abysmal.\u00a0 Well it looked impressive anyway!\u00a0 And on up the hill to find a tall monument to Colonel Light, immortalised and looking over the city as was his vision.<\/p>\n

We took a route through a park back down the hill and I loved the bell shapes on this tree enough to take a picture.\u00a0 So pretty!<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful

Beautiful Dainty Flowering Bells<\/p><\/div>\n

On the way back to the hotel we decided to pop in to the Jam Factory.\u00a0 We\u2019d seen it a few times in passing now and decided now was the time but it was too close to closing and there wasn\u2019t a lot going on.\u00a0 We guess it used to be a jam factory but these days students blow glass objects and many are sold in the shop attached.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t hot enough outside at 39\u00b0 it was even hotter in there with all the furnaces going, and sitting up high on the viewing platform!\u00a0 We didn\u2019t stay long and retired to our hotel room for a wonderful cool spa.\u00a0 Bliss!<\/p>\n

Eventually we felt ready to venture out for dinner and went to the 99 cent bus stop.\u00a0 After about 10 minutes\u2019 wait David rang the info line to see if the buses did run after business hours and, after being on hold for plenty long enough while on a mobile phone, a guy told him they run until 6:30 at 15 min intervals.\u00a0 By this time we\u2019d waited at least that but waited more to allow for traffic hold ups.\u00a0 After 35 mins standing in the still-hot late afternoon sun we gave up and walked down to the tram stop instead, wondering why we hadn\u2019t done this in the first place.\u00a0 And then we accidentally stayed on the tram one stop too many LOL<\/p>\n

After that we found our restaurant of choice very easily.\u00a0 It was named Alphutte and, described on the website I\u2019d found it on, as Swiss.\u00a0 The online menu had shown it to be very meaty on the whole but there had been sufficient non-meat items that I felt I could chose something yummy for myself. We arrived and announced that we had not booked but asked if they could they fit us in, and they very hospitably did just that.\u00a0 It was a memorably beautiful meal served by very cheery and friendly staff including a nice chat with the Swiss owner while we awaited our desserts.\u00a0 I\u2019d had a Pumpkin & Broccoli Roulade for mains which was delicious, and David had Emmentaler Poulet.<\/h4>\n

\n

\"Alphutte's

Alphutte's Chocolate Profiteroles<\/p><\/div><\/h4>\n

We also had a dessert each \u2013 it was always going to be so after seeing their menu online and the only pity was having to choose just one!<\/h4>\n

I chose Chocolate Profiteroles and David had Chocolate Mousse.\u00a0 Both were amazing.<\/h4>\n

\n

\"David

David with his Moo Brew at the Alphutte<\/p><\/div><\/h4>\n

David tried 3 different beers during the meal (they served each beer in a correctly labelled glass!) hitting on one named Moo Brew which he declared the best.\u00a0 And then he had another just to be sure, so I shocked us both and finished with a glass of port.\u00a0 I truly adored this restaurant, it was the best meal and the friendliest service I’ve had for a very<\/span> long time.<\/h4>\n

We walked back to the tram stop and took the tram the rest of the way back to the hotel.\u00a0 At this hour the tram was actually freezing and we were glad to get out after the 10 minute journey.<\/h4>\n

David began to jump up and down with joy saying \u201cLook, look!\u201d and it was a small white car with a camera mounted very high on a roof rack.\u00a0 It was the Google maps vehicle that takes the photos as it drives along.\u00a0 So exciting to actually see it.<\/h4>\n

And again we slept well but on opposite sides of the bed.<\/p>\n

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Mon 9th November Madness.\u00a0 I had to set the alarm for 4am to take my first dose of travel sickness tablets!!!\u00a0 Then back to sleep until 5 when we both had to get up.\u00a0 Talk about a change from the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-571","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3856,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/571\/revisions\/3856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}