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View From The Lookout In The Adelaide Hills
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It is time to say goodbye to Adelaide. It has been an action-packed two days.
Things did not start well for our intrepid touring party. We arrived at our hotel only to find that they had reserved one room for us instead of two. There were no extra rooms in the hotel. It became tense very quickly.
We discovered that our weekend visit coincided with the busiest weekend of the year. Adelaide was host to the “Super Loop”, Australia’s version of NASCAR Racing weekend. It is the largest attended stock car race of the year. On top of that, it was the start of the Fringe Festival (second in size only to Edinburgh’s Fringe). The city was on fire with visitors.
We eventually got two rooms across the street in a Holiday Inn Express. It was a bit of a let down in terms of rooms and amenities but we were lucky to find a place within walking distances of many of Adelaide’s attractions.
After settling in our rooms we hit the streets for a walkabout. We soon realized that we were indeed “on the fringe” Every second business was either a strip club or massage parlor (the type where the masseuse poses in a chair in the window). The streets were teeming with young people. Adelaide was very much alive for our Friday night arrival.
The hotel and streets were teaming with Bogans. “Bogan” is a term we were unfamiliar with but very quickly learned from the locals. Perhaps “Race Fans” and Fringe Attendees” are synonymous with Bogans because there were a lot of them. They are characterized by behaviour and clothing styles. There were a lot of carguy and AC/DC T-shirts.
One of the nicer descriptors given was, “Aussie slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude, and behaviours are considered unrefined or unsophisticated.” I found a more severe descriptor on Wikipedia, “the majority of the species are hideously repugnant and unintelligent, and yet they manage to breed in ever-increasing numbers. Their habitat consists of home characterized by an early-model Holden or Ford in the driveway surrounded by a group of males discussing why the ‘carby’ is stuffed and the results of last night's footy. The female is far more loud and aggressive than the male. The females spend most of their time in supermarkets and shopping malls, using a shrill high-pitched call to discipline their children. Males and females rarely interact socially except during breeding season, which is otherwise known in Australia as Friday night. At home, the phrase “trailer trash” comes to mind.
After walking and taking in the street action we had a pricy meal (using the cost of a beer scale – 1 bottle of beer $12.50 AU$ or about 11$ Cdn) a block from the hotel and called it a night.
The next day we split up to take in the sights. Adelaide is a planned city and the central district is surrounded on all four sides by large parks. The green spaces and wide streets in Adelaide set it apart from a great many cities in the world. A bonus is that all mass transit in the city’s core is free.
After getting back on land we took in the National Railway Museum (my insistence but Deborah acquiesced). It is wonderfully laid out and informative. There were lots of full-size rail cars and engines on display and we had a quick tour of the yard in a working steam miniature train. A miniature train ride is never old.
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And Yes ... I Took A Ride Along With the Children
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Love To Do This Ride One Day
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Bonus Oldie Outside On The Street - The Ford, Not Deborah
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We rejoined Randy and Doreen to see comedian, Dan Wills at the Belgian Beer Pub. He did a one hour set on all things Aussie and had us laughing for most of the hour. We finished the evening at a Korean Restaurant for dumplings. Excellent.
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Lots of Little Hole-In-The-Wall Pubs - Nola
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The Belgian Pub - Oostend
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Gluttony Park - Home Of The Fringe
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Dumplings (and Pickles)
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No Shortage Of Food On This Trip
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Day two saw Deborah, Doreen and I off for a four-hour personalized tour with “John” of Best Wine Tours. John owned the company and was full of information and suggestions for the rest of our trip in Australia.
Randy went to the races to sit amongst the Bogans.
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Bad Pick But Maybe It Was Because of the Bogans
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While the ladies tasted the wines at our first stop, Saint & Scholar, I tried my hand at golf. The winery has a large pond with a floating green at the far end. If you hole a ball you win $1000 and if you land on the green, a free drink. I bought 6 balls for $6. The info said the pin was 105 yards. They provided a 7 iron and two wedges (I had no idea of the degree). I hit the first wedge and the ball dropped 10 yards short in the water. The second was only slightly further. I tried choking the 7 iron and put three over the pond. The other wedge put me just past the float. The last one hit the float and bounced off into oblivion. No monies were won but worth a laugh.
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The No Money Shot
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First Stop
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How To Measure Your Tastings and Still Drive
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John, Deborah & I
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A Rose Between Two Thorns
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We had a cheese/meat platter for lunch in a picturesque setting at the Bird In The Hand Winery and then trundled home a little sleepy after some good day drinking.
We ended our day with Chinese Food and were happy to see our beds.
Off to Broken Hill and the Outback after a tour through the vineyards of the Barossa Valley.
