Holiday Part 1: Just a Big Country Town

Our vacation kicked off with a visit to Adelaide, capital of South Australia. Before leaving NSW, several people commented that while we would like Adelaide we would soon discover that it wasn't much more than a big country town. I suppose that's as good a way of describing the city as any. Our first full day to enjoy Adelaide was Sunday. Probably not a good day to get things going. Besides being rather chilly as compared to Sydney, we quickly discovered that many places were closed.

First we walked from our hotel to the CBD (Central Business District) to check out the visitor information center to see what might be happening around the area that we'd be interested in but believe it or not the office was closed. For goodness sake, why close the tourist office? We then tried to buy our tickets for the ferry to Kangaroo Island but when we got there the office was closed. Then we tried to pick-up our tickets for our train trip but that office was also closed. Finally we decided to hit the sights.

First on the list was the Adelaide Gaol (picture to the left). Jails seem to have become Adam's number one tourist destination, every city we go to we must visit the jail. But as you probably suspect by now, when we got there it was closed. By now we are very discouraged and not at all pleased with how our trip to South Australia is starting out. We decided to give it one more shot and walk over to the Migration Museum. Miracle of miracles, it was open. Overall a very nice museum but rather depressing as it more often had exhibits regarding the plights of immigrants rather than the 'rags to riches' types of stories. By the time we left the museum the day was nearly done (in terms of things being open) so we too a quick turn around the Rundle Mall and watched shops closed up.

South Australia is known as the Festival State. And this one area where we weren't let down. After some dinner, we headed over to Elder Park for the Carols by Candlelight. Adam and I were expecting a little gathering in the park. Were we wrong? Carols by Candlelight we a full-on concert and by the time we got there we couldn't even get on the field.

Day two in Adelaide was pretty laid back as we were heading out on a bus to Kangaroo Island. So the morning was spent doing a little shopping and taking the tram to Glenelg.

Glenelg is an adorable seaside town 20 minutes from downtown Adelaide. Surprisingly there weren't many people at the beach but we had a great time walking around the town. From Adelaide Adam and I were off to Kangaroo Island for a few days before returning to Adelaide to get the train. Upon our return to Adelaide was had a chance to check out the National Wine Centre of Australia which is part of the University of Adeliade. At the wine center learned all about the different types of wines, how they are produced, and if luck had been on our side we would have been able to have a wine tasting but that option wasn't available.

Over all Adelaide is a charming place and it is more of a town than a city. Not too much to see and do but what there is, is lovely.