Environs of Adelaide

This posting is a bit of a mixum-gatherum of pictures we have taken in the environs of Adelaide- basically, places that are accessible by the public transport system. The first is Glenelg, which is on the coast and can be reached by tram from the city centre. It is a shallow bay with a pier and evidently some of the first settlers landed here, as the imposing monument commemorates. The weather, as you can see, was far from kind.

It has some very elaborate older settlers' houses, and some very expensive new developments near a marina in the river mouth. There are good seafood restaurants but the prices are astronomical.

One slightly bizarre feature is a series of sculpted dogs around the seafront. They go under the title of the "Dog-dog-dog-dog Project." Me neither.

More typically Australian is this fine fibreglass shark's head as the gateway to a marine goods store and seaside accommodation rent office. There are some famous fibreglass models in Australia- the Giant Merino, the Giant Lobster and so on. We actually saw the latter from the bus window on the industrial tour, but it had receded into the distance by the time I got the camera out. The shark is a very small-scale example of the genre.

Port Adelaide is situated to the North-West on a more practical site for a harbour, behind an island and in the basins of another river before it debouches on the sea. It is still a working port but they've restored the immediate harbourside as a historical exhibit. Many interesting early and middle Victorian buildings, town hall, gaol etc. They also have the three-master shown here.

Other parts of the town are equally antique but slightly scruffier.

One of the main attractions is the pod of dolphins that has made the port its home. They have boat trips to see them, or you can go to good observation areas, but none is really within walking distance of the port. Liz is here wishing that the car was ours.

We finally walked to a place called Semaphore Point after the Victorian semaphore tower there. A nice beach, but no dolphins.

Finally, Hahndorf is a German settlement in the Adelaide hills. The settlers were Lutherans from Prussia, and emigrated in protest at the state's religious policies. (Ask Tina for more details.) They lived originally at a place called Klemzig nearer Adelaide, but moved later to the hills where the agricultural land was better. There are some nice oldish agricultural buildings in the town, but the tourist development is a bit kitschy and more pan-German than specifically Prussian.

It has the usual touristy things including short trips in a horse-drawn conveyance.

A walk out to the cemetery puts things into perspective a little more. Emigration really was for life in those days. and these people were leaving behind more than relatives and friends. After the first generation, I think the language died out too. Still plenty of German surnames, but no real cultural survival.

To avoid offending anyone's sentiments, the town was renamed "Ambleside" during WW2. How fatuous can you get? However, like Cape Canaveral, it seems to have its real name back now.

The countryside is very pleasant, though hardly "hills" in the Scottish sense.

Liz is back next week. I hope I'll have some more new stuff to post after that.