What to do with only one full day in Adelaide. With the sun shining and temperatures rising, first off was to dig deep in the cases and pull out sandals, frocks and short sleeved shirts - yippee. Not wanting to be inside we spent a very pleasant morning wandering around the botanical gardens and then on to the small zoo. Suitably informed on the flora and fauna of the region we advanced on Adelaide art gallery within the grounds of the university and focused on the Australian Art collections, from aboriginal to colonial to contemporary. A good run through the history of Australia through it's art. The final exhibition was by a contemporary Adelaide artist Anna Patten. Called the Devil's in the Detail it was quite captivating. A bit like Dali at times but quite refreshing we thought.
Adelaide is an interesting city. On the Torrens river and just off the coast it was colonised by the British in the mid 1830's. As it was not a penal colony people applied to buy their plots of land and had to bring specific skills to help in the development of the colony. There were many ups and downs for Adelaide along the way and many of the £10 poms were sent here post 2nd world war. There is also a large population of Italians and a vibrant Asian community. The architecture is a mixture of Colonial, Victorian and modern tall glass buildings. Unlike Melbourne and Sidney however there are no skyscrapers, I don't know but maybe there is a hight limit for the buildings?
The current Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is from Adelaide. She has been in the news quite a bit recently. Last week she was in the Solomon Islands at a conference but had to come back to Canberra ( the Capital) as a group of Australian Soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Something that sadly we are more used to. This week she has had to come back to Adelaide from a Trade Summit in Vladivostok as her father has died suddenly.
Well that was Adelaide. I am particularly excited as we fly out in the morning to Alice Springs and then go by road through the desert to Uluru or as the locals say into "the never never". I hope this does not mean you will never hear from us again????