Welcome to Adelaide!

We have been carrying our camera around as we walk to and from work/classes and even to the supermarket because the city has been exceptionally pretty with its Spring colors and perfumes.  So there are a lot of pictures as we take you on a tour of the town. Adelaide is a city of a little over 1 million people, but the city centre was designed in a square with parklands surrounding on all four sides.  We are living just North of the city (in North Adelaide).  It takes us 15 minutes to walk to the University and about 5 more to get to the the city centre.  


The 1st pictures are of part of the walk in, complete with pelicans, ducks and black swans. The last birds are coots (so we've decided the babies are called cooties!)  A slightly longer but even more beautiful route home takes us through the Botanic Gardens.  More on that later....
  
 

The University of Adelaide

This is the University where Gerald studied as an undergraduate, and where Elyse is now taking a course in Ancient Greek History and in Roman Art and Archaeology. When possible, Elyse sits on a bench overlooking the view in the right photo to do her course reading (much more pleasant than reading inside when it's so beautiful out).

Adelaide Architecture

The two shots below of North Terrace are courtesy of Gerald's Dad, Graham.  North Terrace is home to the art gallery, state library, and museum, among other things.  The courtyard of the university pictured above (right) borders on North Terrace (the shot is taken "from" North Terrace).  It's all pretty compact.
 
Adelaide has great examples of the "traditional" architecture of South Australia.  The wrought iron balconies and small cottages are made even more beautiful by colourful gardens of roses and other flowers.  Here are some examples from our neighborhood of North Adelaide.
 

Flora and Fauna

As we mentioned, our camera has been at the ready lately.   As amazing as it is to us, these are the regular sites that we see in our walks around this area.  It is breathtaking to see the various colors of birds and flowers in people's gardens.  And we haven't even taken you to the Botanic Gardens yet!  

Below left is a Magpie that makes a lovely warbly sound (but also attacks people's heads during breeding season - Gerald has memories of holding his school bag over his head for protection). Below right is the slightly smaller, but still stunning Piping Shrike, the South Australian state bird.  (Thanks to Graham for these shots).
 

Equally prevalent, but even more beautiful are the variety of colorful birds that fly around everywhere.  Evenings are filled with their squawks as they feed in the Eucalyptus (affectionately known as "gum" trees) and other trees.  Clockwise below from top left are:  a Lorikeet (about to go into its nest in that hole), a pair of Rosellas, a sulphur-crested Cockatoo (these birds always make me think of the show "Baretta" - even if that dates me!), and a parrot (of some sort) in a pepper tree.



The neighbourhood includes huge parklands, with horses just a 5 minute walk from our place. The streets are filled with colour.  Add to this the public and private rose gardens and the many flowering trees and bushes and you get a sense of what we're talking about.  The yellow flower below is the wattle, which is the national flower (and explains the yellow and green of the Australian Olympic uniforms).

The gum trees are one of the most spectacular parts of the scenery here.  They have interesting shapes and fantastic bark colors (below left) that capture the light beautifully.  The leaves of these trees are more grey/blue than the green in the U.S.  The first time we had pictures from Australia developed in the U.S., we had to ask them to redo them because the green was the wrong color! The flowers of the gum trees are equally stunning and range in color from white to yellow to pink.  It is impossible to capture their grace and beauty fully with our camera, but here is a "taste" of them.
     
The three shots below are of banksias, commonly called "bottlebrush" for obvious reasons.  They are everywhere and more stunning than any of these photos capture.  Most of the time they are this rich red, but we saw one that looked almost purple!  
 

Below left is a Moreton Bay Fig tree, the greatest climbing tree in the world. The yellow-flowered tree in the middle below (can you sense how tall it is??) is a native Frangiopani and it has a very potent perfume (it almost knocked Elyse over when she went to take this picture!).  These trees line the street Elyse walks along to get to the gym, but are all around town as well.  The third tree is a Silky Oak (with a close-up of its flowers following) The other shot in this line is a guava flower and is on the guava tree in Gerald's folks' back yard (they also have an orange tree, but we missed those blossoms).
  

Happenings around Town

Periodically we come across fun events happening around town.  The cars on the left were part of the Birdwood Rally that included 1000+ vintage cars, trucks and motorcycles.  It was a beautiful day for a ride into the Adelaide Hills (where they were headed).  The dragon boats were racing in the river that runs through the city.

Happenings Nearby

Gerald's sister had won a raffle for a ride in a biplane, so we met her and the rest of the family at a beach near the airfield on the Fleurieu Peninsula.  We shared a picnic and some beach cricket, of course!  Gerald was the only one brave enough for a swim (remember, this was early Spring!), but we all enjoyed the water.  We couldn't go by the family's favorite winery, Coriole, without stopping in for a taste (or two) and appreciating the view of the newly budding vines.  There will be plenty more visits to this and other wineries to come, especially when Elyse's Mom arrives in November!


We took the 30-minute tram ride down to Glenelg just west of the city and spent a Sunday walking along the beach and enjoying the view.  We decided that this house would suit us fine. Plenty of room for guests!


Visit the Botanic Gardens