Bit worried about how long my memory now lasts. As I write this I am sitting in a railway shunting yard outside Port Augusta in South Australia, having left Adelaide on “The Ghan” just 4 hours ago. But I am trying to recall how we spent the all of 2 days in Adelaide, and its already a blank - maybe its the 4 (yes, 4) glasses of wine I had with lunch. Which was delicious, since you ask (but so it should be for what we are paying for this train to Alice).
So…back to Adelaide. From what I remember we flew in late Friday afternoon from Perth to a spectacular sunset. And who the hell used this seat belt before me?
Adelaide - the only city in the world where the city is surrounded by parks! I thought that might just be tourist guff - but it is actually true. The whole of the city centre (or CBD in Australian) is enclosed by a magnificent green belt, which, from the air makes the city look like it has massive exclusion zone. I hate to admit it but it really is a lovely city - big enough for two universities but small enough to be navigable and friendly. It has numerous bars and great places to eat.
Yeah, I thought this was called something else too. We also managed to get the last two seats for the last performance of the greatest French play of the 20th century - “The Maids” (no, me neither) - at the Bakehouse Theatre. Great play, no idea what was going on, must look it up on Wikipedia.
On Saturday we took the tram out to Glenelg, a gorgeous seaside suburb of the city. A walk on the beach, the pier and coffee in the central square. Could be Brighton - except it is is almost 20C and its the winter solstice (bet it is too hot in the summer!) Great sky though!
Well, that is all I can remember! As I look out on the sunset on the Flinders Range, I don’t really care. So far, 4 hours into the train ride to Alice, it is all I had hoped. The views are spectacular, the food is wonderful and the wine is free! No wifi so if this gets posted at all it will be on dodgy mobile signal. More about the Ghan later…