Short Changing Adelaide

I'm afraid we've shortchanged this fine city by only spending one day here. Late in the game we realized it was a lovely city with much to do and see. We had already booked a trip down the coast to Melbourne so despite our attraction to all adelaide has to offer, we had to leave.

We arrived in the morning via greyhound and I once again appreciated not being set upon by hotel touts and tuk-tuk wallahs as soon we stepped off the bus. We made our way to a busy hostel in the center of the city and then set out to walk around town. It is a charming place with museums and galleries and sprawling gardens. Historic buildings with ornate Victorian facades abound, though many more must have fallen to the modernist wrecking balls of the 60s.

We especially enjoyed the South Australian Museum where there is an impressive collection of aboriginal artifacts on display, as well as a life sized replica of a giant squid. Close to the museum we wandered through an aboriginal art gallery where an informative showman out on a digeridoo concert for a gathered crowd. The art on the walls was both traditional and ultra modern, commentary on the state of aboriginals in Australia through video and photographic installation. The most memorable piece for me was a looped security camera feed of a white lady stealing a DVD from an aboriginal art exhibition. In the context of the installation, which was making a point about the continuing theft of aboriginal culture, it was very poignant.

We stopped through the Australian Wine Center where they have a beautifully designed exhibition detailing the rise of the Australian wine. We had a anti-climactic wine tasting at the end that stunted any excitement for the industry though. The whites were uninteresting and the reds all capped with a certain bitterness that crept up behind and ruined any initial good flavor.

In the evening the sidewalks were rolled up and the main shopping district shut down. This was right about the time the sun set and the sidewalks began to cool. Ironically it would have been the perfect climate in which to visit the main shopping area.

After a chaotic dinner in the over-crowded hostel we bedded down, surrounded by sleepy Germans, looking forward to our next tour along the Great Ocean Road.