Category: Australia

This morning we met fellow riders, support crew and briefed (though she seemed to miss the brief part) on the dos and don’ts. Magpie swooping alerts was a new one: coincidentally the Guardian ran an article on it yesterday. Bags down tomorrow at 6:30 was the shock item. Today’s blog will be brief!

Adelaide’s centre is surrounded, by city planner design, with parks. The Himeji (Adelaide’s twin town) Japanese Garden in one of them is an oasis of quietness – apart from the noisy kids who are having too much fun to worry about such things (quite right too).

Then for a stroll back along an avenue of still to bloom trees. No hiding place for the lorikeets. The cockatoos didn’t seem that worried as they dug for (presumably) food.

A final stroll through some heritage bungalows with fine ironwork and then it’s time to pack.

A day of two halves. Adelaide’s galleries followed by bike reassemble.

Adelaide’s old arcades are a joy. Opening 1885 and built in 5 months by 200 workers, it does make you reflect why things take so long these days to complete. With adaptions to changing fortunes (and a fire) 1930s art noveau dominates. They do what good arcades do: shelter small independent shops and niche products.

Looking up in cities shows the changes. Old facades harbour skyscrapers; old names tell of previous use. They seem to have done a good job here at juggling preservation, conservation and modernisation.

The South Australia Art gallery makes an impression. Its cake of the week is a recipe to return to. The Adelaide Museum’s Aboriginal wing illustrates quietly yet powerfully the richness of cultures trampled over.

Then to bike reassemble. Including the scissors making a clean cut of a finger, now neatly bandaged. Other emergency repairs will be made on Barbara’s handlebag holder. Clean machines now await posteriors.

First rain to remind us of home: so far we’re the only bikes sporting mudguards as a permanent touring feature.

Thought of the day from Aristotle in the art gallery: engage on 3 levels to communicate. Pathos (emotion); logos (logic); ethos (ethics). I’ve already engaged pathos in replying to a “are you from England?” question from a fellow cyclist. Logos and ethics held in reserve, though as he comes from Wessex the latter might not work.

Glenelg was our focus today. The last time we were there we visited the stunning brochs, wondered at the old barracks whilst getting our breath back from the cycle over from Inversheil. All the while hoping the world’s last working turntable ferry would be running to take us and our bikes across the Minch to Skye the next day. So a high expectation of its southern hemisphere namesake.

Which it turns out is the only thing Glenelg, South Australia, has in common – and it is not named after a descendant immigrant. Rather Lord Glenelg – who held a position in the Govt to do with grabbing land. (He was also the one and only person to hold that baronacy). It was the landing place of HMS Buffalo and the scouting party of Col William Wright who established Adelaide, named after the wife of King William IV. Circa 1832.

Today it’s a pleasant sea-side town with a lot of development around the few remaining original buildings. Not to forget a sand pumping station to move sand to beaches which need it. I think it’s probably the people on the beaches who want it but who am I to argue with the drafting of the sign?

Not ignoring shoving the Aborigines off their land, it is amazing how it took such a short time to develop. Within 20 years it had brick buildings (churches and free masons of course) and by 1870 a tramway (still in use though cashless these days).

Still appreciating and learning the differences between UK and Australia. Coffee: piccollo is new to me; americano is like a large expresso; restricted expresso is made with less water and used to remove teeth enamel. Low alcohol beer – my med limit – so far is only Heineken the pits. Very little litter anywhere. More diverse than we see in South Wales. Tipping is not expected – just as well!

To continue a thread aka rabbit hole: time zones. These can be traced back to the standardisation of train times from 1840 onwards. Great Western kicked it off, using GMT as the standard instead of the local station time which was based on solar time. It took until 1880 for a unified time system in the UK to be legally adopted. 1884 saw a Washington conference adopting 24 times zones for the world. A few places resist – such as this Australian State. Now you know, an even briefer history of time.

We spent today learning the buses, admiring the Adelaide grid pattern and some fancy glassware in the Botanic Gardens. Rundle Street just happens to like a t.

Buses: frequent and cheap. 50p for 2 hours travel on all city routes. A free bus around the perimeter of the central city district. A bus driver who forgot to remind us to get off.  He then told us he’d called the bus on the other side of the street who was waiting for us.

A city developing from around 1832 on a specific design of wide avenues, a grid system and parks. Which persists until today. Relatively quiet roads, indeed the traffic is light generally. The Central Market is a proper working one – lots of colour and noise. The Portuguese tarts maybe a new addition, long may they last.

The main destination was the Botanic Gardens and its new exhibition of glasswork by Chihuly. Which opens tomorrow. Primarily a “lit” experience, we did see the bulk of the work throughout the park in the daytime. Colourful bobbles. Before I got my eye in, I thought I was looking at plastic bags covering something until I realised it was a genuine “hooly”. They were impressive, especially for blown glass – he must have long arms and large lungs.

Getting to grips with the wildlife too. Ibis are akin to our seagulls. Magpies are magpies except white and black. Ducks are ducks and chicks are cute. Parakeets look more natural here than London and blend in better. Not too many dogs.

Bike inspection prompted by Barbara’s badly damaged transport box has, thankfully, shown no visible damage. My inspection, prompted by the simple 10 minute it takes to add an eSim for data to Barbara’s phone turning into 100 with messages from BT saying your phone is about to self destruct, has shown no visible damage. Just internal bruising. Thanks for asking……