The Continuing and Interactive Adventures of an Englishman: Adelaide

Ok, so Adelaide!

I've been here for a couple of weeks now, and I really like this city. I say city, but the whole place has about 1 million people (including suburbs), so not exactly overwhelmed by people! So I feel comfortable in saying I like living in a city.

It's been strange being back in a backpackers and living out of a rucksack again, but I've been exploring and getting out where I can!

So good things about Adelaide;

Central Markets

The central markets are a very cool place. While it's got your usual stuff, it packed full of cool little stalls, whether they're for fruit and veg, meat, other foods, coffee shops, and it's covered in artwork and posters for music and events. There's a really nice vibe to it, and I could happily spend hours just walking around and looking.

Fancy Fruit and Veg

This made me very happy:

Until I saw the price! That works out as about £35 per kg!

I realise that I haven't really shown many photos of what a city looks like over here. So here's Rundle Mall:

As you can see, it looks like a high street. Strange artwork, buskers, and lots of shops. Including Woolworths, which is strange. And doesn't do pic'n'mix. One of the big reasons I haven't done many shots of buildings and streets is that they aren't that strange or different. One thing I found odd is that on a lot of buildings in the city, you see this:

At first, I thought maybe the people here all just had good manners but couldn't spell, but it turns out the biggest property developer in the city would buy a building, and then stick his name on it (Constantine George Polites - of Greek descent). So if you come to Adelaide, now you know.

Adelaide is also a very green city. From the centre of the CBD (Central Business District - or city centre in normal speak) you can walk for about 15/20 mins and you'll be in a park, which is awesome. Within about 5 mins of the last photo, you can get this:

Eucalyptus Tree (95% Sure) - The ones Koalas eat!

And of course, with all this green space, you get lots of animals!

Pigeon with a Mohawk

These guys are everywhere, and awesome to watch. In one park, I usually see at least 6 or 7 together at a time.

Here's a couple of my favourite finds in Adelaide:

Amazing Sweet shop down a side alley

University of South Australia - I hope it's named after a Badger....

I went to a play that was on in the university theatre space, and this was the outside

Apparently, putting padlocks on bridges is a world wide thing, it's for lovers who then throw the key off the bridge into the water/valley/whatever is below, but it's the first time I've seen it, and thought it looked cool. Has anyone seen this in the UK?

Challenges: 749 Churches in Adelaide according to the last survey (that I could Google..... sorry Sarah)

But come on! Give me some challenges people. If you missed it in the last blog:

Suggest things for me to do! I don't just mean recommendations (that would be nice though), but challenges, requests for things for me to find out. I'm writing this for you lot, so I want to include stuff that you want!
The only rules I would set are:

- Don't suggest things that will get me chucked out of the country/ are illegal
- Keep it family friendly
- Keep it realistic. You can't have a piece of Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Just leave a comment, or email me at adam_bugsy@hotmail.com. Even if you don't know me!

That's pretty much it for me this time. Next Monday I'm off to a town called Loxton to stay in a working Hostel, and start fruit picking, probably Oranges to begin with! I'll update when I can, but don't think internet will be brilliant there, and I'm going to be staying for a few months.

In consolation, here's some pictures from Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide hills: