Adelaide & Kangaroo Island - December 2009

Well at the moment I am writing from BERGEN in NORWAY (just a little bit excited) but it just occurred to me that I never did update on my latest Australian travels. I will do my best to piece together my positive impressions of Adelaide.

I actually arrived there with no preconceived notions of how it would be. Sydney does not really feel the need to think about Adelaide, ever. This turned out to be a good thing because I found myself pleasantly surprised. I found it reasonably priced, down to earth, practical and friendly, as well as offering all the things one "needs" such as shopping and entertainment and the all-important KULCHA. I don't want to be hating on Melbourne TOO much in this blog, but I thought Adelaide was everything Melbourne THINKS it is, but isn't. Adelaide was more "European" in a crude sense of the word, in that it was a small and compact city with good and free or cheap public transport links, it was low-rise, lots of heritage buildings and churches, and clearly defined entertainment areas. On the other hand it is clearly NOT a European city because it is surrounded by desert and is thousands of kms from any other large city.

I spent my few days in Adelaide wandering around Glenelg and the beach, wandering around the city and Botanical Gardens, Museum and Art Gallery (all can be done in one day, heh) and riding back and forth on the free tram.

I then went on a 2-night trip to Kangaroo Island, and was relieved to technically no longer be in Australia, and any island with penguins, seals and sea lions is great in my books.

I guess it's been too long now for me to give any proper impressions, but all I remember is that I was quite peaceful in South Australia, and I thought it was underestimated by the rest of the country. I would quite happily move there for at least a short period of time, if I had something to do like work or study. I even found some masters programmes that were offered jointly in Adelaide and Germany which would be a great idea - except that they cost $12,000 a year.

I did enjoy that Adelaide's tram tickets had inspirational messages on the back of them.