24 September 2005 (Day 19)
A silly morning where Helen woke up too early and was champing at the bit to get out and see the sights while Daniel was watching the Grand Final coverage from bed. Helen filled in the morning calling around the eight or so budget car rental places in Adelaide looking for the best deal for a car to tour the wineries over the next few days. Ironically, the best deal ended up being Budget, with the added security of a new car and the big name service. She booked a car to be delivered to the hotel at 9am the next morning.
On our way down we stopped at Reception to ask about our TV. The woman at the front desk said firmly that they didn’t have any Maintenance staff on over the weekend and that she would see what she could do but they were very busy right now as it was in the middle of check-out. It didn’t sound too promising.
We finally headed off to walk into Adelaide. The heritage buildings in Sydney are made of sandstone, in Fremantle and Perth it was limestone, in Melbourne it is bluestone. We couldn’t quite work out what the local building material for the heritage buildings in Adelaide are made of, it looks like a hard stone like basalt or maybe a variant of bluestone or something similar.
We slowly sauntered down King William Rd, passed through an Immigration Fair in the foyer of the Adelaide Festival Centre, where Helen’s eyes lit up at the sight of a Muslim woman sitting behind icecream cartons of home-made Turkish delight and pistachio-sprinkled baklava, only to be dragged firmly away by a shuddering health inspector!
At the Tourist Information Centre we picked up free maps of Adelaide and the main wine regions and a guide to the pubs of Adelaide (to help us find somewhere to watch the game) before heading down the main shopping precinct, Rundle Mall. We walked what felt like at least three or four long blocks (OK, on the map it is only two blocks) all closed off to form a mall. It felt huge and expansive as Adelaide’s city streets are much wider than Sydney streets, so it didn’t feel nearly as crowded and frenetic as Pitt St Mall. There are a couple of cool metal street sculptures in the Mall. One is a set of big pigs, with one standing up on its hind legs to root about in a rubbish bin!
As it was 12.30 we decided to start to find a pub where we could have lunch and settle in to watch the Grand Final. We passed by the narrow entrance to Richmond Hotel, swallowed up by shopfronts. We went down the stairs to Mansions Tavern but it was ominously quiet, not even the pokies in use and definitely no TV. The Austral Hotel was better, with a big screen TV but it already had a crowd of several sporting groups taking up all the limited table space so we kept walking. We went down Frome St and looked in the windows of the Exeter but although there were people there we couldn’t hear a TV so kept on to The Elephant. “It’s a British pub, they aren’t going to have Aussie Rules on!” said Daniel, but when we walked in there was a beautiful, sharp plasma screen tuned to channel 10 facing an expansive leather couch and no spectators but the bar staff.
We first laid claim to the table immediately behind the couch and directly in front of the screen, then stepped over to the bar to see if there was any chance of lunch. There was, so we ordered Spaghetti Bolognaise for Daniel (as they were out of roast) and “Salt and Pepper Squid” for Helen (which, when it came out, was nothing more than calamari). As we weren’t going to be driving until the following day we were free to drink, so Daniel ordered Kilkenny and Helen Strongbow by the pint, both of which were on tap. Whilst we were waiting for lunch to come some more customers started drifting in, and eventually an elderly gentleman and his younger companion (maybe his son) settled themselves in the comfortable-looking couch which Daniel had had his eye on since we had come in. Oh well, we wouldn’t have managed the enormous plates of food which eventually turned up without a table, and we still had a great view for the game. Four pints of Kilkenny later Daniel was jubilant. After 2½ pints of cider Helen was just sloshed.
For those who live on another planet, the Sydney Swans won their first AFL Premiership Title in 72 years, 22 of which Daniel has been following them for since his father won a VCR in a Sydney Swan raffle way back in 1983!
We rolled out of The Elephant, turned down one street and headed back along a street running parallel with Rundle Mall to see it there was anything else to see. There wasn’t much other than a group of rowdy Swans supporters (must have been, they were very happy!) who yelled out from the balcony of a pub that they liked our legs (we were wearing shorts in a world of jeans) and a cinema. We decided to go back to our room, change into jeans, and come back out to see a movie. We took a taxi from the hotel to the Palace cinemas on Rundle St and saw an Australian movie, Little Fish.
When we came out of the cinema the streets were puddled with rain and it was still drizzling. We started walking back along Rundle St towards the hotel in search of a light dinner. Daniel felt like Thai so we jumped into the first Thai restaurant we saw, called Michael 2. Not exactly a Thai name, so maybe we should have kept on walking. We had read that Adelaide was a city full of great restaurants at great prices. We managed to find one of the few that weren’t either. Michel 2 certainly wasn’t anything like the Newtown Thai restaurants we were used to: it was more expensive, the veggie spring rolls were ordinary, the steamed rice was gluggy and the green curry with chicken tasted almost like just chicken in a bit of coconut milk – and there were no veggies in with the chicken! Even the garnishes were pathetic. Luckily we weren’t that hungry and had only ordered one entrée and one main to share between us.
Then it was a slow walk across the Torrens River and up the hill to the hotel and bed. We’ll be mobile tomorrow!
On our way down we stopped at Reception to ask about our TV. The woman at the front desk said firmly that they didn’t have any Maintenance staff on over the weekend and that she would see what she could do but they were very busy right now as it was in the middle of check-out. It didn’t sound too promising.
We finally headed off to walk into Adelaide. The heritage buildings in Sydney are made of sandstone, in Fremantle and Perth it was limestone, in Melbourne it is bluestone. We couldn’t quite work out what the local building material for the heritage buildings in Adelaide are made of, it looks like a hard stone like basalt or maybe a variant of bluestone or something similar.
We slowly sauntered down King William Rd, passed through an Immigration Fair in the foyer of the Adelaide Festival Centre, where Helen’s eyes lit up at the sight of a Muslim woman sitting behind icecream cartons of home-made Turkish delight and pistachio-sprinkled baklava, only to be dragged firmly away by a shuddering health inspector!
At the Tourist Information Centre we picked up free maps of Adelaide and the main wine regions and a guide to the pubs of Adelaide (to help us find somewhere to watch the game) before heading down the main shopping precinct, Rundle Mall. We walked what felt like at least three or four long blocks (OK, on the map it is only two blocks) all closed off to form a mall. It felt huge and expansive as Adelaide’s city streets are much wider than Sydney streets, so it didn’t feel nearly as crowded and frenetic as Pitt St Mall. There are a couple of cool metal street sculptures in the Mall. One is a set of big pigs, with one standing up on its hind legs to root about in a rubbish bin!
As it was 12.30 we decided to start to find a pub where we could have lunch and settle in to watch the Grand Final. We passed by the narrow entrance to Richmond Hotel, swallowed up by shopfronts. We went down the stairs to Mansions Tavern but it was ominously quiet, not even the pokies in use and definitely no TV. The Austral Hotel was better, with a big screen TV but it already had a crowd of several sporting groups taking up all the limited table space so we kept walking. We went down Frome St and looked in the windows of the Exeter but although there were people there we couldn’t hear a TV so kept on to The Elephant. “It’s a British pub, they aren’t going to have Aussie Rules on!” said Daniel, but when we walked in there was a beautiful, sharp plasma screen tuned to channel 10 facing an expansive leather couch and no spectators but the bar staff.
We first laid claim to the table immediately behind the couch and directly in front of the screen, then stepped over to the bar to see if there was any chance of lunch. There was, so we ordered Spaghetti Bolognaise for Daniel (as they were out of roast) and “Salt and Pepper Squid” for Helen (which, when it came out, was nothing more than calamari). As we weren’t going to be driving until the following day we were free to drink, so Daniel ordered Kilkenny and Helen Strongbow by the pint, both of which were on tap. Whilst we were waiting for lunch to come some more customers started drifting in, and eventually an elderly gentleman and his younger companion (maybe his son) settled themselves in the comfortable-looking couch which Daniel had had his eye on since we had come in. Oh well, we wouldn’t have managed the enormous plates of food which eventually turned up without a table, and we still had a great view for the game. Four pints of Kilkenny later Daniel was jubilant. After 2½ pints of cider Helen was just sloshed.
For those who live on another planet, the Sydney Swans won their first AFL Premiership Title in 72 years, 22 of which Daniel has been following them for since his father won a VCR in a Sydney Swan raffle way back in 1983!
We rolled out of The Elephant, turned down one street and headed back along a street running parallel with Rundle Mall to see it there was anything else to see. There wasn’t much other than a group of rowdy Swans supporters (must have been, they were very happy!) who yelled out from the balcony of a pub that they liked our legs (we were wearing shorts in a world of jeans) and a cinema. We decided to go back to our room, change into jeans, and come back out to see a movie. We took a taxi from the hotel to the Palace cinemas on Rundle St and saw an Australian movie, Little Fish.
When we came out of the cinema the streets were puddled with rain and it was still drizzling. We started walking back along Rundle St towards the hotel in search of a light dinner. Daniel felt like Thai so we jumped into the first Thai restaurant we saw, called Michael 2. Not exactly a Thai name, so maybe we should have kept on walking. We had read that Adelaide was a city full of great restaurants at great prices. We managed to find one of the few that weren’t either. Michel 2 certainly wasn’t anything like the Newtown Thai restaurants we were used to: it was more expensive, the veggie spring rolls were ordinary, the steamed rice was gluggy and the green curry with chicken tasted almost like just chicken in a bit of coconut milk – and there were no veggies in with the chicken! Even the garnishes were pathetic. Luckily we weren’t that hungry and had only ordered one entrée and one main to share between us.
Then it was a slow walk across the Torrens River and up the hill to the hotel and bed. We’ll be mobile tomorrow!
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8:30 AM
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