Adelaide is the capital city of the State of South Australia and is just over 1 hour’s flight from Melbourne although you also need to take into account the 30min time zone difference.
The airport is close to the CBD and it does have a reasonable bus and train public transport system (no train at airport though) although I have never used this, and of course you can pick up your rental car from the airport or from the CBD.
To me, Adelaide CBD has never been inspirational itself from a cultural, retail, culinary or photographic viewpoint, but then I am spoilt by what Melbourne has to offer.
It, along with other local areas such as Port Adelaide, does have some nice 19th century heritage sandstone buildings to check out, but more importantly, there are are great number of areas to explore by car all within a 2 hour drive such as the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula, Barossa Valley and Clare Valley wine regions, York Peninsula, and a multitude of beaches.
You can even enter the “outback” type remote desert regions past historic copper mining heritage town of Burra in just over 2 hrs if the weather has been dry and the gravel roads there are manageable (see a later post on this).
There are a couple of oases where I like to chill out and take photos in the CBD – the Adelaide Botanic Gardens is lovely with a wide range of plants and lots of secret nooks and crannies to explore, and nearby, the State Art Gallery has free entry, and although is no where near the size of the NGV in Melbourne, it does have a few nice art works and often very alternative avant garde works.
First the wonderful botanic gardens
The Olympus OM-D and the lovely Olympus mZD 75mm f/1.8 Micro Four Thirds lens:
One of the many nooks and crannies:
water lily:
a great variety of interesting trees:
and more water plants:
Now the Art Gallery, again with the Olympus 75mm lens:
A nailed installation by Swiss-born, Thomas Hirschhorn titled “Twin subjecter”:
And my view through a sculpture of an Arthur Boyd portrait painting:
Port Adelaide:
If you are returning the car at the airport and coming from the north, it is worth stopping off for refreshments and an explore around Port Adelaide, you never know what you find in this mix of industrial and heritage architecture – this was taken using the Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens:
