Rowkin Rovings Blog

Now in Adelaide after arriving yesterday evening after an uneventful trip though we did experience one of those foreign tourist moments on the flight. We flew the budget version of Qantas called Jetsar where you get what you pay for which in this case was absolutely nothing!!! As they were going down the aisle selling their food, Fraser asked if he had to pay for a cup of tea of which she replied, “the only thing free on this flight love is a smile”. We have flown on cheap airlines before but this was just cheap and nasty!!! Didn’t want to find out if we had to pay for the loo so sat with crossed legs.

We spent yesterday catching up with some very long standing family friends. In fact, Tom was Fraser’s fathers friend going back 73 years and was also his best man at his wedding. He and his wife Joan have recently moved into a retirement home of which we visited them at. It was very alarming to be sitting in the restaurant there having lunch with them and Fraser’s white hair blending in with all the other residents!!!

Uncle Tom turns 90 in January and was very keen to drive us around Adelaide to proudly show us his city. We did the highlights package of ….

the recently renovated Adelaide cricket oval, which hosts the first day of the five day cricket match between Australia and India commencing tomorrow. We were very keen to get tickets for this tomorrow but it is going to be a scorching 39c so even we cricket fans are going to give this a miss.

It was then onto the…..

Adelaide Festival Theatre. The river you see in front is called the Torrens which runs through the heart of the city.

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. In June 2017, Adelaide had an estimated resident population of 1,333,927. It is home to more than 75 percent of the South Australian population, making it the most centralised population of any state in Australia.

Adelaide was the only colony in Australia that was not settled by convicts – kinda puts them above the rest of the country!!! As it was believed that in a colony of free settlers there would be little crime, no provision was made for a gaol in Colonel Light’s 1837 plan. Statue of dude below.

The good old Aussie proved that theory wrong. But by mid-1837 the South Australian Register was warning of escaped convicts from New South Wales and tenders for a temporary gaol were sought. Following a burglary, a murder, and two attempted murders in Adelaide during March 1838, a gaol was well on the drawing board.

Adelaide is very easy to navigate your way around as it is on a grid system. The main core of the city is surrounded by very well maintained parklands.

It has always been known as the city of churches and had the reputation of being stuffy and boring. Manufacturing, defence technology, high-tech electronic systems and research, commodity export and corresponding service industries all play a role in the SA economy. Adelaide use to have a booming car manufacturing industry but in recent years they have all closed putting a huge number of people out of work and having quite a negative impact on the city. In fact, there are very few cars made in Australia at all and most are imported.

A lot of people around the world are very familiar with the Barossa Valley which is a significant wine producing area just out of Adelaide. Well known brands such as Penfolds, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra but to name a few.