We are in Adelaide at the moment, for Sue to attend a conference. I (David) have come along as an “accompanying person” – which is excellent. I don’t really have any commitments, although I did bring some work to do. Adelaide was the first “free” settlement by Europeans – meaning that convicts were not part of the settlement. Perhaps as a consequence, it is quite different in several respects, to Sydney or Melbourne.
For instance, in the main courts building there is this beautiful library, where Sue’s nephrology meeting held their conference dinner. Just like something from a grand university in the UK, I thought. The city itself is planned (on a square pattern) and there are many lovely old buildings. In Sydney and Melbourne the initial buildings were never grand (except a few private residences) and so Adelaide, counterintuitively, has better buildings from the times of early European settlement.
Sue and I also spent some time going into the countryside around Adelaide, which mostly is devoted either to good food, or good wine. This is the “Bird in Hand” winery, in the Adelaide Hill district.
This was taken in Lyndoch. Actually taken on our last day in South Australia, when Sue and I went up to the Barossa Valley, where much of Australia’s best-known red wines are made, this area was like going through a (wealthy) area of the country in England – beautiful little villages with lovely farming land in-between. The only difference being the frequent characteristic vineyards. Apparently, though, we saw it at its best – green after recent rain, sunshine of early springtime – and later in the year it will be yellow and brown.
That was red wine country, this is white wine country – the Eden Vale. Just outside Adelaide itself.