I fell in love with Adelaide long before we got acquainted. There is always this aura of adventure and excitement waiting to be discovered by the very mention of its name.
I couldn’t be more right.
Adelaide – The Green City
As a city that was never settled by convicts, I discovered that indeed it was dreams of wealth and adventure that drove Europeans to settle at this Kaurna tribe’s territory in the South Australia region. So much so that it resulted in its inception in 1836 by Colonel William Light, who named it after the wife of King William the IV and planned much of the township to be open and well organized, with the River Torrens running through it and extensive parklands complementing it, making this, the capital of South Australia, a vibrant and fascinating city to live in, what more, as a place to visit! Together with the river, the sea and the surrounding hills, Adelaide weaves magic upon its denizens implying opportunities for adventure, as the city folks revel in its wide green expanse almost every day.
A Shopping Paradise
Arguably, this city has everything for everyone, be they shoppers, art lovers, food lovers, adventurers and even lovers of alcohol! This is the place where one can find Rundle Street and its host of restaurants (more restaurants per head than any other Aussie city or so I’ve heard), Hindley Street’s excellent range of clubs and even more terrific nightlife, and also Adelaide’s mega-scale shopping mall to overshadow all malls in the southern hemisphere: The Rundle Mall! Its 800 shops, rows of buildings and various individual shopping arcades is a regular venue for fashion shows and outdoor events all year-round, further colored by its many street entertainers and bustling crowds of shoppers gracing it on an almost everyday basis.
Cultural Adventure in the City
Also worth mentioning for all you music and art lovers out there are the city’s bi-annual Fringe Festival and its larger rival, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, held during the autumn of every “even-numbered” year. The next one is slated to be staged in February and March 2010, respectively. This frenzy of shows include opera, theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music showcases, cabaret, new media events, “Adelaide Writer’s Week” (touted as the largest literary festival in the world), visual arts entertainment and so much more! There are also The South Australia Museum, the Central Market and the Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute to whet the appetites of cultural aficionados who happen to visit Adelaide at any time of the year.
Fine Wine, Life So Fine
And without forgetting all you connoisseurs of fine liquor, do you know that Adelaide’s wine industry supplies 70 percent of Australia’s wine export? Yes, apart from the vineyards of Barossa Valley, this city is also home to the country’s notable and most popular GRANGE wine label, grown and produced in the Penfold Magills Estates. It is a testament to Adelaide’s fine wine making skills handed down through generations, a heritage of German immigrants arriving here in the early 1800s. There are even two local specialties that have since become the pride of Adelaide. The former is a “Pie Floater” (pea soup with meat patty floating in it) and the latter a beverage called “Two Dogs Lemonade”, the world’s first alcoholic lemonade.
Personally, I couldn’t get enough of Adelaide in one visit alone. If you want to sample the entire South Australia region in one visit, I suggest you go to its capital first. Its an experience you won’t soon forget. Nice!
I fell in love with Adelaide long before we got acquainted. There is always this aura of adventure and excitement waiting to be discovered by the very mention of its name.
Arguably, this city has everything for everyone, be they shoppers, art lovers, food lovers, adventurers and even lovers of alcohol! This is the place where one can find Rundle Street and its host of restaurants (more restaurants per head than any other Aussie city or so I’ve heard), Hindley Street’s excellent range of clubs and even more terrific nightlife, and also Adelaide’s mega-scale shopping mall to overshadow all malls in the southern hemisphere: The Rundle Mall! Its 800 shops, rows of buildings and various individual shopping arcades is a regular venue for fashion shows and outdoor events all year-round, further colored by its many street entertainers and bustling crowds of shoppers gracing it on an almost everyday basis. 
Also worth mentioning for all you music and art lovers out there are the city’s bi-annual Fringe Festival and its larger rival, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, held during the autumn of every “even-numbered” year. The next one is slated to be staged in February and March 2010, respectively. This frenzy of shows include opera, theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music showcases, cabaret, new media events, “Adelaide Writer’s Week” (touted as the largest literary festival in the world), visual arts entertainment and so much more! There are also The South Australia Museum, the Central Market and the Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute to whet the appetites of cultural aficionados who happen to visit Adelaide at any time of the year.
And without forgetting all you connoisseurs of fine liquor, do you know that Adelaide’s wine industry supplies 70 percent of Australia’s wine export? Yes, apart from the vineyards of Barossa Valley, this city is also home to the country’s notable and most popular GRANGE wine label, grown and produced in the Penfold Magills Estates. It is a testament to Adelaide’s fine wine making skills handed down through generations, a heritage of German immigrants arriving here in the early 1800s. There are even two local specialties that have since become the pride of Adelaide. The former is a “Pie Floater” (pea soup with meat patty floating in it) and the latter a beverage called “Two Dogs Lemonade”, the world’s first alcoholic lemonade.