Adelaide - Museum and Art Gallery

During the week I spent in Adelaide at Easter time, on the 23rd of April, my intention had been to go to the northern suburb of Elizabeth, to see the Royal couple William and Kate, but I realized that it would take me one and a half hours to get there by public transport and by that time I would certainly be no closer to them than if I watched them on TV that evening! I later heard on the news that some people camped there overnight just to be first in line, others were there at 3am!! 

Instead I walked around the city visiting new sights since I was last there. 

Adelaide Convention Centre and the Torrens River

The newly renovated Adelaide Sports Oval 

 Starting at the west side of North Terrace, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute  is a state of the art 25,000 sq metre building that cost $200 million and was officially opened towards the end of 2013. 
The curved building is covered with over 6000 double glazed triangles with metal sunshades for optimum weather control. Behind the triangles multiple colours flash out from the transparent glass, and at night when the building is lit it looks like a multicoloured cut-glass brooch.

(photo form net)

 Walking on the footpath along the river Torrens towards the East side I then climbed the stairs leading to the grounds of the University of South Australia.

 Atop the stairs at the south end of the University bridge,  I saw this plaque commemorating the drowning of Professor George Duncan in the River Torrens. There has never been a conviction of his murderers (presumably members of the Police force), but this brought about reform for the acceptance of the gay community.

 

One of the many University Buildings

Next to the University buildings are the Art Gallery of South Australia, the the South Australian Museum , and the modern State Library.

All are located on North Terrace, and entry is free  (you can donate a gold coin if you wish) and they are open from 10am to 5pm.

The current exhibition  at the Art Museum, was the "Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art - Dark Heart" which runs until 11th May.

Just outside the Art Gallery was this black half buried house that was part of the exhibition, by Perth artist Ian Strange , a replica of his Perth childhood home.

Ian Strange's home in front of the Art Gallery of South Australia

The house seen from the back with the main facade facing North Terrace.

 The above art "108" works by Sydney based Aboriginal artist "Tony Albert" 

This strange contraption which included step-ladders, fans, keyboards, umbrellas, televisions, etc is the work of New York based Australian artist Ian Burns.

"The Island" this huge painting by Sydney born Ben Quilty , winner of the Archibald prize 2011

This poignant work entitled "Someone died trying to have a life like mine" by Alex Seton, refers to an incident when 28 life-jackets were discovered washed up on Cocos Island, off the coast of Western Australia in May 2013. They are carved out of Wombeyan marble and each one is different.

 

Ex deMedici, a former tattoo artist, is the artist behind the works in the above 2 photos.

On the wall "The Law", represents firearms in a Persian inspired rug and logos of Western multinationals.

The one on the floor is made up of bullet cases, bullets and coins, with the flag symbols of England/Australia  on the bottom corner and the Stars and Stripes flag symbol of the USA on the top corner.

 

Woven in synthetic rope, leather and rubber, these huge suspended sculptures titled "Armour" were inspired by the Samurai armour, and were done by Spanish born artist Dani Marti, who is now based in Sydney. 

 "Mob Rule" by Melbourne artist Tony Garifalakis comprises of 85 defaced portraits of world leaders, like evil villains and anti-heroes, contesting the accumulation of power and the status quo.

Next door to the Art Gallery is the Museum, where I popped in for a quick tour.
The modern glass facade contrasts with the brick original building indoors.
The wild animals from the various continents, the minerals, etc were very similar to the exhibits in the Perth Museum.

Outside the Museum a man was feeding hundreds of pigeons

Hope you enjoyed the tour of Adelaide and the Art exhibition.

Port Lincoln

On another one of my visits to Adelaide, we took advantage of the long weekend to visit 
Port Lincoln on the southern extremity of the the Eyre Peninsula, a beautiful city overlooking Boston Bay.

This harbour town, discovered by captain Matthew Flinders in 1802, was named after the town he came from, Lincoln in the UK. 

In a straight line, it is located 280km from Adelaide, but by road, you have to either drive 310km north to Port Augusta, then travel south another 340km to Port Lincoln, or travel from Adelaide to Wallaroo, also about 300km north, take the ferry to Lucky Bay across the Spencer Gulf, a trip lasting just over 2 hours, and then travel south 175km to Port Lincoln.

We took the ferry option as it would also be a time to relax instead of being behind the wheel. Book ahead as there are only 2 trips a day and the ferry can get booked out, as it only carries 80 cars or equivalent . It's quite comfortable with tables and chairs, lounge chairs where you can watch tv, a movie corner, play area for kids and a coffee shop.

                                                           Leaving Wallaroo by ferry

Enjoying the fresh air on the deck

Port Lincoln, known as the "seafood capital of Australia", is also home to Australia's largest fishing fleet.

There is a huge aquaculture industry of bluefin tuna for the Japanese market, as well as oysters, mussels, kingfish, yellowfish and lobsters.

I had tasted oysters many years ago and found them to be quite rubbery, but here I tasted Kilpatrick oysters (with bacon and tomato), and I became a fan. I also ate a lovely tuna steak, something that I had last eaten on my trip to the Azores.

Port Lincoln missed becoming the state capital of South Australia due to the lack of fresh water supply, which is now supplied via a pipeline from the Murray River.

It has a population of over 14,000 people, and has the highest number of millionaires per 

capita. Fishing pays well it seems!!

A fishing boat goes out to sea

A small crane on a boat loads frozen sardines from a truck to feed the Tuna at the aqualculture

Hundreds of fishing boats at the marina

If you are a keen fisherman this is the place for you. There are organized shark cage diving tours, swimming with Tuna tours, or high sea fishing tours.

Apart from the huge fish processing industry, and tuna farming for the Japanese market,

there are grain handling facilities all over the Eyre Peninsula (we saw loads of huge tanks 

all along the highway near all the little towns).

Grain tanks at Arno Bay

We stayed at the Marina Hotel apartments - a very nice 1 bedroomed apartment with a small lounge and kitchenette with a microwave and fridge, but no stove.

The Marina apartments where we stayed

The weather wasn't the best, with a bit of rain and some sunny moments in between, as you can see from the next two photos, taken at the Marina canals.

 Makybe Diva, the famous horse that won the Melbourne cup 3 times (2003, 2004 and 2005) and the highest money owner in Australian history (over 14 million dlrs) has a life size bronze statue on the foreshore near the jetty. His owner, who own a fishing business hails from Port Lincoln.

We drove to Coffin Bay, named after Isaac Coffin, a naval officer friends with Matthew Flinders, another fisherman's paradise, and known as the Oyster farming capital of Australia.
This small town is about 45km west of Port Lincoln, only has about 600 residents which swell to a about 2000 people during holiday season. It has a huge national park (entry fee applies), which we didn't visit for lack of time and rainy weather.

View of Coffin Bay taken from a lookout a lookout

Coffin Bay jetty and kids park

Pelicans catching rain with their open beaks 

 Back in Port Lincoln, we stopped at a supermarket to buy some fruit and I noticed this interesting building across the road - a former church turned into a shopping centre.

A church turned into a shopping centre

A memorial to Fishermen that died at sea, at the Marina

A rainbow in the dark sky, at the Marina

A red sunset with the grain facilities at Port Lincoln

On the return trip to Adelaide we again stopped at various little port towns along the way just for a quick rest, a warming up coffee or to take a beautiful photo. This next photo was taken just before arriving in Lucky Bay, a tree full of shoes! I wonder how this got started?

Shoe tree near Lucky Bay

At Lucky Bay with the ferry docking

 A wonderful short break indeed and another beautiful area of South Australia.

A - Z of Australia - V is for Victor Harbor

When I went to Adelaide at the end of November 2012 to commemorate our 32nd wedding anniversary, our destination for our anniversary weekend was Victor Harbor.

Victor Harbor, seen from the road, with  Granite Island across the river

Victor Harbor, originally called Port Victor, a small city on the Fleurieu Peninsula, 80km south of Adelaide, is a popular tourist destination, expanding it 's population from just over 10,000 to over 50,000 during the summer holidays.
The little bay where Victor Harbor is located was discovered by Matthew Flinders, captain of the "HMS Investigator" in 1802.
He named the bay "Encounter Bay" after the meeting he had with the French captain of the ship "Le Geographe" who was surveying the area for France. None of them knew their countries were at war.

In 1837, Captain Richard Crozier, en route from Sydney to the Swan River Colony in Western Australia, in his ship "HMS Victor" anchored off Granite Island (across the bay) and named the sheltered bay "Victor Harbor" after his ship.

In 1921 Port Victor changed name to Victor Harbor.
Although harbour is normally spelt in an u in Australian English, as a result of a spelling error by an early Surveyor General of South Australia, the city's name is still spelt (or spelled) without the "u".

We stayed just down the road in Encounter Bay, in a beautiful self catering apartment - Bluff View Accomodation - in an upper level studio. The rooms were well decorated, the view over the bay was fantastic, there was a lovely spa bath, and to my husband's delight there was even a coffee machine in the kitchen! Plus the fridge had a small bottle of the most divine milk that tasted like milk should taste (Fleurieu milk), there was the usual tea bags, sugar, jams, etc. The complex also has a pool, but we didn't get to use it.

Bluff View complex is the one at the top right.

Victor Harbor and Granite Island, from our balcony, at sunset

Lounge, bedroom, bathroom with spa and balcony of Bluff View apartments

Across from Victor Harbor is Granite Island, connected to the mainland by a 600mt pedestrian/tram causeway. The tram drawn by a horse is a great attraction, and you either just go one way or return. The horses are used on rotation, and each horse works only 2 shifts a week. The trams run on roller bearings, which makes it easier on the horses.
The tram runs every 20 minutes, costs $9 for adults and $4,50 for kids.        

Carmen or Misty?

The island is also popular because of its colony of Little Penguins.  A colony of about 150 penguins shelter in the island at night, coming inland at sunset, and hunting for fish at sea during the day.
We didn't see any penguins, but we didn't stay in the island until sunset either!
There is a small Penguin Centre where you can learn more about these cute creatures and see some of the penguins in their burrows. (Entry fee $6 adults, $4 kids)

We walked around the perimeter of the island, 1,5km that took us about 1 hour at a leisurely pace. There are steps and walkways, beautiful 360 degree views, benches to sit and enjoy the views, some interesting rocks and lots of information to read. Walking tours can be arranged.

Umbrella Rock - isn't it cool?

More huge rocks and some steps to another wonderful view

The horse tram on it's way  from Granite Island to Victor Harbor

The South Australia Whale Centre is opened every day and is an interesting museum to visit, especially if you have kids. I must confess I have seen a more complete one in the island of Faial in the Azores, with a lot more details about the whaling era.

This area of South Australia had whaling stations, which were closed in 1872. Whale oil was then South Australia's first export.  

Between June and September whale spotting in an attraction in the area. Southern Right Whales come to these waters to calve and mate - the Bluff, being the best area to watch them.

We drove along the coast to Golwa, about 14km away, stopping at beautiful little bays along the way. The only gripe being that the beach cafes were all closing at 4 or 5pm on a weekend! It would have been lovely to sit there sipping a coffee or cold drink while looking at the sea. But such was not possible!

Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot

In Goolwa, the train station located next to the River Murray, is part of the oldest railway route in Australia dating back to 1887 (between Port Elliot and Goolwa). 

Here you can board the "Cockle Train", so called because in the early days the locals would take the horse drawn train to Goolwa to collect cockles from the beaches by the Murray River mouth.

The "Cockle train"- steam locomotives or other antique trains, travel from here to Victor Harbor, climbing the coastal cliffs and the passengers are able to see some beautiful coastal scenery of the Southern Ocean beaches.

The train ride takes 30min, and you can travel in either direction or round trip.

Across from Goolwa is another island - Hindmarsh Island, that can be reached via a bridge built in the 1990's. It is a relatively large island at the mouth of the Murray River.

Hindmarsh Bridge. The 2 Pelicans were being fed by fishermen in the area

 We drove towards the end of the island to be able to see the mouth of the River Murray,
which is the largest river in Australia in terms of catchment and annual flow. 
This area is full of little islands and the river splits through them into the sea, as you can see in the drawing below.
There are a few barrages that control the flow, preventing salt water from going upstream when the river flow is low.

Slowly the river mouth is chocking up with sand due to the coastal currents which sometimes closed the river mouth. Once in a while dredging has to be done to remove tonnes of sand.

On our way home we drove through the southern east coast to Port Jervis, which was disappointing as there is nothing to see. The only thing worth mentioning is that it is the port of departure for the ferry to Kangaroo Island. We had thought of going to the Island, but the ferry is quite expensive for a day visit only, so we will have to leave that for a future trip when we have 3 or 4 days to spare. We hadn't counted on the island being the third biggest in Australia!!

Once again we stopped at every little beach along the way and as we turned into the main road after visiting Second Valley, we suddenly saw the words Restaurant in a lovely stone house. This former mill is now home to a boutique restaurant - Leonards Mill.

The interior was just as beautiful, with lots of art for sale from local artists. There were a couple of dining rooms in separate floors, a bar area, an events room and the outdoor area.

Leonards Mill in Second Valley

One of the dining rooms

The food was delicious, the wines served were also boutique wines from South Australia and although I hardly ever drink I tasted my husband's wine and decided to have one glass too. So I can recommend this place!

With 90 kms to go to Adelaide we carried on stopping along the beaches for a quick look, bought some cherries from a local farm and reached late Sunday night after a wonderful weekend.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

PS: I thought you would enjoy this photo I took at a Pizzaria near Victor Harbor, advertising for a kitchen helper. Got to love the Australian humour!