Le Chic En Rose

I came back from a long weekend in South Australia with my daughters a couple of weeks ago. The trip was partly for my birthday (which was in March!) and partly for my elder daughter’s birthday at the end of last month. Thanks to Monsieur and my son-in-law for holding the fort back in Perth with pets, children etc.

We flew into Adelaide arriving late on the Friday evening (Adelaide is two and a half hours ahead of Perth WST) so we opted to stay at one of the airport hotels overnight before picking up a hire car and heading into the city after breakfast.

We were actually staying the next 3 nights about half an hour’s drive outside of the city in the pretty settlement of Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. However, we had half a day before we could check in to our Airbnb house and wanted to explore the South Australian capital first. It was uncomfortably hot and humid as there was a large storm front approaching so we were hoping the weather wouldn’t break too soon.

I’ve been to Adelaide a couple of times way back in the 1990s when we were living in Melbourne. It’s smaller than Perth now though this hasn’t always been the case. Whereas Perth has expanded since we first came to Australia in 1990 (current population is just under 2.2 million), Adelaide’s population now sits at just under 1.4 million.

The traditional owners of the land are the Kaurna people. The Europeans arrived in the 1830s and named their new settlement after the then Queen of England, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of King William IV. It is notable that Adelaide is the only Australian capital city that was a free colony and not a place to transport convicts from the British Isles! One of its founding principles was that it was to be a place of religious freedom for its settlers. Diverse groups were encouraged to settle there and this led to its nickname of the “City of Churches”. 

The city centre sits on the River Torrens surrounded by beautiful spacious parklands. It is the centre of the South Australian government and is a lively cosmopolitan city hosting many sporting and cultural events and festivals. The town planning is in a grid-like formation known as “Light’s Vision” after Colonel William Light, one of the city’s founding fathers who designed the layout and chose the location by the River Torrens.

We parked on one of the beautiful tree-lined avenues halfway between the river and the Botanic Gardens. Walking past the impressive Adelaide Oval stadium where both Australian Rules Football and cricket are played, we heard music playing along the river banks. It turned out there was an Asian food and cultural festival taking place that weekend though unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit. I can highly recommend the 40 minute cruise along the River Torrens that we took with Popeye Cruises. It was a great way to orientate ourselves and find out more about Adelaide and its history.

We had the option of going back to the cruise starting point near the Adelaide Convention Centre or getting off at the jetty near Adelaide Zoo and the Botanical Gardens about 10 minutes early. We chose the latter option as by this time the storm clouds were starting to gather and we really wanted to have time to explore the gardens and get a light lunch.

We walked past the zoo and then assumed we must already be in the gardens as everywhere was so green!

Officially called the Adelaide Botanic Garden, you feel transported into a beautiful world of nature far removed from the hustle and bustle of a modern city. Open daily with free entry (the hours do vary according to the seasons) there are a myriad of beautiful pathways, tree lined avenues and many diverse plants from Australia and around the world. This small gallery of photos doesn’t do it justice at all!

We had a delicious light lunch from the aptly named Evergreen Deli, which we ate in their adjacent outdoor area. Our leisurely lunch was abruptly disturbed when the distinct rumbling of thunder startled us followed by lightning flashes. A few minutes later the rain started and soon became a deluge. We managed to retrace our steps back to our car in between the torrential rain and headed out of Adelaide, up to our destination of Hahndorf.

Next episode Hahndorf though in between Monsieur and I are heading down to Yallingup (see here for a previous post) in south west Australia for a short break. After South Australia, I’ll resume my very delayed French travel write up series from May 2024!

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