Adelaide is......
.....a smallish city. Quiet and quaint, circled by wide, open, tree filled parklands.
Commonly called the City of Churches, it has not too many people, wide streets, lovely old buildings, and some modern buildings too, functional and not too bad to look at, although there are some that are noteably cringe-worthy.
The streets in the city square, (one mile by one mile), are laid out in a grid pattern, making it easy to get around, easy to find most places you're looking for. People are friendly and happy to give directions.
Twenty minutes from wherever to wherever.
Add ten or fifteen minutes if you're coming in from the outer suburbs.
Longer if you travel by bus......
The suburbs stretch out along our coastline for thirty miles or more to the north and south, with the east to west section being far narrower, bordered as we are by the sea on one side and the hills on the other. These are gentle hills, nothing at all like the huge mountain ranges often seen in Europe.
As I was saying, Adelaide has far fewer people than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane....usually.
This week, the streets and parks are filled with grandstands, fences, roadblocks, tents.
Performance tents, exhibition tents, eating tents, drinking tents.....it's like tent city here.
And the people!
Millions of people absolutely everywhere.
Our little city is buzzing like a beehive!
It's The Fringe! (also going on in Perth I believe)
And The Clipsal 500 Car Race!
With roads being blocked to much of our regular traffic as things are set in place for the races, the rest of our city now has traffic jams to rival New York.
Instead of twenty minutes from here to there, it now takes twenty minutes just to get around the block.
Most people don't seem to mind, it happens every year and it's only for a few days, we adjust.
We leave home a little (or a lot, if you're going by bus), earlier, so that we have time to sit in gridlocked lanes, and still arrive at work without being late.
Traffic is diverted around the roadblocked areas, different sights are seen, shops that you've never noticed before are spotted. Ooooh! Look! A (something or other shop name), I'll have to go there and have a look...
Walking down our Rundle Mall is easy enough most of the time, but during Fringe it's an exercise in jostle and sidestep.
There are the usual Adelaideans, plus tourists, Fringe performers, race people, (mechanics, drivers, set-up and pull-down people, journalists) and the buskers.
Adelaide is awake!
But beware! Pickpockets abound. Bagsnatchers are everywhere. Hold tight to your handbags. Lock your cars. Do not leave valuables visible inside the cars. Lock your homes.
I can't say anything about the nightlife during this time, (nor any other time actually, I'm a stay-at-home), but I suspect the pubs and clubs, the restaurants and cafes, even the picture theatres are all doing great business.
I won't make promises I can't keep, but if the weather is reasonable and my back not too "twingy" (it's been bad the past few days), I'll maybe wander on into the city and take a few photos.
Remember, I haven't promised!
Commonly called the City of Churches, it has not too many people, wide streets, lovely old buildings, and some modern buildings too, functional and not too bad to look at, although there are some that are noteably cringe-worthy.
The streets in the city square, (one mile by one mile), are laid out in a grid pattern, making it easy to get around, easy to find most places you're looking for. People are friendly and happy to give directions.
Twenty minutes from wherever to wherever.
Add ten or fifteen minutes if you're coming in from the outer suburbs.
Longer if you travel by bus......
The suburbs stretch out along our coastline for thirty miles or more to the north and south, with the east to west section being far narrower, bordered as we are by the sea on one side and the hills on the other. These are gentle hills, nothing at all like the huge mountain ranges often seen in Europe.
As I was saying, Adelaide has far fewer people than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane....usually.
This week, the streets and parks are filled with grandstands, fences, roadblocks, tents.
Performance tents, exhibition tents, eating tents, drinking tents.....it's like tent city here.
And the people!
Millions of people absolutely everywhere.
Our little city is buzzing like a beehive!
It's The Fringe! (also going on in Perth I believe)
And The Clipsal 500 Car Race!
With roads being blocked to much of our regular traffic as things are set in place for the races, the rest of our city now has traffic jams to rival New York.
Instead of twenty minutes from here to there, it now takes twenty minutes just to get around the block.
Most people don't seem to mind, it happens every year and it's only for a few days, we adjust.
We leave home a little (or a lot, if you're going by bus), earlier, so that we have time to sit in gridlocked lanes, and still arrive at work without being late.
Traffic is diverted around the roadblocked areas, different sights are seen, shops that you've never noticed before are spotted. Ooooh! Look! A (something or other shop name), I'll have to go there and have a look...
Walking down our Rundle Mall is easy enough most of the time, but during Fringe it's an exercise in jostle and sidestep.
There are the usual Adelaideans, plus tourists, Fringe performers, race people, (mechanics, drivers, set-up and pull-down people, journalists) and the buskers.
Adelaide is awake!
But beware! Pickpockets abound. Bagsnatchers are everywhere. Hold tight to your handbags. Lock your cars. Do not leave valuables visible inside the cars. Lock your homes.
I can't say anything about the nightlife during this time, (nor any other time actually, I'm a stay-at-home), but I suspect the pubs and clubs, the restaurants and cafes, even the picture theatres are all doing great business.
I won't make promises I can't keep, but if the weather is reasonable and my back not too "twingy" (it's been bad the past few days), I'll maybe wander on into the city and take a few photos.
Remember, I haven't promised!
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Hope you do.
ReplyDelete'set-up and pull-down people'. I think the technical term is puter uppers and puller downers.
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty lively. Rundle Mall was pretty busy when we were there, but I think it was school holidays. We still managed to get slightly lost in spite of the street grid.
Delores; I'll try.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; Come back a few times, you'll soon find you know your way around. Rundle Mall in school holidays is a nightmare of mums and strollers, high schoolers and more buskers than usual.
Be careful.
ReplyDeleteIts the same over here when the Formula 1 racing car circus comes rolling in to Albert Park pure mayhem on the roads and the residents have to vacate their homes for the weekend :-).
ReplyDeleteYour first paragraph painted a lovely city..the rest was just scary..
ReplyDeleteMy poor cousin drives a school bus in the city, wont you feel sorry for her?
..and me! I'll be there tomorrow as well (Friday)
I really hope that your back settles. I also hope that you take some photos but your back is much more important.
ReplyDeleteI like Adelaide - I think it is a really pretty city. My eldest brother lives there now.
Joanne; I'm always careful, but thank you.
ReplyDeleteWindsmoke; I remember the Formula 1 days. We had it first remember?
Tempo; I feel sorry for all bus drivers. Some of the passengers are quite rude and insulting. School kids are generally okay though.
EC; I hope my back settles too. I wonder if I "know" your brother? Maybe he's shopped at Norwood.
In another life I lived on the Grand Prix circuit track. Adelaide really comes alive (as they say) and once a year I discovered I had a lot more friends than I ever thought. I wonder how you would describe Pirie (that's an even earlier life for me)
ReplyDeleteHeptaparaparshinokh; welcome to drifting. You lived on the Grand Prix Circuit track? That close to that much noise? Thank goodness it was only a couple of times a year. Unless you enjoyed it, of course.
ReplyDeletePirie? I grew up there, from 1957 to 1968. I spent a lot of time at the beach. When I went back to visit my dying mum in 2004, I walked along that beach and hardly recognised it for the changes made.
I remember being a reviewer for a helluva lot of Fringe shows a few years back and finding it pretty funny seeing the Arty Farty Fringe types jostle shoulders in Rundle Street with the Bogan Clipsal rev-heads!
ReplyDeleteKath; I've been to Rundle Mall twice this weekend and sadly haven't noticed too many arty-farty types. They're either dressing down this year, or not coming out until after dark, when I am well and truly home.
ReplyDelete