A day trip to Christies Beach, South Australia
Yesterday we drove from Murray Bridge through the Adelaide Hills and the southern suburbs of Adelaide and then down south to Christies Beach. This southerly suburb of Adelaide is about a forty minute drive from the Adelaide CBD but this time can vary due to traffic conditions.
We were unable to use the Southern Expressway because we were going in the wrong direction. This can cut five to ten minutes from the journey. This freeway is unique in the world I believe. It is a reversible freeway. In the morning when there is heavy traffic heading into the city CBD, the freeway operates in that direction. Around lunch time the expressway is closed for a time before the traffic starts flowing in the opposite direction. This caters for all the traffic heading home in the evening.
While the local people enjoy the quick drive into work or for shopping in the morning and a quick return home in the afternoon and evening, I still think it’s a crazy system. I am sure that it would not have added greatly to the overall cost to have built four lanes instead of three, with two lanes in each direction open at all times. Common sense in government circles is not too common it seems.
The purpose of our day trip was to visit relatives. We had a good time with them despite the poor weather. It was blowing a gale, showers came late afternoon and it was quite cold. It was not a suitable day for a walk – especially on the beach. I took the camera but took no photos.
Puffins
This morning we travelled to Adelaide International Airport to pick up our daughter. She had just been for a two and a half week stay in Ireland. On her way home she proudly announced that she had seen some Puffins while there.
Ouch.
I would love to add any of the Puffin species to my life list. It was a shame I didn’t go with her on this trip because she had a great time. I just didn’t like the extra baggage she took with her – sixteen teenagers from the school where she teaches here in South Australia.
This trip was organised by my daughter as a school exchange with a high school in county Clare, Ireland, which is most appropriate because she teaches at Clare High School in the mid-north of South Australia.
The frustrations of travel at Easter time
Long weekends are nothing but trouble for travellers. I think this is so all over the world. I wrote yesterday that we took our daughter to the Adelaide Airport to catch her flight to Ireland with sixteen of her students. Lucky girl. Lucky to be going to Ireland that is, not lucky to have so much baggage going with her. Well, actually, it might just be a lot of fun. They seemed like a nice bunch of kids – as teenagers go.
We had no trouble getting to the airport as we had to be there quite early – before the traffic had built up. Adelaide’s traffic rarely gets into gridlock anyway, even on Easter Sunday. The start and finish of the holiday weekends can be bedlam on some roads. After leaving her at the airport we had a picnic lunch at Henley Beach in Adelaide’s western suburbs. Lovely spot. Not too crowded despite the warm spell late in the season.
Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
On our way home we decided to visit the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens for afternoon tea. It is a lovely spot we’ve been to several times in the last few years. The trees would be turning to their colourful autumn hues I thought as we drove through the hills. I anticipated being able to get some great photos. Approaching the entrance gate I knew instantly that this was a mistake. Not only were the car parks full, but the entrance roads were blocked by parked cars for quite a distance.
Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens in winter
At least we got to drive through the car park before leaving again.
The photos on this page are from previous visits, one in the summer and one in the winter.
Related articles:
- Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens – part 4 (with links to the first three parts)
Farewell at Adelaide Airport
2 Comments »10th April, 2007; Category: Adelaide
Last Sunday we travelled to the Adelaide International Airport to say farewell to our daughter. She was on her way to Ireland for two and a half weeks. We would have liked to have gone with her, but for the “extras” she was taking with on this journey. Those “extras” were sixteen of her students.
The view from Adelaide Airport
Our daughter is a high school teacher at Clare High School in the mid-north of South Australia. As part of her work there she organises the international programme in her school. She has already taken a group of students to Japan on exchange. She has also coordinated a visit by Japanese students to Clare.
Clare High School delegation to Ireland
This is the first time the school has organised an exchange to Ireland. In 2005 when she was teaching in England she visited St Joseph’s school in Spanish Point in county Clare. This was preparation for the visit this year. I think she is a very brave girl with the responsibility of organising such an exchange.
The parents I talked to while waiting for the time to board the plane all agreed that it was a wonderful opportunity for their children to participate in such a programme. I couldn’t help but think of the stress it must have caused her. Goodness, I used to get paranoid about organising a day trip excursion to the beach or wherever when I was teaching.
Adelaide International Airport
Just as a little aside, I noticed a large sign in the airport entrance while there. Adelaide International Airport, barely two years old, was voted the second best airport in the world recently. In small print there is a rider to that claim. The award was for airports with 5 to 15 million passengers annually. Still, little old Adelaide is pleased with its recognition.
Adelaide International Airport
Travel books
We went to Adelaide yesterday to do some shopping. I didn’t take the camera so I have no photos to show. Probably if I had taken it the resulting photos would not have been of much interest to most of my readers anyway.
When we go shopping in Adelaide I try to squeeze in at least some time in a couple of favourite bookshops. I’m a sucker for spending time in bookshops and I have a few specialist areas in each shop where I tend to spend more time in than others.
One interesting area I often frequent is the travel section. So many places to go, so many interesting books about the journeys of others and so many maps. (I collect maps as a hobby.)
Yesterday I deliberately avoided the travel section. I have enough books and magazines to read already without adding to the several rather considerable piles awaiting my attention.
Besides that, when I look at travel books, atlasses and other maps I tend to get an uneasy feeling. Some people call it itchy feet. Others call it wanderlust. Catching the travel bug. Perhaps it is the call to adventure, of other places, of destinations not yet reached.
Perhaps it is time I went on a holiday somewhere.
No – I haven’t got time – I’m too busy reading the three books I bought in another section.