The Adelaide Hills
Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
One of the delights of living where we do is the close proximity of the Adelaide Hills. This is a fuzzy region to define and is generally regarded as the part of the Mt Lofty Ranges in South Australia which overlooks our capital city Adelaide.
Beautiful Drives
There are many beautiful drives that one can take through the Adelaide Hills and other parts of the Mt. Lofty Ranges. The hills are home to numerous small villages and towns, some of them quaint and peaceful, set as they are amongst the rolling hills all around. There are numerous vineyards and fruit orchards set among the dairy and sheep farms. Everywhere are the towering Eucalypt trees, so evocative of the typical Australian rural landscape.
Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
Parks and Gardens
Adelaide is also renowned for its parks and gardens. These are scattered throughout the metropolitan area as well as in the Adelaide Hills. The above photos show just one such park, the Mt Lofty section of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. This is delightful at any time of the year but particularly so in spring time. On our last visit a few months ago it was so peaceful with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. Picture perfect and so relaxing.
Adelaide Parklands
Today we travelled to Adelaide on business. Not very exciting stuff, really, except for lunch time. We took some sandwiches with us as well as a thermos of hot water for a cuppa and some fresh fruit. It worked out that we could have lunch in Botanic Park next door to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect autumn day – we’ve had a few of these wonderful days recently. The bright sunshine, a gentle breeze, a temperature of about 18 degrees and a lovely spot for lunch ensured a peaceful lunch.
This park, with its expanse of brilliant green grass and towering exotic and native trees, is a favourite with the locals. In addition to the Botanic Gardens on one side there is the Adelaide Zoological Gardens on the other side. Near where we parked are the added attractions of the Adelaide International Rose Garden and the Bicentennial Conservatory. This is a huge tropical glasshouse featuring many Australian plants from the more tropical areas of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. Many locals and visitors alike come here to have a relaxing picnic lunch before entering one or more of the venues I have mentioned.
Adelaide Airport in traffic gridlock
I was pleased I wasn’t trying to fly anywhere from Adelaide International Airport last weekend. It seems that the traffic in the area was in gridlock for much of the weekend due to bad planning of the access road.
Actually, the access road is normally quite good and one usually only has a wait of several minutes at the most when either entering or leaving the terminal car park. The problem that has arisen over the last week is that a new, massive and very popular furniture store (IKEA) has just opened – right next to the access road. It has caused total chaos in the area, to the point that they are now talking about a second access road for taxis only. Then on top of all that – the only petrol station in the area, which is on the access road too – had a special 10 cents discount offer over the weekend!
And the predictable has happened – everyone blames everyone else!
Think I’ll stay home for a while.
Adelaide Zoo
Last Tuesday we drove to Adelaide for the day. In the morning we took our daughter Rose to to the Adelaide Airport. She flew to Sydney for a conference and to stay with her brother and sister-in-law. After attending to some business and having lunch we went to the Adelaide Zoo.
Many Changes
We had heard that there had been some recent changes at the Adelaide Zoo with the opening of some new exhibits. After we had been there for only a short time we realised that there had been many changes since our last visit several years ago. The new exhibits, although not all yet complete, are great. They enable excellent views of the animals and they continue the trend away from wires and bars to glass viewing areas and overhead walkways. This also makes photography much easier and I was able to get some great shots.
Lions
The lion display is now great. One is able to get within about 2 metres of the lions. I was able to get several close up shots of the male lion looking very regal indeed. It was quite disconcerting to be stared down by a lion at a distance of less than two metres. He was probably trying to assess whether I’d be worth the effort to catch and eat. After all, I’ve recently lost about 11 kilograms in weight. Mmmm. On the down side these photos had to be taken through the usual wire netting. Still – the wire does give one a feeling of safety being so close to such an awesome creature.
Birds
We spent quite a long time in the rainforest aviary. I again managed to get some really fantastic shots of birds close up. It was rather overcast (it had rained heavily as we entered the zoo) so the flash came into its own.
All in all – it was a very pleasant and relaxing three hours wandering through about half of our favourite zoo.
Adelaide Festival of Arts
Writers’ Week
Today I attended the Thursday sessions of Writers’ Week in Adelaide. This is a regular feature of the Adelaide Festival of Arts which is held every two years. Prominent writers from all over Australia and selected writers from overseas are invited to be guest speakers. Previously I have been unable to attend because of work commitments.
Adelaide Parklands
Writers’ week is held in a beautiful section of Adelaide’s parklands, about 200 metres across the road from the Festival Centre and about five minutes walk from the CBD. While I primarily attended to hear the speakers talking about thier writing and books, birders like me are naturally always on the lookout for birds flying around. As the tents where the sessions are held are open sided, the birds are easy to observe.
Bird List
The most conspicious species was the Rock Dove. Groups of three to five flew overhead or around the nearby buildings every minute or so. The next common species was the Rainbow Lorikeet. Small flocks of up to six or eight went screeching from tree to tree at least every five minutes. Noisy Miners squabbled and carried on in nearby trees all day. I was surprised none came down to the lawn to search for dropped food. Perhaps the large crowd was too intimidating even for them. I also observed two Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos over the Torren River, several Adelaide Rosellas flying nearby and a single Magpie Lark. Surprisingly, I also saw only one Crested Pigeon all day. They are a very common species in the parklands.
Unexpected Sighting
The most unexpected sighting was a Brush-Tailed Possum. It came scampering across the grass from the back of the Governor’s residence, through the chairs of about a dozen attendees, and disappeared up one of the beautiful palm trees in that part of the garden. These mammals are essentially nocturnal, so that makes the sighting even more interesting.