Adelaide – The City of Churches

View from our room

If you have been to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, why not go to Adelaide for your next time in Australia?  It is a very nice place to visit with some quirks all of its own.

One of the real differences about Adelaide is that it is the capital of South Australia which is the only State to have been completely free settled – that is not settled partly by convicts who were transported from England to Australia.  As a result it has a diversity of population and religions.  Adelaide is known as the City of Churches. It was named after Queen Adelaide – who was William IV's wife. It was a planned city which shows in its wide leafy streets and extensive network of parks. Enough history – here are some pics of things I liked in Adelaide.

As you can see the Mortlock Wing of the State Library is just stunning.  A real find – made even better by having just stumbled into it by accident from the adjacent really modern hi-tech library.

More or less just across the road from the Mortlock Wing, you find the historic Ayers House.  It was a house built and extended over time by Sir Henry Ayers (after whom Ayers Rock is named – now called Uluru).  You can't just wander around it yourself – you are guided by lovely old ladies who are so proud of the house.  In our case there were only 2 of us in the group so it was a very personal tour.

Carrick Hill

Another historic house is Carrick Hill which is found in the suburbs. It is set in lovely extensive gardens.  Most of the house was built from a demolition sale of an English country house called Beaudesert in Staffordshire.  It was quite an undertaking to bring it all to Australia in the 1930's.  It is odd having a Tudor house which also has the latest mod cons from the 30's.  There are ensuite bathrooms and heated towel rails.  It also has a lot of then avant garde art in it.

Carrick Hill interior

That's all for this post.  Look out for 3 more Adelaide posts dealing with:

North Adelaide, Urban Cow, the City Loop Bus and Glenelg

The Adelaide Wine regions

And last but certainly not least Adelaide food – fantastic!