5th Lap -Gems in the Adelaide Hills

 

THE FIFTH LAP

Gems in the Adelaide Hills

Previous:  Mt Gambier and Coorong National Park

Photo Album:  Gems in the Adelaide Hills

Finally, we were in another metropolis.  Perhaps, it is an overstatement for the 10-minute city...oops, sorry, it is now a 20-0minutes city. The beautiful city of Adelaide.

It was a city I visited umpteenth times, but never quite got there, meaning exploring. It was business trips in the 70s to 90s, doing the usual airport-hotel-meeting-airport routine. And then, the drive by trips through our different expeditions to South Australia in the last decade.

Aside from playing dumb tourist in this beautiful city, which is secondary for this trip, we were here to catchup with my nephew, an experienced naturalist and diver  He recently relocated his young family to Adelaide from the politically repressive Hong Kong, and also to see an old friend. 

First, my nephew recommended the game park Monarto Zoo with his family. 

It is not quite safari in the African sense, more like a very big zoo, in a much more natural settings for these animals.

We spent a day walking in familiar Australian bushes, but seeing quite mostly African animals, exotic or otherwise. These are kept in fenced areas, and some artificial urban zoo like environment, probably due to the needs to protect them from the Australian bush and/or vice versa.

Imagine the potential ecological disruptions or even damage that could be caused by a few runaway meerkats or carnivores like lions or cheetahs.

The day ended with a game drive in a bus.  Pictures through a moving bus window did not produce the best photography, unfortunately!

Nonetheless, it is quite a different experience, seeing animals that are not indigenous to Australia, in Australia.

Here is one of my many games drives in Africa:-  Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti NP which is quite a bit different.

A day later, our next excursion up in the Adelaide Hills was purely cultural, to learn a little about the history of German settlers surrounding Adelaide.

The township of Hahndorf saw its first German immigrants, were much like the early immigrants to the colonies of North America, Lutherans escaping religious persecutions.

The first settlers came in 1838, and finally settled in Hahndorf after a two months walk from Adelaide.

History of Hahndorf can be found here: - https://hahndorfsa.org.au/history/

With the guide of an information sheet provided by the Visitor Center in the Main St., we spent half a day walking and learning.

From the local museum, some relics...

And from the local antique shop...

There are still plenty of original architectures standing in good conditions.

And of course, German Hot Dogs...genuine Frankfurters ?

At the end of the walk, what could be better than to quench our thirst with a local German brew...a fine good brew!

Then it was off to visit Phil, an old friend whom I met on the Canning Stock Route ( in the 4th Lap ) in 2017.  Together with Phil and Dean, three of us in two 4x4s, conquered the Ann Beadell "Highway" over 7 days, a 1500 Km adventure.  BTW, "Highway" is an absolute misrepresentation, see the pictures.

We chased camels, tried to revive crashed airplanes,, and worked with atomic bombs...

And it is all documented in his album, which sits on my bookshelf.

And we had a ball catching up, and meeting each others family.

And there are more about Adelaide.....coming.

.....read more

Gremlins:  Sandi behaved well up and down the hills of Adelaide, however, always shudders violently on braking, at the last steep stretch of the freeway before entering the city.  This would continue on level ground for a few more kilometers before settling down!

Next:  Adelaide city and beaches.

Previous:  Mt Gambier & Coorong National Park