Adelaide

Adelaide

After spending a week in Cairns and Port Douglas, JB had one day at home before heading off to Adelaide for a three day work conference.  It was a whirl-wind tour, but well worth the trip.

Adelaide is a very pretty city, with wide streets and low buildings.  The office tower on the left hand side of the picture (above) is one of the taller buildings in the city.  It seems like a very small town compared to Brisbane, although it has about 1.2 million people, making it about the size of Calgary.  Unfortunately there was no chance to visit the Barossa or any other wine regions, as the entire three days were taken up with work.  It will be worth paying another visit for a holiday, or at least getting in a weekend before or after a work trip.

River park, outside of the convention centre

Adelaide is unique in Australia as it is the only city that was created as the centre of a "free" state, meaning this is not a city that was founded to be settled by convicts or victims of transport.  It is very well planned and laid out.  The city centre is nicely laid out and everything is within a square mile plan.  There are numerous fine restaurants and it has a great reputation for all things food and wine related.

We spent some of the weekend watching sports, as it was almost impossible to completely avoid.  The Australian Rules Football League and the Rubgy League both have their grand finals this weekend.  This is also the final weekend of regular play in the World Cup of Rugby.  (This is the league in which Mike Tindall, recently wed to Zara Phillips aka grand-daughter of the Queen, plays.)  We joined many other Canadians to watch Team Canada take on the New Zealand All Blacks, arguably the best team in the world.  We may not have won the game, but by far our team has the best beards!

Read all about it here:  http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/09/16/adam-kleebergers-beard-gets-plenty-of-attention-at-the-rugby-world-cup/