Australia Day 2014

 

January 26th was Australia Day. Think 4th of July without a Revolutionary War. It's a mid-summer holiday. Time for BBQs, days at the beach, parties and fireworks. We've been in Australia for three Australia Days now. The first was spent with friends in Paynesville and Raymond Island in the Gippsland Lakes. Last year was spent in an anchorage sampling Vegemite (yum). This year we headed into Adelaide for the city's national celebration.

In the early morning, we had the train to ourselves, the streets were virtually empty and the temperature was pleasantly cool. There was lots going on in the city today, but it just hadn't awakened yet. The Tour Down Under bicycle race was culminating and there was a huge bike expo being held in Victoria Square. We were content to wander around, check out several of the City's landmarks and while the day away exploring … waiting for the Australia Day Parade festivities to begin.

We spent an hour or so exploring the Rundel Mall and the rest of the morning at the Botanic Gardens (topics of future blogs). We met friends at the Beehive Corner and enjoyed a delightful lunch at The Austral. The afternoon was spent enjoying one of Adelaide's many museums (delightful not only for its exhibits, but for its air conditioning).

Because of the heat, the parade was scheduled to begin at 6pm. Around 5pm, we headed to a side street off Victoria Square where we watched the parade participants setting up. The excitement and energy were palpable. Everyone was smiling. Last minute details were put on costumes and floats.

Hornists (my newly coined word which encompasses all horn players) were limbering up their lips; drummers drummed; stringists (that's akin to hornists) plucked and strummed. We had no specific name for some of the musical instruments, but all were played with gusto. Dancers practiced their choreographed moves. Then it was time for the parade to begin.

We made our way up King William Street and, in front of the City Hall, we found an empty spot on the curb that accommodated our bums and sat down to view the spectacle. The parade must have been coordinated by the Swiss, because precisely as the bells chimed 6 o'clock, the parade moved forward. The street was lined with people, all decked out in Australia Day garb.

The Australian Army Band led the parade with a rousing rendition of Waltzing Mathilda.

One thing we noted and especially liked about the parade was the fact that it was a cultural celebration of so many of the people living here in Australia … all celebrating the day and the greatness of Australia. Some were dressed as 19th century Australian colonists. There were firetrucks and vintage cars, Girl Scouts (Girl Guides in Australia), military bands, pipers and representative cultures from just about everywhere … Mexico, Brazil, the Pacific Islands, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe. Everyone was involved.

People enjoyed and were encouraged to represent their own culture and show it off in the parade, while embracing the culture of the country to which they've immigrated.

What we saw was a melting pot of Australia's people sharing their native costumes, dances and music while proudly waving their Australian flags.

Mount Lofty and Cleland Wildlife Park

 

Only a 20 minute ride from downtown Adelaide, we climbed (read that “drove up with Pauline and Denys”) to the mighty summit of Mount Lofty, the highest peak in southern Mount Lofty Range. At 727m (2,385') , we didn't even have to clear our ears to handle the altitude, but we did enjoy beautiful views of the city below. My photos weren't the best as the day was hazy, but I nicked one from the internet, so you can see what we saw. A white tower, Flinders Column, sits atop the mount and commemorates the sighting and naming of the mountain by Matthew Flinders in 1802 during his circumnavigation of Australia.

Part of the same conservation area, the Cleland Wildlife Park contains nearly 90 acres of bushland environment and offers lots of close-up native animal viewing with very few animal enclosures. This is our kind of place. Walking through Cleland along shaded paths was cool and pleasant. Denys is quite a botanist and pointed out local flora as we walked, especially the many varieties of native gum trees (over 500 species in Australia) and wattle (nearly 1,000 native species).

We headed to the yellow-footed rock-wallabies on the far side of the park. Denys had told us about these unique critters and we were keen to see them. En route we entered a gate and found ourselves in the midst of kangaroos and emus. We were carrying kanga-food with us and, when offered, several roos joined us for a munch, but all were very polite, and nobody begged. We especially enjoyed watching one female whose joey was evidently getting a bit too big for her pouch. All we could see of him was his legs sticking out and sometimes a tail, a comical picture.

Though I'd seen many kangaroos, I'd never petted one. Their fur is oh, so, soft.

We searched and searched for yellow-footed rock-wallabies, but they're reputedly timid and were evidently hiding, as were the dingoes, Tasmanian devils and monitor lizards … a sleeping, shy crowd. No matter, there was lots more to see. Several koalas were napping (how rare!), but opened an eye as we walked past.

As we walked towards a huge wetlands area, potoroos scurried across the path, past our feet.  These mini-marsupials look like guinea pigs, but like most Australian mammals carry their young in their pouch. They also hop. If you're not native Australian, it's amazing how many animals that you never even knew existed. But then how many Aussies have seen a jackalope?

The wetlands area is interesting because, of course, there are no boundaries for the birds. They're there because they want to be. Magpie geese, glossy ibis, pelicans, ducks and moorhens. Coots, although we have them in America, caught our attention because of the three babies that one anxious mother was trying to feed. She really had her hands, I mean, her mouth, full.

The aviaries were so large, we forgot we were inside them. We saw odd-looking tawny frogmouths and several colorful parrot species and the local budgies were even represented.

All too soon, it was time to leave. We're hoping we can return to Cleland before we leave for another look and perhaps see those elusive, reclusive yellow-footed rock-wallabies. Otherwise, we'll have to head to the Flinders Range and look for them and that'll be tough … but you gotta do, what you gotta do!

Edited to add:

We just wanted wish our Australian friends a Happy Australia Day!

Port Adelaide Walking Tour

 

There might be an arm's length (maybe even a leg's length) of chores to do on Nine of Cups, but exploring the local area trumps boat chores sometimes. We haven't made it all the way into Adelaide yet. Port Adelaide, the Port, is a small suburb and has a draw of its own. On a sunny Sunday morning, we took the train into Port Adelaide with the intent of taking a self-guided walking tour and seeing what we could see.

Established in 1837 as the primary port for the city of Adelaide which lay down river some 8 miles (14km), Port Adelaide was initially an area of mangrove swamps and tidal mud flats that lay next to a narrow creek. It was dubbed Port Misery at one point because of the mosquitoes and wretched conditions migrants found here upon arrival. The Port has retained much of its 19th century architectural heritage and we wandered through the historic district admiring “colonial bond brickwork” warehouses and buildings. A brochure from the Tourist Info folks provided insight and descriptions into the various locations and buildings.

Friends (thanks, David V.) suggested we visit the South Australian Maritime Museum, the oldest maritime museum in Australia (1872). It's housed in an 1850's vintage warehouse and uses the open space as well as the nooks and crannies to advantage. There's a full size replica ketch, the Active II, for viewing and boarding inside the museum ... the same type ketch used for transport in the early days of the port.

I especially enjoyed the collection of figureheads that adorned the walls.

A computer program allowed us to check our surname to see if any “Lynns” had migrated to Adelaide during the great European migration. Sure enough, we found that both a Henry and a Matthew Lynn had come to Australia aboard the “Asia” in 1839.

Entrance to the museum also allowed us free entry to climb the narrow, steep, spiral steps of the iconic port lighthouse which provided great views of the city below.

Along the waterfront, there are several vessels for viewing as well as harbor tours. The Dolphin Explorer was full to capacity with folks hoping to spot the resident river dolphins during their two-hour river tour. A training tallship, the One & All, offered short trips into the harbor. Living on a boat, however, diminishes our interest in paying for boat rides.

During our travels, we managed to check out all the pubs along our route. Being a port town, there was no dearth of pubs to be found. There's even a separate tourist brochure for the Heritage Pub Trail. On Sundays, most pubs open for lunch at Noon and we scheduled our tour to end in time for a late lunch and a pint at the Dockside Tavern (1850), a favorite haunt in years past of seafarers and waterfront workers. Speaking of haunts, local folklore has it that there are several harmless ghosts residing at the pub, but they didn't join us while we sipped our pints.

The sunny day turned oppressively hot and we headed back to the cool breezes at the marina. Next time, we'll stay on the train and do some exploring in South Australia's state capital, Adelaide. Stay tuned.