Nah, I just couldn’t think of a creative title, but I do imagine a horror screenplay that I can write in my head to summarize my stay in Adelaide. The only thing is that it has nothing to do with Adelaide, in general. You see, this Airbnb place I reserved was a really huge bungalow rented by two Chinese girls. Next to my room was a stock room with dolls and a little wooden pony. To get to the toilet, I needed to pass by a large and empty living room which had a good view of the equally spacious kitchen.
It was easy to imagine the place as an alternative set for a suburbia remix of The Conjuring, what with its location almost half an hour away from the city center. But there were no ghosts, just two Chinese students who were rarely seen in the vicinity. This is what happens when you rent an Airbnb place. You start imagining if your hosts are real or spirits who have internet access. Like, you wake up the next day with someone at the main door asking you why you’re squatting in an abandoned house. Creepy!
Oh, we’re talking about Adelaide! HAHAHAHAHA. I’m so sorry, South Australians. I included your City of Churches in my itinerary as a rest leg/stopover. Being agnostic, it didn’t really seem like I had any business here. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate your city. It’s just that I think there’s nothing much going on here. If I were to settle down and raise a family, I’d say Adelaide would be a very good option. Sure, it felt a bit boring to me but life has been convenient for the past two days.
It took a while to get to the city center because the buses were kind of infrequent, but that’s the important thing. There is a bus! You just have to be good at timing your departure with the bus arrival. Once you reach the city center, that’s where all the action is. I think it was in Currie St where I was dropped off that afternoon. Most of the city’s main tourist sites line up this street so if you are in a hurry and you just want the main attraction, then this street would do. What is there to see?
I immediately saw two universities facing each other, as if intentionally placed there to depict their rivalry? I wouldn’t really know if the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia are in contention for being the best in the state. They should be, right? Competition is always good. Well, their location should at least promote a little bit of it if there is none to begin with. The latter seems to have more buildings spread out towards the Torrens, while the former seems to have only one building.
Or maybe it’s just one of its departments? A stroll at the University of Southern Australia seemed like a good idea, although walking along the street already sufficed for picture taking. Walking down the road will give you a good view of more colonial buildings as well as modern ones, like that of the state library, the glass façade of which makes it stand out from the rest. And then you will reach and intersection and see a curious looking monument saying hello from the other side. That’s the National War Memorial.
In contrast to most of the monuments I’ve already seen in Adelaide, this one looks different because of the religious theme. Okay, maybe it’s not at all that religious. It just so happens that there is a really big angel with wings along with two or three mere mortals who can’t seem to get enough of him from below. This is a popular selfie spot so prepare to battle it out with your fellow camwhores. There is one angle that I really like, though, that which catches both this and the Adelaide Exchange in one frame.
Follow the path of the ANZAC Centenary Memorial and it will ultimately lead you to the Torrens River where you can have a picnic or simply chillax. I now envy the students of the University of South Australia. Imagine telling your prof that you just have to step out for a minute to get some air. Well, it doesn’t get any better than this in terms of view and tranquil ambiance. Here you find joggers, families, tourists as well as hobos taking a break from the cold hard concrete of Adelaide’s urban jungle.
Once you are done chillaxing by the river, it’s time to find food or spend money. Shopping! Rundle Mall is the place to be which is just one corner away from the North Terrace. What’s waiting for you is an open-air pedestrian-only shopping street with capitalist establishments surrounding it left and right. As what seems to be common down under, majority of the shops close at 5 PM. I arrived at quarter to five and was busy fitting t-shirts when I was politely asked to rush because they were about to close the place down.
Aside from these attractions, there should be more to see in Adelaide. Or perhaps you also have to journey farther away from the city to see what South Australia really has to offer. Well, for me, that’s all that I saw. After all, this is a rest leg, no? At least I still saw something! And another funny thing: I didn’t see a lot of churches at all! I think I saw three or four, and they weren’t even that impressive. So, what gives? As Wikitravel says, most locals even argue that their city has more pubs than churches! City of Pubs, then?
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