Day 44, 17 Feb – Adelaide, South Australia

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia with a population of over 1 million people.

Our tendering days are over, and it was nice to be moored to a cruise terminal with the ability to easily get on and off the ship.  The gangway was located on Deck 3 next to the Atrium.

The weather was beautiful, with nice blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s.

Taking a taxi

The cruise terminal had a sprinkling of shops, tour operators and souvenir stands.  There is a taxi stand outside the terminal and our plan for the day included taking an Uber to two yarn shops and then to the downtown area.  Unfortunately, the nearest Uber was 20 minutes away, so we headed over the taxi stand where 5 taxis were waiting.  Since we had multiple stops, we tried to negotiate a more favorable multi-trip rate, but the driver insisted on only using the meter, so we elected to use him for the single trip and get an Uber later.

Barb’s Sew and Knit

Barb’s Sew and Knit was our first of two yarn shops.  It is about 12 miles south of the cruise terminal, near the airport in the Glenelg area.  Barb’s shop sells and services knitting machines in addition to supporting hand knitters and crocheters.  Barb is a straight talker and doesn’t mince words which may be a turn-off for some, but we found her candor refreshing.  Barb’s shop is small and chock full of yarn and four knitting machines.  Judy bought a lovely neutral colored possum blend yarn.  She got enough to knit a sweater.  She’s hinting that she may knit it for me, we’ll see.

After we finished having a great time with Barb we headed off to the Needle Nook, another yarn shop about 8 miles to the east.  Uber was readily available, and we were on our way in a few minutes and arrived about 15 minutes later.

The Needle Nook

The Needle Nook is bright and airy with a nice selection of Patons and Lang yarns to name a few brands.   We met a nice local knitter and had a wonderful time chatting with her about Adelaide and life in Australia.

Rundle Mall

The Mall’s Balls, located at the Rundle Mall was our next destination.  The Mall’s Balls are two large mirror finished silver spheres – like large pinballs – located in the center of the Rundle Mall.  The Rundle Mall is a large outdoor mall featuring a wide pedestrian only walkway in the center of Adelaide and was the location for the Adelaide Fringe Festival Box Office.

Fringe Festival

The Adelaide Fringe Festival started the day before we arrived.  “Fringe” festivals are held in cities around the world and are a collection of artists performing a wide variety of non-juried acts that are open to anyone.  The performances are not selected on any basis or merit.  This attracts a wide variety of artists and gives you a lot of choices to sample an incredible array of talent.  The first “fringe” festival was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is still held there every August.  Fringe festivals get their name from the concept that the performances take place on the “fringes” of the mainstream venues or OFF- OFF Broadway.

We purchased tickets online for the Fringe event called “Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tour”, before we left on the cruise.  More info on the Disco Walking Tour HERE.  The tour is lead by Dave, dressed in a colorful costume.  Each participant wears a wireless headset thru which we could hear the disco tunes along with Dave’s commentary.  After we picked up our tickets we strolled thru the Rundle Mall, stopping by the Apple Store to use their free, fast Wi-Fi to sync up our Iphones and Ipads.

The Disco Walking tour didn’t start until 6:30 PM and we wanted to change our clothes before the tour so we grabbed an Uber and headed back to the ship.  We arranged for the Uber driver to pick us up in an hour, so we wouldn’t have to risk having a long wait for a different Uber driver.

South Australia Police

While we were walking back to the ship thru the cruise terminal, we struck up a conversation with 2 local police officers.  We learned that Australia doesn’t have city police or county sheriffs like in the USA but state police that perform all their police functions under a single jurisdiction.  It would be like your city police, county sheriff and highway patrol all rolled into one organization.  The police were in no hurry and chatted with us for 10 minutes before heading on to the ship.  We weren’t sure what they are doing onboard, but we heard a rumor later that a couple of passengers were arrested for marijuana possession after a drug dog alerted as they were leaving the ship.  Apparently, this was enough to authorize a search of their cabin where they found more drugs.

Disco Walk

After our quick change on the ship, we met our Uber driver and headed back to the Mall Balls.  There is a train stop nearby the cruise terminal and many passengers bought a $10 card which allowed them to ride anywhere in the system all day.  The train took a little longer than an Uber and a lot longer if you had to wait long for the next train.  An Uber to downtown cost around $30-$35 and when divided among 4 people it was still more expensive that the train, but we preferred the convenience of Uber over the price of the train.  When our time in port is so short, we usually prefer the fastest mode of transportation rather than the least expensive.

Rick, Margaret and six other people joined us near the Mall’s Balls for the Disco Walk.  The Guru Dudu, Dave, passed out our wireless headsets and he started us out with some warm ups.  In a few minutes we were on our way, dancing to the disco beat that only we could hear.  Our small group brought a smile to everyone we encountered, and many people joined in on the fun for a few blocks as Dave’s assistant carried spare headsets for temporary use by passersby.

HERE is a link to some Guru Dudu videos from other  fringe festivals.

We danced in silence for most of the walk, but we paused once on a sidewalk and serenaded the passing crowd with a awful rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.  After 45 minutes we entered the main grounds of the Fringe Festival in Rundle Park where we simulated hand washing passersby to the tune “Car Wash” but we were the only people who heard the disco beat.

 

One hour after we started and 1 mile down the road we gathered for a final dance before wrapping up.  After taking some group shots we bid farewell to our Guru Dudu and headed back to the street to catch our Uber for the ride back to the ship.

We returned to ship right after the Lido closed so we ordered some room service for a late dinner.  Judy ordered the BBQ Pulled Pork Sub while I chose the Rigatoni – both were very good.