Adelaide, AU

Adelaide as seen from the hills to the north.  You can see the coast to the south of the city.

 Staying in Adelaide, we were at the Adelaide Marriott, a central location only two blocks from the Central Market, known for its fresh food stalls, and just a bit further to Chinatown.  We had a great Chinese meal at Perth, but after two nights of Chinese in Adelaide, we had had our fill. We spent a day exploring Adelaide; Botanic Park, downtown pedestrian malls, the river walk, and Central Market. 

One booth of many at the central market- flowers in abundance.

Multiple booths for fruit here, but there were booths for every need.

A view of Botanic Park.  We like the quiet and tranquility such parks furnish in an urban environment. 

From the botanical garden, we walked past the zoo, discovered hordes of large bats, and then followed a path along the river.  Perfect weather.

Adelaid as seen from Mount Lofty.  We are ready for our mountain biking adventure.

Our biking group getting ready for our descent.  The first portion was quite steep, crisscrossing the slope with hairpin switchbacks to reverse directions.

Dawn ahead of me.  We are now on a lower section of the trail, not so steep.  We made stops to see the koalas in nearby trees.

Adelaide is known as a wine-producing region, but we wanted to do something more active than visit a vineyard.  We did an awesome excursion, riding mountain bikes from the peak of Mount Lofty following switchbacks on the initial steep slopes, seeing koalas in the wild, then a stop in a nature park, and finally ending in the neighborhoods and parks of the city suburbs.

The city park trails were relaxing and easy to follow.

If you follow this path far enough along the river, you arrive at the coast.  It is a doable ride, but we were in late afternoon already.

Happy campers: bicycling is Dawn's favorite activity.

  Dawn asked Ian, our guide, if we could keep the bikes all day: he agreed (for an added charge), and we took advantage of it; another wider circuit of the city, then threading our way through the central streets back to our hotel.  We made the most of our short stay in Adelaide.

Fox Bat hanging from a tree near the Adelaide Zoo.  There were thousands of them, and they were large.  Their faces actually looked like a fox.

This one only one of many trees full of Fox Bats.

To get to Tasmania, we were flying Qantas business class and had a short layover in Melbourne.  I did not realize how many eating opportunities were ahead.  After checking in at Adelaide, we proceeded to the airline lounge to wait for our flight.  It was lunch time, and an assortment of buffet food is waiting.  Then we boarded the 1-hour-20-minute flight and were offered another meal.  Arriving in Melbourne, we went to the airline lounge to await our next flight, and another buffet of food was waiting.  A few snack items were tempting.  On the one-hour flight to Tasmania, we were then offered another meal, but I had to refuse.  It was just too much.... and forget about dinner.

Is it any wonder that a person often gains weight while on vacation?