Adelaide Central Markets

I am in  Adelaide for a couple of weeks – it’s winter but the weather is mild.  We are in the city for a day.  Adelaide has a fabulous Central Market open Tuesday – Saturday until 1pm. It is undercover, with great parking next door – fresh fruit and vegetables, olives, cheeses, fish, cakes and breads.  It has everything you might need for  a week of delicious meals – and soon that is exactly what we have. Last stop is coffee at Luigias – a must to catch your breath and watch the world go by.

Exclusive Shopping in King William Rd, Hyde Park

Just five minutes away by car, or a 10 minutes by bike through the south parklands is Hyde Park.  We drive under the arches of the London Plane trees that line Victoria Ave to the small but exclusive shopping village of King William Rd. The rich and famous are clearly here – I can see their expensive convertibles parked in no parking zones.  But I am here too with my girlfriend in an old Mazda ute and while we park carefully (and legally) we feel quite at home.  While Liz heads off for an acupuncture session, I am left to cruise the shops.

I need nothing, but the winter sales in the shops lured me in and I soon had a gorgeous red Penny Mitchell Design shirt at a third of the list price and a pashmina to replace my favourite one left with my sister in Florida.  Looking Penny Mitchells up on the internet, I discover she is one of Australia’s top shirt designers – I am chuffed.

I buy a great coffee and a yummy something at Cibo and settle down to read the paper in the sun.  It might be winter still, but it is unseasonably warm today in Adelaide – 23 degrees.

Rundle St East End

It is afternoon, and the sun has made us sleepy, we head for trendy Rundle St East End. On one side Rymill Park on the other the spectacular buildings of the old covered fruit and vegetable markets. We head for the shade of a beautiful pepper tree in the park and lie down for a delicious nap in the warm late winter sun.

Rundle St is a great place to go for a meal – the beautiful people are clearly all around us – door to door restaurants all offering great food. It is also the home of arthouse movie theatres – The Palace and The Nova, and we are on the hunt for supplies for movie watching.

We head into Chocolat – this place is not for the faint hearted or the weight conscious – it is locally made and totally seductive. Movies and icecream go together and we chose one from Cold Rock– but there are also endless choices of Italian Gelato. For the movie we decide on My Sister’s Keeper – tissues, and lots of them are recommended.  A surprisingly deep and reflective movie about love and family and cancer – it is a quiet drive home, but I feel I have touched Adelaide and it has touched me.