Apr 11, Adelaide

Today we did a lot of sightseeing in Adelaide. We walked to the Parliament House, but Parliament was in session so there weren't any tours. Then we went to Trinity Church (Anglican), the oldest church in the state. Beside the church there was a sign pointing the way to the crèche. I asked about it and found that it is the place where young children go during the church service.

We went back to Parliament House so we could watch the session for a bit. We were directed to the Strangers Gallery, for observers. One man was speaking on the merits of a committee to oversee emergencies, we only stayed a short time.

Several of the museums were along North Terrace, so next we went to the State Library. We were just in time for a tour. There was a modern glass entrance with exhibit space and computers, but the old part was beautiful. It was a tall, narrow open hall with 3 levels of stacks. On the bottom floor there were exhibits about South Australia exploration, Adelaide history, the wine industry, etc.

One picture showed people filling boxes with books, weighing them and readying them for shipment. Up until the 1960s one of the services of the library was to ship books to people out on the stations (ranches). It would be like Christmas for them, getting books to read. The books in the stacks were the ones that had been shipped out. They were coated with a varnish or something so they could withstand the treatment, so they're still in good shape. They're mostly general fiction, but other state libraries got rid of their collections and this is the only one left.

We walked down to Rundle Street, a large shopping mall, to look around and have lunch. There was a sculpture of two large metal balls in the middle of the mall. They are called the Malls Balls.

Next to the Library was the South Australia Museum, with a little of everything in it. There were stuffed animals, Aboriginal artifacts, displays about the diversity of wildlife in South Australia. At one time the Library housed museum items and had a taxidermy workshop in the basement. One of the tigers at the SA Museum was prepared at the Library in the 1880s.

At the end of North Terrace we toured Ayres House, owned by Henry Ayres, prominent citizen and Prime Minister. Ayres Rock was named for him, but is now known by its original name, Uluru. It was a grand home and the guide was excellent. We found out that the women of the 1880s wore whale bone corsets that deformed their rib cages and damaged their lungs. They had to sleep with bolsters on the beds in order to breathe.

We walked over to the Botanic Gardens and wandered to the Conservatory and the Palm House, beautiful park.

For dinner we joined Anna's friends, Beverly, Renee and Ed at the Red Orchre Grill. The chef specializes in using native ingredients. We had a conserve made of bush tomatoes with the bread that was excellent and an interesting lemon myrtle butter. Samson & I had barramundi from the Northern Territory that just melted in our mouths. For dessert there was Pavlova, an Australian dessert made with meringue. This one had wattle seeds in it. It was all delicious and very inventive and the best meal we've had in weeks. Even better than the food was the company. We received some guidance for our trip into the outback and lots of lively conversation. The evening ended much too quickly.

Pictures - State Library, Librarians packing books, Samson & the Malls Balls, Palm House