Adelaide is a city with a similar population to Dublin over twice the land area. We’ve seen articles in the papers talking about the decline of Adelaide, and this is also mentioned as an ongoing topic of conversation in Bill Bryson’s Down Under written about ten years ago so we weren’t expecting much. Adelaide surprised us. It’s a grid city with really wide streets, which gives it a slight similarity to Manhattan but there the similarities end. Because the actual city centre is quite small, everything is within walking distance. We went from our hostel in a quiet area to the huge central food market to the main restaurant street to the shopping area – as busy as Grafton St but twice as long – to the university grounds and the botanical gardens in one evening. Everybody is really friendly and there are loads of restaurants, which we like. For some reason there’s also a huge Asian population and a whole Chinatown area – unusual for a city this size. We ate in the busiest little Chinese restaurant in town and, aside from being delicious, it was really cheap.

While in Adelaide we did a bit of thinking about the things we unexpectedly missed in India. Among them: Homogenised Milk. I’d no idea that our nice consistent milk was so different to the natural, old fashioned stuff. Every cup of tea and coffee in India had drops of fat floating on top and other bits and pieces floating around.

I’m also impressed with the beer. Aussie beer is great, and everywhere has a good selection of ales. Though ordering it can be confusing. In NSW you order a schooner and a middy for a pint and a glass, though the schooner is not really a pint. Some places will serve you a pint if you ask and other places will look at you like you’ve just ordered Superquinn Sausages. However, in South Australia a schooner is called a pint, a middy is called a schooner and a pint is called an imperial. Confusing? Also the wine is very good, but both are exactly the same price as at home and no longer cheaper as they used to be.

Several times when I’ve said we’re Irish in all three countries people have asked me if I therefore follow the English Premiership. Trying to explain that no, I follow the Irish one (for my sins) was complicated in India and Singapore but relatively straightforward here. They usually lose interest immediately. I’m not sure people here are interested in discussing the recent bad run of results for Shamrock Rovers.

So yeah we like Adelaide. We’re now on the bus to Berri which sounds from its description like Tubbercurry with fewer pubs.

(PS: Things went downhill once we hit Berri – more in the next update. Few photos this time because I’m updating via my phone’s modem as this place doesn’t have working wifi.)