What do you love about Adelaide?

[crawf]

We have had plenty of discussion on what Adelaide needs to improve on, so it's time we have a discussion on what are the things in Adelaide that grab you and secretly make you love this quirky and diverse city. Is it late night visits to the Elephant Walk in North Adelaide?, stocking up on goodies from Haighs Chocolates?, random nights at Shotz?, or is it going for a casual stroll through the parklands?



This is currently a topic over on SSC "What do you like about your hometown?" - This was my response

While some people find Adelaide's quirkiness strange and weird, I personally think it's one of the great things about Adelaide. You could easily spend a day or two in the city, discovering all the quirky and interesting hidden things and places around Adelaide including the famous Malls balls and Pigs. I believe Adelaide's quirkiness is something that will become more appealing and renowned in the future.

Adelaide's festival season deserves much more national exposure than it currently recieves. Known as 'Mad March' which actually starts in January and ends late March, the entire city transforms into a buzzing vibrant party town. This is helped by the Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival of Arts, WOMADelaide, Clipsal 500, Tour Down Under and many other events. One of the great things about this period of the year is the hugely popular and unique 'Garden of Unearthly Delights' in the eastern parklands. Which is an quirky carnival area with performance venues, outdoor bars, eateries, market stalls and rides. This is opened to late hours of the night (2am etc)

Outside of Mad March, there is still a good variety of festivals and events. Adelaide's main problem aka quietness is between May and October.

I love how Adelaide has so many pubs throughout the city and burbs, it's something in this city that's not appreciated enough. Some of these pubs have been transformed into upmarket establishments while you can still find your true blue Aussie pub. One of my favourites is the Exeter Hotel on Rundle St.

North Terrace has got to be one of my favourite streets in the country, it's full of beautiful old architecture and is quite relaxing to take a stroll down. Next favourite Rundle Street has a wide selection of boutique fashion outlets, cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars. While Gouger Street has a really nice mix of Asian restaurants and home to Adelaide's famous Central Markets.

Adelaide's inner suburbs are full of character and have a variety of retail, dining and entertainment options. My three favourites are North Adelaide, Unley/Hyde Park and Norwood.

Glenelg is one thing I most definitely love about Adelaide. There is nothing better than catching a tram down to the bay on a warm sunny day to chill out in many of the bars and restaurants or just watching the sunset from the jetty. Other great seaside hubs are Henley Square, Semaphore and Brighton.

I love that Adelaide is trying to create it's own identity and not be a carbon-copy of another city. This includes the quirkiness and projects like the Rundle Mall, Victoria Square, Adelaide Oval and Riverbank developments which will be uniquely Adelaide and help put the city back on the national radar.

Another great thing that sets Adelaide apart from other cities and something I personally love myself, is that you only need to drive 10-15km from the city centre and be surrounded by dense hilly bushland. There is nothing better than escaping the hustle and bustle for a lazy Sunday drive through the Adelaide Hills while stopping at Hahndorf for lunch.

It's no secret that Adelaide has many faults and this time of year can be quite depressing (cold/quiet), but when you sit down and ponder all the things Adelaide already has to offer. She isn't a bad girl

So what do you love about Adelaide?, please feel free to add photos

[AG]

For me, I think the thing I enjoy most about living in Adelaide is the convenience of everything being close by (at least where I live) - shops, recreation, etc. The diversity of food and drinking establishments across the city makes for some interesting outings.

The other thing I love about Adelaide is the people. There's not many cities where people are much friendlier, and even walking around different neighbourhoods a "g'day" or "hello" from a complete stranger isn't uncommon.

[iTouch]

I'm moving to Perth next year for a 6 month course in mission work and international studies and one of the things that I've taken for granted is Glenelg. I know Perth has Cottleslow or whatever you call it which is meant to be a beach that tries to be Glenelg, but Glenelg has some pretty amazing local cafe's and the atmosphere is great. I'm really going to miss it

I know this is going to be a bit controversial but in terms of quality, I recon Glenelg beats Bondi by a mile. Maybe not in surfing but in everything else it does. I could list pages and pages of reasons but I really don't want to start an argument and "why glenelg beats Bondi" isn't the forum topic haha

[Vee]

This may not be the appropriate place for this post but, in a way, it is an opportunity to provide some positives and some constructive suggestions in an online survey that I came across by chance on Adelaide Now.

It's a survey called "Have your say on the state of SA" (Sunday Mail SA survey 2011).
There is a direct link to the survey from the Adelaide Now home page - see information graphic bar between World News and Entertainment.
You can also access the survey (for now) from the rotating picture gallery on the home page - see How would you change SA? Give us your ideas.

There's a large number of multiple choice questions and a few open ended questions in the survey.
One in particular provides ample space to include your comments on what you consider to be exciting developments in Adelaide and SA and concerns.
Other questions deal with issues such as technology use, energy and utilities, safety, transport etc.

If you're into completing surveys, would like to add your voice and have about 10 minutes to spare, you can complete the survey (anonymous OK with some demographic details - eg gender, age range, postcode).
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/

[skyliner]

What do I love about Adelaide -
Its home
This forum and the people on it -constructive, positive and informative.
It's organised - you always know where you are going - qand you actually get there in reasonable time.
It has few daggy/run down areas.
The architecture - re housing you don't see anything like it in Bris. V impressive styles in eastern and south eastern suburbs.
Almost total absence of noise barriers - ugly, ugly. Visual pollution instead of noise pollution.
Friendly people.
Not a carbon copy of the other cities - has some individuality about it.
The trams.
Glenelg - esp in it's current guise (with the higher bldgs) - a real suburban destination.
Airport - current one - huge improvement.
Potential everywhere - in and around the squares, laneways, railways (at last!)
Nth TCE - a real presence of colonial/conservative prosperity. Solidarity. The essence of a real boulevard.
The place IS progressing - at a faster rate than ever before IMO. Does not strike me as rust bucket territory.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[Splashmo]

Good beaches - amazing beaches in fact, just miles and miles of quiet, white sandy shoreline with clean, clear water
Different parts of the city - East End, Rundle Mall, North Tce, Gouger St & Chinatown, Hutt St, North Adelaide
Grid layout and parklands
Lots of international students making the city feel safer, busier and more cosmopolitan
Adelaide Hills
The climate
Fantastic and efficient airport
The inner and eastern suburbs
Agree with skyliner - lots of potential almost everywhere

[Waewick]

the thing I love is that despite living here I took two weeks off up at McLaren Vale way and found something to do for each day of the 14 I had off.

There is so much to be done around (and in) the City that you can simply forget that you live here.

[stumpjumper]

Nice post, crawf.

It is a good city in lots of ways. Sort of like a huge Jamestown with pubs sprinkled through it as well as in the centre. There's nothing better than riding, walking or driving through a suburb and suddenly - a pub! The Maylands... the Earl of Leicester... the Kensington...

You can have a quiet beer in pleasant suburban environs, musing perhaps over the excellent suburban pubs we've lost - the Dover Castle in North Adelaide; the Family Hotel in St John's Row, Glenelg, often full of New Zealanders but still serving a fine beer to be enjoyed on the garden seats looking over the sea.

We've been a great town for breweries - and still are.

No matter how long you've lived here, there'll always be one pub somewhere - even if you've been to the West Thebarton, the Reepham and the Lord Exmouth - that you haven't thoroughly enjoyed yourself in. Sunk a jar in the Jolly Miller at Hindmarsh lately?

Apart from all the pubs, one may of course enjoy one's preferred tipple in one's own home: alone, in the exclusive company of one's spouse, or with one's friends or associates, be it for a casual glass with a meal, or hanging rat-faced from the Hills hoist, trying to pronounce the word Stolichnaya in response to the request 'Can I get you anything?'

A great little town.