Day 50 - Thursday 16 February - Adelaide to Glenelg and a Basketball match

DAY 50

THURSDAY

16 February 2017 –

Adelaide to Glenelg

Wanting to make the most of the day touring around Adelaide and the city, we were up, organised and out the door by 9.15am, walking to the Klemzig Interchange and onto a bus that acts like a train. They follow concrete grates that the wheels follow fit in, just like a train on rails. Being a dedicated bus route we zipped past all of the traffic and were in town by 9.45am and trying to determine just where we had to be to get the tram.  
 

One helpful bloke pointed us in the right direction and we joined the other commuters waiting for the tram to arrive and whisk us away to the seaside spot of Glenelg.

The journey to Glenelg from Adelaide is about 20min. It was an easy run to the final stop on the line. We alighted the tram and then began our exploring of the city and checking out the waterfront and jetty. We watched a ray swim below, passing a swimmer within metres who was none the wiser.

The old buildings along the front are very grand, including the Stanford Hotel. New art pieces have been installed to add to the culture of the place. We wandered up the main shopping strip before ducking down a side road and back out to the water, continuing our walk south along the boulevard and enjoying the view, including dolphins moving through the shallows.

 

Once we returned to the centre we opted to head back on the tram and try out one of the other dim sums; Ding Hao, this time. It was busy like Star House, but we were again served quickly and left rolling out the door after our feed, eager to walk off the calories.

It was great to have a second chance to check out Adelaide, after having to cut our visit short on Monday. I was able to check out the old buildings, including the fountain at Tartanyannga, Adelaide Arcade and the museum. art gallery and library.

After all the walking, we found our way past the old town hall, that had a Perspex picture of the Beatles on the balcony, where they had stood many years ago and on to the Treasury Building, which like Perth has been turned into a pub. Paul found a new brew to try while I washed down the dim sum with a softie..

As we made our way out of the pub we found a transit officer who could give us directions to the stop we needed to catch the bus back to Klemzig.

By 3.30pm we had made it back to the interchange and walked back to the van with enough time to sit and unwind before thinking about a quick easy dinner and jumping in the car to drive through the peak hour rush to Titanium Security Stadium to watch Adelaide 36ers take on Illawarra Hawks in the first game of the preliminary final.  

The stadium was easy enough to get to, making it by 6.15pm, parking and then entering the stadium to find our seats. The place is much like Challenge Stadium back home. The teams were warming up when we entered. We chatted with the people around us, many eager to know why we were there. The game started with the stadium only half full with their “Sea of Blue Shirts” while we stood out in our red Wildcats singlets. There was very little entertainment and no national anthem sung, it was all quite amateurish and a little sad, as I though the NBL execs were on the ball with wanting to deliver a class package. They have a way to go in Adelaide.

As for the game, it was very average. Neither team played particularly brilliantly, there were the usual crap decisions by the umps and some even worse decisions made by the players. In the end Adelaide won comfortably 93 to 78. A lot was to do with Jerome Randle, the recently crowned MVP of the league, who made some ridiculous buckets and certainly helped the team to lift, but if that is all the teams have they will be hammered by Perth in the grand final or Cairns if they make it through us. 

With the game over by 9pm, we made a quick escape out of the car park and through the Adelaide streets back to our van ready to call it a night.