Adelaide is my buffet lunch. You see, I like my food and I like my exercise. I love being able to find a park on the city's streets and walking to the Adelaide Central Markets with my baby boy, Oscar, to buy continental foods, fresh fruit and scrumptious pastries. We sit at bustling Lucia's and watch the world go by, the scent of fresh coffee wafting.

I love picking fresh, juicy strawberries on a warm summer's day at Berenberg Farm in the Adelaide Hills, driving home through the hills communities of Stirling and Aldgate, stopping for organic produce in tiny side streets.

From the toll gate Adelaide unfolds as we roll down Glen Osmond Road,and within minutes we're in the heart of the city.

ADELAIDE HILLS

The lush Adelaide Hills is abundant with fresh fruit and vegetables, artisan bakeries, cheese and dairy, venison, beef and small goods, specialty chocolatiers, home-made dips, jams and marinades, native herbs and honey, and of course our famous olives and olive oil, all of which are the perfect accompaniment to the region's premium cool-climate wines.

To sample the unique tastes and textures of the Adelaide Hills, take one of our Fabulous Food Trails, stop and sample the fresh produce at farm gate outlets, tarry at cellar doors down country lanes and along heritage village streets, enjoy the buzz of shopping at our markets or simply sit down to a delicious meal at one of the cafes or restaurants.

JANUARY17-24; CYCLING SANTOS TOUR DOWN UNDER.....LANCE ARMSTRONG... CADELL EVANS.

SUNDAY 24TH JANUARY TOUR DOWN UNDER ADELAIDE

North Terrace - Adelaide

They call Adelaide the 20-minute city,though I've also heard people say the city has the longest urban sprawl in the southern hemisphere. I love Adelaide because it does feel like the 20-minute city- rarely a traffic jam with free-flowing wide roads and clear bicycle lanes.

I can ride to work within 20 minutes on one of the city's arterial roads, as fast as I could drive or catch public transport. I love to be able to ride 60km from North Haven to Seacliff along some of the whitest, cleanest beaches in the nation, sharing the roads with little traffic and only having to stop at three traffic lights.

Bronzed pigs in Rundle Mall

Where else can you do that, yet be only 20 minutes west of the city centre? Or I can be 20 minutes by bike on the eastern side of the city, winding my way through the foothills to Mount Lofty, Norton Summit or even Cherryville in bloom in spring.

And in January, I love seeing the world's best cyclists cruise Adelaide and surrounding regional areas as they prepare for the Tour Down Under.

As a student I was among those who lazed on its banks behind the sandstone Adelaide University, smooching in between lectures. the river's Linear Park follows what begins as a small creek at Tea Tree Gully in the east, stretching more than 30km west to the beach. It's perfect to run along, uninterrupted,for families taking a Sunday stroll or wanting a safe bike path to teach the kids how to ride without training wheels.

And I love strapping Oscar into the jogger and running from the Torrensoutlet to the Henley and Grange beaches. he giggles when we hit the bumps.

i've lived overseas, travelled the world and worked in Europe, but nothing compares to Adelaide.

I love living within an hour of the Barossa Valley in the north, Mclaren Vale in the south and being 90 minutes from the Clare Valley. I love taking friends from Burgundy to cellar doors and watching the surprise on their faces when they are not only allowed to taste, but it is free. Ooh la la......I'm proud of our quality wines and our down to earth vignerons.

I love our dry, stinking - hot 40c days I love the feeling as if I stuck my head in an oven when I open the front door. Give me Adelaide heat over humidity any day. I love our four seasons, our mild winters, the city's parks awash with flowers in the spring and our crisp autumn mornings and sun-drenched day

Autumn and winter bring local footy on a Saturday afternoon.

Growing up in Woodville South, my dad used to take me up the road to Woodville Oval at the three-quarter time to watch the game of the day. I would sit between his knees on the grassy hill and we would be close enough to smell the liniment.

Aussie Rules Footy Match

Our nightlife might not be as electric as Sydney or Melbourne on a Saturday night, but in March you'd be hard pressed to find a place with as much happening as Adelaide.

And I did forget to say I love Haigh's? As work deadlines approach, it's only a short walk to the nearest Haigh's shop for a dark-chocolate frog.

Life is never sweeter.

Thanks Verity Edwards for this great article.

SA is heaps good

By Lehmo

South Australia isn't just heaps good. SA is awesome. SA is the best. SA rocks. And for the teenagers out there SA is "sick as", fo shizzle! SA has the best people, the sexiest women, the number one sporting venue, the newest airport, the coolest arts festival, the most relaxed beaches, the number one flavoured milk, the tastiest treats, the most delicious beer and Australia's premiere wine districts just there (imagine I am pointing to the Barossa Valley and Mclaren Vale).

Imagine my surprise after two years of living in Sydney when I return to SA, walk into a local deli to buy a tasty Farmer's Union Iced Coffee packet of Fruchocs combo, and the guy behind the counter says to me: "Hi mate, how are ya?" You having a good day?"

What the hell does this guy want? I call on all my street smart- I duck down low and quickly scout the store for the deli man's accomplice. He must be trying to distract me. What have they got planned for me? A simple mugging? A bashing with a mugging thrown in? or maybe worse...

...or maybe, just maybe the deli man said "hello" because he was being friendly, because he actually cared, because he wanted a chat, because he wanted to know how was my day.

Welcome to South Australia, a place where people care about you and are interested in you no matter who you are. Unlike many parts of this country where people will offer only disdain unless you boast a billion dollar bank account or four Academy Awards or a failed celebrity relationship or an Olympic gold medal (but that only has relevance within four weeks of the closing ceremony of the games in question). This explains our reputation as a heaps friendly state.

Now let's get back to that Iced Coffee and those Fruchocs. Sent direct from heaven, these delicious treats are formulated from a recipe book that must have been dropped in the Garden of Eden. I challenge anyone anywhere in the world to present me with a tastier non-alcoholic drink than Farmers union Iced Coffee and a tastier treat than Fruchocs.

Now step aside the rest of Australia because if you even try to challenge SA on the booze front you will only embarrass yourself and you know it.

Coopers has rightly earned its mantle as the tastiest beer in the land - making every other beer look and taste like tap water.

It has been scientifically proven that people who drink Coopers have more fun, are more attractive, become funnier and make better lovers (a survey sample of one was used by the author during a drinking session but he is pretty sure oodles of corroborative evidence is available. Just check your wedding and 21st videos).

"Adelaide Oval without a doubt" - that quote is from every cricketer who has ever played at the Adelaide Oval when asked the question, "What is your favourite ground in the world?"

It is also the most common answer given when asked any of the following questions:

WHERE is the best hill in the world?

WHICH is better out of MCG, the SCG and the Adelaide Oval?

LES Burdett is the curator at which city's sporting venue?

WHAT famous landmark is heaps good?

South Australia embraces an event like no other state. If you put on a Fringe or a Festival just watch Adelaide's focus shift to that event as the population becomes hypnotised by the beat ot the party. This case whether it's the Fringe, the Arts Festival, the Cabaret Festival, Womad, the Clipsal 500 or the Adelaide Cup.

Remember the Grand Prix? Remember how the city closed down for four days and turned into a cranking non-stop party?

Remember how much fun it was even if you didn't attend the race? Remember waking up Sunday morning and not being sure if it was Friday ,Saturday or Sunday morning?

In Melbourne you wouldn't even know the race is on if you weren't on the track!

Sadly our murderers and those inclined to incest are also the best in the world. They have simply misdirected their innate SA desire to be the best. Being the overall number will always come at a cost!

If I have not yet convinced you how about our beaches, our beautiful woman, Andy Thomas, Cold Chisel, The Hilltop Hoods, the meeting place of Bon Scott and Angus Young, the bloke in the mall ( you know the one), Merrick Watts, The Crows, The Power, Johnny, the Yorke Penisula, Wolf Blass, Mel Gibson, Haighs, the Riverland, Fritz, Stobie poles, Rupert Murdoch, the guy that plays the Casio organ in Rundle Mall, Don Bradman, no convicts, Vilis pies and heaps of other stuff.

Not only is SA heaps good, it's heaps amazing, it's heaps great, heaps friendly, heaps fun, heaps shizzlin', and heaps cool- and if you say a bad word about it, I'll heap it on ya!

Lehmo performs his show Taxing Lyrical at Rhino Room from February 26th to March 7th 2009.

Thanks for the article Lehmo.

Andy Thomas Aerospace Engineer

Andy Thomas born 18th December 1951 Adelaide South Australia.

Andy Thomas re entry suit can be seen at the South Australian Museum

May 1996 he made his first space flight on the space shuttle Endeavor

He also spent 130 days as Board Engineer 2 on the space station Mir in 1998

Dr Thomas completed his third trip into space in March 2001

July 26th 2005 he made his fourth journey into space on the orbiter Discovery

Article ADELAIDE ADVERTISER 7/3/09

from ANDY THOMAS

Astronaut Andy Thomas has seen Australia from a different perspective than most and believes Adelaide must be careful how it handles change. I have seen the big eastern cities from space, and they are huge sprawling suburbs teeming with crowded conditions and way too many people, Andy Thomas says Adelaide offers many benefits, not the least of which is that it has not succumbed to that relentless drive to grow (at least not entirely yet ). That makes it a far more desirable place to live, work and raise a family.

ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY

STUART INNES, TOURISM WRITER

June 14, 2009 11:45pm

OVERSEAS visitors are staying longer and spending more per visit, helping push their annual spending in South Australia close to $600 million.

A Tourism Research Australia report shows overseas students on short-term education stints spent 2.73 million visitor nights here last year, the largest segment of the state's visitors.

People merely holidaying spent 2.12 million nights and those visiting friends and relatives stayed 1.2 million nights. Employment and business trips each accounted for close to half a million nights.

Most international visits to SA were to the Adelaide area. Of the 7.1 million visitor nights in the 12 months to the end of March, 5.83 million were around Adelaide.

SA is close to passing the $600 million mark in annual spending by international visitors. SA first recorded half a billion dollars in spending by international visitors about three years ago.

STUART INNES, TOURISM WRITER

June 17, 2009 12:30am

ADELAIDE will host next year's Australian Tourism Exchange - the biggest travel trade show in the southern hemisphere.

This week's ATE event in Melbourne has drawn 650 overseas buyers who are dealing with 700 Australian tourism businesses wanting to be included in brochures and packages sold to travellers overseas.

The event is injecting $10 million into the Melbourne economy and it is expected the Adelaide ATE will better that figure, as the global financial crisis will have improved.

"Next year will be a big ATE," Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley said yesterday.

He said the overseas buyers looking for product to offer travellers later next year and through 2011 would have a stronger interest in ATE next year.

South Australian Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said yesterday if people were pulling back on international travel this year then there would be pent-up demand by 2010, making ATE in Adelaide a major opportunity.

Adelaide hosted the annual ATE for the first time in 2006 and the success of that has made the SA Government and Tourism Australia keen to have it in Adelaide again. With hundreds of buyers from more than 30 countries and more than 40 journalists from 20 nations, Adelaide ATE 2006 still holds the record for the number of familiarisation tours taken before or after the event – 623.

ATE 2010 will be May 29-June 5.

"The seven-day event will provide a brilliant opportunity to show off South Australia's tourism product to the world," Dr Lomax-Smith said.

She said travel product buyers would be more likely to put SA product in their holiday packages if they had seen it first hand, giving SA an edge.

...................................

More police officers recruited from the UK will graduate as South Australian police today.

Another officer from New South Wales will also graduate.

The Police Minister, Michael Wright, says a recent campaign by UK police to try and lure policeman back to England has not affected recruiting.

"We don't see any impact from that campaign that has been lodged from the UK, quite the opposite, we continue to recruit strongly from the UK," he said.

..............................................

TWO PANDAS TO COME TO ADELAIDE

LATEST PICTURE OF WANG WANG

Pandas Wang Wang and Funi arrive in Adelaide

November 28, 2009 04:34pm

This is one of the first pictures of Giant panda Wang Wang at the Adelaide Zoo, after he and his female companion Funi finally arrived in town.

The photo was provided by Zoos SA and photographer Bryan Charlton, and was taken after the pair arrived at their new home around 1pm on Saturday afternoon - driven there in a climate-controlled semi-trailer escorted by police.

They arrived in Adelaide around 10.25am on a Singapore Airlines cargo plane named Mega Ark.

A small group of spectators holding a "Welcome" sign and bamboo greeted the plane on its arrival.

With the pandas still on the plane, an 18-vehicle procession left the airport and headed to Rundle Mall where a free party for the public was held.

Wang Wang and Funi were later taken to clear Customs with chief panda keeper Simone Bayly - who accompanied the pair during the flight from China, through Singapore.

"They're doing really well, they've been offloaded and they're just sitting now,'' Zoo spokeswoman Emily Rice said.

"They're in the quarantine area and they're very happy and relaxed.''

A delivery of bamboo from China in addition to Australian stocks has arrived at their enclosure to ensure the pandas feel even more at home, Ms Rice said.

It will be another two weeks before the pandas go on display.

The official launch of the giant panda exhibit by the Governor General, Quentin Bryce, is scheduled for Sunday, December 13. Public viewing commences on Monday, December 14, but hourly viewing slots are filling fast.

Zoos South Australia chief executive Dr Chris West predicts 262,000 more people from overseas and 1.3 million Australians will choose to visit Adelaide because of the pandas in the next 10 years.

EXPLORATION AND COLONISATION

There are many paradoxes in the story of the discovery and exploration of South Australia, these mainly being explained in terms of the nature of the State. In 1833 Charles Sturt was able to write that 'a spot has been found on the South Coast of New Holland to which the colonist might venture with every prospect of success. All who have ever landed on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent agree as to the richness of its soil and the abundance of its pasture.' However, in 1792 the French admiral D'Entrecasteaux was so far from being in agreement with this as to describe the coast of South Australia as 'so uniform that the most fruitful imagination could find nothing to say of it'. It is against a background of such contradictions that the picture of South Australian exploration unfolds: the Dutch reached South Australian waters in 1627, but it was not till after 1801 that British explorers discovered the valuable central southern coastline; Sydney was settled in 1788, but it was not until after 1836 that British settlers came to grips with the South Australian environment. The geographical characteristics of the country had a lot to do with this slow develop­ment and were also to hinder subsequent exploration.

EXPLORATION BEFORE COLONISATION

The Dutch made the first recorded discovery of Australia in 1606 on the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Dutch ships were sighting Western Australia from 1616 onwards. It was in 1627 that the first part of the South Australian coast was discovered when the Gulden Zeepaard under the command of Francois Thyssen examined the coastline from Cape Leeuwin to the islands of St Francis and St Peter in the far west of South Australia. On board the Gulden Zeepaard was Pieter Nuyts, 'Councillor Extraordinary of India', after whom this area was named 'A Landt Van P. Nuyts'.

EXPLORATION AND COLONISATION

trading wealth at all. Indeed, so little interest was displayed in this section of the Australian coastline that it was 165 years before the next recorded sighting of South Australia was made, and this was by a French explorer.

Rear Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, who had been searching all around Australia for the lost French explorer La Perouse, sighted land south of Cape Leeuwin in December 1792 and examined the cliffs of the Australian Bight. He sailed to the head of the Bight, but then after so many miles of barren coast abandoned hope of finding anything other than desolate country, and sailed south for Van Diemen's Land. The early impressions of the South Australian coast were therefore most unfavourable and tended to discourage further investigation.

The British who followed were far more interested in the possibility of colonisa­tion to help ease their population problem at home, and consequently, once the effects of early discouragement had worn off, they began to take an interest in South Australia as a possible site for a new colony. Lieutenant James Grant was the first British explorer to sail along the South Australian coast, sighting the extreme easterly shores of South Australia in about 1801. While in Cape Town he had been informed of the discovery of Bass Strait and was instructed to sail through it in the Lady Nelson on his way to Port Jackson. Sailing along the extreme south-east coast he named Cape Banks, Cape Northumberland, Mount Schank and Mount Gambier.

The first notable British contribution to the exploration of the South Australian coast came, however, with the voyages of Matthew Flinders in the Investigator. With the support of the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Flinders sailed from England in July 1801. On his voyage of cir­cumnavigation of the Australian continent he thoroughly explored the coast of South Australia, between January and April 1802. In addition he discovered the Gulfs and Central Highlands, thus solving the question of whether a north-south strait divided the Australian continent in two. More important was the fact that Flinders reported very promising country for settlement. Many places along the coast carry the names given by Flinders; several of these were named after places in his home county of Lincolnshire, e.g. Port Lincoln, Sleaford, the Althorpes and Boston Bay, while others include unusual but attractive names such as Backstairs Passage, The Pages, and Antechamber Bay. Flinders was in fact the first man to explore South Australian waters between Nuyts Archipelago and Encounter Bay. It was at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802 that he met Captain Nicolas Baudin, the French explorer, heading along the coast from the east in Le Geographe.

Baudin, in command of Le Geographe and accompanied by Le Naturaliste, left Le Havre in October 1800 with instructions to explore several specified regions, including the then unknown portion of the southern coastline of Australia. After being delayed in the East Indies and Van Diemen's Land, Baudin sailed westward and charted the mainland coast from Western Port to Encounter Bay, where he met Flinders. The object of Baudin's expedition was to make scientific discoveries on behalf of Napoleon, but he had wasted considerable time en route. Thus most of the South Australian mainland coast was discovered before him by Grant and Flinders, and he was the original explorer of only a small section between Cape Banks and Encounter Bay. Some French names still remain, for example Lacepede Bay, Guichen Bay and Rivoli Bay. After the meeting at Encounter Bay, Baudin sailed further westward and along the northern shore of Kangaroo Island to Murat Bay, before being forced to abandon further exploration and to return to Port Jackson in June 1802. However, after re-equipping his expedition and with the addition of another ship (Casuarina), for charting work in shallow

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