Day 23 - Adelaide City, West Beach & Glenelg areas

Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Glenelg, South Australia, Australia
Still enjoying above average weather for this time of year, Adelaide was a pleasant place to be. There was still a lot to see around Adelaide but we felt it was time to check out the other end of town. We had breakfast, loaded the bikes onto the rack, packed up and checked out of Brown Hill Creek. It was a great spot - highly recommended, and if we had to stay in Adelaide again we'd go straight back there. Our plans that morning were to go and check out the Botanic Gardens and the surrounding parklands nearby but the first thing to do was to get our spare tyre replaced. We searched for tyres in the GPS and were given a bit of a runaround for 10 minutes before we appeared in the driveway of a Beaurepairs shop on Pulteney Street. The gentleman was extremely helpful and sorted us out in under 5 minutes. We didn't get him to install the tyre though meaning we still had a dodgy spare on the rear RHS.

Once this was done we needed coffee and food so we dropped into an unknown place in a trendy area just west of the CBD before we headed to the Botanical Gardens and walked around them for two hours or so, dropping into the National Wine Centre of Australia for a (you guessed it) coffee . After this, we jumped back in the van and headed to the beachside suburbs of West Beach, Glenelg and Brighton. After seeing the sights and feeling the relaxed beachside vibe we decided to check for caravan park options in the area. Adelaide Shores had hectares and hectares of campsites and it was fairly quiet so we asked at the office if we could have a spot right at the far end where there were no campers or caravans. They said yes and we were happy. Before we set up, we did a quick drive down to Glenelg for a sandwich at the place on the corner opposite the plaza and tram terminus.

We then had a walk around, checking out the newly rebuilt amusements complex funland thingamibob. I thought the old 1980's version was way bigger and better than the new one but hey, that's progress for ya. There is a cycle track that followed the beach along all the beachside suburbs and since we had the bikes with us we were looking forward to doing it so we took the van back to Adelaide Shores and set up camp . We got a powered site which was handy because we had run off batteries for the past three nights and they all needed a top up, so with batteries charging, we went off on our ride along the beaches. The track was accessible from the park just near the shower block so it was only a few hundred metres before we were on it. It was marked with two-way markings and wide enough for 4 bikes to pass each other. The views from some points were amazing. From West Beach the track went south and over a few bridges before Glenelg, we continued past Glenelg to Somerton and Brighton.

Watching the sun go down over the ocean was a treat and we had to stop and video the actual moment the sun disappeared. Having too much fun to stop, and with still 45 mins or so of light left we continued just past Seacliff before our appetites got the better of us, so we headed back to Glenelg and inspected the food options. We had to dismount for the main drag which slowed us down, but then, like an oasis we stumbled across a Montezuma's! Yum, that was it . I got the Albondigas and Julie had a vego Nachos. After dinner we had lost all the warmth we had built up from the ride and it had gotten cold so we had to ride in circles to warm up beside the jetty before embarking on the ride back to West Beach. The wind went straight through us but we soon warmed up. The ride was only a few km but it was awesome.

We took the caravan park's own dedicated exit off the cycleway and into the park. We were at least 200m from the nearest camper so we were able to enjoy the view of the Adelaide Hills with the side door open while we watched TV and did our daily intergooglewebbing. Being our last night in Adelaide for a while we just tried to soak it up as much as possible. Since our bikes were unhitched still, we did a late night bike ride around the park on the way to our showers. After the odd weather at sunset it turned out to be a nice evening.

Most people don't seem to enjoy Adelaide but we really hit the nail on the head as far as picking our activities. We loved Adelaide, had the best time there so now we are looking forward to our next visit. 
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