Melbourne to Adelaide

Burial Totems

Today was a challenge. The rain was pouring down and the wind gusts were up to 60 mph. The Melbourne airport was down to one runway, so our flight ended up being more than an hour late. When we arrived in Adelaide, the Cleland Wild Life Park we were supposed to visit wasn’t letting anyone outside the visitor center. So we quickly changed plans and had a free afternoon in Adelaide. We decided to visit the South Australian Museum. We concentrated on the Aborigine culture and were surprised that almost every area of Australia had tribes – good land and desert both. When Europeans arrived over 230 languages were spoken throughout Australia. As we walked through the exhibit, one appreciated the importance of finding water (water holes, digging for water, or from the plants), carrying water (baskets and animal skins), spears and clubs for hunting, and tools for making fire. Yet, these people also created artwork.

Aboriginal Bark Paintings

We had a family dinner that night with John and Kristy. John had been a farmer and Kristy was in advertising. Dinner included chicken thighs (one of Mary’s favorites) with couscous. We had a free-ranging conversation from travel to US and Australian politics. The Australian government had just called for an election two days ago, and they were starting their 55 day long campaign.

Adelaide was not a convict destination, instead it was the brainchild of an English convict to make his fortune. His scheme was to sell land to investors and with the money send laborers to work the land. They arrived in March, 1837. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t work out well. Many investors were just speculating on the land and didn’t want to put in the work to turn the farms into success. Governor Grey turned things around in 1842. He persuaded the land owners to work the land, and the subsequent discover of copper and silver helped. Today the city has more than one million people and is the center of the wine industry.