WE ARE BACK TO CIVILIZATION, for whatever that’s worth. Both Ports Augusta and Lincoln are actually small towns with fewer than 12,500 residents and hardly count. Now Adelaide, where we are resting our heads, is a real city! One point three million! And we are in a real AirBnB with a great kitchen where John can display his culinary skills—Chicken Paprikash tonight!
Everything's Comin' Up Roses at our AirBnB
Our AirBnB is actually nearer to old Port Adelaide than to the City Centre. From the 1860s for nearly a century, Port Augusta was a thriving town with a library, a museum and lecture hall. Gas lights lit the streets at night and in 1881 an electric power plant was opened.
A once thriving port lives again
Ghost of the past, last Steam-powered Tugboat in Australia
Old Lighthouse, Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide continued to thrive until the the introduction of “containerization” in the 1960s. As the economy declined from its heyday, parts of the city became derelict and many shops were boarded up. In 1982 much of the city centre was declared a State Heritage Area and today it has some of the oldest and best preserved colonial buildings in South Australia.
Town Hall, 1866
Historic Railway Hotel, 1856
1860s Police HQ
We learned much of this from the woman at the Information Centre. She is originally from Germany near where John was stationed (when she was just a child, haha!) and told us how she followed a boyfriend here—and stayed. Her middle name, coincidentally, is Adelaide!
"Fairywrens," our favorite "Wonderwall"
Wonderwalls, a decorative spur to the economy
Wonderwall in Black and White
She also gave us a map for the Wonderwalls. Begun in 2015 as a way of revitalizing underutilized areas of the city and attracting tourists, 20 artists from around the country and around the world were invited to paint murals on otherwise blank sides of buildings. Wonderwalls has become an annual event resulting in some truly impressive city art.
