I need to give a big shout out to Jessica, our Port Lecturer; she has provided thorough, and more importantly, accurate and up to date information for our Ports so far. Unfortunately she finishes her contract in Fremantle, but she has had lectures for ports further ahead I.e. Port Louis, Cape Town and Walvis Bay, a good 10 days ahead. Her replacement gets on in Fremantle and hopefully will fill these big shoes. Now something less positive, for some reason we also have a ‘Port Insider’, Adele. For Melbourne and Adelaide she tagged on her lecture after Jessica. My God, she was useless …. Suddenly, in an hour, the population of Melbourne had dropped from 5.5 million to 4! And in the City/Port information she was handing out, it was down to 2.5! You would not think she’s been ashore before in Australia before; she was spouting about which celebrities had come from each City. I adopted my ‘Two strikes and I’m out’ policy, so after her Adelaide ‘reveal’, her sessions were ‘unliked’ in my schedule. Back to the cruise then….

Leaving Melbourne behind, we made our way along the Southern Coast of Australia, with our next stopped being Adelaide where we were greeted to a beautiful warm and sunny day. I was free-wheeling today, as I am not a stranger to this City. The area where the ship docked is a bit confusing to a first-time visitor – the suburb is Port Adelaide, but that was still 20 minutes away by train; and the wharf where we berthed, is at “Outer Harbor”; note the deliberate spelling of Harbor, which is NOT an Americanism, but related to old English apparently. There is also “Port Dock”, which is also in Port Adelaide, and is a newer terminus for Metro Trains, but nowhere near Crown Princess. The reason for mentioning this was that today, we had our first “Port Runner”. The Port Runner is that unfortunate person who is late for the ship’s departure, and is seen running and cheered on by the passengers on that side of the ship; they are usually videoed for YouTube, as there is a lot of cheering, clapping and jeering accompanying that passengers angst as to the consequences of having to get to the next port, often without spare clothes, medications or passport.

Despite the confusion with names, getting from the ship into the City was very straightforward. Beside the Wharf is Outer Harbor Metro Station, which is the end of the Outer Harbor line; hence the stop cannot be missed, plus seeing a large cruise ship alongside provides a big clue. Adelaide is not a big city in terms of population, but is very spread out; the train journey into Adelaide Station is about 45 minutes on a small 2 carriage diesel train that runs every 30 minutes. For the cruise ship, they added an extra carriage, but when you add 300 passengers, it became akin to a sardine can. 

The Port Runner apparently missed the train in Adelaide, and then, in contact with the ship, then got on the Port Dock train, and of course, when arriving at the end of the line, realised their mistake as there was no Crown Princess sitting alongside. The Captain had waited 30 extra minutes beyond the sailing time, but once it was determined that they were at the wrong terminus with the prospect of at least another hour to retrace and reroute, the gangway was lifted and we sailed on. The passenger now has to find their own way to Perth and secure alternative accommodation and food, to be allowed to reboard the ship. They also probably don’t have their passport; and it is probably ‘lucky’ that they don’t have to try to fly internationally…. 

Anyway, a little about Adelaide:

Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely settled British province in Australia, distinguishing it from Australia's penal colonies. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city centre and chose its location close to the River Torrens. Light's design, now listed as national heritage, set out the city centre in a grid layout known as "Light's Vision", interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by park lands. Therefore the City doesn’t feel crowded due to the fixed green boundaries separating it out the suburbs; there are about 450 different suburbs defining the urban sprawl.

Colonial Adelaide was noted for its leading examples of religious freedom and progressive political reforms and became known as the "City of Churches" due to its diversity of faiths. 

I got off the train at Adelaide Station, crossed the road and took the tram to Glenelg, a beachside suburb, site of the first European landing in South Australia, on Holdfast Bay. The suburb is known for its Jetty and beach, but despite the sun, this was not beach going weather. A walk along the Jetty, then a walk along the shopping strip of Jetty Road, brought me to Haigh’s Chocolate shop - couldn’t resist a purchase there before returning to the City on the tram. I got off at Victoria Square and headed west along Grote Street to Adelaide Central Market, a real ‘foodie’s paradise’. My last visit was to the main shopping Mall, Rundle Mall. With over 1,000 retail outlets, 300 services, three department stores, and 15 arcades, Rundle Mall is the longest outdoor Mall in the southern hemisphere. I didn’t want to buy anything, but just see the familiar sculptures. Erected in 1977,the best-known is the 4-metre tall The Spheres by Bert Flugelman; two large stainless steel spheres with a diameter of 2.15 metres balanced one on top of the other (commonly referred to as the "Mall's Balls", or sometimes Bert's Balls). This is a common meeting place for visitors to the mall. The other, more recent instillation are the Pigs; 4 life-size bronze pigs – Horatio, Truffles, Augusta and Oliver - rooting around a rubbish bin.

Instead of getting the train back to Outer Harbor, I thought I’d try the bus, as it would be a more scenic ride through the Parklands and North Adelaide. It was, initially, then it just seemed to drive through housing estates… It eventually dropped me in Port Adelaide, where I just missed the train to Outer Harbor, so there was a 30 minute wait for the next one. At least I got the right train, unlike the poor ‘Port Runner’. 

We shall see if he gets back on in Perth!