Market Gardens

The Beautiful Buchverkaufer took me to the Adelaide Central Market, the largest covered market in the Southern Hemisphere. I love markets (and food) and enjoy looking at the range of fresh produce on offer.

Apparently this stall is new. I love the Moroccan spice towers, but reckon they must get very messy when those crumbly cones of powdered taste and colour come tumbling down.

I got a couple of these cheesy bread sticks for an afternoon snack. They were utterly delicious. And very cheesy - in a good way.

We had a quick coffee break to refresh and fortify ourselves, and then we continued on. The cheese stalls are among my favourites, especially the heavenly gorgonzolas where you just scoop the soft smelly goodness out of the middle by the buketload kilo, and the magnificent Monet cheese scattered with petals to imitate the master Impressionist.

Monet cheese



After a busy morning at the market and a cultural overload at the Art Gallery of South Australia, we collected Him Outdoors and headed to the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

Whatever I may think of Rupert Murdoch (and here isn't the place to get into it) I do like this avenue of fig trees, planted in 1866, and named in his honour in 2006 after he bequeathed $1 million to the Botanic Gardens to support their fund of modernising works.

The Beautiful Buchverkaufer and Him Outdoors on Murdoch Avenue

Wisteria arbour

I often get carried away with photographing plants, particularly trees. I love the bark on eucalyptus trees, and as there are over 700 species of them (most of them native to Australia), Botanic Gardens in this part of the world keep me pretty busy.

I also discovered a similar fondness for photographing cacti. We could have been there all day...

The 12-ton glass sculpture Cascade by Sergio Redegalli was commissioned for the World Expo in Brisbane in 1988. The sculptue, in the shape of a cascading wave, is comprised of 500 pieces of 6mm clear glass. It stands outside the Bicentennial Conservatory reflecting light and water.

Cascade by Sergio Redegalli

The Victorian Palm House is pretty impressive. The glasshouse was imported from Bremen, Germany, in 1875. All the glass hangs from the pillars, and it is Australia's first example of curtain architecture. It was the brain child of the Gardens' second director, who was convinced that palms wouldn't grow uless they were under glass. Of course, he was totally wrong, knowing nothing of Adelaide's climate, and the glasshouse was something of a folly.

However, as all Botanic Gardens of that era had palm houses, it might just as well have been a status symbol. It retains its prestige today as being the second oldest glasshouse in Australia and the only remaining example of its type in the world.

The Ginkgo Gate was designed by South Australian artists Hossein and Angela Valamanesh. Made of silicon bronze and featuring outlines of the gingko leaf, it leads into the garden of health.

Over 2,500 plants in the garden demonstrate the use of natural botanics to heal and promote health in medical science and pharmacology. Ginkgo improves the flow of blood to the brain and acts as an antioxidant.

We rounded off the day with a trip to Cooper's Alehouse where we enjoyed Celebration Ale (reddish in colour with fruity flavours and a subtle bitterness), Sparkling Ale (so refreshing - I love what they do with their family-owned business), and a hand-pulled Special Old Stout (smooth and bitter with chocolate and coffee flavours).