For a city that offers a vibrant arts scene, a vibrant food scene, and a vibrant gay scene, it’s hard to understand why Adelaide gets the short shrift in queer holiday planning. True, there is hardly anything to see, but the city more than makes up for a lack of permanent attractions with a nonstop calendar of special events. One of them is Feast, Adelaide’s annual celebration of lesbian and gay culture taking place this year 14-29 November.
For culture mavens, Adelaide is renowned as Australia’s capital of cultural festivals. WOMADelaide, the biannual world music festival that brings the best of its genre to our shores, is perhaps the most prestigious, though the organisers of the highly regarded Adelaide Festival Of Arts may have something to say about that. Fringe, the world’s second-largest fringe festival after Edinburgh, joins the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, which showcases that most free spirited of song styles, as the two most gregarious events of the year.
Life in Adelaide is all about passion. Eaters and drinkers delight in the city’s eclectic offerings; the food establishments aren’t bad, either. Actually, they’re damn fine, as is the cuisine they serve—and with so many respected wineries in the immediate vicinity, Adelaide doesn’t go thirsty for a top drop to go with a fine dine. Rundle Mall is the local favourite destination for stuffing one’s face with solids and liquids.
As the first state in Australia to legalise gay sex (thank you, Don Dunstan, for wearing pink safari suits in the state parliament and fighting for our rights to the physical interaction of our choosing), on that basis alone South Australia deserves more attention from interstate and overseas visitors. Flights linking Adelaide to the rest of Australia and to overseas destinations have increased dramatically in both number and frequency in recent years, which means a long weekend in the Festival State has never been easier. Adelaide is only too happy to welcome you; like Perth, Adelaide has free buses circulating in its CBD; 99B (Beeline) and 99C (City Loop) will take you where you need to go, or at least close to it. Both have stops on North Terrace, which is known as Adelaide’s cultural boulevard.
If you are as deep into horticulture as you are into culture whoring, a visit to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens is a must. In fact, there is not one, but three botanic gardens within the city, each offering special attractions like the Mediterranean Garden and the Palm House, the largest glasshouse in the Southern Hemisphere (imported from Bremen, Germany in 1875). The duck pond at Mount Lofty is especially cosy for stroking down.
For fun beyond the CBD, take an old-fashioned tram out to the palindromic Glenelg to see the new marina (and fairy penguins, if you’re lucky) and experience some coastal stimulation. Further afield are the quality wineries for which South Australia is justly famous, some less than 30 minutes’ drive from the city.
Adelaide has quite strong links to Germany thanks to the high percentage of the population with roots in that country. To experience the apotheosis of Germany, go to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, an Australian country town with a decidedly German flavour. The town is named after Captain Dirk Hahn (‘dorf’ means village in German—and ‘hahn’ means cock!), who brought his ship to Australia only to arrive at possibly the most unwelcomingly named port in the world, Port Misery, in 1838. Undeterred, the passengers started a new life, albeit with the traditional fachwerk architecture easily recognised by the crosswork of exposed beams that now adds so much atmosphere to the town, where a good, hearty German meal is waiting for hungry visitors to Cocktown.
While it’s true that Adelaide may be a capital of culture, it doesn’t lack for athletic alternatives to its urbane offerings. Just as there are major cultural events to widen your horizons, there are major sports events to lengthen them as well. Parks are appealing for easy contact with nature without demanding too much from your body electric. For muscle action, the choice is City Gym on Light Square—if just for the Teletubby on its Contact page.
About Don Dunstan. Compared to the spineless slaves to Big Business who scaremonger their way into office these days, few politicians have been as visionary as Don Dunstan, who fought the Establishment on almost every front and somehow managed to stay in office, eventually becoming Premier of South Australia in 1967. Read the Wikipedia entry about this courageous man’s amazing life and his pursuit of justice for all.
As for Feast, expect it to deliver another engaging series of homofeelia to start the summer off right. If you enjoy taking the word ‘feast’ literally, check South Australia Tourism’s webpage on food and wine. There is also a gay and lesbian page, with a downloadable brochure full of helpful information to plan a visit. In 2010, Adelaide Fringe takes place in February/March at the same time as the Adelaide Festival Of Arts.
MORE INFORMATION:
www.feast.org.au
www.adelaidefringe.com.au
www.adelaidefestival.com.au
www.adelaidecabaret.com
www.southaustralia.com/GayAndLesbian.aspx
www.southaustralia.com/AdelaideWineAndFood.aspx
www.citygymsa.com
