Photos and Stories from Adelaide, South Australia

The last destination on our Fall 2025 SE Asia-Australia trip was Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Adelaide was a nice city with some interesting things to see and do, but we weren’t as enamored of it as we were with Perth. Perth was a tough act to follow! We stayed five nights and four days – about the right length of time.

We enjoyed the Adelaide Zoo and the Adelaide Botanic Garden, which we covered in this post. The highlight of the city, for us, was the Art Gallery of South Australia, which we covered in this post.

Here, we’ll share a little bit of the story of Adelaide’s founding and some pictures of the downtown area where we stayed and the surrounding countryside, which we visited on a wine tour. 

What is now the Central Business District (CBD) and North Adelaide began as a planned city. It was designed by William Light, the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, in 1837.

Light’s design included six city squares and the figure-eight-shaped Adelaide Park Lands surrounding the CBD and North Adelaide. Today, the 19,000 acres of parkland includes 29 named parks, the Art Gallery of South Australia and several other museums, the Adelaide Oval (a sports arena), the Adelaide Zoo, and the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 

Today, a statue of William Light stands in Stella Bowen Park (just north of the Adelaide Oval on the right map above), on a high point overlooking the CBD. The Adelaide Oval is the curved white roof in the foreground.

One day, we joined a winery tour that took us into the surrounding countryside southeast and south of Adelaide. 

As we were driving up into the Adelaide Hills, the driver turned off the four-lane highway and onto the old two-lane road the highway replaced, which had very little traffic other than bicyclists. He told us to keep our eyes open for koalas. Sure enough, we spotted one!

Soon, we arrived at Mount Lofty, which offered a commanding view of the Adelaide metro area. You can see the square parkland surrounding the CBD and the St. Vincent Gulf in the background.

Next, we visited Hahndorf, a German village nestled among the hills. It was settled by 19th-century Lutheran immigrants from Germany who came to South Australia in search of jobs and religious freedom. The main road through town is relaxed, quaint, and charming. It could be Main Street, Anytown, except for its German-style architecture, tourist shops, and German restaurants.

We were on our own for lunch, and Dave wanted to find a place that served good German food. (There were plenty to choose from.) We chose the German Inn, and we weren’t disappointed.

Jeff ordered Smoked Salmon Focaccia (not exactly German, but delicious) and Dave ordered the Duo Wurst (Weiss Wurst, Bratwurst, and sauerkraut served with mashed potato and mustard gravy). Dave chose a Riesling, a variety that originated in the Rhine region of Germany, which paired well. 

After Hahnberg, it was time for wine tasting! South Australia is a major wine region in Australia which accounts for 60% of Australia’s exports.

Our first stop was the Haselgrove winery, near McLaren Vale. We tasted a Fiano (white), Grenache Rose, Vine Sean Grenache, and Catkin Shiraz. 

Although it wasn’t an official stop on our tour, our driver/guide stopped briefly at the d’Arenberg Cube, a quirky 4-level structure shaped like a cube puzzle, with art exhibits and a wine tasting room. He stopped for about five minutes so we could get off the van and take a few pictures. There were some Salvador Dali pieces inside the building as well as in front.

Our second winery was the Chapel Hill Winery. The tasting room was, in fact, a former chapel. We sampled a Vermentino, a Chardonnay, a Cabernet Franc, a Tempranillo, and an organic Shiraz.

While the wines at both wineries were sufficiently good, we didn’t enjoy them as much as the wines we tasted in the Swan River Valley near Perth. But several were varieties we haven’t heard of or tasted before, and we enjoyed learning about the area and driving through the picturesque countryside.

The last stop on our tour was Glenelg Beach, on the St. Vincent Gulf, west of Adelaide. We admired the beach because it wasn’t overbuilt with restaurants, bars, hotels, tourist shops, etc. (There were a few.) It wasn’t crowded that day, even though it was a beautiful, warm day in early summer. Both the beach and parking appeared to be free, and there were plenty of parking places. The homes and neighborhoods near the beach were very nice.

Of course, we found some good restaurants for dinner. There isn’t, to our knowledge, a cuisine that you could call “Australian food,” and Adelaide had a variety of restaurants from around the world.

Our fanciest meal was at a French restaurant, Maison Clement. For the appetizer, Jeff ordered Crêpe au Crevette (baked summer spice prawn crêpe) and Dave tried escargot for the first time.

For the main course, Jeff chose Crêpe aux Champagnons (baked mushroom crêpe in a truffle white sauce) and Dave ordered Canard a l’Orange (confit duck leg, carrot puree, charred broccolini, and orange duck sauce).

We ate twice at El Mexicano Kitchen and Bar, a much more down-to-earth experience. Although it identified as a Mexican restaurant, there were some Spanish dishes on the menu. Dave enjoyed the prawn and chorizo paella and Jeff ordered fish tacos with mango salsa fresca, Mexican slaw, cheese, and garlic aioli. AND… we ordered a pitcher of sangria! It was delicious and took us back to our trip to Portugal last May.

A fun part of traveling is discovering what foods are available in the local grocery stores. We spotted this unusual product in the local Woolworth’s (“Woolie’s,” as the locals call it). Jeff, ever the Pringles lover, had to try it. It was pretty good!

That’s all for downtown Adelaide and our wine tour. You might also enjoy our photos from the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Adelaide Zoo and Botanic Garden.

We will be returning to Australia in March 2026 to visit Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. We will then have visited all six state capitals. We’re not looking forward to the brutally long flight, but we are definitely looking forward to seeing more of Australia!