Hope in Adelaide III

For any lingering doubters out there I offer 2 more pieces of evidence that Adelaide is indeed struggling for its own identity and is copying the superior state to it's east.

1. Flinders St. Yep. That's right. There's a Flinders St in the Adelaide CBD. Again a poor imitation of it's namesake in Melbourne.
2. At State Youth Games on the weekend we (Bordertown) be-friended a cool bunch of people from the Hawthorn Church of Christ. The people that named this place either had no imagination or, more likely had come from Victoria and were trying to emulate the awesome place they'd just visted.
   

Hope in Adelaide II

I have blogged before about the Melbournisation of Adelaide, and after living here for 2 weeks I've noticed some more signs that indeed Adelaide is confused about its own identity. Some days I wonder if I ever left the Garden Sta ergh.... Place to Be.

What else have I noticed? Names. For starters, I live in a suburb called 'Fitzroy'. That's right, Fitzroy, SA. Not to be confused with the Melbourne suburb and former AFL club of the same name. I'm fairly sure that Fitzroy in Melbourne would've been around for longer than Fitzroy in SA. I thought it slightly odd at first, but then I realised that I got off the bus some days at Victoria Square. Thats right. Adelaides most central park, just opposite the GPO is called Victoria Square. You can't miss it. It has a tram line running right through it. It's funny, because there arn't any SA parks in Melbourne. Surely these two are just co-incidence right? Perhaps, but consider this. As far as good places to eat in Adelaide go there are 3 spots to choose from: Rundle St, Glenelg & wait for it........ & no I'm not joking MELBOURNE ST! Yes that's right, one of Adelaides best eat out strips is Melbourne St. Next time you are in Melbourne, ask your friends if they wanna go eat out on 'Adelaide St' & see what response you get.

A Big Change

Broadband Speed Test Results

Test run on 24/02/2008 @ 10:13 PM

Mirror: TPG
Data: 15 MB
Test Time: 12.03 secs

Your line speed is 10.42 Mbps (10417 kbps).
Your download speed is 1.27 MB/s (1302 KB/s).

I moved down to Adelaide yesterday, and start my new job tomorrow. I've gone from living 600+ km from my fiancee, to living less than 3km from her. Oh, & did I mention I've got ADSL2+?

Life is exciting!!

Mud Soccer

I went along with the Kaniva Youth Group to Mud Soccer on Friday night. It was a really top night with 20-25 youth coming along and getting dirty. The field (or 'pitch') was 15m wide by 25m long and was 20-30cm deep in mud all over. It was made on a mates farm with the use of bore water & lots of it.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about the whole night for me was that over 20 youth showed up. There is only approx 100 school age teens in Kaniva and so somthing like 20% of the youth in town went to Youth Group on a Friday night. I think churches in Melbourne or even Adelaide would be overwhelmed if 20% of the 12 - 18 year old age bracket showed up on any given Friday night.

When I was a kid...

A good friend of mine (Anthony) made the observation to me the other day that at some stage in the (very!!!) distant future my kids will be swimming in a lake somewhere and I'll be able to say to them "I proposed to your mother under a jetty." Where upon they will acuse me of being stupid or making the whole story up. To which I will reply to them, "No, I proposed under the edge of a jetty in a dry lake." After their laughter/ astonishment has subsided I'll be able to say a line that I have been waiting my whole life to say.

"Back when I was a kid it never rained. Not like it does now, you kids have never seen it really dry. We used to make jokes about it being this wet!"

The above lake is currently dry for only the second time in recorded history. (~120 years) The special location was underneath the jetty shown above.

Reverse Seachange Learnings - #2

Observation #2 - Balls

Adelaide has balls.