Skip to main content

From Adelaide to Germany with Asian transits



Most flights out of Adelaide Airport seem to head right over the city. Although it's not a big International destination, I've seen flights heading out to distant lands. Our own destination today was a slice of Germany, but via quite a roundabout route.

I knew Ryan online via the airliners.net website and we met up with him in Singapore over a decade ago when Alex was but 9 months old. Since then he'd moved to Adelaide and we arrange to meet up for an early lunch at a Vietnamese Pho place near his workplace.

The pho is excellent and so was the conversation. Unfortunately, Alex feels sick and makes a mess on his shoes. They're an old pair, but we need a replacement! Back in Sydney, not a problem. We know where the shopping centres are. In outer Adelaide we have no clue. What's more, we don't want to go too far off course.

I'm driving and B can't navigate. We try one shopping centre, nothing but a rubbish bin for the stinking shoes. And enough time to search for a Kmart and put it into the navigation system. It delivers us to a boring little suburban shopping centre but the Kmart has a cheap replacement pair of shoes for Alex.

We finally pass through areas I'm a little more familiar with. Passing the historic toll booth and driving up to the Adelaide Hills and Hahndorf brings back many memories. The town of Hahndorf was founded by Lutheran settlers escaping from Prussia. Old Germanic buildings housing craft shops and boutiques, cafes, restaurants and pubs line both sides of the leafy main street.





Our shopping is restricted to ice creams, pastries and drinks, along with some local cherries and strawberries. I look around the museum and a gallery, but it's hot and we lack the energy to explore further.

Our drive back down the motorway is interrupted by a truck fire and we are forced to detour via the narrow, steep and winding Greenhills Road. There are magnificent views of Adelaide city from altitude, but it is rather nerve-wracking at times.





But when we exit we are in a place where the street names themselves bring back memories. I tell B to ignore the GPS and guide her myself along the streets I walked as a child. 

And there it is, my Nanna's house! It's been ruined by owners with no taste and a preference for cars over gardens. But it's still there, along with the shopping centre on the corner.

Memories shared with Alex, it's time to head off for dinner. On Ryan's recommendation we head towards Katong House, a small Singaporean restaurant hidden next to Ethiopian and a vegetarian restaurants alongside a main street of car dealers and rental services.

The Katong Laksa is good but just lacks a little zing of the genuine one of Roxy Square in Katong, Singapore. The har cheong gai fried chicken wings have great flavours, as does the beef rendang that accompanies B's nasi lemak. A definite recommendation from us!





And there you have it: Our international journey without leaving the greater Adelaide region!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IKEA Museum

We have a packed itinerary today. Flat packed and assembled with an Allen key. There are patches of snow on the ground that weren't there the previous evening. We are a bit sad to leave the Duxiana after the comfy beds and the breakfast of cold cuts, fruits and hot waffles. I tried the Swedish caviar on my boiled egg. It was... Interesting. I was very disappointed to realise that, after talking it up for months, I had forgotten the Disgusting Foods Museum in Malmö yesterday. Too late now. We catch another Oresundstag train, for a bit over an hour. Past yesterday's Lund, past increasingly white fields and towns to Älmhult, home of IKEA. The conductor warns us that the train will split in two so we have to move carriages forward. Unfortunately, there we no spare sets of chairs for all of us. The IKEA Museum showcases the history of the furniture company, along with temporary exhibitions. One of these was "Hacking IKEA," about using IKEA ob...
Post a Comment
Read more

Asagaya and heading home

How can I be happy? I am about to return to a country where the toilets have at most two buttons and no seat warmers. But the tickets are booked and there are no cyclones, typhoons or other disasters standing in our way. It's almost time to go back to my first home. First B wants to do some "local shopping". So we catch the Chuo Line up a few stations to Asagaya, a residential area with a number of Shotengai, covered and uncovered arcades leading away from the station and narrow alleys lined with bars. It is an interesting area for a wander around. We are mainly looking, do some shopping for toothbrushes and sweets from Seiyu, a Wal-Mart owned supermarket/minor department store. We skipped breakfast and lunch is ramen and gyoza at a small restaurant near the entrance to the Pearl Centre shotengai. With the help of a staff member, I manage to purchase tickets at a branch of Lawson to the Ghibli Museum for a friend travelling to Japan in May. There are some...
Post a Comment
Read more

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site .  I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch.  The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It...
Post a Comment
Read more