About 20 minutes northwest of Adelaide's CBD is the beautiful area of
Port Adelaide. As its name suggests, "The Port" is the headquarters of South Australia's maritime history, and historical architecture and heritage-listed monuments abound.
Our first stop was the
Port Adelaide Lighthouse, which was first lit in 1869 and went on to serve South Australian mariners for the next 143 years. The lighthouse stands 69 feet tall, or 21.03 metres. In 1985 the
South Australian Maritime Museum acquired the lighthouse and restored it as a permanent exhibition. Queen Elizabeth II opened the lighthouse to the public in 1986, as part of the celebrations for South Australia's Jubilee year (150th birthday). We climbed the 70+ stairs today, and had a wonderful view from the exhibition deck. A bit blustery, to be sure, but well worth the huff-and-puff climb.
Around the corner, we passed the historic tall ships, the
Falie and
The One And All. Their glory days may be behind them, but the boats are still available for private events, charters, and sailing training. There is also the incredible
City of Adelaide - The Splendid Clipper Ship that is moored at Dock One. Constructed in 1864, the City of Adelaide was recovered from Scotland and is destined for a 10-year restoration, currently being funded by private individuals and corporate donors. The City of Adelaide is intended to the centerpiece of a seaport village, where visitors can learn about Australia's colonial history.
Continuing the nautical theme, we spent a happy few hours in the
South Australian Maritime Museum, whose collection dates back to 1872. Spread out over 3 floors, the Museum has fantastic exhibits - many of them interactive - and all of which immerse you in the maritime journeys that brought people to South Australia. I particularly loved the current exhibition called
"Rough Medicine" that looked at life & death in the age of sailing. Some of the horror stories of disease and death aboard those long sea journeys were incredible.
After a bite of lunch, we realised we only had time left to see one more Museum, so we drove over to the
National Railway Museum. It was a first for all of us, which is pretty rare. I'm so glad we went there because the Museum holds a fantastic collection of train carriages, engines, and artifacts from railway operations not just in South Australia, but across the country. You get to see model trains that run across
a fantastically-detailed miniature landscape. You can also ride
one of the gauge railways at the Museum, but it was just doing its last circuit as we arrived so we missed out on that one. Next time, for sure.
We only just scratched the surface of Port Adelaide's offerings today. There is so much to see down here. I'm coming back to this hood next week, so I'll have another opportunity to see a few more sites then. In the meantime, check out my Port Adelaide photo album below.
