The JamFactory

 It was a real pleasure to find myself at the bottom of Hindley Street and visiting the JamFactory. Like everything else in Adelaide , this end of town has been reinvented too and it's starting to look and feel really cool. It was great to see how focussed the glass makers were . They have to be. They are dealing with molten glass and their loving care was obvious but paramount to their safety too. The exhibition of shell jewellery was lovely. I have seen a lot of shell jewellery in South Pacific nations and ours was just so delicate. The other display areas housed some beautifully made objects at what were reasonable prices for such carefully conceived pieces. Back up the road from the JamFactory is The Adelaide College of the Arts. I am so glad they have settled on that name! It has been through a number of name changes and they didn't ever quite do the job. This one is simple , straight forward and nails it. I must go and have a closer look at some time because it seems to have lost its industrial look. It is a very well respected art school and always has been. It was interesting to walk down Hindley Street this morning. It gets a bit tacky but not brash like it used to be . During the day it has an interesting rather than unsavoury feel about it. The Woolshed Hotel looks spectacular. They have done a brilliant job on the facade.  

I walked from the Arts College to the JamFactory and wondered why they had massage parlours on that side of the road. Out of place, unseemly looking and away from the feel of what is now becoming a very artistic and creative end of town. The Mercury Theatre fits right in and so it could be further be developed to be a really cool area for artistic innovation and expression. You see the Nove on Luce cafe in all its aesthetic  glory and then a massage parlour which is  a bleak and stark contrast and spoils the feel of the area. The massage parlours and so on can exist elsewhere. Let that area just be developed by our creative spirits. No reason why we could not have the more new age places for relaxation and therapy. 

Adelaide is beautiful

Today was a picture perfect cruise on the Popeye. There was a lady visiting from Canberra who had never seen Adelaide before and she thought it was a beautiful city. It is. Full credit has to be given to those who are envisioning our redevelopment. The talk of the town on the train was still the new, amazing, exceedingly impressive RAH building next to the station. The lady form Canberra said, as she flew over, the honeycomb building looked like an eye as she looked down. Who is having these brilliant ideas? We are all loving it. Down by the Torrens it has a wide open feel of water and greenness. Even the Versailles - like fountain by the steps and the landscaping are inspired. We took the 40 minute cruise and anyone who thought Adelaide was bone dry and crispy in the summer would have had that thought demolished. It was verdant. All along the river was green and lush. It would have been lovely to continue on down the river but maybe that isn't safe or cannot be navigated safely. The 15 dollars spent on the cruise was a lot cheaper than therapy. It was calming, delightful and everyone was happy. The Popeye driver had a good way with the little children and was a fount of information. The trip is charming and gives you a whole new look at Adelaide. Made me love this city even more. I look forward to the day when all the Popeyes are out on the water because we all want to be mucking about on the river. 

Extreme Adelaide

This is the GoPro video I made when I went to town last week and then came home and wrote the last post. Even though the weather wasn't particularly nice it was good to be on a train trip and it was good to go over the new bridge and see how that whole area is being developed. The one thing about the GoPro, which is new to me so I am still practising, is that it could take in the spectacular panoramic views from that bridge and from the train. That is what we have in Adelaide. Big sky. On that day it was a big cloudy sky threatening rain. Others were out on the bridge taking photos and lots and quite a few people were on the other side walking dogs, prams, children or jogging. It has such a good feel that area now. What do we do in Adelaide? Whatever we want!