Christies Beach

I wrote the original post on August 18th 2016 and Christies has only improved since then and is a vibrant, happy area. It has encouraged an active, positive enjoyment of the great outdoors. People walk and exercise their dogs, they bring themselves and their children her for some fresh air and exercise. Sailing seems to have picked up again after all the coronavirus restrictions and Rotary Park has some outdoor events which are well attended. It is not a crowded Beach. There are times when you can see dolphins and whales and not that long ago we had a ship offloading oyster shells from the oyster farms onto the reef. It disrupted the beach quite a bit but was really interesting to watch. You can now walk around the cliff face to Port Noarlunga and that has really encouraged people to get fit. Deja vu has gone and has been replaced by the very popular Flavas and Espy's bakery has gone from strength to strength. There are good places to eat close by. For many locals it is just a good place to get away from the worries of the world and take in some fresh air and listen to the rhythm of the waves. 

 Original post:

Christies Beach is changing in a good way. Some people will miss the empty, natural beach front with just the green railing fence but the improvements are welcome and have been well thought out. The big  wooden walkway onto the beach means you can get down there more easily and people keep jogging down it or take their dog and it is easy. The trail along the cliff face is well used and popular and seems to have been improved. When the wind dies down and the rain holds off I intend to go and explore that to see what they have done. It is better with more people and more life at the beach front. It makes it safer. It has become a beach where people enjoy the outdoors and exercise. It is not a good swimming beach unless you stay in the shallows. There are rip tides which are very difficult to deal with.  Deja vu is a newish cafe right on the Esplanade at Christies and overlooks the ocean. Very friendly and very civilised. A lovely spot. The park on the corner has been upgraded with play equipment for children and seated areas so people can have a picnic. The apartments have food and shops and I guess that will expand and the views from those apartments will be spectacular. Without Port Stanvac Oil Refinery it has returned to being a a really great place to be on a nice day where you can just relax and enjoy the laid back, ocean life style 

What do you do in Adelaide?

National Geographic has created a 2 minute video about South Australia. I sometimes see koalas and kangaroos and I live in the outer suburbs. I see the hills on one side and the ocean on the other no matter where I drive around here. The views are spectacular. We do what we want but we have a chance to enjoy nature and so lots of South Australians bush walk, bike ride, surf, snorkel , skateboard, sail, fish. We can be pretty active. We like walking our dogs, going to the coffee shop, shopping. We like helping others so we volunteer when we are called or we just volunteer anyway. We like road tripping down the coast or around the wine regions. We like camping, family nights, fun nights, reading. We are big readers. We love music and art. We love gaming. The South Australia Facebook page gives you a really good overview of what it is like here. We have the time and space to do what we want and be what we want and pursue our passions and interests. On the other hand , we might just veg out in front of the TV or out the back. 

Adelaide in the 80s

If you missed Adelaide in the 80s, this is pretty much it. We were all very fit, mad on aerobics and it heralded the era of good fresh food and more exercise which has become a permanent feature of our South Australian lifestyle. We had the outfits, the music, the venues, the TV programmes and videos. We were alive. Speaking of Adelaide Alive - our Grand Prix also featured aerobics groups too. That is how into it we were. This love of fitness branched out into cycling, kindergym, walking, gym circuits and since then we have become adept in finding the right level of fitness activity for who we are so now you find people skateboarding, walking the dog, surfing, body boarding, swimming, canoeing , kayaking...all because aerobics got us all moving in such a fun way. 

Go Adelaide!

Oh yes, there is much talk about how we can make Adelaide go and grow. If you look back at Adelaide from high up in Fullarton, it is starting to look like Melbourne. That'll help. Cloning ourselves to somewhere else. Being another version of what people already can have. Much of the talk about sticking up big buildings is about getting us to move with the times. Oh yes? Profit, of course would have nothing to do with it. Big building, more bang for your acreage buck. The big buildings will come because greed predominates in our society and rich people like to get richer. So we are not going to avoid the big buildings but we can avoid the patronising tripe which comes with erecting them and recognise property speculation for what it is. Adelaide was always its own city with its own drive and atmosphere. The critics have got to us and made us feel inadequate so they can do as they please. Time to fix this , I think. Those who want to change Adelaide into Melbourne, Shanghai, New York, wherever  they have come from big cities. We don't actually need another one but we do need something which will help us thrive and grow into this century and create a sense that we are able to offer something and somewhere other places cannot offer. We are very much nautical people and so marinas, nautical sports, swimming centres and wonderful boating and fishing areas are something we can develop. We are good at spawning successful women and politicians so we need to grow that aspect of our city and encourage more participation in a natural way in these areas. We need to be better at offering those who like leadership to have opportunities to develop those skills. We have a strong film, artistic, musical and writing tradition and we have not done enough to inject enthusiasm and development into those areas and yet our Fringe is getting bigger and better and Womadelaide is becoming legendary. We love sport. No need to clash sport and cultural events. We can rethink that. No need to go for the either or , the tut tuts and the confusion. We can resolve those issues because we are both. Then there is our food. We offer a great cafe lifestyle. We offer great fresh food but we keep blocking its growth. Instead of our growers having to beg us to be considered we can incorporate them naturally into our lives. Instead of making us look like our interstate counterparts we need to start inventing areas and initiatives which make us Adelaide. Instead of being the state which people bypass to get to Perth or Sydney we need to recreate the Adelaide which makes people want to come and participate, kick back and relax and go wow, that is so nice in Adelaide. People say we are friendly. When I go away I really miss our good food at good prices and the fact we offer rest facilities. I do not miss our transport. I don't miss our shops all selling the same thing. I do not miss our loss of fashion sense. We used to really dress up and show some flair. We have home grown designers and products. So if redevelopment is just about shoving up big buildings to make a profit, then we are lost.  We have to get rid of the ho hum approach and start harnessing some real enthusiasm and participation. What's wrong with having a real Adelaide that is us?