Fringe activities at the Garden of Unearthly Delight

It has been all go in Adelaide during the past few months.    Our arrival in January coincided with Australia Day, and the Tour Down Under, then the Fringe started and now the main Adelaide Festival has also begun.

Adelaide has also been proud of its cultural heritage.  This may be due to the fact, that South Australia had only free settlers, that is, no convicts were sent here, to taint the new settlement.   Adelaide is still a little removed from the rest of Australia.   But there is no doubt about the cultural intensity here, no matter the cultural origins.  It was first state to have a cultural festival, and then fringe entertainment as well, and both these events certainly bring in some pretty good names.    And there has never been any doubt that people in Adelaide look forward to the Adelaide Festival which features an extensive programme of local and international artists, actors, musicians and writers, during four weeks of cultural extravaganza.

Sadly we have not taken advantage of having such prestigious events at our doorstep, due to the long drive into Adelaide, the heat, and other attractions or events taking precedence.  

But we did manage a few hours of soaking up the atmosphere of the Fringe, which is mostly aimed at the younger members of the population.   After walking along Rundle Street east, we came to Rundle Park, in order to have a look at the Garden of Unearthly Delights. According to the blurb, 'The garden brings together an unparalleled program of artists from around the world.   Artists who reach, defy, inspire and dream'.   The only name I recognized was Ruby Wax, but then I am an outsider, and definitely very uninformed, about who is who, and who might be important or good to see.

However, despite my lack of enthusiasm about the current cultural delights in Adelaide, I really enjoyed walking around the 'Garden of Unearthly Delights'.  The atmosphere was electric.    The events were held in large tents, average entry costs were between $30 and $50 per person, although there were one or two $5 shows, and some free ones too.

But we did manage one free event when we sat on the hill, with families, and soaked up the live music from two musicians.

Walter looked at the range of events being staged that evening, but we did not have time to see any of them.

There was an amazing array of food to be bought, and we finally decided to purchase a healthy option from the Turkish stall.   It was a type of pitta bread filled with organic cooked vegetables.    It was delicious.

Pig on a spit, the menu stated it was 'German style'.   It looked very Australian, outback style to me.  Or may be Greek style.  Except it was pork and not lamb, so that makes it German style food, I suppose.

There were loads of people walking around with bottles of beer, or glasses of white wine, in their hands.   People must have brought their own glasses though, as I could not find a stall selling or lending glasses.   However, bags were checked on the way through to make sure that no liquids, came into the venue.   But obviously containers for holding the clear stuff were allowed through security.

And on another level, it was the Clipsal (Holden versus Ford) racing event last weekend.   The race was run through the streets of Adelaide.   These streets were once used for the Adelaide Grand Prix, before Melbourne took away this very popular event, which also brought in some much needed extra cash for South Australia.