It wasn’t all that long ago that I took the family for a holiday in Sydney, which was pretty good, but because of the wife and daughter, most of the time there was spent shopping and Frank, my son, and I were dragged helplessly along. Whilst I admit that Sydney offers a great shopping experience it is so much more than that. There is so much to see and I missed a lot of it because so much time was wasted checking out shoes handbags and other such crap.

If I was to go there again, I reckon I would spend a whole lot of time just soaking in the atmosphere and hitting all the tourist spots. The thing is that I could probably do it all again and save some money because, for a limited time only, there is an Accor Hotels City Super Sale on. This sale covers 27 cities across 10 countries in Asia Pacific, cities such as Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hanoi, Manila, Mumbai, Aukland and Sydney are included in the sale.

This time around I would stay at the Novotel on Darling Harbour because it offers so many photo opportunities. Did I mention that this time around the vacation was going to be one big photo shoot, and believe me there are a lot of opportunities for taking photos in Sydney. I took this one of the Opera House on my last visit and I would love to go there again to explore different angles, exposures and the like.

The thing is that Sydney is more than just your usual icons such as Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. The city itself is a mixture of new and old architecture and it is the old architecture that I found so appealing, especially the way it mixes in with the new.  Whether by day or night photo opportunities abound but if I want to do it all again I will have to act quickly if I am to take advantage of the low air fares and hotel accommodation because the more I can save the longer I can spend there soaking up the atmosphere.

Although Adelaide is renowned as the City Of Churches, only one church can be known as being the first church in Adelaide. That church is the Holy Trinity, Adelaide’s Pioneer Church.

The church is located at 87 North Terrace Adelaide. They have their own website, Holy Trinity Adelaide, which is full of information including all the Church Services.

I’ve walked along North Tce on many an occasion but I’ve always failed to notice this tribute to the Kaurna people, one of the Aboriginal tribes of Australia.

These works tell a story built upon other stories most notably that of TJILBRUKE a KAURNA ancestor.
The name YERRAKARTARTA means ‘without design’ or ‘at random’
YERRAKARTARTA how far do we isolate and unravel and what is measured?

The other plaque reads;

KAURNA YERTA NATTA ATTO NANGA YAKKO ATTO BUKKI NAKKI
This artwork is a tribute to the KAURNA people who are and have been part of this country since time immemorial understanding and observing the immutable laws that bind all things.

There was a man who many years ago had a vision of the City of Adelaide. I’m sure that he had wanted it to be a beautiful clean city which is why he planned all the public squares and the Adelaide Park-lands. I’m sure that there would have been those who would have laughed at his ideas saying that the squares and park-lands were just a waste of space and that he was living in a fantasy land. Lucky for us he stuck to his guns and we now have a beautifully well designed city.

Some 170 years later Martin Hamilton Smith, the leader of the Liberal party, has come up with a new vision for Adelaide. Martin’s vision for Adelaide is a riverside precinct, something that will invigorate our already beautiful city. His plan includes a Federation Square style plaza, an entertainment centre and a new sports stadium.

His main protagonist is Premier Mike Rann who calls the project a fantasy. I don’t find this at all surprising, as even if he liked the idea he would not give the opposition the satisfaction of admitting it. Mike Rann has other plans for the land, as he wants to build a state of the art hospital on the same location. A hospital that he says will cost $1.7 billion. How he can state this is beyond me as they haven’t even put the job out for tender and so it could end up costing a lot more than that, especially considering Labor’s track record of going way over budget on their projects so I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually turned out to cost double that.

According to their plans, the old Adelaide hospital will be demolished, except for  some heritage buildings that will be kept, and the land turned into park-lands again. Naturally he hasn’t factored the cost of doing that int0 the $1.7 billion dollar quote.

Mark Hamilton Smith would much prefer revamping the hospital on the original site as there are significant cost savings, something labor disputes, shock, horror. This plan is supported by a lot of people including many doctors who complain that they were never consulted by the Rann’s gang.

The main complaint that Rann has against Hamilton’s vision is the claim that it hasn’t been costed and we could not afford it. Seems to me that he is being rather negative about it and he is a little worried that the Liberal party may deliver on their promise. After all they can get a major grant from the federal government as part of the stimulus package. They also have the savings from building the hospital on the original site. I’m also sure that even in the current economic climate, if approached properly there would be many business that would jump at the chance of investing in this venture.

I’m sure that if done properly there would even be many South Australians who would love to be involved in this grand vision. Perhaps donating a certain amount of money would ensure their family name engraved into the seats of the stadium or the new entertainment centre. The options are endless.

This is something that Adelaide needs to put us on the face of the map again. We are already known for putting on the best shows, what with the Grand Prix being touted as a worlds best race, and then there is the current Adelaide Clipsal 500, not to mention the Fringe, Womald, Tour Down Under and other ventures. Perhaps something like this can keep our young here rather than having the other states pilfer our talent.

I wonder what Colonel Light would have done?

Apart from the statue of Colonel Light the photos were taken from Martin Hamilton-Smith MP’s website.