12 December 2011 - Belair National Park Caravan Park, Adelaide, South Australia

After another late start this morning, we headed off to complete the exploration of the east coast, from Kingston Park to the tip of Le Fevre Peninsula, the western side of Adelaide.

We had some documents we needed printed off, and mail to post, as well as checking out specials advertised on the television. All was fruitful; we are now proud owners of a wee vacuum cleaner from Godfrey’s and new sandals from Rivers, all purchased from stores that did not cause us to detour too far from our tourist route. I also managed to squeeze in a haircut before we re-joined our trip of last week, back at Glenalg.

We paused at West Beach and ate our packed lunch then continued up through Henley Beach, Grange, Tennyson to Semophore. There we spent some time walking about this once important marine communications centre which has retained many of its lovely old heritage buildings.

All up the coast road we past a mixed bag of residences: old buildings beautifully restored and some begging demolition, new luxurious buildings and some more modest. There were also a surprising number of residences with “For Sale” signs, but then I guess one finds that frequently in coastal areas. There is always a sale to be had at the right price; however I suspect in many cases people have stretched themselves too far and are in a panic to liquidate assets, given the current economic down turn.

As we travelled further north, we passed through Largs Bay and then North Haven where there is a lovely marina surrounded by very palatial residences. This is evidently where the Adelaide rich live, unless they are of a more conservative nature and reside in the quiet leafy edge of the city green belt.

Once we reached the end of the peninsula, the scene changed radically. Here is a busy port, bustling with industry and ugliness, and the housing on the eastern side of the peninsula does nothing to enhance the picture.

We had originally intended to spend time in Port Adelaide, the old port town, reportedly full of attractions, however again time was getting on and so we set the Tomtom for home and came back down through further industrial suburbs, then through the lovely city centre and back up to the park.