Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Over the last week I have travelled three times to Adelaide to attend the 2010 Adelaide Writers’ Week. This is an integral part of the biennial Adelaide Festival of Arts. Writers and readers come here from all over Australia for this important festival, one of the best of its kind in the world. A fine array of talented international writers are also on the speakers’ list or on panel discussions on books and writing.
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
The sessions run from 9:30am to 6pm every day for six days and admission is free to all sessions (except the evening sessions in the Town Hall). Sitting there all day is a marathon effort for both organisers and audience members. The audience would have to number well over 500 at any one time, often swelled for popular or well-known writers, or during the lunch break of workers in the nearby CBD, a five minute walk away.
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Three large marquees are set up for the week in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens located beautifully between the CBD and the River Torrens. The East Tent and the West Tent host the writers’ talks and panel discussions, while the central tent is the Book Shop. The shop stocks many of the books of the visiting authors as well as stocks of new books launched during the week. Every guest speaker is encouraged to sit at tables in front of this tent for book signings, and to meet their readers.
Adelaide Writers’ Week 2010
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Last week I travelled to Adelaide several times to attend this year’s Writers’ Week, an important feature of every Festival of Arts in the city. This special part of the festival runs for six days at the beginning of the festival. It attracts writers and readers from all over Australia for the day long sessions. The programme always features leading Australian writers as well as a significant array of international writers and publishers.
Tom Keneally opening Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
This year’s writers’ week was opened by leading Australian writer Tom Keneally (pictured above). Tom is probably best know for his book Schindler’s Ark which was made into a very successful movie. Tom is an entertaining speaker as well as very thought provoking for readers and writers alike.
During the first afternoon the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann (photo below), announced the Premier’s awards for writing in ten different categories.
Premier Mike Rann announcing awards at Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Happy Birthday to my blog
No Comments »6th March, 2010; Category: Australia, Nepal, New South Wales, South Australia, Thailand, Victoria
Ama Dablam, Nepal
This blog about my travels is now four years old.
I started this blog exactly four years ago in the dining room of my son in Sydney. He had just set up the domain name and busily went about teaching me how to blog. He was a good teacher for I was soon off and away with blog entries. And I haven’t let up in the intervening years. I try to post every day but during the last two years I have also been trying to complete my Master of Arts in Creative Writing which has impacted on how frequently I have been able to write articles here. I’m also in the last stages of completing the writing of a novel for children as part of those studies. It has all taken a lot of my time.
During the life of this blog I have written about many places, including a visit to Thailand and trekking in Nepal. By far the majority of the nearly 600 articles are as a result of travelling here in Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and my home state of South Australia of course.
I’d like to thank all my many regular readers, those who have occasionally dipped into various pages and especially those who have taken the trouble to leave comments. I value you all – you people make this blog a worthwhile endeavour.
A special thanks to my son Sim’ who looks after the background administration of this and my other blogs, keeping them ticking over nicely.
Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens
The Bluff, Victor Harbor, South Australia
The Bluff, Victor Harbor, South Australia
The Bluff is a prominent feature of the seascape at Victor Harbor on the south coast of South Australia. It is on the edge of the seaside town of Victor Harbor which is about an hour’s drive from the state capital, Adelaide.
The Bluff is a rocky outcrop of granite jutting into the skyline to the south west of the town. There are several walking trails to the top but these can be demanding to the unfit person. There is a road to the top and excellent views can be seen from the lookout, including of Victor Harbor, Encounter Bay, Granite Island and the Southern Ocean stretching to Antarctica.
At the base of the steep hillside there is a small parking area and a spot where there is excellent fishing from a jetty. In the photo above you can just make out several cars and the jetty on the lower right hand side of the photo (click on the photo to enlarge the image).
The Bluff, Victor Harbor, South Australia
Further reading with more photos:
Granite Island, Victor Harbor, South Australia
No Comments »4th March, 2010; Category: Beaches, Birds, Caravanning, Holidays, South Australia, Victor Harbor
Granite Island, Victor Harbor, South Australia
Probably the best known feature of Victor Harbor is Granite Island, shown in the photos on this post. Victor Harbor, on the south coast of South Australia, is about an hour’s drive south of the state capital, Adelaide. It is a favourite day trip from the capital as well as being a popular destination for interstate visitors.
These photos were taken while we had a weekend there last year. we stayed in one of the excellent caravan parks, ours being right on the foreshore of Encounter Bay (see yesterday’s post for more photos).
Granite Island, Victor Harbor, South Australia
Granite Island is joined to the mainland by a causeway. It takes less than two hours to walk out to the island, around the walking track that circumnavigates it and to return to the town. You can linger longer of course for there is a fine restaurant near the jetty as well as some excellent fishing spots.
Granite Island, Victor Harbor, South Australia
A highlight of a visit is to see the Little Penguins which feed out to sea and return to the island to nest and feed their young.
Little Penguins, Adelaide Zoo
Further reading: