Bumpkins Sample Adelaide's Nightlife

Sometimes you have to step out of your everday shoes and do something different.  So we decided to go to Adelaide for a concert by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.  It was an early evening concert, which made it really radical for us, being out and about after dark for the first time in several years.  We wondered if we'd be able to stay awake past 8:30pm, but thought we'd give it our best shot.

The first problem was how to get to Adelaide.  Driving wasn't an option we cared to consider, so it was either taking the bus or hiring a helicopter like Bronwyn Bishop - a tough choice, but the bus won in the end, even though it meant we wouldn't get back to Winsome Ridge until after 10pm, which is like the middle of the night for us. So we drove into Mount Barker, parked the car in the very convenient park 'n ride, and got on the bus for free, because we're very old and have seniors cards.

It was a little weird heading out so late (it was nearly 5pm!) and seeing all the traffic from the city heading towards us, and the sun going down and the streetlights and headlights coming on.   How long have we lived on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere?  Seems like forever.  Luckily the bus was driven by a woman of great skill, who drove according to the rules and didn't use the freeway as a racetrack, and we arrived safe and sound in the city. We strolled a couple of blocks to the Town Hall, and went straight to the bar to purchase two very nice glasses of red wine.  Then we leaned against a wall, as all the seats in the bar were occupied by music-loving boozers, and watched the assortment of concert goers.  There were no men in top hats, cloaks and silver sticks, nor women in evening dress sporting haughty accents; they were just a mob of pretty regular people from many walks of life, who like good music but don't have to show off about it - although a few of them did wear outlandish hats.

Soon the concert hall began to fill up with expectant music lovers, one of whom didn't choose his seat very well.  We, on the other hand, sat in the dress circle, above the notorious Town Hall posts. 

There was a hush when the conductor slipped onto the stage from an unexpected direction, taking the orchestra by surprise. We all applauded him for his impressive entrance, and then he got the show on the road, with some lively chat about the music we were about to hear. We've included the music menu for those who are interested - and who wouldn't be?  This concert was called 'Classics Unwrapped' and the conductor did indeed unwrap each piece before playing it, telling us with great humour, what it was all about and which bits to particularly listen for, like the soft quivering of the violins in the night, or the sound of an oboe announcing sunrise. It was an exceptionally enjoyable concert, only lasting for about an hour and a half, leaving us wanting more.  We'll definitely save up our pocket money and go to hear the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra again.

When the show ended, there was quite a queue to get down the stairs, so we went a different way and took an unexpected trip down the fire stairs of the Town Hall, along with about 10 other adventurous patrons.  We had to go down so many steps, we couldn't believe we had taken that many steps up, and we must be heading down into the bowels of the earth.  Some bright spark said it was like the Poseidon Adventure in reverse. 

Eventually we found ourselves in a side street, got our bearings and started looking for a cup of coffee, as we had some time to kill before the next bus to Mt Barker would come along. But all the coffee shops we passed were closed (after all, it was about 8pm on a wintry Wednesday night in sleepy old Adelaide - what did we expect?).  So we went into the first bar we came across, for another glass of red wine.  It was a tiny place called Harry's Bar with lots of mirrors everywhere to trick us into thinking it was bigger, with more people.  And there were no chairs, just uncomfortably high stools - but Tony had to go to the loo, so we went in anyway.  

Linda ordered some wine that obviously hadn't been out of the bath for very long, while Tony went through a door in the back, looking for the loo. When he came out of the rather miserable toilet, he found all doors locked tight except one, and it didn't lead back to the bar. He spent some trepidatious time creeping along dark and dirty corridors, while Linda sat in the bar wondering where on earth he was - little did she know that he was wondering the same thing.  Eventually he found himself out in the street, half a block away. He ran back into the bar, found Linda with her back to the door and hugged her from behind.  For a second there, Linda thought some desperate drunk had grabbed her, and she prepared to give him the elbow, but then she saw, thanks to the mirrors, that it was her darling husband, all distressed from his rather traumatic visit to the loo.

After drinking as much of the terrible wine as we could stand, we went outside to wait for the bus, amongst the non-bustling Wednesday nightlife of Adelaide. On the bus, which we thought was suprisingly crowded for the time of night, but what do we know, we got talking to two other concert goers who sat behind us.  We had seen them on the bus on the way into town, when we were behind them (you can see the backs of their heads in the first picture, isn't that exciting?), but never guessed they were classical music lovers.  Turns out that when they're not mucking out their barn, they go to just about every concert that comes along, day or night, and have done heaps of traveling around the world too. Never judge a book by its baseball cap or its Australian accent. But do go and listen to some classical music now and then.