Don’t mean to show-off buuuuut, Adelaide has yet again made the Top 10 Most Liveable Cities list, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index. We came in at number 10, beating off most other Aussie cities, except our rivals in Sydney and Melbourne.
To celebrate our wonderful state and all the things that make it uniquely “Adelaide” I’ve made a list — 40 signs you know you’re from Adelaide. Enjoy.
Hayley x
1. You’ve almost died on the Britannia Roundabout. Multiple times.
2. You’ve never posed for a photo with the Malls Balls. But, you have with the brass pigs outside the Myer Centre.
3. You’ve said, “How small is Adelaide!” about 20 thousand times, but you hate when someone from interstate says it.
4. You’ve driven down Victoria Avenue in Unley and picked out which house you’d live in WHEN (not IF) you win the lottery.
5. You’ve never been to Kangaroo Island, but you tell all your interstate friends how good it is.
6. When you meet someone for the first time, it takes less than a minute to ask, “So which school did you go to?”
7. You’ve driven past Peter Van the Party Man 5000 times, but never been in. (It looks great, I will go in there one day!)
8. You’ve walked over to Granite Island 100 times and every time you get there you think, “What the hell is there to do here?” So you walk back again… And get a hot cinnamon doughnut.
9. You think you discovered a secret, free parking spot in the CBD. (Lawn Bowls Club opposite Prince Alfred College).
10. You’ve driven past Virginia on your way to Gawler and made a vagina joke.
Image credit : Virginia Wiki
11. (a) You still call The Beachouse, Magic Mountain.
(b) You heard (and spread) a rumour that there was a razor blade found on one of the Magic Mountain water slides. But, nobody knows where the rumour came from. #itsnotrue
Image credit: Adelaiderememberwhen.com.au
12. You’ve climbed Lofty and lied about the time you did it in.
13. You get annoyed when interstaters call Adelaide, “Radelaide”. But, you’re allowed to.
14. When talking about Adelaide in the ‘90s, Dazzleland is the first thing you think of.
15. You’ve walked down Rundle Mall with your head down, so you don’t bump into someone you know.
16. You’ve been drunk in the back of a taxi and made the driver take you through Macca’s on West Terrace.
17. You’ve walked from Hindley Street to Rundle Street… then back again at 3am.
18. You’ve lined up at the Port Elliot Bakery.
Image credit: specialdays.com.au
19. You went on an excursion to Bolivar Sewage Plant and complained about how foul it was, for the next 20 years.
20. You secretly know that Peter Combe is so much cooler than The Wiggles. #Newspapermumma
21. You hate how east-coasters pronounce their “A”s as “E”s. They pronounce Ellen as Alan and Alcohol is Elcohol.
22. You went on a date to the Ice Arena and thought you were so hot when your fave song came on while you were skating.
23. In your early 20s, Moseley Square is the BEST square in Adelaide. In your 30s, it’s always Henley Square.
24. Half your family is Port and the other half is Crows.
25. When you mark a footy you say, “Modraaaa!”
Image credit: afl.com.au
26. You used to listen to Paul, Amanda and James on SAFM.
27. You don’t know the difference between Wakefield Street, Pirie Street, Grenfell Street, Flinders Street and Grote Street. Which one’s which?
28. You love the parklands (they’re so pretty) but you wouldn’t dare walk through them.
29. You’ve sent FruChocs to your Adelaide friends living overseas.
30. When interstaters come to visit, you take them to Hahndorf and wonder why you don’t go there all the time. It’s gorgeous!
31. If anywhere takes longer than 15 minutes to get there, it’s too far away.
32. Every time you go to Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, you say, “This is so beautiful, I need to come here all the time!” But you don’t because it’s too far.
33. You think “Clipsal” is just a car race and you’ve spent most of March (for the last 16 years) complaining about the Clipsal traffic.
34. Nobody is quite sure how to pronounce Nairne.
35. When going to the movies on Rundle Street, you always get the Palace and Nova Cinemas mixed up, and go to the wrong one EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
36. When someone says, “Popeye”, you don’t think of the cartoon. You think of the boat on the Torrens.
37. You learnt to ski at Mount Thebarton.
38. You’ve eaten a pie floater, while you were drunk, outside the Casino.
39. Because of the way you pronounce, “DANCE”, you’ve been asked, “Which part of England are you from”?
40. You’ve carried a ‘boom box’ to Sky Show.
Did I miss anything?
Hayley xx
oh Hayley that is perfect!!! Especially Victoria ave we do it every time!!
Haha thanks lovely! I just drove down Victoria Ave about 30mins ago and picked my new love xx
I don’t have to drive up and down Victoria ave, I know which one I want, my great uncle used to own one of them 🙂
That in it’s self is so Adelaide .
41. You have your hair done by Wayne at Montage…he’s been around for quite a while ?
OMG … He used to cut my hair …. Andrea as well … Is he still around … Burnside Village
Yes! Wayne is about to retire, go and say goodbye. He’s so lovely!
My mum still sees Wayne, she’s been going to him since he started up in hindley street. Nearly my whole life!
I used to ride my bike down there on my way to school and played in the scrub at the end called ‘New Forrest’. A best mate lived in one the houses on Victoria. Eventually purchased a house behind the old Kidman Mansion which was originally stables. Was always proud to have lived there.
Mary, you are like me, I used to do the same too.. Love Victoria Ave! We can dream 🙂
Hoping to get a reply from such an old post, not sure how it came through my feed? But glad it did. Mostly, so true! Well I couldn’t help but do a LITTLE? tweaking, from someone who has never left SA except a few days in Mildura and Melborne where I cried the first night and was so glad to come back home and wondered why anyone would want to leave.
* Mmm fruchocs. Your too generous to post them, more for us here! Oh being in Queensland, apparently they just call them Chocolate Coated Apricot Balls because they couldn’t grasp its pronunciation, and sounded like Frucho’s, I read it in the Advertiser, so it must be true? But I’m still asking.
*I walk down Rundle mall thinking, oh whats the chances of seeing someone I know? diddly squat! Even a school teacher told me no one goes to the city in Adelaide you’ll never see such a random mix of strange people. Anyways one day we venture out, Oh Mum look there’s Quintin, can I say hello? Mum- No he’s just like everyone else. Well I still regret it, I wanted to ask him about J-Lo’s dress on the red carpet that time, did he really run over her bajillion dollar dress? I’ll never know. However I would duck from Sam Newman (Oldman) any day, on the look out for his street talk material.
I have been to Kangaroo Island when I was 5, best holiday of my life, remember every bit and have been a private ambassador ever since, now I proudly say I’ve been over seas, well Ambassador Strait is a sea, technically? Maybe that’s how it got it’s name!
The Brittania Round about, what round about? I think I said in school, is that in Britain? Anyway my one and only time using this notoriously talked about prang wheel was just after I got my license taking my girlies yr 12 formal dress shopping, and I’m pretty sure I only planned a left hand turn on the way there and avoided the right turn on the way back. Well everyone found dresses except me, I found mine in good old Elizabeth!
*The razor rumours were also about St. Kilda slides and others about kids falling off of slides and the ride at Dazzleland. All these rumours handed down from my loving Mum.
Your live in a town named after a Royal you never met, your Mum lies about the Queen comming to visit only to get me out to watch the Tour down under.
I have heard from a funny source that on Victoria Road they put out Plasma’s when their hard rubbish comes around.
Yes I call it Radelaide
1. because I already do
2. Adelaide does deserve it when it’s required, and
3. your list says I can
4.Well all give crap to the things we love
Ha! just waiting for the 40 signs your from Elizabeth!
Gotta Love Adelaide ❤️??and SA
I just found this because I was reminiscening about marine land and now thought of downtown on hindley street and what about Jules nightclub.
So much gold! I’d add;
You used to go to The Planet on a Wednesday for retro night
You still call whatever it is now on West Tce “Heaven” and last set foot in it over ten years ago
You still long for the clearance rack at Miss JMs
There will always be a soft spot in your heart for Humphrey B Bear
You have a money box from the Savings Bank of South Australia
Moving to the north Eastern suburbs is referred to as “moving up the hill”
You claim anyone who has lived any part of their lives here as Adelaidian, including Anthony LaPaglia and Ben Folds.
lol lol lol SO DID I!!!! I went to Planet to see Drazic from Heart Break High! 😉
Me to lol my best friend cried. Lol
OMG!! I loved him so hard and am now crazy jealous. Excuse me while I go and Google pictures of that beautifully cheekboned face . . .
I would add more things like city to bay var cruise, cafe de villes at 2am, windy point lookout on dates
OMG Miss JM….Gold!
Anthony LaPagliais a genuine Adelaidian. Lived in Rostrevor. His auntie on his mothers side was my ex sister in law. That is also Adelaide for you…not 6 degrees of separation but only 2. ..everytime ???
You got this 100% spot on! Loved The Planet & Heaven was my go to Thur, Fri, Sat nights in the 90’s.
Also Dazzleland in the Myer centre was huge – I went with 3 high school mates the day it opened & our tokens were spelt ‘Dazzeland’. Spelling error?? Bet they’re worth a bit now 🙂 love, love, love Adelaide. And yes, I ‘daunce’ but my heritage is Irish, not Pom, lol.
And did you take your interstate friends up to Windy Point to watch the street lights go out around 1am (we were all supposed to be tucked up at home…)across Adelaide suburbs?
Yep Heaven is Heaven, it’s where I met my hubby back in 1997, we’re married and have two beautiful children. Also, no mention of Drive-ins? Loved going to the one at Marion! Sandhills at Port Noarlunga (Sliding down them.)
Gold….makes me home sick
Me too Simon 🙁
You think it’s OK – no, better than OK, fabulous – to drink Sparkling Shiraz
Your Easter’s not right without a Haig’s bibly
You think a bike lane
haha Yep! Can you imagine a life without the Haigs Bilby!!!
Hilarious Megan! Sparkling Shiraz is always a great idea. THE red wine for hot weather…
Oops – you think a bike lane is news.
absolutely! Absolutely!!! Absolutely!!!
Brilliant, and I agree with it all
xxxxx
We say ‘ay?’ Ay the end of every sentence and just assume that all interstaters do it too!! 🙂
haha So true!
Saying ‘ay’ at the end of a sentence (nearly turning it into a question) is something I never heard until I merry my first queenslander, oddly.
I miss the days when South Aussies would refuse to line up. All I see these days is queues – for busses, for clubs – hell, even when Krispy Kremes opened.
So True Ay.
Saying ‘ay’ at the end of a sentence is NOT an Adelaide thing, has always been a NZ thing and in Western Australia they say ‘aye but’.
Sydney people some times say ‘aye’, but usually they just end sentences in mid air with ‘so, yeah ‘.
Unlike people from the eastern states we still pronounce important with a “t” and not a “d” – impor”d”ant, that grinds my gears!!!!
Actually, Adelaideans drop their consonants; so it is “impoh-an-“, geh ih?
That’s Melbourne. Adelaide people are the most eloquent in Australia. Proven when you visit Sydney or Melbourne and they ask if you’re from England.
You ate green frog cakes from Balfours.
You always looked for the canoe tree on the way to Goolwa.
You rolled on the lawn at the Botanic Gardens and wished it was your back yard.
You always watch the Christmas pageant and still miss John Martins.
You went to bed when Fat Cat said goodnight.
OMG where were you when I was writing this haha — all sooooo true! x
And we watched Winky Dink!!
I don’t know about you, but I definitely rolled down the hills at the parade grounds – especially in autumn
So true!
You went to see The Lights at Christmas at West End Brewery in your pyjamas
I so loved it and still remember and tell my kids when we drive past. We thought we might all go in our pjs this year Pjs at the marion drive in too
On your way to the Yorke Peninsula, you’d look out for the giraffe tree otherwise you’d miss the turnoff and end up in Snowtown
Fat Cat! My parents secretly taped him saying goodnight so they could trick me and my sister into going to bed early. And they had the nerve to suggest he was the shifty one because of a tiny drug and alcohol habit. Oh the shame haha
Ohhhh! The Frog Cake! My Mum ‘missed’ meeting me off the plane from a school trip to Europe in the late 80’s because she HAD to buy me a Frog cake to welcome me home!!!
The song Down Town still sends ‘frissions’ of excitement up your spine and visions of being allowed to wear Smile jeans and knee high zip up boots. (never was) The Academy was THE place to hang out on a Friday afternoon after school and you still have nostalgic sigh when you drive past the square (still referred to as ‘Academy square) about past ‘snoggs’!
If you went to the city you would always meet at the Beehive Corner
Yep Hayley! We did the Bolivar excursion twice during my school career and I have NEVER gotten over the experience lol
TWICE!!!! No way!!!! haha
I thankfully avoided that and got the Coca-Cola factory instead!
I am so glad that i got the factory too … the free samples had to be better .. 🙂
My children did it too and are still complaining ..into their 20’s
I love no. 21. I live in Vic now, and they just don’t get it!
I used to buy bread flour from Peter Van the bread man ( I think)
I also went inside those doors.
you try to see if The Scotsman at Scottys motel has anything under his kilt
we also used to look up the scotsmans kilt, power poles are stobie poles, magic mountain was so much fun, used to go to heaven and joplins bar on a Wednesday nite used to go to the time worp at heaven.. Bo jangles night club and hindle st was always a buzz, Charles Sturt tavern was always fun too… Fritz no one has heard of villis pies and pastie also Kitchener buns.. Also yatala is the jail and rolly park was on Torrens rd??? Players bar was fun my friend and I went in our pjs once..
It’s in the very end room closest to The Scotsman I spent my wedding night with my first wife. The honeymoon suite the manager called it after we’d left the reception not knowing where we’d end up!
You mentioned Grote Street Hayley but Gouger is another one! You never know if the one you want is Gouger or Grote!
What about fritz? Interstaters don’t know what fritz is. ?
Oh I always get those two confused!!! haha x
So well chronicled and remembered Hayley.
Gouger has “ou” in it so it’s further sOUth than Grote. Tikka me 30 years to separate those two.
Lol yep they call Fritz, Devon.
And in Tas they call fritz, German. So it’s Devon, German and Fritz. I like fritz the best – eaten in toast with lots of butter & tomato sauce. Mmmm fritz…
When you are from the hills, you refer to people as living “atvthe bottom of the hill”, when it’s really at the bottom of the freeway
Oh totally! My husband grew up in Crafers (up the hills) and I grew up in Glenunga (down the hill) lol
Or “on the flats”
I left adelaide 10 years ago…. However,
Aami stadium will always be footy park.
Everyone about the pagent blue honour line.
And I never understood the one way highway.
Adelaide is still home to me
Awww that’s nice to hear! It’s kind of special isn’t it! x
And taking the ferry to hindmarsh island just for a drive to have a look.. Just cause it was a ferry
If you live around the Salisbury area you know where the BP roundabout is.
And go to Lobethal at Christmas to see the all the houses lit up in the street and go taste test the chocolate at the chocolate factory..
And you’ve heard about and driven thru ‘devils elbow’
Or eaten too much at The Show and then thrown up at Devil’s Elbow (as a kid of course) 🙂
If you lived North you saw the Christmas Light Show at Len Doof’s house in Salisbury North, the world first & original home Christmas light show
Not sure about world first, but certainly SA first.
You miss John Martins.
You say school and pool not scheel and peel.
Saddens me how many people I meet these days who don’t know what John Martins was. Young people usually.
South Australians usually refer to our demographics as ‘Southey’, ‘Northey ‘ ‘ hills ‘ or ‘on the flat’. Simple really.
and they don`t know the Magic Cave in all it`s glory…. I was a kid on the flat but changed to the hills as a grown-up
you always look for men in black when driving down cross road
You are the man
SO true!!!
Yes!
I thought i was the only one
Haha YES!!!
Ooh, the pancake kitchen must get a mention )
OMG that whipped butter!! YUM!!!
And Norgan vaz ice cream… mmmmm
Just remembered…
You would pester your parents to check out the Christmas display at the west end brewery at Xmas time.
You would beg your mum to go on the TAA plane at McDonalds at WestLakes.
You would always go out to ladies nights on Thursdays at NY Bar and Grill at Marion.
HAHA YEp – NY Bar and Grill at Marion! Loved it x
Bubblegum! Lol, so many memories, or lack of…
I’m a bit older than you lot, I loved having lunch in the cafeteria, David Jones top floor. Had the best view over North Terrace. Oh and Eagle on the Hill hotel before the freeway changed our driving habits.
I remember that cafe i used to go there with my mum when i had a dental appointment it was john martins
I remember that cafeteria. I was a toddler, and my mum, and all the ladies, wore late 60’s sheath dresses with court shoes. Hair in curly perms and big sunglasses.
Dont forget the train at Salisbury maccas 😉
I had a birthday party in that plane.
Ladies night!! Those $1 vodkas!
And don’t forget the walks between NY Bar and Grill and Shenanigans!
When you go interstate and can’t wait to come back to Adelaide because you missed the FARMER’S UNION ICED COFFEE too much! 🙂
Yep! Although they have it there these days. 🙂
You pronounce Australia as Australia not Austraya!
its not Easter unless u get up to Oakbank
I am actually going to copy this entire article (pretend I wrote it of course lol) and use it as a “this was my life” reminder…and do it all again, well the one’s I can. Thank you Hayley, this made me smile 🙂 x
I hated catching the tram into the City and biatching that it stopped at Vic Square coz the walk in the mall was like sooo far away hahaha. Now I double biatch about the fact you can not turn into those streets we cant remember coz of the damn tram.
Lost Forest!
Driving around the devils elbow.
Farmers Union Ice coffee!
Collecting cans for 5c
Going to the deli
Stobie poles
So many people do not understand the Stobie Poles thing
And Woodies?
How could you forget to mention Farmers Union Iced Coffee and we say bathers not togs or swimmers. Miss Glenelg carpark at the end of Anzac Highway, so much more. AND LENNIES!
Don’t forget:
The Underground Tavern in Grenfell Street
The ducks that would hatch their young in the Police Headquarters pond in Angas Street, and then be given a police escort down King William St to the Torrens. And no-one cared that the ducks shut down the city.
The News was an afternoon paper.
Golden North Ice-cream
Great list Hayley and great additions Heather.
You love Formula One racing but you’ve never gone to Melbourne to watch it after the Vics pinched it from us.
The butcher always offers free fritz to your children.
For the oldies, you knew ‘good girls’ went to Downtown and the ‘bad girls’ went to Tilt.
I was 16 when I worked at Downtown looking after the video games and sometimes the Dodgem cars. Met our share of good and bad girls, ‘going down the Torrens’ with your girl friend.distant memories of the two movie theatres in Hindley St, the Academy Cinemas in Hindmarsh square. ,Century Hotel, Royal Admiral, playing gigs with the band ‘Toys in the Attic.’
you say I’m just going to Marion (meaning Westfield Marion). When you go into an interstate bakery and ask for a pasty and get a funny look. When going swimming you are wearing your bathers not swimmers or whatever interstaters say. You used to watch channel niners in the 70s and Winky Dink was a co host.
they’re still there! Saw them this week while I was back in Adelaide.
And – a fritz and sauce sandwich!
Pinky Flat and Windy Point
We live in qld and I actually ate the butcher out of fritz last time we visited family.
Oh ! I am definitely having a fritz&sauce sandwich today
I thought ay on end of sentence was a queenslander thing…not adelaide thing
Me too … probably too many of them have come down here to live … can`t blame them !!!!
Agree, saying ‘ay’ at the end if sentences is an Eastern states thing & NZ’s do it too. We Adelaidians don’t say that.
We start out sentences with ‘Yeah, nah…’ which I LOVE!!!
What about our awesome driving style, refusing to merge and “driving to the death” – I think we’ve all been run off the road when trying to merge
You still call the Adelaide Arena (home of the 36ers) the Powerhouse, and always will.
This is great, especially about Victoria Aveune, my cousin had her wedding pictures taken their, myself and the rest of the bridal party were picking out our dream houses 🙂
You forgot, it’s was perfectly normal to see an Aborigindl man walking around Adelaide only in white hotpants and white gum boots!
Oops “Aboriginal”
was that Johnny? he was an Adelaide attraction – wonder where he is now does anyone know
I should have said Icon
Johnny is from the beautiful Clare Valley – the best wine region!
I used to go to Johnny’s aerobics classes at Mitcham gym!
The Christmas pageant is an age old, family tradition involving getting up at 5am to secure great spots!
You had your 5th birthday party at The Fairy Bay – Adelaides 1st fairy shop!
Thinking that Villes being open 24 hours was the greatest thing ever !
The school one is the funniest however ! Great job! 🙂
*Never really know who gives way at the stop sign/round about on Seaview and Henley Beach Road.
* Call the city ‘going to town’
* Joplin’s was upstairs at the New Market Hotel (and was THE BEST).
* When you say you’re going to Marion, West Lakes, TTP or Burnside you know it means the shopping centre not the suburb.
* you or someone you know worked at Foodland as a teenager
When you made pocket money as a kid recycling bottles
Made me giggle Hayley, I guarantee 90 % of all SA’s have done them all and more.. How about when the first Macca’s can to town in Grenfell Road and we would drive down from the hills (looking forward to the Devils elbow) just for the quaterpounder…ahhh thank you for the memories.
You think police horses are always supposed to be greys.
You are disturbed when the awning on a bakery interstate reads “Pies and Cakes” instead of “Pies and Pasties”.
You know when your from Adelaide when you mention “Stobie pole” casually in conversation and anyone not lived in Adelaide will say “what the hell is a Stobie Pole ?”
You know when your from Adelaide when people complain that the water they are drinking tastes awful, but you think it’s FINE!
I grew up in Adelaide and will always call her home 🙂
If your from Adelaide you are always on the look out for the Beaumont children, you still call the David Jones building John Martins and you don’t know why they got rid of the birdman rally?
And the hilarious milk carton regatta…
Well Really !! Why did they ? Great fun !
Hanging out at Downtown or Hindmarsh Rollerskate Rinks. Every Christmas going to the Brewery lights.
Farmers Union Iced Coffee Balfours tea rooms Clip Joint Central Market (you bought a trolley for the market but never used it) Bob Francis great article x
Time zone on Hidley st and the old closed up cinema on hindley st..
You know who adelaides ‘Jesus’ is. And the big aboriginal man walking around in the leotard and with a hula hoop.
Im not from Adelaide I’m a proud Tasmanian.And I find Adelaide confusing! I’ve lived in Melbourne and Sydney, but prefer if i could Tassie
Ofcourse ! Everyone prefers the state they grew up in … the memories !!! wait until you have been here for 30years..
– You have spent at least 2 hours of one long weekend of your life going from the intersection just before Port Wakefield to Port Wakefield.
Don’t forget downtown!
On the good side:
– Farmers Union Iced Coffee is the only one
– It’s a Street Directory not a Refidex (pre-GPS days, of course)
On the bad side:
– driving is a blood sport (yet there’s so little traffic)
– drivers get anxious if they stop for more than 3 seconds at a main road intersection…
– if you miss your train you may be in for a 30 minute wait for the next one…
.. Refidex ??????
You tell people in Queensland that it is dangerous to ‘donkey’ on a bicycle.
You look for fritz in a Sydney supermarket.
You don’t know what a port rack is.
The western themed shooting gallery in Down town where you’d shoot the piano man.
We pronounce it Thebarton not Theb art on.
You’ve called it the Revolting restaurant but never eaten there.
Mullets are still trendy? / popular.
We still have a Hill at the Adelaide Oval
You love the giant political artwork on the Port Wakefield Highway.
You are still dirty that the Vics stole the Grand Prix
You know that the trees at Parafield spell out it’s name.
You think that the apartments at Glenelg have ruined the view from driving down Anzac highway, turning the corner at Marion Rd and being able to see the sea!
Seeing Johnny walking through Rundle Mall with his koala backpack and speedos on, and thinking it’s good to see him. 🙂
You remember seeing the Southern Cross replica aircraft flying over the city on the weekend.
Oh wow the trees at parafield I forgot all about them!
Ah ! … memories
I’ll go back even further and mention Downtown and Tilt in Hindley street. Also you would meet your friends in the Bay carpal at Cookies Kitchen.
Bay carpark.
When you talk about the expressway, you always mention it goes both ways.
Brilliant..
Although I didn’t see fritz… kitchener buns…. echo’s (stubbies) or stobbie poles.. I miss most of that….
Don’t forget double cut rolls
that there is a difference between a checkside and a banana
Don’t forget we are the only ones who know how to pronounce Lego.
As in ‘Laygo’
Well .. it IS french “Le” … not Leggo ….
Actually you’re wrong. Lego is not, and has never been, French. It was invented by a Dane (a native of Denmark). My husband went there several years ago on a business trip, and explained to the locals he met the difference between SA and the rest of the country (he’s from NSW). Apparently SA is the only place in the world where we (I’m originally from SA) think that there is an inflection over the “e”, causing the Lés mishap. There isn’t, and there never has been. The company has even changed their font to try and clear up the mispronunciation. In the US they apparently say Lego’s, as in plural of Lego, but of course in Aus that’s a brand of pasta sauce. I have now changed my pronunciation to Leggo, rather than Laygo, as I refuse to be incorrect.
Thank You !!! Yes!!!
Laygo spot on
What about cruising up the Gorge or down the Bay on a Friday or Saturday night.
And having a Yanni’s yiros, or a feed at the Cavan Steak Van
The lights at Lobethal at Christmas time
Hindley st
– You used to go to Tilt to play pinnies, because downtown sucked
– you saw Beverly hills cop at the purple greater union theatre
– you recall when it took 45 minutes to drive from one end to the other and loved every moment
– you went to the new century hotel
Others
– only SA wine is acceptable. All other wine is terrible. (Note. I live in qld now and they say they make good wine here! ROFL!)
– you remember when Adam internet was actually Adam BBS and you used to dial in with your modem to chat.
– you know (and have visited) the ‘Lego man’ at angaston in the barossa.
– you know the devils elbow has nothing to do with the devil.
– you are awed by how amazing the freeway tunnel is (even though it is tiny compared to other tunnels)
– your not surprised that there are no plastic bags at the supermarket (and feel Luke you need to horde them when you shop interstate)
– you are still cross at the Vic’s for taking ‘our’ grand Prix..
– you still think the mad mouse is the scariest ride
– you used to buy prank toys from Fitch the rubber man in Adelaide arcade
– you’re cross if you pay more than $13 for all day parking in the cbd
– if it takes more than 10 extra minutes to drive home you complain about how bad the traffic is (ha! Try Brisbane at 5pm!)
– you hate the city trams, but marvel how good they are when you rarely have to use them.
– you have got car sick driving down Gorge Rd.
– you are genuinely scared if bush fires (even living in the inner suburbs)
– you fondly miss the gullies plains, hectorville, St Agnes and west beach drive ins (but still haven’t gone to a drive in for the last 15-20 years) – still one at gepps x!
– you used to go to the ‘coffee pot’ on James place
– you went to marine land
– you have had and enjoyed a pie floater (yum!)
– you had an safm 106 card / bumper sticker and thought it was very cool
– you know who winky-dink is
– you have driven to snow town to check out the bank (and to truro too)
hahaaaaa A M A Z I N G
OMG the Mad Mouse was SO scary!! And I’d forgotten about the Coffeepot on James Place, with the tropical island scene on the walls 🙂
And thanks Hayley, what great memories 🙂
You always curse mexican drivers.(Victorians)
You’ve had at least one holiday “up the river” (Murray)
You grew up with neighbours and classmates from 52 countries other than Australia.
Being scared to stand on the top floor of the Adelaide Museum above the giant squid thinking it’s gonna break
Referring to Semaphore and ‘Semmy’
FARMERS UNION ICED COFFEE!
Meeting in the city? Yeah I’ll meet you at the Mall’s Balls.
Happy times, oh how it makes me miss Adelaide at the moment, thanks for the nice read Hayley. x
Getting free smiley fritz from food land should be on here !!!
Fritz and sauce sangas are awesome
Fritz definitely needs a mention
You made the annual pilgrimage to Lobethal to see the Christmas lights!
Only people from Adelaide know what a stobypole and a 3 corner jack is.
Our Adelaide identity, love it! haha that was fun.
Totally spot on….. I had my first pie floater outside the casino when I was pissed….. Don’t taste the same when sober. Lol
It’s a farmers union iced coffee or nothing!
Driving from Hindley St to the carpark at the end of Anzac Highway( before holdfast shores) and back again.I love this city
You know what Fritz is.
Oldie but how about thinking you were shit hot skating on the carpet ramps at the modbury skateline.
I’m always said, “I lived at the arse end of Adelaide, Marino, nobody passed through there.” Response? ” the fish and chip shop?, it was the best”
But I am old!
Does anyone remember the Red Mobil Flying Horse at Glenelg We would get the double decker bus, as soon as we saw the horse we knew we were there.
If you’re not old enough for the Bay Disco, you went to Lennies at the Bay. The best Schnitzel was from the Holdy Hotel, Friday night burnouts at the Glenelg / Anzac Hwy carpark near the rock Jetty, go-karts at Colley Reserve, Bay riots of 84, Downtown, AC-DC at Globe Derby, Hamilton High was Mitchell Park High. Red Hen trains, Dingly Del
Nah, never been to Adelaide..
if you were able to take your girlfriend to Windy Point Lookout you were in luck!
People from other states think you’ve had a stroke when you talk about Stobie Poles. Unlike the rest of the known universe you pronounce Lego as Laygo, I was genuinely surprised SA is the only place that don’t pronounce it as Legho.
When people ask you where you’re from and the closest place they’ve heard of is the Barrossa (and it’s still a half hour drive!)
It doesn’t matter how Nuriootpa is spelt, the ‘p’ is always said before the ‘t’. No one will ever convice us otherwise.
The St. Kilda Adventure playground will always hold a special place in our hearts. We’ll just try to forget the Mangrove boardwalk we endured before-hand.
Ah, Lègo and lego…….i still say it the SA way out principle! Oh and stobie poles!!
From the Clare valley 2am was always “lets go to wakey for a steaky”
Can still taste it 20 years later!
After reading the ’40 signs’ and comments I am so homesick. I miss The Fringe, Festival of Arts and Cabaret.
I’m from just over the border in Victoria (please don’t hold that against me!) but we always went to Adelaide while I was growing up and I studied at UniSA. Dazzleland is what I can relate to the most – and pretty much all the others about being drunk…
lol agree.
How about .. that you truly believe that a visit to Hahndorf is a road trip .. ” out bush “
You’ve made out at Windy Point.
You used to roller skate at Downtown and thought you were freakin awesome.
Going to Hindley Street is what you did when you a little kid for the best (only) gelato.
You’ve been thrown out of the pancake kitchen and ended up at Marcellina’s
You never ever go to Semaphore, but tell everyone else how trendy it is these days.
You call Regency Road “the dog fence”.
Woodys lemonade! Maid n Magpie hotel,The Norwood parade and the famous 1973 grand final between Glenelg v Nth Adelaide and the Graham Cornes speccy!!!! Gold
Omg- I think I must’ve partied with half your replyees- planet, heaven & New York b&g. I don’t think I saw anything about Farmers Union Iced Coffee there thou? Also always look 4 the Eagle on the Hill Hotel each time I drive up the old freeway (coz it’s an awesome road to drive!!). This list is gr8!!
What about AB from Blue Fish Cafe, North Adelaide.
They are new. Not an Adelaide icon,… Horrible things!
Have lived around the eastern states for the last 11 years but still see Adelaide as my home town. So many memories.
Only people from Adelaide know what a stobie pole is
Fond memories of time warp on Wednesday nights with DJ Steve ‘hoops’ Hooper and 50 cent beers and Thursday nights “chemistry” at heaven and Sunday nights at Q bar on Rundle street.
what about
The fact every one knows who “Johnny” is.
You go royal show every year and say it cost too much, and get your Bertie bettle show bag.
Hawkers corner?
You know central markets “has got it all”
You know George the gorilla is
Feel like you are dealing with underprivileged people when they talk about going wine tasting anywhere outside of Barossa/McLaren Vale
Was excited to see Plaster funhouse in brighton on my way through radelaide today. Then there was junk food corner in Reynella…
Ha, I lived near junk food corner as a kid, and my first ever part time job had me training at the Hungry Jacks.
You always queued up at the Mobil petrol station along Marion rd for cheap fuel.
You pronounced Glenelg as Genelg.
You always washed down your balfours pie with a farmers union ice coffee.
Cruising down Hindley st in your car on the weekend was a must.
Even before it was a Mobil!
Watching the TV ads for Downtown and finally getting to go there and roller skate with the cool kids – you know the ones who wore those awesome boot skates ? I still think about that place everytime I hear that song. ‘Downtown! Things will be great when you’re Downtown! Where all the lights are bright, Downtown! Everything’s waiting for you.’
For me it is The Adelaide Royal Show that I always remember, I have planned trips back home around the show dates
#34 ” Nobody is quite sure how to pronounce Nairne.” Around the world in Los Angeles it does not get any easier. Now my life will be incomplete without some Fru Chocs. Fun piece! Thanks
Omg.. I now live in the Netherlands and even though it is so beautiful here I miss home so much.
Btw.. how about when you get a new car you need to do “The Drive” down Hindley St?
Hate that a street mind you.. lol.. sooo many tragic memories -.-“””
This is awesome!!! I lived in Adelaide for the first 23 years of my life and still visit my home land at least twice a year (been in melbs for 18 years now.)
When something is fantastic it’s “heaps cool”.
Power poles are all “stoby poles” to you.
You put your Christmas tree up when Santa comes to town on Pageant day in the 2nd week of November whilst watching it on TV, unless you actually go (unlike interstaters who put their trees up on Dec 1).
Visiting the city is called “going to town”.
Your vowels are pronounced with a high forwards tongue, unlike the east-coasters’ bogan throaty deeper vowel sound. Especially the word “reeeally”.
Except for “a” vowels, which you pronounce more British than the east-coasters and their American sounding ways of saying “plant” and “dance” and “graph” and “France” and “transport”. etc.
And interstaters ask you if you’re from England or New Zealand. Which annoys you. Because you don’t really notice much difference between your accent to theirs. Reeeealy.
You claim superiority over those east-coaster convicts because you descended from a free settlers colony.
You ate fritz & sauce sandwiches on white bread every day in primary school.
Victorians (the rare ones who actually know what fritz is) think that Devon is the same thing. But. It’s. Not. Even. Close.
You’ve never forgiven Victoria for stealing the Grand Prix.
Balfours are the only pies/pasties/sausage rolls worth eating.
You know what a Kitchener bun, Berliner bun and Finger bun are.
You know what the Obahn is, and you’re not talking about some fast road in Germany.
You still miss Magic Mountain. And the hoon’s carpark that used to be at the end of Anzac highway where the apartments are now.
You had a birthday party at Downtown or Skateline. Or both.
Your family still has all their functions at Buckingham Arms. Because smorgasbord.
You’ve tried to see what’s up Scotty’s skirt. (Main nth rd.)
You’ve stood at Light’s corner memorial and pointed towards the city.
You’ve fed those gigantic fish at the botanic gardens.
You’ve played in the leaves at Botanic Park in autumn underneath those trees with the gigantic roots.
If you’ve moved to the east coast you miss watching the sun set over the ocean.
Excellent,
What about how Don Dunston went down to glenelg jetty to stop a potential tidal wave hitting us, date?
I was there, donkeyed my mate on my pushie to Glenelg. 19th January 1976. What a crowd
For years afterward, you could see a ‘hide tide mark’ painted by some wag on a concrete supporting wall next to the highway, just before Eagle on the Hill.
41. You call people from the rest of Australia interstaters.
I’d forgotten that term after 20-something years away. And don’t forget Farmers Union Iced Coffee.
I miss Adelaide!
‘Darnce’ for dance is a giveaway. In Sydney where I have lived for 27 years only toffs and South Australians like me say ‘darnce’.
I still say ‘miook’ for milk and ‘skoow’ for school, and still cringe when the New South Welsh around me say ‘skewl’, and still think they’re convict-descended barbarians for doing so.
It really grates the nerves
You consider Jane Doyle and Jane Reilly as Adelaide TV royalty, yet you still get both of them mixed up!
jane reilly as we all know was the fat cat presenter in the seventies.i was only a baby at the time myself but what we won’t forget in our home is when she said to the older kid viewers to go get their mom that’s what we did.so many memories.it sucks these days on channel 7 all their kids shows for the most part are now disney sourced from america which is no bad thing but aimed more at a teen market,nothing for the younger ones.
What we call things
SA vs interstate
fritz v devon
stobie pole v telegraph pole
fruit box v popper
phone book v refedex
Motor Reg v some weird name as dif in every state
Schooner v midi or pot
carton beer v case of beer
vehicle registration v registration & pink / green slips
West End brewery at Xmas , John Martin xmas pageant Scottman kilt best play ground west park lands then feeding the ducks
Definitely some gold in this collection, but I think there’s a few missing, simply because Hayley wasn’t around in the 60’s or 70’s by the sound of it.
Like when Rundle Mall wasn’t!
HAHA no I came along in 1981 x
Sorry Hayley… You are obviously TOO YOUNG to remember it all … Than you for starting us off on a trip of memories.
Some of us go back further to Rundle Street ….I have loved this article .. it brought back so many good memories.
Yes, the only place you could go ice skating was upstairs at St Moritz in Hindley St.
Don’t for Modbury Skateline, That was the best and Downtown ?
Forget*
You have driven half an hour a 3am just to get a villi’s pie from the villi’s cafe.
Your first taste of coffee was a farmers union.
You would go to the cricket, participate in the wave and BOO at the “snobby” members for not participating and swear never to become a snobby member. Then, you get to borrow a members ticket and swear you are never going back to “The Hill” as the members is so much more than you dreamed of.
I can think of one more….. you tell your non-Radealideian boyfriend “I loved bung fritz and sauce sandwiches when I was growing up…” he follows the answer “Ay??” …so many people have no idea what Bung Fritz it….. you can definitely get it in Hahndorf …
You can still get hung Fritz from the deli section of all supermarkets. No need to travel to Hahndorf!
Dang! Bung fritz
Know the saying ” More front than John Martins”
AND no matter how hot it was you always went down the slide at st. Kilda and ended up with a burnt bum !!! And then did it over and over again lol xx
You know what Le Cornu is.
Well since I am an Adelaidean myself I guess I could add some signs in about Adelaide…
. Anyone from the 80’s up to the 90’s would know (and still remembers) that the Adelaide Street Circuit is the home place of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
. Every year of November you would turn on the TV to watch the Christmas Pageant and most of the time think ‘I wish I could go there one day’ yet didn’t.
. September is the only month where you go to the Adelaide showgrounds to see what was to offer, instead you would go for the rides, food and showbags.
YOU EAT FRITZ ALL THE TIME!!
We prefer to drink flavoured milk to soft drinks. (SA is the only place in the world where this holds true.)
Hills dwellers referring to the city & suburbs as being “on the plains”.
Nowhere else would you find…
Whispering wall
Biggest rocking horse
Milk carton regatta
Did anyone else go to the Old Lion, or The Elephant Walk, both on Melbourne St?
I was scrolling waiting for someone to mention the Old Lion, but the Elephant Walk!!! It was a friend of mine that owned it. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
You go to Adelaide Arcade at least once a year for old time’s sake and think – this is as good as any other arcade anywhere in the world…
Actually lived next door to a policeman who was called to Magic Mountain regarding razor blades on waterslides.
And who can forget Sam’s disco at Norwood, or Thursday night’s at the Arkaba in the early 80’s…
Modbury Skateline Fri nites n Sat nites at Kellys room
Thank you Adelaide for adopting me in ’87. It’s a great place to live and call home.
Delicatessen not Milk bar. Going to the deli.
You pronounce ‘Girls’ as ‘Giws’ and ‘No’ as ‘Noy’, ‘Late’ as ‘Layte’ etc… You pretty much add a ‘y’ to any vowel. Distinctly Adelaide.
Balfours custard tarts and yoyo’s. Why don’t we gave them in the eastern states?
You can tell someone is from interstate because they call Thebarton The Barton and locals get so pee’d of with it.
Going up the river you would go the long way so as to avoid getting car sick thru Chain of Ponds. Going to see the movies at Academy Cinema. Going for school hols to Moonta Bay and having a Cornish pasty and choc éclair from Prices Bakery. Going on the rides at the top of Cox Foys, being bored in Miller Andersons while mum shopped for bras and nana style undies, catching the tram to the Bay where you got to play on the sideshows, Chicken Chef chips, going to Norwood games where you’d buy the Footy Budget and chew on Bubble Yum, smoking Escort Red and then there were the pubs n clubs … Queens Arms, Duke of York (upstairs), Oaks Tavern, Grenfell Tavern, Findon Hotel (with wet t shirt comps), My Place, The Venue, Highway Inn was known as Grab A Granny, going to see Chunky Custard … aah good times
Chicken Chef Chips were the BEST.
Ah, was only at Chicken Chef last night. Best chips!
OMG Chicken Chef chips …..with Gravy!!!
You still call a Fruitbox a Fruitbox regardless of the brand. You know that they don’t have Fritz in Syndey. You know what a yiros is and point blank refuse to call it a kebab.
You have no idea how many times my NSW husband and I argue about the yiros/kebab and kebab/shaslick thing. Glad to see I’m not the only one.
McMahons tonsley on a Thursday night…. Were any of us over 18?
Marineland anyone? Or sitting at the airport bar watching the planes come in – raspberry and lemonade and a bag of crackos
Aaah Marineland, my first job in the upstairs Chinese restaurant…
Drinking Chocolate thick shakes at Haighs in Rundle Street before it was a mall
Going to Coles (Rundle Street) at Xmas Time to get Cheap Xmas present as a kid and catch the bus with a friend without parents
Only drink Woodies lemonade (Woodroofe)only SA’s know how good it is
Having a pie Floater at Norwood parade just up from the town hall at the old petrol station (picture theatres now)
Eating Honey Rolls bought out for Humphy B Bear (Balfours)
As soon as you got of the city limits had to stop at the first country town for Golden North Honey icecream
Had to stop on Melbourne St for all the flavours of Dairy Vale Icecream (Cherry Ripe the best)
Looking for the Bear Rock on the way to Mannum
Could not wait to see the huge wine glass at the show grounds.
Catching the old Steam train down to Victor Harbour and playing cards on the pull out card table
Riding on the Cockle train Victor to Goolwa
Riding the Horse Drawn Coach to Granite Island finding to Fairy Penguins in their holes
John Martins Magic Cave was the best and so were their windows at Christmas
Also wanting to be the little girls riding on Nipper or Nimble
Have lunch with mum on the school holiday at John Martins Buttery three floor
Going up the lifts in town at all the major stores with the lift ladies telling you want is on each floor
Soap suds in the big bath tub (fountain) outside the museum after the pose parades
Riding the Popeye or the paddle boats on the torrens
Watching the winning football teams colours being painted on the bewery chimney
Watching the bottles go around at the Coke Cola Factory on Port Road
playing on the Elephant monkey bars in Rymell Park
Riding on the Elephant or feeding her peanuts (which you put on the wood barrier) in the Adelaide zoo or riding on the train and screaming when it went in the tunnel
Going out to Elizabeth as a kid when it was first built and thinking it was so far out lol
Still real cross that Melbourne pinched the Grand Prix
Every single one Deb!!!
Princeton club at the Burnside Hall compared by Big Bob Francis – Leons Wine Bar Norwood Parade & the endless Jutebox playing of song Baker Street! And of course the Beatles concert didnt hear a word because of the screaming girls!
It’s not Cross Rd, it’s Cross RoadS.
thanks for the smiles and the memories 20 plus years in Melbourne and I still call the Tatts lotto the cross lotto who remembers the rose in Hindley street bout 3 am bring back John martins and yes the family all go “home ” for Easter and Xmas never mind 6 kids born and bred melbournians who are regularly asked where are you from yes you can take us out of Adelaide but not the Adelaide out of us?love you Adelaide now and forever
I’m loving this walk down memory lane!
We always watched out for the “Polar Bear” rock on the top of the hill before descending down the long road to Blanchetown on our many drives to visit family in the Riverland.
Also remember the commentator at the Royal Show fireworks display begging for “blue”.
Hearing the faint sound of the Hari Chrishna bells in Rundle Mall – are they still around?
Ice skating at the Payneham Ice Rink cause it was closer to home than Thebbie
Still missing “Sizzler”, think it’s still in some other states though, Hanrahans and Plates n Platters just didn’t quite cut it!
Dancing on the balconies at Jewels and the Ambassadors Hotel thinking they were going to collapse anytime…
Just remembered the Richmond Tavern in Rundle Mall and the Mansions at 14, once we turned 18 we weren’t interested anymore!
Remembering all the bands that played at the Apollo stadium seeing bands at the Shandon.
Doing a ‘suiy’ off the top tower at the Adelaide swimming centre. (way before it had a roof)
There was a clown at every fair called Fritz Sandwich and he had a triangle of sandwich stuck to the top of his hat.
You went to the Brickworks even though it was a bit average, because you could go inside the chimney.
You went to Toytown on Anzac Highway and got the jingle stuck in your head.
You went to all the miniature train parks.
You call Strathalbyn “Strath”.
You wanted to be the kid who got to ride Nipper or Nimble in the Christmas Pageant.
In the school holidays you wanted to go to all the adventure parks – Greenhills, Puzzle Park, Lakeside Leisure Park and St Kilda.
Monash playground up the riverbank was crazy!!
– you rolled Jaffas down the wooden steps during a movie at academy cinema city in the 80’s
– you loved the old dangerous metal contraptions at St Kilda playground that they tore down
– you’ve climbed The Big Rockinghorse
– you made out at Skye lookout
– anyone who moves to Melbourne is a “traitor”. (Like me)
– you’ve said “Kick a Vic”.
– you went to a Peter Combe concert in primary school
– you say yiros. (Not souvlaki.)
– you know that a shaslick is different to a kebab
– when you tease someone you say that you “payed them out”. Victorians don’t understand this term.
– egg nog is available all year round, not just at Christmas.
– when someone says they’ll meet you at the plaza, you know that they mean TTP, not any other plaza.
– you remember the “tea tree plaza beats themall” add jingle
– you remember when Transformers at the Bridgeway was cool
– you and your bestie lined up all night outside the BASS box office at festival theatre to get front row tickets to your fave artist’s concert. And won prizes from the SAFM car for doing so. (Yes; done that!)
Loving all these memories!
Fri nights at Mansions Tavern or Transformers (Bridgeway Hotel)….
20c games at the arcade at Magic Mountain….
It’s not just lgood”.
It’s “heaps good”.
How about going for a ‘coffee’ at Cafe Bonjourno on a Sunday afternoon in Rundle St.
Stopping at Cafe Villies on South Rd at 2am for bacon and eggs cause it never closes.
Hangin in the Bay car park after a day at the beach listening to 5KA (or was it SAFM?) telling you “time to turn,so you don’t burn”…. Dutch croquettes from the grumpy Dutch guy at the Broady beachfront cafe….Lennies on a Saturday night & the Holdy on a Sunday… Magic mountain was always “The Magic Turd”….Seeing the sea coming down Anzac Highway….If you made the trip into town it was always to go to the upstairs place that played “Skah”…. OMG I’m feelin old….but smilin….Bay girl through & through….
This is just too funny! Loving everyone’s comments too.
I was able to take my great grandson from perth to the lobethal butcher to get a piece of fritz in his hand while i bought some meat. He learnt to say fritz at 18 months.
Loving all these memories! When family friends moved to QLD 30 years ago, you weren’t welcome to visit unless you were toting bung fritz, yo-yo biscuits and Newman’s Horseradish. To this day….
Coopers Beer – the best SA brew!
Great post certainly does show our unique side in the great city!
I grew up here in the 60’s so there are MANY things I know that have slowly disappeared for a lot of these newer things mentioned in these comments and the OP.
Things like the Sideshows at Glenelg well before Magic Mountain.
Doing a “Trundle down Rundle” in the HT Monaro before they paved it and turned it into a mall.
It was ALWAYS “Teasers” Newmarket Hotel and still is, amongst my mates (before it became “Heaven”)
Squirts disco at Burnside.
Red Rattler trams to Glenelg – Red Hen trains with the sliding doors we always kept open.
As a kid growing up in Norwood we rode our bikes all the way to Glenelg and often met other kids on “Anzacaway” (as the Italians called it).
The Norwood Boys, Richmond Boys, Glenelg Boys – Rockers
The Old Mariner Hotel (now Red Square) which was one of the most popular and ritzt places in Australia, many celebs went there. Until its decline and then became The City hotel full of thugs and lowlife. (oh still like that right ;-))
Jules Nightclub was the sleazy italian disco scene complete with mirror balls and revolving dancefloor) They handed you a salad and cold meat plate as you walked in.
Bogarts night club in Nth Adelaide – Leons in Norwood
We had to buy a $1.50 meal voucher to deem that we had eaten and able to stay after midnight.
Everyone in Adelaide had been to The Bridgeway hotel at least once to see a Live Band.
Pasties we have Australias best pasties – eastern states have NO idea how to make them and they are big on Pies!
Adelaidians loved out farmers Union Iced Coffee which for a long time you could only get here and any other brand in any other state was jut terrible.
Then there was Eagle on the Hill Hotel , the only pub you could get take aways on a Sunday – as a bonafide traveller.
Hahndorf Hotel was the first Sunday opener Pub.
Everyone went to Victor for a day trip.
Stobie Poles uniquly Adelaide and Roundabouts which were trialled in Adelaide before going anywhere else. (much later)
Adelaide people have roundabouts down pat, they are clueless in the eastern states.
Pie Floaters!! an Adelaide invention// i remember 3 of them in Aadelaide, I worked the one in Norwood for a short time – dont even bother with the lame attempts by Harrys Cafe De Wheels in Sydney!
Coles Cafeteria on the first floor of coles always good for a cheap lunch.
Cox Foys fun fair on the roof top.
The HUGE “Mah Jong Tea” neon sign at the top of the ramp in Adelaide Railway station.
Adelaide Beeline Bus – free bus looping the city. Great break from shopping or clubbing!
The John Martins Christmas Pageant
The Glenelg Birdman Rally
Fish and chips wrapped in Newspaper
Triangle milk cartons at school
Sunny Boys & Snips frozen drinks also in triangle cartons.
Does anyone remember when the Mall opened the fountain had Champagne flowing from it!
When A tidal wave and earthquake was supposed to hit Glenelg/ Victoria square – Don Dunstan premier at the time making a speech from the end of Glenelg Jetty and Norman Gunston at Mt Lofty with a surfboard! hahah.
Kitchener Buns – Fruchocs – Frog Cakes I think have been previously mentioned.
Sams Yiros was the best place for Yiros in Adelaide!
and the Corner butcher always giving us kids free fritz after school!
I grew up in Adelaide Maylands & Norwood & just spend 12 years in Sydney – I got out of the suburbs real quick and decided to live in the Blue Mountains. I have been back in Adelaide now 3 years and LOVE IT.
I miss the Mountains but NOT anythign about Sydney.
We truly have it good here.
This is a great City, Clean and easy to get around in!
Adelaide, like it? LOVE IT!
Tk..
OMG! Your list is amazing! haha love it x
Sam’s made the BEST yiros and creamed kadaifi to die for!! And there were also $4.50 snitty parmys at the Royal Hood Hotel on Thursday nights. And remember The Kennel hot dog place on Portrush Road?
I’m in tears this morning. Like some others, I’m older. (Raelene, did you go to primary school at MLC in the 50’s? I’ve lived in New York for 40 years, but I “still call Adelaide home.”
SO many things – the Christmas parade (a neighbor would park their car, and we’d sit on the roof – makes me cringe now!). Yes, the brewery lights.
Lunch with cakes at David Jones after a dentist appointment.
Taking the tram from Goodwood (home) to school (MLC).
My first job – selling Easter eggs at Myers.
So I wasn’t the only one who looked for baby penguins in the rocks at Granite Island?
The lushness of the greenhouse at the Botanical Gardens. (I’m still amazed every summer in New York that trees turn green in the SUMMER.)
Meeting at the Beehive Corner.
Sigh…
You take interstate visitors tobogganing at Mt.Thebarton, although it closed down 11 years ago!
Remember the INXS concert at Theny theatre, Pricky Pear shows ($10 all you could drink) at the West Beach Lifesaving Club competed by Pembo, Sams disco, Rollerdromenat Hindmarsh, the Pageant and the Magic Cave.
Your list and these comments have reminded me of some great traditions. Anyone remember
. Berties with its flavoured coca cola
. Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Capri Theatre – and the theatre’s organ
. Panorama drive in
. meeting at Darlington petrol station then driving to Victor for a pizza
. Jasmine restaurant – the best !!
and definitely Haighs chocolates, now celebrating 100 years!!!
Hayley,
The one about Victoria ave is sooo true!
We used to rent in Myrtle Bank and every single time we passed. . As you said!
🙂
you think the car park at Glenelg was better that the buildings there now and the sideshows looked good but never used em
Amscol ice-cream Rainbow brick brought from a deli & eaten at teatime after sliced into 8 portions – 6 kids in family. Menz YoYos- recipe has changed now. The local butcher knew your name & always gave you fritz when you passed his shop. Tip Top home delivered bread daily- fresh finger buns with sultanas. We have lived away now for 25 years, but Adelaide will always be home, although we will never live there again. Thanks for all the flasbacks.
And the old Kitchener Buns?
Does anyone remember a restaurant on Hindley Street, and later on Rundle Street called the Orient Express? The decor was like a train, and there were private booths and they pulled the curtains across. Also the Liberty Book Shop that had about a thousand different kinds of tea and hummingbird cake. Other Adelaidian stuff: King Neptune at Darlington, Miss Gladys Sim Choons, the Lamb Spit at Glenelg, Two Dogs (alcoholic) lemonade, and the Whispering Wall.
King Neptune now lives in Largs North
https://www.flickr.com/photos/145874413@N08/31948756163/in/photolist-SHBZ9e-QFcJ8v
Doorsteps (thick toast ) at the Left Bank
cnr Pulteney and Pirie, Adelaide Uni Cloisters and old refectory and going way back Princeton and Cambridge dance clubs (no alcohol) and Decca’s Place Melbourne St Nth Adelaide for cheese platter and apple juice after play at Union Theatre…first trendy coffee shop ever basement of building cnr Payneham Road
and ??? Street opp tram place
Oh yeah, Doorsteps at The Left Bank!! And banana caramel pie at Fleet Street!!
I can relate to most of these even tho I didn’t start living here till I was 14….. at first I absolutely hated it as I grew up in inner Melbourne and Adelaide felt like the sticks but I grew to love it and now I wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world ! Love your the photo of Port Elliot bakery as that’s where I currently live and needless to say I don’t ever line up 🙂
the top of Brighton rd still called cement hill
Fabulous piece of work Hayley! Nothing better than hot chips walking down the Glenelg Jetty! I did the mandatory two years in London and with my ‘Adelaide’ accent passed as a local with ease!
Don’t forget double cut rolls
So glad I found your blog Hayley. I’ve been in Vic too long, now I fear I’m stuck here- and I miss Adelaide so much it breaks my heart. This list was spot on, every single one was a “yep” for me!. When Victorians tell me “You have an accent” (because I pronounced the name “Grant” properly) I still find it flattering. When I say “I’m just popping down to the Deli” they assume I’m buying smallgoods. My son, who barely remembers that he was born in S.A, still loves his fritz and sauce sandwiches. One day I will break free from this jail and come home to my first love. Adelaide don’t ever change!
Two more:
-You just can’t eat round pies if you can have a square one because they are more like Balfours. And don’t get me started on blackcurrant tarts…
-You get annoyed that nobody noticed when Colin Theile died, because Peter Brock and Steve Irwin died the same week.
What about Sigalis milk bar in Rundle Street. Great place to meet and all the cutlery etched ” stolen from Sigalis”.
I do remember the flying horse the Plume oil logo at the end of Anzac Highway.
Love Adelaide
I love all of these but have to add
Puzzle Park in the summer, when you said you didn’t need the hessian sack and the first time you went down the slide you got burnt, and then always used the sack after!
Church Nightclub on Rundle St
Caffe Buongiornos on Rundle St
The Exchange Hotel – where noone was ever over 18
Bump and Grind, the nightclub at the Hilton
You made out on the little hill in the park at the back of the Norwood Coles
Sneaking UDL’s into Skyshow at Bonython Park
Playing/ paddling in the River Torrens
when you could get 5c of mixed lollies or carobs at the deli, and every suburb had a few little corner delis.
you prayed for days over 35 so you could go home from school early!
Nice work Hayley. It sums up Adelaide pretty well. I’ve lived in both Melbourne and Sydney, and am now back in Adelaide, although I have to say, not by choice. Your list has a good selection of trips down memory lane, for people of all ages. I’m just a few years older than you, and grew up in the Barossa Valley, and for my family, making the trip into Rundle Mall was a major event that required precise planning, almost like a military operation. Now I live in the southern suburbs and just jump on a train whenever I need to. After living in Melb and Syd, Adelaide does seem small, but at least it’s easy to navigate. Some of the nuances and pronunciations still get on my nerves, because I know that they are wrong. People from the eastern states use the term “30 minutes and 30 years” to describe just how far behind SA really is, and in most aspects they’re right. I’ve been back in Adelaide now for about 4&1/2 years and still can’t used to the fact that the supermarkets close at 9pm weekdays and 5pm weekends, with public holiday trading strictly forbidden. In Melb and Syd it’s midnight on weekdays and 10pm on weekends and public holidays, with the only exceptions being Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and Good Friday, when trading is forbidden. Boxing Day trading is compulsory, especially in Melbourne. Otherwise a good mix of items, and the comments were great, although I can’t agree with all the people who love Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee and Balfour’s everything. I think Farmer’s Union is icky sickly sugary muck, that has no coffee taste at all, and Balfour’s is just stodgy and flavourless (give me Villi’s any day).
Yeeeeeesssssssssssssss. Sooooooo good!!! Love this.
Can you drive past the men in Black poster near Unley area
And you think it’s cool when you drive past the men and black poster near Unley?. Also you love seeing the big bugs and other things like aliens on your way near Port Wakefield Road
I didn’t do most of those things lol
But a few others are:
Farmers Union Iced Coffee.
The Pancake Kitchen – “We never close!” (I think they did once and I assumed the apocalypse was upon us).
You know a schooner is a small glass, a pint is a big glass. Nobody ever orders a schooner.
If you order a pale ale, you mean Coopers Pale Ale.
You know what the O-bahn is.
You’ve been to see the Lobethal Lights at Xmas.
And for those of us who aren’t “trendy”:
You know which one Grenfell Street is. It’s the one with The Cranka on it.
You know what The Cranka is.
You know old Shotz was better, and started your night there loading up your table with dollar beers (the only time it actually was ok to order schooners).
You know The Gov is an institution and if anything ever happens to it you will riot.
You know you are from Adelaide if you describe something Good as “HEAPS GOOD!”
I can’t believe nobody mentioned this:
Being on your best behaviour for the last half hour of school in case the teacher gave you all an “early minute”.
Although I was a devout Lennies Lurker, I did on the I’d occasions go to the “disco” at the Tonsley Hotel. But I can’t for the life of me, remember what it was called. Can someone please help my fading memory.
Thanks
mcmahons
21. Only someone from Adelaide would think ALL east coasters do that. It’s only a small part of Melbourne and some resident Kiwis that do that.
35. Wow.
10. Nobody I know in Adelaide – we move in very different circles.
34. Hate to break it to you – EVERYONE knows how to pronounce Nairne. Again, different circles.
16.Again. Wow.
39.Watch out for anyone that asks you that – they’ve never heard a UK citizen speak. EVER.
dinos dial a pizza, lloyds hardware
Oh I rememberLloyds hardware & Dinos Dial-a-pizza, with the light up red phone on the roof!
I can’t find anything on the Internet about the old bus service from Glenelg to Seacliffe in the 60s and 70s. Wertherlies , had their depot on the corner of Brighton Road and Oaklands Road. I believe the building is now a crash repair.
Can anybody help me with information about this old company.
I often caught the Worthley’s bus, which had a stop by SHC on the corner of Adelaide Road and Brighton Road, right by their bus depot, and another on the corner of Lascelles Avenue and Struan Avenue, just one block from our house. The buses were all converted army trucks and were very primitive. The depot can still be seen to this day on the northeast corner of Brighton and Oaklands Roads. It was in a large L-shaped garage that had doors to both roads. The fleet of vehicles was a mishmash of sizes and shapes unified by the custard and red colour scheme. The older buses all had their engines in projected bonnets just like a motorcar. They were all one-man operated and had a single door adjacent to the driver. The driver sold the tickets. There was no bell to alert the driver about my stop: rather I would have to stand in the aisle as the bus approached the stop and hope that I was noticed, which didn’t always happen in time
#1 sign you are from adelaide:
You have no life and spend every waking hour telling yourself and anybody that listens, that adelaide is the mot wonderful place in the world and that everybody else on the planet is jealous of you.
All the while sticking your fingers in your ears and digging your head in the sand to avoid reality.
John Vincent and the gang on 107.1 SAFM the morning Zoo.
And the old Harris Scarfe building in Rundle mall, always on sale and what a bargain basement, the whole store with its creaky old floorboards, the old place had gone on my last visit.
I am probably one of the oldest commenters here, or amongst the oldest, I left Adelaide over 40 years ago but I am still a crow eater and Adelaide is where my heart is. My favorite spot in the city is the Adelaide railway station (so many memories of my teenage years going on train rides and the wonderful Art Deco station, and of course taking the tram (and I mean the old brown trams with the leather seats! like the one now down near Glenelg close to replica of the Buffalo), used to go down to Glenelg most weekends in summer, I loved those trams so much and Glenelg. On last holiday to Adelaide last year was so thrilled to see the old tram on display down there and several photos of it, some I took of the inside by poking my camera through a crack in the door, I have a copy of this photo on my fridge – it really has such strong memories for me looking at that photo, odd I know, a photo of a small section of the inside of an old tram, It’s really warms my heart to look at it. Still love Adelaide, my home so much!
You live in Adelaide’s Mount Compass and are told by everyone you meet that that’s the place that it’s Always raining (even on 46 degree days) and we just smile.
This is awesome hahahaha had me cracking up. I didn’t grow up here but it makes me wish I did lol
This is a good article thanks for sharing this I learned a lot here
Oh yeah, Lecornu in North Adelaide, then Ashford, now the building inAshford is gone!😭, 5KA, The annual Teddy Bears Picnic, The All Fords Day, The Mad Mouse at the Show, Sky Show. Long Lost events, memories held forever. And I am showing my age!😱😭
I seem to be about the same vintage as Jo, and left Adelaide in 1978 for a career change.
I also remember Worthley’s buses, from school at SHC to North Glenelg where we lived, about a block north of the Old Gum Tree.
Baz and Pilko on the radio. Debating which station was best, 5KA or 5AD. The Old Spot Hotel. Putting copper coins on the tram track along Jetty Road Glenelg and seeing them crushed flat. Cracker night. And an ad on TV in the 60’s for a used car dealer that went something like:
“When I was a lad I served a term
For winding back clocks for a used car firm ….”.