A morning in Port Adelaide

Port Adelaide - Torrens Island

I don't know what it is about ports, but for some reason I always really like them. Whether it is a small port where you mainly see small fishers boats or one of the biggest ports in the world (Rotterdam) full of container ships, there is a certain thing in the air that attracts me. Is it the feeling of being in a place where long journeys begin? Is it the feeling of being connected to the rest of the world, through boats and ships that bring goods from destinations far away? Or is it the smell of the water, the fresh fish and the sound of the birds that are flying around? Whatever it is, my joy of walking around a port was being confirmed again last Sunday, when the Drover and I spent a morning in Port Adelaide. This port is officially established in 1840, which was only four years after the foundation of the state of South Australia in 1836 - back in the colonial times.

Fish straight from the fishers boat at the Torrens Island Market

We started our journey by visiting the Torrens Island Market, a great little outdoor market with fresh produce from local farmers that attracts a very multicultural crowd of people. Although not all the produce seemed to be of the highest quality, the prices were incredible. I felt as if for a moment I was back in Italy on a local market, with the possibility to get a full bag of veggie goodness for not so much. We were a bit lazy in the morning so we were not the earliest visitors, and the quality of the produce that we saw was very mixed. But I strongly believe that if you make it to this market early (6am) you can get a lot of good stuff for your precious dollars!

The market mostly has fruit and veg, but there was also an Italian bakery stall and a few people selling other things like eggs, salumi (cured meats) and olives. A not-to-miss-part of the market, that we did mostly miss, is the fish that is being sold directly from the fishers boats by the fishermen themselves. Early in the morning they arrive with their freshest catch of the day and at 9 o'clock most of it is gone. Luckily we already purchased our fish and seafood for the weekend on Saturday from Free Range Seafood, but next week we might just go back to Torrens Island at six to get some seafood fresh out of the water.

Port Adelaide - Torrens Island

With a beautiful bunch of yellow, orange, purple and pink carrots in our bag and full of inspiration to come back first thing next week, we continued our trip by visiting the indoor bric-a-brac market in the Fishermen's Wharf. In case you are wondering what bric-a-brac means: 'miscellaneous small articles collected for their antiquarian, sentimental, decorative, or other interest,' or just what we call a rommelmarkt in Dutch. The Drover mostly thought it was a hall full of old stuff and rubbish, but I saw potential for finding some nice little things if you would take your time to have a good look around... Some vintage clothing, second hand books for only a few dollars, hand painted China, really nice old-school biscuit tins...

The market gave me a feeling of going back in time, of being in another era, with the people selling their so carefully collected items looking just as old fashioned and charming as the articles that they are exhibiting. Another place in the Port of Adelaide that I will have to go back to and take my time to look around, while the Drover can go and drink some beers in the Port Dock Brewery!

When we walked outside again on the waterfront of the Port Adelaide River, the Drover told me about a little treat that he used to get sometimes when he was a child, visiting the Port with his family. Lucky me, I got the chance to try this treat! Mini donuts from Danny's Mini Donuts' stall, next to the bright red lighthouse that dates back to 1869. Danny still makes delicious little donuts, fresh while you're waiting, that come covered in a sugar and cinnamon sprinkle. Yumm! Being a tourist in my new home I got the donuts with a little Australian flag, but if I would keep on coming back "you don't get the Australian flag anymore after seven or eight times!" The 15 delicious, super fresh mini donuts, for only $4,50, were gone before we knew it...

Danny's Mini Donuts

Yumm! Danny can count on me next time I'm in Port Adelaide!

The feeling of going back in time that I had when we walked around the Fishermen's Wharf Market stayed around the rest of the morning when we walked around the old part of the Port. At the moment a beautiful replica of the Endeavour, Captain Cook's sailing ship with whom he became the first European to land on the east coast of Australia on 29 April 1770, is in Port Adelaide. Whole families and big groups of people come to the Port to see this ship and imagine what life in the time of the big voyage's of discovery must have been like.

The Endeavour

In the Heritage Area of the Port you can imagine a bit what life back in the colonial times must have been like, with its old wharves, warehouses and victorian style houses dating back to the second half of the 19th century. In the Railway Hotel, that opened 19 March 1856, the old items in the pub, the photo's on the walls and the stories of the pub owner help you to get a picture of the old days. It is as if you can almost smell the locomotives that used to depart from the Railway Station across the road (now a modern building hosting the police station) and you can hear the voices of the pub patrons and their customers exchanging the last local news while drinking a beer.

Port Adelaide has a lot more to discover that I would love to go and explore another time. Maybe I should try the 'Heritage Pub Trail' that brings me to ten of the oldest, original pubs of the Port and talk to some local characters to get to know a bit more about the history of this fascinating area of Adelaide. And Danny? He can count on me. No visit to Port Adelaide without Danny's Mini Donuts!

Beautiful old bicycle in The Railway Hotel

The Railway Hotel - 1856