A Tiger Tale

  Adelaide Central Market:  There is time for one more visit before I say adieu to Adelaide, so I head to the Central Market.   I spotted it when I arrived, but then forgot about it.  It covers the interior of a block, with no market-shed atmosphere.  It is completely inside.  And then, to ruin everything, there’s a Coles grocery store in the market.  Coles is the second largest food store chain in Australia.Do you know who is first?  Woolworths!  I thought they had completely disappeared from the retail landscape, but I have seen them all over Australia. 

Close Call:  I flew Tiger Air (the Ryanair of Southeast Asia and Australia) from Melbourne to Adelaide.  It was cheap, so I flew with them again from Adelaide to Sydney.  Other than having to put up with frustrating web pages to buy tickets (typical of all these budget carriers), it was an entirely satisfactory experience.  My flight on Friday afternoon was one of the last to leave Melbourne.  Early the next day (as I write this), the Australian Civil Aviation Authority grounded Tiger Air until July 9.  Why?  “immediate and serious safety reasons.”  I feel sorry for all those who are on a week-end round trip ticket and won’t be able to get home.  What if this had happened yesterday morning instead of today?  I would have had some problem-solving to do.  And remember, the bus or train ride from Adelaide to Sydney is 24 hours.  There are other carriers, though, like Virgin Australia.  I’ll bet their seats are going to fill up fast.  Tiger Air, by the way, is a Singapore-based airline.

Sydney Showers:  I have been fortunate so far: almost no occasion to use my umbrella.  Once we cut through the clouds to land, however, I could see that it was raining hard in Sydney.  I took the train to Central Station by which time the rain had stopped.  I found my hostel with little ado, same place I stayed in 2006.  No reservations, but they did have a cancellation so I got a bed for the night.  Had I arrived an hour earlier, I would have been turned away; had I arrived an hour later, someone else would have taken the vacancy.  My luck is holding, and I am wondering if it’s an omen.  Should I climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

The rain stopped.  The sun got lower on the western horizon.  And soon, a golden eventide was upon Sydney.   The cloud cover held, but the there was a band of clear skies to the west.  I took a walk up and around the central railway station, with some good views of the CBD, which stretches from here towards the old harbor and The Rocks. 

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.