Sunday morning walk to croquet

St John's Church in Halifax Street.

This morning was one of those beautiful Adelaide mornings.  As I ambled from home to the South Parklands, it was a mild 21 degrees, with a gentle breeze. Magic.

St John's Rectory

Street verges plant to roses, lavender and shrubs.

A pleasant place for a rest along the way.

Past interesting homes.

Home of the French Consul in Adelaide

A beautiful home and grounds

St Corantyn, built in 1891 by Charles Hornabrook.
The home was also owned by Sir John Lavington Boynthon for many years.

Ochiltree House, built in 1882 for John Rounsevell.
The home reflects a Victorian Italianate style with a French influence in the mansard roof.

South Terrace Croquet Club

 And my destination, the South Terrace Croquet Club.  What a lovely relaxed way to spend a Sunday morning.

Perhaps in a future post I'll let you in on the hidden pleasures of croquet.

Victoria Park #Victoriapark #parklands #horses #cycling

Victoria Park, or Bakkabakkandi Park as the local Kaurna Aboriginal

people name it, is 72 hectares of multi-purpose use parklands 

sitting on the doorstep of the city.

The heritage listed grandstand was built for watching horse-racing.

The racehorses only left their parklands home in 2008.

Champion cyclist Stuart O'Grady and former Port

Power footballer Nathan Eagleton are wanting to turn

the grandstand into a 120 seat indoor and outdoor cafe, cycling gym and 

children's play area.  

There is also talk of turning the former kiosk into a cafe.

Victoria Park is a drawcard for those wanting to maintain 

their fitness in the open air, with running tracks and outdoor gym 

equipment set up around the park.

The park has a bike or criterium track, soccer, cricket and football

ovals and is home to model aircraft enthusiasts on the weekends.

The park is home to a myriad of birdlife including cockatoos, 

parrots, magpies, kookaburras, ibis and a range of other birds.  

Koalas, possums and even foxes have made their home in the park.

Part of Victoria Park is converted into a V8 car race track each year

and was formerly a section of the Formula 1 Grand Prix 

track between 1985 and 1995.

It is now home to the annual International Horse Trials.

 But most of the time Victoria Park is a tranquil place to exercise dogs,

walk, jog, ride bikes or to just sit on a park bench to soak up the sunshine.

Olive Trees in the Adelaide Parklands #olives #trees #parklands

The first olive trees were brought to Adelaide on the HMS Buffalo

in 1836, the city's founding year.  A few of that very first batch of olive trees

were planted on Kangaroo Island, with the rest of them

planted out at Elder Park on the banks of the River Torrens. 

The Elder Park olives were transplanted to North Adelaide in the first few 

years of settlement. Up until 1900, thousands of olive trees were 

planted throughout the Adelaide parklands.

From what I can work out the olive trees (photographed in this post)

 on the edge of Victoria Park were planted in 1872.

Even back then the colony of South Australia had a thriving

olive oil business, exporting the oil to other colonies.

Many of the olive trees survive to this day throughout sections

of the Adelaide parklands, with the city council issuing licences

each year to locals who want to pick the olives for either pickling

or making olive oil.