‘Bay to Birdwood’, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

A pleasant September weekend activity in Adelaide each year is the ‘Bay to Birdwood’ vintage and classic car run.  Hundreds of eye-poppingly (is there such a word? – there is now!) restored cars travel in a 70 km long procession from Glenelg on the coast to Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills, home of the classy National Motor Museum.  One year it’s the turn of veteran and vintage cars, the next, classic cars from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. It’s the largest, most long-standing motoring event for veteran, vintage and early classic vehicles held anywhere in the world. 

The 2011 run was for classic cars, and even for non petrol heads like us, it was a great day.  The polish and finish on the cars have to be seen to be believed, and with many of the owners dressed in clothing of the relevant period, it was like stepping back into our teenage years (thankfully minus the pimples this time).  Swarms of people admired the cars while the period bands played in the central arena.  Even Elvis Presley put in an appearance - we hadn’t seen him since Vegas in 2007 and he’s still in pretty good shape with his voice in fine mettle.

Winner of the 2011 award for the best presented car was Peter and Lynda Ninnis of Swan Hill with their magnificent 1958 Ford Skyliner.  You can see some more pictures of the cars that made this year’s run here.

September in China

Come early September it was time to return to China for my next classes, this time a week in each of Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.  With no wider travel planned this visit, the month passed quickly and I was in Shanghai in what seemed no time at all for the final class, this one in the modern suburb of Songjiang on the city’s outskirts.

On our day off we visited Qibao Ancient Town, originally established a thousand years ago in the Song Dynasty, and now absorbed within the Shanghai metropolitan sprawl about 20 km south-west of the city centre.  These days Qibao is a tourist haunt with the usual myriad of trinket, tea, clothing and food snack stalls.  We later strolled through the nearby Long Hua Buddhist temple complex, its location marked by an equally impressive tall pagoda opposite the entrance.

But it wasn’t a pleasant day for walking in the heat and humidity, and after returning to the hotel we waited until after dark before venturing out onto the streets again for a return visit to the excellent cafe strip with great Chinese food at prices that would please the most tight-fisted Finance Director, a 30 minute walk away past a lakeside plaza on which hundreds of people were doing their nightly “ballroom” dancing.