To celebrate my 23rd birthday yesterday, my sister (who’s in Adelaide studying at the same university I am) and I braved Adelaide’s bafflingly confusing public transport system and went to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills for some German beer and grub, and for a bit of a photographic expedition. Good times!
I’ve been making the mistake of taking far too many photos and not uploading any of them, so this afternoon I made the time to pick the best shots and upload them to a Flickr photo gallery, surprisingly named Birthday in Hahndorf!.
Hahndorf is a beautiful little German heritage town in the Adelaide Hills in Australia with many German souvenir shops, restaurants, delicatessens, pastry shops, art galleries and coffee shops. Wikipedia’s Hanhdorf article has a lot of information about it’s history.
The Google Map for Hahndorf gives you an idea where it is in relation to the Adelaide city area:
The German influences are really noticeable in the architecture and design of many of the buildings and streets. At this time of the year when the weather is getting cooler in a part of the hills where it’s usually cooler than the rest of Adelaide it starts to feel really authentic. The only hint you’re still in Australia are all the Holden cars parked along the side of the road!
Our favourite German restaurant and pub in Hahndorf is the Hahndorf Inn on Main Street; we’ve been coming here since we first visited Adelaide back in 2004 when we were trying to decide what city in Australia to study in (it’s good to have some recent history to recall in times like this in my birth country!)
The food is ridiculously good and reasonably priced, especially compared to German grub in Singapore which can cost over $100 for my sister, dad and I. They also have authentic German beer from Munich on tap which tastes great and is also reasonably priced.
Given it was my birthday I got the German mixed grill which had roast pork, sliced potatoes with herbs, klöße, sauerkraut and a selection of würstes and mustard. As I said, it was ridiculously tasty! Elke got her usual schnitzel, and of course we got plenty of authentic warm pretzels! We had some chocolate cake and coffee for desert after sitting and talking for an hour or so.
I’m regretting posting these photos now, they’re making my hungry again! Do you reckon they do home delivery to Mawson Lakes?
After a certain time on weeknights the buses back to Adelaide only leave every hour, so after a few hours of eating, taking photos and walking around we rushed to the main bus stop with just a few minutes to spare. I’d love to come back with my camera when in less of hurry, as I said Hahndorf is a beautiful place.
You can view the rest of the photos I took in my Birthday in Hahndorf Flickr photo gallery.
As for my birthday, I had a great time even if I spent all morning doing homework! I got some great presents and an amazing delivery as well, but those will be for another post. Thank you all for your birthday wishes on Twitter, Google Reader, Facebook and emails :). I was worried how down I’d be feeling considering it’s only my second one since mum moved on, but it would’ve been hard to feel bad with all you guys sending me messages all day. Thank you again!
It is definitely starting to show that it’s Autumn here in Adelaide; after almost every day being as hot as Singapore when we came back here, this weekend has been in the low 20s and drizzling. To the astonishment of many a person in the real world and online I’ve readily admitted I prefer overcast days; there’s something about them that allows me to relax more. Perhaps it was the positive cool change overcast days have on tropical climates that made me think of them positively.
Big Tom shared this article he found interesting from the BBC on Google Reader yesterday. 
Unexploded Japanese relics, weapons grade plutonium in the US… and here I was thinking the oldest example of a dangerous weapon of this grade was a bottle of aged Johnny Walker. A single drop of that stuff can go through lead I’ve been told. It certainly tastes radioactive.
