Life En Route

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Downtown Adelaide and Glenelg

A few pictures of downtown Adelaide and Glenelg, a village about 30 minutes by tram through the suburbs to the coast.

There are several shopping arcades like this in Adelaide, reminiscent of London.

This reminded me of the famous Bean in Millennium Park in Chicago.

Australia has many yummy bakeries (and coffee shops)!

Adelaide's City Hall.

Yes, they have Nando's in Australia (this is a great chicken chain we first encountered in South Africa)!

But I chose to eat at a local cafe - grilled ham and mushroom panini with a 'flat white', which is an espresso with hot milk, but not as much as a latte, and a small bit of foam, but not as much as a cappuccino.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The University of Adelaide

The campus of the University of Adelaide is urban, located just next to the downtown area of the city. It was the third university established in Australia, begun in 1879, and some of its buildings date from that time. Although compact, it is a beautiful campus with lots of character.

Monday, August 20, 2012

A Walk Through An Adelaide Neighborhood

I just finished up a good week in Adelaide and am finally getting around to posting some pictures of my time there.

I went to Adelaide (about a 2 hr flight west from Sydney, located in the state of South Australia) in order to interview one of the academics who was a key leader in the life of the partnership between IU and the Australia National University. (A refresher: I am exploring an academic partnership between IU and the ANU for my doctoral dissertation. I have spent the bulk of my time in Oz in Canberra, which is where the ANU is located). He has subsequently taken a position at the University of Adelaide. Since my funding organization urged me to go there to interview him in person rather than, say, simply doing so on the phone - and since they are paying for it - I was happy to oblige!

While there, I enjoyed the hospitality of Peter and Margaret Gunn, longtime friends of Mom and Dad Hawkins. The Gunns met the Hawkins at Blacknall many years ago while Peter Gunn took a sabbatical from his Australian university in order to visit and study at Duke University.

The architecture throughout Adelaide was really pretty, and for me was reminiscent of Cape Town - tin roofs, single-story, stone walls, and small gardens with flowers that bloom even in the winter (remember, it's winter down here). I took a walk to try to capture some of the feel of their suburb, called Prospect.

The front door of the Gunn's home, my home for my week in Adelaide (a photo of the Gunns below).

Here are my gracious hosts during my week in Adelaide, Margaret and Peter Gunn. They are offering me Vegemite spread thinly (important! very salty!) on crackers.

Javan's Wedding

My cousin Javan Miner married Emily Mindrebo last weekend, August 11th! It was amazing to see so many family and friends there to support them - and amidst the inevitable busy-ness, catch up a bit with extended family that I haven't seen in a while.

It was an absolutely beautiful wedding day and ceremony, with all the activities hosted at the Mindrebo farm/homestead near Carmel, IN (just north of Indianapolis). Even for those of us extended folks who weren't involved with the preparations, the Mindrebos allowed us to hang out at their house during the day and be together. (Complete with playground, pool, creek, lots of yard space, coffee & muffins for breakfast and leftovers from the rehearsal dinner for lunch.) The ceremony was at 5 PM next to the creek and under some towering trees, followed by yard games (disc golf; croquet; corn hole) and then a gorgeous dinner out on the back lawn.

[Unfortunately I caught a bad cold from Gemma and was feeling really horrible, so I didn't take more than 3 photos. Most of the ones below are from Dad.]

cousin Mary with Kate and Mom

cousin Radu 'supervising' the 2nd cousins attempting some fishing

in the background you can see the New Barn going up, where the rehearsal dinner was held on Friday night. Just two months ago there was a large fire on the farm and the Mindrebos lost two barns and more, which they had to quickly re-build (and re-sod).

Emily - looking stunning - and Javan (with Emily's mom and brother to the left; Emily's Dad and 2 sisters not pictured here)

Uncle Bert and children: Rebekah, Jonathan, Javan & Emily, and Joel. J&A had some meaningful ways to remember his mom (Aunt Karen) throughout the ceremony, such as using goblets from India - that Aunt Karen had given Javan - during the communion part of the service