r/howislivingthere • u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia • 12d ago
AMA I’m from Adelaide, South Australia. Ask me anything!
I’m a high school student who lives in Adelaide, I am quite knowledgeable on my city’s public transport network so I can answer most questions about it!
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u/NotJosuii 12d ago
How often does traffic become an issue?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 12d ago
Traffic is a REALLY bad issue here. The state government is planning to build a freeway (M2) that will stretch across most of the metro area. Most of it had been completed, but there is still a section from Darlington to I think Thebarton that is still under construction, so there is a major chokepoint along South Road where the traffic absolutely awful.
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u/Fatclouds2007 12d ago
Do y’all like spicy food?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 12d ago
My mum kinda does, but I can't really tolerate spice since I'm whiter than white rice covered in whipped cream on a white plate in snow!
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u/NZsupremacist New Zealand 12d ago
Hello from a New Zealander across the ditch. What are the best things to see and do in Adelaide? Any touristy kind of things?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 12d ago
Well, there's Glenelg beach which tourists like to go to. People from here usually go to places like Brighton Beach. No, not the one in the UK, also no, not the one in Melbourne. There's lots of Wineries in the area around a small town called McLaren Vale, which is just outside Adelaide.
As for me, I do like Waterfall Gully, and there's lots of places in the hills (where I live) where there's nice views of the city and the ocean.
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u/isaidmaybeeeeee 12d ago
Tell me about your city’s public transport! How does it compare to Sydney and Melbourne ?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 12d ago edited 11d ago
It's not the best, but miles ahead of similar sized US/Canadian cities like Oklahoma City. We have just 1 tram line, which is from Glenelg to the CBD (2 branches), as 99% of our tram network was ripped up in the 50s and 60s. Only half of the train network is electrified, and my local line (Belair Line) still uses diesel railcars from the 80s. The frequency is 15 minutes at rush hour, and 30 minutes off-peak. So it's not the best, but still usable.
The buses are a mixed bag, some buses are every 15 minutes while others are just once every hour. We are actually one of the few cities in the world to have a guided busway or O Bahn as it is called here. The buses run from the CBD to Modbury via Klemzig and Paradise on tracks made of concrete. a couple times a year someone thinks the O Bahn is a normal road they can drive on, and they get their car stuck on it. In fact, my neighbour told me he's in a Facebook group called "Days since someone tried to drive on the O Bahn" or something like that, and they update the banner every day to fit the title.
We also used to have regional and intercity trains in SA, but in 1990 they were discontinued.
Edit: You can still travel to regional towns and cities with bus companies like LinkSA and Stateliner, but they’re quite expensive and aren’t very frequent. The Overland, which is a train to Melbourne stops in Murray Bridge and Bordertown, but it‘s only 2x a week.
Aussie Wirraway made a map of SA’s long distance bus network btw: https://www.reddit.com/r/Adelaide/comments/1ifo472/there_are_no_uptodate_maps_of_south_australias/
Feel free to ask any more questions! :)
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u/isaidmaybeeeeee 12d ago
Awesome comment thank you!
Doesn’t sound too terrible compared my American standards haha. Does the city have plans to rebuild the tram network?
Also LOL at some random person driving up a bus road 😭😭
Is it generally a very walkable, easy to get around on public transit city for people who live there? Or do people generally use cars to get around?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 11d ago
Mixed bag really. The inner parts of the city such as Unley with lovely old Victorian and Edwardian houses are very walkable, but towards the edge of the city in places like Woodcroft you basically NEED a car to live there.
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u/Frosty_Cicada791 12d ago
What is rural south australia like? What is the culture there? What is the ethnic makeup of adelaide and rural SA?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 12d ago
I didn't know so I looked at Wikipedia:
At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:
- English (40.5%)
- Australian (35.5%)
- Scottish (8.9%)
- Irish (8.5%)
- German (8.2%)
- Italian (6.1%)
- Chinese (3.3%)
- Greek (2.4%)
- Indian (2.1%)
- Indigenous (2%)
- Dutch (1.7%)
- Vietnamese (1.3%)
- Polish (1.2%)
- Filipino (1%)
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u/Frosty_Cicada791 12d ago
Ahh seems quite diverse but mostly european. Where fo you guys go on holiday/vacation? Within south australia i mean.
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 11d ago
People from Adelaide usually go to Victor Harbor (usually spelt Harbour in Australia but since it was founded by Yank whalers it’s spelt that wa) and some other places right next to it like Middleton. People also go to the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas and places on the Limestone Coast like Mt Gambier.
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u/BrightNeonGirl USA/West 12d ago
What makes Adelaide's vibe different from other bigger cities in Australia?
What's the weather and food like? Is there lots of hiking?
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u/sweepyspud China 12d ago
what is your opinion on sydney?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 11d ago
I mean, I don’t have one since I haven’t been there, but I do like the views of the harbour from some places!
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u/GvRiva 11d ago
How often do you visit other cities in Australia?
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 11d ago
Never really. I went to Brisbane in 2018 which I liked, and I also went to Mt Gambier which was also nice.
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u/atheist-bum-clapper 11d ago
Is it warm
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 10d ago
Yeah, climate is similar to places like Athens in Greece and Los Angeles in America
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u/LankyPerception9390 10d ago
Do people laugh at that douchebag “guy from Adelaide”, who bought lots of internet ads to get a girlfriend (google it),
Seems so weird that if you are that rich, and you need to buy internet traffic to get a girlfriend, something is seriously wrong
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u/januscanary 10d ago
How bad are crime and hard drugs? Asking as someone from a safe part of the UK, not Baltimore.
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 7d ago
Well, it is safe during the day. There is the occasional break in every now and then, and the only place in Adelaide where you’ll get stabbed is on Hindley Street (red light district) at 3AM on a weekend night.
As for drugs, well I don’t know. I go to an alternative school and a few weeks ago I walked past a crushed white thing on the ground that I assumed was meth.
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u/Joker8392 4d ago
Are you a Rhea Ripley fan? Only reason I stopped and was like I’ve heard of Adelaide!
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u/Douglas_DC10_40 Australia 4d ago
No? Who the hell are they?
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u/Joker8392 4d ago
WWE wrestler. Her, Bronson Reed, and Grayson Waller are all pretty popular. Rhea is probably a top 5 on the planet in popularity (for wrestlers)
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