Friday Photos: Adelaide Central Market

Let them eat cake? Not when the bread is as fresh as this.

Originally known as the City Market, the facility was officially named the Central Market in August 1965, and continues to offer almost every variety of fresh fruit and vegetable available in South Australia.

The world comes to shop at the market.

Hot nuts! Once you start eating them, you can't stop.

Several tour operators offer tours of the Central Market.  For more information on tours of the Market, visit Top Food & Wine Tours… 

If it is available fresh, you will almost certainly find it at the market.

Processed meats to go.

A wide range of events and activities are scheduled each week at the market. Some traders offer product samples in ‘try before you buy’ promotions, while others present short classes, and product/produce demonstrations each week.

Ice on Mt. Brocoli.

How many varieties of Mettwurst can there possibly be? Ask here.

Mark Gleeson conducts Central Market Tours that provide participants with an exclusive experience interacting with suppliers, producers and retailers of South Australia’s vibrant food industry.

Watermelons by the ton.

Mid-eastern spices and processed foods.

More than 80 stalls offer a wide range of fresh and processed meats, cheese, seafood, nuts, confectionary, coffee and other specialty foods. And of course, let’s not overlook the bakeries, patisseries, and numerous cafés and restaurants.

There is always time for coffee and cake.

Trading Hours

Tuesday: 7am - 5.30pm

Wednesday: 9am - 5.30pm*

Thursday: 9am - 5.30pm

Friday: 7am - 9pm

Saturday: 7am - 3pm

*Optional trading day, not all stalls open

Closed Public Holidays

Here is a brief video of footage I shot during a visit to the Adelaide Central Market:

More Information

Adelaide Central Market… 

Central Market Tours… 

My iPad 2 – One Year On

One year ago today, I bought a 64Gb iPad 2. I purchased the device in preparation for the three month visit I subsequently made to America between August and October, 2012.

I had two main purposes in mind when I bought it: one was that it made it easier to leave my 15 inch Toshiba laptop behind, and thereby reduce the amount of weight I was carrying; and the other was my desire to use the iPad as an eBook reader.

I have said it before, and I don’t mind saying it again―buying the iPad was the best pre-travel gift I have ever given myself. The convenience it offered in terms of size, weight, and functionality has proved its worth over and over again.

A year after my initial purchase, the device is rarely out of my sight or out of reach. The word I keep coming back to when I talk about the iPad is convenience. Couple convenience with ease of use, and you have a device that has helped to revolutionize the way we use technology to connect with each other, and tap into the vast resources of the internet. Making use of a basic WiFi service, I find I am forever reaching for my iPad to look for information online, research some small item of interest using Wikipedia, or translate a couple of lines of French or Latin that I have encountered in one of the many eBooks I now have saved to my iBooks app.

I maintain a daily journal with Pages, track my daily spending with Numbers, and keep in touch with family and friends via Facebook. Using a free app supplied by my bank I can move money between accounts, and to the delight of my creditors I can pay bills on time with Bpay. I have far more apps than I need or use on a daily basis, but then why not? Most of them were free to download, and if I need the space for more important or useful applications, they can be deleted with a couple of taps.

I have written before about my favorite iPad apps here… and here… so I won’t repeat myself in this entry, however, I do have plans to write about some other favorite applications not reviewed already.

After twelve months my iPad continues to work flawlessly, and I am more than happy with the physical size of the device, as well as its 64Gb capacity. The quality of the images I can get with the camera is one of my biggest frustrations, although video footage is actually quite good―as long as you are shooting in plenty of light. Although I have WordPress and Blogger apps, I prefer to use my laptop to write for and maintain The Compleat Traveller. Even though I have bought a keyboard to use with the iPad, I find writing with my laptop to be easier, faster, and generally more accurate. Personally, I find the iPad’s virtual keyboard good for short journal entries, and minor text entry work for things like email, Facebook, and other such tasks, but for long periods of typing it just doesn’t suit me.

Quite frankly, apart from my complaint with the camera and virtual keyboard, I am struggling to think of any other issue that has been the cause of major―or even minor concern. The biggest frustrations are caused by badly designed apps, not the iPad itself. Recently, I exchanged my old iPhone 3GS for a new Galaxy S4, and I remain very happy with that decision. However, I can’t see myself swapping my iPad for a rival tablet device any time soon.

I realise I have not written anything about using the iPad as an eReader, but I will leave that topic for another post. In conclusion, if you have been thinking about getting an iPad, or similar tablet device, I am more than happy to recommend this amazing technology to you. It is hard to believe that tablet devices were almost unheard of five years ago, given the way they have become pretty much ubiquitous today. They can only get better, faster and more ubiquitous over the next five years.

On Ya Bike, New York!

Rue Rossini bike share rack in Paris, France

Well, it has been a long time coming, but New York City has finally caught up with many other major cities around the world with the recent introduction of the new Citi Bike, bicycle sharing program. The system will see 10,000 bicycles spread among 600 bike racks ― most of which will initially be located on Manhattan below 59th Street, and in Brooklyn in an area roughly bordered by the East River, Atlantic Avenue, Nostrad Avenue and up around the Williamsburg Bridge (see map here…).

Alta Bicycle Share, is the company running the program, while Citigroup has paid $41 million for naming rights over the next five years―hence the name, Citi Bike.

It may seem counter-intuitive to introduce bicycles onto New York City’s traffic clogged streets, but in fact since 2007, the city has added more than 250 miles of bike lanes, and the number of New Yorkers commuting to work by bike is now approaching 20,000 people, according to Department of Transportation statistics.

Recently, around 32,000 cyclists took part in the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, organised by Bike New York and the New York City Department of Transportation. The event gave participants the opportunity of riding along a 40 mile, car-free route through all five New York boroughs.

Current Citi Bike rental fees

Annual membership to use the Citi Bike system is US$95.00. So popular was the initial offering that it sold out all 5,000 “founding memberships” in less than 48 hours. Annual membership signups for Citi Bike have now passed 8,000 participants, and this number continues to increase slowly but steadily.

If you are planning to make use of the bike share program, I strongly advise you to read through the relevant sections of the City Bike New York website, especially the FrequentlyAsked Questions and the Pricing section.

The city's Department of Transportation has been pushing the bike share concept for years as an affordable commuting option, however the program stalled twice over the last year―once due to a programming glitch, and again after Superstorm Sandy damaged many of the bicycles and stands late in 2012. Despite this, the push to create bike lanes and rental programs has propelled New York into seventh place in Bicycle Magazine's list of bike friendly cities.

An Accident Waiting To Happen?

So much for the good news. The less than good news is that riding bicycles around city streets―any city street―can be a very dangerous enterprise, and riding on New York’s streets may be even more so. According to a Rutgers University study New York City had the highest fatality rate from bike accidents in North America (from 2004 to 2009). In 2010, there were 368 bicycle related crashes, 19 of which resulted in a fatality. The Department of Transportation reports that in 97 percent of fatal bicycle accidents in New York City, the rider was not wearing a helmet.

Clearly it is incumbent on all bike riders to exercise great caution while on the road, whether they use Citi Bike or have their own bicycles.

Citi Bike share station (Image: Nancy Borowick)

So how do you stay safe?

• Be aware of your surroundings at all times.
• Wear a well secured helmet.
• Obey road signs and traffic laws.
• Don’t try to beat changing traffic lights.
• Be aware of other road users who may not notice your approach. Some of the worst offenders are people getting out of parked cars, and pedestrians talking or texting on cell phones.
• Don’t wear headphones, you want to hear approaching vehicles―especially those behind you.
• Use lights for night riding. I have a flashing white headlight, a flashing red tail-light, and always wear a bright yellow safety jacket fitted with reflective strips at night.
• Ride with the flow of traffic, not against it.
• Use bike lanes — that’s why they are there!
• Make yourself visible and audible. Equip your bike with a bell and lights, and wear bright colors.

I know some of these safety tips may not make you look trendy or fashionable, but they will increase your visibility and ability to stay safe. And just because the use of bicycle helmets is not mandated by law in New York, does not mean it is safe to ride a bike without one. Do yourself a favor―be seen and be safe.

For a real world look at how bike share systems work, take a look at this video from Melbourne, Australia: How To Use Melbourne Bike Share

More Information

City Bike New York…

Bike New York…

Melbourne Bike Share...