Adelaide

As we were leaving the Southern Australia Museum, we noticed a banner at the Art Gallery of South Australia next door. It was promoting the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. After taking a quick peek, we continued with our plan to visit Himeji Garden … a short Uber ride from the CBD.

As one might guess from the name, this is a Japanese Garden. It symbolizes the sister city relationship between Adelaide and Himeji. Hidden behind a hedge just inside the gatehouse — which is modeled on a temple — one has no idea what to expect until you round the corner. And then … behold the beauty of grounds designed using Japanese garden principles.

Himeji Garden is small, but has features that are of great religious significance to the Japanese people. It blends two classic garden styles. One is the “s’ensui,” … a lake and mountain garden where water and the imagination create images of vastness of grandeur. The second is the“kare s’ensui” … a dry garden where rocks and sand evoke the presence of water, even the sea itself.

The s’ensui — or the lake — is the heart of the garden. It is shaped like the character “shin,” which means heart or soul. The calm water suggests purity and tranquility of the heart, which Buddhists believe is necessary to reach enlightenment and ultimate happiness. The water that flows into the s’ensui from a waterfall is intended to recall the wild mountain torrents of Japan.

We wandered the trails winding through the garden, using a brochure we found at the entrance to identify the various features that make the garden so special.

To get back to our hotel at ADL, we first took a bus from Himeji Garden to Grenfell Street in the CBD. Our timing was good and we managed to get on Bus 157 without too much of a wait, get off at the Grenfell Avenue stop, walk to stop #U2, and hop on the next J2 bus to ADL. Adelaide has a great public transportation system.

Arriving at the airport, we walked back to the hotel for a bit of time downtime to relax and organize our bags for our Darwin flight tomorrow. Before we knew it, the sun was setting off in the distance … giving us a colorful wrap-up to our day.Read more