Adelaide Oval - 29 and 31 Dec

I had planned to watch only the first two days of the MCG Test match and then had a bit of a gap before Day 1 at Sydney. Having covered most of the touristy Melbourne and Sydney (with family in 2022), i had decided to spend 4 days / 5 nights in Adelaide.

Adelaide is in the south eastern part of South Australia. A cool 70 min flight from Melbourne takes one to this wonderfully planned and laid out city. I had a chance to spend 4 full days here and it was a good slow few days, smallish university city (famous for technical and medical universities), flat land making it easy to walk around and explore (and walk i did!!).

I had stayed at the Tequila Sunrise Hostel which was as good as hostels usually are.

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Adelaide Oval three times! . Two were by design, while the Big Bash game was an on the spot call.

I had booked for the Adelaide Oval Roof Climb. The Adelaide Oval is the only stadium in the world that gives you the chance to climb up the roof! (doesnt come cheap, of course you knew that!) . I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. It was overall a breeze, extremely professionally done and i felt really safe. One cannot get a better view of one of the prettiest cricket grounds in the world! More on Roofclimb - Google Review

Leaning Back at the Roof Climb - Adelaide Oval

I had some time to kill between my Roof Climb (which takes about 2 hours) and my Stadium tour appointment. So just walked out of the stadium and relaxed on this lovely bench with a water source right next door and some energy bars, free wifi (all over Adelaide) - following the splendid post lunch session on Day 4 of the MCG Test (thanks to my friend Sharan's Kayo sports account!).

Enjoying Jasprit Bumrah's riveting spell on Live streaming (public wifi) in a park outside the oval

Went back into Adelaide Oval for the 2 pm Guided Stadium tour where a couple of smart and elderly gents give you an excellent tour of the Stadium, its history, allowing one to see the Bradman's collection of memorabilia, taking you inside the historic manual scoreboard ( absolutely loved it!), the famous hill, the player's lunch area and the common dressing room(not the player's), the honors board and finally on the stadium (at the edge, behind the ropes).

Overall a lovely experience, for a cricket follower. So many wonderful memories - Rahul Dravid in 2003, Virat Kohli's twin hundreds , The win in 2018 (not to forget the 36 all out in 2021).

In front of the Historic scoreboard (went inside it too!)

From the RiverBank Stand

On the hallowed ground

The Don Bradman Stand - conspicously lettered, respecting Don wanting to keep a low profile, even in memoriam!

I was a little low key on New Year's eve, it was only the second time that i was alone on the date. I knew the Glenelg Beach would be crowded. The city's main fireworks were to be at Elder's Park (across the Oval). So made sense to watch the New year's eve Big Bash game.

The match tickets were a last minute purchase and prized 20% more than usual. It was a one side game which the local team lost, i was distracted as well, because of a situation at home, which was thankfully something major averted.

The game was followed by a musical performance by an Aussie Electronic Band Peking Duk, with some impressive fireworks and lighting (the lights are LED, which makes it easy to do lettering/colours, strobing and all the fancy stuff!).

Never imagined that i would get to visit Adelaide Oval, let alone three times! Absolutely Grateful for the opportunity - Here for the Google Review