Adelaide, the most livable city in Australia

In June 2021, I shared something with people back in Papua New Guinea about why I think Adelaide, in South Australia, was voted the third-most livable city in the world, and the most livable in Down Under.

Having lived here for two years as an international student, I can understand why this city has been ranked as such when I compared it to other cities and towns in PNG and the Pacific, towns or cities that I have been to.

Yes, I have been to other Pacific states. Some Pacific states that I have been to and can give a relatively good report of each include Nauru, PNG itself, New Caledonia and its capital Noumea, and Wallis in Wallis and Futuna.

I was hoping to visit a few more states in the Pacific in 2020-2021 but the pandemic messed up my plans. I guess, I have to store those plans away for now and will reactivate them when the health crisis now bothering us has passed on.

I mentioned to PNG folks that the services here in Adelaide, like electricity and public transport facilities, are well-organized and the design of the city itself, with its parklands make it enviable.

It has been said that the city of Adelaide itself was well organized from the very beginning, when the first settlers came here in the mid-1800s.

Here is an interesting piece of information that I got when I arrived here. Unlike many of the eastern states, South Australia was never part of the penal colonies that were set up here in Australia. It was settled by “free people”, people who came here as those who were free civilians of different countries.

Some who came here escaped religious persecutions back in Europe, as those who came from Germany and settled up in the Adelaide Hills, to the eastern side of the state.

In these pandemic days, South Australia as a state in Australia has successfully managed covid-19.

Except for the authorities urging people to wear masks while on public transport and in public spaces, people here in South Australia are moving freely about their lives.

That is not the case over in New South Wales (Sydney) or Victoria (Melbourne) where lockdowns are more common.

Engineers and architects and municipal planners of the future, those who want to build smarter towns or cities can learn from such a city and better plan the next town or city that they have in mind.

Adelaide is often called the “City of Churches” because there are so many old church buildings all over the city, and in the many suburbs nearby. The state of South Australia is also called the “Wine State” or “Festival State”.

Some of the best wine is produced here in South Australia, and there are festivals organized all year round. That has kind of slowed down in recent times because of the pandemic.

I don’t drink wine so I cannot say how sweet the drinks produced here taste like. But I like to chew on the grapes, when I get them at the main market or at a supermarket.

I was fortunate to have been part of a group of students from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University who went on a study tour down to Fleurieu Peninsula further south and visited farms or smart centers there.

We spent a couple of days there to learn about different initiatives started and run by different organizations. An emphasis was placed on entrepreneurship and gender-based violence.

Australia has strict laws on GBV but still some people continue to break them, as captured by news stories. That is sad.

I will share a bit on the visit to the Fleurieu Peninsula study tour later in the future.

Cheers.