Still in Adelaide, and we weren't leaving until we'd visited the National Rail Museum, the SA Maritime Museum and nearby Aviation Museum too. All interesting, but to a steam engine buff like yours truly - no expert, mind -  the Railway Museum was the highlight. All are just a bit out of the central city, over at Port Adelaide. There was a tall ship visiting at the time too, another of our pleasant surprises on this trip! Have to admit though, we were pretty well 'all museum-ed out' by the end of the day.

Another interesting Adelaide church.. This one, Port Adelaide Uniting Church, caught our eye as we wandered from the station down to the wharves. The imaginative brick- and stonework is a little unique we thought.

Down at the docks, we got a pleasant surprise. We don't get to see a lot of tall ships in the West. This is an interesting one! The cargo ketch 'Falie' serviced ports around the SA gulfs for many years. 46 metres long, she was built in the Netherlands in 1919 and offered for sale on spec by the builder under another name. She languished until 1922 when a South Oz shipping firm purchased her, changed her name and away she went. Many years later she'd done her time and had seen better days. Not wanting to lose such an important relic, the SA government renovated her. Sadly, her upkeep has proved expensive, but a group of dedicated volunteers keep her afloat as an interpretive and educational display.

The sail training barque 'Tenacious' out of UK was in port when we visited. It's always a treat to see such wonderful ships close up.  The Tenacious seemed to follow us too. When we passed through Portland in Victoria, she was in the harbour. Then as we toured Sydney Harbour, there she was again. This view was from a heritage lighthouse tower, set up dockside and open for visitors to climb and enjoy the view over the surrounds.

We were tickled by this large quirky mural viewed from the lighthouse. Pity more of our modern boxy buildings aren't adorned with some artwork. Even some of the graffiti art done by the more talented types can be an interesting addition to liven up the city environment we find largely so dull and oppressive. 

What a fabulous example of the steam locomotive building art! This monster rumbled along the interstate rails in SA back in the day. It's an eyeful for a West Aussie, from a State where nearly all the steamers ran on narrow gauge lines. Hence they were somewhat smaller. 

Rods, linkages, levers and quadrants... the driving gear on this huge Garrett type loco is art to a lover of the old time fire-breathers. Your correspondent has never quite been able to get over how the stuff he makes his cuppa with can generate so much grunt! 

This engine is special to a loco lover. It's the only large U.S. built steam locomotive yours truly has seen to date in the 'flesh'. Built by the giant Baldwin concern when that firm was huge in the industry, it has many of the unique American-style features that stamp the identity of these machines. Relatively few old Baldwin steamers still exist in Oz, simply because they were one of the earliest items of the machine age manufactured with a built-in life. The British locos were more popular in Australia because they were more long lived, but an order would usually take up to 18 months to be filled. Baldwin could build to order in just 8 months, and could also make almost exact copies of any design given to them, at a highly competitive price. And when Aussie operators were desperately in need of motive power, they would often go to Baldwin. At least until later, Baldwin's philosophy was that constant design progress meant engines would be superseded within 10 years, so why build them to last much longer? Be that as it may, they still have an aura of romance and power about them. We even had quite a few 'Old Western' style locos in Oz in the 19th century, all sadly long gone. I just had to have my picture taken with this more recent example, operated by BHP.

Our time in Adelaide was drawing to a close, but we would do one last day trip south to Victor Harbor and back via Strathalbyn. Next time..