Like all good drifters, sometimes I ride across the dusty plains back to my home town.  I stride like Clint Eastwood through the wide streets while men dive back into the saloons and women peer out from behind the curtains.

The dusty plains are now covered by smart new housing estates and some of my favourite saloons are long gone.

It’s Adelaide, South Australia. There’s nothing like being a tourist in your own town to start noticing the quirky buildings and slightly mad architecture.    I’d taken it all for granted.

Here’s a selection of some of the sights I’d forgotten.

One for the door fans. I like the Inca motifs.

A deco Inca/Aztec temple in the backstreets, just round the corner from the ancient Pancake Kitchen, site of many exploits.

The Beehive corner, where Adelaidians still meet. Over the top Italianate stylings, it’s got gothic crocket finials and moorish hints too…. and, of course, a bee on the top. This one’s worth clicking on to enlarge for the details.

The East End Markets, now developed into housing and posh shops. I miss all the musty mysterious smells.  Highly recommend the Eros Kafe for lunch.

NB. There’s a weird thing on top of the roof, it’s a TV aerial, a relic in itself now.

Taken from a car window, another closed down cinema, such a brilliantly modern look. On the Anzac Highway.

Ah memory!  Such fun I had there in my youth. Next trip (soon) I’ll take the SLR and make it a proper photo safari.