Best Life Australia

Adelaide may be the smallest city in Australia, population numbering around 2 million, but this doesn’t disqualify it from being a great place to go shopping. In most of my visits, I’ve noticed how fashion on its streets accommodated global trends, translating them into a style that they can call their own. This is probably due to the fact that, on top of the major global brands, there are quite a number of Australian fashion brands available to the local fashionista. That said, the local fashion oligarchy surely reflects just how big a role the fashion industry plays.

As a tourist and an avid shopper, I was fortunate enough to have been able to sample what the place had to offer; having enjoyed price reductions and other sale events during the length of my stay. It’s true that you really just have to know when and where to shop in order to maximise your shopping budget. I did say I was a tourist, yes? I have to practice some form of frugality somehow.

Shopping in Australia: Adelaide | Best Life Australia

Listed below are some of the great places I’ve found which offers individuals a unique shopping experience. Hopefully, they’ll serve as a helpful take off points to your own shopping journey.

At the top of my list is Harbour Town. It’s the best place to shop, if you’re looking to spend as low as AUD$5 per item. Harbour Town is the premier destination to shop the outlets. It’s here you can find brands, both local and global, offering selections in apparel, footwear, accessories, bags, beauty, jewellery, and even homewares at very low prices.

Harbour Town is located at 727 Tapleys Hill Road, West Beach, South Australia.

Next up is Rundle Mall. A trip to Adelaide won’t be complete if you don’t walk the stretch of this pedestrian street shopping mall. On it are three (3) major department stores: Myer, David Jones, and Harris Scarfe, plus around 800 specialty stores, 160 of which deals in fashion. Here you’ll find most of the major global brands like: FCUK, Nine West, Max Mara, Converse; and unique specialty stores like Kookai and House of Obrigada.

Rundle Mall is located at the heart of the city, between King William Street and Pulteney Street.

Another is a trip to the Central Market. This is for the off-beat and hippie shopping experience. I wish I can remember the names of the shops but exploring the place is part of the whole experience. You may find quaint shops selling items that may suit your quirky taste. I reckon every trip to the place will pave the way to define who you are as a shopper. It’ll depend on your unique personal style. I do love this Asian boutique that sells ultra fabulous shoes. They come with a hefty price tag, though. Ouch.

Central Market is located at the heart of the CBD. It’s accessible by tram (Victoria Square stop), the free Adelaide Connector bus, and Adelaide Metro for bus or trains.

Rundle Street is one of my favourite places to hang out whenever I’m in the city. Not only does it boast of numerous places to wine and dine, it’s a fabulous place to gallyvant; exploring nooks and crannies (side streets) in the hopes of a fantastic fashion find. It is, after all, known to foster most of the up and coming local designers. If you’re an adventurous sort of a shopper, walking the length of this street will fill your heart with stylish joy, even when you’d end up empty handed. Oftentimes, the window shopping experience in itself is enough. Must see shops are: (on Rundle Street) Birdcage, (off Rundle Street) Varron Avenue, Ebenezer Place, and Union Street. And, btw, they have the Rundle Street Market, a mecca for great fashion finds, from 9am to 4pm every Sunday.

Rundle Street is located at the East End of the CBD; adjoining the southern end of Rundle Mall.

Glenelg is known for being one of the busiest bay areas in South Australia. It’s home to the Beach House, numerous pubs and restos, and, of course, the beach. However, the place also caters to beach-loving fashionistas. Who ever said that you can’t shop and go the the beach, too, yes? Yes, and that’s one of the bigger reasons why I love the place. It doesn’t hurt that I found a boutique that offer items at a bargain all year round! I’m talking about Sparkles. Brands offered by the store are: Filo, Forever Ebony, and Spicy Sugar. Of course, there are other quaint little shops on (and off) Jetty Road. This is a place that every shopper should explore in leisure!

All you need to remember is Jetty Road. But if you need more information on how to get to Glenelg, feel free to get them here.

There are other places to shop, of course. Shopping malls are scattered around numerous suburbs like Marion Shopping Centre, Westfield in West Lakes, and Tea Tree Plaza, to name a few. However, I reckon what makes a shopping experience unique to the place you maybe visiting are places you can shop that are off the vicinity of malls, save the ones that offers a different experience like Rundle Mall. This reminds me ou can also visit places like The Parade in Norwood, which offers a good — definitely, off-mall — shopping experience.

Listing of brands and stores available in (and some unique to) Australia:

Cue Clothing
Esprit Australia
Witchery
Valleygirl Fashions
Sportsgirl Australia
Portmans
Diva Accessories
Ultimate Factory Outlet Shop
Marcs
Brown Sugar Clothing
General Pants
Jay Jays
SABA
Ojay
Just Jeans Australia
David Lawrence
Wittner Shoes
Jeanswest
Zimmermann
JAG Australia
Colorado Group Ltd
Billabong
Collette Dinnigan
Lushous Clothing
My Cat Walk
Zip Fashion
Wicked Weasel Bikinis
Vamp Swimwear
Cotton On Australia
Route66
Noni B
Fluid Surf
Kokum Designs
Rivers Australia
Vicky Mar Fashions
Ugg Boots
Sue Rice Swimwear Australia
BeachHouse Creations
Herringbone
z3 kids clothes
PuddleBeach Children’s Clothing
CottonWool
2Roads Australia
Knitwit
YazKids Childrens Clothes
Wee Bee Kidz
Lisa’s Lacies
Baubridge & Kay
Aussie Bush Hats & Oilskins
Henry Buck’s Menswear
Walkabout Australia

Some of these brands/stores are available in Adelaide, while others are found in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Alice Springs, Canberra, and Brisbane.

Special side notes, particularly the best time to shop, are to take advantage of the Boxing Day (day after Christmas), end of season and mid-season sale events that are sure to be scheduled in major shopping districts in specified periods in a year. You will definitely enjoy fantastic deals on a wide selection of fashionable items. It’s also good to take note of the shops that have a steady sale rack available year round, i.e. Sparkles and Wittner Shoes.

So, put on your best shopping outfit, together with a pair of comfortable shoes (you wouldn’t want to tire yourself out with all the walking), and head off to Adelaide for a shopping trip that can go down in the books. It can be well-worth the trip!

Happy shopping!

Photos © 2009 Sasha Manuel

Rewards charts are known to be very useful tools in behaviour management for children. And, if you’re not quite sure on how to go about using them, here are some basic tips:

1. You can use rewards charts with kids who can only understand basic cause-and-effect relationships. If you can talk to your child about how an action can affect a reaction (e.g., tooth brushing can earn praise/stars/etc.), then using rewards charts may be useful. If they can’t understand these things yet, then it’s probably too early to use a rewards chart.

2. Set expectations as early as possible. When using rewards charts, make sure you identify the actual target task (e.g., eating vegetables for dinner). Once this is clear, explain what type of reward they will get (e.g., a star, a stamp, a sticker, etc) every time they complete the task. Then, explain how many times they will need to repeat the task in order to obtain a reward or treat (e.g., they need to eat vegetables 7 times and get 7 stars, in order to get the desired reward such as extra 30 minutes of TV time).

3. Make sure that task repetition is done at a reasonable time. For example, a younger child may need to have only 3 - 4x task repetition before he or she obtains a rewards, while on older child may be able to hold off for 8 - 10x task repetition before getting a reward.

4. Come up with clear and reasonable rewards. It’s important to make this as specific as possible (e.g., 1 piece of chocolate, 30 minutes trip to playground, a small toy aeroplane, etc). Also, don’t set up something too big, especially not in the first instance (no promises of expensive toys!). This will set the tone of your rewards programme. It’s more important to make it more about the desired task rather than the actual material rewards.

5. Provide a lot of praise! Kids love receiving positive feedback. If they’re finding it difficult to complete the task, make sure that you encourage them to keep going and be flexible with how well they can complete the task without ‘giving in’ too much. It’s important to make them feel that they’re making progress.

6. Display their rewards chart where they can see their daily progress. Talk to them about it when you get the chance, and let them know how close they are to achieving their reward. And, make sure to highlight what they’ve been doing right.

7. Celebrate the completion/attainment of rewards. Even if you’re planning to continue using the rewards chart approach, it’s always good to celebrate whenever the child achieves their goals.

8. Rewards charts are not permanent. Make sure to plan a phasing out programme. If you can see that you’ve generally achieved the desired behaviour from the target tasks, then it’s best to slowly phase out the rewards programme. You can use rewards again for the next desired behaviour change at another time.

If you’re interested in use free printable rewards charts, check out these free downloads of rewards charts at bubhub. They have about 6 different types of rewards charts available - with various task repetitions (some are 4, some are 9, etc).    

Some useful reminders when looking for a house to buy or rent.

Looking for a house to buy or rent can be a very stressful situation. After all, moving house is a major change. But, the process can be made simpler and less difficult with a little bit of planning.

Here are some tips that you might want to consider if you’re in the process of house-hunting:

1. Have a realistic plan on the kind of house that you’re looking for.

Consider the type of house, layout, number of rooms, features, and location. And, take in to account a workable budget - include things like first homeowner grants, available deposit, interest rates, stamp duties, and other fees in to account.

It’s easy to fool ourselves in to believing that we can buy something that we cannot afford. But, it’s best not to regret this types of decisions by setting realistic plans and expectations.

2. Get a provisional home loan approval.

Speaking of budgets, make sure that you only allow for a budget that you can access. Obtaining a provisional home loan approval is very useful for this purpose.

3. Give yourself a workable schedule.

When do you need to move to a new house? Do you have a deadline or is it flexible? How many houses can you realistically view during Open Days? How far do you need to travel when house hunting? Can you do some initial investigations on the internet first before making the trip to view a house?

These are just some things that you might like to think about when preparing a house hunting schedule.

Other schedule-related considerations: How long will it take for you to get your deposit and/or your home loan? Are the sellers/homeowners looking to sell or rent quickly - or can you take some time to make your decision?

4. Familiarise yourself with all the legalities of house buying and/or renting.

There are so many things that you need to consider and learn when buying or renting a house. So, even though the legal jargon may seem daunting to look at, it’s always good to know what they’re all about. If you feel the need to consult another knowledgeable individual, enlist someone to help and ask them to explain the legalities with you.

5. Get to know the houses that you like really well.

It’s really like entering a long-term relationship. You don’t marry someone just because you like the look of them, right? You get to know them and figure out if you’ll really be good together. Especially if you’re buying a house.

You might not have the same amount of time to know a house before you make the big decision. But, there are different ways you can get to know the house - from visiting it at different times of the day to checking its different facilities (open cupboards, turn on lights, check out sheds, turn on taps, etc).

Familiarising yourself with the house will enable you to know the house’s quirks and charms. It will also save you from a lot of heartache when you know early on whether it’s a house that you’d really want to live in or not.

6. Get to know the area.

Don’t just find out about the house. Learn about the area as best as you can. How far is it to the nearest shops? How long does it take to get to public transport systems? What kind of neighbourhood is it? What kind of amenities and community activities are there in the area?

Knowing these these things can also help you with your house-hunting decisions.

7. Have specialists lined up when you need them.

It’s good to have the numbers of accountants, solicitors, building inspectors/surveyors, cleaners, builders, and the like before you start getting ready to buy or rent a house that you like. This way, you’ll have a good set of people to call when you’re ready to move to the next step.

Hopefully, some of these tips helped you. If you have other useful house hunting tips that you’d like to share, please do.

Caffé Primo is probably one of the biggest café franchises in Adelaide. Without much knowledge on how the restaurant franchising works for this particular chain, a handful of bad experiences in a different location put me off the eating at Cafe Primo for a long time.

However, Ara Ohanessian, owner of Caffe Primo - Norwood, helped to change my views on the subject of dining at Primos. “Different Primos are run differently,” says Ara. “My goal is to run Caffé Primo in my own way and do my best. Hopefully, customers see that.”

This food lover and businessman showed a lot of passion for his work and his ownership of this Primo branch in the upscale suburb of Norwood. Looking at the place’s decor and layout, you can see that a lot of thought has been put in to its presentation.

Caffe Primo Norwood even offers some food that are not available in other Primos. And, it appears like they really try to keep the initial spirit of what made Cafe Primos successful in Adelaide in the first place.

With reports from Sasha Manuel.

Disclosure: Caffe Primo Norwood offered to sponsor a meet-up of the Adelaide Bloggers’ group last January 2009.

Any rev head knows all about Top Gear, a TV show dedicated to the world of cars. And now, the show has come to Australia.

Photo Information: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 04: (L-R) Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and Steve Pizzati pose during a press conference for ‘Top Gear Live’ in the Rocks on February 4, 2009 in Sydney, Australia.

Image source: PicApp

As a fan of Zoe Wittner shoes, it seems like I can never have enough of them.

My very first pair of Wittner shoes are these gorgeous Navy shoes called Jogger. They’re like trainers with high heels!

These Jogger shoes are perfect with denim pants, dresses, shorts, or skirts. I love that I can wear shoes that allow me to have a casual look — and still be able to add height. They came in black, red, and white colours too, I believe.

These Kat shoes are perfect for a more formal look. I love wearing them with evening dresses. But, I’ve also been known to wear them with skirts and pants too.

When I bought the shoes, the lady from the shop knew that I was weak enough to purchase a matching clutch bag. So, I did.

Prices:
Jogger - AU$130 (managed to snag ‘em for $80)
Kat (shoes) - AU$140 (ended up paying $70)
Kat (clutch bag) - AU$60 (bought on sale at $30)

Website:
Wittner Shoes