Tamara

HOMES DOWN UNDER: www.homesdownunder.com.au AVAILABILITY UPDATE. All properties have UNLIMITED NBN wireless internet. To view my entire calendar for all properties please click here: http://www.dateblocker.com/Index.aspx?Pageid=1672&l=1&UserId=10291 I have the following vacancies in my furnished homes in the popular scenic suburbs of Port Noarlunga and Christies Beach. I have two 1 bedroomed units available and a large 3 bed house that is only available for longer stays on request. Oceanview House: Port Noarlunga. 3 bedroomed Please enquire for availability... Garden Cottage: Port Noarlunga from $53 per night (off peak period and long term stay)! Fully equipped with unlimited internet: Ideal for singles, couples or visiting family. 1 bedroomed Available from: 14th of April to the 17th of August 2018 20th of October to the 7th of November 29th of March 2019 onwards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobies Place: From $65 per night (off peak and long term stay) 1 bedroomed unit ideal for single person or couple. Also has a queen sized sleeper couch if sleeping for 3rd guest if required. Available from: 9th of April to the 8th of August 6th of November to the 26th of November 26th of February 2019 onwards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Longer term rentals at reduced rates. Winter discounts for long term stays...please enquire for rates. Due to ongoing changes (instant book) in the short-term rental / holiday rental market it is recommended that you secure be secured as soon as you have finalized your dates. Instant book facilities on various holiday sites can result in properties being booked within minutes. This can result in a property that you want to book becoming booked before you can secure it. I can generate an online invoice and you can pay a deposit with a debit or credit card to secure your dates and you can book within minutes to lock in your selected period. We accept all major debit and credit cards. Your property dates can be secured with a deposit in just a few minutes. Website: www.homesdownunder.com.au Contact: contact@homesdownunder.com.au or homesdownunder@yahoo.com.au

Thanks for the info. It's been ages since I last flew on Emirates and they didn't have the standard seat charges then. We are dealing with elderly people here! Trying to convince them that it's ok to wait until 48 hours before their flight until they have seats next to each other won't be easy! The buggy is an absolute must...one of the travelers has mobility issues (both in their late 70's) and that time frame to get to the next flight is real tight! Thanks!

Just an update. The two travel companions are coming here again next year for 6 weeks. Booked their tickets during the week and they arrive in mid January and they have consulted each other and agreed upon length of stay etc so that they can again travel together. This time they are booked on Emirates. The stop over on the way here is only an hour and 35 minutes so they have been told to ask for the buggy to get them from one terminal to the other. The last time they flew on Singapore airlines so will have to see what they make of this trip! Emirates change to having to pay to book seats is a rip off by the way!! Pay for the tickets and then go online to book seats only to be presented with an additional charge to book a standard seat.....not amused!

Providing quality furnished rental homes since 2009. UNLIMITED wireless internet on super high speed NBN. Please visit my web site www.homesdownunder.com.au to view and book the following properties. Properties are listed on holiday sites (Stayz, Airbnb, Tripadvisor) but rates are cheaper by booking directly with me. My Properties prices start st $53 per night for an entire 1 bedroomed unit for long stay winter prices (not just a room!) I have the following family furnished properties available for short or long term let: Some properties are pet negotiable (other properties are totally pet free). 5 bed (on request) Oceanview house: presently 3 bed: sleeps 6. I also have the following 1 bed-roomed units available. Perfect for family visits (inlaws!) 1 bed Tobies Place: Ideal for a single person or couple. (additional queen sleeper couch available for this 70 square metre unit when required) 1 bed Garden Cottage: Ideal for single person or couple. Please view my online calendar for every property for every month at: http://www.dateblocker.com/Index.asp...1&UserId=10291 Oceanview House: Port Noarlunga. 3 bedroomed ***** Garden Cottage: Port Noarlunga from $53 per night (off peak period)! Fully equipped with unlimited internet: Ideal for singles, couples or visiting family. 1 bedroomed ***** Tobies Place: $65 per night (discounted for long term stays) 1 bedroomed unit ideal for single person or couple. Also has a queen sized sleeper couch if sleeping for 3rd guest if required. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WINTER SPECIAL 2018: Comparable property / comparable area...we will beat any quote for long term booking! Longer term rentals at reduced rates. Winter discounts for long term stays...please enquire for rates. Due to ongoing changes in the short term rental / holiday rental market it is recommended that properties be secured as soon as you have finalized your dates. Instant book facilities on various holiday sites can result in properties being booked within minutes. This can result in a property that you want to book becoming booked before you can secure it. I can generate an online invoice and you can pay a deposit with a debit or credit card to secure your dates and you can book within minutes to lock in your selected period.. We accept all major debit and credit cards. Your property dates can be secured with a deposit in just a few minutes. Website: www.homesdownunder.com.au Contact: contact@homesdownunder.com.au or homesdownunder@yahoo.com.au

Had the same issue with my father in law too. Once you start listing medical issues the travel insurance starts to get very expensive! In his case the policy was more than his ticket and he's in good health. The follow up on this is that the two travelers had a great time and are planning to travel here again at the end of the year. They are still in contact with each other in the UK (not romantically...just friends!) and the whole experience was a real positive one for them. I am still convinced that more family members would visit if they had a compatible travel companion...

I did post this on the PIA site but maybe there are families moving here who didn't see it. Just received a phone call offering $600 per night for these dates! If you are planning the move with your family at the end of the year it might be a good idea to sort out your accommodation needs early. Although I run a furnished relocation / holiday rental business that's not the reason I am posting this. My family homes are booked solid for the peak December to February period......people have booked a year in advance! I have been renting furnished houses since 2008 and have not experienced such a demand for the peak dates before. There are many reasons: 1. There has been a large increase in the numbers of overseas tourism and many tourist are booking relocation / holiday properties. 2. The number of interstate visitors to South Australia has increased competing with the overseas market for available rentals. 3. It's a popular time for migrants to make the move and those in the know...like member and visitors to forums like this one know that accommodation needs to be booked early especially at this time of year. 4. There are so many friends and family member visiting people who have moved here during the past few years and they want to be close to where family and friends live and have located to. 5. Many overseas people escape the British winter and spend extended stays here during the peak summer months. 6. The unfurnished rental market cycles between periods of high and low availability. It's more competitive right now which means that furnished rentals have increased enquiries from people needing "emergency" accommodation whilst houses are being built, renvoated, repaired etc. Holiday rentals are expensive during the peak months and as places get booked there's a tendency to put up prices. If you are visiting or moving at the end of this year...please book early! In addition to the above: REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER 2017 If you are planning to move here in the first week of December there is a real issue with available accommodation between the 1st and the 7th. There is an Ashes test in Adelaide and this is coinciding with the Pan Pacific Oceana Games. These dates are already booked solid. I know people in the short term rental business who have booked out this week at $850 PER NIGHT!!!!!! As we are still in May and things are booked you could have a real issue if you are planning to move here in early December as hotels, short term rental homes etc will all be booked. If you are looking at flights and accommodation best to sort this difficult week out now or delay your arrival for a week?

Like everyone else who moves out here we left behind friends and family. After the years went by we realised that elderly parents were avoiding the trip due to their age,the distance, and the prospect of traveling by themselves especially if one partner had passed away and they were alone. It was a real shame that surviving parents might not ever see grandchildren and great grandchildren and get to visit Australia. I thought that I would share my recent experience with perhaps the result being that your family can visit you, together with others who are in a similar position to themselves. My father in law is 77. He's lived alone for many years after my mother in law passed away 14 years ago. Despite us being here in Adelaide almost 10 years he had never visited...it was just too daunting a trip! Friends of our moved to Adelaide almost 4 years ago. They found themselves in a similar situation whereby a surviving parent would love to visit but the trip alone would just be too much to take on. Solution: We both requested possible dates that they could travel and then put them in contact with each other in the UK. They had never met before.The result was that after a couple of get together's they jointly agreed upon dates, we purchased their tickets this side and everything was put in motion to have them visit for a few weeks. Transport to Manchester airport was arranged, flights to Singapore, a hotel stop over and collection in Adelaide all sorted and after a barrage of calls and questions it was all finalised. The return trip for both of them was likewise arranged on the same date / flight. Everything worked out perfectly and it was such a success that they will be coming out here again. I am sure that this could work for many people who wouldn't want to do the trip alone. Maybe a Travel Companion section on a migration site like this one with a request for a travel partner for approximate dates, location here, UK location etc and see if they can get together in the UK, find out if they are compatible to travel together and family this side can assist with the arrangements. What do you think? Do you or anyone you know have a similar situation where friends or family would love to visit but wouldn't want to do the trip alone? I am not talking about a dating site! Just a get together of people who would get the support from having someone else to share the trip with. My father in law is already planning his next visit!!

I have had a PO box for many years. I had one overseas before moving here. It was useful to have my mail go to a central point and stopped the mailman from nicking important mail (don't ask...different world). Anyway, one of the first things that we did when we moved here was to get a PO Box at the local centre. Have been thinking about it and it makes so much sense for migrants to get one. You can get one once you have your drivers licence to use as ID. How many times do you end up moving in the first couple of years? I started out at a holiday let, moved to a longer term furnished rental and then 3 months later to another house. I have since moved from there, renovated that property and moved another 4 times. All this time I didn't have to worry about chasing mail, redirecting mail, being bothered about forgetting to change some important contact address with rego, tax, Medicare, etc. Most of the local post offices have PO boxes available. They have them at my local post offices in Port Noarlunga, Noarlunga Centre and Christies Beach. I think that it's something that people may not think too much about. From a different angle....I am still getting mail delivered at my rental houses for guests who have vacated years ago. There may be mail from the overseas tax office, bank statements, traffic fines. There are literally hundreds if items a month and I can't track people down. A PO Box would prevent this as no matter how many times you move, you still have a static address for your mail to go to. Details of the PO Boxes can be found at : http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/p...cked-bags.html A handy and secure way to receive your mail With a Post Office Box or private bag, you can keep your mail safe and collect it whenever you want. Benefits Keep your mail secure under lock and key Ensure you receive your mail in rural or remote areas by using a private bag Protect your privacy by not revealing your street address Collect your mail whenever you want at participating Post Offices with 24-hour PO Box access* Get incoming mail alerts on your smartphone, tablet or computer with our free Mail2Day notifications service ^ Keep a consistent postal address, even when you change your street address How to apply It's easy to apply for your PO Box or private bag. Just follow these simple steps: Find a Post Office near you that offers Post Office Boxes and private bags Download an application form(PDF) or pick one up from any Post Office Lodge your completed form in person at any Post Office, along with proof of identity that shows your name, residential address and signature (this can be your driver's licence or 2 other documents such as a utility bill and bank statement) Pay your fee when lodging your application - by cash, cheque, EFTPOS or Australia Post charge account Download application form(PDF) The cost is $121 a year. You can even have a parcel sent there...they put the key for the parcel box in your PO box so that you can collect it. If you don't have your key with you the postmaster will get your mail for you (on presentation of id). Anyone else have one? Any comments?

I understand and agree with a lot of what you are saying. Have been in Adelaide for nearly 9 years now and as time passes we have "need' to escape the Adelaide winters. All my ties are in Adelaide and I have a good life here but because of medical reason I am seriously looking at moving to Brisbane or Cairns for 5 months a year. I have traveled a fair bit and have just returned from Brisbane (2 weeks ago). What a livable place! Am not too sure whether the winter temperatures are warm enough though and may need to be further up...Cairns! Decisions, decisions! My partner has a chronic degenerative muscle condition and the winters cripple him.......and I fell like a newbie all over again...reading about suburbs, relocation stories etc! It's a move we have to make. I will be watching this space closely! :smile:

South Road is a pain. So are many northern roads like North East road,and Main North roads. Main roads are busy..period. I have just spent two weeks staying with friends in Flagstaff Hill. In traffic it takes them longer to get to the airport and city that it takes me to get there from Port Noarlunga. The southern expressway (now dual flow) is an absoulute godsend. I get from Port Noarlunga to Darlington (Flinders hospital) within 12 miniutes...then I hit the ring of traffic that everyone has to contend with. It's really interesting to go on google maps and put in directions from different locations. Despite me being further out in Port Noarlunga it only takes a few minutes longer (2 to 16) to get into the city than it does from Heley, Modbury, Hallet Cove, Flagstaff etc...the reason being the free flowing expressway. It's not how far out you are...it's the road links, speed and traffic congestion that's the issue. We have good road links from the south, high speed and no congestion until we hit Main South road and everyone has their own traffic snarls on the main roads...even those staying close to the city. It's a miscopnception that increased suburb distance means excessive travel time....the reality is that it's just a few minutes...and not double the commute times that you might expect.! :smile:

The Liberals made all sorts of promises before the elections...and then proceeded to break them. This state desperately needs these type of jobs. Manufacturing and industry is suffering. Very similar situation to what happened to British Leyland and British shipbuilding many years ago...it's cheaper to make things somewhere else.

Maybe some good news for SA at last? Prime Minister Tony Abbott to unveil $89 billion, 20-year defence shipbuilding program for SA PAUL STARICK CHIEF REPORTER - WITH AAP THE ADVERTISER AUGUST 04, 2015 3:32PM Abbott to push for hundreds of jobs in SA Future frigates our new defence battleground 400 new SA jobs as NBN accelerates construction Libs in strife in SA — Pyne ‘set to lose his seat’ More funds for manufacturers to go hi-tech PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed construction of new offshore patrol vessels will start in 2018 and new frigates in 2020 under a $40 billion plan for continuous shipbuilding in Australia. A restructured surface naval shipbuilding industry could be competitive and provide the best possible ships at the best possible price, he said today in Adelaide.From 2020 onwards there will be build-up to about 2500 workers employed continuously in surface naval shipbuilding and most of them will be in Adelaide.SA Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham said construction of the offshore patrol vessels would be brought forward by two years to 2018, while the frigates would start three years earlier, in 2020, in an attempt to lessen the impact of the so-called ‘Valley of Death’, in which contracts run out before new ones begin, leaving workers without jobs.“Further, we will invest an additional $1.2 billion into the delivery of the three world-class Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD) currently under construction,” he said. AN $89 billion program to build navy ships and submarines over 20 years, including a guarantee that future frigates will be built in Adelaide, is being announced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott today.The centrepiece of the Defence White Paper to be released within weeks, the historic spending on naval shipbuilding is aimed at creating a continuous program to replace the nation’s entire navy fleet. Senior government sources said the frigate construction at Outer Harbor’s ASC, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, was expected to create jobs and begin in the early 2020s.It is understood that government analysis shows the $89 billion program will sustain about 1000 jobs which otherwise would have been lost, by ending the boom/bust cycle which has afflicted the industry.Adelaide is also in line for more work building offshore patrol vessels as part of a process to be revealed today.Mr Abbott is in Adelaide for close to three days for a series of jobs announcements designed to improve the state’s 8.2 per cent unemployment rate and boost the Liberals’ flagging political fortunes in South Australia.It is understood the naval shipbuilding program was approved yesterday by Cabinet’s National Security Committee and will go to a Cabinet meeting in Adelaide.The $89 billion naval shipbuilding spend is understood to comprise $39 billion for ships and $50 billion for submarines — the latter program now being contested between Germany, Japan and France ahead of a decision expected by Christmas.South Australian MPs have been urging Mr Abbott to keep a pre-election promise to build the submarines in Adelaide. The ships, the subs and the jobs. Mr Abbott told The Advertiser the continuous shipbuilding program was a long-term plan for a strong and sustainable industry.“This critical investment will generate significant economic growth and preserve South Australian jobs,” he said. “This strategy will transform Australia’s naval shipbuilding industry and put it on to a sustainable long-term path, giving the workforce certainty into the future. “It’s the first time any Australian government has committed to a permanent naval shipbuilding industry.”Mr Abbott attacked the former Labor government for creating the “valley of death” by failing to commission a single naval warship from an Australian shipyard during its six years in office.Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said the decision meant Australia’s “world-class shipbuilding workforce” would build the future frigates and offshore patrol vessels, along with other surface vessels. Beneath the first Air Warfare Destroyer, which was built in Adelaide. Picture: Calum Robertson “The future frigates will be built in South Australia,” he said.This is likely to trigger a split of ASC into shipbuilding and submarine arms, along with a partial privatisation involving the successful frigate builder.The Government analysis shows 2500 jobs will be sustained for a decade across Australia by the continuous shipbuilding program.But it will not stem the “valley of death” between projects which has resulted in another 100 ASC workers on the air warfare destroyer program losing their jobs, raising fears about the remaining 2500 workers at Osborne.However, speaking on radio this morning, Mr Abbott was optimistic for their future: “We will have up to 2500 ongoing jobs in surface naval shipbuilding so this is a very, very significant announcement,” he told FIVEaa.“While we can’t entirely avoid the valley of death, we can certainly fill some of it in with the announcement we’re making today.”Industry insiders said the awarding of the frigate project to SA would fuel speculation it was a consolation prize for missing out on submarines to Mr Abbott’s preferred Japanese option.Industry figures said German and French companies vying for the submarine deal had spent millions of dollars and hundreds of hours on their bids and would be enraged if this was fruitless.But Mr Abbott told ABC 891 this morning that the submarines would be a “prize” for SA in some form.“The frigates are coming as the first prize, and one way or another, the subs will be coming as a further prize,” he said.“Whatever the competitive evaluation process ultimately comes up with, there will certainly be more submarine jobs in Australia. (But) we’ve got to get the right deal for Australia.”“You shouldn’t assume that the subs won’t happen here. When we get all those figures in, that’s when we’ll make a final decision.”Premier Jay Weatherill met Mr Abbott yesterday to discuss job-creation measures. This morning he applauded the Abbott government’s pledge to build future frigates in Adelaide. “This is a big win for South Australia,” Mr Weatherill told ABC 891.“We’ve been pursuing a continuous shipbuilding program. It’s a fantastic piece of news.”Asked about the state’s push to have future submarines built in Adelaide, Mr Weatherill said: “That’s something that we continue to pursue.” Air Warfare Destroyer Hobart sets sail Mr Abbott told a $500-a-head fundraising lunch for Make-A-Wish Australia at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre yesterday that SA had some particular issues — but he had particular faith and confidence in the state’s people.“If we can make another wish for this state it would be to see this state restored to being an economic powerhouse of our country,” he said.Federal Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane yesterday revealed 15 SA companies had won almost $29 million funding in the first round of a $60 million program designed to accelerate private sector investment in non-automotive manufacturing.The 15 businesses will receive grants ranging from about $500,000 to almost $5 million, which are expected to generate about 430 jobs.

Point taken. However earthquakes typically run in cycles...... Adelaide has the highest earthquake hazard of any Australian capital. It has experienced more medium-sized earthquakes in the past 50 years than any capital because South Australia is being slowly squeezed sideways by about 0.1 mm/yr. Although earthquakes cannot be predicted accurately, measuring these changes and combining that information with Adelaide's earthquake history helps to develop an understanding of when the next big earthquake might happen. I experienced the last minor shake a few years ago and wasn't even aware that their was a risk until it happened... Bigger quake to come, says expert RENATO CASTELLO, SARAH MENNIE SUNDAY MAIL (SA) APRIL 19, 2010 11:01AM A SEISMIC expert says the earthquake we had in April is a portent of things to come and that another "1954-style earthquake" is certain to hit the city. Seismologist David Love from PIRSA says most of our quakes don't follow faultlines, so there's no point reaching for a map."The truth of the matter is that the earthquakes occur all over the place, regardless of where the faultlines are," he said."It's somewhat different from California, where you can see most of the earthquakes happen on major faultlines that they know are moving."The South Australian earthquakes are "spread out far and wide", though there are "more on the hills than on the flats".Dr Love said it was quite common for people to be able to hear and see an earthquake without feeling it. He said the earthquake compression waves were equivalent to sound waves. As the waves come up through the ground it is possible to hear low-frequency sound waves."It does sound like a rumbling as it comes and goes," he said."When you are closer it tends to be more a big boom sound, but what people actually hear is a probably a little subjective and probably depends on where they are and what they are doing."People were jolted from their sleep when a magnitude 3.8 quake - the state's strongest in more than 20 years - struck just south of Mt Barker at 11.27pm on Friday. Its shockwaves were felt across the state.It was the largest of four tremors that had struck close to Adelaide in the past 19 days, with three recorded near Kuitpo, including a 1.9 magnitude tremor on April 2.Australian Seismological Centre director Kevin McCue said it was only "a matter of time" before SA experienced a repeat of the 5.5 magnitude quake of 1954 that caused $70 million damage across Adelaide.

Earthquake prediction: Adelaide professor says science advancing rapidly 891 ABC Adelaide Posted 27 May 2015, 9:29am PHOTO: There was wide damage from the 1954 Adelaide earthquake. (SA Government records) MAP: Adelaide 5000 Long warned about the earthquake risk due to fault lines across Adelaide, the city's residents are being assured the science of predicting jolts is advancing rapidly. Professor Sandy Steacy, who heads the school of physical sciences at Adelaide University, gave a public lecture on Tuesday evening about being prepared for earthquakes. Adelaide's biggest jolt, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake in March 1954, caused widespread damage, and some people fear that statistically the next serious quake might be close. Professor Steacy told 891 ABC Adelaide the city's residents should not be worried, but could think about the wider safety preparations a community could make. "I know that if you go to California, the phone book tells you what to do in the event of an earthquake," she said. "In Adelaide it's very difficult to associate earthquakes with faults because it turns out that most of the earthquakes that happen in SA aren't happening on mapped faults, so the earthquake hazard here is a little bit harder to get a handle on." She said engineers could design buildings which were likely to survive serious quakes and individuals could think about their personal preparedness. "In some places you want to stay inside, in other places you want to run outside and you need to have that thought process in advance," she said. Earthquake might bring tsunami danger Professor Steacy said travelling abroad required other considerations. "Certainly when travelling abroad think about the fact that you might be going to an earthquake-prone country and think about what you would do if the ground starts to shake," she said. "If I were going to Japan, for example, I wouldn't be thinking so much about getting killed in an earthquake but I would think about what I would do if I were at the coast and I felt an earthquake because I would be worried about tsunami." The professor said earthquake prediction was a fairly recent area of science but was making great progress. Plate techtonics, which is our basic framework for understanding about how earthquakes happen, is only about 50 years old. Professor Sandy Steacy "The science is moving on very, very quickly [but] you have to realise it's a very young science," she said. "Plate techtonics, which is our basic framework for understanding about how earthquakes happen, is only about 50 years old. "We've decided that prediction is impossible, and now we're concentrating our efforts on making short-term forecasts." She said if scientists noted a heightened earthquake risk for an area, their challenge would be to communicate that without raising alarm, and they needed to be mindful the actual likelihood of a quake might still be very low. As well as the 1954 jolt in Adelaide, the city has had more recent tremors of magnitude 3.8 in 2010, 3.3 the following year and 2.6 early last year. Quakes of or above magnitude 6 rocked the south-east of South Australia in 1897 and Warooka on Yorke Peninsula in 1902.

Adelaide earthquake: where the faults lie MICHAEL MCGUIRE NO SOURCE MARCH 26, 2011 12:00AM SHARE Ads By Google Start Download Convert Any File to a PDF. Get the Free From Doc to Pdf App!www.fromdoctopdf.com Debris crushes a car outside the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament after an earthquake rocked Christchurch, New Zealand. ADELAIDE'S last earthquake 57 yeas ago caused widespread damage - the next one could be worse. THOSE who were awake that night would afterwards talk of the unnatural stillness in the air. Sounds seemed to carry for miles. Then out of that stillness came a humming sound, a bit like a far-away aeroplane. But instead of fading it grew louder and louder. Finally, one man recalled, the noise became an almighty rumbling, like a continuous drum roll; then a strange quivering started, before the veranda, the walls, and floor of his house started to move - gently at first, but then vigorously as the weatherboard building started bulging and swaying.All across the city, the strange movement jolted people from their sleep. It was 3.40am. Some felt plaster falling on their beds, others headed outside to see brick walls collapsing, the tinkling sound of shattering glass was everywhere. The fire brigade chief was startled awake by the sound of the chimney collapsing on to the station's roof. Policemen on the beat were thrown to the ground. Watchmen at a city department store were terrified the building was about to collapse.Such was the scene in Adelaide in the early hours of March 1, 1954.Despite a lack of sophisticated measuring equipment it was estimated the city was hit by an earthquake around a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre somewhere near Darlington, about 12km south of the CBD. It unleashed nowhere near the power of the enormous shocks that have struck Chile, New Zealand and Japan since early last year. But until the Newcastle earthquake of 1989, the Adelaide quake was the most damaging recorded in Australia, and is a reminder that we are considered the most likely big Australian city at risk of a significant shock.At the Victoria Hotel at Tapleys Hill the quake devastated the old pub. "It's the first time I've ever heard my wife scream," publican Alf Gibbons said later. "But when you see cracks opening in the walls and you hear a sound like a bomb going off, it's pretty frightening."The St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wakefield St was badly damaged; at the new Blackwood Community Hospital every room apart from the operating theatre was affected; in Mt Barker springs appeared in fields where none had been seen previously. In the city, the GPO clock's face was damaged. That was 57 years ago now, and time has perhaps dulled the impact the earthquake had on Adelaide. But the bill in today's dollars was about $150 million.Since settlement, South Australia has experienced four damaging quakes. The biggest was a 6.5 jolt near Beachport in the South East which caused chaos at the nearby town of Kingston and was felt in Adelaide.The story of the four quakes is recorded by former teacher Tom Dyster in his book, Strong Shock of Earthquake. Dyster was a young teacher in Kingston in 1948 when he first started to hear the story of the tremor which shook the town in 1897. More than 50 years later one of the students who was at the school that day would tell Dyster how frightening it all was. "Lew Jarman, who was one of those caught up in the crush, used to say how terrified he was as bigger children trampled on him and the plaster kept falling in chunks from the ceiling as he tried desperately to get on his feet and flee for safety."Dyster's book covers the Mt Barker quake of 1883, Kingston in 1897, Warooka on the Yorke Peninsula in 1902 and Adelaide in 1954 and can be read on the Department of Primary Industries website. He is now 85 but still keeps an eye on earthquakes. "None of the earthquakes in SA was serious by the standard we are being introduced to at the moment overseas, but they are serious to the people on the spot," he says.No one was killed in the 1954 tremor but if a similar quake was to strike Adelaide today we would perhaps not be so lucky. Judith Carr is as an executive director within the State Government but is also the Earthquake Hazard Leader for SA. It means she has examined all the risks and liaised with other departments such as the police to generate a response plan if the worst happens. "There has been significant residential and commercial development over the last 50 or so years and so a greater impact than occurred in 1954 would be expected," she says. "We have scenarios of damage likely for various earthquake magnitudes and, for exercise purposes only, assume that damage from an earthquake event would be similar to that of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake." That earthquake was the worst in Australian history. The damage bill was $1.5 billion and 13 people were killed.Of course building standards have improved since 1954. In 1983 SA became the first state to adopt national standards to make buildings more earthquake resistant. Don Freeman, who is general manager of building policy in the Department of Planning, says this is a recognition that the state is at higher risk than the rest of the country. "Adelaide as a capital city has been recognised of all the capital cities as having a higher risk than probably all the others," he says. Freeman reckons most of the buildings constructed since 1983 would survive a quake, particularly those with a post-disaster function such as hospitals. They are designed to be flexible, rather than rigid, allowing them to absorb the energy of a tremor. Other older buildings, such as the SA Museum and the Town Hall, have been strengthened as well. He says most modern, well-designed homes should be OK but that there are weak points in older houses, particularly chimneys.Despite all this, SA is regarded as geologically stable. There are no crashing tectonic plates such as those that produced the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. The Japanese earthquake, which measured 9.0, was about 178,000 times stronger than the tremor which hit Adelaide in 1954. The Japan quake was also about 11,220 times stronger than the 6.3 magnitude shock which devastated Christchurch last month.SA has a multitude of faults - basically just cracks in the rock - which have produced about 20 tremors so far this year. Most are tiny, ranging from a 1.3 magnitude shake near Swan Reach on March 13 to one measuring 3.5 about 25km from Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges on February 20. The most significant quake to hit the state in recent times happened near Mt Barker in April last year when a 3.8 magnitude tremor struck. It was felt widely across the metropolitan area.There are two main fault lines in Adelaide. The Para line comes towards North Adelaide from the Gawler area, while the Eden-Burnside fault is essentially the Hills face zone. The Hills are the result of the fault: two sides have squeezed together, forcing up the land.The 1954 quake happened because intense pressures underground caused the rock to crack and move. The fissure caused by the 1954 earthquake is estimated to have been about 6km long and 4km deep, although there is no certainty about the precise point it occurred because of a lack of measuring equipment at the time.Scientists are still grasping for a way of predicting when earthquakes are going to strike. David Love, a seismologist in the geological survey at the Department of Primary Industries, says "around the world people are working on all sorts of methods to try and predict earthquakes, but to date success has been extremely limited".Some scientists are working on a method that measures radon gas releases as it shows granite may be fracturing. Others are monitoring land slippage using GPS equipment, some are looking at water bore heights and electromagnetic fields.Others believe earthquakes are linked. The theory is that the New Zealand quake may have helped trigger the slippage in Japan as they are all linked through the Pacific. By this measure the next big one will be on the San Andreas fault in California.Love says geologically SA is close to being a solid structure but movement will still occur. "All our faults are shorter, all our earthquakes are smaller, we don't have a massive flat boundary fault running through the country," he says.Surprisingly, in SA there is no easy correlation between where an earthquake may originate and where fault lines are. This is different to California where most tremors start along the fault line. So even though the 1954 earthquake was thought to have started in the Eden-Burnside fault, there is no certainty about that either. SA tremors are more likely to occur in the hilly areas and less on the plains. The Adelaide metropolitan area is also protected by being built on heavy clay which reduces the likelihood of the tremor being amplified and causing greater damage. One of the problems for Newcastle was that it was built on softer, sandy soil which is better for transmitting the shock of earthquake.Love won't talk predictions but he will talk probabilities. "We have had slight damage in Adelaide city three times since settlement," he says. "Certainly getting to anything as severe as what they got in Christchurch is a very low probability. It can't be entirely ruled out, but the probability is very, very low."