Mitcham Cultural Village is a part of the Mitcham City Council and is an interactive community…read morecentre. Located at the fringe of Adelaide's beautiful foothills sits this old heritage Institute building which has been transformed into a venue for hire. It is comprised of three sections which are the main hall, an East Wing and a Meeting Room and caters for meetings, birthday parties, quiz nights and the like. They also have arts and crafts tutition classes where anyone can book to learn various skills and is a great way of meeting others with similar interests. The main hall contains the Coordinators office who is more than happy to take you on a tour of the facilities and answering any questions you may have about the centre and your requirements. There is an open space which has art and craft displays and exhibitions, adding interest and colour to the new foyer. Mitcham Cultural Villages hosts a art and craft market biannually and is a great place to go and buy original handmade items as gifts.

The Department of Housing, otherwise known as Housing SA is a reasonable service providing people…read morewith pretty decent accommodation at an affordable price. Unfortunately the amount of capital work stock (buildings) is far less than the demand for places, so they are always running behind with providing people with homes. Once upon a time you could buy your housing trust house, and do so at low rates over a long period of time. Those days are long gone and the state of the situation these days is the people who apply in need may have to wait several years before they come up on the list of people in line. It is a sad and sorry state of affairs that many people are in need of a home and unable to get one, and things are not necessarily getting better. The positive thing is that we have a system that actually provides housing, it is simply a shame that it is not funded adequately by the State and Commonwealth Governments and there have been no innovations for many years such as courting the involvement of private business, although those sorts of innovations are gradually starting to happen now.

I thought I had lost my birth certificate and so this is when a place like this serves its purpose!…read moreI also ended up changing part of my name because of a lifetime of confusion, and it was as easy as anything. As this is a department that, lets face it, most of us will likely encounter in this lifetime at some point, you would preferably want your visit to be a convenient process. Whatever your need may be! Therefore lets take a look at the check list: -Central city location = Check (Grenfell Street). -Prompt service with waiting station line length at a minimum = Check. -Photocopying/printing facilities = Check. -Convenience = check. Prices are a little lame but oh well. It comes with the certificate.

You're probably going to have to come here if you lost your birth certificate and you've booked a…read moreholiday overseas and you really need a new copy so you can get your passport sorted. At least, that's why I went. I seem to remember something about $60, I think that's what it cost me, that's a new dress. Anyhow, the building is a little like the set of the Matrix when you walk in, you know when they have the machine guns in the foyer? obviously before the machine gun thing. Shiny floors and expensive elevators. I didnt have to wait long, but I was pretty irritated with how much it cost for a piece of paper.

I still remember when this place was built, namely because the government had decided to open a bus…read moreroute instead of a railway line up to the North East. This was actually the second stage of the route (though it turns out that they won't actually be extending the bus way any further). It is conveniently located right next to one of the major shopping centres, which is useful, and the buses are pretty regular as well. In fact, one of the good things is that there are buses that go through the city and out the other side.

Line of the biggest police stations in the state, this cop shop deals with a wide range of areas…read moreincluding court, cells and general police duties. They are located in the middle of the North East and right next to on if the accident hotspots in SA which is handy. There are always cars cruising around this area and the staff inside are friendly enough. There is usually a bit of a wait if you go there for something simple and the waiting area isn't that big or nice. Also the whole building is a little run down and the car park is a shambles.

A bit old, the Holden Hill Police 'Complex' (political correctness, aye?!) is the hub for one of…read morethe biggest Police serviced areas in Adelaide. It has cells, courtrooms and a Magistrates court so everything is in the one place and can be processed all at the one time. Officers staffing the front counter are friendly and really helpful but often seem under-staffed, which seems to be the case of most police stations around the state. The Holden Hill patrolled area always seems to be lower on crime then other areas you hear about around the adelaide suburbs and there always seems to be a presence of patrol cars around the area. I keep hoping a red 1975 Ford Gran Torino with a white stripe would bolt out of the carpark and do a bad ass car chase.

Adelaide Studios at Glenside is the new home of the South Australian Film Corporation. Having just…read morerelocated from their Hendon base, this shiny new facility is located on the site of the old Glenside hospital. The Adelaide Studios houses two sound stages, a swag of production offices and facilities, state of the art Sound Mixing Theatre , ADR and Foley studios and a 96 seat theatrette. The SA Film Corp also runs funding programs and initiatives for those wanting to get their film, TV or web project up and running. While the Adelaide Studios aren't open to the public they recently held an Open Day and attracted huge crowds so they're sure to run another very soon.

This is a little gem on the main terrace at Walkerville. The hall is hired on a regular basis for…read moredancing classes, fitness, darts etc. There is a booking sheet to hire for a one off Saturday night and the fee is quite reasonable. Every Friday lunch around 12.30pthey say the Oath, then it on to pay $7 for a BBQ lunch with salads. Everybody welcome and you don't need to be a RSL member to enjoy. The bar prices are great. Not a huge selection of wines, but with the current pricing I'm not complaining.

My first time here for the Dawn Service this year saw me growing to like this lovely RSL filled…read morewith friendly faces and helpful volunteers by the hour. There is a genuine camaraderie in this place. They have a quaint little courtyard out the back with the hall available for hire to the public. The facilities aren't contemporary, but they are clean and well maintained. The Memorial Garden on Warwick Street with plenty of roses is absolutely lovely. Providing a nice place to catch up with friends and family over a picnic. The lawn bowls is right next door if that takes your fancy. I believe they offer a lunch and dinner trade, general public welcomed. Judging by the gun down breakfast I had over the weekend, I would definitely come back for the value alone.

I always tried to avoid any government department buildings as they seemed packed all the time and…read moreI just hated the atmosphere in those places. Although recently I have had no choice and I must say it's not as bad as I remember it. This office is quite small but is conveniently located within the shopping centre, but also near an entrance, so easy to get to. They have great opening hours - much better than most government agencies. I usually only go here when I need to make a claim as it is so easy. You just go in with your receipt and medicare card and they give you the cash back straight away. I have never had to wait more than about 5 or 10 minutes, which I thought was pretty good. And to think I used to fill out forms and post them off and then wait weeks to get a cheque back and then go to the bank to deposit it and wait 3 days for it to clear when it was this easy all along to do at their office. I also realised last time I was in there that they have a Family Assistance Office in here as well. Not quite sure the benefits as I always thought you had to go through Centrelink for FAO stuff but they had forms available here as well.