Ten great things in Adelaide that most visitors miss

Scratch beneath the surface and you'll find Adelaide is home to plenty of under-the-radar attractions.

The Adelaide Oval scoreboard

If you don't immediately love the Adelaide Oval's gloriously out-of-time scoreboard, you're probably an android. There's no electronic gimmickry on the 104-year-old standard bearer for the redeveloped Oval – just letters and numbers painted onto wood and carefully slotted into place.

What most people don't realise is that it is possible to go inside the scoreboard for an insight into how it all works. The stadium tours open up the magical world of levers, switches and pulleys – and give a taste of how gruellingly hot it gets in there once the sun is out… See Adelaideoval.com.au.

Morialta Conservation Park

10km northeast of the city centre, and covering 533 hectares, the Morialta Conservation Park was a gift to the people of South Australia from John Smith Reid. In 1911, he decided to donate part of his land as a public reserve, and that's the way it remains today.

The park is effectively a canyon, with a bewildering network of walking trails criss-crossing it. Big, chunky rock faces, waterfalls that change from torrent to dainty trickle depending on the season and a deafening chorus of birdsong are par for the course. Pure SA runs guided hiking tours, pointing out caves and wildlife on the way, for those daunted by taking on the trail map alone. See PureSA.com.au.

Chambers Gully

The other big park that pretty much everyone goes to is the Cleland Conservation Park. It's home to the Waterfall Gully Hike up to the top of Mount Lofty, which is an Adelaide rite of passage, and the cuddleable koalas and feedable roos at the Cleland Wildlife Park. Many of the trails within the park, however, never get much of a look in – and many of them have recently been opened up to mountain bikers. The classic example is the one through Chambers Gully, which pretty much winds from the wildlife park into the eastern suburbs. Wild koalas, eerie gum trees and a sloping descent gentle enough not to terrify novices make for a marvellous two-wheeled downhill run. Escape Goat runs half day bike tours. See escapegoat.com.au.

The River Torrens Linear Park

The parkland stretch of the River Torrens that divides the city centre and North Adelaide is justifiably popular, but the walking trails and cycle paths go from there all the way down to the sea. Known as the Linear Park, the route actually starts in the Adelaide Hills, before finishing at Henley Beach. It's around 12.5km all up from the centre, with the main interruption being the squawking ducks on the river begging for a feed.

Once at Henley Beach, you've got what's arguably Adelaide's finest stretch of sand. Most visitors tend to go to Glenelg instead – largely because there's a direct tram there – but Henley is far less crowded. See SouthAustralianTrails.com.

The National Wine Centre of Australia

With primo wine regions such as the Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale on the doorstep, it's hardly surprising that most visitors head straight out to the vines for wine tasting. But on a whistlestop visit, the National Wine Centre of Australia is a mighty handy substitute. Just outside the city centre, and part of the University of Adelaide, it's essentially a function space. But the on-site Wined Bar employs the Enomatic system – whereby you can use a card to get sample-sized pours of wines from dozens of top labels from across Australia. Award winners are handily corralled into one area.

The added bonus are the winding displays on Australian winemaking. These tell the story from the token vines Governor Phillip planted outside his tent shortly after the First Fleet landed in Sydney, to modern day high tech viticulture. See wineaustralia.com.au.

The City of Music Laneways

Sprinkled around the city centre, a series of once fairly dismal laneways have been renamed and revitalised in honour of musicians with strong South Australian links.

Sia Furler, Cold Chisel, Paul Kelly, No Fixed Address and The Angels have all had lanes named after them, with the walls covered in street art celebrating their life and work. Cold Chisel Lane, for example, has murals featuring quotes from fans.

The city council website has an online map of these tiny lanes. See cityofadelaide.com.au.

Maybe Mae

These are not the only Adelaide laneways to have changed. In fact, the whole laneway scene has boomed in the last decade. Neighbours Peel Street and Leigh Street are the biggest star, but they're easily missed as they branch off the unpromisingly bawdy Hindley Street.

There are dozens of bars and restaurants to choose from here, but in the spirit of unexpected discovery, let's go with Maybe Mae. This old school, classy, moodlit basement cocktail bar is on a walkway between the two lanes. Look for a large circular hole in the wall and head down the stairs. See maybemae.com.

The Migration Museum courtyard

The Migration Museum, in the mish-mash of university buildings between North Terrace and the river, is small but fascinating. It goes into the stories of South Australia's original European settlers, the arguments over where to site the capital, the treatment of the local Aboriginal people and – later – the phenomenally racist language tests given to would-be settlers under the White Australia policy.

But it's the courtyard outside that sends the brain whirring. Hundreds of names have been etched into bricks on the floor – such as "Flaavi Hodunov, Estonia, 1949" and "Dante and Cora Juanta, Philippines, 1973". All hint at little, individual stories begging to be told. For example, just looking at "P Balathayalan and Inge Wachowski, Malaysia, 1977" brings up a thousand how and why questions. See migrationmuseum.com.au.

Garden Island

In the north of Adelaide, between the Port Adelaide River and Barker Inlet, Garden Island is part of the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary. About 40 bottlenose dolphins live here permanently, feeding amongst the mangroves and seagrass beds, while several hundred more pay occasional visits. Garden Island also plays host to a succession of shipwrecks, which have taken on the narrow channels and failed miserably. The best way to combine shipwreck viewing and dolphin spotting is on a kayaking tour around the island. Adventure Kayaking SA offers guided visits, plus kayak hire should you wish to go it alone. See Adventurekayak.com.au.

The Adelaide Himeji Garden

There's a lot going on in the belt of parks around Adelaide city centre, but perhaps the most endearing spot is the Adelaide Himeji Garden. Created as a gift from Adelaide's Japanese sister city Himeji, this meticulously-designed garden is based around a small ornament lake that represents the purity and tranquility of heart sought by Buddhists. The Japanese-style gate also leads to a small tea house, stepping stones, rocks designed to give a focal point and a small mound representing a mountain. Entry is free, and the garden makes for a place of meditative contemplation just off the busy south terrace. See cityofadelaide.com.au

The writer was a guest of the South Australian Tourism Commission (southaustralia.com).