"Thanks for coming to Adelaide, most people don't bother"

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Well Adelaide, mmm it’s sort of like something but not sure what. The backpacker place we stayed in was, well, very backpackery, bit like being left to superivse your kids 15th birthday party, when they don’t like half the people they’ve invited. Quite grubby - (for those of you smarting from the Davis hotel pics you’ll love these) although loos and showers clean. Now for some reason the loo and shower were side by side just off the hallway, but with no door leading into them. More often than not when I went to have a shower someone would always go to the loo, not sure why they didn’t just put he loo’s together and the shower seperately. Anyway the weather has been good, the people civil, think that is it, - everything works bus stops are numbered one to whatever number they end at, the signage is exactly the same, lots of signs tell you what is expected of you, and whether penatilties apply if you don’t comply. It feels a bit like Stepford, can see how neighbours was made in Oz. On the plus side got a brilliant hair cut and the beaches are lovely, obviously very clean. Would say it’s run a bit like England was when we were kids. Contained.

Adelaide is a straaaange place, feels like nothing would happen unless it’s organised. It doesn’t seem to have a soul of it’s own. Everything is planned and laid out to perfection, streets are wide and open, everywhere is clean, suburbs neatly arranged, square plots with square houses on them, neat flower beds, traffic that gives way to pedestrians on crossings without any hint of impatience. Just NICE, and very disconcerting.
The hostel experience has made me realise that Glenferrie in Sydney actually was a hotel, not a ‘hotel’. Annie’s Place (the hostel), although friendly enough, was just a little too teen-centric for me. Shared bathrooms are one thing, but when you need to take a leak at 3 in the morning and have to make your way past 6 kids sharing 3 sofas in the hall I really start to feel my age again.

Funny isn’t it, that jb cracked on shared bathrooms before me! Well he did keep mentioning the B word.

Funniest thing that’s happened here? Barb went into a shoe shop in Glenelg (a seaside suburb of Adelaide), no surprise there, but chatting to the saleswoman about what we were doing prompted her response- “Thanks for coming to Adelaide, most people don’t bother”. Can’t imagine why.

Anyway, internet access is going to be limited now till we hit NZ on the 23rd, so dont expect any more blogs or emails till then my loves. We’re going to do a weeks serious beaching now, oh, and of course the Annie White experience. Watch this space.

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Photos

Adelaide/Glenelg tram
Very twee, but the modern, a/c ones were better.

Our room at Annie's
The cleanest bit

Our room at Annie\
Not so clean, and no, we didn't sleep on the bunks