PART 6 (Adelaide, another 2 days)
The Cannon Street Backpackers is a hostel converted from what looks to be an old warehouse. To make it look festive, they have painted the frontage in bright colours, crayon drawings popular with youths. The ground floor features, besides reception, a table tennis table, a travel centre and a smallish soup-kitchen-type place that serves free apple pie every day at precisely 8pm. With fresh cream.
On the second level, there is a small space housing 4 computer terminals, a sectioned-off area with table and chairs, followed by a large 'living' area containing ... nothing much. Then, rooms begin to line both sides, separated by a middle block of toilets and showers. Although carpeted, everyone who walks on the hallway sounds like they are stomping, and although room doors are s'posed to close automatically like those in offices, they sound like they are banging all the time. It is a cruddy place that appears to employ working-travellers to do the so-called cleaning. I lived it up here for 2 days after my tour to Melbourne left without me.
Apparently, I was s'posed to board the tour bus somewhere else instead of being picked up from where I was staying. However, it'd been stated on my travel voucher: Pick up at YHA Adelaide (and meet at a secondary location in brackets). Yes, I woke up at 5am for this nonsense. How typical this should happen the day after I wrote postcards to people saying this odyssey would end in 3 days.
So, they try to book me in at the YHA for a further 2 nights (free of charge, of course). But the YHA, being a clean, efficiently run place complete with anal receptionists (Ma'am, you can't lay on the couch here) who're evidently deficient in other ways, is fully booked. Cruddy place it is, then.
Must've sat on the free City Loop bus at least 10 times over 2 days. Thought I'd visit Port Adelaide on the second day on the train, but the line's being renovated, so hopped on a bus instead. Turns out, you have to stick the bus ticket into a ticket machine after paying for it. I found that out after the bus driver hollared at me for 10 minutes, only I didn't know it was me he was shouting at and was looking around wondering what's the matter. Meanwhile, the other passengers are looking around wondering what kind of idiot I am.
