On the train up to Sydney I bet a friend that the first person I would met on my trip would be Canadian, as Canadians have a reputation to be plentiful in Australia. No sooner had I grabbed a beer and sat at the bar in Sydney Airport, I was approached by a gentleman in his 50s who saw my Canadian Flag badge on my backpack. He lived in Canada close to Pearson International Airport and moved to Brisbane recently because his Australian wife was tired of the weather. Good on him I say.
The flight to Adelaide was uneventful aside from the minor delay while we waited to locate Medical Cargo, as we were the last flight out for the night. Unfortunately they couldn’t locate it so we left and made it into Adelaide ahead of schedule. As it was almost 11 the shuttles from the airport were no longer running so I got stuck taking a $15 taxi to Annie’s Place (hostel). Annie’s Place is a decent hostel with clean room and nice toilets. My only negative is it’s lack of common space to relax and meet people. They only have a small outside quad that is cool at night. Other than that it’s a nice place for the price to make a brief stop.
Adelaide was far from spectacular. I took a walk around town and saw everything within a few hours. Being a sunny Friday I thought people might be about, but for most of the day I was wandering the banks of the river, parks and city streets in seclusion. There just isn’t much to do in Adelaide when it’s not summer. They have a free museum and art gallery that I spent some time in, as well as a main pedestrian mall where I stumbled upon a Starbucks. Starbucks and me have a love hate relationship. I’m not a huge fan of the coffee, but in Australia it’s the best value for my money in the brewed coffee department. I suppose the highlight of my day was getting kicked out (read: asked politely to leave) the museum because I had circumvented security on the way in and smuggled in my coffee and backpack. However, A large nightclub sized security person viewed me from across the room and informed me of the rule. I think it’s ridiculous that one can’t enjoy a coffee while walking around a museum. Alas, such is life.
It was nice to have visited Adelaide but will be much nicer to get on the road and view the centre of Australia: Uluru, Daly Waters, and Darwin.
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