Glen Elg
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2004
1
40
57
Trip End
Jun 11, 2005
Glenelg,
South Australia,
Australia
Thursday, January 27, 2005
I crack on at a hell of a pace, my shorts are damp from perspiration as I climb out of the cockpit to grab a cold drink at a small shop. Every place looks similar, with the road following railway tracks and small townships reached over level crossings. Pastoral scenes of summer flash past, almighty grain towers rising up like lighthouses. On the outskirts of Adelaide I have to take some directions to the coastal satellite town of Glen Elg. The hostel there is a huge restored Victorian mansion, about the size of four houses. 25 bucks per night is what they charge and there's no car park. But there's no alternative either. This is Glen Elg's one and only backpacker hostel.
I take a room for the time being and note that there is draft Stella on tap in the bar and TV lounge. A large socialising area out the back with a weekly barbie and live music. A very good kitchen with several fridges and storage areas. All doors have meaty locks on them and fire exit routes are clearly displayed - plainly South Australia is a place where rules and regulations are taken seriously. By those making the rules perhaps. And I am quick to find out that parking within 5 meters of a junction will earn me a ticket. A neat little baggie is placed under my wiper blade. Inside the sealed packet is a computerised set of directives that detail the code of the offence of which I am guilty. Then instructions for payment of the statutory fine in x number of days. I stuff it in my pocket for the timebeing deciding on its fate.
I meet Caroline one morning as I am halfway out of the mixed sex showers. And she's half way in. She has a pleasing Yorkshire accent and a friendly manner. An entire afternoon passes with her and her boyfriend Grant. They have come to Australia together to start a new life and job hunting is currently on their minds. We're out in the yard and drinking pints of Stella in the blazing sun. A plan is hatched to take my car offshore to Kangaroo island where the three of us can survey the island, sleep in a tent and improvise with barbeques. The logistics become a worry when I later find out the cost of taking the car on the ferry, and the plan is abandoned. It's way over budget.
Next ; Adelaide misunderstood
