Leaving Adelaide, second attempt
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2004
1
44
57
Trip End
Jun 11, 2005
Glenelg,
South Australia,
Australia
Friday, February 4, 2005
I drive to the Mount Lofty range of hills through the time-warp town of Hahndorf. Which could be in Germany. With a small pack, I take the Heydon trail - albeit in the wrong direction, and after several hours the sky begins to become very overcast. Rain looks certain and reluctantly, I double back. A wise move. For just as I reach the huge tavern and restaurant where I've left the car, it starts to bucket down with rain. So I go inside and order myself a Sunday roast.
For the third time, I find myself driving back into Adelaide. The car's windscreen wipers have never been tested before. They make a loud electrical buzzing sound as they struggle to wipe sheets of water from my view of the road. The demister doesn't work at all. There's a helter-skelter section of downhill where I have to keep pumping the brakes. The rain has become torrential. I soldier on, and Percy doesn't fail me. This time, in complete contrast to the weather, I select ' Sunny's backpacker hostel ' in the Adelaide CBD. By now, I've seen enough of Glen Elg's backpacker's hostel and its inmates. A change of scene is required.
As I am checking in to Sunny's, there is one of those bizarre ' travelling coincidences ' - I know that I know the person who is grinning at me, but cannot place him. He knows that he knows me too but it takes a moment to solve the puzzle. It's Rob - the pint sized Dutchman with whom I ascended the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. We laugh at how our paths come to cross again, and plan to share a beer or two later on.
This evening I go out with Caroline and Grant who are also staying here in the city - for digs are much cheaper than in Glen Elg's ' Riviera '. The bar we spend the evening in is rampantly homosexual and we find ourselves being invited to the table of the ' head queen ' - a flamboyant restaurant manager. To cut a long story short, he offers Caroline a job. To cut an even longer story short, Grant tells me of the years he's pursued Caroline in order to win her heart from another man - a bad man. I resist the urge to tell him ' I know what you mean '.
Next ; Leaving Adelaide, third attempt
