Adelaide
I have spent the last four days exploring Adelaide and attempting to wrangle up someone to share fuel costs with for a trip through the Outback. As usual and much to my frustration, I have had no luck in this regard either here or in Melbourne. Despite several promising leads and lots of leg work nothing has materialized. The two girls that I wrote about in my last entry decided to do a package tour despite it being cheaper to rent a car. They said they were scared what would happen if we broke down (a valid point I guess, but the cars are brand new and from a well known rental company). As a result, I have had to cross over to the dark side and book a package tour myself. No matter how I work the math, it is significantly cheaper to do the package tour than renting a car (going by bus means missing out on most of the sights) by myself and traveling to Darwin. I will spend the next thirteen days going from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping at all the interesting points in between. This will be my first multi day package tour I have ever done. It will be fun, but I still prefer to be around fewer people when hiking and viewing natural sights.
My first day in Adelaide was spent walking around the city and getting a general feel for the layout. I visited various hostels to see if anyone had put posts up about going to Darwin. Most were old (it is the low season here) and I had no luck with the inquiries that I made. I put up some signs in various hostels myself.
My second day was spent seeing some of the attractions in the city. I first toured the parliament building. The parliament building has two distinct styles to it. The first half was built during the Victorian period and shows the usual Victorian exhuberance for decoration. Not one surface was spared from some sort of decoration. The second half of the building was finished in the 1930s and shows the austerity of that period. It is a mixture of plain walls, geometric patterns, and dark woods. They also were short on money so the dome for the building was never built and many alcoves for statues remain empty. I then made my way through the botanical gardens. I spent about an hour wandering among native and foreign plants. Very few plants were in bloom though as it is winter here. I did come upon a flock of birds on the ground that looked to me like a huge flock of pink parrots. I don’t think they are parrots though. My final stop was the Migration Museum. The museum rotates exhibits created by the various foreign communities that live in Adelaide. The current exhibit was from the Cypriot community.
I spent Saturday morning researching various ways to get to Darwin and still be able to see all that I wanted to see. As stated above, without other travellers to share the cost with, the package tour is the most cost effective way to go. The cost of the tour is still above what I budgeted per day for Australia (thanks weak US dollar), but I am here now and I want to see it. After this tour, there is still one more tour I will probably do. The Gibbs River Road runs between Darwin and Perth. One needs a four wheel drive to make the trip. Renting a four wheel drive cost about $150 a day here. I would need about three other people to share the cost in order to be cheaper than the package tour and with the luck I am having in that regard I doubt I will find the people.
Saturday evening, I caught a tram to the be beachside suburb of Glenelg. I spent about two hours looking around the shops and walking on the beach.
Today I am just hanging out, doing landry, and making final preparations to embark on my two week trip.
Other items: It is not all bad. I am just frustrated (if you couldn’t tell) with the luck I am having finding travel companions. Promising leads seem to go bad at the last moment. I did find a wonderful restaurant (Astor Inn) here in Adelaide that makes such good meals at cheap prices that I haven’t been cooking. They have dishes ranging from chicken tandoori to lasagna for $10. They also appear to have kangaroo on the menu. I am going to try it tonight. It is an interesting place. By day, it is a restaurant full of couples and families, yet according to the hostel owner, it converts into a gay bar after 11:00 pm.
Tags: Adelaide, Australia, Travel
cjun
June 25th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Oh try the kangaroo. And did you check out the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi downtown? It’s absolutely stunning mid-afternoon as the lowering sun’s rays stream through the stained glass.
June 30th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Hey Barry,
I spent the afternoon catching up on your last 2 months. It’s quite an adventure. Do try to eat a vegetable now and then. Hope your financial luck holds–you seem to be doing pretty well.
Heidi