Adelaide

From Melbourne to Adelaide then, on the overland train which takes 10 hours, and was a lot fancier than i thought it would be. the seats are much more like slightly wider plane chairs, and the staff on board like very friendly stewards and stewardesses, with an added sense of humour. as the train was about to move off, a staff member reminded “those unfortunate people not travelling with us today” to disembark the train. the woman i sat next to, stephanie was telling me excitedly of her next adventure, which was to travel by harley from melbourne to alice springs over 3 weeks, so i had some good company in between my little dozing.

adelaide has been my first experience, or realisation, of the concentration of dutch backpackers in australia. i had not arrived maybe a few minutes, after dumping my rucksack in the dorm and wandering out to forage for some dinner when i stopped to help a guy with directions. he turned out to be from limburg, and it took no more than a few snippets of dutch conversation in the kitchen of the hostel to act as a magnet for other nederlanders. soon there was a group of 6.

it may have been my map, which to be honest was picked up from the hostel reception, but i could not get my head around the streets of adelaide centre. i´d always head in the wrong direction, a fact little helped by the map which liked to pretend streets didnt exist, or weren´t important enough in view of the big tough main streets. either way, i spent long days wandering in little and large circles chatting away to my new dutch pals.

i hadnt yet had the chance to hold a koala, or get up close with kangaroos, so i took a day out to the adelaide gorge wildlife park. it had been recommended by two of the tourist information staff, but was of course the most awkward of places to get to. it took two buses, the second of which had no timetable anywhere, and only went 2 times a day, but got there eventually! the park was more like a zoo than i had wanted, apart from areas of open enclosers where you could feed kangaroos and wallabies. the monkeys were adorable and cheeky at the same time, but unfortunately my photos look more like an rspca advert, with the monkeys helpless outstretched arm emploringly protruding from the bars of the cage. but hold a koala i did, a massive dopey and cuddly one too, so another thing ticked off the ¨when in oz must do¨ list.

although there was a lot to see in the wildlife park, it wasnt a huge place, and within 2 hours all the paths and cages and enclosures had been inspected, and myself and the guy from limburg were ready to get back to adelaide soon after. unfortunately the two buses a day to and from the park informed us that we had over 3 hours until the next one.. with the sun beating down and actually stranded in the middle of nowhere, we did what anyone would do, and hopped in to the one and only pub, the cudley creek tavern i think it was called. as luck would have it, we got inside just as the grand final of the autralian football league was about to start, and i was perfectly content to while away the time in the coolness of the tavern, chatting to the owner while watching the match with a beer in hand. (missed the last quarter though, but was happy to hear that underdogs hawthorn hawks beat the geelong cats)

perhaps a little uneventful then, my time in adelaide, but i was soon to be heading on the famous ghan train to alice springs, a solid 25 hour marathon of a journey into the heart of the outback…