Adelaide, Day 6

Thursday, 14 March

Checkout was at 9am. I checked out, got my $20 key deposit back, and left my full backpack at Reception. The room was full of many other bags, as some guests were checking in and out (changing rooms), or like me didn't have to head to the airport till later in the day.

From the hostel, I wandered on foot to Rundle Mall, where I got some bananas and iced coffee at Woolies. I've had Farmers Union (the major flavoured milk brand in South Australia) iced coffee years ago, but had never seen the "Strong" variety. It tasted OK, but is nowhere near my favourite - that space is reserved for a fistfight between Ice Break and Dare Double Espresso. I was slightly worried that "water" was listed as an ingredient on the carton.

Not the best Iced Coffee on the market.

After having my banana-and-coffee breakfast, I stopped in at the State Library again to update Facebook, check emails, and continue drafting these posts. Yes, I realise I'm actually publishing this over ten days later.

Adelaide University.

Guys at work are big cricket fans, so I thought I'd better at least visit Adelaide Oval while I was in town. I took a shortcut through the really nice University grounds, and found my way to the north side of the city to where the cricket field is. It's mostly a construction site at the moment as it undergoes some improvement works, but I was able to get a picture from the street.

Adelaide Oval.

Adelaide is also known as a "City of Churches", and this being my last day, I thought I'd better get at least a picture of one. I'd already seen a number of churches in the city, with varying degrees of impressive architecture. There's also a fair number of older buildings that look like churches that have since been converted to other uses - one is a Korean restaurant. Just up the road from the cricket ground, I got some pictures of St Peter's Cathedral.

St Peter's Cathedral.

Across from St Peter's and the Adelaide Oval is the Cross of Remembrance, part of a monument to fallen soldiers established by the women of Adelaide.

Panoramic view of cricket oval, war memorial, and cathedral.

Once I got back to the inner city, I hopped on a free tram to the Central Markets. When I'd asked online for suggestions of places to see in Adelaide, this was one such place others had mentioned.

Right next to Chinatown, it's a big indoor market filled with stalls offering a wide range of fresh foods, produce, and other such things. Having lived in Japan and grown up in West Africa, however, it wasn't anything really special. That being said, it was also my last day in town and I didn't have a whole lot of time to wander. If it had been my first day in the city, or I was staying longer, I might have found some great food there.

From the markets, I caught the free bus loop back to the hostel. Before returning to get my bags, however, I walked a couple blocks to the Coopers Alehouse, in order to pick up a six-pack of the Celebration Ale I'd enjoyed. They didn't have any packaged six-packs, so put six single bottles in a Corona box for me, for ease of packing for travel.

Since returning to Brisbane, I have found Celebration Ale on sale in Dan Murphy's. For a few dollars less than I paid in Adelaide. I've even seen it in my local BWS this week - but they definitely didn't stock it last time I bought anything there!

Back at the hostel, I still had a couple hours before I needed to make a move towards the city to catch the J1 bus to the airport, so I hung out chatting with other travellers - mostly English and Northern Irish on this particular day.

After the morning's disappointing Farmer's Union Strong, I got a double-shot Ice Break at Woolies on my way to the bus stop. Water was noticeably missing from the list of ingredients.

No water in this ingredients list!

There was a bit of traffic on the road, but I got to the airport just after 5, in good time for checking in for my 6 pm flight.

My last photo taken in Adelaide. View of terminal from Airport bus stop.

I had a good flight back to Brisbane. I didn't get any sleep, opting to read the whole way. I also discovered that Virgin Australia has its own kind of "happy hour". Usually, tea/coffee/water is free, and there are options for passengers to purchase soft drinks, beer, and snack food. For flights between state capitals that take off between 4 pm and 7 pm, Virgin includes beer or wine in the complimentary beverage service. I was down with that!

All up, my expenditure (not counting tickets to WOMADelaide, and flight tickets) was just over $225.

Average daily food expenses: $6.00

Average daily water/coffee/beer expenses: $14.95

This says more about my budgetary restrictions (it's easier to find cheap food than cheap drinks) than about priorities. I didn't exactly starve myself on that $6 a day...