THE KINGS OF FREEBIES... (Adelaide Backpackers Inn)

Member Name: rachels_ratty

Product:	Adelaide Backpackers Inn
Date:	16/04/03 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Central location with friendly and helpful staff, Spotlessly clean, Freebies!

Disadvantages: Cold in winter

I found this place first in August 2001 after recommendation by my best mate and have just returned back to the UK following my third stay there. My first stay was a flying visit; well I guess a week isnt really that short a stay, but when you compare that to the four weeks I spent there the second time and the five Ive just enjoyed then it was a mere drop in the ocean! So what makes me keep returning? Its no one thing you will be pleased to know and some of it is more personal feelings than actual physical/material reasons which will make this harder to write but I shall, as ever, endeavour to be as clear as possible!


~HOSTEL BASICS~

Adelaide Backpackers Inn (ABPI)
112 Carrington Street
Adelaide 5000
South Australia

Telephone Toll Free (from within Australia) 1800 24 77 25

http://www.tne.net.au/abackinn

E-mail – abackinn@tne.net.au

At first sight, the leaflets about this hostel show it is full of promise. Amongst the things listed is their all you can eat breakfast, the fact that all rooms are air-conditioned, and a huge list of FREEBIES - Free apple pie and ice cream every night
Free rice, oil, spices, garlic and cooking sauces
Free pick-ups and transfers
Free off-street parking
Free video hire
Free tea and coffee and milk for said hot beverages
Free hot water for showers
Free laundry detergent
Free linen and quilts
Free bag storage
Free valuable storage
Free travel advice
Discount rates for weekly stays

Impressive hey?
Yep, all this and more is offered for the all inclusive Dorm price of $22 per night, or $132 for the week. Now I guess all I need to do is prove it!


~THE DETAILED BIT~

Having made my booking to stay here, I arrived in Adelaide one warm summers afternoon back in February, at the bus terminal having just spent 24 hours in the company of McCafferteys finest Interstate services… Not entirely sure which way was up or even what my own name was anymore, I have never been more grateful in my life that these guys still provide a free pick-up service and that Peter (the driver) was there to meet me!

Travelling the short distance back to the hostel it was great to catch up with Peter and despite it being over 12 months since my last visit it was like coming home. Normally during the drive to Carrington Street Peter will give a quick guided tour to the area, but of course that was dispensed with, as I know the layout of the city perfectly… The 5-minute journey passes China Town, Coles (the local supermarket) and Victoria Square.

The hostel itself is housed in 2 buildings, the one we pulled up outside that has the reception in (number 112) and another building directly across the road (number 109). The main difference between the two is that 112 houses dormitory accommodation only, whilst 109 is mainly for singles, twins and doubles but more about that later! As Ive stayed in 112 twice before thats where I hung my hat this time too. Upon checking in you are given your keys, one for your room and one for the after hours door. The reception is open from 6:00am until around 7:30pm so outside of those hours there is another door you can use, hence the key!
After checking in, getting my bed roll (a top and bottom sheet plus pillow cover) and getting my passport and tickets put in the safe I found my room and then went for a wander around the place to see what was new/changed!

Initial glances I had showed me that thi
ngs were pretty much as they had been the last time I was there. The reception is light, airy and uncluttered with plenty of tour leaflets and backpackers magazines on offer. The bag storage area is behind a locked door situated behind the reception desk. Out of the reception and down a short corridor is the dining/study area which has seating for 8 people round a couple of tables. Theres an e-mail terminal here too, set mainly for accessing Hotmail and Yahoo accounts but of course the www can be surfed should your heart desire to! The price for this is $1 for 15 minutes and it takes only dollar coins.

From here I wandered into the kitchen as I fancied a free cuppa! The kitchen is large and kept spotlessly clean. Its very well equipped with more than adequate number of plates and cutlery for example. As well as the free tea/coffee/milk theres also free rice, oils, spices and garlic, a microwave and an electric rice cooker. So, everything in here seemed roughly the same with one notable exception…the brand spanking new cooker. When I asked later "how new?" I was told theyd got it the week before! This is where the $4 all you can eat breakfast is served each day, starting at 5:30am and lasting until 10:30am. When I say served what I mean is that the raw ingredients are all there, you just serve/cook for yourself! Theres cereals, fruit, bread and spreads, bacon, eggs and pancake mix!

Opposite the kitchen and again off the dining area, are 2 doors, one to a bathroom with two showers and a WC and the other to the lounge/television room complete with VCR. The free videos are kept behind the reception desk and they have roughly 50 to chose from and all pretty good titles too. The seating in here is pretty comfortable (I checked, checked again and then re-checked just to make sure..), the room is air-conditioned and theres enough room for around 12 people to lounge!

The back door, off the rear of the dining area, leads to a good
sized brick paved back yard. Out here are 6 huge trestle style tables (while I was there back in 2001 they painted them a gross aubergine colour which Im pleased to report is now fading!), a couple of patio style tables, tons of seating and a BBQ. This area is covered by clear plastic sheeting that has a fine mesh over the top of it to protect from the suns glare. The sheeting also serves to keep the area dry when it rains. This however means that in summer the temperature under it does get a little uncomfortable, but conversely, in winter it’s bloody cold out there as theres no form of exterior heating. I have been told that plans are afoot to put maybe gas patio heaters out there which sure would make us smokers lives a lot more bearable!

Behind the seating area is space to park 3 cars and off the yard to the left is a laundry room complete with another 2 showers and a WC. One of these showers is fully fitted out for wheelchair users/disabled people. The washing machine and drier are both new and of commercial standard so theyre pretty darned efficient. The washer costs $3 per load and the drier is $2 for a half-hour cycle. This is where I noticed a big change as the last time Id been there, whilst the washing machine had worked fine the drier didnt! That had been my only gripe the last time I stayed there; it was good too know they listened and replaced the equipment…

As Ive already touched on, number 112 houses dormitory accommodation only, there are 7 here in total, 5 upstairs and 2 down. Dorm sizes are varied and I do know that unless it gets really busy and impossible to manage, they try to keep the dorms single sex. This time I was in room E, a six-bed girls dorm that is pretty spacious and comes complete with air-conditioning and a ceiling fan as do all bedrooms. The beds are pretty comfortable, and besides the bed roll you are handed at check in you also get a nice warm quilt to snuggle down into should the weather warrant it
! There are also 2 more bathrooms plus a separate WC upstairs, which saves trailing around the place in the middle of the night!

Having thoroughly checked out this side of the road, I got the key code from reception and went for a wander across the road to 109, just to be nosy! This other part of the hostel is again housed in a two-storey building but the accommodation is only on the upper floor. Dont let that put you off though; its huge, a bit like Dr. Whos Tardis! As Ive already said, this is where all the singles, twins and doubles are, but there are also three more dormitories here too. This "side of the road" is pretty much self-contained; it has its own kitchen area, its own dining room and TV room/lounge (but with no VCR) and another e-mail terminal. It also has good shower facilities and its own laundry. Theres also ironing facilities, as there are also on the 112 side. This side of the road was, just like 112, spotlessly clean and tidy. The kitchen here is open-plan, in fact the whole "living" area in this part is very light and airy and well laid out.

Because this part of the hostel has no backyard, it has 2 balconies facing onto the street. These are a good place to just sit and watch the world go by besides providing the 109ers somewhere to go for a smoko! As Ive already mentioned, I had to get the key code to get in here. Thats because this side of the road has a security panel next to the entrance door so you have to know the code to be able to get in. Personally I find this to be an excellent feature and again shows that the hostel takes guests safety pretty seriously. As a single female traveller I find that immensely reassuring…

But what about the free apple pie and ice cream I hear you all cry? Im getting to it right now, figured Id save the best till last! Its served at 8:15pm every evening on the 112 side of the road, and not only do you get ice cream with it but home-made custard during t
he wintertime too. This has to be one of the simplest and yet most effective ideas I have ever seen in a hostel..anywhere. Get loads of apple pies, multiple tubs of vanilla ice cream and serve to a hostel full of grateful travellers. Last year the hostel spent around A$4000 on pies alone! Not convinced? Cant see the big deal about Pie Time? You NEED to be there! This isnt just a free feed. Its the one time of day, every day, when the whole hostel gets together, people meet up with each other, travels are shared, and friendships are forged. Its something that almost cannot be put into words. I have made some good friendships at this hostel and for that I thank, at least in part, Peters Pie Time. Sitting round the tables in the back yard, eating apple pie, maybe drinking some beers or wine, you get chatting with whoevers sat at your table with you, basically you get to know people. Ive never been anywhere that has even come close to achieving what this place does and its been managed in such a simplistic way…


~SO WHATS CHANGED THEN THIS TIME?~

Well apart from the things I have already pointed out, like the cooker being new and the laundry facilities in 112 being upgraded there are a few other things that are different since my last visit. Pie time used to be at 9:15pm, but I have to say that now its an hour earlier it’s far more civilised and does allow for more drinking time down the pub should that be your thing (dont look at me, Im tee-total – ahem). On the hostels leaflets they advertise free bike hire. Sadly this is no longer the case as the cost of the insurance became prohibitive for them to keep the cycles. A sad indictment I think on todays society, when the risk of being sued means the insurance company said no. Bikes can be hired however down by the river Torrens so that option isnt entirely lost to travellers.

That is the extent of the changes I noticed and apart from the one regarding the bicycles, which i
snt the hostels’ fault, all are changes for the better. That just goes to that they do listen to what guests have to say and respond wherever possible. Just another part of the attraction of the place to me…


~ JUST CALL ME A BOOMARANG~

Before youre all left scratching your heads, let me explain that heading! Im a serial returnee.. I leave the hostel, move on and then go back! This last time took me around 15 months, but return I most certainly did and will do again… I most certainly wouldnt even consider staying anywhere else in the Southern Hemispheres greatest city. From the first time I walked into the place back in 2001, I fell in love with the hostel, something just clicked and it was like I had come home. The place had a very familiar feeling to me as odd as that sounds.

The staff are the main reason, I think, that this hostel above any other I have visited has such a friendly, welcoming and homely atmosphere and one of the main reasons I cant seem to stay away from the place for long! Nothing is too much trouble for them, from carrying your bag, to giving guided tours of the hostel; from handing out free maps of Adelaide and making sure you know which way the world faces before you venture out, to answering questions with helpful advice, not to mention putting any problem right with the minimum of fuss.. theyre all stars in their own right. They all have pride in the hostel as well as Adelaide and the state of South Australia, which I have to say, is infectious! One of the other beauties of the staff at this hostel is this… Stay once and you’ll be remembered forever and greeted if you return as an old friend. Drop by for the first time and the welcome will be the same and the most important thing – its genuine and not forced.

All this goes to set up a hostel that seems to radiate a positive atmosphere which can be felt from the minute you walk in the door. The layout of the place i
s simple on both sides of the road, and neither building is large enough to be impersonal. In fact, because each building is on the small side it just adds to the "home-like" feeling as does the fact that the kitchen is kept open 24 hours a day as is the television room. The place really is clean and tidy, and thats the whole hostel and not just the bits they think you will notice!

This truly is THE place to come to, to chill out and totally relax, theres just no pressure to do anything at all if you dont want to. However, if you have travel firmly in your mind, then the staff can book train/bus tickets for you, or get you a place on one of the hundreds of tours available. All of these reasons have so far got me to return 3 times and for fairly long stays. Im a traveller at heart, but Adelaide stopped me in my tracks and this place has the most to do with it!

Will I go back? Leaving the first time was a doddle, the second time was hard, and the other Wednesday was a total wrench. Homely also equals attachment you see. If I go back, theres a real danger I will never leave again…. But as everyone said as I left... “See you when you get back!”


~FOOTNOTE~
Dooyoo have taken the above photograph of the hostel from the Hostels own website. I would just like to point out that the picture is slightly out of date! Whilst I was at the place back in September 2001 the exterior of the building was re-painted, it's now a beige colour!

1 Australian Dollar = roughly 35 pence

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