Final plans

This stay in the Ibis Budget Hotel in St Peters, Sydney, is turning out to be my most horrific hotel experience ever. After this trip I’ll never cross the threshold of another Ibis Hotel ever again in what remains of my sad, tortured life.

I’m now wasting half a day when I could be exploring Sydney waiting to be moved into another room that is at least barely habitable because the one I slept in last night, apart from having a comfortable bed, was not. I appreciate that disabled people need special facilities but those same facilities are a gross inconvenience for able-bodied people – toilet wise, showering and washing and shaving wise, etc.

My room is at ground level with a window with no blind or curtains that looks straight out onto a KFC outlet, so people entering it and the hotel walk right past and can see straight into my room. It appears that the Accor chain also expect you to pay in advance and eat breakfast in a pig stye with minimal facilities – the ‘buffet’ is like a bookshelf with one toaster, frozen bread straight out of the freezer and a few stale croissants. No teaspoons – little wooden paddles are good enough for their guests. And nowhere close by to drop your waste and used teabags – you are expected to walk across the room balancing your old teabag on your wooden paddle. Absolutely bloody awful.

I’ve been filling in the time making plans for my final few days in Australia. I was originally thinking about returning south via the Snowy Mountains but (a) it’s still bloody cold up there and (b) there are strict rules about carrying and using snow chains if you happen to pass above the snow line. So I’ve abandoned that idea – maybe in my next lifetime if I return to Australia.

So here’s my itinerary.

October 28 – Sydney to Wagga Wagga staying one night there.
October 29 – Wagga Wagga to Geelong, staying one night there.
October 30 – Geelong to Warrnambool, staying overnight there.
October 31 – Warrnambool to Torquay, staying overnight there… (bit pricey!)

After Torquay I’ll take a leisurely drive back to Melbourne airport to drop off my hire car on November 1, stay overnight in the Ibis Budget Airport Hotel (Yes, I know!! But I booked it a long time ago before I knew what they are like, but at least it’ll be for only one night) and then fly out on 2 November heading back via Changi, Singapore.

Warrnambool is as far north on the Great Ocean Road as I want to go and will involve driving north on part of it. That’ll give me a chance to identify places I’ll want to stop at on my way back down to Torquay.

But that’s all to come. For now I’m still wasting time waiting for my room change! The highlight so far is watching large Ibises with long black beaks strolling around in the carpark outside the KFC outside my window. Ibises, you know, the majestic birds of ancient Egypt. Trouble is, nobody told the Australian variants that because there’s also a group of them picking over the rubbish in the KFC dumpster!