Backpackers Down Under

All the classic backpacker ingredients: a hot tub, alcohol, drunken youth, and near-empty wallets

“The Working Holiday Visa Program and the relatively expensive hotel and restaurant situation in Australia have worked together to create an alternate cheapish and sleazy backpacker scene where travelers can bed down for the night in barrack-style co-ed dormitories and quite possibly share that bed with someone of equally sleazy temperament.”  Doug Knell, Doug’s Republic

Any nation or region were poor people descend in ritualized splendor is ripe for a backpacker scene.  A backpacker scene consists of:

* Ample amenities within a stone’s throw or on the premises. Amenities consist of internet access, telephones, travel agencies, alcohol, drugs (if the nation is tolerant enough), and an out-of-tune guitar which people who can’t sing or play can pretend to strum a recent Top 40 hit in order to seduce a fellow skint backpacker.

* Lots of fellow travelers, doing almost the identical trip you’re doing, sitting around the table boasting of all the travel things they’ve done or about to do.  If you hear one of these conversations, then you’ve heard them all.

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