Sydney - Australian Sunrise Lodge

  

  The trouble with booking anything on the Internet is that you are taking a gamble. Without the recommendation of a travel agent or guidebook, sometimes you are taking a lucky dip. Sometimes you get a bargain and a welcome surprise, sometimes you get a challenge. The last description fits the Australian Sunrise Lodge.

The picture on the website stressed a tropical garden, nearness to facilities and a general relaxed atmosphere. I was taken by the fact it was in an "exciting" part of town and the price and rooms looked good online. So as I made my 11 hour train trip from Melbourne, I arrived in Sydney in a high state of expectation.

For a start it is in Newtown. This is a very trendy area - an up-and-coming district where weird fashions are the name of the day. The area is a hangout for goths and punks with a huge student population and a number of gay and lesbian cafes. The main drag is King Street which stretches for about half a mile and is lined with cafes, restaurants, bars, vinyl record shops, Turkish furniture shops, tattooists, African restaurants and feminist bookshops The whole area is becoming gentrified and slowly becoming expensive. But facets of its recent, not so glamorous, history remain.

One has to be the ASL, which bills itself as a motel. The glass foyer is boarded up and heavily padlocked with no one on reception. You have to use a security intercom to get in and eventually someone shows up to check you in and take down your particulars. Reception is unmanned and you are expected to carry your key with you when you go out. When you check out - you deposit your key in a cubby hole. I saw no member of staff, apart from the Chinese lady who booked me in, during my entire stay. The rooms are fine but basic. Huge slatted windows overlook a tropical garden and there is a desk, television and double bed. The bathroom is down the hall and is clean and in working order.

My main problem with ASL was security. There must have been other guests because I heard doors slamming. Where their rooms were in this strange warren of a hotel I don't know. But signs on the exit doors warned you not to bring guests back. And the massive padlocks covering the glass reception area spoke of recent burglary. One evening the door handle came off in my hand. To be honest, when I went out in the evening I fretted about leaving valuables behind at the Australian Sunrise Lodge.

So, a budget hotel in an interesting part of Sydney. But I can't say it was one of my favourites