Haden Y
Bowen Terrace Accommodation is located in an ideal place a block back from Brunswick St., New Farm, which is right in the centre of the action, the quite magical inner west of Brisbane, which is like a less gritty, more bacchanalian Darlinghurst. The bus to the city goes right down the next street and so it's easy to get around. The New Farm river walk is a bit of a hike to the access points of Sydney St Pier and New Farm Park but it's well worth it, it's lovely and the residential streets are like a cross between St. Kilda and Battery Point in Hobart, gorgeous. Bowen Terrace is a sizeable old single story early 20thC house predominantly with private rooms and a few backpackers dorm rooms. It's a little bit budget and while moderately cheaper than a mid-level hotel, you'd still expect it to be reasonably good. And in most respects it is, the interior of the house is nice, the kitchen and lounge areas downstairs are quite pleasant and the two outdoor areas, one a verandah and the other the back yard are really nice, with quite a lot of effort put into them. The double rooms, one of which I stayed in, are pretty good, a bit spartan but easily livened up once a bit of your stuff is strewn about them. If you appreciate the rooms for their character, it's quite enjoyable. I've seen people complain quite scathingly on these sites about the little shortcomings of these places such as those I'm about to mention, but if you look at them as quirky and characterful, it's quite ok. The psycho fan as I called it, ceiling fan, had only two working settings, II which was more like a I and III which was so fast and hard the thing began to creak and wobble ominously so you couldn't use it. Shame because the oppressive humidity in Brisbane that week was insane and you really needed it. There was also a stand fan in the room which made it just ok with the lights turned off. That was another thing, a simple bedside lamp would've made all the difference as with the humidity, the ceiling light made the room unbearably warm and sweaty. So I had to use the tv for light or my phone's flashlight which was good, it kept it quite comfortable, but was a bit of a pain. The tv remote control's batteries needed replacing too, and all these things combined were both quirky and slightly irritating. It strikes me as odd that these sorts of places seem to overlook these small but necessary touches even when clearly quite a lot of money and effort has been spent on the lovely outdoor areas which are in oversupply for the quantity of people it accomodates. That being said, the beds were really nice with good quality mattresses and pleasant bedding, so the more or less most important thing was great. The thing that let it down the most wasn't the place itself but some of the guests. Bowen Terrace is about 70% cosy B&B accommodation and 30% knockabout backpackers. But there seemed to be an overrepresentation of tough nuts there, which seemed incongruous to the place, it doesn't look or feel like a deadbeat halfway house. However there was a smattering of moody, macho, probably mentally ill young men who made the tone uncomfortable outside of the rooms. There was one guy who sat on the lounges right next to the tv all day on his laptop with the girlfriend and made it unapproachable and so no-one else used the lounges or tv. It sucked, he was really annoying. And then there was the mess, some guests leaving the kitchen and the bathrooms real pigstys, which doesn't suit the tone of the place, Bowen Terrace is cosier and more decent than that. It irritated me and thus compromised what otherwise was a pretty good stay, I thought. The bathrooms are basic but solid but again, the mess left by some of the guests was unsavoury. So there seems to be a little confusion as to its purpose or function, which seems weird. It's nice enough quality bit some of people it attracts seem to be a bit beneath its standard and creates a strange, incongruous clash. Also, if those minor touches in the bedrooms, or at least mine, were addressed, it'd make a big jump in comfort. Although all in all, lI liked it a lot and in most respects it was a nice place to stay.||
