The yard and the cellar
A lap pool where the carts turned, and a sauna under the floor
Nothing here is big. The cart yard had room for one pool and two fig trees, and the cellar for a sauna and a cold shower. Both are quiet, and which one suits you depends on the time of day.
The Lap
Eighteen metres, two lanes wide, shaded after three
It's a pool for swimming laps, which is what the shape of the yard decided. Two people can share it comfortably; three is a negotiation. The water sits around 27 degrees from October to April and is heated to 29 the rest of the year.
It's open 6 am to 10 pm. The west wall throws shade across the whole pool from about three in the afternoon, which is the hour everyone wants in January. Towels are in the cupboard by the Pool Hut. Glass and diving are not allowed, and children under 14 need an adult in the yard with them.
Fig Court
Two fig trees, a long bench and the only breeze in the building
The south end of the yard was left as it was: two mature figs, brick paving laid in the 1890s, a bench cut from a single length of red gum, and a tap. People read there in the morning and eat there at night, and the hotel doesn't program it or play music in it.
The gate to Hessian Lane is in that corner; after 10 pm it locks from the outside, and a room key opens it until midnight.
Cellar Sauna
A six-person Finnish sauna in the old spirit cellar, with stone on three sides and a timber bench on the fourth. The dry heat is about 85 degrees, and there's a cold shower outside the door and a bench to sit on afterwards. It's open 7 am to 9.30 pm, and most people book a half-hour slot at reception to have it to themselves.
Stillroom
Two treatment rooms off the cellar corridor, named after the room where the bond store kept its sample bottles. Massage and simple facials are offered Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 7. Two therapists work here, and in festival season the diary fills a week ahead. Ask at reception or call the main number.
The parklands
Go out the front door and one block east, and you're on the ring of parkland that circles the city grid. The flat loop is about four kilometres, shaded for roughly half of it. Reception keeps a map with the drinking fountains marked, and in summer that matters more than the route.
The summer heat
Adelaide gets runs of days over 40 degrees most summers, and on those days the building earns its keep, because the stone holds the cool until mid afternoon. Swim early or after six, use the cellar in the middle of the day, and leave the parklands loop alone at one in the afternoon.