Backpacking Solo

Tank Nightclub Sydney

james — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:40:00 GMT

What a great night I had lastnite, was wicked :D we all got smashed in the dorm and vodka and goon, then went to side bar for more beer and vodkaz. After asking about 20 people I finally found out were this club called tank is, I heard that this club is the best funky house club in the city, and its so true, i'd go as far to say that as for a venue its the best club ive ever been to, the music started gettin abit "funky" funky towards 2ish. I went with sophie and adi, had a wicked nite, but sophie had a tactical chunder and so we decided to make our way back to to the hostel, because she didnt feel very well, i think we'd all hit the wall actually!!!

Outside the club there were so many mint cars blippin about, I counted 4 different skyline's. makes me sick!!! and my camera was full, so i cudnt take any pics. I stuffed a maccy quater pounder down my neck, so good when your wrecked :)

We jumped in the taxi and the taxi minged of BO, it was the driver!

Again we stole the bean bags from the TV room, and we crashed on them, we were the first people back to the room, i woke up at about 6 this mornin, exactly were i sat down on it and everyone was bk and in bed, they must have all climbed over me to get in there beds as i was smack bang in the middle of the room. I crawled into bed and got some more z's in :)

We all went down to sidebar cafe for breaky this mornin, had a big breakfast, and mum you mite find this hard to beleive but i ate a fried tomato! it was well nice, didnt like the middle bit though, ohhhh and i had a massive bit of chocolate mud cake, soooo nice.

Packing my bag, what a nitemare, ive only stopped for 5days and my bag is loads fuller than when i got here, but i got it all packed in, in the end.

Gonna go down the market again after here, gonna buy a couple of cheap shirts and have a looked for some thongs (flip flops b4 any of you think ive gone strange), the weather is roasting and t-shirts just aint givin me the through draft my body requires.

Rite im off, apologies for the pic of the hairy belly above :) speak soon.

Sydney Tower and Oztrek

james — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:37:00 GMT

Well I bet you can guess what im gonna say.....

my feet are killin!!!!
Well today I was up fairly early, cus didnt go out lastnite, just chilled in the dorm and watched a couple of dvd's, drank a couple of cups of goon, and made jam sandwiches with a cardboard knife made from the goon box, had some crazy dreams lastnite that I went down to the bar and saw this girl from school (she shall remane nameless) but it was crazy :s

Came round to this place called peterpan adventrure travel, they kinda specialise in gettin backpackers around as cheap as they can. I booked a flight to cairns 2moro, today with loads of extra goodies, goin cape trib, whitsundays wiv optional scuba, hell yeah will I be taking that :D fraser island 3nights, rainbow beach stop, airlie beach stop, 2day surf camp at byron bay ummmmm im sure there is sumthin else but i cant think of it at the min, I wana stop off a magnetic island to and go up to port douglas and the everglades, they all look great.

Sh!t 10mins left of this place bein open, ill right down the highlights and expand wen im next on the net.

went to sydney tower....wicked views of the city. pratted around along pitt street popping in and out of shops looking for sum sunnies. went to the market again for sunnies.....no luck.

speak from cairns probably.

yippeeee :)

ps just quickly i forgot to add i bought a book off a man in the street called "Survivors" its some yuppe, religious, propaganda peice of crap, I bought it out of sheer comady value, as i walked away I heard him shouting, read about the fall of america, I chuckled to myself thinkin tosser! anyway ive been told its really hard to read seriously, but ill give it a go, i'll keep you updated on how bad it is.

Darling Harbour & Botanical Gardens

james — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 07:57:00 GMT

Another feet killin day!!!!

I can actually feel my feet throbing as im sittin here typing this, were do I begin with 2day???

I'll start with lastnite.....went to china town with the girls for dinner, my eyes were alot bigger than my belly, ordered this food and wen it came, it cud have fed about 3 people, and I cudnt finish by a long way. On the way back I bought some goon (wine in other words) nice 4 litre box, went bk to the dorm and dossed about in the dorm with mike, alex, sophie, sadie and pete, we watched achor man and started gettin drunk, such a funny film :D a fair few mugs of goon later and we went out bout 11ish I reckon, went to scu-bar for a few then onto kings x hotel for indi nite....was mint, had a wicked time, although some prat cudnt keep his sambuca in his gob and thought it wud be better on my shoulder...all in all great nite. When we got back we stole all the been bags from the movie room and crashed out on them in the dorm...its really wiered going out with a bunch of people that you dont really know from england and havin a laugh with them and crashin with and talkin general crap with, in the sense that back in england it would never happen??? now heres the bit i cant get my head round.....WE'RE ALL ENGLISH!!! so wots changed in people? it must be sumthin in the ozzy air that converts brits from bein apprehensive and stand-offish to friendly and welcoming....not a bad thing at all but abit wiered when you think about it too much!

Anyway woke up, with very sore head, im sure its because were forced to drink lager cus spirits r to god damn expensive, but got up, got some toast and cereal, made every1 a cuppa. We had to clear the floor today as the cleaners were comin round, the place actually didnt look that bad wen the floor was tidy hahahaha not for long.

Went out and bought some cammo pants (not cammo underpants) then I trekked on to darling harbour (close to chine town) were upon sittin down for 2mins i narrowly avoided bein crapped on by a seagull...by now the clouds had cleared and the sun was out in blazin force, lovely jubby :) sat down for abit and soaked abit of the old current bun up. Carried on trekkin towards the botanical gardens, I was told its were all the bats hang out (no pun intended I promise) i got to the gates and i nearly didnt go in cus the smell of sh!t was that strong, but I braved it and went in, luckily it didnt last long, so I amelessy started wonderin round the gardens, its a massive place, again quite strange, cus the city/high rise buildings stop, then this tropical garden starts, I imagine it how central park is in new york. In the garden they have got a mini tropical rain forest, and as soon as you step foot into it, its so refreshing, cool, damp, the air tastes clean and above your heads are about 10million bats, squarking and messin about, quite amusing to watch them :) Had a walk around this other place....cant think wot its called, like a massive green house, loads of plants from all of the world that live in silly places like up 20,000 ft mountains etc. Any 0121'd outta there and made my way over to the other side of the opera house, but I stopped on route for a 30min lydown in the sun, wished I hadnt, think ive been bit by some little creepy crawlies in the grass!!!

Got to the opera house, and I know yesterday I said it looked kinda dirty, well I take it back, I think it was becus of the weather that it looked dirty, cus in the sunshine its looks magnificent and its HHHHUUUUAAAAGGGEEE!!! cudnt get over the size of it, took plenty of snaps (will try upload them 2moro, im in cafe were I cant connect my camera at the min)

Gonna sign off in a sec, feelin tiered and hungry, and still got abit of trek bk to the hostel....ohhh checked out about flyin up to cairns on sunday $169 and to get a buss pass to get me bk along the east coast is about the same, thinkin i mite try and get bk to sydney for early/mid december when it really gettin hot, maybe even get a job for abit :-S who knows!

<22/10/05> Hey I almost forgot, as I was walking up Pitt Street yesterday I came across Rowe Street, not a very big street but its still there :)

Speak to you in abit :)

Sydney Opera House and Bridge

james — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 01:05:00 GMT

Hello again, god my feet are killing!!!! I'll rewind abit, to how I got the feet to kill.

I went out lastnite with some of the people from my dorm, we had a wicked laugh in sidebar, this is the bar under the hostel, they had this dou on, that were quality, cant describe how gud, every1 in the bar was goin mad, I got stung 15bucks for a double vodka redbull, crazy....wont be havin another 1 of them too soon....anyways got abit drunk, nuthin silly like back home, headed in about 12:30 stayed up chattin with the girls in the dorm 4abit wen i got back. Didnt think i was gonna get to sleep, cus as were on the 1st floor which is relativly close to the basement were the bar is, and you can still hear the music, but i was out like a lite!!!

Woke up this mornin (630ish) with pure carpet mouth, and to make matters worse my drink was on the floor....I WAS ON TOP BUNK!!!! so i suffered it for about 20mins, but by this i was wide awake, so i got up, chucked sum clothes on and headed out to get some shampoo and toothpaste, as in my wisdom, I left them at home.

It was raining wen i got outside, not hard but it was that fine rain that soaks you through! anyway got wot I wanted, went bk had a shower etc, and got out for about 730, I had this full english breaky (typical i know) but im not goin bk, gonna try an eat at the hostel in future.

Anyway, anyway, anyway, I started walking down george st, this has got to be undoubtibly the busiest street in the city (Katy there are a million an 1 shops on this street, youd love it) it leads you straight to the harbour bridge and great views of the opera house....now I gotta say I reckon all the post card pics of the opera house are from when it was brand new, cus it looked abit dirty to me, never the less very magnificent. It was really wiered walkin up george street, towards the opera house cus the wind was picking up, I cud smell sea-smell and then it popped into view, and you almost kinda think its not real cus you only ever see it on the tv or postcard, and then you see every1 working, delivering etc and it sinks in that "yes it is real, and they do use it" so I walked round "the rocks" (dont be worried mum I wasnt climbing over rocks on the harbour edge, its what the place is called, its near pier 1) it leads you round under the bridge, which doest look big from a distance but when you under it, its "flippin" massive, the biggest nuts and bolts ive ever seen holding it to the ground!!! its started to rain, but again, its not like english rain, your just not bothered here. I looked up and I cud see these black blobs moving along the bridge curve, some people on a tour...it looked well blowy up there and it didnt look like the rain was doin them any favours. I Carried on round the road for abit then realised I'd lost my room key for the hostel (its like a credit card you wear round your neck...typically I had it hanging out of my pocket tryin to look cool yes you may be asking yourself...looking cool with a room key "L", so I went back and it was on the floor on the other side of the bridge. Started to walk bk to the city then, through this like art gally village place, and again got ripped of 3bucks for a sprite, they must all keep a look out for me coming!

Got back to the city edge and had a look at herald sqaure, think its bin there since 1861, its like a water feature, quite impressive.

Took a walk back along Pitt street...this street run paralel to george street, but not as busy and not as many shops, more corporations and high rise buildings, so I cut back through back onto george street were I started walkin bk towards the hostel-way, its takes about 20-30mins to walk from wakeup to the harbour, its well worth it, but I can honestly say, my feet feel battered!!!

I'll upload some pics soon, I just aint got that far down my bag yet to get my camera cable, and its still abit of a trek to hostel and bk.

Its a girls birthday in my dorm 2moro so I think were goin out on route 69 2nite, its a pub/bar crawl, shud be a good crack :D

Anyhoo im off to give my feet a rest, then im gonna go get som shoppin.

c u in abit :)

Finally Here :)

james — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 01:05:00 GMT

I've finally made it down under, its taken over 20 hours, but I can honestly say they were all worth it, infact they flew by (pardon the pun) the longest parts of the flights werethe last 30mins when we were landing. OMG the heathrow to HK flight i had this blob of a man, who once he spotted they had the HK to AU films on decided to tell every1 how he was gonna su Cathay Pacific for false advertising or somet, then he though he P me off by whistling and coughing and reading a broadsheet.....nevermind soon went to sleep although it was about depressing to wake up and see "7 hours to destination".

Touched down in HK had a walk around for 20mins, then had to be on next flight to sydney...the pilot did warn us there may be some turbulance as there were some tropical thunder storms dotted about....was nuthin bad, although it was cool seeing the stroms from a distance seein the whole clouds light up as the lightening crackled through them, and it was strange lightening, orange, still wicked!!! beated looking at dark sky.

My first glimpses of OZ were lights spaced few and far between and then as it got lighter, could see between the cloud gaps lots and lots of sand, greenery and lines (i assume roads) my first reactions to seein Sydney from the sky...."doesnt it look like england" with a foriegn feel of course. didnt see any sight from the air :( gonna have to pay to go and see them.

Just checked into this hostel called wakeup, dead nice, clean, full of friendly people, just been chatting to these girls from UK, very nice, theyve been here for 2 to 3 months, been up and down the east coast, whcih i think will be my next port of call. I tell you wot was wiered, I booked into a dorm with 7 other people, now i didnt actually think any futher ahead than the step i was taking, i went barging into this dorm, forgetting that it was just gone 8, half of them still in bed, i didnt wake any1 but i had to creep around like the new guy, didnt wana P any1 off. Plonked my bag on my bed and skidoodled down here before the sleepyness gets a hold of me. The hostel is $24 a night, but u get showers, common room, kitchen, food storage, lounge, theres a bar in the basement.

Just opened a bank account, wot a palarva....i cant be bothered to go into it, as im still recovering.

The weather is slightly slighty overcast but its hot, hotter than UK.

Anways im gonna shoot, see wot i can see, mite have to go bk for a sleep i fink, can feel my eyes gettin heavier.

speak soon :)

London Heathrow

james — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:41:00 GMT

Well i made it, im in the departure lounge, waitin for my gate and boarding time.
it was pretty tuff sayin goodbye to my family, but we all said our bit and said our fairwells :-(

well im gonna go get somet else to eat, im feelin fine now as early i felt sick with nerves, so im gonna make up for lost time and eat loads :-)

talk to you from hong kong

ps mum well speak real soon x

Leaving for OZ

james — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:56:00 GMT

Well, i've had a really relaxed time since i last posted, and everything was ok until i woke up ths mornin shaking.....nerves :-S but im ok, its just i know im "actually" going now, said all my goodbyes, although i did miss a couple of people, sorry steph, bernie, ian and your families, I just didnt have enough time in my lastweek.

I'm going through stages of feeling sick and excited, its wiered as hell, all adds to the trip though :D

Just had a call ive got to go. I'll post wen i get to OZ.