To Oz & Onward......

Bonza Brisbane

kim-n-frankie — Tue, 4 Dec 2007 12:05:00 GMT

So its officially been over a month since our last update to you all. We're Sorry!! We have been SO busy - or just very lazy, you decide!

Since our last update quite a bit has happened - mind you we were in Brisbane for the entire time, we managed to find jobs and get an apartment, all in the space of 3 days! Working was great it gave us some extra cash that we needed, and that was the main point of going to Brisbane in the first place. We found work in a place called City Beach, Brisbanes biggest surf store - luckily due to its size we both managed to work together - Frankie on womens floor, and Kim on Mens, although we weren't directly with each other we'd be giving cheeky smiles up the floors when we were being lazy! :O) All in all City beach was great, we both made some friends and generally had a chance to get back into work.... for 2 weeks! Ha Ha! As a casual employee you can work up to 30 hours a week - up to - being the key word there, we didnt get enough hours so made the decision to move in from Brissy.... but more of that story later.

As we menioned before - an apartment, Great thing this - cheaper than a hostel, and the opportunity to watch what YOU want on TV when you like!! We had our own room and had a fantastic view of Brisbane from the balcony! Oh yes - we only do Ensuites, with balcony views of the city! We moved in, and after about 4.2 seconds the room did look as though a clothes bomb had gone off... and that was how it was to stay for 3 weeks haha! an organsied mess. Staying in the apartment was great, we got into our routine, the 375 bus, work, via "coles" or Brumbys to grabs some food, 375 home - pray that the 1 key we had was in one of our bags, drink some fanta, cook some tea, simpsons, neighbours (Kim has that one) and bed! It felt, again, like a "home" because we made some great friends there and did so many things!

Surfing, Mount Tambourine, Mount cooltha, Australia Zoo, Gold coast, art exhibitions and mueseums (very cultured now) - Thanks to making friends with people who owned cars (haha) we got to do all this and it was great - surfing was amazing and we cant wait to maybe try it out in a school when we head back to Sydney to Christmas. Australia Zoo another high point for the trip, and again beaches and the sights of the city! All in all brisbane was a great city - cant wait to go back and hit Noosa, Fraser and Whitsundies! We'll keep you posted!

Bye Byron..... :o(

kim-n-frankie — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:50:00 GMT

So, we've been away for nearly a month now - the time seems to be flying, hence the lack of updates - everyone should be on Facebook any way - its Law!

So far, since being in Byron - which, for both of us, felt more like a home away from home than anywhere we've been so far, we made great friends had a lovely hostel and generally hit the beach as often as we could. The weather has been AMAZING, in fact, we've been complaining about the heat already and its not even Christmas... Oh dear! The great thing about a town like Byron is that you end up being one of the "town" we'd walk to Woolworths (the local Tescos as it were)and see 10 of our friends, its a really nice change from being in a city like Sydney where you're just another body walking around.

The days have flown by and we've been waking up, getting our "swimmers" on and hitting the beach everyday, then we'd get back to the hostel and either go out to the Beach Hotel - similar to The Alex but less posh, or stay in and chill with Sinead and Melle (roomies)

The main event that took place whilst in Byron, was the walk to the lighthouse to watch the Sunrise, so, Tuesday at 3am the alarm was ringing... Frankie, Sinead and Myself struggled out of bed to begin the hour or so hike to watch it.
Along the way, we noticed that it seemed to be getting darker and darker and without Sineads torch we would have been pretty much walking on each other - needless to say we were totally scared - 3 girls, pitch black, one torch - and Frankie saying " Do you think theres such a thing as the Lighthouse Murderer, who kills his victims on their walks to the sunrise!!" It was a fun walk, lets put it that way.. and only took 50 mins in the end, probably due to the fact spent most of the time running due to fear!

Watching the sunrise was amazing and we both called home whilst we were up there - it was a great memory and so worth being a tad tired for.

Since Tuesday we've been at the beach again and made the choice to go to Brisbane in search of jobs - let the hunt begin!!!

This is our second day in Brisby - again the general feel is "city" but we haven't had much of a chance to look around - we went into the town yesterday to do a bit of shopping - hey, girls have got needs!! - and ended up with the opportunity to move into an Apartment with some people, and maybe have jobs too - we'll keep you posted on any news (promise)

Byron Bay so far...

kim-n-frankie — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:10:00 GMT

So, we're still in Byron Bay and enjoying ourselves lots. Still trying to make the 'holiday' part last for as long as we can before we run out of money! Managed to sort out bank accounts and tax code numbers thought so we're getting organised.

Found ourselves a bit of a mini job too - doing a bit of 'promo' work for a travel company. (Aka. handing out leaflets and spying on other stores!) You've got to love sales eh! It's a bit of extra money though which is good. Every little counts!

We've spent the last few days exploring Byron (well, what there is of it.. it's a pretty small place) and relaxing on the beach. We're hoping to go and see the sunrise tomorrow morning at the lighthouse. It means getting up at 4am and trekking down to the beach... so fingers crossed we have enough energy to get out of bed!
We keep meaning to hire some bikes for the day, but haven't got round to it yet. We need to make a day of it really.. and the thought of getting up early to go out and cycle all day in the heat is not that appealing! We'll do it one day though, promise!

Coffs Harbour to Byron Bay

kim-n-frankie — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:31:00 GMT

So we made the decision to move onward from Sydney in search of a more backpacker, beachy type town. We had heard good things about Byron Bay -we spoke with Gary about it, and he said it was great and would really be "Our Thing." Luckily he was taking a Golf road trip with his friends up the Gold Coast and was lovely enough to offer us a lift to Byron.

On the morning after our meal with Jim & Craig, we were up early and caught the Train to Cronulla. Trish picked us up and we went to meet Gary to begin our 8 hour road trip! Being in the car with two Aussies was great, they pointed out all the scenic things you would miss on the Greyhound!

We spent one night on route to Byron at a place called Coffs Harbour - a sleepy town about 4 hours from Byron. We spent the night in a YHA hostel and had an early night ready for another travel day Thursday.
After driving up the coast and stopping a few times, we arrived at The Art Factory in Byron Bay - our home for 5 nights till we find our feet in this new town.

Arriving at about 6.30pm we managed to check into our room - well, not so much a room as a Tee Pee, yes, thats right - a triangular tent that we actually paid money for!! Its a great set up here, very hippy and laid back - more of a resort that a hostel. People seem to live here for months at a time. Personally we couldnt live here - mostly for the fact that spiders seems to live in/on our pillows, and also because its a little out of town. Well, only 10 minutes out of town but when we find jobs we want to be as close as possible. Apart from that the feel of the hostel is great.

Since being in Byron, we've gone out on the town a few times, sunbathed, and chilled out - its still feeling like a holiday at the moment. However, once we get jobs that may change! We've spent the majority of our time wrestling with spiders in our room, and sand on the beach... but the weather is great and our tans our coming on nicely thank you!! (main thing really!) Today (15th October) we spent the day on the beach. All the swimmers/surfers were evacuated from the sea as there was a shark sighting/attack! A lady was attached by a White Pointer Shark today, and there have been another coule of sightings in the past few days! Kim was excited as she's fascinated by sharks.. but both of us were pretty relluctant to swim out there after that! Check out the News post of it... http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/15/2059744.htm

Sydney

kim-n-frankie — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:15:00 GMT

Apologies for not updating this sooner! Sydney was really good. Very city-ish though, and kind of similar to a lot of other big cities! (Aside from the fact it's got beaches and is much hotter!) It's a great place to start though, as you meet plenty of people.

Our first night in Sydney we headed to Sidebar - a really popular bar attached to our hostel! Had a great time, and it was a good way of introducing us to the Sydney lifestyle!
Had a wander round Sydney on the Saturday and visited Bronte beach - only for an hour or so, as it went from about 25oc to 15oc in the space of 3 seconds! Ended up falling asleep at about 6pm, very hardcore of us!
We met Gary (a friend of Kim's family from home) and his wife Trish for lunch at a seafood restaurant. And we both tried oysters!! It was a great treat for us, and Gary and Trish are kindly letting us stay with them over xmas!

The following couple of nights we went out in town. One of nights was spent sampling the delights of Kings Cross. Safe to say, never again! The main strip was full of strip clubs, hookers, pimps, tramps, druggies and general skanky people! Not the kind of place any parent would want their child going to! Ended up being a good night out though! We met some students from one of the Sydney uni's and ended up going to Bondi beach at 2am!!

We spent the last couple of days being generally lazy and wandering around Sydney a bit. (Also trying to get over jet lag!!) Visited Taronga zoo on our last day, and took lots and lots of animal pictures (which we won't bore you with!) We went for a meal in the evening with Jim and Craig. Jim works at the hostel and Craig was one of our room mates!
All in all, a good stay in Sydney - and we've got plenty of things to do there when we head back for xmas and new year!

Gallery: Sydney

kim-n-frankie — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:24:00 GMT

First Week In Sydney.

Wakeup! We're In Sydney

kim-n-frankie — Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:55:00 GMT

So after 7 hours on the flight from KL - and one very random Dutch lady sat in the seat next to us, later, we're finally here. The weather is great, hot and sunny, and the locals are very friendly.

To start off another fantastic journal entry - we will begin with the story of the lost Backpack. After landing in Sydney, on a rather dull 7 hour flight we were heading toward the baggage reclaim, happy in the knowledge that soon we would be at our new "home."
Whilst waiting, we were beginning to worry about our bags and joked that one of them would be lost (Ha Ha) Or soon, as Kim found out, not so Ha Ha!
So with the last bag being picked up there we were standing one backpack down and very worried looking faces on the both of us. Obviously being the travellers that we are, we reported the bag missing and were in hope that it would be found. Fearing for the worst we have been buying odd cheap things this morning. LUCKILY, we've called the airline and the little blighter is in Kuala Kumpur - obviously liked it so much he wanted to stay - so until tomorrow morning Kim will be donning herself in all of Frankie's clothes - lucky her!

We think the jet lag is catching up on us now, however we're powering through and are determined to have a great night out in Sydney tonight!

Kuala Lumpur

kim-n-frankie — Thu, 4 Oct 2007 11:40:00 GMT

Hello everyone!

It's 6.35pm, and we've survived our 12hour haul to KL. Managed to find a free internet stand in the airport, so thought we'd start as we mean to go on by using as many freebies as we can find!

Firstly, and most importantly... it's unbelievably hot!! We got off the plane, looked at each other and laughed at the fact that Kim is wearing fluffy boots and Frankie is wearing plastic shoes!!.. You guys are probably back home in the rain! HA!! Fingers crossed the weather is just as hot in Oz!!

Flight went well, slept most of the way! Managed to score a 3-seater for the two of us! :o) We tried our 'just got engaged' line to get a free upgrade, but no luck! So we sat with the rest of the commoners!
Got a weird mix of curry for both dinner and breakfast, so that was pretty interesting!

One of our watches is on English time, one on KL time... so we're already feeling the effects of jet lag! We've got another 4 hours to kill before flying to Sydney, so we've got a pack of cards at the ready and lots and lots of sandwiches!

It was really hard saying goodbye to family at the airport... we miss and love you all loads! Now off to have a wander round, so we'll be in touch really really soon!

Lots of love,
Kim and Frankie

2 Weeks To Go.....

kim-n-frankie — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:23:00 GMT

So we made the tough decision about 2 months ago to make a move to Australia for a while!! Starting in Sydney and hoping to go all over. We want to see what all the fuss is about!

Frankie and myself will be flying out October 3rd, arriving at about 0800 hrs Aussie time to check into the Wakeup! Hostel in Sydney.......

Wish us luck!