Dear Readers,
Please accept my sincere appologies for the delay in the update. I don't really know what happened in Australia but I was unmotivated, which is naughty.
Now in New Zealand I will ensure that my blog is kept up to date more frequently so that you all know that I am still alive.
Thank you for your continued support.
All my love x x x
From Rainbow Beach we caught the trusty Greyhound bus to Noosa. Upon arrival I could see why it was a popular destination for the wealthy, further down the coast, to have holiday homes. It's small, quiet, has nice beaches and gorgeous little cafe's and restaurants for backpackers like us to stare wistfully at as we walk home to cook rice. We found a minibus to take us to a hostel that was a little way out of town but still nice enough and offering a special deal if you booked in for three nights, which is what we did.
The following day we arranged to go to Australia Zoo. We caught the free transfer bus that ran from the centre of Noosa to the zoo. We were shown a DVD about Steve Irwin on the way to remind us of the man who set it all up. Leanne, Ali and I spent the day seeing huge Crocodiles and snakes, feeding Kangaroo's, stroking Koala's and having what felt like a good family day out! We saw a show in the "Crociseum" which involved snakes and crocs and big colourful birds flying over our heads.
Steve Irwin and his family are still a huge part of the Zoo and being there and watching the dvd's that we were shown on the bus makes you realise how much Steve Irwin did for Australian Wildlife and how passionate he was about it all. It's such a shame he's not around anyomore to carry on his great work.
Noosa has a huge national park which Leanne and I decided we should see while we were there. We got up on Tuesday morning and set off on a costal walk. Only wearing flipflops we weren't really that well prepared but we still had a good walk around the coast, through different bays (one of which was a nudist beach which shocked us a little bit) finally arriving back by the Main Beach in Noosa. We sat resting our weary legs (neither of us had done so much exercise in a long time!) and had lunch before making our way to a lookout. It was a pretty tough walk up there and it was so so hot, which made it harder, but we made it and the view was stunning. We trudged back to Noosa junction where we flagged down the minibus going back to our hostel.
After our third night in Noosa we booked a greyhound to Brisbane. Leanne had already spent quite a bit of time in Brisbane as she has family there so we decided to see the main sights and then move on the following day. We arrived just before lunch time and went to The Valley and then South Bank, all very nice but not really much to see for tourists. We spent the night in a cramped hostel with the creakiest beds I have ever witnessed. So after a very disturbed nights sleep we made our way to the station to catch the train to Leanne's Aunt and Uncle's in the Gold Coast. We said goodbye to Ali here. He was heading further down the coast to Coolangatta, but we arranged to meet up again in Sydney.
Leannes Aunt Carol was waiting for us at the station when we arrived. She drove us back to her house in the comfort of her BMW. I couldn't get over the house when we arrived. It was absolutely pristine and big enough for Leanne and I to have our own bedrooms with double beds and en-suite bathrooms. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about sleeping in a proper, comfortable, non-creaky bed and being able to shower in a clean bathroom which had guaranteed hot water. The house itself was in a gated community which backed out onto the river. All the houses looked like show homes, it reminded me a bit of Stepford wives. There was a small pool and patio area out the back where Leanne and I whiled away the hours reading until Ethan got home from school. Ethan is Leanne's cousin 8 year old son. Sweet, socialable and full of energy. We spent our first evening in watching The Jonas Brothers concert DVD. We didn't mind though, just grateful to be sitting on a comfortable sofa and having an early night.
Most of our days there were just spent by the pool or at the man-made beach, reading and catching up on some sleep. One evening we were taken out for dinner to a nice seafood restaurant where we ate Oysters and "Sea bugs" (like Lobster) and big Prawns and drunk proper wine (not the cheap, boxed stuff we were used to). We were both in our element and were thouroughly spoilt.
Saturday evening we went to Surfers Paradise to visit Leanne's friends from work. We stayed at their house and had a nice evening in, chatting and eating BBQ food cooked inside! (it was a little bit chilly to be sitting outside eating)
On Sunday we went for a walk along the beach, where there were plenty of Surfers to watch (or just look at) and had a wander through town to the Tribal Travel shop where Leanne used to work. We booked our Blue Mountains trip in preparation for our visit to Sydney and I booked my Bus Tour for New Zealand. We then decided to go for a little drive (as we had use of Carol's car) into the mountains to Springbrook, where we had a short walk through the forest. We were on our way back to Carol and Frank's when the car started playing up. We knew we were low on petrol, but not that low! Going up a hill the car completely gave up and came to a stop. We were still in the middle of nowhere and for a while we just sat there looking at each other wondering what we were going to do - we couldn't pick up the phone and call Dad! Luckily there was a sign for a hotel just a few metres up the road, so Leanne stayed with the car while I went off to find the Hotel. I had to walk up a long driveway, but came to a tiny Hotel. I walked in and felt all eyes on me as I made my way to the bar. It was full of Australian men who obviously live in the area and this was their local. I told the bar lady about our situation and asked how far it was to the nearest petrol station - "too far to walk" being the answer. She then shouted across the bar "is anyone going into town? This girl needs petrol". My response was to go bright red and smile hopefully at all the old men. No one answered but a hippy looking guy with long dreadlocks and bare feet sauntered up to the bar. "You looking for petrol? I just filled up my tank this morning, It's in the back of my Ute". Seeing no other option I gratefully hopped into dreadlocked mans truck and he drove me down the hill to where Leanne was waiting. He emptied his tank of petrol into the car and said we could pay him back by buying him a beer. Grateful as we were, we weren't about to go and sit in a random bar, full of Australian men with a dreadlocked man. So we graciously declined saying we had to get back, gave him some money and off we went again. It's all an experience.....
We stayed with Carol and Frank for nearly a week in the end. Ethan had won two free tickets to a show called "Outback Spectacular" and Carol asked if we wanted to take him, which is how we spent our last night there. The show involved lots of horses, some cattle and sheep and cheesy singing and chanting. We were given free cowboy hats which we had to wear throughout the show and had a three course meal with wine. It probably wouldn't have been something I would have paid the $80 ticket price for, but it was something a bit different and Ethan enjoyed himself, so his enthusiasm rubbed off on us.
On wednesday morning Carol drove us back to Surfers Paradise to catch our Greyhound to Byron Bay. It was a 2 hour journey, plus an extra hour for "Daylight Saving" (clocks going forward an hour). I still find it bizarre that different states in Australia are almost like different countries. Queensland doesn't have Daylight saving but we drove 30minutes down the road across the border into New South Wales and suddenly we had lost an hour.
We had already booked into a hostel in Byron Bay and met a minibus at the bus stop which took us there.
Leanne's friend form work, Alex, had arranged to meet us in Byron to join us on a tour that we were doing on the Thursday. Being a travel agent she managed to get us a private room for the price of a dorm room which meant we were eased back in gently to the hostel lifestyle. On Thursday morning the three of us were picked up by a big blue mini bus to go on "Jim's Alternative Tour". Our main destination was Nimbin - a tiny hippy town famed for it's relaxed atmosphere (mainly due to marijuana consumption). Along the way we stopped at a pub for a drink (at 11am) and a couple of lookout points. We arrived in Nimbin around lunchtime so we had a wander down the one main street all the while being offered "Cookies" and "Cake" and "Weed". We ate lunch and had a look around the Nimbin Museum, which contained many artefacts relating to the legalisation of weed.
The next stop on our tour was at the house of a crazy hippy. He had "art" in his garden which was actually just old Ironing boards, t.v's and rusty gardening tools. He had frizzy long hair and wore patchwork clothes and talked in a "far out man, every creature in the world is equal" type of way. We sat on his veranda until he started getting all "at one with the world" and spouting crazy hippy theories, when Leanne, Alex and I decided to go and float on rubber rings in his lake.
From here it was time to start heading back to Byron, being entertained by our driver and his themed music.
We went out for a few drinks in the evening with Alex, but Byron turned into a sleezy tourist destination at night, so we didn't last long being leered at in the street and attempting to avoid being dragged on to non-existant dance floors in pubs.
We spent friday wandering round the little shops and sitting on the beach until Alex had to head back to Surfers. We booked our Bus to Sydney to leave on Ssaturday evening, so Friday night was spent in the hostel chatting to a coupe of Norwegian girls who came to sit on our table.
Saturday was yet another day at the beach, (we're very well practiced at this past-time now) where we stayed until we got cold and had to go and make diner before catching our bus at 8:30.
It was a long journey to Sydney, 14hours overall and I didn't really sleep at all. By the time we arrived in Central Sydney at 10am, we were tired and hungry, unsure where our hostel was and there was no nice little mini bus meeting us like there had been in the smaller beach towns. We knew we had to ge the train to St James station but from there it was pretty much a mystery apart from the vague directions we were given on our booking voucher. We ended up spending an hour and a half traipsing round with our huge bags on our backs looking for the hostel. During those 90minutes it had begun to rain - heavily, and we walked up and down the same street about 4 times. We finally realised, after getting through to the hostel on the phone, that it had been where we had started and we crashed into reception cold, wet and close to tears.
After a hot shower and a chat to some of the people in our room we were feeling better and went to find some lunch. It was still raining so we decided against sight seeing and ended up in the cinema instead. Luckily, the rain had eased by the time the film finished but we had a trip to the Blue Mountains the following day, so we walked back to the hostel for an early night.
We awoke the following morning to more rain. Optimisitcally we put on flip flops and leggings and packed our raincoats in out bags. As it turned out, we didn't take our raincoats off all day and our feet were so cold by the end of the day they were completely numb. The day would have been brilliant if it wasn't for the rain. The weather prevented us from seeing any of the amazing views we were promised and meant we spent our lovely woodland walks concentrating on not falling over rather than our surroundings. However we tried to make the most of it and laugh through the pain of numb, wet feet. We were driven up to the mountains in a minibus, stopping off at various points along the way. We warmed up by having lunch in a nice little cafe in a small village and then went on Australia's steepest cable car down the mountain and the worlds steepest finicular railway back up again. Our trip included a Ferry ride down the river in order to get back to the centre of Sydney which meant I got my first glimpse of the famous Opera House and Harbour bridge...all through the cloud and rain though, so I decided to save the photograph taking for another day. We didn't get back to the hostel until 7:30 so it was a long day, but after warming up and having showers we went to meet Ali for a drink as we hadn't seen him since we went our seperate ways in Brisbane.
Tuesday morning wasn't as rainy as it had been for the past couple of days, so we decided to go and do a bit of sightseeing. We walked down to Darling Harbour with Ali and Matt, another guy who was in our dorm room. The harbour is lined with nice seafood restaurants and bars and there is an aquariam, a huge theatre and entertainment centre - none of which we went in. We wandered around, taking photos and generally looking like tourists before going to meet Matts friend Ben. I had also arranged to meet Kylie (a friend I made on my Cambodia trip who is from Sydney) on Tuesday evening, so the 5 of us got on a train to Newton - the little part of town Kylie lives in - to meet her in her local pub. It was really nice to see her again and we didn't stop talking for the whole evening. Before I knew it it was time for us to catch the last train back into the City Centre where we followed the boys to a bar which our hostel had arranged a night out to.
After our late night on Tuesday, we had a lie in and therefore a bit of a late start on Wednesday. By Wednesday afternoon the rain had finally stopped and the sun came out so we decided to get the Ferry to Manly, a small beach town in Sydney bay. The Ferry took us right past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, which this time I was able to get pictures of! Once we were in Manly we had a wander round the town and saw the main beach - which was extremly windy, before going to sit on the smaller, more sheltered stretch of sand on the other side of the island. We caught the Ferry back to Sydney city centre after a couple of hours and walked up to the Opera house to take more photos (I now have more than I know what to do with!) and went for a stroll through the Botanical Gardens. By this time it was starting to get dark so we had some dinner and headed back to the hostel.
We decided to go to stay in Bondi Beach for the night on Thursday night. Being one of the most famous beaches in the world I thought I should see it and spend a bit of time there! Matt, Ben and Ali were all staying at the hostel in Sydney, so we were able to leave our big rucksacks with them while we went off to stay in a hostel in Bondi for the night. It was a strange little place. The town reminded me a little of a little seaside town at home. Mainly because of the grey sky when we first arrived, but also because of the little coloured buildings that climbed the hill at either side of the bay and the quirky little cafes and restaurants that were so different to the huge chains that we had seen in Sydney City Centre. We managed to sit on the beach for a little while wrapped up in hoodies and scarves to protect us from the wind. We sat there and read and watched the surfers until we got cold and decided to go back to the hostel for showers and to have something to eat.
The following day we awoke to bright sunshine and warm weather so we excitedly donned our bikinis and went to see Bondi Beach in it's full glory. It was packed and there were so many surfers out at sea we were kept entertained for hours. Ali came to meet us for the day and we sat on the beach and wandered along the little prominade before getting the bus back to Harbour City Backpackers to stay for a few more nights.
Saturday was Haloween so Leanne and I wandered into town to buy some accessories to help us look like we'd made some sort of effort for the hostel Halloween party. Some people really made an effort and we had a really good night and met a lot more people. Funny how a bit of Fancy Dress can bring people together.
We spent the next few days in Sydney just relaxing at the hostel, wandering around the city and sitting in Hyde Park reading our books when weather permitted.
Origianally, Leanne and I were meant to be travelling down to Melbourne together but she managed to secure herself a job as a hostess on one of the Whitsundays boats, which is an offer that no one can refuse, so she booked a flight back up to Airlie beach and I booked an overnight greyhound bus to Melbourne. I left on Wednesday night, arriving at 9am on Thursday morning. I immediately noticed the drop in temperature and my feet felt extremely cold in my now standard foot attire - flip flops, while I was waiting for the Tram to take me to my hostel. It felt strange not being with Leanne after all this time. I was bored on the bus and had to talk to myself when working out how to get to the hostel. Luckily, I was meeting Ali and a couple of his friends at the hostel that day, so I wasn't alone for long, although I still really missed her!
We spent the rest of the day looking around St Kilda - the Melbourne suburb where our hostel was and then the following day we went into Melbourne town centre for a look around. I really liked Melbourne. The town centre looked like it would be brilliant for shopping and there was some interesting architecture - which is unlike the rest of the East Coast where everything is pretty new.
Ali caught his flight to New Zealand early on Saturday morning and I arranged to meet up with Katie and Michael - friends from my Cambodia trip. It was so nice to see them again and I ended up spending the majority of the weekend tagging along to various places with them. They picked me up from my hostel and we went for lunch on Lygon Street (apparently the "little Italy" of Melbourne) We then went along to a house warming party of one of their old colleagues for some Pimms and Punch, it was then back to Michaels to get changed before heading off to a 40th Party for an hour (which Michael failed to inform me was black and white themed so I stuck out like a sore thumb in my bright floral summer dress) and then on to a 21st birthday party. I ended up having a great night dancing away and chatting to friends of Katie and Michael who made me say things just so they could hear my accent.
We woke up the next morning feeling slightly worse for wear after spending the night drinking free Champagne, so we went out for a nice breakfast with Michael's parents and brothers before going back to their house to swim in the pool. It was nice to be in a family home again surrounded by brothers and their banter - I miss my own.
Katie dropped me back at my hostel where I had to pack and have an early night as I was up at 5am on Monday morning to get a shuttle bus to the airport for my flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. And so another chapter of my travels begin. Everytime I fly to another country, I feel like it's the end of my trip. But far from it. There is still so much more for me to see and do.
