The April Oz Archive
We proudly present to you - the April Oz Archive. Here you can find all updates made from Austrailia in the month of April 2002...
~ 01/04/2002 - Marie!! ~
~ 01/04/2002 - Julia ~
~ 01/04/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 09/04/2002 - stu ~
~ 24/04/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 29/04/2002 - stu ~
~ 30/04/2002 - Julia ~
January Archive February Archive March Archive Murray Walker May/June Archive
Guy...
Hah! That fooled you!
Unfortunately I have been trapped in the depths of London in a hotel that wouldn't know what a phone line was if you wrapped it round their unwashed necks and throttled them with it. The updates below were sent to me towards the end of March. I apologise. Stu had already set up the March archive by the time I got back, but having neither the talent nor the energy to add to it you are going to have to put up with them being here. I know, I know... *smack* will not do it again *smack* will not do it again *smack* will not do it again *smack* etc. (ad infinitum)...
Marie (27/03/2002) again, really sorry *smack*
Hello everybody, sorry it has been a while, but it has been a bit of an eventful week really to say the least - Basically whilst travelling from Alice Springs (on the way to Cairns), the van suddenly started making an awful noise (not disimilar to my stomach after a night out), anywhere we were basically stuck in the desert about 40kms from the nearest town, with sunset fast approaching.
After much deliberation (and the dreaded realisation that the van really wasn't going to move another inch, we decided that two of us would hitch a lift into Tennant Creek, and try and find a tow company to bring us back to civilisation, after a few failed attempts to stop people (hmmm, maybe we should have tried the "locals" method of simply lying across the middle of the road to stop traffic..... yes they do apparently do this, but most of the time it is because they have just passed out drunk!). Anyway Stuart left with a friendly couple at about 5.30pm, whilst me julia and bhav waited with the van - it was here that i realised the true nature of our location, we were in fact only about 100kms from where the British couple were attacked and him killed (Barrow Creek), I decided to let the others know, I figured it would add to the air of tension that was emerging. An hour passed by, as did another, and as did the sun, until it was pitch black and I think deep down all of us were a little concerned about our predicament (Bhav decided that we had to talk non-stop the whole time as he didn't like the eery sounds that we were probably imagining from outside).
Anyway Stuart finally arrived back with the tow truck, and the young lad managed to get the van loaded up, and take us back to the town. The next morning the news was broken to us that the van had basically travelled its last journey with us, and that the engine was pretty much screwed, unless we wanted to spend some big bucks which of course wouldn't be too practical!
So we stayed at a friendly little hostel, although most of the friends that we made were of the six or eight legged variety, that seemed to just fall from the sky at regualr intervals. As homage to the good times that we had in the van, we went to the local social club to cheer ourselves up, the live band were pretty good, and helped to keep our spirits up.
Anyway we left Tennant Creek on the coach, and basically had a 25 hour bus ride to Cairns, and here we are. We arrived last night at about 11.30pm, and today have just had a wonder around town, and recovered from the events of the last few days.
We'll proabably stay here for a week or so depending upon the dive trips that are available, and maybe to see if we can get some work.
We are now looking forward to the new adventure that awaits us, and whilst we are without our precious van, I am certain that this new chapter in our travels will bring us as much joy and many tales to tell.
Byee for now, love Marie
Julia (28/03/2002) *smack* arrgh, I beg of you...
Dear all - Happy Easter to you, hope you're all having a good one!!
Well, here we are in Cairns and boy is it hot. Whilst it's only about 30 degrees, the humidity makes it feel so much hotter.....we are permanent sweaty messes!!! So what have we been up to (apart from sweating??!!). Well.......
Cairns is quite a big party city, so obviously we have been taking advantage of that!! The deal at our hostel is a free meal every night at The Woolshed pub, where they have happy hours and cheap beers. So, every night's "just the one beer with our meal" turns into a bit of a session!!! But we have managed to see some of the sights, most notably the Great Barrier Reef.....
On Tuesday night, I went to a talk on the reef called Reef Teach....the guy giving the presentation was so enthusiastic and so funny, that the two hours seemed to fly by - if only some of the lectures at Uni had been like that!!! He told us all about the different kinds of coral and fish we would see on the Reef, as well as about the dangerous animals living in the sea. It almost put me off going in there - there are far too many dangerous things in the sea for my liking - stingrays, shells(!!), sharks, starfish, sea cucumbers......things that could paralyse you!!! But, the talk was really good and the chocolate biscuits were a bit of a bonus!!
On Wednesday we went on a trip to Green Island where we were going to snorkel the Reef. We set off on the catamarang and soon reached what looked like a tropical island.....just in the middle of nowhere with beautiful beaches and coral that you could see from the jetty. We headed for the beach straightaway and started snorkelling. As soon as we got in we could see loads of fish....thankfully nothing dangerous at this stage though!! After a while we headed back to the boat where we went on a glass bottom boat and saw a different section of the coral. Again there were absolutley loads of brightly coloured and massive fish, and whilst searching for a sea turtle, we came across an absolutley gigantic stingray.....it's tail must have been at least 2 metres long and it was an ugly looking thing!!!
After that trip, we made our way back to the water, in search of more coral and fish. This time the coral was much more impressive and the fish were just swimming around us, Twice Marie made me suck far too much salt water into my mask by giving me a heart attack when she swam as fast as she could away from what we think were jelly fish!!! Along with being scared of spying another stingray, we were quite cautious where we went, but the snorkelling was definitely worth it.
After a BBQ lunch on the boat, we headed off to the Crocodile Park on the island....here, before seeing the crocodiles being fed, Marie, Stuart and I all held a baby crocodile called Killer......I had a bit of a panic before holding it, and he definitely felt strange.....I could feel him breathing in and out which was so weird!!! (There are picture on the website of Stuart holding Killer, so have a look....www.roadtrip2001.net). We then saw the crocodiles being fed and oh my, you don't want to mess with one of those. They were huge and Bhav and I stayed around to watch Cassius (the biggest crocodile in the world in captivity) being fed which was awesome........the guy feeding him just left the cage door open, so we were about 20 metres away from this 18 foot long crocodile who was being fed!!!!
After the crocodiles, we headed back on board for the journey home. It was an excellent day, the coral we saw was amazing, but the fish were even better to see. We ended the day by going for one of our free meals and a few beers!!
Yesterday was the England game here in Oz....they were playing it in the evening at the pub where (you guessed it!!!) we had our free meal and a few beers!!!! It was just like being at home as everyone was wearing England shirts and shouting at the screen!!! Although the score was disappointing, Gareth Southgate played in the first half, so I was a happy bunny!!!!
Tomorrow, Stuart and I are going on a trip up to Kuranda where we go on a skyrail through the rainforests and waterfalls, see the local markets and then back to Cairns on the historic railway. Should be good, so I'll report back soon.
We are moving on from Cairns soon - now that we don't have the van, we have to get the coach and we have managed to find a bit of a bargain price to get us to Sydney. From Sydney we can get to Melbourne, which is the most exciting bit for me and Bhav!!! We are going to go to the Neighbours set and also to the Neighbours night where you get to meet the stars in a local pub and have photos taken with them. Bhav is going to kill me for writing this but we are dead excited!!!!
Anyway, hope everyone is well and that you all have a good Easter break. Write soon!!
love JULIAx
Bhav (28/03/2002) *smack* ... Mercy!
Since Alice Springs things have been aventful to say the least. We left last Thursday on the last leg of our venture through the Outback to get to the East Coast.... Queenland... Home of the Great Barrier Reef... and the Capital of Party in Australia.... All stuff to look forward to with smiley faces and wanton abandon..... Except the Van Factor.... As some of you may already know.... The Van sailed it final Voyage from Alice Springs to Tennent Creek.
Alice Springs had been a cool couple of days.... We met a cool Dutch Couple Dennis and Liz.... where we exchanged friendly anglo - Dutch banter... and they told us about New Zealand. They are gonna be in Sudney when we are there so we joked how we would have Van Selling Contest there... Kermit (Dennis and Liz's Van) verses our Very own Liz. We had a day in the Macdonnel Ranges... which was a series of short walks to cool lakes.... A cool day out.
On to the Van.. We left Alice on Thursday to get to Tennent Creek... Stopped at the Devil Marble on the way.... Some kind of wierd rock formation where there are just massive red rock boulders for miles and miles stuck on each other. However little did we know that those were the last sights that Liz the Van would show us before its demise. 40ks before Tennett Creek the van started making this loud farting noise. We stopped. Got towed and waited overnight what the outcome would be.... $2600 doller to get a it fixed and a three week wait. Me and Chaney decided to cut our losses. Managed to get a $1000 doller from Tony the Hostel bloke. Gutted is not the word... I felt sickened. I get told that years from now I'll laugh about it... I know years from now I will still be plotting some kind of revenge on Chris Steele the bastard that sold it to us. We went out that night and I got throuhly smashed..... Danced on my own in this local Social Club and made an Arse of myself. I spent a last emotional night in the Van listening to some tunes... Before we left Tennets Creek for Cairns.
Cairns... 25 hours... non stop on a bus.... Not a plesant journey but worth it. Its a cool place. To be honest that s not a lot you can actually do in Cairns but you can book various trips and tours everywhere. We decided on trip to Green Island. I took a Semi Sub ride into the Great Barrier Reef.. Saw some amazing Coral and cool fishies... Later in the day we even saw a Shark... and there were Stingrays all over the show. We also went to crocodile show. Viscious Gits... They'll jump six feet out of the water to get a bit of grub.... Not someone to mess with methinks.
Other than that I have pretty much not done a lot else. We're off to Mission Beach on Sunday. Saw England lose to Italy yesterday in the Footie... but it wasn't all bad cos we watched it with Euan, a Scot... who endured the humilation of a 5-0 loss.... har har...!
Take Care all... Anyone off to Perth... Kick Chris Steele for me (by Kick I really mean Kill)
Love
Bhav
Stu...
Hello surfers,
I believe we left the story off just after our visit to green island - after that we headed down to Mission Beach and stayed in a tree house. Well - not quite, it was a hostel called the tree house. But definitely felt like we were in the trees, the view from the social room looked out into the rain forest. There was a pool, great stereo and loads of board games. We had our first game of Risk in which I totally dominated until my inevitable victory. The next day we headed to the beach - but the weather spoiled our fun and that was that. It was raining cats and dogs, come to think of it - cats, dogs, cows, sheep, kangaroos, dingos, bears, fish, birds, people..... cars, lorries, boats, space ships.... (it was some big bad ass rain).
Marie and Bhav resorted to a two player game of Monopoly - and I have been asked not to bring this up, but the point has to be made rather than erased from history (how else will we learn). Two player monopoly will always end in tears because it means one player ruthlessly taking the other ones money. Especially in the case of Bhav, who has been brought up by the best, some people will do anything to fight another day. Crime is not a moral issue anymore, even more so when you can justify it with the tired old line, "it's just a game". This line in itself is very dangerous when associated with football - but that’s another story.
In short - Marie took 3 quarters of the board in the first hour, the game lasted 7 hours! It does not take a Dave Barrett (the famous Pompey Statistician) to work out why the game dragged.
Must have been a typo, I'm sure you really meant 'infamous' #Guy.
After Mission we made a arrival in Airly beach, doorstep to the highly recommended Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately the weather was still crap - but we managed to find what looked like a good deal for a three day cruise around the islands. The brochure showed an array of activities and fun to be had - with so many people recommending the islands to us, we had to take it. There was a few days wait before we set sail so we took to our usual routine of signing onto the net to look for jobs (that took 10 minutes) and then drinking for the rest of the day.
Our first night was in a hostel just out of town - here I unconsciously and convincing lost my elbows to about 60 million different species of bed bug. Both of them now look like I’ve dunked them in a can of creamed rice... Ignoring the obvious moaning and sympathy seeking that followed (after the morning cursing and even a few threats of revenge) we signed into another hostel conveniently attached to a bar that sold cheap jugs of beer.
One of those odd coincidences then happened, we ran into Lisa again. For the third time we had bumped into the girl in our travels after meeting her first near Perth - fate? coincidence?... or just good luck, either way it was great to see her again. Lisa joined us for some drinking each night, and as I type my phone is ringing with her name on it. I guess a few more beers are in order tonight - which will be our last in Airly beach.
We set sail early Sunday morning and headed out to a spot for some scuba diving. The views were inspiring and the weather was not as bad as we feared - unfortunately I am still not allowed to scuba dive (asthma) and so my day just consisted of sitting on a boat and reading my book while the others had fun (although Bhav could not either and Marie was too scared of the Jelly fish - or just could not face putting on the stinger suit).
We arrived at our resort on long island and I made up for the days disappointment by drinking a long island ice tea (mental note:bacardi, vodka, gin, tequila and triple-sec with coke and crushed ice) in the spa with Marie. Later on we headed to the bar for happy hour and got roped into joining the fun games that were announced over a PA system by a Matt Hardy look alike. Being the only two blokes on the table of about 10, and with the games nearly always requiring a bloke to go up on stage - we were kept busy. In fact if it was not for the 3 kids we managed to recruit we would have probably collapsed. The main points in short:
Bhav ended up with 21 clothes pegs up his nose and on his ears.
Julia lost a ping pong ball in my pants.
Marie and I swapped clothes.
Bhav and I had to mummify a girl.
Two of our kid recruits almost killed each other trying to burst balloons in varying rude styles which brought the whole bar into hysterics.
I ended up having to eat a raw weatabix, then down a bottle of beer, then eat portion of vegemite (sickening) and to finish off - another beer. Another victory feather for my cap along with the respect of all of my shipmates.
The second day sailing took us out to a beautiful beach to relax on (Whitehaven). The sand was so pure it squeaked underfoot and the island was only home to the wildlife that occasionally ventured out to meet us. The journey there was so choppy it produced a long line of chundering brits at the back of the boat - Julia and I included. Unfortunately this is all we managed that day as the sea was very unforgiving. That evening there was karaoke on at the bar, the girls turned in early and after a few B and I made a strategic exit - we both know only too well what happens after drinking enough at a karaoke night.
After spending a little more time the next day at club croc on long island we headed back - quite a few of us a little bit annoyed at the fact the brochure had promised so much more. The most fun I had actually on the boat involved me and a Canadian guy jumping into the sea from the top - and even then we had to ware these ridiculous stinger suits. They may save your life from all the jellies - but at the high cost of completely loosing your cool (and I have little of that as it is). I don’t want to take anything away from the Whitsunday islands though - they are something special for sure, I'll get some pics up soon if I can...
Anyway - I’m off now to meet up with the others from the boat for some more, yes you guessed it, drinking. The east coat so far has been a string of Ibiza (maybe not quite that bad) type resorts, I’m hoping for a change soon before my liver packs in. Still - we are enjoying it while it lasts, Sydney and Melbourne loom closer which mean that soon we will all have to find work.
Hope you are all well out there and enjoying life - luv stu
Bhav...
Well its been a while. We've reached Byron Bay having travelled down the East Coast of Queenland... and now we're in New South Wales... just ten hours from Sydney. We'll arrive in Sydney on Saturday Morning.
After the adventures of the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, we moved on to Mission Beach - a Rainforest/Beach Meal deal Combo. We stayed at one of the coolest hostel in my opinion so far, a house built in the trees - you awake to the sight of a forest and the place was excellent place to relax. The also has hammocks.... and I actually managed to have a 20 minute session without bringing the house down. After a couple of days there we moved onto Airlie Beach, Gateway to the Spectacular Whitsunday Island - a group of over 70 islands. Did you know that of 90% of people that visit Australia, the Whitsunday's Island are said to be the highlight. Anyways we booked our Sailing trip and headed off for a three day sail around the Islands. The first day was based around a dive into the Barrier Reef. Julia done is and really enjoyed it... but I bottled it after the viewing of a Shark in cairns and the numerous Jellyfish warnings (Oh and mu inabilty to swim) . The evening was spent in Long Island where we got involved in a competion... which can be summarised as...
Stu and Me Mummifying a Girl
Marie attaching 21 Clothes pegs to my face (revenge for an earlier Monopoly incident)
Julia navigating a ping pop ball round Stu Pants
Marie and Stu doing some kind of strange Clothes swapping thang.... Skirt really suits you Stu...
Stu attaining legendry status by beating eveyone in a Eat one weetabix, down a XXXX, Eat of tub of Vegemite, down another XXXX competion.....!
The second day was a sail to Whitehaven Beach.... Perfect crystal Waters and white Silica Sand.... Absolutely Beautiful. However there were issues with the Sail there... One of the Choppiest Rides ever... I honestly on a couple of occasion though we were done for... and I think the numerous people that Chundered of the side of the boat also suffered. I slept through most of it... just to block it out of the brain. On the third night back in Airlie we had a Party with the Crew and the Rest of the people of the Boat... which was excellent... We were dancing on the tables by half 8... and I was a mess by 12.
In Airlie we als manage to visit the Vic Hislop Show... Vic Hislop is a Shark Hunter who is convinced that there is a government cover up about the amount dissapperances of people on the Coast... which he attributes to Sharks. He has made it his mission to catch as many Man Eaters as possible and at the show he has the biggest one ever caught.... at 18 foot is was a monster! A really funny Guy.
After Airlie, next stop was Noosa. But to break up the trip we stop in Bundeburg for a night, not a lot to report but sadly we arrived on the day that the British backpakcer that you may read about was murdered. Just to get serious... the coverage over here was not good... within a 12 hours the focus had gone away from the murder and what effect it would have on the Queenland tourist trade.
Noosa was cool... we stayed in a retreat on the Noosa River... the ground were inhabited by a multitude of Wildlife... the Roos were a site.
Finally we arrived in Brisbane... our first city experience since Adelaide. Its a really nice city built on a river. I managed to get on a ferry ride round the city and a bus ride. Also done the XXXX Brewary tours which was interesting but the 2 hours free sampling afterwards was better... And then one of the Highlights for me... a Visit to Austalia Zoo home of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Since being in OZ he has turned into my hero. By an amazing stroke of luck he was actually at the zoo on the day we went (taking a break from the filming of his first Hollywood film), and done an impressive Croocodile show. If you havn't watched his show... you should - he's an entertainer!
From Brisbane to Surfers Paradise. A Mecca for Surf Dudes and a complete Party Place... its basically Ibiza in OZ. Skycraper hotels all over the show. We participated in a Club Crawl on our first night... but I don't have much memory of the night to be honest.... but I do know that Julia has a lot of fun walking me home. The Beach at Surfers was awesome.... for once heaving with loads of people, massive waves crashing down... something I could have sat watching all day. Stu and I went out on our last night there and went to a Light and Maze show which was well cool, and then we got drunk. It was an annoying night as we spent ages in this club waiting for some decent music to come on and in the end celebrated when it was just some Simple S Club 7 - R and B is simply not our bag baby.....!
And now Byron Bay... more chilled out then Surfers. We're leaving for a place called Nimbin this afternoon and then off to Sydney on saturday. Job searching begins in earnest.... a depressing thought.....
Anyways hope every one is cool
Loads of Love
Bhav
Wandering Stu...
HELLO !!!!
Well we've finally reached Sydney, which feels like quite a landmark. Around half way through the traveling now - the group can now claim that we've seen more of Australia than most Australians!
With Sydney however comes a downer going by the name of - employment. We all planned to score jobs here, work for a few months and then carry on with our new found wealth.
I personally have been applying for jobs for about 3 weeks now via the internet, some looking quite good and some just looking like they'll do. I know Jools has an interview on Monday, and has looked forward to getting to Sydney since day one. B and Mer are job hunting as well - I think it will be easier for the girls to get temp work filling in for people. Bhav and I have experience with computer systems - which means most temp contracts are for project work and therefore require 3 or more months to complete when we only have 2.
That leaves us with a few options.
- try and get lucky and score a two month contract as there are some about. (fingers crossed)
- extend our stay in Oz for an extra month or two. (and therefore loose what little time we have left for NZ and the USA)
- get a job like dishing out burgers or washing dishes. (boring work for shit money)
- find the cheapest hostel in town and try not to spend money for a couple of months. (impossible)
- sod it, go into debt and worry about it in England. (I luv you mum and dad, can I live in the garage)
I've toyed with all these ideas over the last few days and have come to one unescapable truth. We are travelling and therefore should be doing just that. I have recently rediscovered a wad of travellers cheques in backpack - enough to buy be a return ticket to, lets say Vietnam. By some incredible coincidence, our friend Steve (Dumass) happens to be in South East Asia and I have always wondered what it would be like travelling with my local village idiot :@>
One of my few regrets that has so far come out of travelling, is not getting to see nearly as much of Asia as I would have liked. It seems this opportunity is too good for me to ignore - so it looks like our journals may join for a month or so after all. The way I see it is that it would be the same as staying in Sydney and not spending any money - I had not accounted for my travellers cheques and Asia is one of the cheapest places to travel in the world. Of course, there are a couple of 2 month jobs I've applied for and look really good - so if they come through I will still consider taking them.
Enough of my mindless ramblings though, this is suposed to be a journal and since Airly beach we've been to Noosa, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay and Nimbin.
Noosa: Noosa is a smart little town, quite spread out, with a great beach, cool cafes/bars and some interesting places to stay. The first few nights we stayed in a lodge out of town, a quiet country side setting next to a river. The grounds had a great swimming pool surrounded by wild peacocks, bush turkeys, kangaroos and scores of exotic birds. We did not get up to much, it seemed like the perfect place to catch up on some reading and just relax.
Brisbane: I almost forgot Brisbane while typing this!! I'm sure that says something about the place - but at the same time as being wholly unremarkable, I did enjoy my stay there. The highlight of my time in Brisbane was actually a complete mistake. We had arranged a tour around the XXXX brewery one evening which I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately when the time came to go my guts were having none of it. I felt like I had swallowed a rock and my stomach was desperately trying to digest it by squeezing it at random intervals. As I really really wanted to go (there was 2 hours of free beer drinking at the end) I decided to walk there with the others in hope that the pain may pass. While walking there I had obviously bored the girls so much with my 'oooo, the pain' comments that they had walked off ahead. Bhav stuck with me for a while and then I told him I was not going and needed to sit down, so he headed off and I found a bench.
There I sat half an hour watching the approaching storm light up the sky every so often and thinking that I really must get back before it chucks it down on me. It was then I realised I had not payed any attention to how I got to where I was and therefore had know idea where, where I was, was (that does work out, read it again).
After 3 hours of walking around the suburbs of Brisbane I had discovered that the people that live there had no idea on where their there was in relation to where my digs were. Even the old trick of pub naming did not help so I fell back on my old brit born instincts of direction. Within minutes I was back at bench near the brewery.
Steve Irwin ?Croc hunter :
While saying in Brisbane we trained it to Beerwah and took a look round the Australia Zoo founded by Steve Irwins family. If you don’t know who the crocodile hunter is ?check out his site where you can find out all about him.
Surfers Paradise: ... and it's a bloody good job we took some time to relax because Surfers is basically Ibiza in Australia. The day we got there we ended up off on some huge club crawl with a group of other backpackers. A great big double decker bus carted us into town and like alcohol crazed sheep we followed a girl round 3 clubs receiving a free beer in each. Bhav was drunk and tired, an odd combination for him as he just rambled all night until Julia took him home. Marie and I stayed out a bit later for some extra dancing and a hotdog.
The next day Julia filled us in on how Bhav seemed to liven up on the way home, probably caused by the shock of the long taxi rank queue and therefore having to walk back. We all checked into a cheaper backpackers in town that was actually 100% better with a cracking pool, steam room and spa (the nomads next to the bus station). The beach at Surfers is almost perfect - great sand and obviously top draw surf. Bhav and I found a light and sound show hidden away in a shopping mall which turned out to be one of the coolest walk through shows I have ever been to. There were mirror mazes running through the dark hallways with lasers bouncing in all directions around you. Some rooms plunged into complete darkness and you had to navigate your ways through all sorts of obsticals. The highlight of the show being the giant rubber ball room and the sound reactive light show somewhere in the middle.
After that we decided that we absolutely must get drunk, so found the nearest bar selling discount drinks and made good use of the offer. On entering the bar we were greeted by some good house dance music, but after what seemed like only ten minutes a R&B set took hold.... for nearly 2 hours! Torn between drinking our drinks (that we had already bought and lined up in order to get them at half price) or running out screaming we took to the much more juvenile approach of simply making paper aeroplanes out of the mound of fliers we had collected and bunging them at girls. Then the music changed to.... S club 7. After being forced into listening to music that I consider a horrible mistake of fashion somehow turned series of noises by a bad attitude 'artist' waring clothes that look like some bad B movie costume - Bhav and I would just about dance to anything..... and so we did
Byron Bay: Only spending a few nights here we did not get to see too much - but I did enjoy watch Raw is War at the local boozer. Again, another beautiful beach - I think that I may be getting desensitised to them as I made no use of it what so ever. The bunkhouse we stayed in was not up to much - the rooms were smelly and you had to walk through a 24 hour bakery to get in! Now that's marketing at it's very best...
Nimbin:
This is quite possible the strangest place in the world. I can't imagine there being anywhere else quite like it. A village completely founded and still populated by hippies. Set in a beautiful valley with rolling hills and watched over by the sleeping giant (an Aborigine named hillside that resembles a face), Nimbin is the true world capital of peace and flower power. I got into a short pool competition in the local (and only) pub. My doubles partner was so stereotypically hippy I could not help but laugh. Every shot, whether good or bad, whether it was my shot or either of our opponents resulted in a round of clapping and a hug.
Sydney: ... here I am. Sat in a cheap internet cafe typing this gunf out. So far the city has looked like the sort of place I could stay for ever - clean, friendly and some large style fun to be had. Of course I'll let you all know exactly what it's like after I investigate further. Nothing like a fact finding pub crawl mission to help a traveller decide on what to do next.
peace man - stu
PS. I'll put some pictures into this section soon.
Wandering Jools...
Dear all,
Well its been a while since I wrote so I'd better get on with it!!! After Noosa (which i think was the last time I wrote!!) we went to Brisbane. We weren't expecting much, but it was a great city. Really clean and a nice atmosphere. For the first few days we just milled around, but one afternoon Bhav and I went up to Mount Coot-tha lookout. We weren't sure what to expect, (we weren't even sure we'd make it as the bus ride was very bumpy!!) but the view was amazing...we could see all across Brisbane and the river. We just sat and gawked at the view it was so good.
For the blokes reading this, I'm sure you'll find the next bit more interesting.....one evening we went on the Castlemaine XXXX Brewery tour. We saw the beer being brewed and bottled (never have I seen so many bottles in one place)... I could bore you with all the details, like they hold something like 20million litres of beer on site at any one time, Queensland drink about 67% of the beer brewed at that brewery, only 5% is exported, etc etc, but I won't!!!! After the tour, we had 2 hours free sampling and a BBQ - pretty good stuff!!! Don't know what happened to Bhav, but he was a wreck - Marie and I looked on in (sober) amusement!!
A few days later we went to Australia Zoo - the zoo was set up by Steve Irwin - the infamous Crocodile Hunter (he's the nutter on TV wrestling with crocodiles!). We went to one of the Crocodile shows and guess who appeared??!! Yep, Steve Irwin....Bhav was in heaven and Steve was just as much of a nutter in real life as he is on TV!!! We also saw a 171 years old Galapagos Tortoise, stroked Kangaroos and saw a far too big for my liking python.....at one point on the TV show it was dislocating it's jaw to eat a sheep. Hmmmm.
After Brisbane we headed to Surfers Paradise. This is a Mecca for surf enthusiasts and a complete party place... as Bhav put it, it's basically Ibiza in OZ. It is full of Skycraper hotels and bars/clubs!! We joined a Club Crawl on our first night with the hostel we were staying in. It was a good night and we ended up getting in at 4.00am, although Bhav fails to recall much of the walk home (unfortunately, I CAN painfully recall every remark he made and every stagger he made whilst walking home with him!!)
The beach at Surfers was gorgeous - Marie, Stuart and I spent a morning sunning ourselves on the beach and it was pure bliss. Marie and I also tried some retail therapy whilst in S/Paradise, but were amazingly restrained!!!
Next we headed for Byron Bay....quite different to Surfers - seemed much smaller and the beach wasn't as nice. This was quite a short stop for me as I headed on down to Sydney the next day. I arrived in Sydney at 11.30pm on Wednesday night and the place was heaving. The hostel I checked into was massive and just a maze of corridors, so I switched to a different one the next day. After dropping my stuff off, I spent the day walking around Sydney city....it was Anzac day here (a bit like our Poppy day but much bigger and most places close for the day). I watched some of the procession happening along the main street - loads of bands and bagpipes and tonnes of old people walking along to the cheers of the crowd....it was really quite emotional!!!
After managing to get past the crowds, I headed for the thing I came to Australia to see - the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. And wow, were they worth waiting for. The bridge is just amazing and looks almost surreal with all the skyscrapers etc in the background. I found myself grinning like a looney when I saw it - and then turned around to see the Opera House!! That is just as amazing. It really is unbelievable to see - you can't quite believe that it's there!!! After a harbourside lunch (oo-er!), I headed on down to the AMP tower, one of the highest towers in Australia and great for a birds eye view of the city. Before going up to the top of the tower, I went on an experience of seeing what Oz had to offer which included a mad ride on a roller coaster type ride with jets of water spraying at you. Hard to explain, but very weird! Once at the top of the tower, the view was amazing. You could see the bridge in all it's glory and far beyond that to Fort Denison, Darling Harbour and the beach suburbs. Wow!!
I have spent the last few days getting acquainted with Sydney - Marie and I went on a monorail ride the other day and Bhav ,Marie and I went for a very grown up cup of tea overlooking the Bridge/Opera House on Saturday. We have now moved to a hostel in Kings Cross - which is every bit as "strange" as the Kings Cross at home. So far Stuart has been accosted by a few "ladies of the night" (!!) However, it's pretty buzzing here and we definitely feel like we're in the middle of it all!!!
Well, hope everyone is ok - will write more soon. This week is dedicated to job searching, so keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know how I go!!
Take care everyone,
Love, JULIAxx
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