The May/June Oz Archive
We proudly present to you - the May/June Oz Archive (with a little of June). Here you can find all updates made from Austrailia in the months of May and June 2002...
~ 13/05/2002 - stu ~
~ 16/05/2002 - Julia ~
~ 25/05/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 07/06/2002 - Julia ~
~ 12/06/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 17/06/2002 - Marie!! ~
~ 21/06/2002 - Julia ~
~ 23/06/2002 - stu ~
~ 02/07/2002 - Bhav ~
~ 02/07/2002 - Julia ~
January Archive February Archive March Archive Murray Walker April Archive
Hello Roadtrip punters ?I’ve been in Sydney over a week now and can positively say that the place rocks 24/7. Bhav and I are staying on Darlinghurst road in Kings Cross while the girls have moved out to an apartment just round the corner. Both Marie and Julia are currently working, Mers job is a 6 week contract, Jools is temping ?Bhav is still looking.
Kings Cross is an area filled with 24/7 clubs, most of them strip joints ?Darlinghurst road has a hooker every 20 meters or so posted down the road by the unseen pimps. I’ve been sat up on the roof garden in the small hours having a drink watching the streets ?money changing hands, girls walking arm in arm with men 3 times their age and a huge gay and TV population that never seems to sleep. I’m often asked if I want or if I can supply drugs by passers by ?if you stand still on this road you immediately get approached by someone whether they be a bouncer trying to get you into a strip club, a hooker trying to get you into the hotel above the strip club or a dealer trying to sell you something to get you stoned.
All this sounds pretty seedy and just down right dodgy, and it is ?but you can’t help getting used to the place. It’s not too indifferent from Soho in London, but I think us Brits are a little more discreet. The street here is well policed with a station at one end and a regular beat walking up and down. It’s obviously tolerated here, but more than likely controlled by one person or group that have a deal working with local government. It’s not as bad as Hua Hin and some areas of Bangkok ?that place was out of control?
- Ozzy film recommendation : Two Hands. I saw it the other day and give it 7 out of 10. The film was mostly shot just over the road from here and was touted to me as the Ozzy Lock Stock. It’s not a patch on Lock Stock ?but is worth a viewing?
Bhav and I are half in with the crowd at the hostel ?I say half in because we blatantly can’t keep up with them. Every night they’ll be on the piss ?Bhav and I can only survive so many nights out on the trot, these guys never stop! I think we command some amount of respect, and a little pity as the old boys have to go home early, or are hurting too much from yesterdays footy game to go out again. We’re are by no way lightweights in this hostel however ?I can drink for a couple of hours before the shouting, falling over and dancing like my feet are on fire starts. It takes the other guys here 30 minutes before they can hardly function, so at least I don’t look that bad.
In Sydney city you will find a vast range of South East Asian eateries and a good selection of pubs and clubs. I have to admit though ?in my opinion it does not have a patch on London when it comes to nightlife, ignoring the stupid costs involved in hitting the town back home. The four of us walked up the Sydney bridge ?which was worth the $5. There was a $130 option that would have taken us to the top of the structure ?this seemed a little steep in both respects. Sydney Harbour is a beautiful sight, especially at night. I seriously recommend going for a coffee by the harbour after dusk ?it’s like finding the eye of a storm inside the great city. A gap opens up surrounded by such breath taking architecture that you can’t help but stare and grin at the amazing achievements of man. The whole city is lit up and you can here the hum of life from within it ?5 bux for a coffee does not seem all that bad anymore.
Darling harbour is a similar spot to the Sydney harbour ?just with more boats, and not so many cafes. The Imax cinema there is 8 stories high, but I am yet to see it for myself. Marie, Bhav and I took a trip round this part of the city on the Monorail ?you can sit on this thing all day for $4 is you so wished. It only takes about 10 minutes to do a full circuit though ?and walking would have probably been a better idea. We should really get to Bondi beach, but the weather is not so good this time of year?
We may be off to watch some crab racing tonight, that’s if my legs and shoulders sort themselves out. With a swimming pool round the corner and playing football ?I have given my body a shock called exercise. It’s been a while and I’m sure my body is taking delight in reminding me of that fact. Earlier today I picked up my tickets to Vietnam? Yes I have decided that interest free overdrafts are there for spending and I’ll be doing just that. Plenty of time to earn money when I get back home ?for now the idea of meeting up with Steve in Asia was just to good to turn down. He’s expecting me on Thursday the 16th (May) and we’ll be working are way up from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. From Hanoi I’ll fly back to Sydney on the 13th (June) which will give me two more weeks in Australia before flying over to New Zealand. By the time I return the others will know what the deal is with money and therefore future plans, I trust all will go well and the group will remain together through NZ. Fingers crossed?
Luvin? stu
PS. As Steve and I will be travelling together for a while now my journals will go into page 2 of the Dumass section. Select from the menu or click here to go directly...
Well, I think it's probably about time I updated you all on what we've been up to in Sydney...in all honesty, not a right lot due to finding work, but hey, we've still found time for beer!!!
A couple of weeks ago, we climbed the pylon at the Harbour Bridge. Pylon, to me, conjures up images of metal, and I seriously thought we would be scaling steel and all!! But nope, it's the stone "buildings" that are part of the bridge and about 1/4 of the way into the bridge on each side (if you look at a picture of the bridge, you'll know what I mean!!). There were 200 steps up which was pretty tough, but the views from the top were amazing.....almost like being on top of the bridge itself. We got to see more of North and West Sydney than people normally do as they tend to focus on the Harbour area. We could have stayed up there for hours...but eventually our stomachs dictated that we had to climb down, and seek out Starbucks!!!
I have also been to Parliament House which was pretty interesting - I have sat in the equivalent of the House of Commons - ooer!! Marie and I visited Hyde Park Barracks, where they used to house the convicts that came across to Australia.....there are on average 60 hammocks in a room that is not much bigger than a garage. Some of the people were jailed for life for stealing flour....and received lashes if they got out of order in the barracks. Pretty harsh stuff.
Since then, Marie and I have both found work and a home!! I am working for a financial company - on Level 29 of the building, so the views of the city are amazing. Marie has been jammy and got a 6 week contract with the dept of Education. Apart from being cold and constantly being told that she must keep stuff "confidential", I think she's enjoying it!! We are both certainly enjoying the money!! We are living in a house in Darlinghurst that is about a 20 minute walk from the city. It's quite a nice house, albeit a bit cold (yep, as hard as it may be to imagine, it's not warm here in Sydney at the moment!) but the people upstairs are cool. It's nice to have a home to come back to after a day at work, and to have a bit more privacy than you get in a hostel!!
Stuart left for Vietnam yesterday, to meet up with Steve...he didn't need to work quite as urgently as Marie and I, so he decided to go and see a bit more of the world whilst we were working. He arrives there today and I think he's pretty excited about going back to Asia. But we miss him already!!
Bhav is currently looking for work and I think looking for a house. He is still in the hostel we all moved into originally, but I think he would like to find a house as the comings and goings of people in your room in a hostel can be frustrating at times!! So that's us on the work and accomodation front.
On Sunday, Marie and I went to the Sydney Aquarium at Darling Harbour....it was absolutely excellent....we saw eels, crocodiles, fish (obviously!), sea stars and seahorses, cute seals and very cute penguins!! But the piece de resistance was the shark area.....the tank went up and over your head so the sharks etc swam very close to you. Marie and I had permanent goosebumps walking through this area as at one point an absolutely HUGE stingray swam over our heads.....we were petrified! There was also a coral reef tank with a huge variety of fish and coral in there that was very therapeutic to watch (I think we're getting old!). After the Aquarium, we went for a stroll along Darling Harbour and resolved to go back one night for a few beers as it was such a nice place.
Apart from that, we have just been working....we went to see Mean Machine at the cinema on Tuesday night - not sure if that is out in the UK yet, but it's got Vinnie Jones in it and is pretty funny. As usual though, the popcorn was the best bit!!!
This w'end, Bhav, Marie and I are going to Darling Harbour where they are celebrating the Buddha's birthday with lots of sideshows and foodstalls. We are hoping to go to a rugby match in the evening and I want to go to the Opera House on Sunday for a tour. There is so much to do here that I think we are going to run out of time!
So, that's me......looking forward to Friday night when we are meeting up after work for drinks (a very Aussie like tradition)!!
Take care of everyone and write soon.
love, JULIAx
Dear All,
Well I've been in Sydney now for a three weeks or so and it probably is a toss up between Sydney and Perth as my favourite cities in Australia so far. It a completely busy place where everything seems to be 24 hours and its go go go. Much more multiculural then anywhere I have been in Australia.
At the moment I am staying in Kings Cross in a very friendly hostel, where the social life seems to be a bit much for me at times. They seem to be on the beers every night... I think my age is showing as I am definetely struggling to keep up. I have made a pact to save some money though so that I don't have to scrimp and save too much in NZ and USA so hopefully staying in a bit will help.
King Cross is definetely the Sleeze hole of Australia. You can't walk down the street without being accosting by ladies of the night or big burly bouncers wanting you to go to their live Shows. Its like being in Thailand, without the ladyboys, but I'm sure for a price they wouldn't be hard to find if that what flicks your switch.
I am definetely now going to stop in Sydney for a while and work maybe for a month. I had toyed with the idea of going to Vietnam with Stuart, but one thing or another has transpired against me and I have decided to see out the month in Sydney. I had a meeting with an agency on Wednesday and I need to do some following up on that. With so much time in the place and so much stuff to sort out I am taking my time seeing the stuff I want to see. I havn't even been to Bondi Beach yet!
But the thing that Sydney is famous for is awesome... I have been to the Harbour Bridge 3 or 4 times. Climbed up to the top of one of the Pylons... Where you can get 360 degree veiw of the City. Around the Harbour there are loads of Restaurents and Cafe's where you can just sit and watch the world go by over a Drink which is brilliant. Have also been to Sydney Museam which was okay... It give a history of the City and the histroy behind the sites. Also Sydney has a Monorail which you can get on and take a loop round the city. ( I felt like I was in that episode of the Simpsons but luckily for me, Homer Simpson wasn't the driver) We stopped in Darling Harbour which is again a beautiful place to chill out, more boats, less Cafe's and a the biggest 3D cinema in the world... apparantly.
The Weather unfortunetly is at the moment very British. Cold, Rainy with the occasional Sunny periods which is a bit of a bugger. But it does remind me of home. Last weekend they were celebrating Budda's Birthday in Darling Harbour so there were loads of Cultural Shows and Food stalls unfortunetely we got there quite late and only caught the end of it. The Dalai Lama is in town this weekend for some talks so I think we'll try and make it down for that.
The World Cup is getting closer and all the games will be screened live in Australia. Even though the Aussies don't seem too interested there are so many travellers in the country that it should be an excellent place to watch it, especially with the fact the games will be on at normal times here and not at breakfast.
There is one interesting thing that I have seen in Sydney that someone should definetely start in England... An Indian Restaurent/ Movie room. Here you get your meal and get to watch a recent movie all at the same time. I think its a great idea! Food and TV! We're just waiting for night where there is a film that me, Marie and Julia want to watch.
I played a couple of games of football while I've been in Sydney and it seems that my inabilty to score abroad will continue for ever. There was one game where I reckon I had about ten chances and somehow had Andy Coles Shooting boots on, as every shot ended up wide, high or saved.
Anyways hopefully I can sort out some work soon and then I think I'll stay in Sydney until around mid June/ late June, and then go to Melbourne for all my Neighbours needs... (You can go on a meet the Neighbours night and also visit Ramsey Street) and then finally leave Australia for New Zealand on July 1st. I'm really looking forward to change of scene and from the people I've met, no one has a bad thing to say about New Zealand.
Also I've managed to meet up with Jon Munday, who has promised me a slap up meal, but I'm still waiting on that... nudge nudge wink wink... and it was great to meat up with some friends we met earlier in our trip, Denis and Liz, they have now gone home back to Rotterdam... Good luck guys!
Hope everyone is well.
Miss you loads!
Love
Bhav
Hello everyone - how were the Jubilee celebrations? We saw part of the concert that was held outside Buckingham Palace and there looked to be hundreds of people there. Apart from that, we haven't really heard that much about it - we have a bank holiday on Monday for the Queen's b'day so an extra day off work for Marie and I!!!
So what have we been up to since last time I wrote? Well I am still working at Colonial First State and think that I'll be here til I leave Sydney - not bad for an initial temp assignment of two days....I'll have been here 7 weeks by the time I go!! The people here are really nice and I think we are going out on my last day for a few beers.....well, champers probably, that seems to be the norm here! Talking of which, the other night, we had drinks after work in the office and the two glasses of champagne that I had certainly set me up for the night....I met Marie and we went to Woolloomoolo Bay (yep, it's really called that!) and had a bottle of champagne - it's pretty cheap out here and tastes really good. After that we pub crawled down Oxford Street and eventually staggered home at about 11.30pm, both of us much the worse for wear. Boy, did we pay for it the next day!!
Anyway, since I last wrote, we have been quite cultural!! We have been to Parliament House for a tour and explanation of how Australian Parliament works - it included sandwiches and tea, so Marie and I made the most of that!! We also went to see the Dalai Lama at the Sydney Entertainment Centre - he was excellent and such a funny man. He answered questions at the end of the session and told us that his typical day starts at 3.30am, 4 hours of meditation and nothing to eat after lunchtime......not the life for me!!
I went to a concert in the Concert Hall at the Opera House on Tuesday and it was excellent. They were an Italian group, mainly consisting of string instruments, but the conductor also played a tiny wind instrument (smaller than the piccolo)...he was so animated and never got a note wrong...quite amazing. The experience of the Opera House itself was brilliant and for those Cold Feet fans who saw the Australian episode (it was on here last night), I walked up those exact same steps as Karen & David when they went to see Madame Butterfly!!!
The weather here has been quite good over the last week or so, so last w'end we took advantage of it and went to Bondi Beach on Saturday. As soon as we arrived we made it our mission to find a fish and chip shop and although the chips are not like home chips, it was a pretty good meal. We then walked along the beach and it was just like being at home - we had coats and scarves on and it was bloomin' windy, but the sun was shining and it was a really nice day. In the evening we went to a Curry House along Oxford Street and I think I ate my body weight in Poppadums...I am so addicted to them!!
On the Sunday, we all went to Manly for the day - they had a food and wine festival taking place and it would have been rude to miss it!! We caught the ferry across to Manly which was cool as it was our first trip along the harbour on a boat. Manly beach looked bigger than Bondi, although just as spotlessly clean. We each had something different from the food stalls but then all ended up with ice cream/waffles for desert - they were amazing!! We also tried out a few glasses of wine and sat and watched one of the bands play for while, until it started to rain and then we came home. A great weekend - spent outdoors and eating!!!!
This w'end is a long w'end and we are taking full advantage of this as we are running out of time here in Sydney. We are going down to Darling Harbour on Saturday night to see some Jazz bands play and also to watch a firework display (fingers crossed for the weather). I am also hoping to go on a Coffee Cruise around the harbour and visit the Royal Botanical Gardens and Mrs Macquarie's Chair. On Monday, we are all going to the Opera House in the evening for a freebie event - it should be good and lets us see more of the famous Australian Icon.
Next Thursday, Marie and I are off to see Spirit of the Dance and are really excited. I saw a clip of it on the TV the other day and it looks great - not just Irish dancing, but latin, flamenco and also singing!!
Stuart returns from Vietnam on Friday of next week which we are all looking forward to - it has seemed strange him not being here. We are then off out for a friend's b'day on the Friday night and hopefully off to the Blue Mountains on the Sunday.
Well, that's about it for now, but I'll write again soon. Hope everyone is ok and look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Take care JULIAx
P.S. C'mon England...............it's on here tonight at 9.30pm so we'll be out supporting them!!!!
Dear All,
Well its been a couple of weeks and it seems time for an update on my activities. Well job hunting has been fruitless. I actually partoke upon myself wo try and sort the Hostel where I stayed out with Colour printing the other day. When I finshed not only did it not print in Colour every PC on their network did not print... I made a hasty exit... and they're probably gonna have to get a specialist in to fix it all. Er.... any old Colleague's out there who may be able to sort me out with a job when I get back.... I blame the person that installed the Network and not me....
The weather has improved in Sydney so the sun has been shining on some days and I have been able to top up my tan (!). Footie Fever has reach Sydney in a big way. Managed to catch most of the games... the England games have been well cool... I may not be in England but its like watching it in England here... Watched the Argie game in my Hostel... with around another 60+ people. By the end the Hostel floor was like an Ice Rink... I was soaked and my voice had returned back to England. The atmosphere afterwards was Carnival Tastic... you couldn't walk around with seeing a grinning Face and getting bearhugged! Lets hope they continue!
In one of those rare travelling coincidences I managed to bump into two people from Uni on that Friday night... Guy and Stefan, you may remember John Williams, who was mates with Jackie and Sally.
Even the Aussie's seem to have caught the bug... we have been playing Footie on a Saturday and anyone that was crap instanly became a French player after there embarrsment against the Senegal. Suffice to say I was a French player for the whole game... Its seem the Continnetal goal drought will continue forever...
This weekend was a cool one as it marked the end of an era at the hostel with a lot of people leaving to either move onto differant parts of Australia or the world. Jackie, Mike, Matt, Steve, Guy, Janine and Canadian Kris... if anyone is reading good luck and hopefully our paths will cross another day. Some of these guys managed a 48 hour session which was unbelieable.. No way I could keep up with that... I am defintely starting to show my 24 years!
Since I last wrote we managed to catch the Dalai Lama who gave a speach on Happiness on who to achieve it. It was truely cool seeing the great man in the flesh... He got a killer sense of humour and a top notch guy to boot. Julia managed to score some tickets for a Choir night in the Opera house. I was great to see the great thing from inside, but when you are inside you sort of forget what it looks like outside... it quite hard to comprehend.
Other than that I have checked out some of the Parks in Sydney... they are nice but not as big as some of the other ones in Australia or the ones in London. Hyde park is really nice and they light it up in the evenings for a festive effect.
Me and the girls also had a day trip to Manly a beach town 30 minutes from Sydney. You get there on a Ferry and it a cool ride from the Harbour to Manly as you slowly see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge fade away into the distance. Manly was beautiful... A nice sandy beach 30 minutes from the City. How handy would that be in London? We cannily chose their wine and food festival for the day to visit and enjoyed some grub, live music and a bit of vino.
So I don't have long in Sydney now. I still have to get down to Bondi, which should be cool. Stu is back on Friday so it will be a weekend of Partying... I gonna try and tempt him into a Visit to Star City... Sydney's version of Vegas... to get in practice for the real thing. Next Saturday we'll go to Melbourne. Wanna catch the Aussie Rules in 120,000 MCG, have a Beer with Harold Bishop, and have lunch with these 12 Apostile thats people keep telling me about. Oh and I might take stroll down the Great Ocean Road if I can too. July the 1st marks the end of our time Australia... Off to New Zealand for some Kiwi fun and games. Can't wait... Glacier Climbs, Sky Dives and Sheep.... The recipes for weeks of fun. Bring it on.
Hope everyone is well...
See ya soon
Love
Bhav
Hello everybody, its been a while I know but you know what I am like!
Only two weeks to go here in Australia, and it is quite scary to think back to that December day when we touched down in Perth at stupid o’clock in the morning, and started our travels in Oz. Well I think that we can be proud of ourselves and the thousands of miles that we have covered in the last six months, (and of course the thousands of miles that we should have travelled in our beloved van, but alas that was not to be)?.
We now have only 1 week left here in Sydney which is quite sad, and one of the most daunting things for me at the moment is working out how I am going to fit everything back into my backpack. It is going to be a bit weird living out of our bags again, but I am looking forward to Melbourne where hopefully we’ll get to go to an AFL match, do the Neighbours tour and see some of the city. I’m looking forward to New Zealand even more so too, although the cooler temperatures are going to be a bit of a challenge ? still it’s a good excuse to spend some of my hard earned (?) wages on a nice woolly jumper.
Yesterday Julia and I went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains, rising with the sun, we were picked up early ?a little to early for my liking as my insides were still churning from the effects of drinking that Thai poison known as Sangsum whisky the night before. Our first stop was the Sydney 2000 Olympic Park. We basically drove around the park and its stadiums, but unfortunately didn’t get to go into the main stadium itself which has now been reduced in size ?lets face it I don’t think that they are host anything as big as the Olympics again.
Then we made our way up to the Blue Mountains and saw Wentworth Falls, Govett’s Leap and finally made our way to the famous Three Sisters ?a formation of three large rocks, which are apparently named after three aborignal girls who were turned to stone, the legend goes:
The legend has it that three sisters, lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.
Whilst here we got a ride on the Worlds Steepest Incline Railway, and then go on the Sceniscender, they did give us a slightly better view of the Blue Mountains, but it probably wasn’t quite worth the money we paid. By the way, the reason that they are called the Blue Mountains is because this is the effect of the gases that are released from the Eucalyptus Trees, and the shade of blue will change depending upon the time of day and the weather.
Sydney has been great fun for me, the highlights probably being seeing the Dalai Lama, doing the whole Bridge/Opera House thing, dining out but still managing to loose weight, earning a wage for doing very little, and last night killing my biggest cockroach to date with one swipe ?sorry for the mess it made on your bag Julia!
I hope that all is well at home, glad to hear that the flags have been flying and lets hope that they’ll be flying high on the 30th June ?you never know!
Love Marie
Hello, how is everyone. I thought I d better get one last Sydney email in as tomorrow is our last day here and mine and Marie s last day at work!!! The novelty of temping has worn of a little for us both, but we have enjoyed the time working and obviously spending our earnings!!!
Since I last wrote, Stuart has returned from Vietnam with lots of photos and stories of Steve. We met Stuart and Bhav in the pub on Friday night (we were celebrating a friend’s bday) and by the time they had arrived, Marie and I were both pretty much past making any sense or so they told us the next day!!! We had a good night, helping Karyn to celebrate her Bday?I won t give away any secrets, but let’s just say Marie knows what a wrestler looks like!!!
On Saturday, Marie and I paid for our drunkenness but still managed to hit the shops for one last Sydney spending spree!! On Saturday night, we met up with the boys to watch the England game what a result!! The atmosphere in the hostel after the first goal was amazing, and we narrowly missed out on a $100 bar tab for the first goal scorer. I had David Beckham in the sweep stake, Stuart had Michael Owen and Marie had Paul Scholes so we were so unlucky!!
On Sunday, Marie and I went to the Blue Mountains for the day... so called due to the effect of the gases that are released from the Eucalyptus Trees, and the shade of blue will change depending upon the time of day and the weather.
On our way to the Blue Mountains, we visited Jamison Valley and walked around some of Wentworth Falls quite a cool waterfall. We also stopped for lunch at Govetts Leap, and whilst it was pretty cold, the views were pretty hot. Finally we made our way to the famous Three Sisters a formation of three large rocks, which are apparently named after three aboriginal girls who were turned to stone.
At the Three Sisters, we descended into the valley on the Worlds Steepest Incline Railway. A very scary ride where at one point I am sure we were at a 90 degree angle and in pitch black!! We made our way back up to the top on the Sceniscender, which is like a gondola but completely automated. The views of the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters were good, but we would have liked more time to walk to Echo Point and get a really good view of them.
On Monday night, all four of us went to Govinda's, a cinema/restaurant type place. Basically, you have an eat as much as you like buffet before going into the cinema to watch a film. The food was pretty good and yet again, I ate far too many popodums!! The film we watched was The Royal Tennenbaums (bizarre!!) and the seats in the theatre are literally sofas or cushions on the floor, so you just sit back and relax (and try not to fall asleep, because you re so comfortable!). A brilliant idea and something they should definitely have more of!!!
The rest of the week has been spent working and tomorrow is my last day here at Colonial First State. I can’t believe I have been here for 7 weeks!! The girls here are taking me out to lunch to celebrate and no doubt we will all have champagne, so Friday afternoon will be a write off!! But the England game is on here at 4.30pm tomorrow night, so I m sure we all be making our way to the pub to watch that and celebrate our last night here in Sydney.
Melbourne is our next stop and we have hired a car to get there on Saturday. We will also be using the car to get to the Great Ocean Road on Sunday to see the 12 Apostles (rock formations) and various waterfalls along the way. Looking forward to that and the Neighbours tour that Bhav and I have been excited about ever since we landed in Australia!!!
So, that’s it from Sydney... It’s been great living here and I’m definitely coming back. Highlights have been the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, but also just being here in Sydney. I could quite easily live here (don’t worry Mum, I will come home!!!). Next time I write we all be in Melbourne and only a week after that it s New Zealand, wow!!
Take care everyone and write soon.
Love,
JULIAxxx
This is it - the last time I'll be in Australia for a long time I imagine. I got back to Sydney from Vietnam a horrible mess of a man - free booze always seems like such a good idea to begin with.
My last few nights in Nam were spent drinking with Steve and chatting about possible future meetings (Steve - maybe South America, we'll see)... The rain was hitting Hanoi hard just before I left. The streets were sometimes two foot deep in water - shop owners armed with brooms would push away the rubbish floating into their shops. Steve and I would look on from our local restaurants (that served the 7p beer) balcony wondering how to get back to the hotel with minimum sogginess and disgustingness (the odd chicken head may float past).
The flight to Bangkok was two hours long and the free red wine drinking began at around 11am. The five or so hour wait in Bangkok was not so bad thanks to the Brazil Vs Costa Rica world cup game - the lady giving out free duty free scotch samples helped as well. Of course the 9 hour journey home was free beer and wine all the way - I arrived in Sydney feeling like an unflushed turd.
Meeting Bhav when getting back to my old Hostel in Kings Cross bought me back to life for a few minutes - he was working on the door trying to entice backpackers in and claim his 2 dollar commission. Quite a few rungs down the ladder of power considering he was a IT manager before we left England. The piss taking was short lived however as I had to crash out before I did so on the pavement.
That evening I awoke just in time for going out on the town. Bhav and I met up with the girls in a pub to celebrate Karen's (old flatmate of the girls) birthday. Both of them were drunk on my arrival and 30 minutes later they were past drunk on on their way to the rat arsed state that I can so rarely achieve these days. My previous drinking escapade had given me some sort of alcohol tolerance for the night and I could only manage tipsy in the 3 or 4 hours we were in the pub.
The next few days were a continuing drunken blur - B and I had lots to catch up on and this always seems easier over a pint. The world cup also helped create excuses to start drinking, three games a day will keep you going as well...
Bitter emotions are building up now. I am not at all ready to talk about what happened against the Brazilians so the subject is being dropped.
Sydney is a good 20 degrees cooler than Vietnam at the moment thus forcing me into buying a jacket and wooly jumper. Traipsing around the busy city, in what felt like bitterly cold weather, bought out a feeling that I missed so sorely 6 and a half month ago. It's Christmas!! Perhaps meeting up with the others, seeing Star Wars (what a great movie), getting drunk and eating western food has all added to the Christmasie feel - but who cares why, bring on the turkey and Xmas pud!! The others are getting it as well - after Bhav and I started randomly singing Christmas carols we all decided it would be nice to make up for the 'lack of atmosphere', we had in Perth and have Christmas all over again. In a few weeks we'll be in New Zealand which is even colder and will have (fingers crossed) snow!!! When we find a suitable spot we'll hang up the stockings and get pissed on brandy.
The last little adventure we had planned for Australia was to visit Melbourne and see the Great Ocean Road. We found that it was in fact cheaper to hire a car for two days between the four of us compared to buying bus tickets. An added bonus was included - when picking up the car we got upgraded to a luxury station wagon! This turned out to be a double blessing as the girls (who had been living in a flat for over 6 weeks) decided to bring everything but the kitchen sink - they probably had a hard time getting it off of the wall.
It took me quite a while to get into the swing of things while driving the car I have to say. After spending a month in a country which only enforced road law was to beep at every possible opportunity, I had a hard time taking notice of things like speed limits and red lights. Two near death experiences, one speeding ticket and a breath test later I've just about figured it out. I personally think that everyone should be thankful that I had not found the power (T T T TURBO) button at that point, our car was a huge V6 automatic that could out run Roadrunner even the great Billy Wizz himself.
Once we got onto the Great Ocean Road I was delighted to find that the road looked just like something out of Grand Turismo 2. It took dramatic twists and turns while running over mountains and along cliff edges. The scenery would change from thick forrest with overhanging trees shading the road to massive open valleys surrounded by rolling hills that dropped away into the Ocean. Unfortunately I did not really get the chance to do any hand brake turns or power slides as Julia would have killed me. Admittedly there was a 50 foot drop into the Ocean and if caught by the police it would be difficult to explain myself after already being stung the previous day.
The views were stunning to say the very least - spectacular would still not give it justice. If any of you find yourself visiting Victoria at any time, make sure you get a car (or even better - motorbike) and drive this road. It is one of the best you'll ever see and make the M25 look even more like the road from hell rather than the road surrounding it (from a purely motorist point of view).
At the end of our trip we arrived at the 12 Apostles in Port Campbell National Park. The Apostles are 12 Limestone natural towers (about 70 meters high) that sit just away the cliff face in the sea. They're all found within a 20 minute walk of each other and were formed by the sea eroding away the cliff face over millions of years. The name 12 Apostles was given to them, not because of an ancient aboriginal legend (which is usually the case with these things), but because the name given to them before was far too silly. Someone came up with the 12 Apostles (which sounds pretty cool you must admit) to draw tourists - and it worked... I would tell you what the name was previously, but I can't remember. It would seem that the only place you will find that information is on a small sign at a look out point next to the Apostles. I guess they don't mind you finding out once you've gone there to see them anyway.
After that we decided to head inland and check out a waterfall before it got dark. Triplet falls was only a short walk away from a car park and sits right next to a old saw mill site. All that remains of the mill is some scattered lumps of moulded metal that were once parts of machines used in the mill - they seemed quite out of place being surrounded by forrest. The falls themselves were beautiful, and yes - there were three of them.
On the way back Marie and I (who had to do all the driving being the only ones over 25) decided to take a alternative route back that cut through the forrest. Something we would have never had tried in our huge old van. The road quickly turned from tarmac to dirt and from two lanes to one. The forrest grew thick and a full moon was creating a window through the rain clouds that now filled the sky. A dense fog then decided to take over the road - and as we realised that the road we were on was not on our map, we began to remember movies like Evil Dead one and two and even Jurassic Park...
Of course we all made it out alive and undamaged. Today is the third or forth day in a row that I've got up while it's still dark. Perhaps that has added to the festive spirit that I can't seem to shake. The car has gone back now though - tomorrows lie in is going to be sweet... The others are trying to persuade me to go out on this Neighbours night tonight. We're staying in the Ritz hostel that sits above the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub at the moment. Here they get three members of the cast (one always seems to be Harold Bishop) to visit every Monday night and entertain the guests. We have to pay nearly 30 bux for the privilege however and I'm not exactly a Neighbours fan. The problem is that my sister would probably never speak to me again if I did not attend - so go I must. Perhaps I can get Harold drunk and make him give up all the other casts dark secrets which I could then sell to the Sun for a good profit.
I hope you like the new home page on roadtrip - many a hour has been wasted inbetween World Cup games making that look more presentable. At least I'll be able to write HTML when I return, the other day I tried remembering basic stuff from work (OSI stack for example)... Hopefully it's just a case of reminding myself when I get back by reading up on my old notes - at the moment however I'm only good for flipping burgers...
take care - stu
Dear All,
Perth, Freemantle, The West Coast, Albany, Esperance, The Nullaborg, Adelaide, The Red Center, Cairns, The Whitsundays, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Sydney, Melbourne.... Six Months in Australia and its finally at an end. Its been an amazing six months, but all good things come to an end and yesterday we left Australia to continue on our travels to New Zealand, Home of the Kiwi and the All Blacks.
Stuart is back from Vietnam now and much partying was done in our last week in Sydney before we went to Melbourne. This included a birthday bash for a couple of friends where the girls seemed to be pissed before me and Stu even got to the pub... and interesting incident in a McDonalds where I managed to get Breakfast before I went to bed... and annoyed the waitress so much that I really believed that she was gonna spit and do horrible things in my food. Managed to make it down to the World Famous Bondi Beach, but it was a dissapointment simply because Winter does not do the place justice, It was dead... but I think that Sydney would really come into its own in the summer where the City and Beach life can combine brilliantly.
I also managed to score my first job in a while where I stood outside my hostel and tried to hawk Backpackers into staying there. It was an experience watching King Cross coming to life in the morning with me competing with the Prostitutes, drug dealers and tramps for the attention of the masses. Even now when I see a backpacker... I think ching ching..... Two Dollers Commision...!
Sadly the England Defeat against the Brazilians ruined our last day in Sydney... but Stu and I got batterboated with some of the guys and gals at our Hostels, Cooee's, as we prepared for our trip to Melbourne.
Stu managed to score a hire car for the three days, a cool big thing with some kind of V6 engine malarky which I'm told makes the car zip a bit. After the slowness of the shitheap campervan we had... it was heaven as we coasted along to Melbourne in style, ableit we were stopped for a bit of speeding... but what you're gonna do?
The next day provided the backdrops for one of my favourite days in Australia. A trip along the Great Ocean Road. Truely a Fantastic ride where it just 100km of road along a cliff edge, with the Ocean pounding along the side. Almost like a Playstation game... it was fantasic... we stopped where we wanted to and just looked on in awe at some of the most amazing scenary I had even seen. I picked up a war scare as well as I tried to hide behind a wall in an cunning attempt to scare the others, but instead walked into the wall, nearly fell off the cliff face and have a nice 16" scar on my forehead as a momento. Obviously when I tell the stories to people I meet it was a fight with 8 cocky celebrating Brazilians... and you should have seen the state of them, not surprisngly noone belives me! Our Great Ocean road adventure cuminated in the viewing of the 12 Apostiles. 12 Rock Formations in the Sea, previosuly called the Mighty Piglets. (the name was changed because, lets be honest the Apostiles has a more classier ring than the Piglets.) On the was back we took the forest route back.... for some reason the surrronding air got misty and everything had a bit of Blair Witch feel to things.
Neighbours Night .... if anyone ever come to Australia. If nothing else make sure you come to this. Its a night of Travia, Meeting the Stars and then partying the night away. We met Harold Bishop, Toadfish, and Michelle. Harold was very funny. One Girl asked him why he was so fat. He replied.
"It because every time I slept with your mum, she gave me a buscuit"
We also discovered the Toadfish has been banned for two months from Neighbours Night because he made a tendancy to stay out and then get together with every British Backpacking girl possible. It was another night where Jules and Marie seemed to get drunk very quickly and I have some quality photo's of them slumped on the floor after a particularly crazy dance... which I'll get developed one day.
The Rest of the week in Melbourne included a trip to Ramsey St, (Lot smaller in real life, they must use a Wide Angle Lense) and watching the Aussie Rules live at the Colonial Stadium.It was a cool experince - it was Melbourne v Essendon. However I'd say that it doesn't been the atmosphere of the Premiership, all the fans sit together and there is no singing. We did have a right Charlie Gitt sitting behind us who moaned about Melbourne all game... seeing as they lost 120-112 I guess it was justified.
And now New Zealand...We arrived yesterday in Auckland so not a lot to report. We have hired a car which we'll have for six weeks to get us around the Islands. There a load to do... so I'd better get cracking.
Take Care all
Lots of Love
Bhav
.....hmmm, it appears that the LONG update I wrote of our time in Melbourne didn't get through to any of you and you all just got an email entitled "I just climbed the bridge!!!! Woo hoo!!!". I should explain that I'm not a complete nutter and I did actually include a long message with that email....I just messed up sending it!!! So, here goes again.........
I HAD just climbed the bridge (!!) when I wrote, and it was excellent - the views of the harbour and North Sydney especially were fantastic. It was a gorgeous day, although a bit chilly, and we could see as far as the Blue Mountains. It was definitely worth the climb and I would reccommend it to anyone coming to Sydney....brilliant!!
Before I launch into our Melbourne adventures, a BIG SHOUT OUT (how English do I sound??!!) to the Colonial girls - hope you're all missing me! Thanks for being a great team to work with and for making work fun!!
Anyway, last Saturday (22nd) we headed from Melbourne to Sydney in our hire car - Bhav and I had it made as we couldn't drive the car, being under 25 (but it's only 2 weeks away - I'm celebrating!!), so Stuart and Marie did a sterling job of getting us to Melbourne (roughly 900km) in one piece!!! As soon as we arrived in Melbourne, we dumped our stuff in the hostel and headed to a really nice restaurant in St Kilda where we had a much deserved glass of wine to end a very "tiring" day!!!!
On Sunday we were up early again and on our way to the Great Ocean Road. It took us a while to get there, but once on this famous road, the views were certainly worth it - spectacular is the only word I can use. We were driving so close to the cliff edge at times, that one wrong turn and we would have been over the edge (sorry Mum!!). We also drove inland, away from the sea and the rolling green hills were just as awesome to look at. The point we were heading for along the Road was the 12 Apostles - basically huge pieces of limestone rock that have become detached from the mainland coastline due to the sea wearing away at them. They used to be called the Sow and Piglets, but luckily someone realised that wasn't a particularly great name, so renamed them the 12 Apostles this century. They were definitely worth the drive - the weather was quite cold and cloudy and it just added to the mystique of the place. They looked exactly like they do in the brochures.....er
After the 12 Apostles, we headed towards a waterfall - Triplet Falls. By this time it was beginning to get dark, but the waterfall was still great to see and just rounded off a really good day - I think we'd all agree that it was one of the highlights of our time in Australia.
On Monday, we finally got a lie-in - first one in ages!!!! But, the highlight of Monday was the evening - Neighours night in the pub below our hostel. This is what Bhav and I had been waiting for ever since touching down in Australia!!! Toadie, Michelle Scully and HAROLD BISHOP (!!!) were there and it was an excellent night. Harold is a great bloke, really funny and totally stole the show with his wisecracks (can't repeat some of them here as Mum's reading!). Got some great pictures of the stars and also some with all of us with balloon animals on our heads, but I think that's another story!! Can't wait to get them developed though, and we'll scan them onto the (new look) website as soon as we can. (For those that don't know, the address is www.roadtrip2001.net - a montage of all our updates, photos and funny moments - well worth looking at for a laugh!!!). We all had a great night, and considering the amoun
On Wednesday, Marie and I went to check out Old Melbourne Gaol. They've got a huge Ned Kelly exhibition on at the moment, as this is the Gaol where they sentenced and hung him. Surprised he didn't die from hypothermia anyway as it was freezing in there!!!
On Thursday, Bhav and I completed our Neighbours experience by going to see Ramsay Street....actually it's called Pin Oak Street or something like that and it was tiny!!!! Thos cricket-playing scenes in the opening credits are very deceiving!! Apparently they only picked that particular street for the show as it has a car park at the back where the crew can park their trailers. Harold's house, Lou's old place and Mrs Mangle's house (I can't remember who lives in these houses now as I haven't seen it for ages!!) all look exactly as they do on the set, but Toadie's and the Kennedy's look really different. After visiting the Street, we drove past the filming studios and Erinsborough High School - actually a school for teaching English to foreign students of all ages. Apart from the weather (it was raining - I didn't think it was supposed to rain in Ramsay Street!!), it was really cool to see the houses etc and made my Melbourne trip complete!!!!
On Friday, Marie and I visited the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne city centre - absolutely HUGE!!! They sell everything you could ever want in that place, including rather a lot of red meat that wasn't all that pleasant to walk through!! The food was lovely too, and Marie and I were very restrained and didn't buy anything else other than lunch!!
Friday night, Stuart having gone back to Sydney early to meet up with friends, Bhav, Marie and I went to an AFL game. Aussie rules football is a bit like rugby but with much dirtier play and a massive pitch!! It was quite easy to pick up the rules after a bit of watching - i.e. there aren't many rules, and the referee turned a blind eye to a fight that errupted on the pitch half way through!!! The game was the Essendon Bombers vs. the Melbourne Demons.......with Essendon storming into the lead to begin with, but Melbourne picking up their game towards the end - but not quite enough to win. The game was held at Colonial Stadium - a stadium paid for/sponsored by the company that I have spent the last 7 weeks working for, so I felt very patriotic (Sarah & co - I took my thermos!!!!). Everyone says that when you go to Melbourne you have to see an AFL game, and we definitely saw a good one!!
So that was Melbourne - not great weather, but a very busy and enjoyable week. On Saturday, I came back to Sydney, with Marie and Bhav following on the night bus. Sunday was (as per the title of my original email!!) my Bridge Climb day and definitely worth the visit!!! On Sunday night, I went to an Opera Show at the Opera House (surprisingly!!) which was really good and a perfect way to end my time in Sydney.
So, fond farewells Australia and bring it on NZ.........
--02.07.02 - We are now in NZ - flew into Auckland yesterday - and am very excited about our adventures here. We have hired a car for our journeys and have already started to plan where we are going next - up to the top of the North Island and then down to the centre to Rotuara to see the errupting geysers. After that we are off skiing and to do a sky dive - can't wait!!!
So, that's it from me for now - sorry about the last update not reaching you all, think I've remembered to include everything here! Take care and write soon!!
JULIAxx
P.S. Ever wondered where all the McDonalds are when you really, really need one?? Fret no more, they are ALL in Victoria, Australia!!!!
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