Well I've been in New Zealand exactly a week now and so my commitment to stay on top of my blog seems to be going ok so far...ish. If I can remember everything that's happened so far. It's all been a bit of a rush with lots of places, and stopping for only a night at a time, but I'll do my best. In Senegal I kept a journal so I didn't need to remember but here there's just no time as it is!
So yes, I arrived in Christchurch last Wednesday (23 April) and got to my hostel quite late. I was staying at Base hostel which is one of the nicer ones of the chain - right on the square and a great location. For those who haven't travelled around Oz and NZ, Base is a chain of hostels that loads of people stay at - they have loads of rooms, good bars, and tend to be the more sociable hostels to stay in. They also do a lovely 'girls only' section of dorms called the Sanctuary, where you get nice fluffy towels (a big deal when you're sick to death of a travel towel which resembles a chamois!), free toiletries and free champagne - worth the extra few dollars anyway! So I stayed there for a couple of nights anyway and met some really nice girls in my room who were also doing the same bus as me (the Kiwi Experience), albeit on different dates. I'm of the opinion that the people in your dorm tend to be the same type of 'travel people' as you - i.e. in the Sanctuary I tend to find that it's mostly girls travelling on their own who want to actually see things as opposed to just get wasted/laid. Whereas big mixed dorms tend to feature the aforementioned 'travellers'. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that - if you spend a lot of money going away you should definitely spend your time doing what you want to. But still, not my thing really!
I had one day in Christchurch to look around and managed to take in most of the major sights. It's a really nice town - not very big and very like England in a quaint and pretty way. It reminded me of places like Cambridge anyway. I had beautiful weather as well which made a welcome change. Faultless blue skies and though it was still a bit chilly, plenty of sunshine. I had a wander around the cathedral which was actually quite stunning. Then I followed a walking tour from my trusty New Zealand Lonely Planet book (LP books have been my lifeline the last few months!) around the city and saw the old tramlines and parks etc. - all the more lovely in the sunshine too. I then hit the Art Gallery which was nice and small, and had enough understandable art that I felt I got something out of it. A good way to kill a couple of hours anyway. Then I wandered through the Botanical Gardens which were lovely too. I then had just enough time to have a brief stop at the Canterbury museum (a bit average in my opinion) and then hit Starbucks to chill for a couple of hours, plan my next few days travel and speak to Barney for a while on my new shiny New Zealand sim-card. Which for the record is an absolute rip off! In Australia you can get a Vodafone sim for $2. In New Zealand, it costs $35! I asked how they could justify such a price difference but unfortunately the response was that since they're the only providers in the country they can charge what the hell they want. So fair play really. But it still sucks. If anyone fancies texting/calling me anyway, my number is +642102933094.
The next day I started my 'Kiwi Experience'(!) and had to catch the bus at 7:30am outside my hostel - hideously early. The bus was actually late as there was a dawn parade through the town for Anzac Day. Which in itself was actually quite cool as when I woke up at 6am, I could here hymns being sung outside - a bit random!
There were loads of people getting on my bus. Some had just already come round the South Island and were going on to the North Island in a couple of days, whereas some, like me, were just starting their trip and would be finishing in Auckland. I met a couple of nice people, but to be honest at this stage, everyone was going to different places for different amounts of time and so I haven't seen most of them since.
Our first overnight stop was Kaikoura, a town famous for whale and dolphin spotting along its coast. Sure enough I signed up for a dolphin watching tour, which for those who knew me when I was at school, was an absolute dream come true for me. I used to be obsessed with dolphins - posters, crappy keyrings and little model figures of them - the works. And we did see loads. We came across a pod of about 200 and for those who had paid the extra $100 odd to swim with them, it was a mostly amazing experience. However, as usual with my blog, there has to be some element of vomit involved... The sea was actually quite choppy and the journey out to the open waters was more like a theme park ride. Still, I'd been ok then and not being particularly susceptible to sea sickness that I was aware of, hadn't taken any prevention tablets beforehand. However once we were actually amongst the dolphins and the boat wasn't travelling anymore, just bobbing up and down in the same place, I began to feel the waves. I got one 30-second video of the most amazing dolphins, frolicking, jumping and playing with the swimmers, and then spent the rest of the afternoon staring at the bottom of a bucket. Pleasant. For the record I wasn't the only one who couldn't handle the movement though. By the end of the trip about a dozen had made friends with the buckets, and so I didn't feel too lame. Just a bit gutted that I'd missed out on such a good photo opportunity. Anyways, that was that.
The next day we travelled on through to Picton, where half of the bus changed over to get the ferry over to the North Island, and we were joined by the people who'd just done the North Island and were now heading south. So basically a whole new bus of people. On the way to Nelson, our overnight stop for the night, we stopped at a wine tasting place which was cool. The north of the South Island has loads of good vineyards and I'd planned to stop at some on my way back towards the North Island, so it was a good one of the stops they make on the bus. Some people hate the fact that the Kiwi bus takes twice as long to get to anywhere because of all the places it stops at along the way but I quite like the random stops.
Anyway, we got into Nelson quite late which was a shame as I only had one night there and so felt like I was just there to cook and sleep before moving on somewhere else - a bit of a waste of time in my opinion. I had wanted to stay there 2 nights to see the apparently beautiful Abel Tasman National Park nearby but because of the bus timetable, I had to either have 1 night or 3, the latter being too long for my tight schedule. Anyways, I had time to visit the local Warehouse store (like Primark) to stock up on a few warm clothes before cooking some dinner and having an early night - definitely a wasted stop but oh well.
The next day was on to Westport, which is pretty much a nothing town along the West coast that was once (semi)famous for being a gold miners town. We stopped on the way for a walk down to a seal colony along the coast towards the lighthouse. It was a really nice walk and had some stunning views - plenty of good 'New Zealand scenery photos' coming to Facebook soon, that's for certain.
When we got to Westport, the hostel was only ok in general, but myself and 7 other girls were lucky enough to be put into a huge dorm room that had it's own toilet, lounge area, kitchen and TV - very random! But quite cool. The best bit was the proper fire that we had to load up with coal every hour or so - quite good fun! Anyway, there wasn't really anything to do there so we just went out for pizza and a few drinks. From Westport right through to Queenstown is a sector on the bus so knowing that I'd be with the same people for the next week was more incentive to remember names and get to know people. Luckily I've got some really nice people with a good mix of characters, so we had a good night out.
After Westport we went further down the coast to the stop the Kiwi bus is most famous for - the Poo Pub. Which is actually shortened from the name of the nearby lake: Lake Mahinapua (Maa-he-na-poo-a). It's a completely random stopover down the coast to break up the schlepp from Westport to Franz Josef and is a great night. There's no mobile phone reception and nothing around for miles except the lake and beachfront (both of which were stunning at sunset). Anyway, you have a group meal there with your bus that the random elderly owner cooks for you with your driver, and then you have a themed party in the pub. Ours was themed 'bad taste' so we were given an hour and a half in the town of Greymouth on the way down, to stop off in the $2 shop and create a costume. It was definitely an awesome night, but one that ended with me realising that my alcohol tolerance has somewhat diminished since going travelling, and I can not drink like I did at uni - mortifying I assure you. Still, the girls in my dorm were great and made sure I was strategically close to the bin before collapsing on my bed (a lower bunk thank goodness). I'm just all about class...
The next morning we left early and started our journey to Franz Josef which hosts the fastest moving glacier in the world! It wasn't a particularly long journey, but nonetheless, was broken up with a stop at something called Pete's Bushman Centre: a tiny museum dedicated to the way people have lived on the West Coast and hunted. The West Coast of the South Island is famed for people with too much time and a slow approach to life, inbreeding, and a hell of a lot of rain. Though this was probably the stereotype exaggerated to us by our driver, it still made for some amusing commentary as we drove through.
The museum wasn't really my thing. After my heavy night the night before, the last thing I wanted to watch was the history of how dead animal carcasses have been transported from the mountainsides over the last 50 years. For anyone who's interested, apparently the Kiwis pioneered capturing and hunting with a nets and a helicopter - fascinating stuff. Anyway, the museum also hosted some possums which were actually quite cute, and a wild pig that provided many comedy moments when one of our group had to feed it (they're actually quite vicious animals)! Still, I was quite happy to leave and move on...!
We arrived in Franz Josef not long after 1pm, which was good as with previous stops we'd arrived later and not had much time to do anything. However, the weather was so awful that it made for a miserable day in general. The rain was unbelievable - if it stopped, it was only for a few minutes and then it would be hammering it down again - ick ick ick. Anyways, safe to say it put me off booking on to the glacier hike today, which I'm sure I'll do one day when it's not torrential rain. In fact, the day we arrived in Franz, the river had been too high with the rain to even get to the glacier - oh how I love kiwi weather.
I am actually quite disappointed about the weather here. Obviously I knew that it wasn't going to be fantastic, but little did I realise how much difference there is from going in February/March, as opposed to April/May. There's just so many activities that don't run or that you can't do. For example, there's loads of beautiful walks that you can stop off and do along the way with the Kiwi bus but we just haven't been able to because of weather. And lovely lakes to swim in. Gutted. Nonetheless, this just all points to the fact that I have to reurn to Australasia at some point. I already want to go back to Sydney and Melbourne for definite (though this time not as a backpacker), and so I'll just HAVE to add NZ on too. Maybe...
Anyway, so basically today has been my first day of nothing since Christchurch. Though at least there I did sightseeing I suppose. Here in Franz, there's 2 streets, 1 supermarket, and nothing to do really unless you're hiking the glacier. Which, like I said, isn't really my idea of fun in the pissing rain. So yes, I've nonetheless been productive. I did laundry (fun fun fun) and even managed to fix a few of my clothes (holes in my trouser pockets and hoodie shoulders - not ideal). That's right, I sewed - how cool/self-sufficient am I?! So yes, not much going on today. Tonight should be nice though as I'm going to cook for myself and some of the other girls in my dorm, which makes a change from cooking solo - easily the most annoying thing about travelling solo as you just waste so much! But yes, looking forward to a nice chilled evening before tomorrow's early start on the bus!
Tomorrow we head to Wanaka, just north of Queenstown, and in itself a reputedly good place for extreme sports (which everyone flocks to Queenstown for). There's supposed to be good views and walks there as well though, which should be nice (weather permitting though obviously)! Then in Queenstown I'm only staying a couple of nights, but long enough to get out to Milford Sound which is supposed to be stunning. Really looking forward to getting back round to the East side of the Island anyway where all the best weather appears to be! Hopefully blog again from Wellington when I get to the North Island anyway.
Hope everyone is well :)
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Sunday 20 April 2008
Chez Steve Irwin, snake bites, faded Wimbledon stars, and Maria
Noosa: 8/4 - 11/4
Byron Bay: 11/4 - 13/4
Sydney: 13/4 - 20/4
Melbourne: 21/4 - 23/4
Well, yet again it's been ages since I last blogged. I don't know why it is that I blog so much less than when I was in Senegal. I mean obviously things are a bit more hectic here and involves a lot more travelling inbetween but really, I have no excuse. I think maybe because life here is blatantly not as interesting as it was in Senegal and so I'm distinctly less inclined to bore you all with my lack of scandalous tales. But anyway...!
So firstly, I am missing Senegal a bit. Travelling around a lot is great in that it allows you to see everything, but it does get very exhausting. I really didn't realise how much I would miss living in a home and having some degree of routine whilst I was in Dakar. But it's not making me not enjoy myself though by any means. Just a side note that I am missing it.
So when I last blogged I was in Noosa. Noosa is, as mentioned before, a very exclusive township on the coast of southern Queensland. Beccy, Leah and I spent 3 nights there, and as beautiful a town as it is, there isn't loads to do there if you're on a budget. Still it was nice to be in the same place for 3 nights in a row, something that hasn't happened on this trip since my stay in Cairns! One big thing we did do though, was visit Steve Irwin's zoo 'Australia Zoo'. I wasn't too bothered about seeing it but Beccy and Leah were set on the excursion and after encouragement from the lady at reception 'I've been 5 times in the last year' at the hostel, I decided to suck it up and pay the $40.
Now I'm not overly familiar with Steve Irwin's work. I saw the clip of the baby-dangling incident like everyone else, but to be perfectly honest, until he died a few years ago, I had no idea who he was. Thank goodness though, the courtesy bus that takes you to the zoo (they go all over the Gold Coast), plays his videos constantly... Don't get me wrong though, the zoo was great - they've really got a positive attitude to wildlife and the animals are very well-kept. However, I find Steve Irwin a bit fake. He's just a bit overly enthusiastic about everything that I couldn't help but think it was a bit put on. Obviously there's no doubt that he loved nature/all animals etc, but it feels like it's being marketed for you and that can't help but put me off quite a lot. There's only so many times you can hear "What a beauuuuuty!" and feel the sentiment is genuine. Though I'm sure lots of people will tell me I'm wrong.
Anyway the zoo itself had what was to be expected: crocs, aligators, snakes, birds, koalas etc. But there was also a show on during the day in the 'Crocoseum' (oh. yes.) and because it was the school holidays, Bindi Irwin (his daughter) was performing. Now it's important that you understand that Bindi is marketed in Australia in a similar way that Mary-Kate and Ashleigh Olsen are marketed globally. She has her own show (Bindi the Jungle Girl) and now her own dancing boyband troop, the Crocmen, who help her sing and dance to various songs about protecting the environment and our animals - touching stuff I asure you. Anyway, bitchy comments aside it was a really good day out and I'm glad I went!
The rest of our time in Noosa was fairly chilled and with some much appreciated sunshine on our last full day, our time whiled away quite nicely. Then the time came and we got back on the Oz Experience bus on the Friday. It was a fairly chilled journey down the coast, but with loads of stops as we were passing through Brisbane and Surfers Paradise first before getting to Byron Bay in the evening. Beccy and Leah were getting off at Surfers for a few days and I was going on solo to Byron.
Surfers Paradise is basically a slice of Californian life, with theme parks, sunshine, beaches and lots of bars. I'd heard mixed reviews about it (love it/hate it style opinions) and so had decided that with my tight timescale I'd give it a miss. Which I'm glad I did. Byron Bay was beautiful: very small, stunning beach, and great little shops and cafes. I had a really nice chilled 2 days there and mainly chilled, read, went to the beach. I did do a walk to the lighthouse there though that proved to be eventful...
The walk wasn't too long: about 6km round trip to my hostel, and was supposed to be beautiful. As well as admiring the stunning coastline, you also pass through rainforest and bush - it's a nice walk. Anyways, I stopped when I got to the foot of the main hill climbing up to the lighthouse to take a phonecall from Maria who I was meeting up with in Sydney the following week. Anyway, after getting off the phone I then noticed that I was joined by a young woman and her mother who was asking me how to dial 000 (the emergency number here) from a mobile. Being utterly unobservant and failing to notice the younger woman's ankle bandaged up, I apologised and said I was English and I thought you just dialled it. THEN I noticed the woman's foot and made suitable splutterings of apologies and concern. It turned out she had been bitten by a snake whilst going up the path I was just about to go up. Eeek.
Anyway, I managed to get through to Triple Zero on my network and lent my phone to the frantic mother. It turns out the woman was pregnant and so it was even more serious if the snake turned out to be venemous. The young woman was quite cool though. She was a local and just really embarassed that it had happened. It turns out that in the sunshine the snakes come out to sun themselves on the path and she just wasn't looking and stepped on it - ouch. But yes, that was my excitement for the day. Torn between giving up on my walk due to the realistic possibility that I might die from a poisonous snake bite and ploughing on through, in a burst of enthusiasm, I carried on. I watched the path like a hawk though! And I'm not too proud to admit that that last half hour bush walk section of the route scared the crap out of me. Ignoring the numerous rustles from the bushes and ducking the spider webs, I saw NO ONE for the almost the entirety of this stretch and was convinced that I'd gone the wrong way. Still, I made it and without any bites to report so that was good. The walk was actually quite stunning in places. Byron is on the most Easterly point of Australia and so the views are pretty good. Watching the hangliders from the lighthouse was pretty fun too. But yes, that was my one burst of energy for what was otherwise a very chilled weekend. I didn't go out either night and even spent one evening in the TV room watching a Harry Potter film that was on - bliss.
Anyway, I left Byron on an overnight coach (12 hours) heading to Sydney. I'd only bought an Oz Experience pass from Cairns to Byron Bay so as to avoid the unwanted stopover at Surf Camp on the way to Sydney, and so instead it was to be coaches from here on out. I took a Premier service and it was actually very good (they're a cheaper Greyhound alternative). I had loads of leg room (I know I'm short but I still notice these things) and two seats to myself, so actually managed to get a fair amount of sleep. And they played a couple of movies early on in the trip which was quite nice.
I arrived in Sydney hideously early (06:35) and headed straight for my hostel which was luckily round the corner (my bag has got heavier and heavier and it's all I can do not to cry when I have to put it on my back). Even more luckily, the nice man behind the desk let me check into my room right away even though check-in was officially 1pm. This meant I was able to get a few hours sleep before meeting up with some old family friends who had offered to meet me in town and show me round the city a bit.
The weather was absolutely foul - raining and raining - it truly felt like England. However, even in the rain Sydney is quite a stunning city. Very similar to London as well which made me feel a bit homesick. But not too much. And my friends took me back to theirs for dinner which was lovely. I hadn't seen them since they were visiting in London a few years ago so it was really nice to spend some time with them. They even dropped me back at my hostel which was awesome considering how tired I was and the rain!
The next day I explored Sydney on my own and walked all over, taking in the obvious sights: the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Botanical Gardens, the Rocks and Darling Harbour. Sydney is fantastic and I definitely want to go back. If not just to experience it in better weather, as well as not being on a budget!
For the next 2 nights I was going to be staying with Maria and Shaz in Bankstown (a suburb of Sydney) and so I got a train to theirs Tuesday evening. Now firstly, Sydney's trains are so nice. They're double decker and even have a special section for women to go on at night that's patrolled by a guard - so clever. If only the tube were as nice! Anyway, I cannot explain how fantastic it was to see Maria. She met me at the station and we wandered back to where she lives. I hadn't realised that she actually lives with the Brothers who run the school that she and Shaz work at, which sounds strange but they are so nice! Not how you would expect monks to be at all! And they were fine with me staying. Maria and Shaz have a mini apartment to theirselves and have landed themselves a pretty sweet deal to be honest. They work at the school next door and the big house they live in is beautiful. But yes, was really glad to be there.
Maria then took me out for a meal that evening to the Bankstown Sports Club, which apparently is a kind of Australian institution. More like a community centre that resembles a casino complex rather than an old people's home and is something that all members of the community contribute to and, by the looks of things when we visited, attend pretty much every night. Anyways, we had a lovely italian meal and a bottle of wine and in genral caught up on things.
The next day the 3 of us then went to Sydney Aquarium, something neither of them had done yet and something I'd really wanted to do, though not on my own! Anyways, it was pretty good. It started off a bit avarage as aquariums go, but then when we got to the sharks, I was sold! A good few hours were spent there and far too many photos taken! Then we browsed around the Harbourside shopping centre at Darling Harbour and then mosey'd home to get ready to go out.
We got the train back into the city and got off at Circular Quay to check out the Opera House and Bridge at night. It was an absolute bugger to get good photos of but still, was an amazing sight. Totally makes you understand why so many people consider Sydney to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world! We then hit a bar called the Three Wise Monkeys which is on George Street (the main road going through the city centre) after we were told that Darling Harbour isn't the place to be on a Wednesday night. Anyway, we had another bottle of wine and soon attracted the attention of one guy in particular. He was as wasted as you can be before they stop serving you and had decided he wanted to have a chat with us. We humoured him for a bit and aske dhim what he did. A tennis coach apparently. Used to be quite good. Even played Wimbledon and Queens several times and was ranked 86th at one point. Yes Michael, sure we said. He got a bit upset, told us there was no need to be sarcastic, and insisted we google him. Anyway, we soon lost him and moved on to another beer called Cheers.
The bar was much like a rip off of the TV show that you'd expect it to be, except that this one came complete with a Russian bouncer who insisted that Maria looked 'intoxic'. Anyway, after some shocked and sincere 'we've only had a glass' exchanges, he let us in. And it was pants. Pretty much empty and Maria and I had drunk so much already we couldn't even finish the glasses we ordered. But still, we thought we'd check out one last place that was supposed to be good, called Scruffy Murphy's. We started wandering down and were accosted by a young guy attempting to skid down the pavement in the puddles asking us 'Hey, can you do this?!'. I think Maria may have given it a go, failed, and then he asked to tag along with us to Scruffy's. We wandered down, and actually had a pretty awesome evening. Maria caught the attention of a random Swede called Jonas and the rest of the time we amused ourselves with Ryan from Bondi's (the skidding guy) dancing, which resembled a monkey on ecstasy. Fantastic entertainment I assure you. When the bar closed at 5, Maria did attempt to find somewhere else that was open but after the bouncer laughed at her we decided we'd go home, via a bakery where Ryan from Bondi stole goods from under the counter and we went our separate ways.
Going to bed at 6am, a couple of minutes before the Brothers got up was a bit weird, and sleeping until lunchtime and then getting up did complete throw my body clock for the next few days...but it was totally worth it. Best few nights in Sydney, hands down. And that afternoon Maria and I googled our alleged Wimbledon star, and to our amusement he was in fact telling the truth. Michael Tebbutt did in fact play at Wimbledon and was apparently, quite good. Bugger.
Anyway, I then left Bankstown and headed to another suburb called Blacktown where the family friends I'd seen on Monday lived. They'd also offered to have me for a few nights to help me save on hostels etc. The next day we all went up to the Blue Mountains, and though it was yet again shocking weather, I still had a really good day. We went down into the bush via the steepest railway in the world, had a nice walk, and then came back up via a cableway. On coming home in the evening we then rushed out again for Loretta's (the eldest girl's) martial arts (no idea which one) grading. It was pretty cool to watch and seeing someone do the punching through tiles malarkey to get his black belt was worth hanging around for. Had a unique experience of typical Australian suburbian life anyway!
Byron Bay: 11/4 - 13/4
Sydney: 13/4 - 20/4
Melbourne: 21/4 - 23/4
Well, yet again it's been ages since I last blogged. I don't know why it is that I blog so much less than when I was in Senegal. I mean obviously things are a bit more hectic here and involves a lot more travelling inbetween but really, I have no excuse. I think maybe because life here is blatantly not as interesting as it was in Senegal and so I'm distinctly less inclined to bore you all with my lack of scandalous tales. But anyway...!
So firstly, I am missing Senegal a bit. Travelling around a lot is great in that it allows you to see everything, but it does get very exhausting. I really didn't realise how much I would miss living in a home and having some degree of routine whilst I was in Dakar. But it's not making me not enjoy myself though by any means. Just a side note that I am missing it.
So when I last blogged I was in Noosa. Noosa is, as mentioned before, a very exclusive township on the coast of southern Queensland. Beccy, Leah and I spent 3 nights there, and as beautiful a town as it is, there isn't loads to do there if you're on a budget. Still it was nice to be in the same place for 3 nights in a row, something that hasn't happened on this trip since my stay in Cairns! One big thing we did do though, was visit Steve Irwin's zoo 'Australia Zoo'. I wasn't too bothered about seeing it but Beccy and Leah were set on the excursion and after encouragement from the lady at reception 'I've been 5 times in the last year' at the hostel, I decided to suck it up and pay the $40.
Now I'm not overly familiar with Steve Irwin's work. I saw the clip of the baby-dangling incident like everyone else, but to be perfectly honest, until he died a few years ago, I had no idea who he was. Thank goodness though, the courtesy bus that takes you to the zoo (they go all over the Gold Coast), plays his videos constantly... Don't get me wrong though, the zoo was great - they've really got a positive attitude to wildlife and the animals are very well-kept. However, I find Steve Irwin a bit fake. He's just a bit overly enthusiastic about everything that I couldn't help but think it was a bit put on. Obviously there's no doubt that he loved nature/all animals etc, but it feels like it's being marketed for you and that can't help but put me off quite a lot. There's only so many times you can hear "What a beauuuuuty!" and feel the sentiment is genuine. Though I'm sure lots of people will tell me I'm wrong.
Anyway the zoo itself had what was to be expected: crocs, aligators, snakes, birds, koalas etc. But there was also a show on during the day in the 'Crocoseum' (oh. yes.) and because it was the school holidays, Bindi Irwin (his daughter) was performing. Now it's important that you understand that Bindi is marketed in Australia in a similar way that Mary-Kate and Ashleigh Olsen are marketed globally. She has her own show (Bindi the Jungle Girl) and now her own dancing boyband troop, the Crocmen, who help her sing and dance to various songs about protecting the environment and our animals - touching stuff I asure you. Anyway, bitchy comments aside it was a really good day out and I'm glad I went!
The rest of our time in Noosa was fairly chilled and with some much appreciated sunshine on our last full day, our time whiled away quite nicely. Then the time came and we got back on the Oz Experience bus on the Friday. It was a fairly chilled journey down the coast, but with loads of stops as we were passing through Brisbane and Surfers Paradise first before getting to Byron Bay in the evening. Beccy and Leah were getting off at Surfers for a few days and I was going on solo to Byron.
Surfers Paradise is basically a slice of Californian life, with theme parks, sunshine, beaches and lots of bars. I'd heard mixed reviews about it (love it/hate it style opinions) and so had decided that with my tight timescale I'd give it a miss. Which I'm glad I did. Byron Bay was beautiful: very small, stunning beach, and great little shops and cafes. I had a really nice chilled 2 days there and mainly chilled, read, went to the beach. I did do a walk to the lighthouse there though that proved to be eventful...
The walk wasn't too long: about 6km round trip to my hostel, and was supposed to be beautiful. As well as admiring the stunning coastline, you also pass through rainforest and bush - it's a nice walk. Anyways, I stopped when I got to the foot of the main hill climbing up to the lighthouse to take a phonecall from Maria who I was meeting up with in Sydney the following week. Anyway, after getting off the phone I then noticed that I was joined by a young woman and her mother who was asking me how to dial 000 (the emergency number here) from a mobile. Being utterly unobservant and failing to notice the younger woman's ankle bandaged up, I apologised and said I was English and I thought you just dialled it. THEN I noticed the woman's foot and made suitable splutterings of apologies and concern. It turned out she had been bitten by a snake whilst going up the path I was just about to go up. Eeek.
Anyway, I managed to get through to Triple Zero on my network and lent my phone to the frantic mother. It turns out the woman was pregnant and so it was even more serious if the snake turned out to be venemous. The young woman was quite cool though. She was a local and just really embarassed that it had happened. It turns out that in the sunshine the snakes come out to sun themselves on the path and she just wasn't looking and stepped on it - ouch. But yes, that was my excitement for the day. Torn between giving up on my walk due to the realistic possibility that I might die from a poisonous snake bite and ploughing on through, in a burst of enthusiasm, I carried on. I watched the path like a hawk though! And I'm not too proud to admit that that last half hour bush walk section of the route scared the crap out of me. Ignoring the numerous rustles from the bushes and ducking the spider webs, I saw NO ONE for the almost the entirety of this stretch and was convinced that I'd gone the wrong way. Still, I made it and without any bites to report so that was good. The walk was actually quite stunning in places. Byron is on the most Easterly point of Australia and so the views are pretty good. Watching the hangliders from the lighthouse was pretty fun too. But yes, that was my one burst of energy for what was otherwise a very chilled weekend. I didn't go out either night and even spent one evening in the TV room watching a Harry Potter film that was on - bliss.
Anyway, I left Byron on an overnight coach (12 hours) heading to Sydney. I'd only bought an Oz Experience pass from Cairns to Byron Bay so as to avoid the unwanted stopover at Surf Camp on the way to Sydney, and so instead it was to be coaches from here on out. I took a Premier service and it was actually very good (they're a cheaper Greyhound alternative). I had loads of leg room (I know I'm short but I still notice these things) and two seats to myself, so actually managed to get a fair amount of sleep. And they played a couple of movies early on in the trip which was quite nice.
I arrived in Sydney hideously early (06:35) and headed straight for my hostel which was luckily round the corner (my bag has got heavier and heavier and it's all I can do not to cry when I have to put it on my back). Even more luckily, the nice man behind the desk let me check into my room right away even though check-in was officially 1pm. This meant I was able to get a few hours sleep before meeting up with some old family friends who had offered to meet me in town and show me round the city a bit.
The weather was absolutely foul - raining and raining - it truly felt like England. However, even in the rain Sydney is quite a stunning city. Very similar to London as well which made me feel a bit homesick. But not too much. And my friends took me back to theirs for dinner which was lovely. I hadn't seen them since they were visiting in London a few years ago so it was really nice to spend some time with them. They even dropped me back at my hostel which was awesome considering how tired I was and the rain!
The next day I explored Sydney on my own and walked all over, taking in the obvious sights: the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Botanical Gardens, the Rocks and Darling Harbour. Sydney is fantastic and I definitely want to go back. If not just to experience it in better weather, as well as not being on a budget!
For the next 2 nights I was going to be staying with Maria and Shaz in Bankstown (a suburb of Sydney) and so I got a train to theirs Tuesday evening. Now firstly, Sydney's trains are so nice. They're double decker and even have a special section for women to go on at night that's patrolled by a guard - so clever. If only the tube were as nice! Anyway, I cannot explain how fantastic it was to see Maria. She met me at the station and we wandered back to where she lives. I hadn't realised that she actually lives with the Brothers who run the school that she and Shaz work at, which sounds strange but they are so nice! Not how you would expect monks to be at all! And they were fine with me staying. Maria and Shaz have a mini apartment to theirselves and have landed themselves a pretty sweet deal to be honest. They work at the school next door and the big house they live in is beautiful. But yes, was really glad to be there.
Maria then took me out for a meal that evening to the Bankstown Sports Club, which apparently is a kind of Australian institution. More like a community centre that resembles a casino complex rather than an old people's home and is something that all members of the community contribute to and, by the looks of things when we visited, attend pretty much every night. Anyways, we had a lovely italian meal and a bottle of wine and in genral caught up on things.
The next day the 3 of us then went to Sydney Aquarium, something neither of them had done yet and something I'd really wanted to do, though not on my own! Anyways, it was pretty good. It started off a bit avarage as aquariums go, but then when we got to the sharks, I was sold! A good few hours were spent there and far too many photos taken! Then we browsed around the Harbourside shopping centre at Darling Harbour and then mosey'd home to get ready to go out.
We got the train back into the city and got off at Circular Quay to check out the Opera House and Bridge at night. It was an absolute bugger to get good photos of but still, was an amazing sight. Totally makes you understand why so many people consider Sydney to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world! We then hit a bar called the Three Wise Monkeys which is on George Street (the main road going through the city centre) after we were told that Darling Harbour isn't the place to be on a Wednesday night. Anyway, we had another bottle of wine and soon attracted the attention of one guy in particular. He was as wasted as you can be before they stop serving you and had decided he wanted to have a chat with us. We humoured him for a bit and aske dhim what he did. A tennis coach apparently. Used to be quite good. Even played Wimbledon and Queens several times and was ranked 86th at one point. Yes Michael, sure we said. He got a bit upset, told us there was no need to be sarcastic, and insisted we google him. Anyway, we soon lost him and moved on to another beer called Cheers.
The bar was much like a rip off of the TV show that you'd expect it to be, except that this one came complete with a Russian bouncer who insisted that Maria looked 'intoxic'. Anyway, after some shocked and sincere 'we've only had a glass' exchanges, he let us in. And it was pants. Pretty much empty and Maria and I had drunk so much already we couldn't even finish the glasses we ordered. But still, we thought we'd check out one last place that was supposed to be good, called Scruffy Murphy's. We started wandering down and were accosted by a young guy attempting to skid down the pavement in the puddles asking us 'Hey, can you do this?!'. I think Maria may have given it a go, failed, and then he asked to tag along with us to Scruffy's. We wandered down, and actually had a pretty awesome evening. Maria caught the attention of a random Swede called Jonas and the rest of the time we amused ourselves with Ryan from Bondi's (the skidding guy) dancing, which resembled a monkey on ecstasy. Fantastic entertainment I assure you. When the bar closed at 5, Maria did attempt to find somewhere else that was open but after the bouncer laughed at her we decided we'd go home, via a bakery where Ryan from Bondi stole goods from under the counter and we went our separate ways.
Going to bed at 6am, a couple of minutes before the Brothers got up was a bit weird, and sleeping until lunchtime and then getting up did complete throw my body clock for the next few days...but it was totally worth it. Best few nights in Sydney, hands down. And that afternoon Maria and I googled our alleged Wimbledon star, and to our amusement he was in fact telling the truth. Michael Tebbutt did in fact play at Wimbledon and was apparently, quite good. Bugger.
Anyway, I then left Bankstown and headed to another suburb called Blacktown where the family friends I'd seen on Monday lived. They'd also offered to have me for a few nights to help me save on hostels etc. The next day we all went up to the Blue Mountains, and though it was yet again shocking weather, I still had a really good day. We went down into the bush via the steepest railway in the world, had a nice walk, and then came back up via a cableway. On coming home in the evening we then rushed out again for Loretta's (the eldest girl's) martial arts (no idea which one) grading. It was pretty cool to watch and seeing someone do the punching through tiles malarkey to get his black belt was worth hanging around for. Had a unique experience of typical Australian suburbian life anyway!
The next day we hit the shopping mall at my request as I was lacking many warm clothes! I hit the jackpot with a shop here called Cotton On which had a sale. Hoodies and leggings are IN, vest tops are most definitely out. I may have to invest in even warmer clothes come New Zealand!
I then spent my last night in Sydney back in a hostel in town and met up with the people I'd met further up the coast (Lisa, Sarah, Leah, Beccy etc.). We had a night out and it was really good to see them again. To be honest though, most of them are going on to NZ too though so I'll probably catch up with them there.
The next day Lisa and I did a Harbour cruise to see the city from the comfort of a boat! Actually got some really good views. Then we gave the monorail a go and wandered through Paddy's markets and Chinatown. Then I simply killed time until my coach that evening.
The coach this time (to Melbourne) was a Greyhound and nowhere near as nice as the Premier I'd got to Sydney - I got hardly any sleep. Still, it did the job and I arrived yesterday (Monday 21 April) in Melboune at 8am. My hostel (Base, St Kilda) is lovely and I've had a really nice 48 hours here. Definitely a fan of Melbourne! The weather has been sunny but not hot and I'm in love with the place! Yesterday I did the Melbourne Museum which is a surprisingly good way to spend a few hours. And I wandered through Carlton Gardens and the Royal Exhibition Centre (beautiful building) and finally around Federation Square. I had an embarassingly early night on the basis that I'd had pretty much no sleep the last few nights and then today explored the city a bit more with a lovely walk by the river and through the Botanical Gardens which, for the record are infinitely more lovely than Sydney's. Not that I'm choosing sides but I am really.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow for New Zealand and after flying via Auckland, should land in Christchurch about 21:20 - fun fun fun. I'm looking forward to NZ but am genuinely concerned about how cold it's going to be. I think my one day in Christchurch before I get on the Kiwi Experience bus on Friday will be spent investing in a nice warm, waterproof jacket (I'm so cool)! But it is supposed to be a beautiful country so I shan't complain too much.
Lastly, I know this is a shockingly long and yet again belated blog attempt but I really will get better. Hopefully I'll be more on top of things once I'm in NZ. Until next time then... :)
Tuesday 8 April 2008
Australia so far...
Well, it's been a while...
I've now been in Australia exactly 2 weeks! It's been a bit manic so far, with lots of early starts and action-packed days, but I've met some lovely people and am most definitely having a good time.
- Where I've been so far -
Cairns: 25/3 - 28/3
Mission Beach: 28/3 - 29/3
Townsville: 29/3 - 30/3
Magnetic Island: 30/3 - 1/4
Airlie Beach: 1/4 - 4/4
Kroombit Cattle Station: 4/4 - 5/4
Hervey Bay: 5/4 - 8/4
Noosa: 8/4 - 11/4
I started off in Cairns, in North Queensland and spent 3 nights there, before getting the Oz Experience bus (a hop on, hop off bus for backpackers) going south. I didn't get up to anything drastically exciting in Cairns. There's quite simply not a lot to do, and I was still feeling quite rough from my hellish plane journey. However, I did do a couple of day trips to semi-interesting places.
First off, I did a boat trip to an island that's actually part of the Great Barrier Reef called Green Island. The island itself wasn't very impressive and rather extortionate, but I got to go on a glass bottomed boat and see lots of the reef life which was cool. Then the next day I ventured to the mountain town of Kurunda via a scenic railway journey which was actually rather stunning in places - going right up close past a waterfall was a highlight! The town itself was quite sweet and I amused myself quite nicely with the little stalls and a tiny koala sanctuary that was a good 15 minutes of entertainment.
However, leaving Cairns was a relief! I got the Oz bus nice and early on a Friday morning, and set off on my journey down the coast. True to its brochure, loads of people seemed to be travelling alone and it was really nice to meet people with similar travelling ideas.
Oz Experience is famous for it's random stop offs along the way, which some people hate/love, and indeed, we stopped along the way at a crocodile farm which was quite cool. I got to hold a baby crocodile and saw loads of huge ones too! They really are so much quicker than you realise, after watching them get fed - I didn't know they could jump either which is useful info to have.
On this first Oz bus, most people had booked themselves on to Magnetic Island (a small but beautiful island just off the coast of Townsville) for the full moon party that was happening that night, whereas I had booked to get off at Mission Beach. It was fine though and I was quite happy to chill for a day by the hostel pool and try and plan the rest of my trip. Alas, Queensland being tropical, instead of spending the following morning by the pool in a similarly lazy fashion to the day before, it absolutely pissed it down with rain and there wasn't much else to do other than wait for my bus to arrive.
I then went on to Townsville, a medium sized town with little to do but with a good hill view of Magenetic Island and a reputedly good aquarium. I seemed to click more with people on today's bus and ended up spending the evening with a girl called Lisa and a guy called Joe. After hunting down the nearerst bottle shop for what felt like hours (you can't buy wine in supermarkets in Australia), we got some goon (cheap australian wine that comes in a box) in and chilled in our lovely hostel room that had a TV and en suite bathroom - absolute luxury :p I had a lovely time and luckily these guys had similar timetables to me for the next week. The next day, Lisa and I went across to Magnetic Island and met up with Sarah, another girl we'd met on the bus, and then Joe the next day. Sarah, Lisa and I hired bikes for the day and did a mammoth 14km route on the island, followed by the famous Forts Walk (3km) - a very energetic day! We saw wild koalas in the trees which made it totally worth it though.
We then all went on to Airlie Beach which is the place from where most people do a tour of the Whitsunday Islands on board a boat. I didn't have much time and so could only squeeze in a 2day/1night trip on board a racing yacht, but still had a good time. Aside from feeling a bit seasick in the evening (sleeping on a yacht that rocks back and forth is a challenge!), I really enjoyed the trip. Firstly, I didn't realise that yachts sail at a 45 degree angle(!) and so that was pretty cool when we went for a 3 hour sail on the first day. And then the snorkelling was stunning - really beautiful fish and coral. We also went to the famous Whitehaven Beach for a few hours, which has crystal clear water and the finest white sand you've ever seen. The lookout point near the beach was amazing too and I took easily enough photos to have my desktop background set for life! Anyways, after the trip I had one last night in Airlie Beach with my friends Beccy and Leah and a random bar before getting on the Oz bus the next morning.
Though I'd left most of my newfound friends behind at Airlie (they were mostly doing 3day/2night sailing trips) on the bus I bumped into Kiera, a girl I'd met on my first night in Cairns at the very beginning of my trip, and obviously, Beccy and Leah, who are on a similar timescale to me were there too which was good. We got the bus to Kroombit cattle station (a compulsory stop on the Oz Experience buses but totally worth it) and on the way stopped for a game of lawn bowls at the insistence of our driver, Haillie. We learnt the rules, had a few games and I discovered a hidden talent for the sport that will no doubt keep me amused in my old age. It sounds sad, but we all had a good time mucking around.
Then we arrived at the cattle station in the outback and got prepared for farm-style fun. Kiera, Beccy, Leah and I got a room to ourselves for once which was nice (you can get majorly sick of 8-bed dorms!) and we had a really nice 2 course bush dinner that they hand prepared for all of us. Then we learnt how to crack a whip (so much fun) and watched people fall off the mechanical bull (I was too chicken to have a go). Then the next morning, whilst most went horse riding, I opted for the clay pigenon shooting and after missing the first shot, hit all the rest - oh yes, 4 out of 5, 80% shooting accuracy. I felt quite proud considering only two other boys did as well - go me (big-headed moment over). Then we all took part in a goat rodeo which I won't describe too much as when I finally get round to putting up the photos it will be apparent enough...it did involve me dragging a goat around though. It was good fun anyway!
We then left mid-morning and went on to Hervey Bay, where Beccy, Leah and I had booked our trip to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and has loads of amazing rainforest, lakes and generally amazing natural things to see. We spent 1 night on the island and had a 2 day tour, but were ridiculously unlucky with the weather, and spent most of our time in the pouring rain, forcing me to invest in a $4 poncho - a good look, I promise. Still, we saw some good things and it wasn't a total loss.
We then got up ridiculously early this morning (5am!) to catch a coach to Rainbow Beach (where the Oz bus leaves from), and got the bus on to Noosa. I've only been here a few hours but our hostel is lovely and the town is very pretty. Very expensive to live in though, judging by the expensive houses everywhere! Anyway, we pretty much want to chill for the next few days given our run of 6am starts the last few weeks but tomorrow we are heading to Australia Zoo, aka Steve Irwin's legacy. I wasn't going to go as I feel like I've seen enough Australian nature so far but it's supposed to be fantastic. So yes, that should be a good day.
But yes, apologies for the lateness and lack of structure of this blog. I know it's been a long time coming and I've tried to squeeze everything in but it probably reads quite blandly. It will get better and more frequent from here on though!
More next week!
I've now been in Australia exactly 2 weeks! It's been a bit manic so far, with lots of early starts and action-packed days, but I've met some lovely people and am most definitely having a good time.
- Where I've been so far -
Cairns: 25/3 - 28/3
Mission Beach: 28/3 - 29/3
Townsville: 29/3 - 30/3
Magnetic Island: 30/3 - 1/4
Airlie Beach: 1/4 - 4/4
Kroombit Cattle Station: 4/4 - 5/4
Hervey Bay: 5/4 - 8/4
Noosa: 8/4 - 11/4
I started off in Cairns, in North Queensland and spent 3 nights there, before getting the Oz Experience bus (a hop on, hop off bus for backpackers) going south. I didn't get up to anything drastically exciting in Cairns. There's quite simply not a lot to do, and I was still feeling quite rough from my hellish plane journey. However, I did do a couple of day trips to semi-interesting places.
First off, I did a boat trip to an island that's actually part of the Great Barrier Reef called Green Island. The island itself wasn't very impressive and rather extortionate, but I got to go on a glass bottomed boat and see lots of the reef life which was cool. Then the next day I ventured to the mountain town of Kurunda via a scenic railway journey which was actually rather stunning in places - going right up close past a waterfall was a highlight! The town itself was quite sweet and I amused myself quite nicely with the little stalls and a tiny koala sanctuary that was a good 15 minutes of entertainment.
However, leaving Cairns was a relief! I got the Oz bus nice and early on a Friday morning, and set off on my journey down the coast. True to its brochure, loads of people seemed to be travelling alone and it was really nice to meet people with similar travelling ideas.
Oz Experience is famous for it's random stop offs along the way, which some people hate/love, and indeed, we stopped along the way at a crocodile farm which was quite cool. I got to hold a baby crocodile and saw loads of huge ones too! They really are so much quicker than you realise, after watching them get fed - I didn't know they could jump either which is useful info to have.
On this first Oz bus, most people had booked themselves on to Magnetic Island (a small but beautiful island just off the coast of Townsville) for the full moon party that was happening that night, whereas I had booked to get off at Mission Beach. It was fine though and I was quite happy to chill for a day by the hostel pool and try and plan the rest of my trip. Alas, Queensland being tropical, instead of spending the following morning by the pool in a similarly lazy fashion to the day before, it absolutely pissed it down with rain and there wasn't much else to do other than wait for my bus to arrive.
I then went on to Townsville, a medium sized town with little to do but with a good hill view of Magenetic Island and a reputedly good aquarium. I seemed to click more with people on today's bus and ended up spending the evening with a girl called Lisa and a guy called Joe. After hunting down the nearerst bottle shop for what felt like hours (you can't buy wine in supermarkets in Australia), we got some goon (cheap australian wine that comes in a box) in and chilled in our lovely hostel room that had a TV and en suite bathroom - absolute luxury :p I had a lovely time and luckily these guys had similar timetables to me for the next week. The next day, Lisa and I went across to Magnetic Island and met up with Sarah, another girl we'd met on the bus, and then Joe the next day. Sarah, Lisa and I hired bikes for the day and did a mammoth 14km route on the island, followed by the famous Forts Walk (3km) - a very energetic day! We saw wild koalas in the trees which made it totally worth it though.
We then all went on to Airlie Beach which is the place from where most people do a tour of the Whitsunday Islands on board a boat. I didn't have much time and so could only squeeze in a 2day/1night trip on board a racing yacht, but still had a good time. Aside from feeling a bit seasick in the evening (sleeping on a yacht that rocks back and forth is a challenge!), I really enjoyed the trip. Firstly, I didn't realise that yachts sail at a 45 degree angle(!) and so that was pretty cool when we went for a 3 hour sail on the first day. And then the snorkelling was stunning - really beautiful fish and coral. We also went to the famous Whitehaven Beach for a few hours, which has crystal clear water and the finest white sand you've ever seen. The lookout point near the beach was amazing too and I took easily enough photos to have my desktop background set for life! Anyways, after the trip I had one last night in Airlie Beach with my friends Beccy and Leah and a random bar before getting on the Oz bus the next morning.
Though I'd left most of my newfound friends behind at Airlie (they were mostly doing 3day/2night sailing trips) on the bus I bumped into Kiera, a girl I'd met on my first night in Cairns at the very beginning of my trip, and obviously, Beccy and Leah, who are on a similar timescale to me were there too which was good. We got the bus to Kroombit cattle station (a compulsory stop on the Oz Experience buses but totally worth it) and on the way stopped for a game of lawn bowls at the insistence of our driver, Haillie. We learnt the rules, had a few games and I discovered a hidden talent for the sport that will no doubt keep me amused in my old age. It sounds sad, but we all had a good time mucking around.
Then we arrived at the cattle station in the outback and got prepared for farm-style fun. Kiera, Beccy, Leah and I got a room to ourselves for once which was nice (you can get majorly sick of 8-bed dorms!) and we had a really nice 2 course bush dinner that they hand prepared for all of us. Then we learnt how to crack a whip (so much fun) and watched people fall off the mechanical bull (I was too chicken to have a go). Then the next morning, whilst most went horse riding, I opted for the clay pigenon shooting and after missing the first shot, hit all the rest - oh yes, 4 out of 5, 80% shooting accuracy. I felt quite proud considering only two other boys did as well - go me (big-headed moment over). Then we all took part in a goat rodeo which I won't describe too much as when I finally get round to putting up the photos it will be apparent enough...it did involve me dragging a goat around though. It was good fun anyway!
We then left mid-morning and went on to Hervey Bay, where Beccy, Leah and I had booked our trip to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and has loads of amazing rainforest, lakes and generally amazing natural things to see. We spent 1 night on the island and had a 2 day tour, but were ridiculously unlucky with the weather, and spent most of our time in the pouring rain, forcing me to invest in a $4 poncho - a good look, I promise. Still, we saw some good things and it wasn't a total loss.
We then got up ridiculously early this morning (5am!) to catch a coach to Rainbow Beach (where the Oz bus leaves from), and got the bus on to Noosa. I've only been here a few hours but our hostel is lovely and the town is very pretty. Very expensive to live in though, judging by the expensive houses everywhere! Anyway, we pretty much want to chill for the next few days given our run of 6am starts the last few weeks but tomorrow we are heading to Australia Zoo, aka Steve Irwin's legacy. I wasn't going to go as I feel like I've seen enough Australian nature so far but it's supposed to be fantastic. So yes, that should be a good day.
But yes, apologies for the lateness and lack of structure of this blog. I know it's been a long time coming and I've tried to squeeze everything in but it probably reads quite blandly. It will get better and more frequent from here on though!
More next week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)