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Hello All!! Sincere apologies for the long wait! Done a fair amount since i last wrote so this could be a fairly long one.
Wednesday 12th of March I went to Taronga zoo which was really impressive. Its just a ferry ride over to the zoo, and in total that and the ticket was 44 dollars, not cheap but you definitely get your money's worth! I was there from l about 11 in the morning till 5. (This is largely due to the fact that the zoo is laid out really badly, and I ended up retracing my steps about 20 times) Still, I finally got to see some kangaroos, I did think its a bit pathetic that the only kangaroos I've seen in my whole time in Australia are in a zoo. The weirdest part was seeing the giraffes, with a backdrop of Sydney harbor and the opera house. Ive got some pictures which I will add when I get a chance. It was a really hot day so I came home with pretty pink shoulders. Can't remember what I did the next day, Thursday!
Friday 14th, I went to the beach again, seeing as we were finally having good weather I thought I'd better make the most of it. Unfortunately I came home looking like a turkey, I'd obviously forgotten to put cream on my neck, always attractive. Ended up going to a party that evening with my friend Kate from the pub. It was supposed to be fancy dress, but I'd forgotten to pack my clown costume in my rucksack, and so 'unfortunately' had to wear normal clothes. My friends will understand this, given my general dislike of dressing up. Fortunately I wasn't the only one not in fancy dress so didn't look like a total party pooper. Was a really good night. It was Kate's boyfriend's brother's party, if that makes sense, so I actually got to hang out with some Australians, and not just English backpackers!
Had been planning to leave Sydney for Coff's harbour the next Monday, however was waiting for a parcel from home to arrive so had to hang around for the next couple of days .I went to Cogee beach with Geoff on the Saturday the 15th as it was really hot. Cogee was really nice, quite busy. Had a couple of drinks in the pub, or 'hotel' as they feel the need to call them over here, and watched the qualifying fir the Australian grand prix. On Sunday Geoff and I went to Geoff's friend Tims' house to watch the grand-prix. I maintain it would be easier for Geoff and Jocie to have their own television, rather than borrow someone else's? Anyway, the race was quite fun to watch, and made a change from lying on the beach. Its a hard life! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I hung around waiting for my parcel to arrive so I could leave Sydney. Went to Bondi on Tuesday expecting it to be there when I got back, to no such luck. Decided that if it didn't come on Wednesday I was going to go anyway and Geoff would have to forward it to me. Luckily it arrived! It was a bit of an anti-climax actually. I knew it only had a bikini and my student Id in it, but still, a note or something would have been nice mum, made it a little more exciting after all that waiting. Actually, dad did try to add a touch of humour to it. He obviously got a great laugh out of writing 'Thongs' next to the box that said 'contents'. Hilarious I'm sure.
Thursday 20th I finally dragged my arse out of Sydney. That it had to be at 6 in the morning though was very unfortunate. I caught the bus up to Coff's harbour, about 10 hours I think, I cant remember. I had my own private service by the end of it, I was the only person on the bus, so me and the driver stopped and had a coffee together! Very random. Hadn't booked a place to stay, so jumped on the first mini-van that turned up to pick people up from the bus-stop. When I got to 'Barracuda backpackers', the only bed left was in a room with two Scottish girls who worked there and had been there for a couple of weeks. I could barely get in the door of the room! They did tidy it (ish) so I had space to put my bag down. Well, in general, Coff's harbour is quite nice, but its pretty basic. There is a beach and I did have a fun few days though. That night I played monopoly in the garden with a few guys from the hostel. (Its wild in Coff's, we drank tea aswell!!) Friday the 21st was good Friday, and all of the shops were shut so it was McDonalds for dinner. I went to the beach in the morning as it was sunny, but fell asleep and woke up to grey clouds and an empty beach which was bit eery! Spent the evening watching telly in the hostel. I really liked the hostel, as it was fairly small so had a friendly atmosphere, and everyone got on really well. Saturday I went to woolworths and stocked up on food in mild panic that the supermarkets would shut again on easter Monday and Sunday. (They didn't, so the panic buying was unnecessary!) Walked to the Jetty (basically a small pier for those of you who were wondering) where everyone, excluding me, jumps off the end. There were all these Aussies showing off doing backflips etc off the pier, which was about the height of a two story building. I wont even swim in the bloody sea let alone jump off a pier into murky water, crazy people. Stayed for half an hour or so, then headed back to the hostel. It started to spit and by the time we got back after walking a ridiculously long-way round, it was absolutely tipping it down!! Headed to the shopping mall just across the road from the hostel as I needed some new sunglasses. I'd been desperate to buy a new pair, and mine gave up and broke that morning, so I had an excuse for a new pair! I'll give the other ones their credit, id had them for 2 months, and they cost me about a pound from Thailand, so I think they'd done pretty well. Luckily the next day, Sunday 23rd, was really hot, so we headed to the Jetty again, the long walk is a lot more pleasant in the sunshine. As it was easter Sunday, there was a big market by the harbour which we stopped off at and had a look, the only thing I bought were some dutch pancakes, yummy! Stayed for an hour or so on the jetty while everyone, except me and one other girl, jumped off into the shark infested water. There was this little (I say little, she was very overweight) girl who was about 8, and took the best part of an hour to jump off. It was cute at first, but by the end of it I was very close to pushing the stupid cow in. Christ, talk about milking it!! Anyway, stopped off with Danny and Carla, the two Scottish girls, at the yacht club and had a beer, I fear I am turning into my father with this new love of beer. Then we met the others back at the beach and had a couple of hours sunbathing. Had a nice evening at the hostel, had a barbecue for dinner and a few beers, then for some reason stayed up to watch the football. Didn't end up going to bed until twenty past 5 in the morning, playing stupid games. 'Would you rather be eaten alive or burn to death', etc etc...
Monday 24th did nothing all day other than watch a friend marathon on tv. I was up at 9 to help tidy the mess from the night before, as the owner wasn't very happy...oops.
Tuesday 25th caught the bus to Byron Bay at 6 in the morning. Just for the record, I don't choose to get up that early, thats the only time the buses leave. Made a stop off at the 'big-prawn', one of the may large food items scattered across Australia. The Big Banana was in coffs harbour, but I'd heard it was quite disappointing, so gave it a miss, despite my interest. (Really I just couldn't be bothered to walk there, and I had heard it wasn't that big) Well, the big prawn was quite big, I just thought it a bit sad that one of Australia's talking points happened to be located at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere. I did manage to get some chips though, so it wasn't all bad. Arrived In the infamous Byron Bay at some time in the morning, and got chatting to a couple of Mancunian girls at the bus-stop who had come from Sydney. I would later be sharing a room (and my makeup, hairdryer, clothes, anything else they could get their hands on. I didn't mind though, they were very nice!) with them at the 'Arts Factory', my next hostel. We weren't allowed to check in till after 2.00 as they were doing a mass clean of the hostel, because they'd had a really busy easter weekend, as there had been a blues festival. It was some huge thing (why I don't know, the lead act was only bloody Katie Tunstall.....) So we had to leave our bags laying around in the common room. The hostel was quite big, really arty-farty type place, hence the name I suppose. Some of the dorm rooms were in big tepees outside. They had a campground too, and a big outdoor area with volley ball court. I really liked it, at first! Headed into town with two other girls I met while waiting to check in, Sophie and Sophie, not hard to remember, to buy some food and have a look round. Came back and spent a few hours by the pool. After I'd managed to check in, I was in the posh room, called the nunnery, which I founds a little frightening, which had a private kitchen and bathroom. It was for 6 girls, and the kitchen and bathroom were actually really handy. That night headed out with Sophie and Sophie, and the two Mancunian girls I met who were in my room too, another Sophie, and Megan. Had a few glasses of Goon (The nickname for all cheap boxed wine) and some beers then headed to a club called 'Cheeky Monkeys' which everyone raves about! We were all pretty half cut by the time we got there, but somehow managed to loose Mancunian Sophie along the way (we didn't actually realise this till the morning) Had an absolutely wicked night, despite little recollection of getting home.
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