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Well ive finally reached the end of my time living on bondi beach :(
we moved out of the flat on tuesday the 29th of jan and stayed 3 nights in a hostel in the city with the roomies.
on friday i caught a 3pm train to wollongong, it only took 2 hrs but the journey was weird. the weather was overcast so looking out the window you could go from thinking you were in england to thinking you were in jurassic park it was bizarre.
when i got to wollongong i reached the hostel and checked in at 5.30, its a big converted house and theres a total family atmosphere. i went out onto the main shopping street at abut 6.30 and the whole place was desserted! and this is meant to be NSW 3rd largest city!!
back at the hostel we all watched tv together and got to know eachother. the next day id organised a group of us to set off to the nan tien budhist temple.
it was absolutly beautiful and so peaceful. we walked around the gardens that were ful of budhist monk statues playing out stories and lotus ponds with authentic budhist statues in the centre. inside the temples you had to take your shoes of and walk up to the centre budha and bow. the walls were lined with gold plaques with messages to the dead on. in the next room there was a caligraphy room where yo could copy out a budhist teaching with a caligraphy pen. i then paid 5 dollars to offer a lighted lotus offering to the budha in that room. that was a unique experience.
then we went into the main temple and it was breathtaking. there were 5 large colorful budha statues each representing north, south, central, east and south and each has a different hand symbol which meant either confidence n fearlessness, concentration, ingrout, spirituality and casting out fear. its such a shame that you couldnt take photos inside because it was really really beautiful. the budhas eyes on the statue are angled in a smile n half closed so when your sat at the back of the room it looks as though theyre almost watching you out of the corner of their eye and when you stand right infront of him hes looking directly at you, its very personal and special feeling alot better than normal blank forward staring statues.
that night lizanne, cj, carl and i went out for cambodian food and then headed down the local to play pool and ended up taking on to aussie youths who looked like bob and silent jay lol.
the next day carl took us in his car to kiama to see the kiama blow hole, the water was very calm so the water wasnt getting blown too high. we had lunch there and then headed home via mount keira. you can see all of wollongong from up there and the coastal beaches.
im heading to Canberra on tuesday with lizanne a girl ive met in the hostel.
ill keep you posted of my travels!
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