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We boarded our flight to Australia at around eight Singapore time, knowing alcohol would be free. Neither of us had drunk a good glass of wine since Christmas and set out to bankrupt Quantas on this basis. On landing, we'd made a good dent in their profits but hadn't slept a wink between awful films and episodes of Modern Family. We disembarked; bleary eyed and ready for the grand weather the Australians always boast about, only to find Sydney cold and wet. Despite no language barrier in this part of the world, it still took us a long time to exit, it turns out there is no cheap way of getting to or from an Australian airport (cheap on a backpacker budget anyway). We headed straight for Bondi Beach, in the rain and were a little disappointed but awed by the surfers still at it in the miserable conditions. We flitted between Bondi and Sydney for a few days, hoping for a break in the weather that never came. We knew we had to come back to catch our onward flight in a months time, so we decided to peg it to the closest town with a good forecast. This turned out to be Byron bay; only a 14 hour hop north on the east cost - and still not a dent on the colossal journey ahead.
It truly is a massive country and only now were we realising how little time we had given ourselves, and how much of it we would not be able to see (we have since met someone who planned to 'do' Australia in a fortnight by car, we didn't have the heart to tell them better).
Byron was also the first time we tried Goon. We had heard of this phenomenon before and looked around the bottle shop for the product praised for being the backpackers drink of choice. We eventually found out the magical goon is actually just boxed wine. We selected a fine vintage and set to work on it. I don't remember much but we made some friends, some enemies (all Australian bouncers, more so than bouncers everywhere else, are t*** ) and had felafel.
After a few more days enjoying the beautiful and relaxed Byron, we decided to head north to Surfers paradise on the Gold Coast. The beach at surfers was amazing although we saw very little surfing, it apparently has the worst conditions on the coast. Well named me thinks. Alice and I were also fortunate enough to be placed in a flat of our own in the hostel, complete with kitchen and TV! We spent much of our time here drinking goon out of mugs and swearing at films, just like at home. We made it out one night to a club and spotted a group of lads we had met back in Hoi An, Vietnam, and again at the Koh Panang full moon party. Small world.
Still chasing the sun, we booked some trips up north and made our way across the state border to Queensland.
- comments
Brachel Booper 'Goon' right, we'll have to remember that one! As well as the Whitsunday Islands.. They looked so beautiful! Looking forward to seeing you soon xx