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Hiya eveyone!
I hope the cold isn't getting too much there, I am quite jealous of all the great snow pictures I've been looking at.
The rest of my time in Melbourne was fantastic. It was a really relaxed few days. I met up with a friend I met in New Zeland and we went to the Victoria night market which was really cool - great music and food and a really good atmosphere. I also made it to the suburb of St Kilda's where I walked along the beach and saw a penguin. I got very over-excited and we stared at each other for quite a well before I decided it probably wasn't quite as thrilled to see me turn up and I left him/her in peace. Seeing the little penguin also meant that I decided against going to Phillip Island to see more penguins as the tour seemed very over-touristy. I went to Brunswick Street which was a great place to shop for clothes and wander around. However, given I am restricting myself to student style food I managed to avoid actually buy anything! On my last day I met up with Annie from home who has been living in Melbourne for two and a half years (hello Annie!) and it was great to talk to someone who had lived there for a while and still liked it as much as I had on my short visit.
Once I returned from Melbourne (another night bus!) I stayed at Bondi beach for a few nights which was good. I spent my 1st full day back in Sydney central as it was the 1st day of the Sydney festival so I met up with someone from back home who is also travelling Australia too at the moment. We saw some music and circus stuff before heading to an outside cinema to see Breakfast at Tiffanys. I haven't seen it before and I really loved it. I think watching it as the sun sets in Australia with free Gin and Tonics and a picnic has to be the way to go. There were quite a few bats around and a big spider came down from the tree above at one point, both of which added to the ambience. Luckily we were neither pooed on or bitten (the spider wasn't impressed by the general panic at its appearance and went back up to its tree pretty sharpish!). The next day I met up with a couple of people I met in New Zealand and we walked from Bondi to Cogee which was beautiful - the cemetery was a bit of a surprise but added to the variety of the walk! I also tried Sushi but as I stuck to cooked fish I'm not sure it counts!
After Bondi I got the bus up to Byron bay with my friend from New Zealand. It was another overnighter and was a hour late so we didn't get on until about half twelve. The bus driver then decided to put on karate kid at full volume which didn't finish until nearly three. I haven't seen the film for a while (and I remember quite liking watching it for the 50th time with Laurie as a kid) but I can't say I was particularly chuffed with the timing! In byron I was staying at the Arthouse backpackers which had a great pool and bar. I met a nice english girl at the hostel who had only recently left england and it was nice to catch up on all things strictly. We went to a talk about bush survival which was interesting - I now know where to find water in a palm tree, how to drink nectar from the hibiscus flowers near the dorms, what berries taste nice oh...and that if I put one of the pretty yellow flowers from the plant near the pool behind my ear I may going into shock and possibly die! I think someone should go round Australia with some yellow post its and bue tack and write 'this will kill you' on all the nasty plants, insects and animals so the confused foreigners stop getting into trouble. Realistic enough I am sure.The beach at byron was beautiful and, after bondi, didn't seem crowded at all. There were a lot of jellyfish on the beach (none of which had a yellow post it) but we managed to keep out of trouble. The bar at the hostel has some good music on including a blues band one night with some great musicians. Sitting in the open air listening to the music and drinking wine, it all felt like a lovely change from the tradtional 'hostel bar in basement' concept! Unfortunately well into all the relaxing beach time I managed to get a man flu. This was a bit random considering it was boiling hot and more importantly no one else I'd seen was showing any symptoms. Anyway, the last couple of days of Byron involved me having a major temperature (really not a good idea in this heat and in a very hot dorm room) and becoming temporarily addicted to Lemsip.
Luckily I am feeling much better today (and haven't touched a lemsip for 18 hours!) and I got the bus to Brisbane. I had pretty low expectations as everyone I asked said it was pretty rubbish so I was actually pleasantly surprised. I went to the modern art museum which had a really interesting exhibit and wandered along southbank. Southbank seemed quite like London minus the interesting old buildings - it also has a lovely fake beach and swimming pool which was a bit of a surprise when I first spotted it but seems like a great idea! I also got some more Sushi and graduated to crab and octopus but still shyed away from the raw salmon and tuna. I am back in the hostel writing this before an early night as I am off for a rainforest tour tomorrow (yay!).
I hope everyone is well and not getting too cold. I am proud to report that I have tanned feet! I have a definate white line where my flip flops are (even after scrubbing my feet clean)!!. Unsurprisingly, the rest of me is still white. I remain a walking advert for skin cancer prevention. At least I will blend in on my return! I better go and sort myself out for tomorrow. Bewitched say la vie is playing on the loud speakers at the hostel at the moment so it sounds like I'm in for an interesting music accompanyment..
Love Amyx
ps. God knows why but I can't get that one paragraph out of italics, sorry!
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