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29th. Caught taxi. Got there in loads of time. Great flight on a380. Saw 2 movies and new episode of 2 ½ men. Caught minibus direct to wake up hostel. Ended up going out with guy from room and his buddy. Got loads of attention but no action. But a good positive 1st night lol.
30th june. Today did the beach walk along the east coastal path. Started off at coogie beach and ended up at bondi. Bondi was pretty quiet. Didnt go swimming as signs were up. Saw 2 bums fighting. Guy fell off the cliff – bondi rescue and eric bana apparantly walked passed. Met a few people on the walk. In night went to side bar. Good live band. Went with dave and jemma. 19Yr old french girl.
1st. Today went to blue mountains and did some mountain biking. Caught train to katoomba. 3 1/2hrs and it was a good ride. Got 2 awesome jumps. 6 of us altogether. Ended up going out in the night, but mainly on my own. Had a group spag bol. Dave and jem left 2night.
2nd. Had to move rooms. Did city walk tour. Drinking games with verity and fran and german guys. Went to side bar in night. Almost missed busin morning. Didnt go to sleep till 3.30.
3rd july. Just made bus. Slept the whole way. Driver told me the wrong way. Ended up back at bus stop. Started speaking to 2 people. Turns out going to same hostel. Went to dirubi beach and 1 mile with them on bikes. Kangaroo and koala in hostel. Possom pissing thru the roof.
4th. Ramona left this morning. Did some handwashing and sorting. Then antoine woke up. So we went to nelson bay. Got lift off hostel. We split up there as he decided he was going to leave so only wanted a couple of hrs. I walked along front to lighthouse and thru town. Bus back and then went whale watching for 45mins. Saw 2 whales and 2 big tail splashes. On own in night. There is noone here.
5th monday. Got a lift off hostel to tomaree peak. Walked around there and up to the summit. Nice walk with great views. Didnt see any whales or dolphins tho. Then walked through shoal bay and caught bus back. Then went straight to boat harbour and whale watched for 1hr 15mins. Think I saw about 11 whales. But not great views. Come back to find a guy in my dorm and quite a few people staying here. Leaving tomorrow to go back to newcastle.
6th. Caught bus back to newcastle. Just walked around the town today. Not much to see but quite a few old buildings from the 20's era. Seems like a nice town. In night went to bingo and free hotdogs.
7th. Today walked around the coastline. Did queens wharf, nobby's lighthouse and beach. Fort scratchley and then walked along to bar beach passed newcastle baths, newcastle beach and the bogey hole. Saw a few whales. One very playful and jumping 4 times. Weather got bad so went to mcd's – free wifi but not very good. Went for free pasta in nite, watched a band and saw state of origin rugby league game between nsw and queensland.
8thcaught bus in the morning, was quite emtpy so had 2 chairs to myself. Got to coffs at 4:45. backpacker places were there waiting so I jump in the one that most people went to. In the night just chilled out at hostel aussietel. Watched crocadile dundee!!
9th: walked down to the harbour, walked up muttonbird reserve, and saw 2 whales, hung out there but didnt see anymore. Then walked along the beach and then up through the creek to the central cbd. Had a quick walk around there ad headed back to hostel. Just watched some dvds in night.
10th: today didnt do much, walked down to the beach and watched some boogie boarding. In evening caught bus to plaza, for mc.d's to use wifi to call home. But the line was shocking. Least I know not to try it from there again. Cant believe the internet is so poor here. Western world country an all. Just chilled in hostel in evening.
11th: went boogie boarding with robbie the scottish guy. Caught a coulpe of good waves, but the lifeguard told us to stay in the shallow bits as the waves would be better for us. Chilled out in the afternoon and caught the bus at 4:30. ride was ok. Got into byron at 9:30pm, got free minibus to hostel -aquarius. Went to sleep pretty much straight away and woke up at 4 for the world cup final.
12th: met a girl at breakfast and we decided to hang out for the day. We walked along byron main beach to brunswick head, via the nudist beach, which was mainly full of men. Walk took 4hrs. Had food there, decided to catch a bus but there were none. So in the end we decided to hitch hike. Hung around for 10mins and someone picked us up. Then had to get another lift into the byron centre.
In the night met back up with judith and 2 guys from my room. We just chilled in the rocks (hostel bar). Went to bed around 12.
13th: went for a awalk around cape byron (the outcrop of rock on which byron lighthouse is located) the furthest most easterly point in mainland australia. Saw quite a few dolphins in the surf and also quite a few whales. Some of which were quite wild and splashing out. Then spent an hr in the travel agents lookin at whitsundays / fraser deals. Came back and chilled for a bit then had the free meal, followed by a few drinks. Went to the northern bar and then onto cheeky monkeys with wes, mark, judith and an irish girl cathy. Got in around 3:30ish im guessing.
14th no idea think this was a day spent sorting out trips and surfing etc.
15th up and feeling fine for my first surfing lesson. Im doing it with a company called style surfing who surf on clarkes beach on byron bay. Aftersome beach acrtion on practising standing up we hit the water. I stood up the 2nd time and rood a wave for like 10m. Had about 2hrs of lesson. There were 10 of us in the group which on time did get a little crowded and had to wait a while in queue to catch the wave. But overall it was great. It was a lovely feeling to catch a wave in and im looking forward to tomorrow. It was quite easy to teach in all honesty, just 4 steps and one overall point. So it was lift ur head and arch back, bring left leg up to belly button, bring right leg around to front, and finally jump up. The overall note was to always look up and where u are going.
After surfing had a quick run through town to get some food shopping and book the adventure trips.in the night met up with the travel agent guys at our hostel. Judith convinced them to go out as she fancied sam. So they changed their minds and decided to go out and I decided to go as it was company and a different night out in store. So we walked back to their house they were renting. 5 of us played drinking games with goon for 1/2hr ad drank way to much. Then caught a limo to cheeky monkeys (one of the guys there works for the skydive company as a driver and they pick up their customers in the limo. After work he appears to be able to use it at his own will). Did some crazy dancing till the goon really kicked in and then I new I had to leave.
Style surf as gave us some really handy knowledge on the following:
identifying rip currents
how to deal with a rip
signals used by the slsc
basic rules to remember while surfing
what surf board should we buy – 8ft plus. I learned on a 9ft – 10ft 6 boards.
16th woke up feeling rough as s***. My own damn fault having such a weak mind. Shouldnt have gone out at all last night. Surfing was ok, waves werent great but stood up on a few and road them for 10 / 20metres. Today I mainly learned about paddling, staying on the board, turning, stopping etc. so was useful. But I did get very cold and was really dehydrated and tired. But still had around 2hrs in the water. In the afternoon I had a sleep. In the night met a group of people downstairs at food through melanie. Geeza, nina, martin and rachael. They went straight to cheeky monkeys but I didnt want to so went on my own to railway. Just missed out on the band so the place emptied quite quickly after I got there, then went to cheekys. Geeza and rachael rounded up some girls for me but nothing came of it. Place was a huge sausage fest. Got in about 2:30ish.
17th saturday. Nimbin tour. Today went on a day tour to a little town called nimbin. I decided to go as I was just too knackered from yesterday to do anything active and the 4 people in my room were going so thought it be good for company and to get out and about. Nimbin is known in australia for its drugs. It was apparently the first place in australia to hold a protest against the government and was the sight of the first 'woodstock' type festival in australia. Since then they have held a mardi grass every year where people just get high. Its also at the moment the main core of the fight to legalise drug use. Firstly we got picked up in a funked out double decker bus, called the magic bus, on which we would carry out the whole tour on. We got to nimbin and it was just one street, around 300m long. It had its typical hippy art and craft shops, music shop, book store and cafes a museum. Felt really out of place there and got asked if I wanted any hash cookies, mushrooms or cannibis by pretty much every local who past us. We had an hour there which was plenty. The museum was cool, full of volkswagon campers and highlighted a story about drugs and war etc etc. after nimbin we went to a watering hole but it was too cold to swim, then to a pub and finally home. Met a couple of guys on the bus who gave me a couple of bundanbergs (rum and coke in a can) but they were drunk and pretty high so conversation wasnt exactly thrilling. In night met up with martin and rachael, but martin left early, so me and rachael checked out the railway, live music wasnt great, the beach hotel where the dj was bloody aweful and then finally cheeky monkeys as we couldnt find la la land. Cheeky monkeys was another sausage fest night, just missed out on an epic fight in the toilet where some guy had ripped off the toilet seat and sliced this guys forehead with it. Night was pretty s*** in the club, went home alone.
18th sunday. Bit of a lie in today. Was finally going to walk around the town today, check out the surf shops and craft shops. Took about an hour. Then checked that greyhound was booked ok on net. Then decided to go spend a couple of hours on the beach. Thought about going for a surf but just feel so tired I couldnt motivate myself. Finally managed to finish my book, the sanctuary by raymond khoury. Which brings my tally to 5..... after that I went for a walk up to the lighthouse to watch the sunset and take some pics. Spent rest of night packing and writing up diary and uploading photos – I need an early night.
19th monday. Caught bus to surfers paradise in the morning. Managed to get on the direct one so saved myself 2hrs. Saw a guy from backpackers resort and jump a ride with him. Staying in a room with just a couple, a guy from caernarvon and his girlfriend from windsor. They arent to couply so its ok and they are both pretty friendly. Walked to the centre, which is something like a 20min walk and had a mossy around for a couple of hours. Then came back and had a look in the numerous leaflets to see what I can do for the rest of my stay here. Not much. The city is just a place you come to party, and what a place. Im sure they called the gold coast after all the blonde haired women walking around here. Its like, I guess, being in miami or LA. Women who are just beautiful. Lets hope I meet a couple lol. In the evening played volleyball with people from the hostel that they organised. We then played killer pool, had a few beers which are very cheap and then went out to a club -sin city, where we had free entry and a free drink. Didnt stay long. Got back at 2.
tuesday 20th – went to town and walked around the shops, took photos and sat on the beach watching the surfers. Just for a couple of hours. In evening played volleyball and killer pool. Didnt go out but quite lively in hostel.
Wednesday 21st – went surfing today although wasnt very good. Waves were coming in too close together to get some good practice in. in the evening just chilled again, played volleyball and killer pool. In night went on the backpackers big night out. Metup with mark again. Got talking to a few people from the hostel and a guy from ammanford and two girls amy and kat. Got in at 5:25. the girls lost their bag so couldnt stay at theirs. So I let them stay at mine.
thursday 22nd – got up with girls and found them and paid for the taxi. Chilled out in the morning then went to the beach for 3hrs. Had a quiet evening, hostel didnt do anything either. Went to bed at 9:30 and watched a dvd.
friday 23rd. Caught early bus to brisbane. Only took like an hour. Room not ready at tinbillys. Rest of day walked south bank and botanical gardens. First impressions is that its a very clean and pretty city. The south bank is a lovely place to spend a couple of hours walking along the riverfront, couple of shops, a beach and market stalls. In night stayed in. there are three welsh guys from abergavenny in my room. They didnt go out either. Hopefully I can spend some time with them.
saturday 24th got up reasonbly early. Walked over to the suncorp stadium to try and buy a ticket for the tri nations game tonight. Wallabies vs springboks. In the end went to the ticketek office at the south bank. $75 in total. Had a little walk around again and went back to hostel. Welsh guys came in 5mins later. I then went to play crazy golf (putt putt) with them. Pretty expensive though. $16 for 18 holes. In the evening went to the rugby. Stadium was nowhere near sold out. Only 44thousand there. Wallabies won convincingly 30-13. after rugby went out into town. Played drinking games first at hostel -goon. Then went to the down under bar where we played 5's and then finally about 1:30 we went to MET. Worst club ever in terms of lighting. Couldnt see a damn thing.
Sunday 25th. Met up with amy, girl I met in surfers, spent the day pretty much just walking around the city getting to know each other a little better and walked through the actual city centre. Again very place. Could easily live here. Went to pub. Meeting her tomorrow. Had an early night, watched a dvd.
Monday: met amy and went to play crazy golf, or putt putt as they call it over here. After that we went to town for a bit and then went and sat in the botanical gardens. In the evening went to the pub for a drink and a chill. Had another early night.
tuesday: went on river cruise to bulimba. Really nice cruise along river past the botanical gardens ansd main cbd skyline etc. spent the afternoon at bulimba and caught ferry back at 3. met amy at 6:30. went for food at a korean restaurant (oh how I miss my asian food) and then went to the theatre to see the most dangerous man in america. Documentary about a few guys during the vietnam war. She caught the ferry back after that and I went and had an early night as im leaving tomorrow.
wednesday 27th. Caught bus at 10:15. got to noosa at 1. went for the noosa backpackers, plus while I was talking to her the other buses went so had no choice. Its located in noosavilla. 5-10min drive from noosa heads where everything is. Had a walk around noosaville river front by the time I came back it was starting to get dark. Nipped to woolworths and it pissed down on the way back. Saw carl and ceri so spent the evening with them. Had an early night as off to zoo tomorrow.
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