When in Melbourne I bought an open dated bus ticket all the way up the coast to Cairns, where I'm flying out of. I stopped in 3 small towns before getting to Sydney, none were anything to rave about. Plus each place only had one backpackers which was always over-priced and out of town.
First up was Lakes Entrance and hence the name, it's a town built where the sea enters through a gap in the land into several lakes. I arrived in the evening, stayed overnight and checked out in the morning. I walked to and through the town along the lakes where there were lots of pelicans and other birds. I walked up a steep road which was meant to lead to a viewpoint but I couldn't find it. Instead I cut through a wooded area (aware that there could be snakes/spiders anywhere :-s) and it lead to the top of a hill. All the way along were houses overlooking the sea with 100% glass walls at the front. I saw a dream house there, which had the glass walls, modern interior and an infinity pool at the front. There was a porcupine on the lawn too! I made my way back down to the town and crossed a bridge over a lake to ninety mile beach, where I sat reading magazines and fighting off flies for the next few hours. Everyone I saw that day said hello which you wouldn't get at home. It was a nice enough town, just nothing much to do, one day was managable.
The next town however, wasn't even nice! Bateman's Bay it was called. I arrived at 6am just in time to see the sun rise over the harbour. But that was the only good thing really! I walked for about half an hour to get to the hostel which didn't open until 9am so I had to sleep in a chair outside (bloody cold) until then. Payed the extortionate room rate and slept a bit more, I'd had an overnight bus to get there so hadn't slept well. I went into the town when I walk to find I was surrounded by junkies, drunks and incests! People were asking me for beer/drugs, at midday. So I decided to go back to the hostel and sort some stuff out to pass the day. I met an Ozzie guy there, we ended up drinking a few beers watching TV in the evening. It was the first TV I've watched (other than movies and the World Cup) since leaving home so was a bit weird!
The next day I got a morning bus. Sat right behind me was one of the aforementioned drunks who kept shouting, jumping forward and grabbing my chair and boasting about how he hadn't paid for his bus ticket or something. We arrived in Wollongong which was much better than Batemans' Bay. I walked to the lighthouse in the day and then met some guys in the hostel. We watched some Simpsons which again was really weird! Then one of them had the Jackass Movie 2 which we watched in endless laughter! Anyone seen it? We all went out in the evening for a few beers but didn't stay out late.
I arrived in Sydney the next afternoon but didn't stay, I got the ferry straight over to Manly. The hostel I checked into had 90% people staying and working there for a few months, so they'd already known each other a while. I went out with them to watch the Rugby League - Great Britain against Australia. We were in an Australian pub yet the Pom's (English) outnumbered the Ozzie's! So when we won there was lots of cheering, which seriously pissed off one old crazy guy! We went to another lounge bar and had a few drinks and I also met up with my two Swedish friends from Surfers and Bryon. Then we all went over to the club in town which had about 5 rooms and was massive and nicknamed 'the zoo!' Had a good time and it was really busy being a Saturday. On the Sunday the weather was crap so we all had a lazy Sunday! Stayed in the hostel talking, playing with a football, and non-stop eating :-D
I managed to get back into the city (Sydney, as known by people living in its surrounds) for free using a friends weekly transport pass that he didn't need - bargain! Stayed in the same place I had before, Maze. In the evening they had free goon (wine in 4/5 litre boxes) for an hour so a group of us went to a pub for that and after we had a killer pool competition. Me and two other English guys left and went to the club Scubar where I went with Mat before. When we were queueing outside I was sure I saw a face I recognised... then about two hours later when we were inside I saw the guy again and thought I recognised him from home so I went and talked to him and he worked on the tills at Waitrose -such a small world! I didn't get to bed til the wee hours and had to check out in the morning so did that and just slept on a sofa upstairs til lunchtime! It was the day of the Melbourne Cup which is massive throughout the whole of Australia. In the state of Victoria where it's held the whole state has a public holiday! As it was so big I thought I should watch the race, and in fact put a bet on. So I did and my horse won! Woohoo!
I left Sydney to Newcastle. No, not that one. Arrived in the late evening so went straight to bed. In the day I walked for km's and km's. Went down a Dawson St or something like that, apparently famous for food and ate there. Then took a long shortcut through a residential area to get to some beaches, ending up in Nobby Beach - so many places on the coast have a Nobby Beach, Nobby! On the way was a cool blowhole where the water was crashing against the rocks and up into the air like crazy - it was a windy day. At some of the beaches were walls where graffiti was legal, alongside beach-side skateparks which was pretty cool. Watched Reservoir Dogs in the evening before leaving for the bus.
Arrived at about 2am in Port Macquarie and walked to the hostel I'd previously booked with another girl who was on the bus staying there. I started my days walking through a nature reserve area, didn't see much wildlife apart from massive ants and loads of bats but it was a nice area. After that I went to a Koala Hospital, the only one of its kind in the world; it's a lot like a human hospital but for koalas. I went for the daily feeding and tour with talk, all by volunteers and boy do they love their koalas! Did you know 'koala' is aboriginal for 'no drink' because the koala rarely drinks - it instead gets the water it needs from the leaves it eats... yeah, how about that! In the evening I played pool with some people from the hostel and watched the movie 'Swat'.
Next stop: Coffs Harbour. Two English guys picked us up from the bus stop, they were really helpful telling us where everything was, what we could do and even drove us up to the top of a hill to look over the town. I did some supermarker shopping then got back to the hostel and watched some Family Guy with dinner :-D Then it was soon time for punch night! There was a big group of us round some tables and it was all you can drink. We played lots of card drinking games and got through about 100 litres of punch! Then we all made our way into town and went to a hotel's bar/club. It was pretty fun except one of the guys from the hostel had an ashtray broken over his face by some drunk idiot and broke his nose. But the guy got arrested and is facing jail time; serves him right.
Next day I woke up and went with a new friend to the beach. We went up and over a little hill and did some whale watching but failed as per usual. Back down to the beach where we hung around for a while and I did some jumping off the pier. Then we walked into the town and had coffee/hot chocolate sat in the sun. Getting a little frustrated at never seeing whales or dolphins we decided to go on a boat whale and dolphin watching tour the next morning, as we found a really good price. So we were up early and went out for two hours but I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN A WHALE OR DOLPHIN! What a let down. We did see a flying fish but that was all... oh, apart from a passenger cruiser which the lady running the tour got majorly over-excited about and got out the video camera and everything!
Then I arrived back here in Byron, where you'll all remember (right?) I've been before when Mat was here. Staying in a different hostel this time as they have free bike and surfboard hire. It's equally as good as the last place and is also right opposite the happening party bar in town, how convenient! The first day here I took out a bike and rode up to the lighthouse as we didn't make it last time. Was quite a tiring ride up, which took me to the most easterly point on mainland Australia, but the ride back was all downhill, nice and fast! In the late afternoon I booked some dates to go on some trips I've booked and roughly planned out the rest of my time in Australia and used the internet to start writing this and to book my rugby ticket for the coming Saturday! I played some basketball for the first time in aaages with some American guys and won every game :-) Still got it! Then myself and a group of guys I'd met wanted to have a BBQ so we walked round the corner to buy all the stuff. Had some really good meat, topped off with soem good Ozzie beer. Then it was onto the goon before going over the road to Cheeky Monkey's (aforementioned party bar) to dance the rest of the night away on the tables. Was with some people from Bristol and Bath, not far away from home! Everytime I'm with a group of people in Australia everyone is from one of England, Germany or Holland. Literally.
The next day I tried my luck at surfing again. The waves were really good... for a pro! So high, the real waves I've been wanting to see since getting here with the barrel's and everything. Hence I didn't have much luck, did manage to ride in a couple of waves but couldn't stand. Just riding lying on the board was enough fun though! That was my main activity of the day, also played some more basketball and football keepy-ups. Stayed in the hostel drinking in the evening but didn't go to Cheeky's.
Today I took a surfboard again with two friends but surf conditions were even worse, unrideable for pro's and amateurs alike, just too windy. It's what I often find out here (by the way, I'm not blaming it entirely on the waves, I do also know I suck... but you gotta keep trying!) Then I took a bike again and rode out of town. Found a cool country lane and just rode along it for km's, until it came to a dead end actually, then rode all the way back. I was trying to build up an appetite for some profiterole cake I'd seen earlier and decided to treat myself to. It worked and the cake was so worth it! Then came here to write this. Going over to Cheeky's with everyone tonight, I've got a free meal there and our hostel has VIP there tonight with free beer... it's gonna be a good one...!
posted by dan @ 5:18 pm
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Cheeky panda... this didn't even seem unusual at the time.
