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Published: August 17th 2014
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Good Morning or evening to those back home,
These last few weeks I have been doing something a little different from the norm so I thought I'd take some time out to write about it.
Australia had yet another Pommie coming to its fair shores, all the way from Willenhall. My partner in crime Danielle arrived late on Tuesday evening and I felt obliged to meet her at the airport suited and booted to blend in amongst the taxi drivers. After searching for about a minuite she found me amongst the cab drivers holding a sign with her name on it.
The next few days were spent showing the tourist around Sydney, taking her to the Iconic sights ( harbour bridge/opera house) the city had to offer and showing her the walking tour that I had done in my first days in Australia.
Leaving little room for recovering from any Jet-Lag, our Flights to Brisbane were booked for 9am Friday morning. The plan was to Fly to Brisbane ( with Tiger-air) and have a minibus take us to Byron Bay. This all went to plan and we Arrived in Byron Bay about 3ish.
Our
Accommodation for the two nights was Cape Byron Lodge. This being the first time Danielle had stopped in a Hostel, I threw her in at the deep-end and put her in a 8 room mixed sex dorm to experience a little bit of backpackerness. After making our Beds and having a brief sit down it was around 5pm and we decided to go take a stroll around Byron Bay and get some food. Byron Bay and Nimbin has a reputation for its laid back ' no worries' culture and it was interesting to see people with long hair and no shoes on pacing the streets. I think the word Bohemian would describe it well. We chose a reasonably priced restaurant and dined on Fish and Chips whilst the 200 birds or so squarked on the tree above the canopie outside the cafe.
Tired from our travels we went back to the lodge via a bar called Cheeky Monkeys- a Backbackers Bar with an over-enthusiastic DJ who just wouldn't be quiet. We had a few discounted Schooners and then retreated back.
The next day we woke up to eat some Free Pancakes - free is always welcomed unless its
a cold or something nasty. After consuming my own body weight in flour we decided that we would make a picnic and walk up to the focal point of Byron Bay which is an old light-house on the top of a hill. The top of this hill is also Australia's most easterly point which i thought was quite cool. From the top we spent about an hour eating our cheese sandwhiches and looking out for whales which come inland this time of year to mate. If truth be told we didn't see any whales but quite a few dolphins. At one point we saw a big squirt of water which Danielle overheard a Japanese mom tell her son was the 'blow off' from a whale. The sun was out and the beaches glistened in a golden hue.
We planned on getting a coach to Surfers Paradise in the afternoon, leaving the morning to stroll around the Market which happens on the first Sunday of every month. The weather took a turn for the worst and in the end we were huddled under a tent to get out the rain listening to a folk band whilst warming up drinking chai
tea. With the hippy food on offer ( tofu/organic/wheatgrass) and the pouring rain, it reminded me somewhat of Glastonbury! We caught the bus to Surfers Paradise on the gold coast and spent the rest of the day milling around the hostel and going to a nice Italian Restaurant in the town centre.
As the place was called Surfers Paradise, we thought we might experience a little bit of paradise and booked ourselves on a surfing lesson. The weather on that day was windy and overcast which meant the waves and current were strong. It was great fun and I am pleased to say that I managed about 5 seconds standing up on the board and Danielle about two :D Surfing is really strenuous, with Danielle being battered and bruised from falling off the board. I think we were both in bed asleep for about 9pm that night!
One evening we decided to try a restaurant that was about 500m away from our hostel called Hooters. This was an American themed restaurant and the scantily clad waitresses dress down for the occasion.
After stopping in Hostels and Budget Accommodation for the last 5 nights, I decided to treat
to us to a ' Deluxe Suite' on Brisbane's highest building- Infinity. We caught the bus and train to Brisbane and checked in to our nice apartment, bouncing up and down on the amazingly comfy beds. Beforehand as we had a day to kill in surfers paradise before moving on, we decided to go to a shopping precinct at the end of town that had some reduced factory outlets. However we soon realised that the leaflet we had picked up was out of date and that all the bus stop locations had been jiggled around since the arrival of the new tram system. We spent a good half an hour trying to find a bus stop to the shopping centre only to give up, go for a walk along the beach and grab a coffee so it wasn't all bad :D
I think surfers paradise would have been much much better during the summer, the fact that we went out of season and it was rainy/ overcast didn't do the place much justice. Perhaps I will return later in November.
The highlights of our three days in Brisbane include going to Lone Pine koala sanctuary to
feed some Kangaroos and cuddle some Koalas. It was scorching hot that day and even though were about 10 miles outside of Brisbane, it felt like it was in the Outback! On the second day we climbed the Story Bridge- The second highest climbable bridge in the world. The views were stunning and we gloated as they pointed out the highest skyscraper in the city- our Hotel!Danielle and I ate as the natives did and feasted upon shepherds pie and gravy, washed down with a few pints of Ale ( Kopperberg for the lady) in a pub called The Pig and Whistle
On our last day in Brisbane we had a walk around the Botanical Gardens and had the worlds most boring tour, our tour guide being a 70 year old Brisbaner with a passion for the Latin names of plants. The content of his tour was relatively interesting but his voice was enough to send an insomniac to sleep.
On the Sunday I did the running race City2surf, a large event which goes from the Central Business District (CBD) to Bondi Beach. It was an amazing atmosphere with 80,000 people partaking, although it was a tad crowded.
On the next day to shake off the sore legs we walked along the costal path from Coogee to Bondi. I may have miscalculated the length of time to do this walk and what i said would take about an hour took 2 and a half. Still a nice walk though, if not a little breezy. Danielle finally got to do her shopping as we went to Bondi Junction after the walk.
On Tuesday the weather looked good and being in good spirits we went to Manly for the day. Unfortunately big black clouds hung in the sky as we arrived and a downpour meant a hasty retreat to Max Brenner for lashing and lashings of chocolate and coffee( note the famous five reference there.) To top what was a fantastic trip Wednesday was spent shopping for gifts at the famous Paddies Market. Later on that evening we got dressed up in our posh frocks and went for dinner at the revolving cafe at Sydney Tower. Yummy ( kangaroo/ croc and emu) food followed by a few drinks around Newtown.
Being the Pom's last day in Australia, we paid homage to the stereotype of Australians and had a
Barbie on the Beach courtesy of a static electric BBQ provided by the Randwick Council. Our presence attracted the attention of a mass of pigeons and seagulls as well as two pesky Ibis Birds. Cover the bread rolls quick!
I am more then half way through my stint at the Council and in a few weeks i'm going to start planning where to travel to next. Word on the grapevine is to head to Brisbane to meet up with Kirsty and head north to Cairns but we shall see.
JJ
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