Lovely Beach, Crappy Hostel

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February 7, 2010
I’m waiting for my train to Coffs Harbour with Charlotte, Ryan & our newest addition Allisandro (or Alli).
Alli is 26 from northern Italy and looks just like me! A blonde haired, blue eyed, pale Italian, who would’ve guessed?! He is about to move to London to work in investment banking I believe so before he does he’s taking a 1 ½ month vacation, nice. He seems to have some money but the only reason he stays at hostels is to meet people. His accent is not Italian at all however because he studied in Quebec for a while where he learned French so his English accent sounds like a mix between Canadian, French and Italian. Very nice boy, speaks English very well but doesn’t understand it all the time. It’s hilarious because although we’re all speaking English I frequently have to translate between Charlotte & Ryan and Alli because Alli can’t understand anything they say in their thick Birmingham accents! It drives Charlotte crazy to the point where she’ll avoid talking to him lol.

Although the hostel we just came from was crap the beach was great however I only got to enjoy it for one day because it rained all day yesterday! We all were so bored going crazy with nothing to do. I played Chinese Checkers with Jess on Skype and won (of course), I’m currently undefeated with Jess and Chris so if anyone wants to challenge me find me on skype: meganpd and just try to beat me!
Despite the rain we went walking in it just to do anything! We made our way to the mall where I bought another bikini, again the largest they carry…just crazy. I warned Charlotte and Ryan not to get mall Chinese food but they didn’t listen so ended up eating questionable “meat” and spitting out many chewy pieces…now I think they’ve learned their lesson to listen to the smart American! We walked back and I went out alone to get some food that I didn’t have to wonder what was in it and came so close to playing a keyboard! I finally found a music shop, walked in, went to sit at the keyboard, asked how to turn it on and he said, “We’re closing”….mind you it was 2pm. Stupid rainy beach town…So I headed back to the crappy hostel.

Later the 3 of us decided we wanted to go bowling which was a bit of a walk but we thought we could take it. We started our second trek o the day, through the rain towards any sort of entertainment we could find! We stopped at an Irish pub for drinks and pizza first and found some very interesting company. A very drunk English man liked Ryan quite a bit and claimed to have played for the Liverpool Football (soccer) team back in the day…he’s gone a long way from being a famous soccer player, now he sings the Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” to strangers in a bar in the middle of nowhere.

After the meal the walk went on…and on…and on…and on some more. We followed Ryan down treacherous streets with no walk ways where we almost died several times and then finally…we decided to turn around because it was too far away. Instead we went to McDonalds for McFlurries…much better plan.

When we finally returned to the hostel I think me and Charlotte had lost our minds because in a ridiculous conversation with a man who worked at the hostel we managed to bring ourselves to tears laughing at absolutely nothing. I assured the man we were not under the influence of any substances but it really didn’t appear that way. Poor Ryan has to deal with the 2 of us all the time now, we can be quite embarrassing I’m sure 😊

And now we wait for the train…the only bus that could bring us to the train station left at 9am. It was a 20 minute drive and our train doesn’t leave till 1:45pm….and we’re in the middle of nowhere…and it’s Sunday so everything that is here is closed…we luckily found a place to have breakfast and after checking hotels for pianos we came back to wait more hours in the train station completely empty with the exception of us and the giant parrots squawking in the trees.

Finally arrived at the hostel, sooo much nicer than the ones we've been at thank God! We got a family sized room by luck so its the 3 of us in a large room with a tv and fan right next to the pool! Tomorrow better be a sunny day so I can get back on the beach!!!

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