AUSTRALIA - Sydney, Byron Bay & Brisbane

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Our flight from Bangkok to Sydney was pretty quick, and did not give us much chance to sleep, because of the 4 hour time difference, it meant the whole night went through in about six hours, so by the time we finished watching a movie and having some food, it was time to land in an hour or so. We had a bit if a delay though, and we ended up landing in Melbourne for a couple of hours until the fog at Sydney airport cleared up. So about four hours later than scheduled, we landed in Sydney, and after a painful wait in the quarantine queue Ali picked us up at the airport and we went to his place in Neutral Bay going through the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour bridge while the mist was still lifting up.
Sydney
After dropping our stuff at Ali and Leslie's place we went out for a little drive to Manly, a nice area on the north of Sydney, with a great beach full of surfers. It wasn't exactly hot, eventhough the sun was out, so we had no plans of jumping in the water, but the waves definitely looked tempting for a first surf lesson.
We went for a nice lunch in Manly and some beers, and then went for to some cliffs by the sea to see the sunset with the whole of Sydney and the bay in the background. To finish up the evening we got some food and had a BBQ at the flat with some nice Aussie wine. Any self respected home in Australia has a BBQ, even if it is in the balcony. And in true Scottish fashion (Ali McCall) we finished up with a few single malts... I can't remember the name of that whiskey Ali, but it was great! you will have to remind me for the future.
The next morning we had a relaxing morning to catch up with some sleep and feeling at home after such a long time of staying in hotels and hostels. Eventually we managed to get out of the house at about 1pm to head into central Sydney. We got the bus to Wynyard, and then walked around the city going through Cockle bay, where we had some takeaway fish'n'chips while fighting off the seagulls that were ready to pounce on any piece of food (or anything that looked like food). We walked through the centre, the cathedral, Queen Victoria building, Martin Place, and ended up in the Botanical Gardens. We managed to take a walk in the gardens before they closed at about 6pm, and we got a bit of a shock when we saw this large tree full of large hanging 'fruits'... until we noticed the large fruits started to move. The large fruits that looked like bats were actually large fruit bats, with huge wings and red hairy backs. There were also these huge white Cockatoos flying around the park. We had definitely entered Jurassic land in Oz, where animals seem to be double the size.
After the Botanical Gardens we passed through the Opera House as it got dark, and took on the amazing views of the Harbour Bridge and all the surroundings.
We then met up with Ali and Leslie at a pub and went for some pizza in The Rocks, watched the 'State of Origin' rugby game and then went to watch Leslie at her night basketball game before we went home to go to bed after little whiskey with Ali and another chat reminiscing of the old days in school and talking traveling around the world.
The next day once again we found it hard to get up early and go out... the feeling of being at home was too good, and Ali and Leslie really made us feel at home for at least the four days we spent there. So after a lazy morning, we finally made it out of the house, specially considering the sun was shining after another foggy Sydney winter morning. We went to see the Harbour bridge, but after finding out how expensive it was to do a 'climb the bridge' tour, we decided to go up one of the side towers, which was much cheaper and just as good for a good view of Sydney harbour, the city centre and the Opera House. We were quickly realising how expensive it was going to be to travel around Australia, so we were going to have to watch our spending if we wanted to stick to our tight budget.
After that we walked until we made back to the Opera House in the evening, and then got on a ferry to Neutral Bay. That night went out with Leslie to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, Ali was not around, so no whiskey before bedtime.
On Friday we managed to get out of the house a little earlier... we were heading to Taronga Zoo. The day was sunny but quite chilli. We got the bus there after waiting for about 40 minutes... but we had a great time at the zoo, seeing all the strange Australian animals like Platypus (Ornitorrinco) Equidna, Emus, Wombat, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Dingos, and of course the cutest of all, the Koala. After a few hours there we went back to the house in the afternoon, and cooked some Carbonara with Ali and Leslie with a nice bottle of wine. Then we got on to the beers and got ready to go clubbing at a latin place called 'La Cita'. We had a great time dancing, drinking and chatting, and I just remember that I got back home quite drunk. Unfortunately the next morning we had to get up quite early to pack our bags and get to the airport to go to Byron Bay... the headache was quite a powerful one, but there was no option.
After considering various forms of transport to get around Australia, we decided to go by plane. The alternatives were Greyhound Bus, or car rental. They were both more expensive and more time consuming. So for a quick and hassle free travel up to Queensland and further north, the cheap flights seemed to be the better option.
Byron Bay
The flight to Byron Bay was straight forward, and at 4pm we were in Byron after catching a minibus from Ballina airport (30 minutes) and finding a hostel to stay. We ended up going to the YHA, which had a swimming pool, free bicycles and boogy boards, and a great large clean kitchen to cook our food. The prices were not what we had been used to in Asia, so going out to restaurants was not part of the plan anymore. That afternoon we went for a walk around the town, saw the sunset at the beach, and did some shopping to have food to cook at the hostel.
Byron was quite a cool little town, with easy going streets full of bars, restaurants, surf shops... and travel agencies! But Byron is definitely the hippie capital of Australia, you can see all the chilled out long haired and bearded old men with wraggy clothes hanging around the beach. There are also quite a few drunks hanging around in the streets at night (and in the mornings too), but it just adds to the bohemian spirit of the place.
On Sunday we tried to find a place to watch the World Cup qualifier football game between Colombia and Peru, but it wasn't being shown anywhere, so we had to get updates from Ali on the Phone. It was good the result was a draw, otherwise Leslie would not have let us stay back at their place (Leslie is from Peru). In the afternoon we got some bikes from the hostel and went up to the lighthouse. The view from up there was spectacular, and we even got the chance to see some whales jumping around in the distance.
The next day it was time to hit the beach, we got out free boogy boards, hired some wet suits (the sea is pretty cold in the winter) and spent the whole day getting bashed around by the waves, and lying down sucking up the sun. The next morning I felt like I had been run over by a truck, but I did manage to catch a load of good waves . The surf lessons were cancelled though because of the rough tide.
The last day in Byron we went for a walk in the beach although the weather was not the best... we got a bit of rain on us after three great sunny days. We went to see some surfers at a point at the end of the beach, and we got the added bonus of seeing a load of dolphins swimming around and catching the waves with the surfers, they were just a few metres away from them, it was amazing!
That afternoon we caught the 'Byron to Brisbane' bus... to Brisbane of course. After the two hour ride we got to Brisbane at about 6pm where Tash was waiting for us at the bus stop.
Brisbane
After Tash picked us up we got the train and a bus to her place and she cooked some nice food for us. Her place is a beautiful flat in an 'antique' Art Deco building in the New Farm area of Brisbane. Again we were feeling at home, which feels great in a trip like this every now and again. The next day we had a lazy morning at home, while Tash went to work... in the afternoon we met up with Amber in town. Tash´s flat is right next to the river, so we took the CityCat (Catamaran) to meet up with her. The weather was not the best, so we spent a while in a pub having a beer... Amber was also a bit shocked at the price of things in Australia after just one year away. In the evening we met up with Tash after work and went home with some takeaway pizza and some beers to chill out.
On Thursday we were meeting up with Iain... who came to the flat early in the morning and had to get us out of bed to get going. We went to The Valley for breakfast at Fat Ricks, and then went for a drive with Iain around the outskirts of Brisbane... Mt.Cootha, Mt. Glorious, and to a really nice roadside cafe where we had lunch. Again, the weather was not the best, and the reputation of the Sunshine State (Queensland) was completely shattered. On Friday we went out for a walk around Kangaroo Point, along the south bank of the river. This time the sun did shine, and we got to feel the relaxed and free outdoors feeling of living in Brisbane, with all the river walks all along the river and green areas just next to the city centre. Eventually it did pour down with rain for a while in the afternoon.
We met up with Tash after work, met some other friends of hers, had some beers, and went for dinner at a really nice place in the West End. After that we finished at a bar for some cocktails, which was probably a bit too much luxury for our tight budget, especially considering Australia was the most expensive country so far. At this point I was also suffering a bit from a soar throat and a bit of a cold, which I think started with the sea water bashing my throat while getting rolled around by the waves in Byron all day. And the cold nights and beers were not really helping.
The last day in Brisbane (Saturday) we went out with Tash for a walk around the valley, and for her favourite passtime... shopping! Well, we didn´t really do any shopping, just window.
In the afternoon we went for lunch at a local bowling club, and played some lawn bowls and then went home quite tired after soaking up too much sun. We had a relaxing evening at home having a curry and talking before going to bed to get some rest for the next part up the trip further north in Australia.

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