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Published: December 26th 2006
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Happy Christmas everybody! Hope you all had a lovely day eating your roast turkey and Christmas pud! Well, we spent the day on the beach at Byron Bay. We had bbq'd seafood, lobster, prawns etc, and lots of champagne, wearing santa hats (everyone wears them here). It was fantastic, although very strange being on the beach in lovely weather, and going for a swim in the sea in the afternoon.
Well, to update you on what's been happening since we arrived in Australia. Exhausted after our long flight from Bangkok, and with a rather wet Lucy (Little Miss Calamity strikes again, managing to spill boiling coffee over herself on the flight!) we finally arrived at our destination Sydney, Australia.
After consulting a fellow travellers Lonely Planet we decided on Crunella as our first port of call, backpacks back on backs we caught the train to Crunella. As much as Crunella was a nice place and the beach was gorgeous we only stayed there a couple of days and decided to move into a central Sydney hostel. We shared a 6 bed dorm with some nice girls and spent a few days seeing the sights of Sydney, see photos.
On the Saturday night we decided to have a big night out in the city, starting at Home Bar on the harbour with a Melon Crush cocktail. Feeling a little light headed after our rather large cocktail we left the harbour and set off into the city, bumping into a couple of ozzies who were desparate to gain entrance into the Retro club. Always willing to assist in a crisis we agreed to go to the club with them so that they could get in, as they weren't allowed in without girls. What a big mistake! Once inside, although they had paid us in and bought us drinks, we made our excuses and left. This is one place we won't be visiting again. We set off to find a better venue, only to be refused entry to all bars as they require ID, even if you do look old enough. A call of nature, then one final attempt was a necessity, stopping at Jacksons on George Street we tried once more, and succeeded. Hoorah! Ended up having a fun night in there, as we met some Ozzies who kept us entertained. And one of them even lived in London for
a year, and worked in an office in Archway, 2 mins away from my old flat! Small world. After a proposal of marriage for Lucy and a lot more vodka, we ended the night with a good old McDonalds. Yum Yum!
The following day the sun was shining, so we took the bus to Bronte beach. Chilling out in the sun we watched the surfers trying to pick up tips for our own surfing trip. Promising ourselves a quiet night for our last night in Sydney we decided to go to the hostel bar 'Scubar' for a FEW beers. A FEW pitchers of beer later, and we were stealing santa hats from the bar staff.
Monday morning and we were up bright and early to catch our 7.30am Surfaris bus for our surfing trip from Sydney to Byron. Piling onto the bus with our fellow potential surfers we set off on our long journey to Plummer Point four hours north of Sydney. In an effort to get to know everyone on the trip was all had to swap seats and learn the names of everyone....a lot of names to remember, but we got there, and everyone was great,
a fun bunch of people. We pitched our tents, and were straight in for our first surfing lesson at 6pm. We were all very keen to get in and give it a go. Had a bit of trouble warming up afterwards so we piled on the jumpers which we had to borrow off the boys, and huddled around the fire. So the next fews days we spent camping, surfing and having fun. Our instructors, Pat, Plenko and Kyle were great guys and made it very enjoyable. We can just about stand up on a surf board now, which is the most amazing feeling. Had a few scary moments with big waves, but we all looked out for eachother. Once we got to Byron we all booked into the Arts Factory hostel, having a hot shower was a luxury. Can you believe I didn't wear makeup for the entire trip, and only had one cold shower. So all clean and not actually recognising eachother looking normal, we had a civilised dinner at a table, and watched the film of our surfing trip. We then went out to a club called Cheeky Monkeys which was great fun. In this club the dancefloor
Home Bar, Darling Harbour
Off the budget for one night only is actually tables. So as soon as we got in there we were UP on the dancefloor, it's pretty funny dancing, and trying to keep your balance to not fall off the table. It was a great night and a fantastic end to the trip. Thanks Surfaris!
So, most people from our trip left the following morning, back to Sydney. Me, Lucy, Tom (from Ware in Hertfordshire, same place as Claire!), Christian (German), Stian (Norwegian) and Gareth from Southampton stayed on. We've spent the time until now with them on the beach and drinking in the evening, playing silly drinking games. And we spend yesterday with them too.
So, that brings us up to date. I've put in some pics to keep you amused. But more will follow, as this computer is very slow at uploading them.
Hope you're all well! Lots of Love to you all xxx
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Kev B
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Memories!
Ah, it brings back memories!! Do they still do crab racing in Scubar? Glad you are having a great time. Happy New Year!! K