Coogee so far....


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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Coogee Beach
May 5th 2009
Published: May 15th 2009
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After Cairns



The flight back to Sydney was a strange event being alone but I soon arrived back to my beloved Coogee and met up with Lizz, who had kindly offered her room for me to stay in. Straight away we got dressed and headed out for our Tuesday night at the Gaff!! It felt even stranger when we saw all the OzIntro staff out but we had a good night with our dancing and drinking lots of jagerbombs! Over the next few days, Lizz and I just chilled out and I got to meet her new housemates: Sian, Lindsay, Niki, Justin, Mark, Carly and Steve. A new housemate was welcomed whilst I was there also, an Aussie girl called Gen. Come that Friday however, the parentals arrived in Sydney and it was time for me to spend three weeks with them.

Australia with the parents



So after a mammoth taxi ride to find my parents hotel, the Sebel Pier One, I eventually arrived to a greeting of my parents waiting outside for me (I was fashionably late). Mum and I spent the next four days exploring Sydney occasionally with Dad but he was mostly working. We walked around the Botanical Gardens (mum and dad loved the bats) and Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and the Chinese Gardens, the shops around the city centre and we also made it all the way to Manly on the ferry! It was also nice to spend a few days experiencing nice food and expensive restaurants after my five months of bad, cheap stuff that sometimes could not even be classified as food.

After our time in Sydney, we headed back up to Cairns yet again, thought typically we left behind the sunny weather in Sydney! We hired the car at the airport and did the long and horribly windy road up to our eco-lodge; Thala Beach resort near Port Douglas. It was dark by the time we arrived at the resort so we got checked in, and went straight to bed.

The following ten days were spent enjoying the beautiful private beach the resort had to offer, journeying to Port Douglas to see the market and shops and making day trips to various places.

One day was spent doing the journey up to Kuranda. We splashed out on the first class train journey up to Kuranda which was just beautiful and we even got free Bucks Fizz! The journey took about two hours and the views were stunning. Once up there, we wandered around the town for a while and experienced the Aviary and Butterfly farm. Mum and Dad then went for a walk along the lake whilst I baked in the sun before it was time to take the long cable car home.

Another day was spent doing the awesome Great Barrier Reef trip. When we woke up, the weather outside left much to be desired and I was left feeling slightly down in the dumps. The coach picked us up and took us into Port Douglas, where we picked up our tickets and boarded the massive ferry to take us out to the reef. The organisation we had chosen to go with had a permanent platform out on the reef and by the time we arrived there, it had turned into a beautiful day. We got off the boat and onto the platform and headed downstairs to try the underwater boat trip. Though slightly claustrophobic, it was so beautiful under the water and afterwards, Mum and I decided to give the whole snorkelling gig a go. Naturally I was terrified but there was a little seat I could sit on and stick my head underwater and once I’d done it the first time, I was sorted. So mum and I swam out to sea (by about 10 metres) looking at the reefs and holding hands! It was just so amazing. The fish came freakishly close near the platform and the coral was just like nothing I had seen before! Though as soon as you put your head above the water it is scary to realise all that stuff was swimming around you! After we had dried off, dad treated us to a helicopter ride and to see the reef from the sky was just even more breathtaking. We did however see a shark swimming along, which I’m glad I saw after I had been snorkelling as I probably would not have gone in!! By the time the helicopter landed, it was time to head on back to the mainland.

We did several smaller day trips as well, one of which included a trip to a crocodile farm. Although a lot of fun, this mainly resulted in mum developing a fear of crocodiles as well as snakes! In the farm, we got to see all the monster crocs that had been captured after stories such as eating a local pet dog on Christmas day. We also got to do a boat ride through a croc river, where our driver made the crocs jump in the air to catch their food! One crazy show we saw also showed a man walking barefoot in a little pond which had a massive croc hiding in it! Crazy people.

Another day, we also did a mammoth driving trip as the parents wanted to see some of the Outback. So we jumped in the car and dad drove for a good few hours through rainforest into the beginnings of the outback. We reached our final destination though at Mt Carbine, where the track turned into dirt and apparently led all the way to Darwin.

After our 10 days in Thala Beach were up, we headed back down to Sydney and decided to spend Mum and Dads last few days in the Blue Mountains. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in Katoomba and luckily the weather was a million times better than when I had been here before with OzIntro. We did several easy walks and I took them to the Katoomba Skyworld centre with the worlds steepest train ride and a cable car with see-through floor!

After the blue mountains, it was time for Mum and Dad to go home. They dropped me back off in Coogee and at Lizz’s house and I quickly showed them Coogee and Bondi before we said our goodbyes.

Back to Sydney



After my parents left Australia, my life became fairly routine. I moved back in with Lizz in her place and it was quite a while before I found my own room somewhere, but I eventually did. I did find a job fairly easily and ended up working for 6 months in a Greek Restaurant called Skara Bar at The Spot in Randwick. To start with, I only worked a few nights a week as it was obvious to everyone that I really don’t like working but after New Year my workload increased dramatically with my need to save money for the rest of my travels! And thus, Skara Bar became like my second home. It was a family run business and everyone who worked there was just amazing. Plus the food was to die for and as a result, I left Sydney a few Kilos heavier than I arrived!

Sian, Lizz and I managed to spend the first three month we were in Coogee frequenting the usual haunts: Five’s (a $5 restaurant where our friends Chrissy, Ty and Tasha worked), the Palace, the Coogee Bay Hotel and every Tuesday night, the Gaff. Christmas Day I spent with Lizz and her housemates which was great. They even had a Christmas tree! In the morning, I opened my presents from the parents and then we all headed down to the beach for our Aussie style BBQ. Of course I got burnt (even though it was cloudy) and the day was called short by an excessive amount of drinking and the need to sleep!

New Years Eve resulted in me being without my beloved duo due to both of them having agreed to work! So I headed into the city at 8am with Carl and Tasha, who were back from Brisbane and there we met our American friend Lindsay and her friends to queue for the longest day ever! We were queuing to get in Macquarie’s point in the Botanical
My BirthdayMy BirthdayMy Birthday

Me, Lizz and Zoe
Gardens, a great viewpoint for the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the famous New Years Eve fireworks. We ended up queuing for 5 hours to get into the park and even when we had our spot, we had to wait 11 hours for the thing to start! It was a very long and very hot day but was so worth it. The fireworks were amazing. They were all around us and lasted a good ten minutes. Also Carl and Tasha got engaged which was so sweet, even though everyone (including Tasha) knew it was going to happen!

After New Year, things changed slightly. Lizz and Sian were kicked out of their house due to a long standing feud with their psycho neighbours (granted occasionally the boys would come back drunk and jump off their roof into the swimming pool). So I moved out of my place and the three of us got an apartment together behind the Coogee Bay Hotel which was sweet as. I ended up working a lot more hours and in my attempt to try and be frugal, I went out a lot less. We probably did spend a good drinking nights worth on renting DVD’s at times though.

My birthday in March was a fun affair. My best friend from work, an Australian called Zoë, decided she wanted to take me to see an English band she was in love with….McFly! So I agreed to go for her and got very drunk in the process but it was a really fun day! On my actual birthday a group of us; myself, Lizz, Sian, Alia, Carly, Lindsay, Alex, Zoë and my friend Laura from Perth, went to my restaurant for dinner before heading out for a few drinks!

After this it was then countdown until it was time to leave Coogee. Luckily, by the time Lizz and I had to leave, almost everyone had already gone! We said goodbye to Sian a few days before we set off for Melbourne, Gen came down from Newcastle to say goodbye with Mia, and on our last night we went to my restaurant to say goodbye to all the Skara Bar lot. Our 7 months in Coogee were then over and it was time to see the rest of Australia.



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Zoe and Dot

Behind the bar at Skara Bar


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