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Published: October 22nd 2007
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Eating out in Sydney
The McAuley family and the lads So off to backpack again after over 4 months of being settled, it just didnt suit us! We flew straight to Melbourne and met up with Edels sister Niamh and Gaven again for more crazy adventures! Arranged an apartment in St.Kilda for a few weeks and were quickly joined then by Edels parents Packie and Marge who decided the lure of Australia was too hard to turn down this year especially with both of their girlies over here! Did lots and saw lots including a short trip to Sydney where we did all the touristy stuff, me and Edel also went to see Snowpatrol here along with my cousin Melissa and some friends-amazing concert! (locked) Niamh and Gaven then left us but we kept busy exploring Sydney and Melbourne as well as going to the MCG twice to see the Socceroos lose 1-0 to a Lionel Messi inspired Argentina and also to watch the Kangaroos defeat Hawthorn to reach the AFL preliminary finals (its really a great game lads!)
It was also in St.Kilda where we purchased our stunning campervan (overlooked by Packies expert mechanical mind!) Ended up with a pure
Ramsay Street
I dont even watch Neighbours but was forced into this tour.. Edel and Niamh outside Harolds gaff bargain deal off some German girls, 'Scootie' was unveiled, a 1985 Toyota Liteace van with near a half million km on her but with as pure a heart as one might ask for (from a van) Thrown in was a boot full of camping gear, 2 tents, 2 small gas stoves, chairs, a foldup table, a cooler, and many other things, including some engineering wizardry which in just a few seconds transforms the back seat into a comfortable double bed. Luxury! So after a lot of drinking, sightseeing and travelling round Packie and Marge headed home leaving me and Edel and our first bog road trip began...
We left Melbourne and headed up to Sydney making 4 or 5 overnight stops along the way at some fantastic campsites and some great towns. Scootie proved her worth but not after a few minor hitches along the way. Got used to sleeping in the back-actually very comfortable. Scootie really is NOT a big fan of hills however, no matter how big or small and this can lead to some embarassing (Dumb and Dumber on the way to Aspen) style moments. On one occasion we were heading the queue
Snowpatrol concert
Melissa always has her eyes closed in photos as we took off from some road works, unfortunately this meant a hill start which Scootie disagreed with. This meant about half a mile of travelling at 20mph followed by a half mile long queue of traffic... When people finally got to pass us they proceeded to beep our poor van off the road, even more funnily it was Edel who was driving at the time and due to Scooties deficiencies we could not return their honking as our horn does not function at all!!
We spent our nights in Sydney in my cousin Enda's and his girlfriend Angela's place in Bondi. There we watched the Irish rugger buggers crumble yet again to the French. (So much for winning the world cup!!) After leaving Sydney we headed north in search of some badly needed sunshine, stopping in at Nelson Bay, Coffs Harbour and then Byron Bay (just south of Brisbane) as well as a quick overnight trip to the hippie town of Nimbin where everyone you pass is either stoned or trying to get you stoned! Its really quite funny as everyone knows about this and is still illegal but no sign of any cops despite
McAuleys at the Opera House
McAuleys at the Opera House the police station being right on the main st of the town!! Byron Bay is a really good town also with a beautiful long beach and loads of good pubs and cheap eateries! Here we decided to do a skydive (a spur of the moment decision really) We were really shitting the togs at the thought of jumping out of a 4-man paper airplane 8000-14000 ft above the earth but once we got into it it wasn't so bad! Edel did the normal skydive of 8000ft and I went for Oz's biggest of 14,000ft (or 4.5km)- the distance looks the same to the ground but the major difference is the freefall for Edel was 20sec and my freefall was 70 seconds! Anyway it was amazing- I recommend it to everyone, even saw whales breaching the waters of the ocean as we fell. Pure class!
Met some really sound people and stayed in some great campsites (and carparks!!) along the way. Some of these campsites are right on the beach with really good toilets, shower, kitchen, and bbq facilities. It makes living in the back of a van so much easier! Some even had swimming pools! Back
Socceroos at the MCG
Losing 1-0 to Argentina (the socceroos are as bad as Ireland lads) to Sydney then for our flight to New Zealand to see the country, everyone has been raving about it so it has lots to live up to! Cant wait, go on a session with Dan (weren't u supposed to be in NZ?!?) and Amy again before we head off. So its New Zealand next....
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Hoppy
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Ramsey Street......where all injuries disappear of so i'm told eh!!!!!!