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Published: January 4th 2007
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Byron
Marijke the surf chick. Brisbane
After leaving NZ and before going to Fiji, we spent 1 day in Brisbane. We were invited over to the place of Gabriel, a (former) Belgian, who has lived in Oz for over 20 years.
In the evening we had a Belgian/Oz BBQ with some other Belgians who came to live here. It was a lot of fun but with some interesting discussions (Belgian politics for expats, Where's the oldest Manneke Pis in Belgium?? It's in Geraardsbergen btw).
10 days later we arrived back from Fiji in Brisbane. This is the place where I ended up in the hospital almost exactly 6 months ago.
The place brought back a lot of bad memories for Marijke and me. More over we ended up in hostel (Tinbilly: Don't go there) with really unfriendly (non-Australian) staff, so we decided not to spent too much time there.
The next morning was spent booking buses and hostels to Sydney, where we would arrive on X mass. As it's peak season, that was not so easy. It seems all the travellers in Oz were moving towards Sydney. In the afternoon we went on a little walk of Brisbane.
It still is really strange
Byron
Byron beach to us to see all the Xmas decorations while it's summer and so hot outside. Seeing a fully dressed Santa run for cover during a tropical thunder storm is not really what I associate Xmas with.
The Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise
Miami Beach (mini) or Benidorm in Australia that's what the Gold Coast is like. Not really my favourite destination but the reason we hopped off the bus was that I really wanted to go to the big theme parks there.
When I was a kid I always wanted to go to one of the big American theme parks and I was told that the parks here were that style. We chose to go to 'Dreamworld'. It was a lot of fun even though I was a bit disappointed with the size...I imagined it all to be bigger.
Two things were really amazing though; the 'tower of terror and the 'interactive tiger show'.
Byron Bay
This nice little beach town is probably the nicest town I've seen in Oz so far. Gorgeous beaches and an awesome laid back vibe. It used to be a hippy town and one can still see and feel
Oz
More Byron beach that.
Marijke took some yoga classes and was surprised it wasn't all about 'relaxing'. The next day despite all the sore muscles she took her first surfing lesson, while I spent the morning walking all the beaches and hills in Byron ( about 6 km) trying to find her to take some pictures. I found her just before the end of her class and she was standing up for sure.
The next day I did the whole hike again with Marijke. This time I didn't need to run and had time to take some pictures.
Newcastle
After some sleep on the night bus we arrived in Newcastle, a quiet little town a couple of hours above Sydney. This is where we would spend X mass eve. For Marijke it was her 1st Christmas away from home, so we tried to make our room feel a bit like home. Check out the picture of our Xmas corner (my hiking socks, a small tree cut from a newspaper ad and a plastic bag shopping bag... and some presents of course.
On x mass eve we went to check out a wildlife park and got to see some
Byron
The most eastern point in Oz. Cape Byron. koala's up really close... and for once these furry creatures were active (they sleep 20 hrs a day). We even saw some jump from one tree to another. Marijke was happy to see her little friends again. After a walk in the pouring rain and missing a couple of busses we finally got back to the hostel just in time for some appetizers before our 'free x mass eve meal' at the Irish pub. The company wasn't too great so we quickly escaped the pub for dessert back at the hostel: hot apples and custard...delicious. After that it was 'present' time.
On x mas morning after a great pancake (self made) breakfast we went over to the bus station to catch the bus to Sydney. We had the big bus almost to our selves and arrived in Sydney one hour early.
Sydney
Sydney is a really popular place during the holiday season and is always completely booked. We booked our beds in November so we shouldn't have anything to worry about. However it took us about an hour to get checked in. During that time Marijke ran into Michael again. Michael and his sister travelled
with us for 3 weeks in NZ and was now in Sydney to catch his flight home.
We decided to do what every backpacker in Sydney does on X mas; go to Bondi beach. This famous beach features every year in the Belgian news with a surfing or swimming Santa Claus. The whole thing looks a lot like a European summer festival: loud music, thousands of backpackers on the beach and strict security checks (no alcohol allowed but still a lot of drunks). It's X mas so there are also thousands of 'Santa hats', Santa life guards and even police horses with reindeer horns.
We went for a nice coastal walk before heading back to the city to look for some food (not easy to find on X mas day). Later that night we went over for some sights of Harbour Bridge and Opera house at night.
Boxing Day (2e kerst) we spent running around the city: Darling Harbour, The rocks, the Bridge, the Opera house and the botanical gardens... it was very hot and we were totally exhausted by 3 pm.
Our last day (for now) in Sydney we spent most of our time doing practical
byron
watching the sun set while we wait for our night bus. stuff like trying to arrange our further travels and sending stuff home. Marijke found a little bit of time to check out the sales while I tried to get some sleep. The next day would be another early rise (4.30 am) to catch a plane to Adelaide for a big reunion we were both really looking forward to
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marie cl.
non-member comment
IJSBEREN
te oostende zijn ze met nieuwjaar al heel tevreden met een paar honderd pootje-baders, maar daar zeg. ongeloofelijk zoveel onverschrokken durvers,