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Published: April 3rd 2009
Byron Bay
The beach.Byron Bay
We left Surfer´s Paradise behind, in the hope that we could also leave the constant rain behind. However, arriving in Byron Bay late at night, we were resigned to the torrential rain bouncing off the pavements. Following an argument between me and the guy on reception at the hostel (I don´t understand why they need to keep passports overnight the first night, to simply jot down the information and hand them back the following morning. So there.) we were shown to our room which had a terrifying spider dangling from the window. Fortunately on the other side of the glass.
My passport-stealing, aging-hippy friend on reception and his friend relished advising us that the rain was here to stay and that we wouldn´t see a glimmer of sunshine for at least a week. We practically had to restrain Louise from jumping on the next flight to Alice Springs in the Red Centre, the only place sunshine is guaranteed (unless I´m there, resulting in the heaviest rainfall for 30 years).
Miraculously though, the rain cleared by morning and we had beautiful weather for a few days in Byron Bay. Byron Bay reminds me of coastal towns in Cornwall
Byron Bay Lighthouse
We walked up there. Well, we got a taxi up and walked down. - beautiful beaches, rocky cliffs, nice little shops and - the ultimate seaside town accessory - a lighthouse. It is full of hippies who have basically hung around singing Bob Dylan songs since the 70s (that isn´t even a joke). It could be accused of being touristy, although is large enough that you don´t feel as though you´re fighting through hoardes of camera-toting tourists. Apparently builders are prohibited from building over a certain height, so it maintains a feeling of quaintness. If that´s actually a word.
We spent our days lounging on the beach, eating fish & chips, wandering round the lighthouse and browsing in the shops. The hostel we stayed in was nice enough although, as with all hostels on the east coast of Australia, full of British kids on a gap year. The east coast seems to be the place for 18 year old rich kids from the UK to go and basically exist in a drunken stupor for a few months before University. Fair enough, but it can be a bit wearisome for anyone a) not 18, b) not in a drunken stupor (at least, not during the day) and c) not having hearing adapted to
Nimbin
Yet another beautiful day for sightseeing. screeching voices at treble the necessary decibel level. Yes, I am aware what I sound like and no, I don´t care. Moan over.
Nimbin
One of the highlights of Byron Bay was the daytrip we took to nearby Nimbin. If we thought Byron Bay was the epitome of left-over hippie culture, we had clearly been smoking too much. Nimbin was apparently a sleepy wee village until May 1973, when the hippies invaded and held the Aquarius Festival. Following the festival, many decided to stay, form communes and buy land. It has been a long summer of love for the residents of Nimbin.
Arriving in Nimbin is like stepping back 30 years, if you can get past the grey-haired locals. The village essentially consists of one main street, full of little craft shops, cafes and a museum. From the second we stepped foot off the bus we were offered a large variety of drugs. It was probably more blatant than Amsterdam. The police clearly tolerate it - despite live camera links from the police station to every shop.
I´m not sure what I think about Nimbin. As the child of hippies, I should probably have been inspired by
Nimbin: Me in the Rainbow Cafe
The Cafe was, like, totally far out man. Or at least the staff were. the lifestyle - after all, it is a beautiful, laid-back place. Instead though, I found myself wishing I´d seen it when it was relevant and also wishing that some of the locals would cut their hair. I´m sure my parents will be disappointed at my slightly right-wing attitude. See what happens when you don´t bring hippy kids up somewhere like Nimbin?
Newcastle
We had decided to stop off in Newcastle, an industrial port north of Sydney, in order to do a wine tour in the nearby Hunter Valley. Our time was running short so we planned to jump on a tour immediately after getting off the overnight bus from Byron Bay. Typically though, the bus broke down in the middle of the night and we were too late to join a tour.
Instead, we planned to just spend a day wandering round the city although didn´t bank on the hostel mixing up our booking and putting us in a room we weren´t happy with. Our finely-honed negotiating skills resulted in the manager giving our room away to other people, meaning we had nowhere to sleep. Lawyers should not be allowed to backpack. In a fit of pique, we
Sydney Opera House
With me and Louise in front. Along with various other tourists. jumped on the next train to Sydney and so saw very little of Newcastle. It didn´t really look that exciting anyway (or so we told ourselves).
Sydney
And so to Sydney. Seeing the famous sights made us feel that we were actually in Australia. As picturesque as the rest of the coast is, there is something fundamentally Australian about the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We took an obscene amount of photos of these landmarks - even I get bored looking through them.
Not only did we take photos of Sydney Harbour Bridge, we climbed it as well. When Ross and I left Balfour + Manson, the staff very generously clubbed together and bought us gift certificates, allowing us to climb the bridge. Louise (reluctantly) decided to join us. So, courtesy of Balfour + Manson, we donned the glamorous suits, attached ourselves to the internal structure with a chain and started to climb.
Physically, it was much easier than any of us feared. Of course it´s very high, but the guide insisted the group take it slowly. The views are incredible and everyone felt a great sense of accomplishment when we reached the top. Even I
didn´t object to the cheering and high five moments. We spent a decent amount of time at the top, taking in the panorama of the skyline all around and the harbour below. Obviously we couldn´t take our cameras with us in case we killed someone on the ground (we even had to take our watches off) but we each have souvenir photos taken by the guide.
Given we had done the ultimate tourist duty with regards to the Bridge, our minds turned to the Opera House. Louise very kindly surprised us with tickets to see... opera at the Opera House. Naturally. We saw The Magic Flute which was really good: easy to follow (for an ignoramus like me), funny (who knew there could be comedy in opera) and impressive music. I even recognised one of the songs - no doubt from a cigar advert or something similar. The singer has to reach notes that are practically off the scale.
All this culture was a bit much, so we made sure we dumbed ourselves down by lying on beaches and eating ice cream. We were a bit disappointed by Bondi Beach as it´s much smaller and dare I say
Bondi Beach
Me checking for shark fins. tackier than expected. We didn´t even see proper lifeguards. I was also a bit worried about sharks - a surfer had his arm bitten off at Bondi the week before. Apparently he wasn´t very far out. I spent much of my time staring obsessively at the water.
We all preferred Manly Beach. To get to Manly, we had to take a ferry across the harbour which was nice. Manly is also slightly tacky compared to the towns we had experienced further north, but the beach seemed a bit nicer than Bondi.
The other main attraction in Sydney was meeting up with friends, old and new. We met my friend from school, Chelsae, whom I hadn´t seen for almost 13 years (and who hasn´t changed much, other than the fact she works in fashion which makes me slightly jealous) and Claire and Mairead, two girls from Northern Ireland whom we all met in South Africa (including Louise) when travelling up the Garden Route. It was really nice seeing everyone and hearing their Sydney stories.
Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains are located not too far from Sydney, so we decided to take a tour. I could tell it was
The Three Sisters
Me pretending I knew the Three Sisters were mountains and not just a pub in Edinburgh (and yes, I know there are mountains in Scotland called the Three Sisters too. I can use google.). going to be a long day when the tour guide kept loudly shouting ¨Let´s hear it for the team!¨every five minutes. Suffice to say, he was met with blank stares. I felt a bit sorry for him but it was first thing in the morning.
The Blue Mountains themselves are an amazing sight. The Three Sisters tower impressively in the centre. The tour guide showed us the route we were to walk to get to Katoomba Scenic Railway Station, where we could choose to walk back up the way we came or get the train up to the top. The walk to the station was almost all downhill. That sounds easy enough but it involved walking down thousands of uneven, rocky steps. I think everyone´s legs were a bit weary by the bottom. Not a single person in our tour group decided to walk back up.
Of course, this decision could have been to do with the extreme thunderstorm and monsoon-style rain that started as we were walking to the station. Fortunately we made it to the shelter just in time. Louise was not at all pleased to discover that the Katoomba Scenic Railway is the steepest in
Blue Mountains
At least Ross´ top is blue - the rest just looks grey. the world. Riding the train feels like a rollercoaster. I think Louise had her eyes shut during most of the (extremely short) journey.
After lunch, where we huddled under a makeshift shelter and ate pies, we went on another scenic walk. Unfortunately it was so dark we couldn´t see much of the impressive view. The tour guide decided to give up on walking and instead taught us how to throw a boomerang. I think it´s fair to say my attempt was by far the worst.
Sydney Again
Louise left Sydney a couple of days before we did, so, following the farewell meal and goodbyes, Ross and I spent our last hours in Sydney doing pretty much nothing. We did head to Darling Harbour which was very pleasant, although there´s not an awful lot to do. Inexplicably, we went to a crab racing night in a pub. It was much rowdier than I ever imagined crab racing could be. It was actually really difficult to follow what was going on.
I felt quite sad leaving Australia, as I had been there for just under 6 months. Regardless of this though, I felt ready to move on to the
last leg of the trip - South America.
Food of the week: recommended by Louise´s uncle, it has to be pies from Harry´s Cafe de Wheels, a little pie stand at the docks.
Quote of the week: Louise - ¨oh well, you´ll be home so soon there´s not much point in saying bye¨. Thanks Louise.
Bye.
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sarra
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Sarra
Did Sarra Spider only have four legs? i'm flattered that you called it that. it looks like something that my Dad would BBQ...