my vacation from my vacation

It has been so long since I have sent you all some love from down under, and I know you are probably all missing me, so don’t worry… this one is extra long…

In Brisbane, the day after I went to the Ashes, I decided that before I start having too much fun to look for work, I should look for a job. I woke up early in the morning, printed myself 30 resumes and handed them out everywhere: retail stores, cafes, restaurants and travel agencies. What a success it was!! By the next afternoon I had received a call back from 3 places, 2 coffee shops and as a TRAVEL AGENT at a backpacker’s travel agency called Peterpans. So, needless to say, I chose Peterpans. I could not have wished for a better opportunity: I will be training in Brisbane but working in Surfer’s Paradise, and trip packages to backpackers! Pretty much a dream of a job! The training is not going to start until the 20^th of December, so Peterpans put me on a trip to Rainbow beach to go for a 3 day camping trip to Fraser Island, all expenses paid for! This is one of the most popular trips that the company sells, so they figured it would be beneficial give me a hands learning experiencing of what I will be selling. Yeah Baby!!

Before heading up to Rainbow beach, I had a few days to waste, so I spend them at the Nomads resort hostel in Noosa Head. Another beautiful place! The hostel had a really nice, tropical pool, which we played in on a rainy day. It had it’s own bar which was a pretty popular place for both backpackers and locals, and it was only a quick walk to the beach, the shops, and a nice national park. PS. I have recently grown accustomed to doing everything barefoot and I absolutely love it! For the past 3 weeks, no matter where I am going, whether it be the 20 min walk to the beach or going grocery shopping, I do it all shoe-free. You all should try it, who knew freedom of the feet could feel so good!

Anyways… I stayed in a fun-filled 16 bed dorm with a group of Australian girls who where taking a vacation from their home in Melbourne, a group of Americans who working for the hostel, an Israeli who I made latkes with for Hannukah. Our door was always open and we all had tons of fun for the 4 days I was there.

Next, I headed up to Rainbow beach: a crappy little town whose sole reason for its existence is due to its proximity to Fraser Island. Although it does have a really beautiful beach, I guess most of Australia’s east coast does, so this place hardly gets much recognition. When I first arrived I was as sick as a dog, so the two nights I spend here I was in bed by 9pm. I couldn’t have planned a better place to get sick because the hostel is really calm as everyone prepares to wake up early for their Fraser Island Adventures.

Finally, Monday morning I woke up at 6 am, sore throat-free (wahoo!) and headed off to Fraser Island. The only means of getting around on this Island is by 4WD and if you were 21 or older and had a license to drive a manual you where able to drive. Of course, my sub-par driving skills prevented me from being able to drive, but I sat in the front most of the time, so it was almost like I was driving and I still felt bad-ass. This Island is the world’s largest sand island. It is a world heritage site, and with reason! It is such a beautiful place. In the three days we where these, we visited 3 fresh water lakes, each which seemed to had magically appeared in the middle of nowhere… like a mirage. One of them, Lake Mackenzie was maybe one of the nicest lakes I had ever seen. The water was so blue and clear! It was amazing. I spend 2 nights and 3 days camping on this Island and it was tons of fun. I was in a group of 10 others, known as group Hawesome. We cooked, cleaned, camped and partied together. It really was an amazing experience.

I am now in Mooloolaba (ya, I know, crazy name!), where there is a torrential downpour and a thunder storm louder then I have ever heard in my life. The metal roof right next door to my hostel got hit by lightening. Eep! It was the loudest and scariest thing ever. I came here in hopes to take up 4 more days of surfing before I head inland to Brisbane to train for my NEW JOB! 

Love and miss you all!

The Ashes

As cricket is one of the biggest sports in Australia, I figured it was a must to make it to The Ashes; the worlds biggest cricket match – Australia vs. England. It took place in Brisbane; at the Gabba cricket stadium. It is a 5 day match (wtf!?) and I attended the 4^th day. The day started at 10am and finally finished early, at 5pm, due to ‘bad light’ (wtf again). Cricket was slightly more interesting then I was expecting, but still averages at a fun level equal to baseball…

The most exciting part of the day was spending my money away on the $6.60 beers and watching as the drunken, male-dominated crowd got rowdy. Although taking place in Australia, it was clear that the majority of the crowd, or at least the majority of the boisterousness of the crowd, definitely lay in the hands of the English. I actually think most of the crowd in the stands were too drunk to even watch the match by noon, and spend the rest of the day bantering. Of course, the favourite cheer of these Englishmen had absolutely nothing to do with the cricket game, but instead where singing drunken bus tour songs like Yogi Bear, and the store in Chicago! It was hilarious hearing grown men sing songs that I would only bust out if I was on some sort of Krista’s birthday related event. I noted some good ones for the next time…

I’ll leave you with the favourite cheer of the day…sang to every one of the woman in the crowd, should they be ballsy enough to leave their seats for any reason (and if you know the size of my bladder, you can unfortunately assume that throughout the day I was privy to this cheerful invitation more then a few times.)

“Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, get your tits out!”

Don’t worry…I ignored it.

Camp B'nai Byron

After almost three weeks in Newcastle we finally got out. We took a ten hour, overnight bus up the coast to the hippie town of Byron Bay. We arrived, tired and groggy, to the messiest 16 bed room dorm we have ever seen. It felt like I was taking a step back in time to my years at camp living in a cabin with a bunch of messy girls.

Little did we know though, that this week, and for the next 3 weeks, is what is nationally known as ‘Schoolies’. What is schoolies you may ask’? It is spring break for graduating high school students. So, I am partying in Australia’s version of Cancun, with high school students everywhere. As for anyone who isn’t a high school student around here, they are called ‘Toolies”…Guess that’s me!

Despite the decision to come here at a really unfortunate time, I absolutely LOVE Byron Bay. It is a really gorgeous town, filled with coffee shops, great shopping and tons of tourists. There are great paths to run on, a pretty beach to go relax, and a never ending nightlife. The hostel I am staying in, although being fairly mess and small, is TONS of fun. Everyone who comes here stays around for at least a week, if not more, so it is easy to actually get to know everyone. I have been here for over a week now, spending most of my time with a group of 4 Canadians.

Up until now, it has been raining most of the time I have been in Byron, which cuts down on what I can do while I am here…but it still has not cut down on fun. Everyone in Byron Bay seems to be the most fit and beautiful people I have ever seen, which has been so encouraging to keep healthy and fit. It is really a great environment!

Tomorrow, I will be heading 2 hours up he coast to Brisbane with two English blokes who I met here to go watch the Ashes; a 5 day long cricket match Australia vs. England.

…When in Rome!

Housekeeping

It has been almost 2 weeks now that I have been living in the Newcastle YHA hostel and working for free accommodation. The work, although unfavourable, is fairly easy; I spend 2 hours a day cleaning the hostel, from making beds (the easier job) to cleaning bathrooms (not as gross as you would think…but still sucks). Probably my favourite part of the job is that I get to laugh at Mark knocking on people’s doors and say ‘housekeeping’ and actually be serious about it. It never fails to make me giggle.

Considering people usually only spend 2 – 3 days traveling through Newcastle, I am now, in backpacker terms, considered an expert on the hostel and the town. It has been cool to be able to get to know this place a little bit better then the average backpacker and the hostel is a really homey place. I would definitely recommend a Newcastle visit to anyone!

There is also a group of 6 of us who work here together and have gotten to know each other really well; 1 from Sweden, 2 from Germany, 1 from England, Mark and I. the daily break down normally goes down like this: 9:45 wake up, work from 10-12, spend the afternoon on the beach, do some dinner, and get to gooning. It has been a pretty relaxing couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to moving somewhere new and exciting in the near future…

PS. We are EATING Kangaroo for dinner tomorrow… stay tuned for those ‘hop’penings. 

The Melbourne Cup

One of the first things I’ve noticed about Australians: they LOVE to gamble. There is an abundance of gambling bars and almost every bar has a machine in it where you can gamble, which apparently rakes in tons of money.

So, although yesterday was not a holiday, it was expected that most of Australia would be non-functioning and drunk by 3pm to watch the nation famous Melbourne Cup. Of course, we took part in the Australian tradition; we placed our bets and parked our butts in front of the TV to watch the horse race. It was great! I ended up being really successful In our hostel-wide sweepstakes, I pulled ‘Zavite’ out of a hat. In my actual bet, I bet on ‘Maluckyday’ to place. I got lucky both times!! ‘Zavite came in dead last, which got me some chocolate for my sorrows (aka best win ever!) and for ‘Maluckyday’s’ 2^nd place standing, I made myself six bones! Exciting!

A Halloween Nightmare

On our second day in Port Stephens, Mark and I decided to go for a leisurely 45 min bike ride to check out the town of Port Stephens and to hike Tomaree Head; a kilometre hike that rewards you with an amazingly gorgeous view of the bay, the town, the ocean and Port Stephens infamous lighthouse.

Once we reached the summit, we noticed that there were rain clouds rolling in. We decided that we should try and bike it back before we got stuck in the rain. Fail. About 5 minutes into our difficult, uphill bike ride, it started to thunder. And then lightening. And then rain. And this was not regular Canadian rain that I am used to, but a torrential downpour. The thick raindrops were blinding and hurt when it fell on our skin. I was praying that the piece of crap bike that we rented would make it through this mess, without being struck by lightening, hit by a tree, or simply falling apart in the stress of the matter. Thankfully we made it back to our hostel…right on time for the rain to stop.

Kookaburra

The hostel I am in right now is a really original one. It is called the Samurai Beach Bungalows. It reminds me of being at camp; we are surrounded by a rainforest, we sleep in cabins, there is a pretty pool, and an outdoor kitchen. It is really beautiful. Because it is so outdoorsy, we have been able to see a ton of really original, Australian animals. Tonight, while we were cooking in the outdoor kitchen, a giant bird flew into the kitchen. It was a really cool looking thing, with a really huge head. We could that tell it was eyeing something because it was acting all suspicious. Suddenly, perfectly timed, when nobody was looking, It grabbed a piece of steak off some guys plate (don’t worry, he was done eating it anyway) and flew off into the trees! A girl told us that this bird was called a Kookaburra! For all of you who will admit to all those wicked years spent in Girl Guides – do remember that song?! :

‘Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree, eating all the gum drops he can see…Oooh Aahh Aahh!’

Ooh Aahh Ahh is even the sound they make! Crazy. I hope you found that as exciting as I did. What a bad ass, sly, bird. I would props him if I could.

Free Dinna

Although we had only expected to stay one night in Newcastle, we loved it so much we ended up extending out stay another three nights. The hostel we stayed in, called the Newcastle Beach YHA, is an old gentleman’s club and is one of the more historic buildings in Australia, so it was a really great place to stay. The hostel is only a two minute walk from the beach and a 5 minute walk from the town.

One of the best aspects about this hostel was that every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the restaurants in the area offered the backpackers free dinner (sub-par and minimal… But hey, it was free!) and trivia games! We ended up coming in second place in the music trivia and winning a bottle of wine. (If only you where there, SamSam, we would have rocked it fo sho!) The trivia games were really cool to be able to realise how much all of us backpackers had in common, even though we where from all over the world. After these free evenings we would head back to the hostel, soak up some goon and find some new, exciting adventures.

We ended making arrangements with the management at this hostel that, starting on Tuesday, we are going to work there for 2 hours a day: from 10 - 12 and stay for free. We have to stay for a minimum of 2 weeks. It should be really fun and relaxing to actually be settled somewhere for a fairly long time.

The Hunter Valley

After a rainy Sunday in Sydney, we decided to take advantage of the ugly weather and begin our adventure up the coast. It was a 3 hours train ride where we chatted with a really friendly Aussie woman and watched the gorgeous scenery and next thing we knew we reached our destination in Newcastle.

Newcastle is a cute, artsy town, about the size of Waterloo. It is the 6^th biggest city in Australia (I can only imagine how small the other towns must be!), originally an industrial town exporting coal, but has recently become more touristy due to its great surfing, gorgeous beaches and artsy feel. As you walk down Newcastle beach, you can always see at least 3 cargo ships on the horizon. It is gorgeous.

Yesterday, Mark and I joined a Hunter Valley Vineyard tour. We did this tour with ten others; a couple from whales, one from Scotland, one from Ireland, and a few more from other parts of Australia. The first Vineyard was the only one were we actually had a tour, and the other 3 where just wine tastings, where we got to taste the many different types of wines each Vineyard had to offer. We also went to a couple cheese and chocolate tastings.  Needless to say, it was an amazing day, and we kept up the party with our new friends until the early hours of the morning.

Doomed with Goon

It didn’t take long to realize the only down fall of this country so far…the high prices of EVERYTHING. Almost everything is priced about 1.5x more expensive then in Canada. You can hardly find a coffee for under $4.

And what could possibly be the most outrageously expensive product you ask? Only everyone’s absolute favourite vice; alcoholic beverages. These crazy prices may have driven me away from my favourite pass time… but don’t worry, there is a way around this disappointing news (…sorry Suzie); It is called GOON. This wondrous beverage is priced at about $13 for 4 litres of only the dirtiest, most painful wine ever made…painfully irresistible.

My tip: drink a ton of water throughout your evening, and expect to need some Tylenol in the morning. Wine glass not required. This stuff is best drunken as classlessly as possible. 

I’ll miss you vodka.

Sydney

My first couple days where spent in paradise, aka Coogee, with my cousin’s amazingly hospitable and awesome girlfriend Jackie who is doing an exchange here. We spent a ton of time on the beach, and she introduced me to a bunch of her friends here. Seeing how well adjusted, accepted and comfortable she is in her new home, in her neighbourhood and with a slew of new BFFs, it was getting me excited to also settle down here well enough to make it feel at home.

…Until then though, I am hostelling it up! Yesterday was the first day Mark and I spent in central Sydney. We visited the Circular Quay, which is where the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House is found. Although I am not one to care much about touristy things like that, there is no questioning the amazingness of the Sydney Opera House, where pictures just can’t do it justice. Apparently, the architect died before seeing the finished product in person. That seems to be a common story of a lot of cool building’s architect. Noted.

Finally, I spent my first night in a hostel last night where I met lots of fun people from all over the world, and of course, dance partied! Nothing like a bonding dance party. Woohoo!

Day One.

After two days, four airports, eleven episodes of Modern Family, and 26 Hours spent in a plane, I finally made it to Australia! So far, my experiences here have been nothing short of amazing. After walking off what seemed like a lifetime spent on the plane, in some unknown land across the world, it was amazing to realize how comfortable I was here; from the overly friendly people to the gorgeous weather and beautiful beaches, it was confirmed that I was going to have an amazing time! I am sooo excited!

I already had a fun adventure yesterday: Mark, Jackie, Jackie’s roommate and I went for a gorgeous walk down the beach. It was really cool to see the gorgeous water, cool looking rocks and crazy vegetation… But the coolest thing we stumbled upon was a KILLER WHALE splashing around in the water. We watched it for about 20 minutes while it was jumping around, and spitting air out its spout! It was really cute. Here are a couple pictures of it. (I couldn’t catch a great one, this was as good as I could get, sadly…)

Stay Tunes for Some KangerNews from my Adventures to the Land Down Under!