Bondi beach, I reckon it’s better when the sun is out. Unfortunately all it was doing last Friday was pissing down with rain. I still got on the train to Bondi Junction, after some confusion I managed to buy a ticket for the bus from this weird machine which didn’t want to accept my money. After a 10 minute bus ride I arrived at Bondi Beach. Pissing down with rain I managed to meet up with Naomi.
After a few beers and catching up at a local bar, we headed for her place. Met her boyfriend, very friendly Aussie guy named Michael. Had a good time and was bummed that I had to get back into the city actually. Not a typical touristic day at Bondi since I barely saw the beach and all it did was raining, but I still had a great day.
On Saturday my Couchsurfing host came back from his duties. We headed for the Mardi Gras parade. It started over 30 years ago on the gayest street of Sydney as a protest. It has grown into a gay parade now. It was pissing down with rain again, so it wasn’t too busy and I still saw some inappropriate clothed adults. Fortunately also some great looking women decided it was their time to shine. After watching a fair bit of the parade we had some dumplings on the street and after headed for this Thai place.
At the Thai place we met some friends of Linda, my flat mate in Sydney. They were both from Malaysia and managed to give me some good tips on what to do in Kuala Lumpur. Sunday was a very lazy day. Jim, my host, already left on Saturday night. Even though we didn’t get to spend that much time together, it was great meeting him and going out for drinks. Love the aussies, they are way more friendly and open than people back home it seems. Sydney is a great city.
Monday I spent packing up my stuff and sorting my life out again. Weird having to put everything back into a backpack. For two and a half weeks, it felt like I was living in Sydney. So after procrastinating for way too long, I finally packed my backpack and was ready to leave Tuesday morning. Left my keys on Jim’s bed and headed out. Luckily only a 5 min walk to the train station. After paying 13 euros for a 10 minute train ride to the airport (hail privatizing of pubic transport) I arrived. Checking in was smooth and my plane was supposed to leave at 13:20. At one o clock, there was still no plane at our gate and we got an announcement. We got a delay of an hour.
An hour later, another announcement, another delay of an hour. This was getting annoying. Definitely a first world problem. Fortunately the plane did show up around three o clock and we were airborne half an hour later. After an easy two hour flight we arrived in Melbourne. I met up with my new Couchsurfing host Paul, amazingly nice person. Had a good dinner with some great wine.
After a good night sleep I headed into Melbourne today. I wanted to go to Albert Park as quickly as I could. Ever since I was about 10 years old and I followed Formula 1, Australia was a special track. I used to race around that track during the winter stop on my playstation to kill the time until the season started again. I’d set my alarm at three in the morning, to wake up for the season opener. Good memories.
So today I took tram 112 to Albert Park and hopped off. You can just get on the circuit since it’s public road. I got on at the north point, after the first chicane, at the right hand corner. I followed the track and took plenty of pictures. In a way it’s so different than on TV. There’s actually a lake in the middle which you can barely see on television, or at least when you are driving it. So after making my way round, I got to the pit straight. Walked into the pit lane, not sure if I was allowed, but I figured, why not? So after about 500 meters a security guard told me I wasn’t allowed in the pit lane, but I ended up chatting to him for about 30 minutes. He told me all about when teams were flying in, and more inside info, was really nice.
A good day at Albert Park I’d say. I headed back to my host, had another good few chats. Paul is giving me some great tips on what to do in Melbourne, I can’t wait to explore the city tomorrow. I’m on my own the next two days, but in the weekend we’re gonna do some stuff together during the day, which should be good. Even though tomorrow night Paul is taking me to this vegetarian restaurant which you don’t pay the normal bill, but make a donation at the end. I’m quite curious about that.
All in all, Melbourne is great. It’s different from Sydney, I’m not exactly sure how yet. But I’m sure I will find that out in the next few days. Just a little over a week to go until the racing starts at Albert Park. Definitely looking forward to that. I got less than three weeks to go until I go home. Mixed feelings. I’m looking forward to go home again, but I will definitely miss this lifestyle. Seeing so much new stuff every week, or even every day. Ah well, there’s always a next trip to look forward to, right?
Spent a good 12 days in Sydney now. Love this city.
After my first weekend I met up with Sandra, Swedish friend from surf camp. The Swedish and the Dutch both spent a few days discovering Sydney. We managed to do most of the touristic sight seeing like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house. The botanic garden near the Opera House is also definitely worth a visit. After a few days Sandra had to move on and fly to Cairns. Before she left we had a few beers in one of my favorite bars in Sydney. (Yes, I’m here for almost two weeks, I’m starting to get my own favorites now..) The Three Monkeys. It’s an old bank building. Jim took me there after I arrived here at midnight after surf camp.
Since I’m here now for about two weeks, it does actually feel like I’m living in Sydney, just with a lot of free time. My Macbook’s battery was draining fast, which is annoying in airplanes and other public transport, so I ordered a real Apple battery for 60 dollar on Ebay. Instead of the 130 dollar Apple wanted to charge me from their own website. After a few days it still haven’t arrived, and I checked online. It was already offered by the mail man, unfortunately no one was home at those times, so I could come pick it up.
They didn’t leave a note or anything, so I used google maps to find the nearest post office. I think post offices are the same everywhere in the world, they are annoying. After queuing for about 30 minutes, it was my turn. The lady behind the counter told me I was at the wrong desk for picking up deliveries, I had to go outside, and there was the desk. So I went outside and looked around. There is a small alley, with at the end a sign above a window that says ‘Deliveries pick up’, sweet.. So finally, after almost two months in Australia, I finally found a place that reminded me of home. I developed a theory that all the post offices in the world are owned by one person, who has a very sick vision when it comes to the postal services. Get people excited about their package first, then make them suffer in order to get it. Sick bastard..
The next weekend Jim came back from serving his country, and we went out the first night. We headed off to Oxford St. which is the gayest part of Sydney. If you want some good food, that is the place to go. We didn’t go to any of the rainbow bars. In a way, since Sydney has the biggest percentage of gay people living here, you could say it’s the gayest area in the world. If there was still any doubt, next week is the Mardi Gras parade, which is the gay parade, so then for sure this will be the gayest place on the planet. It’s supposed to be a really good.
Jim asked if I was interested to go and watch a game of rugby. So on Saturday we headed out to the ANZ stadium to see Queensland vs New South Wales. The prices for alcohol are even more ridiculous than in the rest of Australia. But it was great fun. Had quite good seats and in the last half minute the Reds, Queensland, managed to score a try. (it’s a touchdown, but they call it a try here.) Which was pretty exciting, Jim was in a good mood that his team had won. He’s originally from Brisbane, which is in Queensland. We used the rest of the night to celebrate the victory.
Jim took off again to the navy base. I was on my own for my day to day activities again. Since my bff, Sandra, left Sydney, it was a pleasant surprise that Murray texted me that he was in Sydney. During my couch surfing experience in Surfers Paradise (the Gold Coast), I stayed at his place. He was here for the Gift Fair to sell coral and sea shells. He asked me to come to this party after, where there would be free booze and food. Since Sydney is bankrupting me, I couldn’t say no.
I met Murray outside and he provided me with a name card, I was now Ben Paterson. Buyer and Seller for Marine Arts. I only had to show the pass to get in, and we could head to the open bar. We stood outside on the terrace in Darling Harbour with a great view and free drinks, perfect. After a good night out in Sydney I needed a day to recover. Luckily, since Jim is at work, I got a bed room to myself, which is a nice change from sleeping with 5 to 9 others in a room.
Murray told me that the gift fair would be an ideal place to score some souvenirs, if I was interested. The same pass would provide me a way to get into the fair which wasn’t open to the public. So on a rainy day I set off to the exhibition center in Darling Harbour. Even though I was wearing shorts and my mario t-shirt, I got in without any questions. After meeting Murray’s co workers, I got asked if I was interested in helping them out clearing it up. Since it was raining any way, and I didn’t have any other plans, I agreed.
The following 3,5 hours I spent wrapping shells and coral in protective plastic and loading up a pallet. After the hard work I got a generous 80 dollars for my help and a free dinner at a nice restaurant. First time in a long time I actually worked, felt good. So with a filled stomach and feeling quite satisfied by my efforts, I went home for a good night sleep.
Tomorrow I will head to Bondi to meet up with Naomi, old friend from high school who now lives here. At night I will join my flat mate Linda to go to a couch surfing meeting. I also managed to buy my flight ticket to Melbourne. I will leave Sydney on Tuesday to head for the more ‘European’ city. (So I have been told). The weather isn’t the best at the moment, loads of rain, but the temperature is still good. I could definitely live here.
After a few days in Byron Bay, the time had come to start traveling again. Fortunately I could do it in style this time with a surf camp. Monday morning I checked out of the Arts Factory and made my way to the bus stop. After two hours on the bus we arrived at Spot X.
We received the bad news that even though we got picked up at 11:30, we wouldn’t receive any lunch and were expected in the water at three o clock. After putting our stuff in the very small dorm room and changing into our swimsuits, we got a short briefing. Our instructor was a nice French guy named Oliver. The briefing was short, I don’t even remember. We all got a board and made our way down to the beach.
At the beach Oliver was drawing some in the sand, explaining about the rip, the breaking waves and sandbanks. That boring part was only a few minutes, then we had to practice standing up on the beach. After practicing getting up a few times we made our way into the water. We stayed pretty close to the beach to catch the so called ‘white waves’, these are waves that are already broken, so timing isn’t essential.
First wave went well, felt familiar cause of my lesson in Agnes Water. I managed to stand up on the first wave and surf to the beach, that was a good feeling. The rest of the lesson I spent most time standing on the board, so that was all good. After the first lesson we had dinner, which was good, and then sat around a camp fire evaluating our first day of surfing.
The next day we had a lesson planned at 10 in the morning, which was not too early. This lesson involved a lot of peddling, which was a lot harder than I expected it to be. Peddling your way to breaking waves is exhausting, once you managed to do so, you sit on your board and watch the ocean. Once you spot a good wave, you lay on your board and start peddling (again, more peddling) and try to pick up enough speed so the wave will pick you up.
The tricky part is that when you are too early on the wave, it won’t be able to pick you up, so it will go right under you. You peddled for quite a bit, so you have to turn around and make your way back again. The other case is that when you are too late, the wave is already breaking. This will mean that the wave is too steep when it reaches you, it will pick up the back of your board and pivot it. This means your nose goes right down.
When you lay on your board, you see that wave coming, you peddle with all your strength. So let’s say you are too late (you are just in the wrong position, too close to the beach for that wave) it will pick up the back of your board, you will see your nose go under water. The water on the nose will add weight to the front. When it’s a big wave, and you happen to try and stand up at that time, it will just launch you off the board. This happened about 7 times in a row. The instructors started to give me the nickname ‘King of nosedives’. It was still good fun, but a little frustrating compared to the first day.
At the end of the session I did manage to stand up and ride two good waves, which made me all forget about the nose dives I did before. The second session in the afternoon was way better. Managed to take a lot more waves and spend quite some time standing up.
After spending three days at Spot X, we got on the bus again and headed down on a 3 hour bus ride to Crescent Head. We got welcomed off the bus by the typical surfer dudes. Bleached curly hair, very friendly and laid back. We checked in to our room and enjoyed a good dinner. At night there was another campfire which was way more fun than Spot X.
More surfing was on the agenda the next day. That was the good news, the bad news was that we were expected in the water at 8, did I mention 8?! Not too happy about it, especially when we were expected to eat breakfast at 7. After a very light meal, we headed off to the beach. There is a good argument for surfing early. The first wipe out you have will wake you up completely.
The peddling is very hard, I still got sore legs and plenty of bruises. The ocean is relentless. Once you make a mistake you just hope for the best, since you still have a big surfing board attached with a rope to your ankle, we had quite some injuries in our group. With my luck I expected to be one of them, but not this trip, yay!
On the thursday I we had a laid back surfing session during the day. We had plenty of time at the beach, and it wasn’t a lesson. The crew brought down an ‘esky’ which is a cooling box, but a good one. So with beer and music at the beach, we had a good time. After some surfing and then hanging on the beach I decided to go in again. While using the rift to get through the waves I ran into about 8 or 9 blue bottle jellyfish. This was quite scary, they aren’t really dangerous but if they sting you, it will hurt. After doing two waves I got called out of the water by the instructor cause there were too many jelly fish around. Luckily I didn’t get stung.
The last day involved more surfing followed by a 6 hour bus ride to Sydney. I was knackered, like our whole group was. We arrived at Sydney central station at midnight. I got picked up by my new Couch Surfing host, Jim. We dropped off my stuff and went for a drink. After quite a few bars and drinks we ended up going home about 5 in the morning, good first night in Sydney.
On saturday I went wandering around the city, mostly the shopping centre. During the evening Jim took me to China Town to have some Japanese food, which was really good. Today I managed to have some good hours of sleep. Jim works as a bomb defuser for the navy and is on his base for the next two weeks. I’m planning to stay at his place for two weeks, before I will make my way down to Melbourne. After sleeping enough I went to the Tropfest. A festival for short movies which is held for the 20th time now. I did this together with Jim’s new flatmate, Linda. Had a good time. Tomorrow I will meet up with Sandra, Swedish girl from the surfing camp.
Unfortunately the photos of the surf camp have not been uploaded yet, I got a voucher to download a whole bunch. So hopefully the photos next time will involve some good action shots. The scenery was really good though. I’m looking forward to exploring Sydney the next two weeks, expect some cheesy Opera House and Harbour Bridge shots!
Couch surfing is great. I ended up staying way longer than I intended in Surfers Paradise. Every day Darren would invite me to stay another night, and since I was enjoying myself a lot, I gladly took him on his offer.
One of the nights we headed to the Casino in Surfers Paradise. There was live comedy on. The host of the night was alright, the first comedian nailed it. I managed to understand most of his jokes, even though there was a heavy Aussie accent going on. The second comedian was a ‘famous’ one in Australia. She made loads of tv appearances, but I wasn’t impressed. Still a good night.
At night I have had a lot of trouble sleeping. Not only are there mozzies everywhere, it’s very hot as well. Then there was this huge mango tree in the backyard at Darren’s, and that gets occupied by bats. When they eat those mangos they make a lot of noise. Also they tend to pick them up but then sometimes drop them while flying away, dropping them on the roof. The locals weren’t impressed, these bats for them are like pigeons to us.
Next night I got invited to a going away party. Was at a real Aussie home (or so I have been told). Steven was moving to Europe for two months. Really weird being at a going away party in Australia. Everyone is so excited to see Europe, definitely makes me want to travel around Europe more. But it was good fun, met loads of nice locals there.
The next day we headed for a small adventure which also involved driving through a field filled with cows. A few weren’t impressed by the car and didn’t really wanna move out of the way, but we got there in the end. At night we had another party, Steven showed up again. Unfortunately I forgot to buy booze, so I ended up heading into the center to get some.
It was quite busy out on the street, and I had some trouble finding a bottle shop which was still open. So what do you do then? You walk up to the nearest bar and ask the friendly bouncer where you can buy some alcohol at this time of night. He gave me the location of two different stores which should still be open. On my way back I did a friendly wave to him while raising my plastic bag with the loot of my adventure, and I got a friendly thumbs up and smile back.
The place I was staying in was really laid back. Darren told me he had never closed his backdoor in 8 years time, always open. That is pretty cool considering it’s a 5 min walk to the main street with all the bars and clubs.
I haven’t seen a lot of european cars for quite a while. Mostly you see the local brand, Holden. In Surfers I did end up seeing a lot of Mercedes and BMW cars, which means there are plenty of rich people here. Since importing a car is expensive. They mostly drive Asian cars here.
The weather has mostly been really good. But it’s still rain season, so there is plenty of that as well. The good thing is that it cools off a little bit, but it will get very humid. But cause of the heath, water doesn’t stick around too long. And for everyone who keeps asking me if I’m alright due to flooding, I’m alright. It has been pretty close to where I’ve been. But I haven’t encountered it close by. Apart from some bus delays it hasn’t inconvenienced me.
It was difficult, but I had to leave Surfers. Not cause Darren was kicking me out, but because I have to move on to see the rest of Australia. I booked my surf trip and my hostel in Byron. I made my way down to byron with a 3 hour bus ride. I was so tired from this wild active weekend with a lack of sleep, that I ended up sleeping most of the journey.
Arriving in Byron, what can I say. From the Miami of Australia I arrive in this hippy town. Very laid back, no more show offs with muscles or fake tits. There was a van waiting with an Italian bloke named Luca, who was there especially to pick me up. After a bumpy ride we arrived in the Arts Factory. Which is a very laid back hostel.
I had a nice burrito on the beach. After that I headed back to the hostel to chill out a bit. Wasn’t feeling very social after spending a week packed in a house with a lot of people. So I just drank a few cold ones at a table enjoying some music and some series.
After a good night sleep I headed off to see the light house. Darren told me this was a very nice walk. So I set off to walk a small two hours to the light house. Thing is, along the way I got distracted by all the nice viewing points and beaches that it took me about four hours to get up there. The walk up there was really good. The light house it self was alright, but the views were amazing.
Being tired and really looking forward to a cold beer, I got a bit of a surprise, not a good one. Some hippy stole my beers from the fridge. I immediately missed the friendly environment back at Darren’s place in Surfers Paradise. I could leave all my shit out in the open and didn’t have to worry about it for a single second. Now I’m back in this environment where I have to look after my sheet and can’t even leave a few beers in the fridge. Neatly labeled and in a plastic bag, since that’s mandatory and still it gets stolen.
This morning packed up all my stuff. Now waiting for the bus into town. I’ll be picked up by Mojosurf, a company who organizes awesome surf trips. Today, Monday, we head to the first surfing spot. In the next 5 days we will make our way down to Sydney. I’ll arrive Friday around midnight, so I have to figure out how I will either get to my next couch surfing address or hostel, but I’ll let future Erik worry about that.
