Melbourne 2 Part 1

I landed at Melbourne Airport and was straight on a bus into the city. I got the first train out to the suburbs, keen to get to Frankston and back to Beau's as soon as possible.
The sun was shining and I had a great feeling after the month i'd just had. The moment I walked through the door, as expected, the boys were in the bar waiting for my return with a fridge full of ice cold beers. It felt so good to be back.

That first week back in Melbourne was all about spending time with Steve before he jetted off to Canada for the next year or so. While everyone else was at work, Steve and I enjoyed the last of the summer weather lazing on the beach. After the very sad day that he left, possibly the last time i'll ever see him, it was time for me to get back to reality for the first time in 6 months. It was time to join the real world and get jobhunting!

I'd already asked my mum and dad to send a load of work clothes over, to save buying an entire new wardrobe. So as I waited, I spent most days while the others were at work, glued to the laptop applying for any contract HR roles in Melbourne's Central Business District. Unfortunately, with the word 'Recession' in the air, it was taking longer than i'd hoped. Vacancies were low, and of course, keeping the Ozzies employed was the main priority. I jobhunted by day and caught up with friends I'd met previously in Asia, by night.

First was Lizzy and Lolly, 2 girls the same age as me from Southampton, who i'd met in Laos and then again in Thailand. We would go out and enjoy the Melbourne restaurants and nightlife; Shanghai dumplings for $6 a bowl in Chinatown's laneways, clubs that don't close for the entire weekend, and rooftop bars that look over the whole city.

There was also Flo, who I met in Kuala Lumpur. She and I did the typical touristy bits, browsing around the Queen Victoria market and wandering around the city, camera in hand, snapping away at all the 'artwork' and sights Melbourne has to offer.

Next was Si, who i met in Thailand. We went up the Eureka Tower to the Skydeck, the Southern Hemisphere's highest viewing platform, which has impressive views across the city. After the tower we had drinks at the Crown Casino Complex. Drinks only....no gambling, which we should be rewarded for considering how huge the complex is and how tempting the urge to gamble.

Back in the suburbs, most weekends were spent in the bar in the back garden, drinking plenty of wine, (from a bottle, i'd gone up in the world since my camping/ drinking $15 wine from a carton days) and having a laugh with the boys. I also discovered a new interest in Aussie Rules Football. What an Ozzy calls football is not what we call football, although I still couldn't tell you the differences and similarities! What I do know (which is pretty obvious) is that the ball is shaped like a rugby ball, and it's a contact sport. You have to have the fitness of a superhero to play the game!

One of the guys I lived with played for a local team, Karingal FC, along with a lot of the other boys I know. And so, pretty much every Saturday for the next 3 months or so, excluding maybe 3 games, I went to the footy, home or away, to support Karingal FC with the rest of the boys who didn't play. We would stand at the sidelines, beer in hand, cheer on our team and abuse the opposition. After all that time I still don't know the rules! Some might say it was because, by half time, I'd already had a load of beers, trying to keep up with the boys. Or it might have been the distraction of a field full of fit young men in short shorts tackling eachother! Nevertheless, i was a supporter, even owning the team's bright red 'Karingal Bulls' footy jacket, which we all wore with pride regardless of the result of the game.

And then there was Robyn (who gets a special mention as i know she'll be reading this)! who took me under her wing. Not only was she my mates mum, she was also the President of the club. She invited me to the Karingal FC Ladies day lunch (which i didn't have to pay for) where I got a lovely 2 course meal and all the free drinks, including champagne, that i could manage. So while the boys watched the game outside in the cold, I was inside in the warm with the ladies, sipping/ gulping champagne and enjoying the festivities. And I even have my very own pink Karingal FC stubby holder to show for it.

FYI - a stubby holder is what the Ozzies use to keep their beers cold.

Outside of the football, Robyn was my surrogate mum! Making sure I was well fed by inviting me round for home cooked dinners, something I hadn't had in a long time - Thanks Robyn!

So anyway, after 3 weeks of applying for jobs and getting no where, my work clothes finally arrived. Instead of sitting around on the computer, I decided to be proactive. I packed a bag and checked into a hostel in the city, so that I could register with agencies, and hand my CV in at places, dressed corporately rather than like a backpacker. I'd decided that if I couldn't work in HR, or in an office environment, then i'd work as something completely different like a cocktail waitress.

I spent a whole day wandering the city, with a load of CVs printed and ready. After an exhausting 6 hours or so, I stopped at a bar overlooking the Yarra river and and rewarded my efforts with a nice cold beer. Aware of the fact that I was sitting in a bar on my own, I pulled out my phone and decided to call all the agencies I'd registered with online over the last week or so. This proved to be the best thing i could've done... One agency got excited when they heard about the type of HR/ in-house recruitment experience I had, and asked me to come in to meet them first thing the next day. And so in the morning, dressed the best I'd been since last October, I headed into the Central Business District to meet the recruitment consultants.

After 3 hours of going over my CV and computer skills tests, she said she should be able to help and would be in touch, typical recruitment consultant talk! True to her word, about 15 minutes after I left, she called to tell me I had an interview the following day.

The company is called David Jones, and they are Australia's top department store, sort of a cross between John Lewis and Selfridges. After my informal chat with an HR Advisor there I was offered the position of HR Assistant to start immediately on an ongoing basis. For the next 4 weeks I split my time... 5 days in a hostel in the city, walking distance from work, and the weekends back in Frankston. God forbid i miss a football game!

I loved this routine. I was meeting other backpackers and going out in the city during the week. And it meant I could catch up with friends who lived nearby, such as Lolly and Lizzy. I also caught up with 2 guys I met in the Summer of '07 when I was living and working in Portugal.

At the weekends it was nice just to lounge around in my PJs watcing TV, something you can't really do in a hostel. And of course, the highlight being Karingal footy games with the boys and drinks somewhere afterwards.

After these first 4 weeks of working in the city and splitting my time, it was my 23rd birthday, which fell on a Friday. Being away from the house all week I had no idea what, if anything, the guys had planned for me. I got back to the house around 7pm, and was delighted to see i'd received a load of mail from home, which i wasn't expecting, being on the other side of the world! I poured a glass of wine and sat myself in the bar while I opened all my cards from my friends and family. Then, Kristy (who I also lived with) came outside to tell me that Beau had booked a restaurant for the 3 of us. I was pleased that they'd arranged something, but disappointed that Sammy, who we also lived with, had already gone out, and there was no sign on any of the other boys.

We drove to a little Italian about 10 minutes away and as we walked in it was completely empty. My hopes that maybe they'd organised a surprise dinner went out the window, and I'm sure it was obvious that my smile had faded. We were led to a table outside, and there they were. 10 or 11 of my mates were all sitting and waiting for me at a long table. I was so so pleased that my birthday wasn't going to be the same as any other Friday night. Also, I don't think i'd had a surprise arranged for me before! At the end of our meal, after the waitress had brought out a chocolate cake (which i don't eat - typical)! and they'd sung happy birthday and i'd blown out the candles etc etc, it was present time! Kristy handed me a giant card, signed by everyone, and then a small envelope. Inside was a voucher for the flight centre, worth $400, which i can use for flights or accommodation at almost any location worldwide. This was quite possibly the best present I could have got as a backpacker (aside from money)!!, and also as someone who much prefers the experiences in life compared to material things.

Anyway..... I've run out of time, internet access is limited... I will update on life in Melbourne soon!

A bit of Byron Bay, a month of fun in hillbilly Gin Gin, and a couple of days in Agnes Water/ town of 1770

On our first day back in Byron, after our ‘holiday’, the 6 of us sat on the beach in the glorious sunshine in the early afternoon with an esky full of beers and wine, and had a few drinks til the sun went down.
It was nice to be the 6 of us again, but it was short lived. The next day, Tom packed up his tent and carried on with his travels up the coast.
After a couple more days in the pouring rain, again, Keeley, Paddy and I went off with the car in our search for fruit picking work. Giraffe and Sander were meant to come with us, but in the time since the rest of us had been in Surfers, they’d been having such a good time that they decided they weren’t ready to leave yet.
Keeley and I spent an entire day in Byron searching the web and calling workers hostels to see where there was any work available. Having no success we decided to do it ourselves by just driving around and asking at places along the way.
We drove and drove along empty roads that seemed to go on forever. After about 4 hours, as it was starting to get dark, we stopped at a small town and went into the local pub for a beer. I don’t remember the name of the town, but it was definitely somewhere where they don’t get a lot of visitors. As we walked in, the place went quiet and people stared....and I swear the music stopped and out of the corner of my eye I saw tumbleweed roll past!
Sitting out the front of the pub looking over vast amounts of nothingness, we got chatting to the locals, who were considerably pissed despite the time of day. Ignoring the ripped clothes, missing teeth and six fingers, they actually turned out to be pretty useful. They told us about a place we’d never heard of called Gin Gin, where there’s lots of fruit to pick, which we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. It’s not a place that’s in your standard travel book, and soon we would find out why...
And so, with a place to head for this time, we hit the road again, map in hand, and headed towards Gin Gin. As it was getting darker, and still being God knows how many hours away, we stopped at the next town we came across to find a motel to crash for the night. We ended up in Maryborough, another nothing town, and got ourselves booked in for the night. The motel we stayed at had a bar attached so we popped in there for a quick one before going to bed.
This bar was nothing special, but it was for some people...While we were in there a minibus full of guys pulled up outside. It was one of their birthdays, and this was a crazy night out for them in the small town of Maryborough, going to a roadside motel bar! What exciting lives these country folk lead! Without them there the place was almost empty.
The next day, well rested, we were back on the road. We stopped a few times to ask for any information or directions at small towns we came across along the way, asking in the local shops or petrol stations. That afternoon we arrived in Gin Gin and were far from pleasantly surprised. Gin Gin consists of a small post office, library, hotel with bar, and a few petrol stations selling every variety of fatty deep fried food known to man. It’s a true truck-stop town with nothing beyond the main road.
We went straight into one of the petrol stations to ask where we could find the nearest campsite, to be told we were already there! Round the back of the petrol station was a caravan park, with a patch of land where we could pitch our tents!
Before taking a proper look we went off in search of the citrus farms we’d been told about. It really was a wild goose chase; we were being sent in all directions. Tom told us to find Dick with the silver Nissan truck, who sent us towards the house where Harry lived who mentioned Doris who had a house next to the farm where Rick worked... you get the idea. So after being sent round in circles we found Rick, working hard amongst rows and rows of lemon trees on this hot and humid Sunday afternoon. After a quick chat he agreed to give us a trial in 3 days time.

Incase you didn’t realise, I have a one year working holiday visa for Australia. In order to extend it by another year, we need to do 88 days of ‘agricultural’ work in a rural area. So basically, fruitpicking in the middle of the outback. We were certainly not doing this for fun!

We left the farm and drove the 10km back to the petrol station/camp site, our new home for who knows how long, to set up our tents. After getting ourselves organised we drove down the road to the Gin Gin hotel, the only establishment in the area that resembled a pub. Unlike pubs at home with a beer garden that would be busy on a sunny Sunday afternoon, this one was empty. After a few schooners of low carbohydrate beer we were back in our camp, just the 3 of us, cooking dinner on our gas stove, when the first of many of our neighbours came over to day g’day.
His name was Bill, he was probably in his late 40s, and lived here in his caravan. He was covered in tattoos, skinny, but with a gut hanging over his jeans, wearing what i’m guessing used to be a white vest but was now a dirty shade of grey. He had long hair, no bottom teeth, and a rolled up cigarette permanently in his hand. We had a chat and he offered us his tarp, after he’s spent a while watching Paddy attempting to put our too-small tarp up over our camp. He even offered us the use of his fridge, which he had in the awning joined on to his caravan. This was an offer we couldn’t refuse as it was so hot that even an esky full of ice couldn’t keep our food cold. We never went inside his caravan, despite him offering for us to watch TV in there several times, and there was a good reason for this. His awning stank of stale cigarettes and coffee. There were dirty stains covering everything from the floor to the table and chairs, even all over the fridge. But we were in no position to judge, we needed a fridge and he had one to spare!
Our next neighbour to introduce himself was Sam the bird man. Sam was Italian but had lived in Australia for a long time, I think since the 70s, but that’s a rough guess as he has the strongest accent that is nearly impossible to understand. Sam was an old guy who was on his own. Again, he lived in the caravan park. At all times of the day he could be found sitting on his step, watching nothing go by. And then there were the parrots. At the same time every day hundreds of wild parrots would swoop down on the patch of land outside his caravan and eat out of the six plates of bird food Sam had left there for them. This was a nightmare, the noise drove us, and I’m sure everyone else, crazy, every day. But you had to feel sorry for Sam. He was an old man on his own with only his birds to keep him company. It was never a good idea to make any kind of eye contact with Sam, as he took that as an invitation for a chat. And as sad as it was to see him alone, the conversations never ended, and none of us could understand a word he said. So that was Sam the bird man.
Behind our tents we had a giant blue Winnebago, one of the old school ones that was probably about 20 years old. It had grass growing up the side of it, about 10 inches high, so it was clear these neighbours hadn’t been anywhere in a long time. They had an air conditioning unit attached to the side, balancing on a wooden shelf which was nailed to the Winnebago. Outside the front were a load of cars, all with parts missing, and then there was all sorts of other junk. In the 3 and a half weeks I was there, I never quite figured out who lived there, or how many of them there were. People were coming and going all the time, and I don’t think one of them weighed less than 20 stone. How they all fit in there I have no idea!
The day after we arrived, with nothing to do for a couple of days, we drove to Bundaberg, about 45 minutes away. Bundaberg is where we were originally heading, as they have about 7 workers hostels there, where they help backpackers in search of fruit picking work. Bundaberg is a big town in comparison to Gin Gin, but it’s nothing special. We just wandered around, stocking up on camping supplies and stopping for lunch. We asked in a hotel where the nearest beach was, and she pointed us in the direction of Moore’s Park, about another 45 minutes away. Off we went in search of this beach, realising just how far from the coast we were in Gin Gin. A figure like 90% of Ozzies live by the sea, so to be an hour and a half away shows what a rural area we were staying in.
We had to walk through a wooded area to get to the beach, and suddenly through the opening you could see the sea. It was beautiful, and the sea was so warm. We hadn’t intended on going to the beach when we left our camp so none of us had any swimwear. So instead, we just sat on the beach talking and looking out to sea. After a while, I started to notice splashes in the distance, only about 70 metres from the beach. As I watched closely I realised they were dolphins, loads of them, splashing in and out of the water. It was a real surprise. Here we were in the middle of no where, miles away from anyone, on this beach that was tucked away, watching dolphins swimming in the sea.
After a day sitting around our campsite doing nothing, it was time to start work. In preparation, when we were in Bundaberg, we’d bought factor 30 sunscreen and big floppy hats, aware of how strong the sun gets and that we’d be out in it all day. We joined an induction at 7am, with a group of backpackers who’d come by minibus from Bundaberg. After hearing about health and safety, we were given our bags and sizing rings and set to work. We took our car down and parked it in between two rows of lemon trees. There were lemon trees as far as the eye can see, and we were given two rows each to work on. At the top of each row were our step ladders. Basically what we had to do was measure every lemon on the tree, which is why we were given sizing rings. Anything too small we couldn’t pick, and the farmers came round to check! We were given snips, and shown the way we were to cut to lemons from the trees. This was something else the farmers checked. If any length of stalk was left on the lemons, it would dig into the other lemons and therefore ruin them! The rules were endless, but ultimately what we had to do was get up and down the trees as quickly as we could, filling our bags (which were strapped to us) and emptying them into a half-tonne crate.
We were paid by the amount of crates we filled, and each one was worth around $90. Have you seen what half a tonne of lemons looks like?! An impossible task is what it is! On our first day we worked ourselves so hard and none of us filled one more that ¾!
Something else we weren’t warned about prior to starting were the thorns in the trees. These grow up to two inches long and were so sharp. Despite being given gloves, they pierced straight through, going under our nails, into our hands, and scraping all over our arms and legs through our clothes. When we got in from our first day we were exhausted and scratched and scarred. It was horrific, as though we’d been attacked by someone with a penknife! And this was day one, 87 to go!
Each day came and went, and we gradually got better, learning techniques from the locals who had been doing it for years and picked four crates by lunchtime, and we were eventually picking just under two bins a day. Still not great, but a massive improvement. I feel like now I could answer any questions about lemons you fire at me. In fact, it got to a point that at one stage all we ever talked about were lemons, I even dreamt about them! Worrying indeed.... They were taking over my life for the time that I was there! If we went into the supermarket, we’d look at the lemons, which were often small, and wondered how whoever picked them got away with picking them so small without being caught by the farmers!
Despite the occasional spiders, snakes, and once even a kangaroo, our days working amongst miles and miles of lemon trees were pretty uneventful. You had to work alone, so it was pretty boring and mind-numbing. I used to take my i-pod and speakers, and leave them playing music full blast under a tree. It was the only way I could get through the days.
With a cyclone coming, we were warned that we could be off work for a few days. Most people would be glad to have time off work, except us. We lived in a hillbilly town where there was nothing to do. And if there was a cyclone coming, our little camp was certain to get destroyed!
We couldn’t work for about 4 days (picking lemons when they’re damp bruises them), so we had to entertain ourselves somehow. Thankfully the cyclone didn’t hit us head on, and so our tents were safe.
On our second or third night I had noticed a campervan which had set up camp not far from where we were. I’d gone over to explore, and met Lisa. Lisa was a 27 year old primary school teacher from New South Wales, who was relocating to Brisbane. While waiting for her job to start in Brissy she had decided to pick lemons in Gin Gin! She worked on a different farm to ours, but hated it just the same.
Lisa became my absolute saviour! For me, travelling with a couple was really difficult, and no matter what, you’ll always be the third person. So after meeting Lisa I spent all my time over at her camp, drinking cheap wine from a carton, playing cards, listening to music and talking rubbish about nothing for hours on end. Over the days when we were rained off from work, the two of us would go for drives to see what else was around this redneck area. Or we’d just happily play cards for hours without even realise how long we’d been playing because we’d been talking the whole time.
One day, still off work and with Lisa not around, we discovered that it was Gin Gin’s 130th birthday. Not wanting to miss such a special occasion, me, Paddy and Keeley followed the (small) crowds of rednecks to a field where they were having a celebratory fayre. This was an interesting insight into how these small town people lived. I’m sure for some, this was the highlight of their month, maybe even their year, preparing for this special event! First was a parade through the only road in the town, which led to the fayre. At the fayre there were all sorts of exciting things going on. They had camel rides, face painting, and even the ‘Gin Gin Cloggers’, a group of about 15 middle aged women tapping away on stage til they were red in the face and could barely breathe!
Not fitting in amongst the locals (because we had all our teeth, clean clothes, and weren’t wearing a cowboy hat), we stayed long enough to get a feel for the celebration and then left to head back to our camp, to do nothing, again.
By now it had been about 3 weeks since we’d left the boys in Byron, and I was hating every minute! We came here to work, and were rained off so many times that I’d probably only worked half the time I was there. One Friday morning, after having been at work long enough to pick ¼ of a bin, it started to rain, and so of course we were sent home. When we arrived back at the camp, Lisa was also there having been sent home. I went over to her to partake in our usual card-playing, wine drinking routine when we realised we probably wouldn’t work for the whole weekend.
With this in mind, we decided to go on a road trip. I left my tent pitched but grabbed my backpack, and jumped into Lisa’s campervan. We headed towards Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770, which are homes to Queensland’s most northerly surf beaches. It took us a couple of hours to get there, and the rain was horrendous, but it was worth it when we arrived. Saying that, of course anywhere is an improvement on Gin Gin and its surroundings!

The weather cleared up enough for us to appreciate the beautiful beaches and landscapes. The coastal roads were lined with holiday homes that must cost a small fortune to rent out to tourists, and they were absolutely stunning, set into the hillsides.

In the Town of 1770 they have a huge marina, but no yachts, more like the local's fishing boats, nothing that looks like it's worth a great deal.

We arrived quite late, but not too late to get some fish and chips in this small seaside town and sit on the beach to eat them.
The following morning, after spending the night sleeping in the campervan next to the sea, we were up bright and early to hit the beaches of these two towns, which are 5 km apart. We made picnics and went to sunbathe, and feel considerably lazy watching all the other backpackers learning to surf with the various surf schools. I promise myself I will do it one day! There’s not a great deal to do in these towns aside from learn to surf, or relax, but the beauty of it makes it worthwhile!
At the end of the day, after enjoying chilling out in the sunshine, swimming in the lukewarm sea and having eating in the town’s cafes, it was time to head back to face the reality of fruit picking!
We didn’t have work the next day and so it was back to the normal routine of playing cards under Lisa’s tarp in the pouring rain. It was that day that I decided it wasn’t worth me staying in Gin Gin any longer. Lisa was leaving soon and I wasn’t up for being the third person every time it rained, and considering it was Queensland’s rainy season it was bound to be a regular occurrence. And so I made an appointment at the library, the only place in the town that has access to the internet, and booked my flight out of there!
My plan was always to head down to Melbourne at the end of March, as one of my good friends Steve was flying over for a holiday. I booked my flight from Brisbane to Melbourne for a week later, and went into the local shop to arrange for a bus to collect me and take me to Brisbane where I would spend the rest of the week. I worked one last day at the farm, then packed up my tent, and slept my last night in the car. At 5 in the morning, Paddy and Keeley took me to the launderette, where I had to wait for the greyhound coach to pick me up.
Whilst making my decision, Tom, who was travelling with us previously, had got in touch to say he was back in Surfers Paradise, and so I decided that once I’d spent 8 hours on the bus, (in what would have been a 4 hour journey by car), I would arrive in Brisbane and get the train straight out of there to Surfers, where Tom was waiting to pick me up.
I don’t think I’ve looked forward to seeing anyone so much before! He’d booked an apartment in Surfers, a different one from where we stayed before. When I arrived he’d filled the fridge with all the food he knew I liked, and bought me bottles of rose wine, a nice change from the cheap stuff I’d been drinking out of cartons. On that first night we sat on the balcony having a drink and catching up on the events since we’d last seen eachother. Safe to say he’d had a better time than I had! At that moment in time I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather have been.
Gin Gin was an experience, but not a good one. I only managed to get about 15 out of my 88 days fruit picking done in just under a month. Had I stayed any longer I’m sure I would have gone insane with boredom, especially after Lisa had left. The only good thing to come from it was that at least I’d got some work done and out of the way, and I met a new friend who I’m sure I will see again when I eventually get to Brisbane and spend some time there.
I only spent a few days in Surfers with Tom, doing nothing different from what we did the first time we were there, but I had a great time being amongst people in the real world. Being able to wander from the apartment into the town centre to grab a starbucks, or get a chinese takeaway, were real novelties after the last month I’d had!
On day four, I was up, ready and waiting at 6am for my bus that was taking me to the airport, to head to Melbourne, yet again.

Surfers Paradise

We drove to Surfers paradise with the car full to the brim with all our stuff, leaving barely any room for us. We had surfboards, body boards, camping gear which we didn’t even need over the next 10 days, and then all of our backpacks.
Arriving at the Santana apartment complex we were all so excited. Just to be able to sleep in a bed, watch TV and cook in a kitchen was a luxury. You take so much for granted, such as having a bath, keeping food in a fridge, or having electricity for that matter!
First things first we unpacked. It was so nice to be able to take my clothes out of my backpack for the first time and hang them in a wardrobe, another luxury (I’m so easily pleased)!
Next was food shopping. We did a massive shop, buying proper food, a nice change from eating out of tins when we were camping. I was so happy that I didn’t even feel the need to go anywhere. We had a pool and BBQ facilities at the complex and were only a short walk from the town centre and beaches.
To make a nice change, the weather was great. How far we’d come from being in a tent in the rain, and we were only an hour or so away. This was our holiday within a holiday!
During the day we pretty much just made the most of the weather and enjoyed the sunshine at the beach. Thankfully the sea was warmer here too. Surfers is like a big party town, and can be compared to Miami. It's a bit like Marmite (or Vegemite as i'm in Australia) you either love it or you hate it. It's considerably tacky, but the shoppnig is brilliant and the beaches are good enough. It is quite commercial, with Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner, but at the same time it has everything you need. I loved everything about it, like how at night the whole place lit up with neon lights and became nightlife central. And then during the day it was a chill-out zone with people walking around in swimmers heading for another day of surfing at the beach.

To me, there wasn't anything else you could ask for of a beachside resort. It was far from idyllic, and any form of class goes right out the window, but it's good fun!
It did rain occasionally, and then it’d be really humid afterwards. In fact sometimes it was so humid it would be unbearable.
One day we went to one of Queensland’s many tourist attractions, the Wet ‘n Wild waterpark. It was great fun, and beat the one we went to in Vietnam, ‘Vin Pearl Land’, hands down! I felt like I was a kid again, getting excited and nervous queuing up for all the rides. Unfortunately, early afternoon, it started to piss it down again. And, believe it or not, they closed the rides down....at a waterpark!! What a joke, it makes no sense at all! More annoying though was that we’d just spent ages in a queue for a ride and it closed as we got to the front! So that was the end of that day out. After spending about 80 bucks on the tickets we probably only went on half the rides.
After we were home and dried off it was time to start thinking about the weekend ahead, and get ready for a night on the town. This was our first night out in ages, so i went to the effort of dressing up in the only nice clothes I had at the time and straightening my hair etc, only for the humidity to turn it into a giant frizz! What a waste of time that was. Note to self – stick to curly hair in Queensland, it’s not worth the effort!
After some pre-drinks at the apartment, Paddy realised he had left his only shoes in our other car back in Byron, and only had flip flops. Surfers is really strict on dress code, so he couldn’t come out...which meant Keeley didn’t either. And so instead, quick change of plan, Me, Tom, and my frizzy hair got a taxi to Jupiters Casino. I’d never been in a casino before, apart from Vegas when I was too young to gamble. Australia has 21% of the world’s slot machines, they’re mad on it, and so the casino was packed, especially being a Friday night. There were lots of locals, tourists, and of course the Japanese spending big bucks. Cameras are banned in the casino, I’m sure the Jap would have struggled with not taking photos for a night!
I had a go and won 30 bucks first time with a $1 bet. That was enough to make me happy so I didn’t do anymore, i just got the drinks in while Tom gambled God knows how much on the roulette table. It was a funny night and we didn’t end up going to bed til 5 in the morning. Amazingly, I didn’t spend any more money on gambling, I did on wine though and I felt it the next day! I think it was 3pm by the time I dragged myself out of bed! I don’t think I’d stayed out so long or slept in that late since I was in Thailand!
For the next few days, the rain was on and off; so many a sunbathing session was cut short! One evening, once Paddy had bought shoes, we got ready for another night out. This time we went bowling, which I lost, as always.

Then we went on to a cool bar called Melbas, which was always packed when we’d gone past it before, but was quiet for a Sunday night. It was good in here, good music and plenty of cocktails to sample. Another nice change from the $15 cartons of wine we’d been drinking, warm, when we were camping. As much as i loved camping it was so nice to be able to get ready in a bathroom, dress up, and get out and about amongst the night life.
After 10 days in our apartment, having cooked many a nice meal and watched many a crappy Australian TV programme, it was time to head back to Byron Bay to meet the others and put our tents back up. I was actually looking forward to getting back to basics after our brief stint with normality. I was just keeping my fingers crossed for no more rain!

Gunther and the Gang go camping!

Our trip was supposed to begin the morning I got back from Becky’s. We went to various camping shops to by all our gear, and then everyone had something they wanted to do before we left, so by the time we were ready it was late in the day. We made it across the Harbour Bridge to Manly, which was where I’d just come back from! Realising we weren’t going to make it any further before dark, we crammed the lot of us into an apartment room for the night, and finally hit the road the following morning.

We jumped in the cars (ours was named Gunther, I’m not quite sure why) and made our way to our first stop, picking out a camp site randomly from a map. We ended up in Munmorah National Park, in the middle of nowhere! We had no phone signal and no electricity. The campsite was nearly empty, and we had to drive through miles of windy tree lined roads to get there, but it was great! There were cooking facilities, plus we had our own gas stoves etc, and were fully prepared with lots of food and beer in our cool boxes! We let the boys set up the tent, and enjoyed an afternoon of glorious sunshine and peace and quiet! We were about a 5 minute walk from a secluded beach, and a short drive to other beaches and viewpoints around the national park. At night time we sat around our camp, not quite singing camp songs, but having a laugh just the 6 of us with no one around, no noise, no traffic, no lights, nothing!

We stayed here for a few days. The boys would spend the days playing football, fishing, surfing (which I’m determined to learn to do), or any other ‘boy activities’ while Keeley and I chilled out on the beach. Every night we would have a BBQ and a few drinks. Life could not have been better or more relaxed.

Next stop was a place called Myall Lakes, another national park. This one was my favourite of all the places we stopped. In fact, one of my favourite places i’ve been to in Australia. Again, we were in the middle of no where, about a thirty minute drive to the nearest town. As before, we were fully stocked up so that once we had set up camp, we didn’t need to leave. This campsite was completely basic, we were at one with nature! There were no showers, no running water, and the toilets were long drops! We were right on the edge of a giant lake, (hence the name)! It was so big you couldn’t see where it ended, and way way in the distance were mountains and forests. The lake water was warm and shallow, so we used to grab some beers and sit in there for hours, watching the sun set in the distance over the mountains (i do love a sunset)! It was beautiful. Aside from this, the lake was also the only place we could wash, brush our teeth, do our washing up, everything!

At night, breaking the silence, was the howling of packs of dingos. If you were unfortunate enough to need the loo in the middle of the night you were bound to come face to face with one, which I did many a time!

There were also possums getting to our food and rubbish, and giant lizards climbing, and falling out of, trees. When I say giant lizards, I mean huge, like small dinosaurs! The rangers came round and told us all the wildlife was pretty harmless as long as we kept our distance, which was worrying as the lizards always wandered around our tents while we were sitting there! After a while, you get used to the weird and wonderful wildlife in these national parks.

One day we drove down to yet another secluded beach, and went off-roading in one of the boys’ 4 wheel drives. This beach was amazing, it went on for miles with not a soul in sight.

The next week or so was pretty much the same. We stopped wherever we wanted and enjoyed doing next to nothing in beautiful surroundings, only having contact with civilisation when we stopped for supplies – beer and tinned food! I loved everything about the outdoors lifestyle, even when we had no running water to shower in or when we had to cook with no light after the sun had set. I was lucky to be with such a fantastic group and never got bored.

After a while we decided to move on up the coast to where there were other people and a bit of normality, so we headed for the famous Byron Bay. Byron is a small, hippy town right on the beach, and is completely full of backpackers and surf dudes. It’s a real chilled out and relaxed lifestyle. We still camped, but this time in a livelier area, walking distance from loads of cool restaurants and bars, and of course the beach! It was a nice change from being far from everything for a couple of weeks.

In terms of what we were doing, nothing really changed! We still lazed on the beach all day and barbecued at night, treating ourselves occasionally to a meal at a nice restaurant. Amazingly, one afternoon, sitting having a beer in the Northern hotel, I bumped into my friend Sarah from Queensland, who I worked with in Portugal in the summer of ’07. That wasn’t the first time I’d bumped into someone I know on my travels. It’s scary what a small world it is!

Byron was everything I expected, a real backpackers paradise. Although I imagine after too long you’d get bored. Without eating and drinking out all the time, which no backpacker could afford to do anyway, you’re left sitting on the beach everyday (not the worst way to spend your days but you can’t do it forever)!

On a few occasions, we drove round the surrounding areas, like Lennox Head and Ballina, taking in the sights of scenic drives to yet more beaches!

For the 4/5 days we were there we didn’t have much luck with the weather. In fact, after day one, it pretty much rained on and off the whole time, which is not much fun when you’re camping! Not wanting to drink away our money all day, and with the beach not an option, there wasn’t a great deal else to do. So….time to move on!

Of the 6 of us, 2 wanted to stay as they were having so much fun at the place they were staying. So the rest of us, me, Keeley, Tom and Paddy, decided to treat ourselves to an apartment in Surfers Paradise for 10 days. We left one car behind, and all our camping gear, and crammed into Tom’s 4x4, surf boards and all, and headed an hour or so further up the coast to Surfers, just north of the New South Wales/ Queensland border.

The last few weeks I had such a great time, being out in the open and away from everything.

It’s difficult to write about, as we didn’t do a great deal, but I can’t emphasise enough how much I enjoyed it and what an experience it was.

Maybe it was the freedom of being away from the normal tourist trail, with no other backpackers or tour guides. Or maybe the brilliant weather we had (before Byron) and our beautiful, peaceful surroundings. Or maybe it was just spending quality time with no one but great friends!!

Quick Stop in Sydney...

After a 14 hour drive (that was supposed to take 10) we arrived in Sydney in the evening and checked into a hostel, my first hostel since Vietnam, and Vietnam won hands down!
The place was pretty expensive considering how filthy and basic it was, and I was sharing a dorm with 7 others, along with a bathroom and kitchen shared with a hostel of over 100 people! Thankfully, there were enough of us that we had a dorm room to ourselves.
That night, I got my first taste of the Ozzy night life. We headed to a place called Side Bar, full of backpackers from all over the world. Considering it was a backpackers bar, drinks were still quite expensive, but as we'd had plenty of $15 wine from a carton before we came out, we didn't need much more! It was great to have a night of getting dressed up and dancing the night away to good music, which we hadn't done since Thailand. After we were kicked out at closing around 2am, we happily crashed out in bed after a long day.

Waking up hungover, we dragged everyone out of bed and drove to the famous Bondi beach. It was a scorchnig day and the beach was full, mainly with backpackers. The boys had a burst of energy and were playing ball games etc, while Keeley and I topped up our tans. It's amazing that despite the sun being so strong, the water in Victoria and New South Wales is so cold, like ice.

After the boys had had enough of being kids and tired themselves out, we decided to do the 2 hour walk from Bondi to Coogee, going round all the bays at the cliff top. The walk was beautiful, we went round loads of smaller beaches and saw amazing views out to sea. We also passed some of the most impressive sea view houses i've ever seen, they must have cost a fortune - oh how the other half live! Once we arrived in Coogee we rewarded ourselves with a few beers at the Coogee Palace Hotel.

That evening while most of the others crashed out hungover and exhausted, me, Sander and Tom went back into the city for a night out. In Sydney they have loads of 'Responsible Drinking' laws, such as, no entering a bar/club after 2am. Also, after midnight, for 10 minutes every hour they stop serving alcohol. So anyway, we were in a cool place called World Bar which closed at 2. At quarter to, we hailed a taxi and made a mad dash to the next bar before they stopped letting people in. This bar was pretty empty for a Thursday night, so we left to find somewhere else, but by now it was past 2. The three of us ended up in a rough bar in the middle of Sydney's gay district, where we stayed til about 6am. I found out the following day that we were in one of the roughest bar in the area! It was pretty crap, like a cheaper version of Wetherspoons, but we had a laugh and there was no trouble.
The next morning after a crap night's sleep because of the boys' snoring, I packed my bags and went to meet my mate from home, Louise, who has relocated to Oz.
Louise lives in the trendy Oxford street in a lovely apartment. After lunch at hers, we walked to the main tourist part of Sydney, the harbour. After taking the compulsory photos of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, we spent the afternoon sitting in the glorious sunshine at Opera Bar, overlooking the harbour.

A little while later the others came to meet us with the good news that they'd bought a stationwagon, including camping gear, ready for our road trip, for only $500 each.

I stayed at Lou's after a Mojito-fuelled night on the town, then went to meet another friend who lived in another part of the city across the Harbour bridge, Collaroy, about 50 minutes away.
I met Becky and her boyfriend Tim in 2007 when i spent the summer working in Portugal.
By the time I got there and we'd spent hours catching up on the last year or so, it was time to get ready for a gig her boyfriend was doing with his band 'Ninjaz with Attitude', back in the city. The band was great, they didn't take anything seriously and spent the whole gig taking the micky out of themselves in their songs whilst dressed as ninjas. Really entertaining!
Back at Becky's later it was like a Portugal reunion, with all the guys who I worked with in Portugal who lived nearby round for drinks, like the good old times!
On what was supposed to be my last full day in Sydney, Becky was showing me the sites around where she lived. First was Palm Beach, aka Summer Bay, the beach where Home & Away is filmed. Apparently all of us 'Pommies' love Home & Away - I don't know anyone who watches it, but that's what the Ozzies think, that, and Neighbours! After the lovely Palm Beach, where I stood outside the surf club (if you don't watch Home & Away you probably won't know what that is) we got a bus to Manly. Manly is opposite Sydney Harbour and a really smart area that reminds me a bit of London's Docklands.
The Wharf bar, Manly, was packed full with all sorts of people from beach babes, to those dressed to kill for a Sunday afternoon in this trendy bar. It was a great way to spend a lazy, sunny, Sunday afternoon with a good crowd.
In the morning, when Becky and her housemates had gone to work, it was time for me to head back over the bridge to meet the others. Rather than get the bus, I jumped on the ferry for a ride back to the city, a much better journey seeing all the views of both Manly and Sydney Harbour.
I got back to the hostel in time to meet the others loading up our new (old) car, ready for the road trip to properly begin! Only a quick few days in Sydney, but I fit loads in and had a brilliant time catching up with friends. There is so much more to do and see there, so I will definitely go back at some point. But now was time to hit the road!

Melbourne Madness

The cheapest flights I could get from Kuala Lumpur to Australia meant i first had to fly into Perth and spend the day there. Keeley and Paddy were already there so i jumped on a bus to the city centre to meet them for a few hours.

The city is small, you can walk around it in no time at all. And also it's so expensive. The guys were paying a fortune for a crappy hostel, and pub meals were about $30 dollars each, so lunch was a sausage roll sitting on a park bench!

After our gourmet meal, we got on a train to the nearest beach, Cosstletoe. The sun was shining and the beach was beautiful, but after a few hours there i had to leave to make my way back to the airport for my flight on to Melbourne. That was the most i've seen of Perth, and unless i hear anything spectacular in the next year, that's probably all i'll see!

Before leaving Kuala Lumpur i had got in touch with all of my Ozzy mates from Melbourne, and one of them, Beau, from a suburb called Frankston and who i'd met in Thailand 2 years earlier, offered to pick me up in the early hours of a Monday morning, and also offered me a place to stay for as long as i needed....result!

Beau was late picking me up, and so i waited at the side of the road in the middle of the night with my backpack, and a bag of over 1000 cigarettes which i'd not knowingly smuggled into Australia! (The limit is 250 - ooops)!

The next day, in the near 40 degree heat, i went to Long Island beach, where i fell asleep and burnt my eyelids! Despite nearly 4 months in Asia, i wasn't used to the sun being so strong. In Oz you can't buy sun tan lotion below a factor 30, and now i know why!

Beau gets sent home from work if the heat exceeds 35 degrees, so he came and met me at the beach, then showed me the sights of Frankston (not a great deal, but i now know the best places for a night out)! Then in true Ozzy style we went to the supermarket for beers and meat for the BBQ he was having for me later, inviting all his friends to welcome the 'Pommy chick'to Oz!

The week that i stayed at Beaus was pretty much the same - me at the beach or by the pool in the day when everyone was at work, then in the evening all his mates would be round for drinks in the unbelievable bar that he'd had built in his back garden. It was great being surrounded by a new group of people, and they all wanted to hear stories about my travels which of course i was happy share!

On the Saturday, a big group of us got the train to Richmond, in the city, to watch the Australian Open. I also invited along a few of the guys who we were travelling with in Asia. By the end of the day there were probably over 30 of us.

It was a great day out; Melbourne was in the middle of a heatwave so the sun was beaming and the beers were flowing! We only ended up watching one game, afterall, no one goes to watch the tennis (that's what i think and i'm sticking to it), and i can't even remember the names of the players! I'm not really a tennis fan, and so we ended up spending the majority of the day in the Heineken tent, along with most other people who were there!

After a long day, we'd all drunk enough and spent enough, so we headed back to Frankston. As usual, we stopped at the 'bottle shop' (off licence) for another night in at Beau's bar.

I couldn't have arrived in Oz at a better time. First was the Australian Open, then 2 days later was Australia day, an Ozzy bank holiday where they spend the day, traditionally, knocking back beers and having a BBQ.

Every year Beau has a house party on Australia day. His garden was decorated ready for about 150 people to turn up at 10am ready to celebrate and drink the day away! Most people don't last long after dark, and by about 10.30pm there were only a few of us left, even Beau and his girlfriend had gone to bed! I'd had plenty of practice in Asia, so I was one of the last ones standing!

Another great day in Melbourne, but i'd still barely seen the city itself! And after a 'recovery day' the following day we were leaving for Sydney.

I will go back at some stage, maybe to settle and find work and an apartment, so that at least i can see why everyone loves it there. But my days were spent catching up with old friends and enjoying the festivities, so i couldn't have had a better start to Australia.

On our last day, 3 of my mates from our group in Asia hired a car and picked me up from Beau's at 6 am to make our way to Sydney where our road trip began!

Malaysia

We arrived on Langkawi island at midday, and i could not wait to catch up with our two friends who were already there. We checked into our crappy budget bungalow resort then tracked them down by screaming their names until they finally heard us and came to the door! They'd already been on the island a few days, and had mopeds rented, so straight away we jumped on and did a bit of a tour round the island.

Langkawi is beautiful but not at all what i was expecting. We'd come from the southern islands of Thailand which are also beautiful, but full of backpackers and are known worldwide for being party islands and pretty lawless. This could not be more different.... Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, and so you can't drink beer freely during the day (something which was standard in Thailand)! In fact you can't even buy alcohol in most shops or restaurants...randomly the only place i could find to buy a few beers was a fruit and veg shop!
So anyway, riding round the island, covered up rather than just in our bikinis, we started off by visiting a secluded beach called Tanjung Rhu, where we sat around drinking from coconuts and, as usual, enjoying the sunshine.

In the evening we drove to the top of a mountain where we sat, with a few cans of beers the boys had managed to buy somewhere, and watched the sunset over the whole island. (i love a sunset)!

The following day, Sander, Pablo and I went on a ride round the island to the waterfalls and hotsprings. First stop was Durian Perangin waterfalls which was at the top of a steep mountain with hundreds of steps, but completely worth it. The view was spectacular across forests as far as the eye can see. The water was freezing but fresh and crystal clear. Even better was that we were pretty much the only people there so we got to enjoy it in peace.

After this, they took me to see 'Snake Man', who is in the Guinness Book of Records for being crazy enough to stay in a house for 35 days with 250 poisonous snakes! He is also the man the islanders call when they happen to find a 10 foot python in their back garden! Thankfully, i'm not fazed by snakes at all, so i went to each cage and held all the different kinds that i was allowed to.

Next, the 5 of us went to Telaga Tujuh, 'Seven Wells'. These were even higher up a mountain, up even more steps. In fact i had to stop about 5 times just to make it to the top! Right in the middle of the forest, full of loads of monkeys which of course we fed peanuts to, the seven wells are natural freshwater rockpools, running into a huge waterfall. It was so beautiful it was hard to believe they weren't man-made. We stayed here for hours, sliding down watery slopes and diving around in the pools. We were there so long that we got to see yet another beautiful sunset!
After a few days of glorious sunshine at the beaches and riding around the island feeding monkeys, as you do, we were ready to all fly together to Kuala Lumpur, where again, we were going our seperate ways. Although....we couldn't leave the island til Pablo had conquered his fear of heights and gone up the Langkawi cable car which takes you 700 metres above sea level to the top of MaChinchang mountain. Keeley, also afraid of heights, refused to come!

Once arriving in Kuala Lumpur, our first flight in 4 months of travelling, and after an emotional farewell, seeing Sander off to Sydney and Pablo back home, Keeley, Paddy and I headed into the city late at night and found ourselves a cheap hostel right in the centre, ready for a good nights sleep. They stayed for a day, and so the three of us, along with a French girl called Flo that we met in the hostel, headed to the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world.

After Keeley and Paddy left that evening, i stayed with Flo and we went into the city to see China town at night, and it was just like a market in Thailand, selling the same old useless crap and the same market traders hassling you to buy it.

The next day we got up early to buy our tickets to get up the to bridge joining the 2 towers together, on the 44th floor. You only get a few minutes up there but it's enough time to see across the whole city for miles, and was completely free which was an added touch!

After we did this, we headed to the Orchid and Hibiscus Gardens....not something i'd normally be interested in but Flo wanted to go so it was something to do! To be honest it was something i think my mum and dad would enjoy more! But it took up some time when otherwise i'd be wandering aimlessly around the city. Other than this Flo and i just messed around in the city, trying not to spend much but still having a good time!

I'm still not quite sure what a Malaysian person looks like.... KL is so multi-cultural, you see all nationalities from English to Indians and everything inbetween. I know i say this about every country in Asia, but the people here were really friendly and helpful. And they speak the best English of all the other countries i visited.

KL was so expensive in comparison to Langkawi, and all other countries i went to. I spent a few days there just doing the general touristy things, and with different company which made a nice change to spending the previous 2 months or so with the same group. As i was now on my own i decided i wanted to see Singapore, but i then heard it is so expensive and not backpacker friendly in relation to cost, so i decided to leave after 3 and a half days and instead flew to Melbourne to stay with an old friend Beau....more on that when i have the patience to write another entry on my blog!!