A Snippet of Life

Having stepped off the plane, we literally thought we had somehow taken a detour back to England. Shivering rapidly, we waited for our luggage OUTSIDE (they could have at least added some warmth to the situation!). When we got to the city the streets were rammed, we were wondering if this was an average Saturday night in Melbourne, but no, white night by name! An annual light display, with art shows with added quirkiness, spreader throughout the city, originally started to get money into the city but the turn out was huge so they carried it on. Anyway, going off tangent...there we were strolling through melbourne at midnight, with our backpacks, in search if our hostel, amongst the drunks. We finally found it and ran straight to our warm beds, at least I thought mine was mine! Until about an hour later when I was patted on the head by a Canadian guy who thought I was his friend (they both had very long hair), turns out apparently I was sleeping in his bed! Goldilocks type moment! I re...

After another hideous, overnight train journey, this time with no blankets provided and with the added disruption of some complete imbecile mouthing of at the front of the carriage, which meant I got literally NO sleep, we arrived! Walking through the station, with rain outside, down to the underground, it reminded us very much of London, although the tubes were double decker- pretty cool!   We found our way to our backpackers, having given a dollar to a tramps daily fund and been told I was going to heaven, really, I was...(I only gave him money so that he wouldn't hurt me!). Shortly after arrival, we realised we had picked THE dodgiest part of Sydney, Kings Cross! The hostel owner took us to a nearby cafe for a free coffee (you suddenly become trusting of everyone you meet while travelling, especially if they offer free food or drink, pretty dangerous!). After a while of being creeped out by the hostel owner, finding out that the hostel didn't have hot water, and that th...

So...we attempted a surf! Not very successful because the guy sent us to the 'learner waves' which we were soon to find out he actually meant no waves at all, just ripples! There were a few bigguns where I almost stood up...that or completely got swept under my surf board and struggled to get back on like a complete tourist! I didn't mind though, it was just so relaxing and peaceful ( which is how I'd describe byron bay in general) just laying on the board, surrounded by glistening sea and beaming sun shining down on us! There was a magical moment when I saw a fin. Me being the ever optimist (not) immediately thought "SHIT, SHARK!!!" Until 3 beautiful Dolphins jumped out of the water, about 10meters away from where we were laying! Just amazing! Another animal to tick off my list! The day was made complete after our walk, up a mammoth hill, to the most easterly point of mainland Australia, where we watched the sunset, and what a clear and beautiful day we pick...

After a walk up and down the street, searching for our backpackers that claimed it was the closest to the beach, we dumped our bags and headed straight for the sand. So strange to look along the coast and just see skyscraper after skyscraper practically ON the beach. (Kind of what I expected though)   When we got back to our room after a pasta dinner mixed with Tomato pure instead of pasta sauce, simply because it was 10 cents cheaper and "every little helps" (IT WAS GROSS), we found a party in our room! A mix of Welsh and Irish crammed in, with their accents booming! We managed to squeeze in and get ready for the big night ahead...LADIES NIGHT! We thought there would be a catch, but we were wrong, it literally was FREE DRINKS ALL NIGHT! Champagne, vodka, anything you wanted. Bliss! We proper milked it and by 20 minutes in we were on drink number 5! That's the way you do it! BACKPACKER LIFE! It was a good night, and I honestly, hand in heart, did not spend a penny! W...

  After a lovely road trip, we arrived at the backpackers! IT WAS HOOGE! Felt like we were back at school or at UNI! Was like a maze. So modern is brissy, reminds me a bit like Lego. Very few cars on the road, well Aussies would claim otherwise but they haven't been to London have they?! I mean the nearest to a rush hour we have experienced is walking back at 5pm, this rush hour was a pedestrian one, hoards of people crossing roads everywhere like ants, but still not close to the English style rush hour!  ..very random, too...a beach in the middle if the city, we lay in the sand catching rays then for a dip, so odd. A parkland too, 16ha of it, and through the trees a view of the gigantic skyscrapers, Brissy had it all.    A funny story, well kind of sad too, sitting eating THE nicest invention ever - Nutella filled hot cross bun- YUM, and on the table next to us is a family, two little kids and dad, enjoying their pasta, surrounded by Ibis', the vultures. The l...

  Feeling smug having left the cyclone in Airlie behind, we made it after a very long, overnight, 13hour train journey, full of mostly watching kangaroos looking stunned like Meerkats, and attempting to get some sleep (NEXT TIME WE ARE GETTING SLEEPER CABIN) Despite the sun disappointing us and hiding, I still am yet to see a temperature below 17 degrees (and that was half 5 AM!).   Even though there was a cyclone up north, people were still surfing the mahoosive waves, unbeknown to us, these were probably professionals and so we thought we'd get out there and LEARN how to surf! Not our best decision! We failed and came straight back to switch surf boards for body boards (people staring at us thinking those two don't have a clue!) An equally bad decision for my stomach- grazed to shreds as the board was like sandpaper! But it was very fun nonetheless and the sun even came out to play for a bit!    Another good thing about our visit to Maloolaba, was that w...