It's a Tourists Paradise

Only two short hours away and Surfers Paradise could not be more different from Byron Bay. The endless stretch of white sand is surrounded by sky scrapping hotels, shopping malls, and night clubs. It's more of a tourist destination than a backpackers paradise. We stayed at the Surfers Paradise Backpackers Resort, which was again a motel style hostel, this time equipped with a tennis court as well.

We indulged in the nightlife a few times over the week but mostly we laid low and hung out with our lovely british roomates. Other than lying on the beach, as usual, we took a trip out to one of the many theme parks that Surfers is famous for. Wet'N Wild is a giant water park with huge slides, a wave pool and even a rollercoaster. We spent the entire day there and managed to go on every slide once, mainly because of the massive school group that was there, but also because there was so many things to do.

We also walked to a park called Cascade gardens and spent a day taking pictures and wandering around. The gardens are famous for all of the bats that sleep in the trees during the day. When the air began to smell like guano we figured that we had found them. Looking up we could see nearly a thousand of the creatures hanging out upside down in the foliage.

We found so many jellyfish washed up all over the beach. Stepping on them was unavoidable and an overal lifechanging experience. They have the strangest texture.

After a week in paradise its time to move on. Brisbane is next on the list but who knows for how long!

Byron by the Sea

No I wasn't taken out by a cyclone, just falling behind in the posts lately. Well time for some updates! Since Newcastle we have begun to inch our way up to coast closer to our final destination in Cairns. Byron Bay was our first stop, and after hopping off the Greyhound we knew we would be staying for a while.

The tiny town of Byron can be described as a backpackers haven, with a laid back atmosphere and the friendliest people. We stayed in a hostel called Holiday Village Backpackers, which had motel style rooms, a pool, and an open air eating area. There wasn't much to complain about other than a few cockroaches, which I'm almost starting to live with, and a bunk bed that was about to topple over! About fifty percent of the population at the Holiday Village, or all of Byron for that matter, was Canadian, the other half British. Needless to say we fit right in!

Our days were spent lounging by the pool or heading down to the beach to check out the waves...and the surfers. Funky shops and eaterys line the main road and its not hard to find something new everytime you walk down a back alley. There's a few bars in town that cater to the die hard partiers, one of which is Cheeky Monkey's, conveniently located across the street from our hostel. It's an interesting place where the only place to dance is on top of tables. There is also a bunch of places to check out live music most nights of the week. The days and nights in Byron definitely revovle around fun, which we had a lot of.

Cape Byron is home to a beautiful lighthouse and the most easterly point in Australia. The cape is only a quick twenty minute bike ride from the center of town so we decided to take a ride up there one day. It may be close to town, but that doesn't mean it's an easy ride. The way there was entirely uphill and the sun was relentless, making us some very sweaty bikers. Once we got to the point it was worth the effort. The veiws of the ocean and surrounding beaches were amazing. The ride back was a lot more pleasant. I think I only had to pedal once before getting in to town.

Our other big excursion while we were in Byron was a day trip out to Nimbin. We hopped on 'Jims Alternative Bus' for the short drive out to the tiny town. Jim was a funky guy with stories galore about the many eccentric bus riders he's had over the years. Many of whom were under the influence of drugs seeing as Nimbin is the Marijuana capitol of Australia. Not that it's legal there it just seems to be more openly accepted. We understood what he meant when we jumped off the bus. As soon as we started walking down the street everyone, young and old, started asking if we needed anything. Other than getting hustled Nimbin has a lot of funky cafes and galleries to offer. Our next stop on the tour was Paul Retcher's house and jungle for some macadamia nuts and story telling. Paul is originally from New York and has lived in Oz for who knows how long, apparently long enough to plant himself a jungle. While we walked through his forest, Paul entertained us with his philosophical outlook on the world. If you're ever in Byron, Nimbin is deffinitely worth the trip, there's some interesting people out there!

After two amazing weeks in Byron it's time to move on. Surfers Paradise here we come!

Melbourne Shenanigans

We landed in Melbourne on Sunday and the moment we stepped of the plane we could tell that the place had a different vibe than Sydney. Our home for the week was the Habitat HQ in St.Kilda, a short tram ride out of the city center and a welcome break from the big city hustle and bustle.

We met up with David, another friend from NZ, and he brought us to the Abbotsford Convent. The old convent has been transformed into a bunch of small art galleries and workshops and houses a vegitarian restraunt and cafe as well. There was a music festival going on when we arrived so we sat down for a listen before wandering around and grabbing some bevvies. We stumbled upon a walkway that took us over the Yarra river into a park and then onto another rather trecherous hike along the opposite bank of the river. We passed by a community garden and farm complete with horses, cows, goats, and sheep, all in the midst of the city. It was rather unexpected. After the trek we headed back to 'Lentils as Anything' for a Sri Lankan buffet. The food was amazing and the restraunt is really unique in that it opperated on donations but otherwise the meals are free.

On Tuesday we headed in to the city to check out arts center, aplty named because of all of the galleries in the area. Unfortunately the National Gallery of Victoria was closed that day so we headed over to the Australian Centre of the Moving Image. The building is dedicated to everything about film, animation, video games and beyond it was a lot of fun. We sat around playing Sonic the hedgehog for a good hour. From there we wandered around Swanston St., which is the main road that the central city branches off from.

We hung out in St.Kilda on Wednesday and headed down to the beach for a lazy relaxing day. We were wandering around looking at some shops (window shopping of course) and stumbled upon a funky restraunt called Abbey Road and noticed that they had kangaroo on their menu. We sat down and both ordered up some Roo souvlakis. The taste is a lot like deer meat and was really tender. It's definitely something I would order again if it was in my budget!

We met up with David again later that week and he brought us into the city for a tour of the Graffiti art that is around every unassuming corner. The city sanctions off alleyways for artists to decorate as they like. The work is amazing and constantly changing as new artist come in and make their mark on a daily basis. He also took us to a little chip stand outside of Flinders St. Station called Lord of the Fries. I tried my first box of vegitarian chicked nuggets, they tastes suspiciously meat like.

My Australian birthday! We went out for a delicious brunch of banana pancakes and my mochas (my new addiction) and then window shopped some more. In the evening Sabrina and I went into the city on a quest for sushi, which was amazing once we finally found it! Then we checked out some funky local clubs and danced the night away as usual. The next day Melbourne experienced a torrential downpour for about 20 minutes which caused the city to shut down completely. We were on our way to the airport and our shuttle was constantly re-routed due to flooded streets and general mayhem. The whole ordeal ended with us missing flight and finally getting to Sydney around 10pm but also causing us to miss our 11pm bus. We stayed in the airport yet again and caught a bus the next day that was headed to Newcastle. On a whim, and out of patience, we decided to stop in and find a hostel for a couple of nights. It's a funky little surf town and so far I'm enjoying the vibe, we may stay longer than we thought!

Overall it was an eventful weekend making my 20th birthday very unforgettable!

It's a Zoo out there

Third times the charm. We finally made it to the Taronga Zoo after multiple failed attempts, mostly because of weather and partly because of sheer laziness. It was definitely worth the wait. Once we hopped off the ferry we took a gondola up to the top of the hill that the zoo is built on. The veiw was amazing we were looking down at elephants and the Sydney skyline was visible in the distance. The highlights of the day were the seal show and the elephants, the zoo successfully bred two elephants earlier this year so there was an adorable little calf wandering around. And of course the koalas were unimaginably cute, they didn't do a whole hell of a lot but they were cute.

We were lucky enough to be in town just long enough to see Sydneys Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras that evening. The streets were packed with tons of people in costume and a huge parade with some really amazing floats was going on all night. Everywhere we went was a party, Hyde Park in particular was overtaken by droves of people having a good time. The crowds were exciting up until the point when we had to manuever our way to the train station with our massive packs to get to the airport. Our plane to Melbourne left at 6 am the next morning and all of the hostels in sydney seemed to be booked up for the Mardi celebrations. We decided sleeping in the airport again wouldn't be an issue, besides the fact that the port is closed from midnight to 4am so we ended up sleeping outside on benches. I only felt slightly homeless.

I'm on a Boat!

We met up with Robyn and Bruce and their friends Sue and Silvano for a wonderful day out on Port Hacking in their boat. The water was surrounded by the Sydney Royal National Park on one side and beautiful luxury homes on the opposite bank. We stopped at a little beach for an amazing picnic, homemade food was such a treat. After lunch we headed into the bush to see if we could find some aboriginal carvings that were on the rocks nearby. We finally found them after going on a bit of a "get lost tour" and encountering some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen. Needless to say Sabrina had a bit of a panic attack so I managed to stay calm for both of us, hardest thing I've ever had to do! The rest of the afternoon was spent cruising around and seeing the sights. The trip came to an end and Sue and Silvano wanted to show us Cronulla Beach so we stopped in at a seaside restraunt for some cappucinos and muffins. What a perfect end to a perfect day. I'm so glad we got the chance to do this it's definitely an experience that not everyone gets to have when they come to Australia.