While I am on a roll I suppose I will write about Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I bought this bus ticket where I can get on and off the bus wherever I went. I knew, going in, that it was a touristy, backpacker kind of thing. But, what I didn't know, is that everyone on the bus would be 19 and from England. These people of the crown are everywhere. Them and Danish. Anyway I make it to the bus pickup location after waking early after horrible sleep on a top bunk of a squeaky bed that was made for a 5 year old. Thought I would be late and miss it because of the traffic and rain (yeah rain in Australia, what's that about?) but I make it and enroute (sp) buy some provisions to get me through the next 8 hours. Little did I know that this was pretty much a tour that stopped every hour or so for food, toilet, etc. So I had my Muesli bar and sit next to this annoying Canadian chick who was from the same town as Goule (I have no idea how to spell that but I am speaking of the famed Will Ferrell SNL character) which was a bit redeeming but not good enough for me to try and stay awake to learn more. Horrible sleep in a freezing bus but we have a cool driver who goes on and on about whatever for hours. Not a history buff but it doesn't seem that many people in this world of ours are. He goes on and we stop at this truck stop after a few hours. I buy raisin bread and coffee to keep me going and meet a cool girl, who I later find out was envious of my bread, who I end up talking to for the rest of the ride and hear all about her travels, life, home, tea, whatever. Name's Jo.
I am planning on hiking for the next three days after arriving in Warrumbungles National Park but once I see it and the fact that there are only about 15km of paths I decide that that won't last me 3 days. I continue on after camping out at a camp/hostel that the bus company brings us to. Lucky I have my tent. I paid $8 while everyone else payed like 24. HA. The next 2 days on the bus are about the same with me picking up some Australian and English sayings like how ya going, no dramas, Fraser Fraser Fraser and whole bunch of other crap that I can't remember because it's too early. It's like 10am on Saturday here while it's Friday night at 8pm there (EST). So Warrumbungles wasn't great but we saw a ton of kangaroos and let me tell you this is a strange animal. Boing boing boing. Yeah did that and then went into a town called Bingara and stayed at a pub there. Quite nice sharing a room with about 20 guys. Either nice or really loud when everyone is pissed (drunk) and snoring as loud as possible.
They tried to sell us a horse ride there but I didn't take it because it was raining a bit. But for $38 I probably should have because everyone loved it. So on the bus we have team Canadia, Danish, Brits, Swedes, Swiss, and one other American. I end up hanging out with him and we sit by the river and talk of travel, America, work, life. He's a good guy and is called the Pope. John Paul to you and I. RIP by the way. I heard about that the other day. I get no news here except footy scores. So Bingara is nice and I have a nice PBJ by starlight for dinner. The stars are amazing out here in the big empty middle of this country. Good eats as Alton Brown would say.
Next day on the bus is about the same more talk, more stops, more nonsense from Forrest. He reminds me of Forrest back home who is going to be the ultimate fighter in a few short weeks. Someone let me know if he is winning. Yeah we hear about all kinds of stuff but blow a tire on the road and have to stop and change it. Crazy that busses blow tires too even though they have so many. That was the only exciting part of the day after the cops pulled over and helped out and stared at us. That brought us to Byron where I had no accom because I thought I would be camping for the whole week and the place is packed. There is no room at the hostel that the bus drops people at but I make it over to the Arts Factory a cool hippy kinda camping place with Teepees, wagon trains, and tents as well as dorms for you to stay in. I was going to camp but the skies don't look friendly so I stay with some Danes in a tent/room on a deck above a pond. Quite cool. Been hanging out, nice beach, nice BBQ, going to go surf now. Right-o.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Bondi - Try it again
WOW this is the third time that I am going to try and write about my experience in Bondi last Sunday. Rough to type the same thing 3 times but the masses that read this must know what happened...simply must. Yeah so I am in Byron Bay now. It's about 8-10 hours north of Sydney and is where our favorite former Miami Dolphin Ricky Williams hung out for 6 months or so. I think I actually have the same camp site as him!!!!!
Anyway so Sunday in Bondi was gorgeous. I wake up at my A$24 dorm room with this dude from tha NYC and have a view of the beach. Already kickin at 8am mind you. Yeah I get up early, I rock. So John and I have a date to play chess on the beach at 11 so I go shower and then sit on the beach to enjoy the surf and the views. For us Americans its quite odd in that I think all other beaches in the world are topless beaches. Not that I was looking but this phenomena is everywhere. So I wait till 11 hoping to find John who also happened to quit AIG to come traveling. Simply amazing the people that you find on the road. Jack Kerouac for yall suckers. Yeah so he left a proper AIG job in the city to travel round the world and is one of the few (3 as of now) Americans that I have met. Anyway this a-hole doesn't show up so I decide to take the beach walk down to Coogee, about 6km south. The temp is about 28 degrees (Celsius of course; which I can't convert) and sunny. So I take this beach walk with the beautiful cliffs falling into the deep blue Pacific. Marvelous. I think the Incredibles would have even liked it. Yeah so I walk through a beach called Marabba (I don't really think that's it but I like to make up Australian names) and it was alright and then I get to Bronte the home of the first surf club (estd 1903) and it was quite nice. At this point my foot was hurting from walking about 100 miles around Sydney the past 2 days so I decide to hang out in Bronte for awhile. Lots of Speedos with Bronte written on the back. A little aside - Australians are crazy healthy or at least love their sports. There are people running, surfing, ocean swimming, throwing the rugby ball, tennis, everything. Amazing. Now I have seen more of them and I think Sydney is just kind of a city for show offs but still it's quite interesting. So I grab lunch and hang out for a bit before making the walk back but this place rocks. Better than Bondi in my opinion even if Jack Johnson sings about it. Bondi is nice just doesn't live up to my preconceived notion.
So I get back sit on the beach and read and watch the colors of the sun going down even though it is behind me. Go shower and then off to find some food. I hear from my hostel compatriots there is a killer pizza/pasta place about a block away so I go check it out. Seems quite popular since you can't even get in the door but I finally make my order and then decide to go buy a nip of wine. Find a decently cheap .5L box and make my way back for the pizza. Mel Gibson ate at this place I am told but I don't think he had to wait this long. He was probably making Waterworld or something. Yeah so I order the seafood pie which consists of prawns, mussels, anchovies, and garlic. I decide on this since I have no gum or breath freshener for later and everyone loves those smells. About an hour and a half later my pizza is ready and my stomach is eating itself but the wait only makes it better. I think this may have been the best pizza ever or it could have been that I didn't eat much that day and I had to endure the delicious aromas of the place for over an hour. So I take my pizza and wine to the beach and had a fantastic meal looking at the breaking surf (waves only about 1 meter here - quite small), moon, and stars.
The night before I was at a hotel (that's what they call bars whether they have accommodation or not) watching Super 12's. That's the worldwide (?) rugby league and a game that I don't understand. Anyway I am sitting outside on the bench watching the world go by, philosophizing on life, travel, love, happiness, etc when this drunk dude Ali comes up and sits down. Smokes a cigarette and we get in a yarn about his stunt guy job. Needless to say he's not really a stunt guy and really works at W Hotel in Cornwall (England) which I find out after all his other friends show up. Nat, a true Sydneysider is with them and invites me back to her flat to hang out. So these Cornwallers (3 of them now) are wasted and don't really like me being there but it's all good and I good naturedly let them take a rib out. Nat's flatmate Justin is a pro surfer and offers to take me out the next day and make room for me in the middle of all the locals. The beach that day was insane. You couldn't move a meter without bumping into someone and the water was worse. The beach is only a little over a kilometer long but probably had 200 surfers, 200 body boarders, 500 bathers, and hundreds more on the beach. Crazy. They love their water. Yeah so I can't take him up on the offer because I am to get on the bus the next morning at 7am but he's a good guy. Nat works at W too and Tony Hawk is a good mate of her's after he shot a movie down here. Going to stay in his house this summer, quite jealous. Anyway these guys are drunk calling me Mr Incredible and Buzz Lightyear and it is recommended that I leave before they get too pissed (drunk). When I am leaving Nat tells me this is the worst Southy she's ever seen. Apparently this is a south wind with rain. It's a nasty walk home like the weather guys you see on TV in a hurricane. Maybe not that bad but I had to lean into the wind. Hit the sack about 3am and have to get up at 5:45 for a bus north. Quite a night, which amazingly they all turn out to be. Backpackers are an interesting sort always have a lot to talk about and are usually quite clever.
So I'm in Byron now and will try to write about that later if this post works.
Anyway so Sunday in Bondi was gorgeous. I wake up at my A$24 dorm room with this dude from tha NYC and have a view of the beach. Already kickin at 8am mind you. Yeah I get up early, I rock. So John and I have a date to play chess on the beach at 11 so I go shower and then sit on the beach to enjoy the surf and the views. For us Americans its quite odd in that I think all other beaches in the world are topless beaches. Not that I was looking but this phenomena is everywhere. So I wait till 11 hoping to find John who also happened to quit AIG to come traveling. Simply amazing the people that you find on the road. Jack Kerouac for yall suckers. Yeah so he left a proper AIG job in the city to travel round the world and is one of the few (3 as of now) Americans that I have met. Anyway this a-hole doesn't show up so I decide to take the beach walk down to Coogee, about 6km south. The temp is about 28 degrees (Celsius of course; which I can't convert) and sunny. So I take this beach walk with the beautiful cliffs falling into the deep blue Pacific. Marvelous. I think the Incredibles would have even liked it. Yeah so I walk through a beach called Marabba (I don't really think that's it but I like to make up Australian names) and it was alright and then I get to Bronte the home of the first surf club (estd 1903) and it was quite nice. At this point my foot was hurting from walking about 100 miles around Sydney the past 2 days so I decide to hang out in Bronte for awhile. Lots of Speedos with Bronte written on the back. A little aside - Australians are crazy healthy or at least love their sports. There are people running, surfing, ocean swimming, throwing the rugby ball, tennis, everything. Amazing. Now I have seen more of them and I think Sydney is just kind of a city for show offs but still it's quite interesting. So I grab lunch and hang out for a bit before making the walk back but this place rocks. Better than Bondi in my opinion even if Jack Johnson sings about it. Bondi is nice just doesn't live up to my preconceived notion.
So I get back sit on the beach and read and watch the colors of the sun going down even though it is behind me. Go shower and then off to find some food. I hear from my hostel compatriots there is a killer pizza/pasta place about a block away so I go check it out. Seems quite popular since you can't even get in the door but I finally make my order and then decide to go buy a nip of wine. Find a decently cheap .5L box and make my way back for the pizza. Mel Gibson ate at this place I am told but I don't think he had to wait this long. He was probably making Waterworld or something. Yeah so I order the seafood pie which consists of prawns, mussels, anchovies, and garlic. I decide on this since I have no gum or breath freshener for later and everyone loves those smells. About an hour and a half later my pizza is ready and my stomach is eating itself but the wait only makes it better. I think this may have been the best pizza ever or it could have been that I didn't eat much that day and I had to endure the delicious aromas of the place for over an hour. So I take my pizza and wine to the beach and had a fantastic meal looking at the breaking surf (waves only about 1 meter here - quite small), moon, and stars.
The night before I was at a hotel (that's what they call bars whether they have accommodation or not) watching Super 12's. That's the worldwide (?) rugby league and a game that I don't understand. Anyway I am sitting outside on the bench watching the world go by, philosophizing on life, travel, love, happiness, etc when this drunk dude Ali comes up and sits down. Smokes a cigarette and we get in a yarn about his stunt guy job. Needless to say he's not really a stunt guy and really works at W Hotel in Cornwall (England) which I find out after all his other friends show up. Nat, a true Sydneysider is with them and invites me back to her flat to hang out. So these Cornwallers (3 of them now) are wasted and don't really like me being there but it's all good and I good naturedly let them take a rib out. Nat's flatmate Justin is a pro surfer and offers to take me out the next day and make room for me in the middle of all the locals. The beach that day was insane. You couldn't move a meter without bumping into someone and the water was worse. The beach is only a little over a kilometer long but probably had 200 surfers, 200 body boarders, 500 bathers, and hundreds more on the beach. Crazy. They love their water. Yeah so I can't take him up on the offer because I am to get on the bus the next morning at 7am but he's a good guy. Nat works at W too and Tony Hawk is a good mate of her's after he shot a movie down here. Going to stay in his house this summer, quite jealous. Anyway these guys are drunk calling me Mr Incredible and Buzz Lightyear and it is recommended that I leave before they get too pissed (drunk). When I am leaving Nat tells me this is the worst Southy she's ever seen. Apparently this is a south wind with rain. It's a nasty walk home like the weather guys you see on TV in a hurricane. Maybe not that bad but I had to lean into the wind. Hit the sack about 3am and have to get up at 5:45 for a bus north. Quite a night, which amazingly they all turn out to be. Backpackers are an interesting sort always have a lot to talk about and are usually quite clever.
So I'm in Byron now and will try to write about that later if this post works.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
A Night at Sydney's Famed Opera House
Well during a long day walking up and down the streets of Sydney i decide to to buy a ticket to Shakespeare's Henry VI Trilogy at the Opera House. I make it to the show at about 6:45 after a hearty meal of fish and chips at a cafe overlooking the harbour. Low and behold my seat is next to a girl, Anna, from Atlanta, GA by way of Belmont in Nashville (just so we all can relate). We talk about our time down under thus far and decide after the show to go see some sites together the next day. The play by the way was very interesting although i am pretty sure i didn't understand one part of it. Oh well i was still there. On the walk home i stop for a draught beer at the Opera Bar and enjoy the amazing view of Sydney at night with a cool little band kickin in the background. I get home to find the nasty Brits still staring me down and go to sleep still a bit scared for my life.
During the day leading up to the Shakespeare event i wandered about the city after a hearty meal of eggs and bacon (dad, the bacon here kicks ass). I ended up at the quay and then walked about the botanical gardens for a number of hours and got a free quided tour with a bunch of 70 year olds. Very nice. Made it down through Chinatown to discover all the cheap knock off Von Dutch stuff. Whoa. Also tried to get Bright Eyes tickets but to no avail. So i decided to skip out to Bondi the next night.
On Saturday Anna and i hung out nearly all day starting with some brekky in the park then hitting several museums and the coolest part was the Sydney Tower or something (kinda like the space needle in Seattle i suppose) which affords 360 degrees of stunning views of the city, harbour, ocean, and blue mountains to the west. Good stuff. After two days of walking on Chaco's i think my feet are breaking but i must press on.
Made it out to Bondi and got a room with a view and breakfast for A$23. So i have some indian food for dinner then meet some more Brits (cool this time) at the hostel and they share a beer with me and i finish a book and we just have a grand ol time. Ready to go hit the beach today. Probably no surfing since i hear the locals are a bit mouthy but i will go sit on the beach which is good enough for me. More later.
During the day leading up to the Shakespeare event i wandered about the city after a hearty meal of eggs and bacon (dad, the bacon here kicks ass). I ended up at the quay and then walked about the botanical gardens for a number of hours and got a free quided tour with a bunch of 70 year olds. Very nice. Made it down through Chinatown to discover all the cheap knock off Von Dutch stuff. Whoa. Also tried to get Bright Eyes tickets but to no avail. So i decided to skip out to Bondi the next night.
On Saturday Anna and i hung out nearly all day starting with some brekky in the park then hitting several museums and the coolest part was the Sydney Tower or something (kinda like the space needle in Seattle i suppose) which affords 360 degrees of stunning views of the city, harbour, ocean, and blue mountains to the west. Good stuff. After two days of walking on Chaco's i think my feet are breaking but i must press on.
Made it out to Bondi and got a room with a view and breakfast for A$23. So i have some indian food for dinner then meet some more Brits (cool this time) at the hostel and they share a beer with me and i finish a book and we just have a grand ol time. Ready to go hit the beach today. Probably no surfing since i hear the locals are a bit mouthy but i will go sit on the beach which is good enough for me. More later.
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