"go budget or go home"

we're halfway there! (not living on a prayer though...........henri's dad should be proud of her lame joke)

we left newcastle by greyhound and travelled to port macquarie. we were picked up by the hostel "shuttle bus" that took us that awfully long way (5 minute walk...) to the Ozzie Pozzie Backpackers. after checking in (and the standard procedures) we took a stroll by the water, hoping to see dolphins. we walked along the "colour" wall that took us all the way to town beach, then on to the flagstaff hill. after buying some dinner, we signed up for a sunrise surfing lesson at flynn's beach (best surf beach in town). that meant an early night for us, seeing as though we would have to wake up at 4.30 the next morning. the surfing was so much fun, especially because we were doing it while the sun was rising - it was spectacular (so was the salt water up our noses). after eating a slooooow breakfast, we rented really cheap bikes from the hostel to go see the koala hospital. the bikes had no gears, no breaks (back peddling = breaking), but we looked cool and retro nonetheless. the koala hospital was really interesting - we learnt about all the procedures the rescued koalas go through, like treatment, as well as moving from the recovery stages on to rehabilitation. we saw a few of them being fed, so all in all it was a cool experience :)

looking fierce

port macquarie was a very relaxing few days for us, but there wasn't all that much to do or see, so we were eager to travel onwards to byron bay. we arrived in byron on last tuesday evening, where karaoke was the evening entertainment at the hostel bar. we stayed in a really cool hostel, it had a pool, a bar area (indoor and outdoor), as well as friendly staff and decent dorms. ironically, we spent the first few days sharing an 8 person dorm with only swiss people. after a while though, our room became more international (4 swedish guys, 1 italian, 1 english, etc etc). we went "hardcore" on our first night in byron - starting at the hostel bar where we met some really awesome people (two of who we know we're going to see again). we went to a bar called Woody's Surf Shack first, it was pretty cool, played good music, and had a groovy vibe. we moved to byron's famous Cheeky Monkey's, where the night consists of dancing on tables in a very intoxicated state. fun times. on the second day we took a "happy coach" to the weed capital Nimbin (note to parents: WE WERE JUST OBSERVING THE HIPPIE LIFE). it was a really nice trip and we had lovely weather.

the same evening, the hostel bar had its weekly trivia night, so team "E for Idiots" got together and came 5th out of 10 (proud to say we are average). next day was a beach day (where chris and henri obviously got sunburnt again) - we even swam with dolphins, who we at first thought were sharks, making us run out of the water, only to realise they were a pod of dolphins, so we ran back after them (complete tourists). that evening we had amazing frozen yogurt ("yoflo") on the beach, then had an "early" night (early meaning around midnight). the next day, chris stayed indoors all day to keep his sunburn out of the sun, whilst henri went shopping with Astrid (dutch) and Gabbie (english). the same evening, we had dinner at the Northern hotel, which was a pub venue for a lot of cool gigs. we had a very ncie meal with astrid, gabbie and bettine, then went into the "concert hall" and saw 3 different artists (all random people, no-one famous). our favourite was the second one who was an aussie and had a very cool voice (he reminded henri of Ben Howard.)

 

 

team E for Idiots! (from left: bettine, astrid, henri, gabbie, chris)

sunday was pretty uneventful, but henri and astrid had an amazing brunch at a cool cafe called Twisted Sista. Byron bay doesnt consist of many activities but that's what makes it so chill and awesome. they have gorgeous beaches there, including a very nice walk to the cape byron lighthouse, which we did the next day. it was a very hot day, but a beautiful walk nonetheless. we saw at least 10 dolphins in one pod from one of the look out points - it was amazing!

YAY!

drop off zone for hang gliding!!

 

cape byron light house

 

we spent a few hours at the travel center called Wicked Travels (free internet!) in the afternoon to do some more bookings and organise the next leg of our travels. we've booked our tickets back to sydney, as well as one taking us to melbourne! monday nights at the hostel = jello wrestling. rules included: only girls, no biting/scratching, and no choking (the list went on..) with our new roommates, two swedish guys who were from gothenburg, we had the daily hostel dinner (buy a drink for $3 and get a free meal!), all the while chilling in some comfy bean bags and enjoying (well henri was finding it rather funny) the jello wrestling. the next morning consisted of surfing with the swedish dudes (we got to hire free surfboards from the travel agency with who we booked our Whitsunday's sailing tour) - henri got stung by a Blue Blubber jellyfish (yes, that is its actual name - it's like the aussies ran out of jellyfish names and had to use blubber), but it wasn't anything too serious - only some stinging and an awkward looking rash... surfing was fun but difficult because of the immense currents in the waters of byron bay - but it was still a good morning! chris also managed to squeeze a nap in at the beach in between surf sessions.
 for our "last supper", chris ate the hostel food with gabbie and others, whilst henri went for the more extravagant option of abraKEBABra with the swedish dudes. goooood food. this all happened on a tuesday, but it wasn't any regular tuesday - it was PANCAKE tuesday. this meant gabbie, chris and henri made pancakes from a "add water and shake" mix at about 9pm. they were really amazing (at least for a backpacker's standards).

the blue blubber jellyfish

then wednesday morning we left byron bay to go to brisbane (or "brissie"). brissie was weird and fun - we only spent two nights there, but we got to see a really cool art gallery. museums seem to be the best option for tourists like us when we have no idea what else to do. it was weird to be there because we've gotten used to being by the beaches, and putting on regular shoes was a bizarre yet surprisingly refreshing feeling.

 

3L of cider!

love from our hostel in brissie

brissie CBD by night

 

side note: we have now postponed this blog post for 4 days- we were originally writing it in byron bay, then we didnt have time to finish it before our bus left for brisbane. then in brisbane, we ran out of time as well, and the hostel computers in noosa were far too slow to manage anything. so now we're at the public library in agnes water where we are finally finishing this post. sorry for all the delays, we've promised a new blog post for a while now, but because we're time optimists, we've not been so successful at actually completing it on time.

chris practising his contour drawing skills: i think it looks a lot like me....

SO. noosa was alright. we travelled there with our friend Astrid. it is a quite small place, and our hostel was situated a 15min ride outside of the main junction - so basically there wasn't all that much to do.. besides, it was raining both days we were there. however, on our first night, we met a cool aussie bloke (standard "long hair-dont care" attitude and a nose piercing) who was a very friendly guy. our hostel had a tiny little bar where we just sat and had a few beers with him, then we were invited out to town with him to experience the pumping noosa nightlife (thrilling). nah, it was still a lot of fun, and we finally got to meet and hang out with proper aussies. other than that night, noosa was uneventful. we then hopped on a 9 hour bus that would take us to where we are now - agnes water/town of 1770. noosa was small but this place is tiny - its basically a village. but yet it has a decent library (with very nice air conditioning). last night we bumped into Lucy, a girl we met at the blue parrot hostel in sydney! it was so nice to see a familiar face again, and to be able to be a little more social without having to repeat the standard questions: where are you from, whats your name, how long are you in Oz for? etc etc etc. we leave tonight around 9pm, where we will be on the bus for 10 hours overnight - at least we save money on accomodation (now you're starting to understand henri's creation of the "go budget or go home" motto)! our next stop is airlie beach, where we will spend a night before heading out on our 3 day sailing tour in the whitsunday islands! we're very excited about that. apart from that, agnes water hasn't been very eventful either, but we've had a few more relaxing days here. the beach was decent, but because of the rain and the debris from the floods, it wasn't the best sight.

henri isn't so happy about the weather here in agnes water

we probably won't update you guys again until we're in cairns, or back in sydney in 2 weeks, so here's a little schedule of our travels:


19th feb/20th feb --> airlie beach
21st feb --> our whitsunday's tour begins!! sailing around the stunning islands for 3 days doesn't sound too bad?
24th feb --> mission beach (yet again, another beach town. henri's mission: SKYDIVING)
from then on, we dont have any particular dates, but we'll make our way to cairns after mission beach, where we'll probably spend a few days, then head up to port douglas to go diving in the great barrier reef!
5th march --> flight back to sydney

adios amigos!

sorry in advance for this long post.

we've been in australia for 16 days now, but we haven't updated this blog enough, meaning this post will be a long one. (we also do not have the option of posting any of our good photos - from our canon/nikon cameras, so we'll make-do with our iphone snapshots.)
last time we "spoke", we said we were going to do the bondi-bronte costal walk: it was very nice, quite windy, and obviously overcast (we seem to have pretty bad luck when it comes to walks and weather combinations). we had a chill lunch in bronte, before heading back to the city. however, we didnt leave bronte before we had the chance to "stalk" some hot surfers (it's a must-see attraction when you're in australia)

after deciding that bondi wasn't the place for us, we spent the next day exploring the inner sydney area (surry hills, darlinghurst - including the infamous oxford st. where the annual mardi gras takes place - and then all the way to kings cross/potts point). we really liked these areas, especially surry hills, it really reminded us of montreal in terms of architecture and the atmosphere. Kings cross (being the nightlife area - as well as sydney's red light district) was interesting to say the least, but when we got into potts point (literally the next couple of roads down from the cross), we booked a room in a backpackers hostel called the blue parrot (HIGHLY reccommended - it has won multiple awards for being one of the best hostels in australia). we wanted to be able to meet new people, as well as experience the backpacker lifestyle.

so on thursday jan. 24th, we checked into the parrot, where we immediately met awesome travellers who had great stories to tell. the best part of the hostel was that it was relatively small (only 50 beds) so it made us feel very welcome. the hostel staff also "organise" nights out with anyone & everyone who wants to go from the hostel. we went to a place called the World Bar (reccommended by Sofia :)) where they serve cocktails in tea pots. awesome concept. makes you feel really sophisticated.

on friday we went to bondi beach (it was goregous weather for a change) with a french-canadian girl we met at the hostel. we got a couple of hours of suntanning in (where henri obviously got a super awkward sunburn), then had some really good brazillian inspired burgers :) that night, the hostel took us to a place called soho, which literally was terrible. crappy music, bad drinks, underaged people, but at least they had a mechanical surf board! a guy we met at the hostel called Rob took us to better sydney nightlife places, starting with a irish pub called O'Malley's, then we ventured to oxford st. to a place called Stonewall, where we danced in cages and drank good cocktails. that was a fun night!

chris trying the mechanical surf board

saturday 26th jan = AUSTRALIA DAY (or as the aboriginies call it: Invasion day). we woke up around 11, and didnt do anything but eat breakfast till 3.30pm - the consequences of having a late night out... the hostel organised a really nice "barbie" (bbq) for all of us, then a few of us headed down to darling harbour,  where we checked out the immense amount of people/families celebrating. we saw a couple of randomly dressed people, and countless aussie flags. we went back later that evening to see the firework show around 9pm. it was spectacular, and you could literally count the 1000's of dollars that were shot up into the air every second. then we went out again (surprise surprise) - this time starting at a place called havana (on oxford st.), which sucked. we ditched early and went to O'malley's -  a much nicer and funnier atmosphere!
by 10am the next day we were checked out and on our way back to the Mulcahy's in roseville.

due to exhaustion from the australia day weekend, we spent sunday doing absolutely nothing. on monday, after sleeping in, we discussed what we wanted to do - whilst at the hostel, and after hearing so many amazing stories of australian travels, we were inspired to go travelling instead of spending the next weeks in sydney trying to find work. we both agreed that since we have such limited time, and because we're open to working anywhere really, we would travel up the east coast, then see what happens. therefore, we spent most of monday researching and planning our coastal trip. we found hostels in every stop up the coast, as well as finding cool things to do in each place. due to floods in queensland, and northern new south wales, we knew we weren't going anywhere till at least the end of the week. so far, we've had record-breaking heat, wildfires, floods and rainstorms/highspeed winds. australian summer weather is definitely not boring - always spontaneous.
tuesday started off being a really grey day, so we decided to spend a ridiculous amount of money on going to the IMAX theatre in darling harbour (let us mention that this IMAX is the biggest in the world), where we saw The Hobbit in 3D! it was well worth the money (despite the fact that we're slightly worried we'll go broke). by the time the movie was over, the weather had reversed, and we walked from darling harbour to the rocks (sydney harbour) in sunshine :) we found a cool italian place to have pizza, then had a drink at the Opera Bar - drinking beers in the sunset was not a bad way to end the day. we decided to walk off the pizza we had just eaten, so we traversed the harbour bridge, which had a very nice view of the CBD, opera house and the harbour.

the next day we went to the taronga zoo with Nick and his girlfriend Georgia, and their friend Mike. we were kind of sceptical about spending more money on going to the zoo, but because we were very lucky, we ended up with a free pair of tickets given to us by a random couple. we saw the seal show and the bird show, which were both very impressive! Chris' favourite aninal was the platypus, whilst Henri really liked the echidna (a hedgehog-looking animal with its back paws on backwards!). even though it was a very hot day, we got to see a gorgeous view of the harbour/opera house while simultaneously learning cool stuff about birds. we took a surreal cable-car ride through the zoo - surreal because we are used to wearing ski gear whilst in them. later that evening, we went to a place called Newtown, close to the university, for dinner and drinks with Rob (friend from the hostel). Newtown is a really cool place, with funky street art and diverse people (mostly students). we had dinner at the Newtown Hotel (3 levels of bars/restaurants) where we ate amazing greek food! later, we had cocktails served in paint buckets, which was a first! from then on, we were shown other awesome places to go out on the main street in Newtown.

(hang in there, we are almost up to date)


on thursday we went to the museum of contemporary art (MCA) in the rocks with Barbara and Georgie. we saw an excellent yet trippy exhibition showcasing optical illusions by Anish Kapoor (indian/english sculptur). it was a very impressive gallery. the works are amazing to see in person, you are constantly tricked by mirrors, shapes and colours. afterwards, the mulcahy's took us out to dinner at another cool place in the rocks, where we had amazing food and good company. we definitely feel spoiled being able to live with this family, we're very grateful.

friday, our last day in sydney, we went to central town to buy our greyhound bus tickets (takes us from sydney to cairns, hop on/hop off, lasts 90 days!). whilst waiting for the terrential downpour to stop, we were approached by a nice english girl campaigning for The Wilderness Society (http://www.wilderness.org.au/), what seems like an amazing environmental organisation. she told us about what their goals are, including saving the beautiful region of the kimberly region of north-western australia from a gas company taking over and destroying literally everything in the area. after the rain stopped, we went home to roseville to pack, then had a quick dinner so that we could go out and make our last night in sydney a fun one. Rob (what we consider to be our local nightlife guide) took us to a place in the CBD called Grandma's Bar. a tiny place with an interior design of a grandmother's house. it had a rocking chair, a knitting set, as well as drinks served in tea mugs. the cocktails were excellent and very diverse, and we had a really nice time in their very friendly and chill atmosphere.

today (saturday) we left at 11am to take a train to Newcastle (2h up the coast). we are currently writing this essay of a blog post on the hostel computer. we took a walk earlier from the main beach all the way over to another one called Nobby Beach. we decided that despite the ridiculously windy/crappy weather that it was a good idea to walk back on the beach. this led to us being completely soaked from the waist down - not so smart. then walking back through the town, it started raining a lot - so by the time we got back to the hostel we were soaked completely from head to toe. we're going to go make dinner (the wonderful Kraft mac&cheese), then for once have an early night. tomorrow we're leaving at 9am to catch the bus to our next destination: Port Macquarie.

we'll try to keep you posted asap.

lots of love. 

ps. again, we apologise for the awful quality of the photos!