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 :)
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| 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.)
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| 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!
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| YAY! |
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| drop off zone for hang gliding!! |
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 3L of cider! |
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| love from our hostel in brissie |
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| brissie CBD by night |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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