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