Byron Bay, New South Wales

So a 12-hour bus ride, while suffering from a bad cold, gets me to Byron Bay, home to Australia's most easterly point and... drum roll please... famous residents such as OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN. WOW. It's still really nippy in Australia and I'm not loving it. Imagine my delight when the girl in the bunk next to me decides to bring a guy back for the night? That's sarcasm, by the way.

The whole thing lasted four excruciating minutes, preceded by her saying "how the f*** did I get so drunk?". What a classy lady. And what a boy of dubious morals. She also banged her head on the bunk bed ladder halfway through. Halfway through the four minutes, that is, not halfway up the ladder. I guess they just assumed everyone was asleep. The next morning, before I checked out early, he told me all about his exciting career plans, which involve "doing that fruit picking thing in Australia so I can stay for another year". And to think, ladies and gentlemen, that students now have to pay a whopping £9,000 per year so that they can graduate and then hit the heady heights of a banana plantation.

Enough of the bile. But Australia's pretty odd in that it attracts A LOT of young Brits who basically drink their way up the east coast. That, to me, isn't travelling. Anyone can book a plane ticket and a bus pass, buy some boxed wine (nicknamed goon in Oz, it's a badge of pride if you can survive a goon hangover. Mine was pretty horrendous, I have to admit. But then again the boxes are 4.4 litres. Who needs 4.4 litres of wine?). I therefore realised I'd have to be pretty careful about the kind of hostels I stayed in, because some were specifically full of people who were still clearly getting excited about drinking without mummy and daddy around, while others were chilled and fun.

Speaking of which, I stayed at another hostel for the next three nights in Byron Bay, and it was really good. The hostel was kind of open plan, with a great communal area, so after meeting some people we generally just hung out. I later discovered that someone who I thought was really cool was convinced I had merely "tolerated them". It must have been that complete bitch stare my friends tell me I've got - looks like it's my default setting...

In Byron Bay, I have to admit, I didn't do a whole lot. It's a cute little beach town and entirely pleasant on the eyes. Walking up to the lighthouse also provided some great views, but because I was a little on the poorly side I just took it easy and relaxed. There is a place lots of people go nearby called Nimbin, which is like a hippy town in which you can eat "special" cookies (I'll leave you to guess why they're special). I didn't go, but apparently it's pretty good fun.

Here's the view from halfway up the lighthouse path:




And here's the lighthouse (obviously):


Gorgeous views:


And on the beach:




Toodles
x

Bondi Beach, New South Wales

I don't know if I was just in a generally blah mood but something about Australia so far just wasn't checking the boxes for me. So, I took a short bus ride to Bondi Beach, a cute town about eight kilometres from the centre of Sydney. I realise now there are more activities and places to go in and around Sydney than I chose to visit. But I only had a few days so I thought Bondi Beach would be worth a look.


View Larger Map

It wasn't. I'm glad I didn't miss out on going, but it's nothing special. I face the wrath of many Australia-lovers when I say this, but I just didn't see the attraction. There weren't even any hot surfers around. Now, remember that I've visited Australia during its winter. This means yes, it's sunny, but it's also nippy as hell and not nearly warm enough to sunbathe.

The beach itself is pretty picturesque, but the little town is surprisingly run-down and completely uninspiring. I have a feeling that it's one of those places in which you could have a really fun time and you'd therefore love it, but I had a stroll around and was back on the bus about an hour later. (Sidenote: I finally had a bit of time in Australia to catch up on my reading. I've written a separate post on those I have read and what I thought of them, if you're interested).

One thing I did like, however, was the artwork on the walls and steps next to the beach. This was my favourite:



There was some awesome graffiti and some touching murals dedicated to the Aussies caught up in the Bali bomb (Bali is a big Aussie holiday spot).











I also spotted what I think was another Banksy, but I can't be certain it was real.



Maybe someone can enlighten me as to why Australia wasn't OHMYGODLIKESUPERAMAZING thus far? Don't get me wrong, it's pleasant enough, but I can think of at least 50 places I've enjoyed more. In retrospect, I wish I'd taken the opportunity to visit Melbourne - but I can go back and do that another time!

Toodles
x

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

So... yes it's been a while since I blogged, primarily because the internet costs an absolute arm and a leg in Australia and I'd rather Skype and catch up with friends than bore you all! I also realised today than it's been three months since I left work, which is pretty strange. I find myself internally proofreading everything I read, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to find TWO typos in the new book I bought (which is A Wayward Angel: The Full Story of the Hell's Angels, in case you're interested).

Sydney. What can I say? Not much. It's okay. It's genuinely just okay. Lovely sights to see, a bustling yet surprisingly small city centre, but it didn't thrill me. Maybe I missed something crucial. I'm not sure. Nothing spectacular. The opera house looks just like it does on pictures. The bridge and harbour are fairly awesome, but it's just... meh. I don't know whether it was jet lag or tired eyes from seeing and doing so much on my trip so far, but I didn't fall in love with it. I bought some newspapers to read and they were really quite dull. Nobody can use apostrophes properly. Everybody has an odd fascination with pies... kangaroo pies, chicken pies, vegetable pies, anything as long as it's in a pie.





What else did I do in Sydney? Walked round the Botanical Gardens. Met up with some ex-colleagues who are now working here and we had a really lovely time catching up. Another night, much-missed friend Kaitlyn (now also working in Oz but is Canadian and lived in the UK for three years) and I ate chocolate fondue then got slightly tipsy on two glasses of wine (not quite sure how that happened) and sat by the harbour talking about when we used to work on the same editorial team. You'd be surprised how animated we can get talking about press releases. It was really great to see her.





I promise I won't leave it three weeks between posts this time...

Toodles
x