Jun20

Pierce and Faint

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Pierce and Faint
Pierce and Faint

We spent the morning chilling at the beach once again, which was really cruzey. Walking back to the hostel we passed by a tattoo parlour called Sharkeys. Well.. I quite fancied getting my nose pierced  again so in Gabi and I walked. Hand over $50, sit down, needle through the nose (which I will point out did not hurt much at all) and I’m gone. I’m pale as a ghost and I’m sprawling over the floor with extreme jelly legs. 20 minutes of lying down later and I’m finally feeling like I can stand, although I’m absolutely humiliated. However I do have a beautiful little gem through one nostril… YES!

That evening I decided I was up for a night out, but the other girls didn’t fancy joining me. So I met up with Kez and Chris once again at Aquarius and hit the booze. The games were being played so I witnessed Kez running around a circuit balancing a beer on her head, which was classic, and impressive!

The evening became a bit messy after someone mentioned Cheeky Monkeys and I ended up playing wingman to Kirby and turning into an absolute drunken mess.

Cue drunken phone calls to Geoff whilst he was trying to work in the UK, and him putting me on loudspeaker as I drunkenly announced to him, whilst slurring my words, how much I love him. What a mess! Impressively I even managed to remove my entire mattress from the top bunk of my bed and put it on the floor without waking the girls. SKILLS!

Jun20

Day 2 of the Byronian Experience

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Day 2 of the Byronian Experience
Day 2 of the Byronian Experience

We awoke in the morning to an annoying idiot barging into our room. Honestly I could have nutted him! He was bragging about how pissed he had been the night before, and how he drove to Brisbane drunk and back again. If your reading this you Australian prat, then please know that you are an absolute wanker!!

Well spit over…..

After the fool had finished his rant we surfaced and bundled our stuff together. We checked out a little late, and the girl on the front desk was a bit sarky, but we still got our key deposit back…. Result!

We had only booked into Aquarius for one evening as we were booked into the Arts Factory for the remainder of our stay, as everyone raves about it. So we wandered up to say goodbye to Kez and Chris and got the opportunity to perve on Chris new iPad. It’s an amazing piece of technology, I want one so badly!

We made our way to the Greyhound bus stop and caught a lift to the Arts Factory from their tout. We weren’t allowed to check in to our room until 1pm, which was a bit annoying, but we filled out all the paperwork and left our luggage in the lockers.

Until our room was ready we decided to head down to the beach, we bought ourselves some amazing fish and chips and chilled out on the sand, perfect! Kez and Chris wandered down to meet us, and invited us to dinner at there’s that evening.

We made our way back to the Arts Factory and grabbed our stuff all ready to move into our 4-bed dorm. We wandered up, baggsied our bunks and tried to close the door, which was broken. Fantastic! So I wandered back downstairs and we moved into a 6-bedder instead as that was all they had available.

So we grab our stuff, walk round to the new dorm, open the door, get hit by the overwhelming stench of alcohol, peer into the bed when the sleeping man lies, turn around and run out crying with laughter. It was only the sleazy drunken Irishman from the previous evening!

We wiped the tears from our eyes and mustered up the courage to go in and meet Ronan, and explain to him that we had already met.

Lindsey, being the mug she is, then pipes up that actually he got with me the night before  and we had moved hostels, even deliberately checked into the same room as him so that I could see him again. Thanks Linds! The poor bugger turned pale as a ghost as he thought I was some psychotic stalker – awkward!

Alice

♥

Ronan

We pushed the joke a little far and he cottoned on that we were having him on eventually. He actually turned out to be a really funny guy, and not just the massive creep we all originally thought he was. He was travelling with his brother and he asked Linds to introduce herself to the him when he came in as Lindsey Digweed, who is apparently a DJ who his brother loves.

It was pretty obvious that something was up when he walked into the room and introductions were made;

‘Hi I’m Kate’

‘Gabi’

‘I’m Alice’

‘And I’m Lindsey DIGWEED’

Well he fell to the floor in awe. I’ve never seen anyone look so faint and excited at the same time at the mention of a name. He clocked it immediately,

“Any chance your brother is THE DJ Digweed?”

 Kate had to run out of the room she was crying so hard with laughter. To Lindsey’s credit she can come up with a back-story pretty quickly, ‘oh he’s my ½ brother, second marriage’ etc. Nile badgered here for signed belongs, for everything! The farce carried on for ages till Ronan blew the cover by just laughing and pointing at his brother.

We spent a couple of hours chilling out in our room until it was time to head over to Aquarius for dinner, via Woollies for a French stick.

Kez is an incredible cook! A hearty warming soup, and all we had to throw in was $2.50 because she was bulk cooking. Great idea, and absolutely delicious. Spent the evening in great company, what more could you ask for, very chilled out!

We arrived back to our room to find Lindsey cowering under her duvet and an Irishman in a red thong who was dripping wet with pool water was trying to grind on her. Hilarious! There was an absolute throng of them, it seems they were having a reunion night and had travelled to the Arts Factory for one evening, and one evening only. Their antics went on all night long.

Jun20

Hostel Review – Aquarius Backpackers

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Hostel Review – Aquarius Backpackers
Hostel Review – Aquarius Backpackers

Situated in Byron Bay, the location of this hostel is great! It’s only 100m from the beach, and only a couple of minutes walk from the town centre.

We had a large room for an 8-share dorm, it wasn’t in any way cramped and we even had a seating area in the room; a table and 4 chairs which was great for relaxing. Our room was en-suite and the bathroom was spacious as well.

The kitchen area in the main section was absolutely fantastic; modern appliances and a huge communal table. The bar area is located next to the kitchen and there are plenty of drink specials so you can get your evening started, and also games are played, which everyone can get involved in. The prize for the evening I was there was a bar tab which is always a crowd pleaser!

Everything is extremely clean and well cared for. The staff were fantastic too, obviously Chris and Kez rate top! But the whole atmosphere of the hostel is great, it has a really casual, chilled out vibe and it’s a really welcoming place.

The only issue we  had whilst staying had been that reception had not provided us with any sheets, but when I went to speak to security about it at 2 in the morning they immediately resolved the issue and were very gracious about it.

It isn’t the cheapest hostel in town, but prices are still pretty competitive. 10 share dorms are $30pn, but if you are planning on staying for 3 days + then it drops to $28pn and if you stay a week then it’s even cheaper at $26pn.

Genuinely a great place

Cleanliness – 5/5

Atmosphere – 4/5

Facilities – 5/5

AQUARIUS BACKPACKERS

Jun20

Cheeky Cheeky

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Cheeky Cheeky

We arrived in Byron Bay about 9.30pm and Chris and Kez came to pick us up. He forewarned me that he was looking a little worse for wear as he’d had an accident but I underestimated the extent of it until I saw him. A freak surfboarding accident had meant that his board had hit him square in the face (and it was the hardest bit of the board as well)  which meant that he looked like he had come off the worse for wear in a bar brawl ouch!

 We arrived at Aquarius hostel where Chris and Kez are currently living and working and checked into our room, an 8 share dorm, where we were greeted by 4 eggy guys who at first refused us entry into our room, but after some persistence we succeeded in barging our way in!

 We were told that Cheeky Monkeys was the spot to hit on a Saturday night so we spent an hour dolling ourselves up and downing some goon and then we wandered over. RESPECT majorly to Gabi who managed to join us, even though she felt so dog rough!

 The queue to enter was a bit of a mission; not long but they took ages letting anyone in. We made it inside eventually and headed straight to the bar for the first round. Problem was, we just weren’t drunk enough!! Even after chugging the goon back at the hostel, we were clearly well behind everyone! Since we arrived so late, we missed all the drink specials as well, so drinks weren’t that cheap!

 What is it about drunken men?! I heard some classic chat up lines that night, but the best call was the drunken Irishman who stumbled up to myself, Kate and Linds when we were chilling outside, and after obviously copping a fair look at our breasts proceeded to announce that

‘Ladies, I would take every one of you home with me. Who’s keen?? Actually I can’t decide between you, I’ll have to have you all!’

Umm, no chance mate!

 We called it a night at about 2 am and wandered back to Aquarius, and 10 minutes later two drunken Dutchmen wandered in. Lindsey managed to convince them she was pregnant with twins, and then proceeded to have an argument with him about, of all things, Wikipedia…. Random random!

Jun18

The Isaacs Homestead

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The Isaacs Homestead

2 days of utter relaxation! We spent a great morning at Super Di’s sampling her delicious homemade cakes and drinking freshly brewed coffee. Di is quite possibly the best cook in creation, everything is a delicacy!  The day passed in a really cruzey fashion until Mark arrived home and then it was all hands on deck to prepare dinner. Kate went over to help out with the grooming of the horses, and came back 2 mins later with a streaming nose, red eyes and breathing difficulties. Apparently she had developed an allergy to horses…. Not good!

 After Kate had improved we settled down to the final prep of dinner, i.e. Mark cooks the steaks, we make sure his beer is topped up and we all sit like a harem around him chilling out on the back deck listening to him tell classic stories. Dinner served, wine poured and jokes cracked – a great evening!

 We lazed in the second day as well and eventually surfaced at around 11 to find that everyone had left the house. We waited to the chimney sweeper to attend and then we put on our walking boots and made our way to the local Macadamia farm, which is a gentle 20-minute walk away for lunch.

 It’s a really dinky little café with a great vibe – well Super Di does work there. The Macca farm harvests all the Macadamia nuts on site and they create all sorts of great products from them, which they then sell on.

 We stayed on until the restaurant and then caught a lift back to Di where she presented us with a bottle of home-brew vodka… mmm

 We made our way back to the farm with her in order to prepare ourselves. We packed an overnight bag, grabbed ourselves a bottle of vodka and got ready for the infamous….

FRIDAY NIGHT FUCKWITS!

‘Real Australian men’

Gynecological doctors – ‘I’m only training but I could take a look if you’d like

Mad times

Funny jokes

Cracking!!

Chundermonkey

‘Sorry you’ve been spiked’

‘If you want Furbie, he’s in there waiting’

‘That seats taken’

‘Pommie lass’

‘What would you think if a man spiked you?”

“ I’d think I was well in there!’

Bundi and coke

Port shots

Mudshake … mmm

I btl Absolut

3 btls sparkling wine

Choc rum

4 lts goon

Smirnoff ice cans

 Amazing night…. But we paid for it the next day!! 

 We had hit the hay at about 5 am and at 9am Mark came bounding in and dragged us out of bed. Ouch, we all felt rough but none worse than Gabi, who was chundering away merrily. Oh we were HANGING!!

We made it to Port though and went straight to Red Rooster. Best hangover cure of all time! I wandered over to Ozzie Pozzie whilst the girls munched, picked up the goon I had left and said goodbye to Simon, give us a song Mr Tambourine Man!

 We made it to the Greyhound with time to spare and settled in for another 7 hour journey, very much looking forward to the next destination!

Jun18

The First Greyhound Experience

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The First Greyhound Experience

DUM DI DUM!!

We purchased a Greyhound Pass, which entitles us to travel between Sydney and Cairns within 3 months. So we knew we were going to be spending plenty of time on the Greyhound buses in the coming months. So what was our first experience like…. Pretty dismal to be honest.

 Our driver was a bit of a prat although they did agree to drop us at Kew rather than Port Macquarie, which was sweet. However they were running unbelievably late or as Jude shouted down the phone to me within driver’s earshot, ‘are they driving fucking backwards?!’ Classic!

Also, all of our luggage got wet, due to the condensation within the luggage hold. Kate’s luggage was utterly soaked through, her entire case of clothes were dripping. Anyhow we made it back to the farm eventually, and yes, I felt like I had come home. I think it’s the homecoming the dogs always bark out!

Jun18

STA Student Card

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STA Student Card

On the day of travel to Port I finally organised myself a student card, which I bought through the local STA Travel office in Warringah Mall. The cost of the card in the UK is only 9 pounds whereas it costs $25 in Australia so it’s worth sorting it out before you travel!

Technically I’m not a student, so I should have received an Under 26 ISIC card, however STA just put me down as a domestic student who studies at the University of NSW. Fantastic!

 They are so worth getting as you really do save so much money paying concession prices rather than full fares. And since I am apparently a domestic student, I even gain discounts at some places where international student cards don’t apply! Good times!!

Jun18

What a view!

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What a view!

Blue Mountains, here we come!!

Rise and Shine at a horrendously early time, as it is quite a long journey to the mountains from Dee Why. Last time I saw George he had just spent the day travelling around the mountains and he advised us to purchase a LinkExploror Pass, which includes travel to and from Sydney and also a tourist bus around the mountains. However we decided not to splurge, and instead do it the cheapest imaginable way.

 We purchased a $20 travel pass, which guarantees you travel on all methods of public transport around Sydney and can also be used to travel to Katoomba, which is the starting point of the tourist trail around Sydney. Bonus…. Your $20 ticket can also be used on the number 2 tourist drop off bus as well!

 We jumped off the bus at Echo’s Point and walked straight into thick fog. Fantastic! I’m sure the 3 sisters are beautiful – it’s just a pity we couldn’t see a darn thing!

The Three Sisters

 It was unbelievably eerie as a result of the fog, when you peer over the edge of Echo Point lookout you just looked into the abyss; it seemed as it you were standing on the edge of the world.

 

Rather than wasting the day we decided to go for a hike instead. And hike we did!! We checked out the waterfalls and hiked through cloudy rainforests, took in the fresh clean air and had a great workout. We aimed for the railway but I’m pretty sure we took a detour as it was meant to be only a couple of km away and we hiked for hours!

 The only section I wasn’t entirely comfortable with were the steps, so many steps, and utterly drenched through with rain…. Death-trap!!  We made it to the railway eventually, just in time for the last train up, and settled ourselves in for the steepest train journey in the world. It is pretty freaky, you are travelling almost vertically up the mountain, however it’s only for about 30 secs.

 Since we were in the Blue Mountains, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to catch up with Sambo (who lived with my family in the UK) as he lives only 10 mins from Katoomba in Wentworth Falls. So he picked us up, and we to the Wentworth Falls Grand Hotel, which is a pretty extravagant name for a very English looking pub. We settled in for a beer and some wedges and proceeded to miss our train, even after running full bolt to the station. So we had another hour to wait…. Regional country transport isn’t that fantastic.

But we eventually made it onto the train, and after a 2-½ hour journey home we collapsed into bed exhausted at 12pm.

Jun18

Swim For Me Dugong

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Swim For Me Dugong

I’ve been to the Sydney Aquarium once before, but as my friends were utter tourists we decided to hit it again. Especially as friends had given us a free admission voucher, so it made absolute sense to make our way over to Darling Harbour. There are numerous restaurants bordering the Harbour that offer all sorts of cheap lunch deals, which is also a bonus.

 Upon getting to the front of the admissions queue we were informed that our 1 free admission voucher was actually a buy one get one free voucher, even better!! We therefore gained access to the zoo for 4 people at the cost of only 2 concession tickets…. 4 for $45. What a bargain!

 The aquarium is a very calming place and the obvious delights of it are the two water tunnels that you have the opportunity to wander through at your own pace. Personally I prefer the Dugong tunnel as they are such unusual creatures, and I still to this day have no idea how they were mistaken for mermaids. The sailors must have been tripping!! They live on a diet of only lettuce and we witnessed feeding time, where they peacefully munched away, oblivious of the on looking crowd.

 Every time I go to the aquarium it reignites my desire to go diving again, I get itchy feet. There is so much to see under the sea, so much left to explore. It really is another world underneath the waves. So much left to discover.

 So after purchasing a horrific photo of us all, taken on arrival… I will upload it eventually! We hopped back onto the ferry and made away back to Manly, chilling on the ferry watching the twinkling lights of the Harbour Bridge fade away.

Jun18

Taronga Zoo

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Taronga Zoo

An early start so that we could make it to the zoo in time for opening… I know what keenos are we?! Really it should have been a warning sign for the rest of the trip how fine we would cut our timings, running to the bus stop at a flat-out pace. Oh and please take my word for it and never stop for a Subway breakfast… it’s absolutely repugnant!

We were meeting my sister-in-law Simone and her little monkey, Dan, at the zoo entrance. I paid my way in sans concession card; I hadn’t got around to organising one, so full fees for me… ouch. Very extortionate at $43!

The zoo is pretty nice, absolutely incredible views of the Sydney Harbour from the look out points, it’s a shame really that it was pouring down with rain so much! The animals don’t particularly look that excited to see you though, and the enclosures are pretty cramped. It’s a look but no touch policy at the zoo as it is based in NSW, so no chance to touch a koala here!

 But it was a really great day out, especially as we were doing it with Dan, as it’s always an experience to witness something through a child’s eyes as they gain so much enjoyment from it. But I suppose we all act like big kids when we go to the zoo?

We managed to check out a seal show where they all off and did their tricks and also an elephant display. However it wasn’t the show with the elephants that was really cool, it was watching a mother bathe her baby that really pulled at the heartstrings.

Gorillas freak me out every time I see them, as they are so similar to us. It’s pretty creepy to watch. I always have been a massive giraffe fan so of corse I had to go stare at them for a creepily long time…. I just don’t understand how they don’t tip over with those huge necks.

When we decided that enough was enough we wandered down to the quayside and caught the ferry to Circular Quay. It really is the best way to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, the views are spectacular.