Last time I wrote this I was walking round like the hunchback of Notre Dame in the sweltering heat of Byron Bay in Australia. Today, I am back in what we call our New Zealand rig. That is, as many layers as possible to combat the cold! Patagonia is cold and, just like New Zealand, it is awesome! But enough of our current situation, now seems as good a time as any to reminisce about being warm in our last weeks in Australia.
Byron Bay was a great town and we ended up spending about a week enjoying all it had to offer. This culminated in a poorly timed heavy night out. We met up with an English guy called Olly, his Irish cousin and her mates, and our good friend Matan for a few relaxing pints of goon before stumbling to the nearest club. Like I said, this night out was poorly timed on our part as not only did we have to check out of our hostel the next morning but we had to sit around until 9 that evening in order to catch our 10 hour bus further down the coast. Thankfully we were able to hole ourselves up in the tv room all day and treat ourselves as it was 'cheaper tuesday' at dominos. Even though we spent nearly a week in Byron Bay, thanks to my back, the weather and finally a massive hangover, we never did make the walk to Byron's iconic lighthouse. I've heard the walk is very nice though.
When the time to catch the bus did finally come everything was going surprisingly smoothly. We had managed to stay awake all day in order to ensure a good night's sleep in the bus, we made it to the bus stop with time to spare and our bus arrived on time. It was basically all down hill from there. The bus proceeded to stop several times in the first few hours so the driver could do some repairs until, at around 2am, it decided to break down completely meaning we had to sit at a bus depot and wait for a new bus. This added an extra 3 hours to our journey and interrupted any sleep that we may have got, and when we arrived in Newcastle, it was raining. Actually, you know what, now I come to think of it, it might not have been raining but we only had a few days there and it rained for most of it. Newcastle also boasted a lighthouse and again we didn't see it. Although this time we did actually walk to where we thought it was, it was not, but we had a nice walk all the same. The hostel we stayed at, backpackers by the beach, boasted free dinners at local pubs. On our first night we trudged down to a pub I think was called The Great northern for some free pasta. Good times we thought because free stuff, no matter how it tastes, is good. It turned out to taste surprisingly nice, the only problem with it was that it came in a bowl so small the borrowers would require seconds. I believe Gen lucked in with a grand total of 8 bits of penne pasta in her bowl. We all looked on jealously as Gen was able to go in for a second mouthful. Still hungry though we were (and this was to be our team name), we stayed at the pub, drinking only tap water out of protest, as they put on a Christmas themed quiz. The quizmaster was a fantastically voiced, camply dressed, ginger Santa. We came in a respectable 4th with one of our team members winning a thimbleful of beer during a bonus round.
Another night, another pub and another free dinner. We were not put off by the portion size from the previous night, but nor were we going to go hungry twice. Everyone to a backpacker fed themselves up before heading to our new seafront venue. We were all prepared for our thumb sized amount of food, so when the very tasty and very generous sized BBQ came along we had to stuff it uncomfortably down our already full gullets, as it was free, and free is good. While sitting around trying to digest our 2 dinners that night we were very kindly treated to yet another quiz, improving this time to finish 3rd. If only we had more nights in Newcastle we may have actually got somewhere. Alas, it was our final night and so we celebrated by drinking plenty of very tasty locally brewed Blue Tongue beer, 2 for 1. Good times.
The bus the next morning to Sydney was a more civilised 3 or 4 hours and we rolled back to the city where our Australian adventure had started, except this time it was raining. The prospect of a dry Christmas seemed less and less likely by the day.
Instead of staying at an overpriced hostel over Christmas, where they force you to book a minimum of 10 overpriced nights, we rented a granny annex in Arncliff, south Sydney. This was basically a small self contained flat on the back of someone's house. And that someone was a guy named Ben, who lived there with his wife and 2 young daughters. The flat was amazing, we had completely forgotten what it was like to have your own space (going to the bathroom without wearing flip flops was such a luxury), and after weeks of drinking our way down the East coast of Australia constantly surrounded by backpackers at every turn it was a real treat to be able to sit with a cup of tea on the sofa and watch tv in your own living room. We even popped out and bought some tinsel to Christmas up the place. The area we were in was quiet, clean and just a short train ride to the centre of Sydney. Thanks to the large Lebanese population in the area, the food there was immense. I bought a freshly cooked BBQ chicken, which they gave to me wrapped in flat bread and I devoured it in one sitting, still having room for some baclava dessert, while Gen looked on in disgust. Very tasty.
What really made our stay that week was Ben. He was the kindest Australian we have met on our travels. He regularly dropped us off at the station and gave us tips on what to do and where to go in the city. When the time did come, we were very sad to be leaving him and his family. But that time was quite a way off and we had plenty to do in Sydney before the year was out.
We crammed it all in. From a stroll on Bondi beach in the blistering heat on Christmas eve, to catching the iconic ferry to manly to hang out at yet another popular and ridiculously hot beach. One thing we didn't do was the harbour bridge climb. This was because they wanted over $200 per person for the privilege. Now bearing in mind they take 10 groups an hour up there, from sun up to sun down and later, 7 days a week, and it's a toll bridge, we decided to protest by paying $11 each to climb up one of the pylons for an amazing view of the city instead. I'm sure they are gutted at having missed out on two such respected English travellers as ourselves!
As I had managed to introduce Gen to rugby in New Zealand, and she now bloody loves it (quins season ticket here we come), we thought we'd try to watch some sport in Australia. Unfortunately it was off season for Aussie rules and rugby, but they were playing a cricket twenty20 tournament called the big bash all over Australia and it just so happened to coincide with our trip to Sydney. We were joined by our Canadian friends, rob and jess, Matan, and a Welshman called Lee, to go and watch the Sydney Sixers against the Melbourne Stars. We were obviously rooting for the home team and their big name was the fast bowler Brett Lee who obviously Gen had never hear of. However, the stars big name was Shane Warne who I believe has appeared in many of those dreadful girly magazines, so Gen was very excited. The game turned out to be awesome, a very close match coming right down to the wire with the home team finally prevailing. The atmosphere in the Sydney Cricket Ground was amazing, the only let down was the queue for the beer.
The morning after and we were off to the blue mountains. We were able to put our feet up as we were being driven by jess and rob in their massively unpredictable campervan. After alot of crossing our fingers we made it to katoomba and to a very nice yha hostel in the sun. Over the past few weeks the weather had been so erratic we had learnt to take our chances while we could, so we dropped off our bags in our room and off we went trekking into the blue mountains. They were in fact quite blue, due to some kind of eucalyptus haze or something. Walking along through the mountains reminded us of being in New Zealand. It was beautiful, really stunning. The only difference was the amount of people. Having seen about 8 people in our time in New Zealand we were now surrounded by hundreds of day trippers doing the same as us. Fortunately, as we were staying over night we were able to go on some of the longer walks away from the crowds to enjoy the majesty of this area. We spent 2 days walking there and had an excellent time with rob and jess, and as a bonus, the van didn't break down and got us home safe and sound. Good times.
The main 2 reasons we were in Sydney were Christmas and New Year and we were very excited about them both. I say that, but I must admit that it's the least christmassy we have ever felt and even with the addition of tinsel and a small Christmas tree it still didn't really feel like it. Not to be deterred though we awoke and made a Christmas breakfast of fresh mango and a lot of champagne with Gen's christmas playlist on loop, and we were back in the spirit of it all! Matan joined us for lunch and we cooked up a massive roast and took part in the tradition of eating and drinking till you burst then going for a walk (except this year in the beautiful sunshine). It was a great day enjoyed by all.
When NYE came round, we were ready to join the mass of people who descend on Sydney for this event. We also had tickets to Luna Park (a theme park right next to the bridge) for the evening. We spent the day sitting north of the bridge on a grass bank in Kirribilli with the usual suspects, as the streets got busier and busier. The clouds completely deserted the sky meaning we all joined in the ritual of sun-creaming up every 8 or so seconds. We hung out with the guys until after the first set of fireworks at 2100. They were amazing, with the bridge alight and fireworks coming from everywhere you could see, including the tops of the buildings in CBD. After that we headed to Luna Park to enjoy plenty of beer and rollercoasters before the main fireworks event at midnight. It was awesome! After the incredible fireworks (much better than the London ones no matter what anyone says - I bet no one was wearing shorts) we carried on enjoying all the fun of the fair before getting the last ferry back home. Happy new year.
Our flight to south America was a long one, and that was just the start of our badly planned time in the air over the next few days. But that can wait. Farewell Australia. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time travelling down the coast, and have made some amazing friends. I'm not sure we'll rush to go back, not the east coast again anyway, but it was great. Good times.
Have a quintastic new year.