So as a quick update of my travels, I spent a week in Fiji, 6 weeks in NZ and I'm now on week 3 in Australia. I've been crap and haven't updated my South Island NZ travels, but figure I'll update you on my time in Australia instead, otherwise I'll forever be playing catchup....So here we go...
I'm now in a place called Warrimoo, in the Blue Mountains about an hour outside Sydney. I'm staying with my boyo who's been living here for 2 and a half months. It's a quaint little town right next to the Blue Mountains and it's quite different to the big cities I've been spending time in the last few weeks....
I arrived in Australia on the 12th March and landed in Melbourne.... Ended up spending 2 weeks in Melbourne - much longer than I'd anticipated - but it was such a great city. Our first night was a bit hairy - Landed at midnight with nowhere to stay.... Called hostel after hostel after hostel to no avail - Everywhere was full - 'No room at the inn....No room...No room...' Bugger. After blooming ages we finally found 3 separate beds and ended up trecking through the city in the middle of the night trying to find it... Thought I may end up sleeping on a park bench, but eventually arrived for a few hours shut eye - up early for Future Music Festival the next day!
Had a great day - I'd really missed live music so loved hearing band after band, DJ's, artists.... singing, dancing, fair bit of drinking, roller disco-ing, silent disco-ing and the like.... Fantastic day. My highlight was Dizzee Rascal. I've seen him so many times already - but he never disappoints and put on a bloody brilliant show. (Rosie was uber-fanning it up at the front singing along to everything, dancing like a loon - Keen bean.)
Spent a lot of time in Melbourne people watching and wondering the streets... (God I sound like a total bum!) Melbourne is a fantastic city to wonder around. The graffiti is out of this world. Street after street filled with art, doodles, stencils, big pieces, murals.... Amazing. I spent a lot of time borrowing friends cameras to take picture after picture after picture. Felt truly inspired and have done a fair
few doodles and drawings as a result....
It is also a city of amazing shops, bars, restaurants and cafes (and boasts some of the best coffees in the world - yum!) - So as you can imagine we became very good at mooching around.... mooch mooch mooch - graffiti - mooch coffee - mooch - beer - mooch..... etc....etc. We spent a few days staying in Chinatown - so a fair bit of Asian food was consumed as well... delicious.
Our first weekend we visited some of my friends family friends in a place called Queens Cliff. Had the most fantastic weekend being treated to some serious home comforts - A proper bed??? A hot shower??? Washing machines??? Home cooked food?? Blooming heck!! (I do realise I sound like I've been living in the outback with nothing to my name - but these home comforts really do make a difference!) Whilst here we spent a varied weekend out and about....
One evening we played boules.... (Yes the sport that is usually played by people over the age of 85....!!) Great fun though - and I WON!! Hidden talents? I think so! We also went to the beach, had a dinner party, went to craft markets, piers, shopping, sunbathing, delicious foods...etc - Just a great weekend with great people. (Thanks Michael and Janine!!)
The second week we spent in St. Kilda - the 'beach' town near Melbourne. Unfortunately whilst we were there the weather was pretty damn awful - so no beach time for us... However more mooch mooch mooching.... Shopping - mooch - bar - mooch - art - mooch - gallery - mooch. God I LOVE Melbourne. I also visited some friends who I used to work with who I'd not seen in about 3-4 years!! Great evening with good friends over food and wine - It was amazing how it felt like I'd just seen them yesterday...Lovely times. Also enjoyed several nights out, several hangovers, meeting new people...etc. etc.
On an aside, I have decided I am well and truly DONE with hostels. I'm aware this is rather premature as I have a fair bit of time left away and will need to use them again but I'm fed-up of purely meeting Europeans. Yes Europe is great. I love France, Germany, Switzerland and the like....I like Irish and Dutch and Hungarians... even Romanians, Spaniards and the like....However I did not travel to the other side of the world to purely meet Europeans! Hostels are FULL of only Europeans which do my nut in, and so my new mission is to meet. some. actual. aussi's!!
On our second weekend in Melbourne I put this new idea into practice. To meet Aussi's I have to think like an Aussi. What do Australians like amongst other things?! Beer and Football. So off I went to the MSG stadium to watch an AFL game.
God it was good fun and I thoroughly got into it - Screaming at the players, the ref, the opposing team... A kind Australian lady even lent me her binoculars so I could get a 'better look' at some of the players. Yum. Great fun!
The next day we met up with our Aussi friends (see the theme here!!) Michael and Janine to drive the Great Ocean Road. Brilliant times - It's a stunning drive and stunning part of the country that I'd highly recommend seeing.
Rugged coastline, amazing scenery, fantastic wildlife - Just truly amazing. Saw lots of sights along the way including the '12, (now 8) Apostles' the lighthouse from 'Round the Twist' (amazing) etc...etc. Topped my weekend off in true Australian style with surfing (I'm crap...) and fishing (equally crap - I caught a crab...)
After a fun couple of weeks in Melbourne we flew to Sydney where I met the boy.... And this is where I've been ever since. Have split my time between Sydney and Warrimoo and am thoroughly enjoying myself. Had a pretty spectacular day with the boy visiting the Sydney Opera House. His Great Uncle used to be Musical Director there years ago so we somehow wangled our way backstage to the Green Room to see a plaque dedicated to him...Very cool. We were then given a free tour around the Opera house backstage etc...etc, so this was all pretty shweet!
Sydney seems like another city I'm going to enjoy... Great sights, great beaches....etc. I'm thinking of staying here for a week or so before heading to see some family in Cooma.... Keen to see some more sights before I leave though and definately some more time in the Blue Mountains as this is meant to be truly spectacular so will update as and when I can....
Alongside Plan 'Meet.More.Aussis' I also plan to 'Update.Blog.More,' so let's see how they go....
So, that's my update so far - I'm having a great time, seeing some great sights and meeting some fab new people.... Keen to hear how everyone's doing at home. I look forward to speaking to some of you soon.... Until later skip..... x
P.S On a positive note I have finally (after a month of research and to-ing and fro-ing!!) bought a new camera. It's fantastic fun (with an awesome 21 x zoom - wooop!!) so prepare to be inundated with some new pictures soon.
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