Kate Phillips Backpacking in Australia

It was sad leaving Barrington because it was our last glimpse of the countryside for a while as we’re planning on staying in Sydney for a while but the journey was good fun. By this time all the balloons had popped or fallen out in randon Aussie villlages and the only obstructions in the bus were everybody’s crates of beer scattered in the aisle!! The buses are fitted with ipod leads so we sang along to some cheesy music for quite a while!!

When we hit Sydney Emma gave us a guided tour and we saw the Opera House and the Bridge which were pretty amazing. You definitely believe you’ve made it to Australia when you see them!! Cant wait to go see them by daylight!! It was about half eight by the time we got to our hostels and because noone had realised or remembered to book anything Emma had rung round a couple of hostels when we were back in signal and managed to get us the remaining beds in Wake Up and Base. It did mean that we all got separate rooms but that didn’t matter! The hostels very high tech, you cant go to any other floor but your own becasue you need your keycard int he lift and you even need the keycards to get into the toilets!!

That evening a crowd of us fron the bus met at the hostel bar and then headed over to Kings Cross for a bit of a boogie. I totally lost track of time and we left the club at about 4am to go get a Maccy D’s!!!! Eventually my head touched my pillow at 4.30am and then I was up again at 9.30 to go check out and re-book in so that we could get a room together!!!

Today we had a leisurely morning, went and had a roast dinner and then I went back to the hostel for a nap, via Paddy’s Markets which are so cool and sell everything. Louise and Emily meanwhile went to the markets after my suggestion and came back with wigs. I’m not kidding!!! We’ve been in  hysterics since and I’m trying to think up a few wig jokes!!!

Tomorrow the job/accommodation hunt begins plus we’re meeting up with Marianne (my school friend), Jo (a girl we met in Brisbane) and eventually Chick (one of Lou’s friends)….

After leaving surf camp we had quite a long drive to Barrington, our final destination before hitting the big city of Sydney!! Emma bought a bag of balloons and we wasted ages blowing up all 100 of them until the bus was packed with balloons and the outside was nicely decorated too!! A “bug-grid” was drawn on the front windowscreen and we all put in a dollar to see if we’d pick the square where most bugs would die!! When we stopped at the bottle shop the winner got their money!! We also played battle of the sexes and the girls made up questions for the boys and vice versa. We never really finished the game but I thinkt he girls were in the lead!

When we arrived at Barrington the northbound bus passengers had bagsed the best accommodation, next to the main common area with triple-tiered bunkbeds, and we were all in a nice house which was a ten minute hike up a hill!! Not fun in the dark!

A couple of (brave) people went night-water rafting and the rest of us got stuck into the all-you-can-eat pizza! We planned to go in the hot tubs but it was so cold that we couldn’t face the part where you’d have to have pretty much no clothes on before you get in!! So instead we sat round the fire inside.

The following morning I went abseling which was really good fun. There was only two of us so once we’d done the climb once we got the chance to do it another two times.

Following the abseiling there was a BBQ because the radiator had broken on our bus and it took a while to fix and then we set off to Sydney………….

We set off to Surf Camp with a really cool busload of people (lucky really becasue we were with them all the way to Sydney) and a really cool driver, Emma.

The surf camp was at Arrawarra and after arriving and leaving all our stuff in the rooms we went out for our first lesson!! I think you can all guess that I wasn’t the most natural surfer but I had fun trying!! After the lesson a few of us “pommies” played cricket with the Australians and then later on we had curry and lots of beer and then a bonfire down on the beach which was great!! We met these two English guys who look like Craig and Anthony from Big Brother!!

The following morning we went out at 6am for our second surf lesson!! This time I decided to wear a wetsuit to protect my knees and I was given one which said “Xtra small funbags” on the front which gave Louise, Alice and Emily a good laugh!! Overnight I’d lost any ability I’d had to get upright on the board so I didn’t quite look like Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush…but close!

After surf camp we headed towards Barrington…..

Stayed in Byron Bay for about 4 days. Didn’t like it as much as Surfer’s Paradise even though usually people prefer it!! Had a couple of sunny days so we lounged by the pool (cant believe how nice some hostels are) or on the beach and spent every evening at Cheeky Monkeys, a backpackers pub/club/restaurant which does the best lasagne I’ve had in Australia (had it 3 nights running) or in fact maybe ever!!

Our hostel, Aquariu, was also a motel so there were lots of people there and our room had two levels. The bathroom and a bunk bed are on the lower level and there are beds up ona  balcony. On our first night a security man came in in the middle of the night looking for an English “intruder” which put us at ease…not!!

Our final night was eventful!! We decided to walk to Cape Byron (Australia’s most easterly point) but we set off quite late cos Louise had been snorkelling and it was getting quite dark when we were actually there. I was the most easterly person in Australia for about a minute!!!! We followed the map which suggested an alternative walk back and ended up walking through a jungle in the dark with only my torch. It was pretty scary stuff!!!!!

Then later on, after my final filling of “yummy” lasagne I woke up at 4am to Alice telling some guy to get off Louise’s bed and to go away!!! Basically he’d come along, moved Lou’s legs and then started to wee over the side of the bed in between mine and Lou’s beds!!! I think he was sleep-walking or maybe just reeeeally drunk! We didn’t even know if he was one of our roommates so we locked him out but he must have been because after a lot of struggling he managed to get in with a key!!! Needless to say we didn’t sleep much after that and were happy to say goodbye to Byron!!!!!

Finally escaped Brisbane (our only aim recently) and headed for Surfer’s Paradise with a brief stop-off to go Zorbing!! Zorbing is when three people get into a big plastic ball with some water and then get rolled down a big hill and its soooo much fun!!!

At Surfer’s Paradise we got a lift to our hostel (Sleeping Inn Surfers) in a limo which was pretty cool!! Pity its literally 2 minutes down the road from the Transit Centre though!!!

The hostel was cool. The four of us had our own room which led into a common room with a TV and kitchen that we shared with the other room of 4. This common room led onto the patio with the hot-tub and pool!!

We planned to go out the first evening so we stocked up on our XXXX (official drink of the trip) but in the end we sat around the flat drinking with Jo who we’d met in Brisbane and went to bed early.

Unfortunately overnight someone came into our room and stole money and my phone (grrrr) so the second day was spent trekking to the Police station (twice) and doing broing things but it was raining so it didn’t matter!!

On our final night in Surfer’s we joined in the Big Backpackers Pubcrawl which was cool. Then we headed to Byron Bay further down the coast with a brief stop-off at Nimbin and a candle factory and we also stood on the line that divides Queensland from New Sotuh Wales. It even divides a street down the middle!! I thought it’d be cool changing our watches but we were there on the day that the clocks changed so it stays the same time!!