A Litta Bitta Battambang

Despite everything that the people of Cambodia have gone through in recent times they are such a happy smiling bunch of people. Everyone we have met so far have gone out of their way for us. The kids are always waving and coming over to say hi and granted, they are taught to say hello in English and put their hand out for money before they can walk, but they are so damn cute it is actually okay with me. It’s almost enough to tempt me to find a handsome Cambodian circus performer to be able to have one of my own! Totally get the Brad and Ange thing now. Jess would rather steal all the local stray puppies but she agrees with me on this too. Sorry Jon.

We left Siem Reap early morning to catch a boat which would take us up river to Battambang in roughly 5 hours. It was slightly more expensive than the bus but was said to be a beautiful sail through the Cambodian countryside and would be a nice escape from the crazy roads. We got on to find not the most comfortable plastic seats but beautiful views along the way, as promised, especially of the floating villages which in themselves would have been a reason to do the boat trip. Unbelievable that these people live their entire lives without ever really stepping ashore. They sleep, they fish and they raise their children all on these floating pontoons on the lake and along the shore of the river. Was a bit worrying to see the people both drinking from and peeing in the river but obviously their bellies can take it!?

5 hours turned into 7 but eventually we made it to Battambang, after much attention from the local children who were swimming in the river along the final stretch, completely starkers at all times. The kids here really do have an aversion to clothes…it’s a bit odd but what can we foreigners say on the subject? Well for a start we can not take pictures of them like one guy on our boat did…creepy! Our hotel had sent a tuk tuk driver for us, which was a massive relief because as soon as our boat docked at a rickety set of metal steps on the bank about a dozen other tuk tuk drivers boarded us through the windows, over the roof and bombarded us with offers of rides to our accommodations. We had to laugh but if we hadn’t seen the guy with my name on a sign it would have been a bit intimidating! Got to love the sell sell sell spirit though.

Battambang is a pretty average town with a very un touristy vibe. The people mostly just go about their business ignorant of our presence, which is actually quite a nice thing to witness. It used to be a French outpost so very colonial architecture in the centre but our place was a bit further out. Massive bonus in the end as we got a free upgrade to the best room due to it being low season! Lovely place, Phka Villa Hotel, couldn’t recommend it enough. Mostly due to the staff but also had a nice pool, good food and two awesome tuk tuk drivers on retainer at our beck and call. Nothing really of note can be said about the town itself but there are a few really cool things you can do here when you’re tired of chilling round the pool with an Angkor beer.

One afternoon we did a 3 hour Khmer cooking course through “Nary kitchen” led by the brilliant Toot and his wife Nary. We first made a trip to the local market to get the ingredients and Toot explained a lot about how the ingredients can be told apart and how much they should cost. He said see it, smell it then cook it and you will always remember it. After we got back to his small kitchen (behind their functioning restaurant) the 5 of us set to work on our 3 course delight made up of pork spring rolls, beef lok lak and the national dish of Cambodia – snake fish amok. Toot was very cute and gentle with his teaching, letting us follow along with his demonstration and talking a little about his life and family along the way. The food came out brilliantly and for just $10 and including a free meal, the afternoon was amazingly good value. The food in Cambodia is slightly too sweet for our tastes but when I try out everything at home again I’ll is it cut out the additional sugar that Toot seemed to love putting in everything.

The other two highlights of Battambang were a trip to the bamboo railway and to Phnom Sampov. The bamboo railways is literally just a bamboo platform placed on top of two free standing axels which powers along the straight but warped and mangled section of disused train track at a scary speed of 15mph. Doesn’t sound much but when you realise that the train is deconstructed every time you meet one coming the other way it feels a lot less sturdy and safe. It was great fun but a bit of a sad reminder also, as the reason the train line has been decommissioned is because of the high likelihood of land mines along it (obvs the bit we were on had been properly cleared, don’t think the Cambodian government want any decapitated tourists to deal with on top of the 80,000 Cambodians that have either died or lost limbs since the Khmer rouge regimen put all the mines down in the 80s). It was an hour round trip and had a stop off at a village half way where we had a drink and got a grass weaving lesson from little local boy. Very fun and even with the various tips you’re expected to give on top, the $5 price tag is well worth it.

Finally we visited Phnom Sampov, which had so much to do in such a small area! We trekked up the craggy hill instead of getting the moto up, which most other tourists went for, leading to plenty or gasping for air and yet more sweaty monstrosities for everyone to stare at with repulsion, definitely not fit for photos! At the top it became clear it had definitely been worth the climb, as the views of the eerily flat surrounding Cambodian countryside were gorgeous. There was also a pretty standard temple up there but more interestingly there were a set of caves that cut into the cliff face called “the killing caves”, another sad story in Cambodian history. 10,000 people were basically herded up into the hills and just pushed down a deep hole to their deaths 😦 pretty nasty place but it is important to remember and acknowledge this stuff. I just can’t believe it all happened so recently! From there we went to a much nicer cave for dusk – a bat cave! There are 3 million bats that come out to hunt within an hour and a half around nightfall and it was amazing seeing them swarm around like swallows over the rice padis. Definitely perked us back up again after he more somber part of the afternoon.

So we’ve just arrived in the capital Phnom Penh after a very bumpy 4 or so hour drive. Lots planned here but first things first, $2 cocktails at the bar as it just so happens to be HAPPY HOUR!

The last hurrah!

Melbourne

So I’d been told that when it comes to Australia’s two most famous cities, Sydney and Melbourne, people usually prefer one or the other. They’re completely different in terms of the vibe, which you feel as soon as you get there. As I may possibly have mentioned once or twice before, I love Sydney, but I’d heard that Melbourne was very like London with its edgier less beachy style. I’ve been here for roughly 2 weeks now and I can safely say that I am defiantly one of the exceptions to that rule. I could easily have lived in Melbs instead of Sydney and I feel very at home here, but thinking back, a summer in a city so different to my own – surrounded by beaches – was defiantly the right decision.

For now though I want to do a quick (ish) rundown of what I’ve done during my time in Melbourne. Spending over two weeks somewhere and pretty much trying to cram full every day it would take too long to do it diary style so I think instead I’ll tackle it geographically, throwing my fortnights activities onto the map as I go.

Cbd

Most of the city’s main attractions are obviously in central Melbourne. It’s laid out in a very regular grid like fashion making it very hard to get lost if you have an okay sense of direction. There’s a free city circle tram that pootles round the edge of the main blocks and I did take this once but usually just paid for more direct trams if I was going very far and would just walk the majority of the time.

There are lots of nice old (for Auz) stately buildings lining the streets, a few pretty sweet museums dotted about (I went to the Melbourne museum – top notch, the National Gallery of Victoria to see artifacts that came all the way from Europe and are older than Australia is, saw a Shark documentary at the IMAX and also went to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image – again very good). Best of all in the cbd though are the Laneways. They’re these tiny little streets in between the main boulevards which are chockablock full of sweet cafés and eateries. The smells as you wander through around lunch or dinner time are to die for and I didn’t get to try nearly enough of the available options in there. There are also lots of side streets within the Laneways that are head to toe covered in graffiti which are really worth a look (and a photo).

Southbank is lovely for a wander and very like the London version but along the Yarra river. The skyline is gorgeous with the tallest building being the Eureka tower. 88 floors up and similar to Q1 in Surfers, at only $20 I was a sucker for a view and went up on a nice clear day. Gave me a great perspective and understanding of the layout of the city and was defiantly money well spent. The bridges across the river are also really cool with the love lock bridge and the Webb bridge def being the top 2.

I managed to catch an Aussie rules footie match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which was great…after I’d googled the rules at half time! The atmosphere was electric with the home fans going mad as their team Carlton narrowly beat the visitors Adelaide, and with attendance of only 33k in a 90k capacity stadium, I would love to have seen it full! Love live sport, need to watch more! I also saw a classical concert at Hamer Hall called Timeline which was the Melbourne chamber orchestra playing snippets all the way from Baroque to the Beatles, which was lovely in the first half but average in the second half because a lot was a dj not the orchestra!

The nearby Botanical Gardens were also an absolutely beautiful place which I ambled around on a sunny afternoon with Marika from surf camp and her friend Christina, with the autumn colors really shining and making up for the dropping temperatures. Melbourne is known for being capable of having all four seasons in a day and with winter coming in, the weather has been pretty average. Good compared to English autumn/winter, but around 20 degrees and alternating between sunny and cloudy. Luckily there has hardly been any rain though.

St Kilda

This is where I stayed for my time in Melbourne and is about a half hour tram ride from the cbd. It’s right on the beach and is a very laid back cool area. My hostel – X Base – was pretty big, nice and clean and also really good for organising free activities either in the daytime out and about in the city, or in the evening down at the in house bar – Bingo, trivia night and karaoke to name a few. I met a great kiwi guy there called Austin who I spent a few days and evenings with (introduced me to cone head chips!) as well as a few other nice roommates, but mostly I spent my time meeting up with people I met on the coast or with friends who I’d met in Sydney. Making new friends when you know you’re leaving somewhere soon gets pretty tiring and with it being the end of my trip I defiantly got a bit lazy with new people!

St Kilda also boasts it’s main landmark as Luna park, the same chain as the one in Sydney, only this one is a lot creepier looking from the outside! It’s very child oriented so I didn’t go on any rides but it’s still a very cool way to know its time to get off the tram when you’re home. Other cool places to visit if anyone goes in the future are Acland Street with its incredible cake shops and cool restaurants, and Fitzroy Street, which is a long strip heading inland form the beach with tonnes of cool bars and restaurants, a real nighttime spot. I also did a really nice 6 or 7k esplanade walk from South Melbourne where I’d been to take photos of the amazing Prince’s pier back to St Kilda, which helped burn a few maxibon calories (I swear I eat one everyday if its sunny) and saved me some money on tram fares, which def started to wrack up from living outside the city centre.

Fitzroy and Collingwood

These two boho chic neighborhoods are just North of the cbd and basically compose of four worthwhile streets – Gertrude, Smith, Johnston and Brunswick. All the side streets running off these are scrawled with beautiful street art which I took way too many pictures of! Again, it’s a kooky area full of cafés, restaurants and bars but with the addition of lots of other very browse worthy things like vintage, boutique and antique furniture shops. If only I’d had more money/ any space in my bag! Apparently these two areas alone are the reason that Melbourne is the only city in Australia where the Green Party is in power, hippy love! I did also go out here at night with Marika from surf camp and her friend Chirstina for some amazing cocktails. We went on a Wednesday night so it wasn’t too busy but apparently it really kicks off here on the weekends.

Chapel street

Probably the equivalent of Oxford street/Kings road, this high end area is full of things that were way out of my price range. Still really fun to wander and window shop but a little bit painful as well. Good bars here too.

Brighton

Where I am currently sat writing this entry! A lovely quiet beach with the flattest millpond sea I have ever seen. You should see the speed a couple of jet skis have whizzed past at! Most famous for its multicolored bathing boxes or beach huts. I’ve come here mostly to see those and to enjoy potentially the last sunny day I’ll have in Auz…! Now know from walking to the train station that it a very wealthy area too, defiantly saw mansions with tennis courts. Must be where all the fat cats from the city live. Think Dulwich or Wimbledon with a Beach.

Nights out

These were dotted all around the city so are non geo specific! I’ll only mention the non backpacker places as the only reason you would go to those is for cheap drinks as part of a group, not for the ambience!

Section 8 – Very cool bar in an old shipping container. Chinatown.
Ferdydukes – next door to section 8 with live music most nights – reggae, RnB etc
Croft institute – an ex mental institution where the bathroom is fitted with a gurney and the drinks are served with syringes instead of straws. Worth 1 drink for the novelty. Chinatown.
Asian beer cafe – does $1 (that’s 50p!!) glasses of fizzy wine on a Thursday. Central station.
Vineyards – Classy place for a drink in St Kilda. Bands play on Sundays.
Black Pearl – Hand crafted cocktails in a speakeasy type venue. Fitzroy.
Pawn & co – hipster haunt, great for a Sunday session. Chapel st.

The Great Ocean Road

The main non city part of every Melbourne visitor’s itinerary. This epic 243km long road goes basically from Melbourne most of the way to Adelaide and was built by 3000 returning soldiers after WW1, which mean it’s in the Guinness book of records as the world longest war memorial. I learned lots of cool facts throughout my day trip that would only be of interest if you were there so I’ll skip those. Definitely finding that as I grow older (I know I know, ripe old 24) I’m much more interested in the history and geography of places so really enjoy the narration rather than just tuning it out as I would have when I was younger

I spent most of the driving between stops talking with the driver about life, love, politics and the impending apocalypse. At first I was a bit worried I’d regret choosing the front seat for its views, but it turned out to be really interesting talking to this guy. He’s convinced that within the next 15 years there are going to be wars starting over food and water, and is apparently backed up in this view by NASA and the leader of the world bank. Slightly worrying. Maybe I should just keep saving up and going on trips like this till that happens and enjoy the world while I can!? Lawd.

Anyway the highlights of the trip, for which luckily we had pretty glorious weather were the famous 12 apostles (there are actually only 8 left) – rock formations which are slowly eroding into the sea. Stacks actually. Hello GCSE Geography! I actually preferred the less hyped stops – Cape Otway lighthouse, Loch ard gorge and Gibbsons steps. Everything was topped off with a sighting of a mob of 14 kangaroos on he way home! Really amazing day.

I really loved Melbs but now the times come to leave it and Australia behind! What an amazing 9 months I’ve had. I’ll be back though, still have to see the west coast, the red centre and Tasmania but it’s always good to leave something for next time! Back to Asia I go, to meet up with Jess and Jon and finish off my year away with some heat!

My last ditch attempt at being a tourist in Sydney

Im so glad I came back to Sydney one last time before I leave Australia. As I walked home along George street from the royal opera house after seeing a ballet (yes old decrepit Emily of the future, you did lead that life!) I was just looking around at the clean tall buildings and all the happy people without their coats on in what’s the equivalent of late autumn (!) and smiling to myself at the fact that I got to live here for a while. It did become my home from home and in some ways Zak and I were saying, we know it better than London. When you grow up somewhere you take it so much for granted but if you have a finite amount if time there you try a lot harder to see all you can in the time you have. It helps that sydney is a lot smaller than London so you can basically walk everywhere bar Manly, Coogee and Bondi, but I do need to make more of an effort in London when I get back!

So I though I would make a list of the top things I did is week that I didn’t manage to do when I lived in Sydney but finally got round to. It’s actually been a really sunny and fun filled few days and I couldn’t have asked for a better goodbye from my second favorite city in the world.

6.

Went surfing at Bondi beach

Don’t need to say much about this as obviously my last post was all about surfing and surf camp but to actually do it at Bondi beach is the quintessential Aussie experience that I hadn’t made happen for the whole 5 months I’d lived in sydney before. Zak, Jack, San and I rent boards and wetsuits from Bondi surf co. which were $25 for 2 hours and the guy there told us to try at the south end of the beach, because as being beginners still we’d probably annoy all the pros if we tried it at the north end where all the best waves were. Fine by us!

Hilarity ensued as we got kitted up and went down to the beach and proceeded to be accosted by a group of Chinese tourists who all wanted pictures with us and our boards and literally would not leave us alone until they all had a new proffy pic in the bag! Little did they know, we looked a lot better than we surfed!! It was pretty choppy and the waves were relentless which made it very hard for us to paddle out (although apparently not too hard for the 8 year old kid who showed us all up towards the end) but it was still buckets of fun and a great thing to tick off the list.

5.

Caught a drag show on Oxford street

Sydney’s prime gay hotspot has been something Ive previously walked through rather than stopping and taken part in. Of course I’ve been to the odd gay bar and considering how amazing Mardi gras was, you would have thought I’d make it to a show far sooner than I did. It was a Sunday night so the talent was perhaps not their prime offerings but considering we had planned (again Zak, Jack, Dan and I) to just have a nice Indian for dinner and one drink in Shady Pines, it was an unexpectedly brilliant way to end the night. Lots of sequins and sass!

The boys actually got dragged (zing!) up on stage and stripped to their underwear at one point which was pretty funny (for me, not so much for them!) and there was lots of silly dancing including a flash mob dance to candaaay, which is apparently a gay anthem with a well known routine (I didn’t know it and was too tipsy to follow along) and I seem to remember Salome saying also an African wedding tradition, so there we go!

4.

Went vintage shopping and photo snapping in and around Newtown.

I lived literally a 10 minute walk from Newtown when I lived in Sydney and literally only made it there once for a night out. I never went in the day and now I see this was such a shame! Newtown is apparently always buzzing not just at night, and is full of trendy (or circular Zak would say) cafés, bars and chow spots. There are also loads of vintage shops, factory outlets and charity shops to peruse. If I wasn’t living on a budget and out of an already over packed backpack I could have done some real damage there! We found one vintage shop with an old arcade version of street fighter which you could play for free which also kept us well entertained for a good half hour!

On our walk back towards Surrey Hills to get ice cream at Messinas (number 3 on this list) we stopped off at Sydney University to wander around the beautiful campus and take a few photos in graffiti alley, one of the only places in Sydney that it is legal to do street art (for those with a student card at least). It was pretty grungy in that tunnel but very cool, although from browsing online I saw that sometimes it can be a real work of art down there, whereas we mostly just saw a lot of multicolored tagging.

3.

Ice cream orgasms from Messinas. Yes, something finally overtook maxibons..

So ever since I met Zak on Fraser Island he has been going on about how he was going to take me to this place and change my life. I thought he was over exaggerating but when we arrived on Crown Street I realized that I had in fact walked past this place many times when I used to live at Captain Cooks just up the road. There was always a queue and I had always said to myself, must see what that’s about one day, but never did.

There are a couple of other branches and it is expanding, which I’m not surprised about given its popularity. I’m also not surprised about its popularity now that I have tasted it for myself. Thank god I didn’t know about it when I lived at the Cook. I would have put on even more than the “Sydney stone” I wracked up back then. For $7 you can get 3 massive scoops and even this makes it nigh on impossible to choose between the flavors. I could go on about it but basically it wouldn’t do it justice. I had choco peanut butter, salted caramel and dulce de leche. The boys had between them mint (made with real leaves, tasted like a virgin mojito!), pavlova, caramalised white chocolate and some other beauties that I can’t remember. All I can say it, if you’re in Bondi or Surrey Hills any time soon. GO!

2.

Watched a ballet at the royal opera house.

To be fair I had already caught 2 shows at the opera house – Ludvico Einaudi and Bonobo – both incredible. But this was still an awesome evening and a beautiful last look at Circular Quay, the famous view of sydney that never gets old. The ballet was called “Chroma” and I’d been sold on it by the fact that it was a contemporary piece. I’ve been to the ballet before in London (Romeo and Juliet) and whilst the music was lovely and the dancing impressive I’d found it a bit rigid compared to all the modernized versions you now see all over the tv.

Without dissecting it too much seeing as I know very little about dance, I’ll just mention a few things that made it so amazing and memorable. The set design changed 4 times throughout the show and it was essentially 4 separate ballets in one. The first was very modern and sensual, the second much more classical, the third overtly sexual (entitled petit mort – which apparently is the French for orgasm – ooo err) and the last hilarious. Thats right, a funny ballet. It was almost farcical comedy at times, with props and exaggerated facial expressions that you would not expect to see from the top Australian ballet company! It was a brilliant evening and I loved seeing everyone so dressed up. Obviously you weren’t allowed to take pictures but just to remind myself in the future – dresses on wheels! So cool!

1.

Saw an exhibition on Cockatoo Island – the 19th Biennale of Sydney

To be honest I haven’t done much cultural exploration in Sydney because the sun is always out offering other possibilities, and the one time I went to a museum it was just nowhere near as good as the ones in London… but the biennale was recommended to me and as it was partially outdoors and the sun was blazing on my last day in Sydney I decided to give it a go. Cockatoo island is an ex reoffender prison / shipyard and is the largest island in Sydney harbor. I took a 10 minute ferry to get there and proceeded to wander round the art festival that is going on till the start of June.

The island is home to various art installations that are part of the biennale – ranging from film projections to light installations and interactive exhibits. The setting is a massive part of the charm, it is so eerie and bizarre that sometimes the room a piece is in is more impressive than the piece itself. My favorites were a creepy light show in the abandoned prisoner barracks, a life size digital waterfall in the ship yard and a hanger full of interactive gym equipment which let the observer become part of the art. Considering it was free and only cost the $7 for the return ferry, it was a unique way to wile away a few hours in and out of the sun and let me come away feeling that little bit more culturally enriched.

So that’s it for me and Sydders. I’ve got one night out left tonight to say bye to Lucy and then a few days with the family before heading to Melbourne for my last 2 weeks in Australia! It’s all over too quickly but at least I still have 8 weeks of adventure left before I get back to reality in London…! I got to see lots of travel friends this week, some of whom I’m probably saying goodbye to forever but hopefully if we do get a chance in the future I will see most of them again at some point.

Byron and bye byes

View from Coolangatta

As we arrive back in New South Wales after our 3 week Queensland adventure, we get a brief glance back at surfers paradise from Coolangatta and it seems like something from a futuristic movie. It’s been a seriously amazing month so far. For Lucy and I, all that’s left is a week in Byron Bay and then we will go our separate ways. I couldn’t have asked for a better travel companion. Although we only met by chance, I don’t think I could have found someone more suited to travel with me. We like (almost) exactly the same things and are often in exactly the same mood when it comes to chill vs active days. She’s also a hilarious character (especially Duchess, who comes out when we hit the vino) that most people we have met seem to know straight away. Ohhh its Lucy! I feel really lucky to have met her and my memories of the coast will largely be enhanced by and centered around my memories of her. Thank god she only lives in Brighton, not too far from me at home!

A quick note about our one night in Surfers Paradise – it was previously described to me as the Aussie version of Magaluff/Malia, so I wasn’t overly keen on going. I was convinced to give it a try and luckily this turned out not to be exactly true. Whilst it was very very touristy and over developed (never seen so many high rise hotels in one place in my life) it still has the laid back surfer vibe we’ve grown used to. The beach is long and golden, and there are lots of restaurants, shops and bars if you should so desire. We also made a trip up to the 77th floor of the Q1 building, apparently the tallest building in Australia, and took in the 360 views of the Gold Coast. Although i still think I prefer the sunshine cost, it was a beautiful sight and well worth the $20 dollars for the half an hour we spent up there (especially with the equivalent, The Shard, in London being extortionately more expensive I hear). The night life seemed like what you’d expect from any town flocked to by 18-25 year olds and the hostel we stayed in (Sun n Surf Backpackers) made a big effort to get every involved by playing drinking games before heading out to a different night each evening. I think one night there was definitely enough but I was pleasantly surprised overall.

***

Onwards to Byron Bay we rolled and after being told numerous times down the coast how much we would love it and how much people missed it, we were anticipating something pretty impressive. Happily, it is a great place and I can totally see why people planning a 3 day stop here often get drawn into staying for weeks. Although still small enough to feel like you get to know it pretty quickly, Byron is bigger than I expected. There are lots of health related shops and the obvious surfer presence make it feel very earthy and welcoming. The beaches are awesome, and basically just like most of the Australian beaches we’ve been to, apart from the gorgeous lighthouse on a cliff at one end. There was also a really cool yoga studio right on the beach that I went to one morning for a session of Hatha yoga, perfect sights and sounds for relaxation.

We went up to the lighthouse for sunset on our second night and it was really beautiful. It’s also the most easterly point in all of Australia so if you were truly motivated to wake up at 5am and to head up for sunrise, you’d be the first in the country to witness it. It’s definitely a great vantage point for whale spotting (in the season which is not now sadly) and dolphin glimpsing. Chris who drove us up there (had planned to cycle – SO glad we didn’t!) was a Canadian guy we’d met at the hostel and a big fan of rock dangling – climbing on outcrops and letting your feet hang off the edge. I tried it briefly but decided a few minutes up there was enough for me! Chris also introduced us to drinking jenga which definitely make an appearance when I get home!

Our hostel Holiday Village was right up the road from all the main hotspots and literally opposite one of the main places to go out – Cheeky Monkeys, and round the corner from the other club Woody Surf Shack. It’s a pretty cool place and one of the first BYOs that we’ve stayed at. Cue lots of beer pong, flip cup and ring of fire! I would def recommend it on that alone, but they even throw in free wifi, surf board hire and bike hire to the mix as well. We made use of the bikes one morning to had to the more off the beaten track beaches. Currently it’s run by a bunch of Canadians who get everyone involved each night until kick out time at 10.30 when music goes off and revelers are shooed out. Bit on the early side but very nice when you’re having the odd quiet night in preparation for that early morning yoga at the beach! Nights out are pretty formulaic but lots of fun silly dancing and I even got my face painted for a themed evening one of the nights.

The nearby hippie haven of Nimbin is also an attraction that many people head to if they have time. We did the one day Grasshopper tour on an old 60s bus with crazy suspension and painted in true multicolor hippy style. Weed, whilst not legal, is readily available there and a lot of stoners line the streets, not smoking openly but grabbing some stock or munching some “cookies”. We were vaguely tempted to jump on the band wagon but a giggly girl’s vomit told us later that abstaining had been the right choice. The bus also stopped at an amazingly serene reservoir for lunch (BBQ – included and cooked by the awesome tour guide/bus driver from South Africa) and at a 120m high waterfall. Overall underwhelmed by Nimbin itself , just because I’ve been to a lot of similar towns in Asia and with it also not really being my scene, but the trip over all and the drive through the gorgeous hilly countryside made it a definite hit. There’s a festival going on there this weekend called called “Mardi Grass” which should see the population shoot up by thousands and I’m sure will be an interesting event to witness.

So Lucy has left me now for Sydney and I have to say I am feeling slightly bereft. Of course the solo traveller life is never really solo (I now have Grant and Anna and Robyn to keep me company) but it was nice sharing a big chunk of the trip with one person. Not much time left now – next week sees me start a 5 day learn to surf camp down the coast stopping at various surf spots between Byron and Sydney. There I’ll be reunited with Zak, Lucy and my family for a week in Sydney before heading to Melbourne for 3 weeks. I have to say the weather is getting noticeably more iffy as I head south and into Aussie winter, but it’s still nothing like what I’m used to back home – I have however had to go out and buy a jumper or 2 in preparation which feels uber wrong. I’ve also book my flights to Asia for June to meet Jess and Jon and do a 6 week trip round Cambodia and Vietnam, which I’m super excited about so I’m very much feeling the whole “when one door closes” thing :-). Just this weekend left in Byron and I plan to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts…very British thing to say, that.

A holiday within a holiday – Noosa

It’s Anzac Day! I’m sitting here in Brisbane eating a yoghurt with a knife (sigh, backpacker life…) and taking in some early morning sun on the roof terrace of our hostel. We picked this one for the exact reason that it’s one of the only hostels where there is a pool, as after all the water based fun of the last few weeks it would be a bit weird to be back in a city and have no plunge options. Today is a national holiday (why do we only get 3 minutes on remembrance day?) so everything is closed. The plan in therefore just to chill here in the sun and maybe check out some of the city’s festivities later on.

We spent the last 4 post Fraser days in Noosa – a small town which is popular with Australians for a little RnR by the national Everglades park. It’s quite upmarket with a lot of boutiquey shops and restaurants and was the perfect place for me and Lucy to slow it all down and have a holiday within a holiday after all our recent romping about.

The hostels all have shuttle buses from Noosa junction where the coaches drop off which will take you to the various parts of town. Very handy, as most hostels were at least a 15min walk, which with backpacks on means a very long way! We stayed at Dolphins Beach House – a bright pink hippyish hostel 2 minutes from Sunshine Beach. It was a very cool and mellow place, with lots of Buddhist themed communal chill space and free wifi! It was separated into units which each had a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and 2 dorms. Very nice to have a bit more space to yourself than the average hostel where it’s quite clear they just try to cram in as many money making beds to a small space as possible. We even had our own private double one night when all the dorms were fully booked, which was such a treat, as one of the things I miss most from home is having my own bedroom where I can go and just shut the door on everything.

Now, there was lots to do in Noosa, but we took it pretty slow tbh. On day one we didn’t leave the hostel at all apart from in the evening to go and roast marshmallows over a bonfire on the beach and on day two we just went to main beach to peruse the shops and sunbathe. I did try my hand at stand up paddle boarding on the river which was awesome, a massive full body work out. I was stable enough and got into the rhythm of it pretty quickly, keeping my arms straight so as to work the core and not just the arms. Ironically the only time I wobbled a bit was when I got rocked by the wake of the lifeguards’ speed boat! I would love to take it up as a hobby, but unfortunately the Thames doesn’t seem like a very attractive option for when I get back!

On the third day we had planned to go on a three hour walk around the coastal path through the national park. There are enough beaches in Australia that you could visit a new one every day and you still wouldn’t have seen them all in 27 years time. Even the nudist beach along the route couldn’t temp us (saggy man bits, how could we resist??) so we decided to have a slow day and make the most of our private room and have a trip to the cinema in the afternoon instead. We saw divergent, an adaptation of a book Sal and I read in Asia, very entertaining with a big fat dollop of man candy on the side. I don’t feel too bad about skipping the walk out, as our roommate Grant said it was very like the Bondi to Coogee walk in Sydney, which I have done twice.

On our final day we booked onto a greyhound to go to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo! It was about an hour away from Noosa and the bus left nice and early at 8:10am. We got there and as expected were surrounded by hundreds of hyperactive kids demanding mummy and daddy buy them this and take them to see that. Oh the joys of children. But Lucy and I weren’t far off those levels of excitement and we set off around the zoo to see all the Aussie creatures and critters. At the end of the day, a zoo is a zoo, and I’ve been to my share of them all over he world. The difference with this zoo is that is is much more interactive – you can get in amongst the kangaroos and the koalas and feed/pet them to your hearts content. There was also an awesome show at midday in the “crocoseum”. Birds were flying all over, parrots we nicking money from members of the audience and then came the main feature – the croc show. Friggin’ scary beasts, basically just modern day dinosaurs. They fed them, told us how not to get eaten by them and generally just showed their passion for them. It was awesome.

So here we are now in Brisbane. We arrived yesterday and stocked up on food for the three days – trying really hard not to spend so much from now on so cooking basic meals for ourselves rather than eating out so much. Seems like a nice city, despite its reputation with travellers for not having much going on compared to all the other stops on the route. Im a city girl anyway so I automatically feel at home with all the tall buildings and the traffic, and it’s a nice speed up in pace from the last 4 days in Noosa. Probably won’t blog about it though so will just whack up a few pictures and wish you adieu until Byron Bay!