Hello everyone! Sorry this blog is long overdue. and this is only going to be a partial, picture-free blog so hopefully you can check back in a couple days when I update it and add pics. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know what I've been up to this past week. As I said before, my couchsurfing host, Ronnie, was awesome from the start. He picked me up from the train station and took me back to his place in Teneriffe, which is a very nice part of town, right by the river. He gave me lots of info about how to get around town and what to see, and I set off to explore the city. When I got back that evening, he was cooking an amazing chicken curry meal ... it smelled delicious and it was! We ate and drank beers and talked and listened to music. He offered to take me camping that weekend on North Stradbroke Island (of course the island has a nickname: "Straddie") if it wasn't too rainy. As it turned out, it was pouring rain on Saturday, but we decided to go anyway. We spent the morning washing and loading up all his camping supplies and making food for the trip. He brought two steaks to cook on the portable stove he brought, and pancake mix that came in a little plastic jug (just add water and shake it up in the jug -- so smart!) for breakfast. I made potato salad from a recipe he had, and it actually turned out really good! And of course we brought lots of beer. We drove across the Story Bridge in some of the hardest rain I've seen in years, and then got to the ferry just as it stopped raining :D Other than a couple quick bursts of light rain that evening, it didn't rain again until we were asleep!! We got sooo lucky! We were able to set up our camp right there next to the beach, hang out on the beach and spend a great night drinking beers around the campfire. In the morning, it rained a little while we were packing up our campsite, but by the time we drove away, it had stopped again. We saw a wallaby on the way to Point Lookout, had lunch (fish & chips ... delicious) overlooking the ocean, and then did The Gorge Walk at Point Lookout. It was so beautiful! And there were lots of stairs :D I'll post pics when I can. We also saw a group (pack? school? gaggle?) of sea turtles out in the water! The pics didn't come out but we definitely saw a few of them. It was such a cool trip!! :D
On Monday, I said goodbye to my new friend and headed downtown to stay two nights at the X BASE hostel. It's a chain of hostels known for being nice and clean -- and of course fun party spots. I took one ferry to cross the river from Ronnie's place, and while I waited for the ferry that would take me down the river to the center of the city, I started talking to a girl named Tanya and her friend Ben. Within about 30 seconds she had invited me to stay at her place, and a few minutes later she invited me to their work Christmas party at a bar downtown, "The Vic" (The Victory), which happened to be about four blocks from my hostel. I declined the invitation to spend the night since I had already paid for my hostel, but I enthusiastically accepted the invitation to party with them at The Vic, especially because she said it was open bar, and they'd be serving food. Woo hoooo! A poor traveler's dream! :D I checked in at my hostel, changed into a dress and walked over. I wasn't sure if I'd get busted and thrown out, but I decided it was worth a try. If anyone asked who I was, I intended to tell them I was new at QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Center), but thankfully no one did and I strolled in and found my new friends without incident. The open bar was a myth but apparently the company had paid for some jugs of beer (pitchers), and Tanya poured one for me to start me off. She introduced me to a table full of people and they generously shared their plates of appetizers with me. After that first beer, the beers kept flowing ... someone gave me a Canadian Club (tastes like Coke with a little booze in it) and this funny guy nicknamed The Jaguar kept coming around with jugs of beer and filling everyone's empty bottles. It was quite impressive, and awesome. I met a ton of people and had a great time drinking and dancing with everyone all night and then I finally walked/stumbled back to the hostel about 2 or 3 am. The next day I had planned on going to the XXXX Brewery tour, but I had a slight hangover and suddenly paying $22 for four beers didn't seem like such a great deal anymore so I skipped it and just wandered around the city all day. That night, I went to South Bank, a very beautiful part of town along the river, and met up with my friend David (who couchsurfed with me a couple months ago in LA) and several of his friends from the Brisbane couchsurfing group, as well as some fellow travelers (from Germany, US and Switzerland). It was fun and I met some really nice people.
On Wednesday, after a huge, delicious (and cheap, thanks to the hostel) breakfast, I walked around the city for a few hours, begging building security at all the tallest buildings to let me climb them. It was very unsuccessful and kind of a waste of time, but at least I went to some places in Brisbane I hadn't been before. Then it was time to retrieve my packs from the hostel and catch a bus to Mater Hospital, where my cousin Deb works. I met her there and she took me to Kangaroo Point, which didn't actually have any kangaroos (none that I saw anyway) but it was really cool anyway. There are these huge cliffs along the river, and of course stairs to get down the cliff. Just think ... I could have been climbing those all day! Oops. But Deb took me down and showed me where I could rent a kayak or rollerblades if I wanted to the following day. I met a girl from Fremont, CA who was working at the kayak place. She came to Australia on holiday last year, met an Aussie guy, and ended up moving here. She was really nice and I told her I'd come back the following day to rent a kayak, which I did, even though that night, Deb's boyfriend, Stef, told me there were sharks in the river. I thought he was joking but he insisted it was true. Of course I couldn't just take his word for it. I googled "Brisbane river sharks" and got about 50,000 hits. I found out that there are over 500 bull sharks in the Brisbane River, and that bull sharks are the most dangerous shark to humans because they are fast and super aggressive, likely to attack anything that invades their territory, able to live in shallow, fresh water ... lovely. I was pretty freaked out but decided to go anyway. They wouldn't have a kayak rental business on the river if people were getting eaten by sharks all the time. Would they?? :/ I asked the girls if anyone ever saw sharks in the river and they said no. I was less worried than before but I still thought about the sharks that might be underneath my kayak for the first 20 minutes or so. But when I didn't so much as glimpse a shark fun or a dark form in the water, I relaxed and enjoyed my peaceful kayaking trip up and down the river. After I finished kayaking for an hour and a half, I was a little sore and a little sunburnt so I decided to just sit down and read in a gorgeous park until it was time to meet Deb at work and go home. It was such a nice day!
This morning I woke up super early (so did Deb and Stef, who were heading down to Melbourne for the weekend, but to them 7 am is sleeping in late, not waking up early) and Deb took me to the Beenleigh bus/train station. I took a train to Nerang, then a bus to Surfer’s Paradise. I expected Surfer’s Paradise to look more like a small island village, or at least like Santa Cruz or Malibu, but it's actually a pretty big city with tons of tall buildings and of course, a ferris wheel. I didn’t ride the ferris wheel or even try to climb any of the buildings; I’m still dying to climb the famous Q1 building (80 stories, the tallest residential building in the world!), but today I was wearing flip flops and anxious to get to the beach. I took another bus down to Kirra Beach, a beach that my brother suggested I check out – he loved it when he was here with Andrea on their honeymoon, and he thought I would love it too. It was soooo pretty!! So much white sand and clear, warm water. And the water didn’t even have sharks or jellyfish in it! Well, I’m sure it did, but I didn’t see any. The only problem was that it was incredibly windy so there was powdery white sand blowing everywhere; within about five minutes I had it all over me and my bag and my water bottle, but that was a small price to pay for a lovely, peaceful day on a gorgeous beach. I got some sun and read almost an entire book (thanks Deb!) and made it back in time to feed Deb & Stef’s adorable little “sausage dogs,” Cecil and Henry. I'm looking forward to a very relaxing weekend. Tomorrow I think I’m going to go into town for a few hours because I need to pick up all my rail tickets for the next few weeks (I’ll be spending 8 days on the train between now and the first week of January … good times). Sunday I think I’m just going to stay here in Tanah Merah and read, walk the dogs, and play Deb’s Wii. :)
Monday = Round Two of Sydney ...
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Back in Brisbane
Hiiiiii! I'm finally back in Brisbane after a 19-hour train ride from Townsville.
It was a surprisingly pleasant ride for two reasons: one is that I actually was able to sleep for around six hours (not six hours in a row; six hours total, but still!) and the other is that I made some friends while waiting at the Townsville train station, Jono and Leanne.
They live in Townsville and were also headed to Brisbane, and they ended up being in my same rail car, right across the aisle. I got to take the "Cairns Tilt Train" this time which is business class only and it's 4 hours faster than the Sunlander, which is the one I took on the way up (the one that took 23 hours). All I had to do to upgrade for free on my Austrail pass was walk down to the train station and book my trip in person. So easy! I'm definitely doing that next time I travel north, which will probably be in a few weeks. Anyways, Brisbane is awesome!!
My host, Ronnie, is super nice. He picked me up from the train station and took me back to his place where he printed out three maps of Brisbane and spent about half an hour showing me every bus/ferry route and point of interest in the city. I walked a few blocks from his apartment building, down to the river, and caught a ferry across the river, then another ferry that goes all up and down the river and you can get on/off anywhere you want. A day pass for ferry, bus, and train use is only $7. I'm probably going to get one of those every day I'm here. Tomorrow I get to see my cousin Deb! I'm staying with her next week but tomorrow night she's picking me up here in the city and we're going to her friend's Christmas concert. I don't have much else planned for Brisbane but I plan on doing a lot of walking and exploring. So far today I've been to the Queensland Art Gallery:
... and a sweet three-story skate shop with a mini ramp on the top level!!
I almost took a ferris wheel ride but it was $15 so I just took a picture of the ferris wheel instead:
Oh, quick Townsville update: I didn't make it to Maggie Island a second time and I also didn't make it to Billabong Sanctuary or Reef HQ (the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium), but I did go to the beach A LOT and I hiked Castle Hill again yesterday afternoon right before I had to leave town. I'll guess I'll just have to do those other things on my next trip up to Townsville. :)
It was a surprisingly pleasant ride for two reasons: one is that I actually was able to sleep for around six hours (not six hours in a row; six hours total, but still!) and the other is that I made some friends while waiting at the Townsville train station, Jono and Leanne.
They live in Townsville and were also headed to Brisbane, and they ended up being in my same rail car, right across the aisle. I got to take the "Cairns Tilt Train" this time which is business class only and it's 4 hours faster than the Sunlander, which is the one I took on the way up (the one that took 23 hours). All I had to do to upgrade for free on my Austrail pass was walk down to the train station and book my trip in person. So easy! I'm definitely doing that next time I travel north, which will probably be in a few weeks. Anyways, Brisbane is awesome!!
My host, Ronnie, is super nice. He picked me up from the train station and took me back to his place where he printed out three maps of Brisbane and spent about half an hour showing me every bus/ferry route and point of interest in the city. I walked a few blocks from his apartment building, down to the river, and caught a ferry across the river, then another ferry that goes all up and down the river and you can get on/off anywhere you want. A day pass for ferry, bus, and train use is only $7. I'm probably going to get one of those every day I'm here. Tomorrow I get to see my cousin Deb! I'm staying with her next week but tomorrow night she's picking me up here in the city and we're going to her friend's Christmas concert. I don't have much else planned for Brisbane but I plan on doing a lot of walking and exploring. So far today I've been to the Queensland Art Gallery:
... and a sweet three-story skate shop with a mini ramp on the top level!!
I almost took a ferris wheel ride but it was $15 so I just took a picture of the ferris wheel instead:
Oh, quick Townsville update: I didn't make it to Maggie Island a second time and I also didn't make it to Billabong Sanctuary or Reef HQ (the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium), but I did go to the beach A LOT and I hiked Castle Hill again yesterday afternoon right before I had to leave town. I'll guess I'll just have to do those other things on my next trip up to Townsville. :)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Still in Townsville ...
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your awesome and hilarious blog comments :D Daddy, I love the Lakers updates! I've been following them on nba.com and lakers.com but reading your updates is much more entertaining than simply checking the standings and the rankings. Grandma Rita and Grandpa Jan, I can't wait to hear these Woodstock stories when I get home haha!
Here are some pics of the very muddy Full Noise Music Festival:
I just wanted to let everyone know I'm loving this beautiful town in North Queensland! I was planning to go back down to Brisbane yesterday but I decided to stay a few more days. Of course, the music festival was awesome. Jenny and I danced all day in the pouring rain and made some great new friends. I saw lots of rat tails (creepiest hairdo ever ... see picture above), sweet festival costumes and a handful of NBA jerseys. :D
The next day Jenny and I hiked Castle Hill and it was so cool!!
We did the goat track which ended with about a thousand stairs straight up the rock and it was brutal!
Good times. I went with my new friend Ian to Maggie Island and it was absolutely gorgeous!
We didn't see any koalas but the weather was perfect that day and swam in the ocean for hours. I had a really nice time staying with Jenny and her roommate Sam; I am back with them now after about a week of couchsurfing. I stayed with my cousin Richard's friend Matt and his girlfriend Brooke and they were soooo nice! They live in Hermit Park (a suburb of Townsville) and have two big dogs and a snake and a bird and two bearded dragons -- and geckos come into the house all the time! Matt let me borrow his bike and drew me a very detailed map showing me how to get to the river and the downtown area. I took a beautiful bike ride through the golf course and along the river and all over town.
I got rained on quite a bit but it was warm out so I didn't mind. I couchsurfed for a couple nights with a lovely French girl named Celine and her friend Maura, another couchsurfer from Italy who stayed there the same nights as me. Celine took me hiking with her dogs at the Castle Hill quarry and later that night she took me up to the dam to look for wallabies -- we spotted about 20 of them!! Here are some pics:
We also saw an owl:
... a cute tiny tree frog:
... hundreds of (poisonous) cane toads:
... a possum (didn't get any pics of the fast little guy), and millions of tiny spiders on the railing of the staircase we were walking down (ewww).
Maura and I went shopping downtown one day -- we had a great time and all I bought was tea tree oil for all my mosquito bites :/ I also couchsurfed with my new friend Steven who I met at the music festival when he was dressed up as a Hooters girl with four of his mates. Of course I had to get some pics of them (see above) and while we were talking, he asked me if I was on couchsurfing! I said that I was and he offered to let me stay a night or two.
While in Townsville, I went swimming at The Strand beach in a giant "stinger net":
When I first got to town and saw that everyone at the beach had to swim inside a huge net (so the deadly stingers can't get to them), I thought "How sad!" but I was wrong -- it is AWESOME!! No seaweed, no creatures to worry about ... just unbelievably warm ocean water and small waves. It's fantastic. I swam for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday and I'm going back again later today.
Other plans for my last few days in Townsville: at least one more Castle Hill hike, Billabong Sanctuary (I need to see some kangaroos and koalas!), the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium (where Sam works), and another trip out to Maggie as long as the weather's nice.
:)
Here are some pics of the very muddy Full Noise Music Festival:
I just wanted to let everyone know I'm loving this beautiful town in North Queensland! I was planning to go back down to Brisbane yesterday but I decided to stay a few more days. Of course, the music festival was awesome. Jenny and I danced all day in the pouring rain and made some great new friends. I saw lots of rat tails (creepiest hairdo ever ... see picture above), sweet festival costumes and a handful of NBA jerseys. :D
The next day Jenny and I hiked Castle Hill and it was so cool!!
We did the goat track which ended with about a thousand stairs straight up the rock and it was brutal!
Good times. I went with my new friend Ian to Maggie Island and it was absolutely gorgeous!
We didn't see any koalas but the weather was perfect that day and swam in the ocean for hours. I had a really nice time staying with Jenny and her roommate Sam; I am back with them now after about a week of couchsurfing. I stayed with my cousin Richard's friend Matt and his girlfriend Brooke and they were soooo nice! They live in Hermit Park (a suburb of Townsville) and have two big dogs and a snake and a bird and two bearded dragons -- and geckos come into the house all the time! Matt let me borrow his bike and drew me a very detailed map showing me how to get to the river and the downtown area. I took a beautiful bike ride through the golf course and along the river and all over town.
I got rained on quite a bit but it was warm out so I didn't mind. I couchsurfed for a couple nights with a lovely French girl named Celine and her friend Maura, another couchsurfer from Italy who stayed there the same nights as me. Celine took me hiking with her dogs at the Castle Hill quarry and later that night she took me up to the dam to look for wallabies -- we spotted about 20 of them!! Here are some pics:
We also saw an owl:
... a cute tiny tree frog:
... hundreds of (poisonous) cane toads:
... a possum (didn't get any pics of the fast little guy), and millions of tiny spiders on the railing of the staircase we were walking down (ewww).
Maura and I went shopping downtown one day -- we had a great time and all I bought was tea tree oil for all my mosquito bites :/ I also couchsurfed with my new friend Steven who I met at the music festival when he was dressed up as a Hooters girl with four of his mates. Of course I had to get some pics of them (see above) and while we were talking, he asked me if I was on couchsurfing! I said that I was and he offered to let me stay a night or two.
While in Townsville, I went swimming at The Strand beach in a giant "stinger net":
When I first got to town and saw that everyone at the beach had to swim inside a huge net (so the deadly stingers can't get to them), I thought "How sad!" but I was wrong -- it is AWESOME!! No seaweed, no creatures to worry about ... just unbelievably warm ocean water and small waves. It's fantastic. I swam for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday and I'm going back again later today.
Other plans for my last few days in Townsville: at least one more Castle Hill hike, Billabong Sanctuary (I need to see some kangaroos and koalas!), the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium (where Sam works), and another trip out to Maggie as long as the weather's nice.
:)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Townsville
Just a quick update before I get ready for the Full Noise Music Festival ...
I got into Townsville yesterday after my epic 23-hour (!) train ride.
It wasn't bad, considering how long I was stuck on that train. There were several stops where we could get off the train and stretch, and the seats were a lot more comfortable on this train than the first two. I completely lucked out and got a solo seat for the third time, so it could have been a lot worse. There were outlets so I was able to charge my phone and camera battery, and a nice man even let me borrow his iphone charger so I could charge my ipod! The funniest part about this 23-hour train ride was that I thought it was an ELEVEN-hour train ride. Seriously. :/ I'm sure my sister is shaking her head right now, as are most of you. Somehow, in my delirious state (yes, I'm going to blame it on my lack of sleep from the first two trains, even though I booked this train journey almost two months ago), I did the math and thought that leaving Brisbane at 1 pm on Thursday and arriving in Townsville at noon on Friday meant I was on the train for 11 hours. I like to think I just couldn't fathom being stuck on a train for almost an entire day. Or I'm just bad at math. I was on the train for about an hour and as I was drifting off to sleep, I started thinking about the train, and the times, and the fact that I was arriving in Townsville at almost the same time of day as I was leaving Brisbane, and it occurred to me that I had been a little off in my calculations. HAHA! I could not believe I had another 22 hours to go. It was more than a little disappointing. But it was actually good because it gave me a lot more time to sleep, and I was able to get almost entirely caught up so I wasn't totally exhausted by the time I got into Townsville. And the guy who got on the train at the second stop and sat across the aisle from me was really cool. We talked throughout the train ride when we both weren't sleeping, and he assured me I'd see some kangaroos when we got farther north, but it rained most of the way up and the kangaroos never came out :( I still have yet to see a kangaroo, wallaby, koala, crocodile or dingo, but I'm planning on going to the Billabong Sanctuary while I'm here so hopefully I'll see all those creatures soon. :)
Townsville is really awesome and the scenery is gorgeous. There's a beautiful mountain close to my friend Jenny's place called Castle Hill and we plan on hiking up it tomorrow. Apparently there's a "goat track" where you can walk mostly up steps. Yay! Stair climbing in nature! The closest beach (The Strand) looks out at an island called Magnetic Island (the locals call it "Maggie"). I'm going to take a ferry out there next week to hike and lay out at the awesome beaches there, as long as it's not raining.
We're getting ready to go to the music festival soon. Daddy, it probably will be like Woodstock because it's supposed to rain sometime today. :D Sweet! Should be lots of fun. I'll post again soon to let you all know how it went.
I got into Townsville yesterday after my epic 23-hour (!) train ride.
It wasn't bad, considering how long I was stuck on that train. There were several stops where we could get off the train and stretch, and the seats were a lot more comfortable on this train than the first two. I completely lucked out and got a solo seat for the third time, so it could have been a lot worse. There were outlets so I was able to charge my phone and camera battery, and a nice man even let me borrow his iphone charger so I could charge my ipod! The funniest part about this 23-hour train ride was that I thought it was an ELEVEN-hour train ride. Seriously. :/ I'm sure my sister is shaking her head right now, as are most of you. Somehow, in my delirious state (yes, I'm going to blame it on my lack of sleep from the first two trains, even though I booked this train journey almost two months ago), I did the math and thought that leaving Brisbane at 1 pm on Thursday and arriving in Townsville at noon on Friday meant I was on the train for 11 hours. I like to think I just couldn't fathom being stuck on a train for almost an entire day. Or I'm just bad at math. I was on the train for about an hour and as I was drifting off to sleep, I started thinking about the train, and the times, and the fact that I was arriving in Townsville at almost the same time of day as I was leaving Brisbane, and it occurred to me that I had been a little off in my calculations. HAHA! I could not believe I had another 22 hours to go. It was more than a little disappointing. But it was actually good because it gave me a lot more time to sleep, and I was able to get almost entirely caught up so I wasn't totally exhausted by the time I got into Townsville. And the guy who got on the train at the second stop and sat across the aisle from me was really cool. We talked throughout the train ride when we both weren't sleeping, and he assured me I'd see some kangaroos when we got farther north, but it rained most of the way up and the kangaroos never came out :( I still have yet to see a kangaroo, wallaby, koala, crocodile or dingo, but I'm planning on going to the Billabong Sanctuary while I'm here so hopefully I'll see all those creatures soon. :)
Townsville is really awesome and the scenery is gorgeous. There's a beautiful mountain close to my friend Jenny's place called Castle Hill and we plan on hiking up it tomorrow. Apparently there's a "goat track" where you can walk mostly up steps. Yay! Stair climbing in nature! The closest beach (The Strand) looks out at an island called Magnetic Island (the locals call it "Maggie"). I'm going to take a ferry out there next week to hike and lay out at the awesome beaches there, as long as it's not raining.
We're getting ready to go to the music festival soon. Daddy, it probably will be like Woodstock because it's supposed to rain sometime today. :D Sweet! Should be lots of fun. I'll post again soon to let you all know how it went.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
BRISBANE
Hi! I only have a few minutes and then I have to get out and explore a little more of Brisbane before I get on the train to Townsville. Just thought I should give everyone a little update since I my last blog was so emo haha I'm feeling much better today. Brisbane is awesome!!! I've been here since 5 am but I haven't seen much of the city because from 5-8, I was just sitting at the train station, reading and waiting for them to open their luggage check office so I could get rid of my large bag. When I finally left the train station, I walked through Roma Street Parkland, this huge beautiful park right behind the train station. I felt like I was in the rainforest!! Here are some pics (not mine):
Then I went to the public baths and took a shower and swam for about an hour. =) When I came out, it was starting to rain and I needed to dry my towel so I went to a nearby hotel and they let me use their dryer -- I also charged my phone and camera. woo hooo! When I came out, it was POURING!!! I think I bring the rain with me to every city I visit! I asked a guy who was standing outside if he thought it would stop soon (in which case I would just sit down under the hotel's awning and wait it out) and he said yeah, probably in 20 minutes -- and he was exactly right. I sat down and talked to the guy while I waited for the rain to stop and when I did, I got up and the back side of my backpack was all wet. I had put it on the ground, not realizing that the roof was leaking and the water was going down the wall and collecting under my backpack. grrrrrrrr. For about an hour, I carried it around by one strap, which is a lot harder than wearing it on my back. :/ but it finally dried so I can wear it the normal way now. I've gotten to see a little bit of the city, but I didn't get a chance to go to the Eagle Street Pier so I'll have to check that out when I get back here in a couple weeks. I'll be visiting my cousin Deb for a couple nights and couchsurfing for a few nights after that. and I just booked a night at the hostel where I'm using the internet. I'm also gonna book a brewery tour (through the hostel it's only $22 including 4 beers) at XXXX Brewery. Yay! Can't wait! Well, I'm off to explore the city and grab some lunch before my train. Talk to you all soon.
***LAKERS UPDATE: Lakers 78 Pistons 56
LET'S GO LAKERS!!!!
Then I went to the public baths and took a shower and swam for about an hour. =) When I came out, it was starting to rain and I needed to dry my towel so I went to a nearby hotel and they let me use their dryer -- I also charged my phone and camera. woo hooo! When I came out, it was POURING!!! I think I bring the rain with me to every city I visit! I asked a guy who was standing outside if he thought it would stop soon (in which case I would just sit down under the hotel's awning and wait it out) and he said yeah, probably in 20 minutes -- and he was exactly right. I sat down and talked to the guy while I waited for the rain to stop and when I did, I got up and the back side of my backpack was all wet. I had put it on the ground, not realizing that the roof was leaking and the water was going down the wall and collecting under my backpack. grrrrrrrr. For about an hour, I carried it around by one strap, which is a lot harder than wearing it on my back. :/ but it finally dried so I can wear it the normal way now. I've gotten to see a little bit of the city, but I didn't get a chance to go to the Eagle Street Pier so I'll have to check that out when I get back here in a couple weeks. I'll be visiting my cousin Deb for a couple nights and couchsurfing for a few nights after that. and I just booked a night at the hostel where I'm using the internet. I'm also gonna book a brewery tour (through the hostel it's only $22 including 4 beers) at XXXX Brewery. Yay! Can't wait! Well, I'm off to explore the city and grab some lunch before my train. Talk to you all soon.
***LAKERS UPDATE: Lakers 78 Pistons 56
LET'S GO LAKERS!!!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I do not like Sydney (at least not today)
Again, I'm sorry Calli!!! :( Let me explain. Yesterday, my last day in Melbourne for a while, was wonderful. Richard dropped me off downtown around 8 am and I checked my large bag at the Traveler's Aid office at Flinder's Street Station (which is awesome by the way! They pretty much help you with whatever you need, and they'll hold a bag there all day for $5, which is super helpful). I spent about 9 hours walking around Melbourne: I went to the Carlton Gardens
and the Melbourne Museum,
and wandered all over the city to parts I hadn't seen before and parts I had seen many times before (like Fitzroy Gardens, St. Patrick's Cathedral
and my old home, the Hyatt). I also bought shampoo and stopped in a book store and read the last 50 or so pages of Enduring Love. :) Then I went to an internet cafe down the street from Flinders Street Station and I was able to upload my pictures (some of you may have seen them), which was rad but it took FOREVER! I had to upload them onto the computer there, then upload them to facebook, and it took about an hour to finish everything.
This is where things got crazy. I was supposed to go to Southern Cross Station (one stop away from Flinders Street) 90 minutes before my train left, which was at 7:55, so I was supposed to be there around 6:30. I had planned on being there with plenty of time to spare but once I got going with my picture uploading mission and it was taking way longer than I expected, I rationalized that the 90 minute thing was just a suggestion and I waited for the rest of my pics to upload before I ran out of the internet cafe, back to Flinders Street, and then got on a train to Southern Cross. Well I was right and I was wrong. I should have been okay getting there 10 minutes early but when I showed up at Southern Cross and went to the window to redeem my Ausrail pass for the train journey, they told me the BUS had already left. Uhhh ... what??? It was only 6:45 so I should have been 45 minutes early, but the woman explained that they were doing work on the rails so the train had been replaced by a "coach" to Albury (3 hours away) and then we would switch to a train the rest of the way to Sydney (7 more hours!!!). But I had to find other transportation to Sydney because they had already left -- since the coach takes a little longer, they had to leave an hour earlier, and they had called me to tell me about the change. Only I had my US phone shut off. When they had originally e-mailed me and asked me to provide a phone number in case they had to get in touch with me, I e-mailed them back and explained that my phone would be shut off and I didn't know what my phone number would be in Australia, so their only way of contacting me would be e-mail. They wrote back that they would make a note of it, and asked me to write back and provide my Australia phone number when I got it. I forgot to do that, and apparently no one ever made a note that they should e-mail me instead of calling so I never got the call. So I was freaking out at the train station, telling them I needed to get to Sydney, no matter how they did it -- I didn't care, but I wasn't going to pay extra, and I really needed to get to Townsville by Friday so I wouldn't miss the music festival. The women picked up the phone and called the bus driver -- and they were still there!!!! It was a Festivus Miracle!!! Some crazy lady (I found out later) had delayed the bus for her own crazy reasons, so I lucked out. I had to RUN, carrying all my stuff, about 200 yards to the far, far end of Southern Cross, where the bus bays are. I made it!!! :D
The bus ride was pretty cool. I tried to sleep a little, read a little, listened to music, and for the last hour or so talked to the bus driver and another kid who was riding up front. It was good times. Then I got dropped off in Albury and got on the train and it was terrible! Thankfully I had two seats to myself so it really could have been worse, but the seats were terribly uncomfortable, I could not sleep at all (maybe 3 hours total, like 20 minutes at a time, during the entire 7 hour trip, and I was already exhausted from the day) and there was a baby crying in my train car for at least the first 45 minutes.
I arrived in Sydney this morning at 6:55 am EXHUASTED and cold and needing a shower. People had asked me what I was going to do in Sydney for 8 hours and I was like "I'll walk around the city!" (How fun, right?) It never occurred to me that it might be raining the entire day. So I walked in the rain to a hostel to see if I could shower and use the internet ... nope. Tried another one ... nope. Okay that was my fault; I should have known they don't want random people who aren't staying overnight just hangin out, jeopardizing the security of the place. Fortunately the hostels were right across the street, and the guy at the second one suggested I go down the street a few blocks to the aquatics center -- "it's only $2 to use the shower, pool and sauna all day." That sounded great!! I could last 10 minutes in the rain. It was over a mile and it took me 20 minutes because of the rain and the fact that I backtracked once. :( Okay, yes, I am directionally challenged, but I this city is confusing!! I miss the perfect grid of Melbourne. I was completely soaked when I got to the Ian Thorpe Aquatics Center but I decided to make the most of it and get my $8.20 worth (yeah, it wasn't $2, but oh well). I locked up all my stuff, took a shower and then went back and forth between the jacuzzi (which was more like a semi-warm pool with jets) and the steam room for about an hour and a half. Then I took another shower and got ready. Mercifully, it wasn't raining anymore when I started walking back to the station. I was so happy! But then it started raining again when I was about halfway back (of course). Terrible times. and I could have checked my large bag at the station before that whole thing but I needed my bathing suit and a change of clothes and shower stuff so I decided to bring it all with me. Ugh. I'm still sleep-deprived and now I'm completely exhausted physically. I really hope I'll be able to get some decent rest on the train to Brisbane today. Wish me luck please!!
I'm planning on coming back to Sydney in a few weeks, and if I don't make it then, I'll be back here in January. I really hope I begin to love this city ...
and the Melbourne Museum,
and wandered all over the city to parts I hadn't seen before and parts I had seen many times before (like Fitzroy Gardens, St. Patrick's Cathedral
and my old home, the Hyatt). I also bought shampoo and stopped in a book store and read the last 50 or so pages of Enduring Love. :) Then I went to an internet cafe down the street from Flinders Street Station and I was able to upload my pictures (some of you may have seen them), which was rad but it took FOREVER! I had to upload them onto the computer there, then upload them to facebook, and it took about an hour to finish everything.
This is where things got crazy. I was supposed to go to Southern Cross Station (one stop away from Flinders Street) 90 minutes before my train left, which was at 7:55, so I was supposed to be there around 6:30. I had planned on being there with plenty of time to spare but once I got going with my picture uploading mission and it was taking way longer than I expected, I rationalized that the 90 minute thing was just a suggestion and I waited for the rest of my pics to upload before I ran out of the internet cafe, back to Flinders Street, and then got on a train to Southern Cross. Well I was right and I was wrong. I should have been okay getting there 10 minutes early but when I showed up at Southern Cross and went to the window to redeem my Ausrail pass for the train journey, they told me the BUS had already left. Uhhh ... what??? It was only 6:45 so I should have been 45 minutes early, but the woman explained that they were doing work on the rails so the train had been replaced by a "coach" to Albury (3 hours away) and then we would switch to a train the rest of the way to Sydney (7 more hours!!!). But I had to find other transportation to Sydney because they had already left -- since the coach takes a little longer, they had to leave an hour earlier, and they had called me to tell me about the change. Only I had my US phone shut off. When they had originally e-mailed me and asked me to provide a phone number in case they had to get in touch with me, I e-mailed them back and explained that my phone would be shut off and I didn't know what my phone number would be in Australia, so their only way of contacting me would be e-mail. They wrote back that they would make a note of it, and asked me to write back and provide my Australia phone number when I got it. I forgot to do that, and apparently no one ever made a note that they should e-mail me instead of calling so I never got the call. So I was freaking out at the train station, telling them I needed to get to Sydney, no matter how they did it -- I didn't care, but I wasn't going to pay extra, and I really needed to get to Townsville by Friday so I wouldn't miss the music festival. The women picked up the phone and called the bus driver -- and they were still there!!!! It was a Festivus Miracle!!! Some crazy lady (I found out later) had delayed the bus for her own crazy reasons, so I lucked out. I had to RUN, carrying all my stuff, about 200 yards to the far, far end of Southern Cross, where the bus bays are. I made it!!! :D
The bus ride was pretty cool. I tried to sleep a little, read a little, listened to music, and for the last hour or so talked to the bus driver and another kid who was riding up front. It was good times. Then I got dropped off in Albury and got on the train and it was terrible! Thankfully I had two seats to myself so it really could have been worse, but the seats were terribly uncomfortable, I could not sleep at all (maybe 3 hours total, like 20 minutes at a time, during the entire 7 hour trip, and I was already exhausted from the day) and there was a baby crying in my train car for at least the first 45 minutes.
I arrived in Sydney this morning at 6:55 am EXHUASTED and cold and needing a shower. People had asked me what I was going to do in Sydney for 8 hours and I was like "I'll walk around the city!" (How fun, right?) It never occurred to me that it might be raining the entire day. So I walked in the rain to a hostel to see if I could shower and use the internet ... nope. Tried another one ... nope. Okay that was my fault; I should have known they don't want random people who aren't staying overnight just hangin out, jeopardizing the security of the place. Fortunately the hostels were right across the street, and the guy at the second one suggested I go down the street a few blocks to the aquatics center -- "it's only $2 to use the shower, pool and sauna all day." That sounded great!! I could last 10 minutes in the rain. It was over a mile and it took me 20 minutes because of the rain and the fact that I backtracked once. :( Okay, yes, I am directionally challenged, but I this city is confusing!! I miss the perfect grid of Melbourne. I was completely soaked when I got to the Ian Thorpe Aquatics Center but I decided to make the most of it and get my $8.20 worth (yeah, it wasn't $2, but oh well). I locked up all my stuff, took a shower and then went back and forth between the jacuzzi (which was more like a semi-warm pool with jets) and the steam room for about an hour and a half. Then I took another shower and got ready. Mercifully, it wasn't raining anymore when I started walking back to the station. I was so happy! But then it started raining again when I was about halfway back (of course). Terrible times. and I could have checked my large bag at the station before that whole thing but I needed my bathing suit and a change of clothes and shower stuff so I decided to bring it all with me. Ugh. I'm still sleep-deprived and now I'm completely exhausted physically. I really hope I'll be able to get some decent rest on the train to Brisbane today. Wish me luck please!!
I'm planning on coming back to Sydney in a few weeks, and if I don't make it then, I'll be back here in January. I really hope I begin to love this city ...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Last night in St. Leonards (for now)
Tomorrow morning (6:00 am!!) I leave St. Leonards and go back to Melbourne for the day, and then get on the train to Sydney. I'm only going to be in Sydney for a few hours -- my real destination is Townsville, way far north, which I've heard described as "the Tennessee of Australia." I can't wait!! I'm going to amusic festival up there this weekend and visiting my friend Jenny, who I know from SLO. It's supposed to be hot and humid up there and I'm sooo excited! It's been very cold (and at times, raining) in St. Leonards, but I've had a wonderful time.
I've been staying with my cousin, Richard, and his wife, Diane, and they are such lovely people. They've been so kind and generous, cooking the most amazing meals for dinner (so much fish, pasta, and always wine. yum), and taking me out to do fun things in their beautiful little beachy, rural town.
Richard is a farrier and an avid fisherman and today he brought me along to watch him shoe horses at three different farms all over town. He was putting new shoes on race horses at one farm, and the other two farms he was taking care of the hooves on three small ponies.
It was really interesting to watch him work and I was stoked because I got to pet the adorable ponies! Yesterday Richard took me fishing in Port Phillip Bay, right near their house. It was cold and as soon as we got the boat in the water, it started raining, but we were dressed for cold weather so it was allright.
He drove us out about 10 kilometers (I think) where the water was about 20 meters deep, and we were checking his GPS to find the right spot and another machine (some kind of sonar thing) to see if there were many fish nearby. It didn't look like there were many fish so he drove us back closer to the shore and we started fishing -- the fish (snapper) were biting right away! As soon as he got his fishing rod in the water, he got a bite, and then I got a bite! It was awesome! We were just reeling in fish (he quickly taught me how) one after the other. Since I don't have a fishing license, we were only allowed to take 10 fish, but we caught close to 20 -- we kept "upgrading" by throwing back smaller fish when we caught a bigger one. I think he said most were around 1 kilo (?) and some were close to 2 kilos. We ate some of the snapper we caught yesterday for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!
*not our snapper
In addition to fishing and petting ponies, I've gotten to play with some really cute dogs, and the other day I got to feed a 2 week-old baby lamb! Diane took me over to her friend Carol's house where baby Timothy (the lamb) lives, because she adopted him after his mother rejected him. So sad! But not really because Carol is super nice and loves adopting animals in need. She let me give him a bottle of warm milk and I held him on my lap and it was sooooo cute!
She also has an adorable little dog named Tyson who I loved!
Since it's been cold and rainy most of the weekend, I haven't been able to hang out at the beach like I was expecting, but it's okay because I'm going to be in the hot weather in a couple days, and I've taken advantage of the cold weather by raiding Diane's book collection -- I read an awesome Ian McEwan book (On Chesil Beach) and I'm halfway through another one (Enduring Love). I hope I finish it tonight, otherwise I'll be left in suspense because the alst thing I want to do is carry another book with me, especially one I can't give away after I finish it. (*if anyone's looking for a great book to read, both of these are fantastic!) I know Sarah and my parents will be very excited about this next bit of news ... in 15 minutes, Criminal Minds is going to be on!! We saw a commercial for it the other day and Diane is so sweet, she remembered and tonight she said to me, "Don't forget -- Criminal Minds is on at 8:30." Yay!
So tomorrow morning I'm waking up at 5:30 and Richard is driving me into Melbourne on his way to work on a farm north of there. I'll have about 10-11 hours to kill in Melbourne and then my train departs for Sydney. I'll arrive Wednesday, have a few hours in Sydney, and then I'm taking a train to Brisbane. I'll arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, spend a few hours there, and then I'm taking a train to Townsville. (Don't worry, in a couple weeks I'll be taking the train back down to Brisbane to actually see the city, and soon after that, I'll be spending some time in Sydney.)
It's going to be a loooong trip up north but I'm looking forward to watching the scenery pass by, sleeping, reading, and listening to music -- and if I can afford it, drinking some wine on the train. :) Unless I can quickly find an internet cafe or hostel (or an Apple store haha) in one of the cities I stop in, I probably won't be updating my blog until the weekend so I hope everyone has a great week and I'll talk to you when I can.
I've been staying with my cousin, Richard, and his wife, Diane, and they are such lovely people. They've been so kind and generous, cooking the most amazing meals for dinner (so much fish, pasta, and always wine. yum), and taking me out to do fun things in their beautiful little beachy, rural town.
me, Richard, Diane and James
Richard is a farrier and an avid fisherman and today he brought me along to watch him shoe horses at three different farms all over town. He was putting new shoes on race horses at one farm, and the other two farms he was taking care of the hooves on three small ponies.
It was really interesting to watch him work and I was stoked because I got to pet the adorable ponies! Yesterday Richard took me fishing in Port Phillip Bay, right near their house. It was cold and as soon as we got the boat in the water, it started raining, but we were dressed for cold weather so it was allright.
He drove us out about 10 kilometers (I think) where the water was about 20 meters deep, and we were checking his GPS to find the right spot and another machine (some kind of sonar thing) to see if there were many fish nearby. It didn't look like there were many fish so he drove us back closer to the shore and we started fishing -- the fish (snapper) were biting right away! As soon as he got his fishing rod in the water, he got a bite, and then I got a bite! It was awesome! We were just reeling in fish (he quickly taught me how) one after the other. Since I don't have a fishing license, we were only allowed to take 10 fish, but we caught close to 20 -- we kept "upgrading" by throwing back smaller fish when we caught a bigger one. I think he said most were around 1 kilo (?) and some were close to 2 kilos. We ate some of the snapper we caught yesterday for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!
*not our snapper
*our snapper :)
In addition to fishing and petting ponies, I've gotten to play with some really cute dogs, and the other day I got to feed a 2 week-old baby lamb! Diane took me over to her friend Carol's house where baby Timothy (the lamb) lives, because she adopted him after his mother rejected him. So sad! But not really because Carol is super nice and loves adopting animals in need. She let me give him a bottle of warm milk and I held him on my lap and it was sooooo cute!
She also has an adorable little dog named Tyson who I loved!
Since it's been cold and rainy most of the weekend, I haven't been able to hang out at the beach like I was expecting, but it's okay because I'm going to be in the hot weather in a couple days, and I've taken advantage of the cold weather by raiding Diane's book collection -- I read an awesome Ian McEwan book (On Chesil Beach) and I'm halfway through another one (Enduring Love). I hope I finish it tonight, otherwise I'll be left in suspense because the alst thing I want to do is carry another book with me, especially one I can't give away after I finish it. (*if anyone's looking for a great book to read, both of these are fantastic!) I know Sarah and my parents will be very excited about this next bit of news ... in 15 minutes, Criminal Minds is going to be on!! We saw a commercial for it the other day and Diane is so sweet, she remembered and tonight she said to me, "Don't forget -- Criminal Minds is on at 8:30." Yay!
So tomorrow morning I'm waking up at 5:30 and Richard is driving me into Melbourne on his way to work on a farm north of there. I'll have about 10-11 hours to kill in Melbourne and then my train departs for Sydney. I'll arrive Wednesday, have a few hours in Sydney, and then I'm taking a train to Brisbane. I'll arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, spend a few hours there, and then I'm taking a train to Townsville. (Don't worry, in a couple weeks I'll be taking the train back down to Brisbane to actually see the city, and soon after that, I'll be spending some time in Sydney.)
It's going to be a loooong trip up north but I'm looking forward to watching the scenery pass by, sleeping, reading, and listening to music -- and if I can afford it, drinking some wine on the train. :) Unless I can quickly find an internet cafe or hostel (or an Apple store haha) in one of the cities I stop in, I probably won't be updating my blog until the weekend so I hope everyone has a great week and I'll talk to you when I can.
<3
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