Boredom in Brisbane

Eugh. Brisbane is so boring. I never planned on coming here so I'm still at a total loss what to do. The first morning I woke up here, did my laundry for the first time and went and explored the CBD and the shopping area near by. Nothing too exciting apart from the distinct lack of free wifi everywhere apart from in the botanic gardens where it's such a weak signal you're lucky to get fifteen minutes of working Internet! So frustrating.

Things got a bit better when I went back to the hostel. I must have looked really bored because two of the girls, Sarah & Laura, invited me out with their friends Crystal and Steven. After a little goon party on the balcony (disgusting stuff, I don't recommend it) we went to the Down & Under bar which is a bit of a dive but plays some good tunes, just my kind of place really! It was an okay night but there were some really annoying guys who wouldn't leave us alone for half the night. Ok, we get it, we're hot, now leave us the frick alone! All in all though it was an alright night, the highlight being some really nice wedges on the way home!

The next day I decided to look around the botanic gardens more (in the hopes of finding a better wifi signal) and followed the route down by the river where I came to an unexpected pedestrian bridge to the Southbank. Southbank was actually really nice. The sun was out and people were sunbathing on the grass. I found a little crepe cafe where I obviously had lunch and right next door was an awesome ice cream parlour where you pick a flavour and then pick what you want mixed in to it so I picked cheesecake flavoured ice cream with cookie dough mixed in. It was AMAZING! So delicious. I think next time I'd add in something with a little crunch as well like maybe malteasers to make it absolutely perfect. Yum! The man made beach is a little shoddy (although it does have an awesome dugong fountain) but probably nice for families with little kids and the wheel doesn't really measure up to the likes of the London Eye but it's a nice area. I really liked the Nepalese peace temple and the theatres, museums and galleries make it a really nice place to hang out. If I was living in Brisbane I'd want to be close to that area I think.

Yesterday I went for a wander around Fortitude Valley (which I think is a rather silly name) and accidentally found Chinatown where there was a market going on so I managed to kill a few hours browsing the stalls there (and bought a charm for my charm bracelet). I kept on walking to New Farm as well but got bored of the residential houses after a while and walked back past the river. I have to say the Story Bridge is a lot prettier at night when it's lit up. In the day time it's kinda bland and grey but I guess you can't expect rainbow coloured bridges everywhere...unless you're in Care-a-lot!

All in all, Brisbane is boring me! I'm going to go on a few day trips I think in the next few days but I don't want to stay here for any kind of length of time. I know the others guys are staying here for at least a month or two and I have no idea why! I just want to go back to Bondi. Even when I had nothing to do I at least had surfers to stalk! Brisbane, please get cooler. Thanks.

Sayonara Sydney! Bye Bye Bondi! Crikey Caboolture! Bonjour Brisbane!

My last couple of days in New South Wales were really nice, made me kind of reluctant to leave. On the Monday the sun had his hat on (Hip hip hip hooray!) and I spent my first sunny day in the city as I had to go to the CBD to pick up my bank card. After wandering around George Street and window shopping a little I went to Darling Harbour where they had a massive international boat show going on. The harbour was rammed full of yachts and speed boats (I only saw one catamaran though). I was tempted to pretend to be a rich person and get shown all the boats for sale but I didn't think it would work in my scruffy denim skirt and t-shirt!

For lunch I went over to the Harbourside Shopping Centre and looked at the restaurants there. Heather and I had seen Pancakes on the Rocks the week before and there'd been a massive queue outside so I decided to check it out. The mains looked uber expensive so I popped in to the food court for some chicken nuggets instead and headed back for pancakes for dessert. I chose the chocolate and vanilla combo; very nice, but the service was kind of shoddy. Maybe the branch actually at The Rocks would've been better.

I contemplated going to see Cars 2 at the IMAX afterwards as it's apparently the biggest one in the world but I just don't think cinema screens need to be that big! After a certain point it's just showing off and hurts your eyes any way so I decided to wait until it comes out in regular cinemas. Instead I went to the Chinese Friendship Gardens which were AMAZING. Outside in the harbour there's music playing, you can hear people and the traffic but as soon as I stepped into the gardens everything is tranquil and peaceful and the whole place was absolutely beautiful. Not one bit had been forgotten about or neglected. If we had something like that back home it would just end up covered in graffiti and litter and all the plants would get overgrown, but everything there was absolutely perfect. When I'm rich I'm totally having a Chinese garden! If I worked in Sydney I'd go every day to chill out and read; in fact it's the kind of place that made me wish I knew how to do Tai Chi or meditate or something it was that peaceful.

After that I went back on my bendy to Bondi and found my roommate packing to leave to go back to Italy and she very kindly donated me a Great Barrier Reef guide book, some sun cream and an umbrella. Very kind indeed considering it was the first time we'd ever spoken!

The next day was lovely weather again and I spent the morning watching surfers and writing postcards from the beach. Lindsay joined me in the afternoon to explore Bondi. We dipped our toes in the ocean (too cold to do any more than that) and wandered around the shops a little. Vicki joined us in the afternoon and we all had cake on the boardwalk. Lindsay very kindly took my coat and hat with her to store at her sister's house because hopefully I won't need them whilst I'm further north. Vicki and I decided to go out for tea as it was my last night in New South Wales (or dinner as she argued it was called - bloomin' Southerners). The cute receptionist at my hostel recommended us a place to go to just up the road from the hostel because they give us good discounts for staying there which sounded awesome but when we got there it was dead. Not just no customers but no staff either. We stood there for two minutes looking for people or at least menus and then decided to bail and went to Nandos instead. After tea/dinner we made an early night of it as I still had to pack and Vicki had work at six the next morning so we said goodbye. I know I've only known her a couple of weeks but I'm really going to miss her. We got on really well. Heather too, now she's up in Cairns by herself. It would've been nice to spend more time together but I reckon we'll all meet again in the middle at some point.

The next day I had to get up crazy early for my 6am flight, got the bus to Circular Quay, train to the airport and checked in with oodles of time to spare. The manager at my hostel insisted it couldn't be done. He reckoned the first train would only get me there as check-in closed but I was there a good hour before that so ner ner! I was starving by the time I got there so I grabbed a croissant from pie face. I wanted one of McDonald's bagels, they looked so nice but they didn't have anything on them that I liked. Oh well.

I flew with JetStar which is Quantus' budget airline but way nicer than one of our budget airlines! The seats were comfy and actually pre-allocated which means no stampede to get a good seat. I tried to sleep on the plane but it was only an hour and fifteen minutes so by the time I was nodding off the plane was touching down in Brisbane. I could've done with the flight lasting another hour so I could've finished my nap!

My case was one of the first to turn up on the carousel so I was in and out of Brisbane airport in about five minutes! The train station is straight outside the front door so I got a ticket and directions to Caboolture and was on my way. Doc, my perspective employer had told me it was about thirty minutes away on the train. It wasn't! It was over an hour from the airport so even further from the city. I wasn't any more impressed when I got to Caboolture. Doc picked me up and I took an instant dislike to him. He didn't have a boot in his car so I had to put my suitcase on the backseat which was really high up so he watched me struggling trying to pick up my big ass case for a few minutes without even offering to help! Chivalry must be dead. Luckily my super powers kicked in and I managed to do it for myself but it bloody killed my arms. Doc was gross. He smelt bad and was chain smoking the entire drive even though he could barely get out a sentence without choking and coughing. I wasn't too excited by the prospect of working with this guy but decided to reserve judgment until we got to the hostel. It was also gross. It wasn't even a proper hostel. It was a house that he'd turned into separate apartments where people stay whilst he finds them work, a housetel as he called it. His office stank as bad as he did and was so filthy a rat wouldn't have wanted to live there. I didn't even step inside. I left my suitcase in the doorway for an easy escape. I had a look into my perspective apartment which wasn't too bad but there was a crazy list of rules like lights out by ten and no electrical equipment to be used without permission and there was a group of Koreans there who I was going to be potentially living with so I tried to ask them about the place but they didn't even speak to me. I don't know whether it was a language barrier or just ignorance but I felt very unwelcome. I went back downstairs to the office where Doc was still chain smoking, had unbuttoned his shirt (hopefully because of the heat) and to my surprise he demanded two weeks rent! What happened to the free accommodation he mentioned on the phone? I had been figuring out the best way to turn him down when it was free but there was absolutely no way I paying to say there! I just told him it wasn't what I was looking for and sorry for wasting his time. All in all I was there for fifteen minutes and the douche bag didn't even offer me a lift back to the train station! Luckily I'd been paying attention on the way there because I wanted to be familiar with the town if I was living there so I made it most of the way back without any hassle. It was just the last few turnings I was unsure of. I was saved by the Golden Arches, my Mecca, good ole Maccy D's. I went in there, bought an Oreo milkshake and used the wifi to Google map my way back to the train station and speak to the girls already in Brisbane about where to stay. Kate did offer me a place to sleep on her bedroom floor which I really appreciated but as she was only moving in that day I thought it was a bit cheeky and not fair on her roommate so I booked into a hostel close to their flats. I was a little bit disappointed that things hadn't worked out, especially as I've turned down two jobs in the meantime but oh well. You live and learn. At least the Sunshine state was living up to its name. Queensland is mighty sunny and after dumping my suitcase in the hostel I walked down to the river and sat on the grass reading a book and watching the boats (more catamarans here than at the boat show!)

I was supposed to be meeting up with some of the girls later but in the end I had to go and have a nap instead because I was exhausted. When I woke up I headed around to Lynsey, Nicola and Ben's apartment in New Farm to have a chat and watch a movie. I walked through a little bit of Brisbane on the way. The bridge and the river are really pretty when they're lit up at night and the place seems really safe and clean but other than that I haven't seen anything of Brisbane yet but to be honest I don't know what there is to see apart from the Koala Sanctuary. I think it will just be back to the job hunt for me. At least I know I have another interview lined up next month and the ice cream place might want me in October so I'm not entirely destitute. Not yet any way!

Bondi to Coogee Walk

The sun was shining gloriously this morning and in spite of the ridonculously loud shite music coming from next door’s room until the early hours I'd had a really good night’s sleep. Mainly because my one and only roommate didn't come home last night so I could blast the show tunes in my earphones to block out the cruddy techno without disturbing anybody. It was good to get to wake up and have a room to myself again as well. I could take my time getting ready and make as much mess as I wanted in the process.

Because the sun was shining so nicely, I decided to undertake the famous Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. All my pairs of sensible shoes were still recovering from the epic rainstorms they'd battled through in the past few days so I opted for my uber-comfy flip flops, hoping they'd make the journey in one piece. I grabbed the essentials (aviators, iPod and French stick) and set off. They did have maps available in reception but I figured what's the point in a map for a coastal walk? Once you've found the ocean you can't really go that far wrong...provided you set off in the right direction of course! Luckily, I did!

As it was a sunny Sunday morning the route was quite busy. Lots of joggers, lots of families, lots of dog walkers but it got less and less crowded the further I went along, probably as others stopped at one beach or another or paused to get lunch.

The view all the way along was amazing. The waves were immense! There's not a chance I'd be able to go swimming in them without my own personal lifeguard looking after me. I can't believe parents were letting their kids paddle in some of the places. They could've easily been knocked over by some of the massive waves and pulled out to sea in the strong currents.

I got a few stares walking along with my baguette but they turned into envious looks whenever I paused at a bench to take in the view and munch some bread. Saved me money on lunch anyway! I think one of my favourite parts was the view from Waverly Cemetery because from there you could see Bronte Beach, Tamarama and all the way back to Bondi where you'd started and I felt rather proud that I'd made it that far considering how many steps I'd had to climb and how many cliffs I could've fallen off. And that was only half way! My other favourite part was a little hidden gem! The official coastal walk veers inland around a bowling green and rejoins the coast at the other side of the park. I spotted a hidden bench next to the bowling green which looked like a potential good baguette munching spot and lo and behold the bench was a gateway to a secret little cliff walk that was hidden by the trees. It was quite scary clambering over the rocks especially as there were no safety rails here but, hearing Pierre's warning voice in my head, I stayed well away from the edge and practically had the place to myself! The waves crashing on the rocks below were mesmerising and it would've been the perfect place to recreate Ariel's singing on the rock moment...if you didn't mind being drowned or smashed against the cliff!

The cliff above Clovelley Beach was also notable to this particular Ozian as it had a yellow path! It wasn’t made of bricks and it didn't lead me to the Emerald City either, just Coogee Beach!

Once in Coogee I needed to chill for a little bit but it was chillier so I didn't want to sit on the beach and I was too full from bread-munching on route to need lunch. In the end I bought a milkshake from McDonald's and used their wifi for a while. I'd received an email from another job I'd applied for, this time in the Whitsundays which would be an amazing place to work so even though I'm supposed to go to this new job on Wednesday I would really really prefer to get this one so I'm going to have a phone interview with them tomorrow and then I guess I'll have to let them know at the other place that I'm not coming or just coming for a limited amount of time. We'll wait and see anyway.

I decided to get the bus back to Bondi rather than attempt the walk again. I could've probably done it if it was flat but I couldn't be bothered going up and down all the steps again! I almost didn't have a choice. All the newsagents I went into seemed to have sold out of bus tickets! I wandered all around Coogee and just as I'd resigned myself to the walk back I spotted a little newsagent's hidden behind a Subway shop. I went in there and immediately felt a good vibe...mainly because I straight away spotted Dr Pepper in the fridges. When I asked if they had any bus tickets left the girl looked at me like I was retarded, like she was thinking "Why wouldn't we have bus tickets?" So I finally managed to get on a bus (stealthily hiding my can of Dr P up my sleeve because I'd seen a bus driver kick people off for having an unopened can before) and got off at Bondi Junction.

I made the mistake of deciding to window shop in the shopping centre. I got so lost. That place is huge! I counted five floors when I first went in but I kept coming across hidden extra floors so I have no idea how many there were in total. It's a good job I'm not staying in Bondi long because I think that place would hold too much temptation for me and my wallet!

Finally, I made it outside and found the bus station to get a bus back to Bondi Beach. I was looking forward to curling up in my room, watching a movie on my iPod maybe and eating the big bar of Dairy Milk I'd been saving. When I checked the kitchen some tool had already broken into it! Bastards! If I find out who it was I'll punch them in the face! Luckily my cookie dough and pancake mix were still intact so I smuggled them up to my room and I will not be abiding by any more crazy food rules until I know people can be trusted. Evil swine!

Splurging on Awesomeness

The Elephant Backpackers was not my favourite place to stay. They had crazy ass rules about not having ANY food or drink in the rooms, not even water and their bunk beds were minus ladders and safety rails so I thought I was about to die every time I rolled over in bed. The bathroom was an attempt at the wet room as well so basically there was no shower curtain and there was a drain in the bathroom floor for over flow and everything ended up damp and soggy from condensation because the window didn’t open. And they charged you for using the luggage room! Mental! It was kind of on the outskirts of a residential area as well so it’s the only place in the area full of tourists so you feel a bit conspicuous wandering around with your suitcase.

The good thing though was it was super close to the office and the CBD so I could walk in every day rather than wasting money on trains or buses. The rain decided to be torrential as well during my stay (worst July in 60 years according to the surfer dude in the office) so I guess at least I wasn’t too far out to get home and dry quickly.

Actually my first full day in Woolloomooloo wasn’t too bad weather wise. I met up with Heather and went for a stroll around Darling Harbour, looking for somewhere for lunch. The cheapest place was a Turkish restaurant which had distinctly not Turkish lunches for $9.95. I can’t quite remember the name but I want to say Kasbah, maybe? I had steak and chips and Heather had barbecue chicken (like I said, very un-Turkish). I was expecting the portions to be tiny because it was the cheapest place in the harbour but it was actually rather generous portions. It was dead when we went in but I think we drew the crowds in because they were super busy by the time we left. I had wanted to sit outside and enjoy the view but it was rather blustery and the seagulls were dive bombing anyone with food (Finding Nemo was right. You just know they’re about to start squawking “Mine, mine, mine” any second) so we opted for an inside table with a view. Luckily the inside tables had paper table cloths and chalk provided for doodling so I passed the time quite happily whilst we were waiting for food to arrive. When we paid the bill the waiter was chatting to me about what we were doing in Australia and he actually asked me to come in and meet his manager about working there! He hadn’t seen a CV or asked me about my experience or anything! I didn’t go in to meet his manager in the end because there’s no way I would’ve ever been hired. One: I’m far too clumsy to ever be a waitress, two: I haven’t done the course you need to do to serve alcohol in Australia and three: the restaurant is Arabian themed - I couldn’t in a million years look Arabian. I think he just wanted me to give him his number or something!

After our non-Turkish lunch I wanted dessert and Heather wanted to use the bathroom so we wandered into the food court in the shopping centre. Whilst Heather went to the loo, I loitered over by the gelato stand, trying not to drool on the glass counter. The gelato guy spotted and me and started giving me free samples of everything! I didn’t even ask for any! He recommended the Hokey Pokey which is basically bits of cinder toffee in vanilla ice cream and super nice. He tried to sell me on Rocky Road as well but I just don’t get what people see in marshmallows, especially cold chewy ones. In the end he’d given me so many samples I figured I had to at least buy some (It doesn’t take much really to get me to buy ice-cream!) I went for one scoop Oreo and one scoop Chocolate Supreme. The gelato man tried to warn me that it was super rich and chocolatey – clearly he didn’t know he was talking a woman with super human capacities for chocolate consumption. I was a tad disappointed with the Oreo. It tasted like the black bit of the cookie without the white bit, which is definitely the best bit... it was still nice though. Heather got toffee and she said that was nice too so it might be worth another trip to sample more gelato!

The next day was uber-rainy so I decided to go to the aquarium as an indoor activity. On the way I bumped into Kate, Lynsey, Amy and Nicola who were going to go to the botanical gardens but had been put off by the rain so I sold them on coming to the aquarium with me. It was amazing! There were loads of weird looking fish that I’d never even heard of as well as all the regular aquarium fishies. The long-necked turtles were bizarre. I’ve never seen anything like them in my life. They looked like a turtle had had a baby with a brontosaurus! There were seahorses and glow in the dark coral and these tiny little penguins called fairy penguins. That’s got to be the cutest name for a penguin. It had two walk through tunnels. The first had dugongs in it which basically look like manatees that have been punched in the nose. It was also full of the biggest rays I have ever seen. You didn’t get to stroke one like you do in SeaWorld but I get to touch a sea cucumber and a blue starfish. BLUE!!! I didn’t even know blue starfish existed but now they’re definitely my favourite kind of starfish! The second tunnel was where the sharks lived. They were mainly nurse sharks (no great whites!) and there was one little tiny zebra fish in there with them. I’m pretty sure he must’ve been eaten by now. The giant sea turtles were also chilling with the sharks. One of them looked like he’d got his head stuck in a rock but apparently that’s just how they sleep so they don’t drift away in the current, which I think is pretty smart for a turtle. Right toward the end there was a room where it was glass all around you, including the floor. I didn’t like that room. I don’t like walking on glass. Even if I know that its super strong reinforced stuff I’m still paranoid of it shattering and falling through it. There was a really good tacky gift shop after that though so I left happy...even if the gift shop did seem disproportionately clownfish related! If I was staying in Sydney I would definitely get an annual pass and just hang out in the Aquarium all the time.

Afterwards the girls had to head back to their hostel to pack as they were flying to Brisbane in the morning so I bummed around the CBD by myself for a while and walked down to The Rocks. It all used to be warehouses and shipping docks down there but it’s been regenerated into restaurants and shops. It still looks like rape alley when it gets dark though! I had a Skype date with my Mum to keep so I didn’t want to wander too far. I tried to kill some time drinking a Dr Pepper by the water (It is so hard to find regular Dr Pepper in Australia but they have Dr Pepper Cherry everywhere! I might have to try that as a substitute) but the drizzle morphed into torrential downpour so I headed down George Street, ducking and weaving under the shop awnings and other people’s umbrellas. My plan was to go to a McDonald’s and use free wifi but none of the ones on George Street had a wifi sign in the window like in King’s Cross so I used an Internet cafe which is hidden in a dungeon below a McDonald’s! (I later found out that pretty much every Maccy’s that I’d walked past actually has wifi, they just assume you know so I could’ve gone in the first one and not had to wander through the rain for ages. Gutted!) The Internet cafe was wall to wall nerdy gamers. It was like the Mean Girls cafeteria scene, they were all arranged by what game they were playing. I have contemplated sitting by the World of Warcraft people and annoying them with my anecdotes of watching the wife play WOW at uni but instead I hid in a corner with the other non-gamers and Skyped my Mum. The computer dungeon was pretty soundproof so I didn’t know what the situation was outside until I got up there. It was even worse than before. I bought myself a hot chocolate and a cookies and cream cheesecake to take back with me to the hostel, thinking it would give me something to look forward to. Unfortunately the girl had run out of bags to put the cheesecake in so she put it in a Happy Meal box! Seriously, McDonald’s lady? You expect a flimsy cardboard box to hold up in a typhoon-esque storm? Really? I was practically cradling it all the way back to the hostel to keep it safe from the storm. Just as I turned the corner onto my street one of the handles ripped off the box so I power walked down the street, ran up to my room and, breaking all the rules, devoured the cheesecake right there before anyone could tell me off. It was a good cheesecake and McDonald’s seem to have the cheapest cakes in Sydney so I’ll probably go back for another one at some point.

Surprise, surprise, there was a storm the next day too. I spent the morning in the office where I found out that Heather had booked a flight up to Cairns at the weekend. She’d been asking me to go with her but I was reluctant to go without a job offer and without having everything sorted in regards to bank accounts etc. Almost everyone else had left Sydney as well at this point so that along with the weather and just a general lack of awesomeness in Sydney left me a bit bummed out so I decided to blow a little bit of money and go see Hairspray. Steve and Jonny took the piss out of me because they were deciding whether to skip lunch or not to save money whereas I just decided to blow money on going to the theatre on a whim, but I don’t care! I want to have a good time while I’m here. Yes we all need to save money but I don’t want to go home at the end of it all and say all I did every night was stay in eating beans on toast and watching TV because I wanted to save money. If I wanted to do that I’d have stayed in Windermere and saved myself the airfare. Or maybe I’m just crazy... Either way, I’m glad I did. Hairspray was AMAZING! I felt a bit awkward at first hanging around the lobby by myself (especially after I put a ladder in my tights when I went to the bathroom) but once we were seated it was okay. There were lots of empty seats so I “upgraded” myself to further along my row so I had a perfect view. The cast were all really good but I think the guy playing Link looked way too old to be a teen idol! One of the highlights was Wilbur Turnblad dying on stage when Edna said something funny. He couldn’t carry on singing for laughing. It was absolutely hilarious. The sets were all computerised, it was just incredible how well they worked and were perfectly synchronised with the cast and I want to steal the sparkly dresses and go-go boots the backing dancers wore during Welcome to the Sixties. It was just what I needed to lift my mood. Even the tsunami-like conditions couldn’t damper my spirits. If anything it made me for the first time in my life regret giving up tap dancing lessons because it would have been the perfect night to recreate the Singin’ in the Rain dance!

Oh, I almost forgot the highlight of the night! In my last post I said I didn’t think that the Harbour Bridge was all that, well now I definitely think there’s a better bridge in Sydney. The pedestrian bridge over Darling Harbour pivots!!!! It is just mind-blowing! That’s the only word to describe it. I have never seen a pivoting bridge before. It reminded me of the moving staircases in Harry Potter. Some people were clearly annoyed at having to wait in the rain while the boat went past but I was completely spellbound watching the bridge move. I’ve walked across that bridge at least half a dozen times and I always thought it was an all-in-one-piece, typical solid bridge. It joins so well that I never noticed it had the ability (to me, superpower) to break into three sections. The monorail line runs just over the pedestrian bridge and that doesn’t move so I guess the boats have to be lower than that. If the monorail line moved as well as the bridge I think my head would actually explode!

The weather the next day was just as bad but the outlook was brighter. I’d decided I was sick of Sydney city and was moving to Bondi Beach that day and I got a job offer just on the outskirts of Brisbane so I booked my flights further north (or as I think of it, to the warmth and sunshine). The guy who called about the job has a very thick accent so I think I might be getting suckered into moving into a hillbilly town but I guess the beauty of the position I’m in is if I hate it there’s nothing tying me down and forcing me to stay. I can just move on to the next place. The lady in charge of travel in the office hooked me up with a cheap flight and while she was sorting out the arrangements Heather and I went to Woolworths’ cafe for a cheap lunch to celebrate our upcoming trips to Queensland. The Woolworths here are more like supermarkets than the ones we used to have back home and the cafe just reminded me of a Morrison’s cafe. We were the only people in there under 45 and they all seemed like regulars. I can see why though. I spite of the dodgy plastic chairs the food is good, you get a huge portion and the lady charged me less because I didn’t want salad. Bargain!

After I got my flight tickets I had to get back to my hostel, pick up my suitcase and get my stuff over to Bondi. In my infinite wisdom I decided to take a shortcut through the Botanical Gardens because they’d be deserted in the rain. Silly me, I didn’t think of why they’d be deserted in the rain! Half of the paths were flooded, the ponds were overflowing and I had to keep tiptoeing over squelchy grass to get to where I wanted to be. It was so yucky. You know the saying “lovely weather for ducks”? Well, even the ducks looked miserable that day! I did get to see loads of the things I haven’t seen before and I did have the gardens practically all to myself. By the time I reached Woolloomooloo I was completely drenched and ready to call a taxi to take me to Bondi instead of the arduous journey using public transport but I had to trek up to the cash machine first. Practically crawling up the Domain hill with the rain gushing down it like a waterfall and dragging the heaviest suitcase in the universe behind me was the most physically strenuous thing I have ever done in my life. I felt like I needed a gold medal when I got to the top. I’m sure that hill wasn’t that steep when the weather was dry! By the time I’d done that I thought I could conquer the world, public transport would be a piece of cake! It wasn’t actually that bad. I had to change trains and then catch a bus from Bondi Junction to the Beach but it was fine. It would’ve been easier if my suitcase wasn’t so cumbersome but until someone invents the shrink ray there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m glad I have a suitcase instead of a backpack. A few of the girls brought backpacks and ended up buying suitcases in Hong Kong because they were just too heavy for them. My suitcase is pretty heavy but if I get tired pulling it I can just stand still and rest my arms. Undoing all the straps and unloading your backpack off of your back takes so much effort it wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

Getting off the bus in Bondi Beach I got my first proper look at the Pacific Ocean (from an airplane doesn’t count) but the sun was setting and it was still raining so I didn’t wait around to sightsee. My hostel (Surfside) was just around the corner from the beach. It’s gated and obviously I had no way of getting in so I had to ring a buzzer. When no-one answered I called the number on the sign. No answer there either. I was a little perplexed and kept trying until finally someone answered the phone. Apparently reception is only open for certain hours a day and you’re supposed to make prior arrangements to check-out/in out of those times. Nobody told me! They gave me their top secret code for the gate so I could get in and there was my key and a lollipop waiting for me in an envelope. I dumped my stuff in my room and got changed. By the time I went back downstairs there was someone on reception so I could officially sign in. I sort of wish I’d just slinked out before their shift started so I wouldn’t have had to pay the key deposit etc but oh well, at least I’ll get it back soon. The guy on reception was actually really lovely and tried to convince me to join him and the other guys for taco night in the hostel and I might have been tempted to go hang out with them (but not eat tacos) but I already had prior arrangements. The guy on reception gave me directions over to Bondi Road, which is where Vicki has moved to, so I went over to nosey at her flat. I have to say, I’m not an easily scared person but her house was terrifying. It looks almost exactly like the house in Monster House and walking through the front garden you get the distinct impression that the house is going to spring to life and try to eat you. All the windows in the front of the house were dark and the light on the porch wasn’t working so I had to creep up to the front door in the pitch black darkness and press her doorbell. I kept watching the stairwell from outside, waiting for her to turn the light on and come and get me. When that didn’t happen after a couple of doorbell rings I got a little creeped out and called Vicki to make sure I hadn’t accidentally entered the Twilight Zone. She forgot to tell me her doorbell doesn’t work and they always use the backdoor to get into the house. So that’s why it looked like nobody living had passed its threshold for the past few decades! She came and got me and led me round back, up a staircase and into her flat. It’s quite small but nice. I guess the down side is her cooker doesn’t work and she shares a room with someone but it’s cheap and it’s in a good location so I would’ve really liked it if I wasn’t super scared of the building! We had a bit of a catch up chat and I briefly met her flatmates but I couldn’t stay long as I was on my way to what will probably be the pinnacle of my Sydney stay...

Opera at the Sydney Opera House! Oh yes! My second splurge of the trip and I think I made a good decision. Once I knew La Boheme was playing I took it as a sign that if I could find reasonably cheap seats I should go. I probably picked the worst day as it meant I’d had to go back and forth from the CBD to Bondi but it was the cheapest date I could find. The bus on the way in hit every single red light and the traffic was horrendous. Google had told me the journey would be about 45 minutes but it took almost twice as long! I was practically having a panic attack as the bus’s progression seemed to get slower and slower. I ended up having to practically run through Circular Quay, up the million steps to the Opera House and got ushered straight into my seat as they were almost ready to start. As a confirmed Renthead, I loved how Marcello wore a stripy sweater like Marc and Colline had a tartan coat just like Collins. I know that Rent probably copied La Boheme but still the little similarities made me giggle. What I couldn’t get my head around was how loud the audience was. While the stage hands were changing the scenery everyone started chatting to each other. Maybe it was just the good acoustics in the theatre making the noise really echo but it was deafening. If you watch a play or a musical there might be a few whispers during scene changes but normally you just sit in anticipation of the next scene. I do anyway. It kind of ruins the suspension of disbelief to have a conversation mid-performance but it seems the norm with the opera crowd. I was also surprised at how casual everyone had dressed. I’d put on the best dress I had with me, which was creased and from Primark and I looked better than most of the women there. Some of them were in jeans and Uggs! I was expecting to look like a pauper because they’d be in their suits and cocktail dresses like in Pretty Woman. I think the Hairspray crowd dressed better to be honest! The show was amazing though. I cried bucket loads. I think it should come with a warning or there should at least be an usher handing out tissues at the door. I won’t post any spoilers but I totally wasn’t prepared for it. Rent has a happy ending, kind of, but the ending of La Boheme is just so sad and final. I was wiping away the tears whilst trying to applaud the cast!

I decided I needed a hamburger and a gelato after the show to cheer me up, plus I had to kill time waiting for the bus back to Bondi. The traffic was minimal at that time so the journey was closer to the ETA I had in mind (still not 45 minutes though). I was pretty much ready to collapse in my bed when I got in but the douche bags in the room next-door were playing lame-ass techno trance at full blast. (In fact the same douche bags are playing the same lame techno trance tonight). I get that it’s the weekend and to some people that means listening to crappy dance music but some of us would rather listen to show tunes and go to sleep thank you very much. I don’t want to sound like an old fuddy duddy because I like to party as much as the next girl but I don’t like to be forced to listen to some loser’s attempt of recreating Gatecrasher in his dorm room at getting on for one o’clock in the morning. If he was blasting the Spice Girls or Arctic Monkeys or the Grease soundtrack I might be more forgiving. Luckily the endless droning sameness actually helped me go to sleep and I didn’t wake up again until gone ten o’clock the next morning.

It was rainy when I got up this morning. I was going to meet Heather back in Central to find some free, indoor activity for us to do whilst we kept warm but I decided to go get a proper look at the Pacific Ocean first. The waves were crashing, the palm trees were blowing and to top it all off the sun was shining! The only things ruining the perfect picture were the ugly guys in nut-huggers jogging up and down the sands. I text Heather and asked her to come to the beach instead because I wanted to enjoy the momentary sunshine but she couldn’t be bothered with the journey to Bondi Beach. I loitered on the promenade, watching the world go by for a little while and then headed up to the 7-11 to get a lunch of crisps and chocolate, which I ate down on the promenade. I decided to walk all the way to the end of the beach where the safe to swim area was and on my way I spotted them: SURFERS! All my dreams and expectations of Australia summed up in one word! They were way down the far end of the beach where the cliffs curve out (because obviously this is where the bigger waves are) so I walked all the way along and parked myself on a bench and watched them surf for a while, They were a little far out so I couldn’t tell if any of them were swoon-worthy but I could tell which of them were good surfers! After a while it started spitting so I decided to head back to the hostel and do something boring like laundry but by the time I’d got back the rain had stopped again. I was just deciding whether to head back out again when I got a call from Vicki who’d just got off work and wanted to hang out so I headed back out. We walked down to the beach again because although she’s been in Bondi longer than I have, she’s never been to the beach as the weather’s been so bad. Vicki really wanted to actually go on the beach and I figured if she was making me touch yucky sand then I had to go the whole hog and touch the ocean so I hid behind a picnic table in the park and whipped off my tights to go for a paddle. The sand was the clingy yellow kind but the water wasn’t as cold as I had expected, although it was nowhere near warm enough to do more than dip your toes in the water! After that I decided I needed a hot chocolate to warm up so we popped in to McDonald’s (cheapest place along the front) and had a chat while we warmed up a bit. Then we went on a wander through the shops and I swear we found the coolest bookshop in the world. It’s a bookshop/cafe and I think it’s called Gertrude and Alice’s. It had amazing looking cakes and every single wall was floor to ceiling lined with books! Cake and books = my idea of Heaven! They also buy books so I might flog them the one I picked up at the YHA when I traded in that stupid, anti-climactic whale book which I finally got through. We also found a Nando’s and a supermarket selling cookie dough! If I was staying in Sydney I would totally move to Bondi. Everyone keeps saying it’s over-rated and I bet that in the summer it gets really crowded but I reckon it is the place to be in Sydney.

First Week In Oz

G'day everybody. My first week in Australia has been kind of crazy, especially weather wise. It started at the airport when we actually had the easiest immigration experience ever. The lady just stamped my passport (annoyingly on the same page as my Hong Kong stamp!) and told me to move along. No questions, no visa check, nothing! My landing card had been marked with a Q for Quarantine because I'd been near a lake in the last month but the security guy glanced at the card, glanced at me and just told me to go straight through. Okay, but if I've brought any Lake District diseases into the country don't blame me.

The skies outside the airport were clear blue and the lack of humidity in comparison to Hong Kong was amazing. It felt like I was breathing properly for the first time in days. We took a shuttle over to our hostel, YHA Central which is so clean and clinical that it's practically a hotel. Bree, the lady looking after us, got us all checked in and handed out our room assignments. A lot of people had been split up but I was with two of the other girls, Amy and Vicki, so I was fine.

After a quick shower and freshen up we met down in the lobby to go explore. Central is right on George Street which is a big ass street running through the centre of Sydney. Circular Quay is at the other end of said street. On the way through town Martin, Steve and I decided we were hungry and stopped in Hungry Jacks to grab something to eat on the way. What I didn't realise until it was too late is that Hungry Jacks is Australian for Burger King. VOM! In fairness, their chicken nuggets were quite edible so it wasn't a major disaster, just a mistake I'll be avoiding again in the future. After we'd ordered food the other girls then decided they were hungry too and stopped to go into a pub. If they'd said something five minutes earlier we could've all gone together but seeing as we already had food we decided to go on to the harbour without them. Martin, Steve and Johnny were proper power-walking all the way there. I'm a fast walker but it was all my little legs could do to keep up with them. Poor Ben and Amy kept getting left behind.

The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were exactly how they looked on postcards. We watched little ant-people climbing the Harbour Bridge and then watched the sun go down behind it. I have to say; I know Sydneysiders are proud of their bridge but I don't understand why. It's a pretty ugly bridge if you ask me. I personally prefer the Anzac bridge further down the bay. (Just an opinion)

After that we went to the Star Bar for tea. It's an old abandoned Planet Hollywood which still has all the fixtures and fittings but much more run down and all the logos have been replaced. There I had my first chicken schnitzel. *Sings schnitzel song from Hoodwinked* It's pretty much a giant chicken goujon and it was very tasty. Everyone was pretty shattered after that so we called it an early night and went back to the hostel.

The next day we spent mostly in the office, sorting out résumés, tax file numbers, bank accounts etc so not a very eventful day really. It was also to be our last night in the hostel so I had to organise somewhere else to stay for the next few days as well.

The next morning Vicki and I moved to separate hostels in King's Cross. I much prefer King's Cross to Central; even if it is Sydney's red light district! It is a lot more accommodating to travellers though, lots of hostels, cheap places to go out and eat, Internet cafes etc. In Central everything is more expensive and you're surrounded by tourists and professionals going about their daily business. In King's Cross it's mainly travellers so there's a sense of solidarity or something! My room at the D*Lux wasn't ready yet so I left my suitcase in the luggage room and went out to explore. I walked all through King's Cross and Potts point to the harbour where the Navy boats live, which lead me to the Royal Botanical gardens and a really stunning view of the Opera House. I bummed around the Rocks area for a bit before heading down to meet Heather to go sort out our bank accounts. We'd been told all we had to do was show our passports to prove it was us and our bank cards would be sent out. Sounds like a simple 10 minute jobby right? Wrong! We were in there for an hour and a half! It was mental! After that I walked back to King's Cross and finally checked into my room. Honestly, it was much better than expected. Granted the place needed a few things doing to it but everything was clean which is the most important thing and I met my German roommate Sofia who seemed okay. I had a bit of a nap and then walked over to hang out at Vicki's hostel on the next street. I have to say, mine was better than hers! She was paying less but I think it was worth the extra money to have a lift and a locker.

The day after that was freezing! Rain and cold winds are not what you expect from Australia. I've never seen it rain on Neighbours yet. I ventured on my first trip on the underground (it's not very big so it was really simple) and went to Paddy's Market in Haymarket where I bought a coat from the outlet shop. Then I killed time looking around and window shopping until it was time to meet the others. Bree had set up a group night out for us...all the way back in King's Cross! They took us to the World Bar where they serve cocktails in teapots and after ten it turns into a rock club. It was quite a strange mishmash of things but it worked and I think everyone had a good time.

Heather and I went to Taronga zoo the next day which was really cool. To get there you have to go on a catamaran, followed by a cable car to the entrance. We got to see kangaroos and rock wallabies and koalas and my very first Tasmanian devil. It was so cute, but not at all like Taz! Right towards the end it started really hammering it down so we had to make a break for the boat. I went home and planned on having an early night when Vicki called and asked to meet up. We went for a walk round the supermarket to stay out of the rain and then chilled inside the shopping centre for a few hours, just chatting and giggling and having a good time. What a random way to spend a Friday night!

On Saturday I went to Darling Harbour, which was where I discovered Sydney now has a Hard Rock Cafe!! I love the Hard Rock Cafe so much! I tried to get hold of people to see who wanted to go there for tea but I phone was misbehaving so in the end I just went by myself. It's probably a good thing I did because the waiter, Harley, probably felt sorry for me and so he kept coming over and chatting with me and he gave me a free ice cream sundae for dessert! I think if I'd been with the others I wouldn't have got any free perks so yay for solo dining!

On Sunday, everything was kind of dead. It was cold and rainy so Heather and I went to the Maritime Museum (because it's inside and free) and Paddy's Market (same again) It was quite uneventful but an okay day. They have some amazing photos of this bright red American cargo ship in the museum which I really wanted a copy of but they didn't seem to be selling prints or replicas in the gift shop...plenty of mermaid snow globes and pirate eye patches though!

Today I've moved hostels again, this time to Woolloomooloo (best word ever!). I like King's Cross better but it seemed a waste of money to keep going between there and Central on the underground whilst I'm looking for a job. Once I've got everything sorted then I'll figure out where's best to stay but for the moment halfway between Central and King's Cross is probably the wisest moneywise. Surprisingly it's been quite sunny today, actually walked around without a coat on and nobody was staring at me. Let's hope it stays that way so I can finally go to Bondi and find some surfers.

(Oops, I almost forgot to say, Kylie was playing in the terminal when we landed! Do you think they do that just to enchant the tourists?)

Beware! This might just be the most epic blog update in the history of blog updates!

Bonjour everyone, greetings from Hong Kong! It's been an absolutely crazy couple of days. So much has happened but at the same time, there is still so much more to come.

The adventure started on Wednesday night. I stayed up all night packing (last legs as per usual!) and then headed off to Meadowhall early hours of Thursday morning. The bus was supposed to get in at 2.20am but didn't actually turn up until 2.35, so as you can guess, Pierre was panicking a little bit. I think the reason why it was late was our mental coach driver. He was making really stupid unfunny jokes to everyone while he was loading the bags and when he finally set off he decided to sing his own little Killers Medley to himself. Normally, I would've joined in with his lame attempt at a sing-a-long but at 3am all you really want to do is go to sleep. I thought I was in luck when he swapped places with a lady driver when we got to Nottingham; turns out she was worse than him! Can you imagine; it's the middle of the night, you're just drifting off to sleep for the third time and all of a sudden a giant shemale bus driver yells out "COVENTRY!" at the top of her manly voice. It was so annoying!

Incidentally, from my brief glimpse of Coventry, I can say with confidence that it's a place that I never want to visit (Rougher than Rotherham!).

I do have to give National Express their props, the coach driver must have known her shizzle because she got us to the airport half an hour earlier than we were scheduled; which would've been great under regular circumstances but it did mean that I had two hours to kill before I was due to meet up with the rest of the group. Luckily there was an epic trek from the coach park to the terminal to contend with plus I had to go deal with the Travelex people for my currency, so that killed a good thirty minutes. Next came the quest for the Cathay Pacific desk where I was meeting everyone else and fortunately one of my fellow passengers, Michelle, was already there waiting so we chatted and waited for everyone else to arrive (As a side note, I wouldn’t wear bright pink and then introduce myself as a hugger. The other person is likely to think you’re an evil strawberry bear in disguise for the rest of your trip) When everyone did get here we sort of created a bit of a fire hazard in the airport. Thirty-odd people plus some parents/friends/relatives in what is actually quite a small terminal was causing some major traffic jams! Everyone was there relatively early except for the Bunac representative, Emma. She arrived at nine o'clock on the dot, handed out our tickets, set up our own check-in line and then pretty much left us to it. It hardly seemed worth her bothering to turn up! As there were so many of us, we got VIP escorted through to security and then we pretty much continued to wreak havoc on the departure lounge. It just wasn't large enough to accommodate thirty rowdy young people so we kind of split up into smaller groups but still, ten noisy twenty-somethings sat on the floor in a big circle in the middle of Heathrow was probably a bit of an annoyance to our fellow passengers.

I was so excited for the airplane. I squealed when I saw it though the window. My very first jumbo jet! Fact: Double decker planes are automatically twice as cool as the regular kind. Obviously I didn't actually get to go upstairs as that was first class but the fact that we were on a plane posh enough to have first class on a whole other floor made me really happy. Our group was actually sat right at the back of the plane so we got to board first (Woop woop!). I was sat in the middle section with Vicky, Ben and Heather who all seemed really nice whilst we were sat waiting for takeoff, however having had hardly any shut-eye for over twenty-four hours I ended up falling fast asleep by the time the plane had taxied to the runway. I didn't even stay awake for take-off! I slept for almost four hours; not including two times the blooming air hostess (AKA evil wench) prodded me awake to see if I wanted tea or some food. If I said no the first time you woke me up and went straight back to sleep, don't wake me up again five minutes later with the same question. It's just rude and a sure fire way to turn me into a grumpy dinoSarah!

Another way to turn me into a grouch is to give me Tetris to play on the screen in front of me but change the buttons around from how they should be on a GameBoy. It’s really frustrating when you press the button to change the shape around and it sends it to the bottom of the screen yet when you press down it frickin' rotates the shapes. Whoever designed it needs a good telling off for getting everything so muddled! At least I got free apple juice throughout the flight to keep me happy and a really nice warm bread roll with breakfast helped quite a bit too!

I was really glad to get off the plane because eleven hours is just way too long to be on a flight. It's a mixture of the air-con and the cabin pressure and the uncomfy seats and the limited leg room; it all just messes with your entire body so you feel super drained. Luckily I'd had loads of mammoth naps so I was raring to go when we touched down in Hong Kong. As soon as you step off of the plane and into the terminal, the heat and the humidity hit you smack in the face and take your breath away. Airports in this kind of climate should really invest in air-conditioning!

The arrival into Hong Kong went really smoothly and I got a cool new stamp in my passport. Our tour guide Dennis (tiny Chinese lady with a big blokey name) met us after we'd collected out luggage and took us to our pretty pink and green coach. It looked like Elphaba and Galinda had had a Sleeping Beauty style battle over how to decorate the bus! Absolutely awesome!

Stepping out of the airport for the first time to get on the coach you realise that the heat in the airport is nothing compared to outside. 29*C before 8am is just overwhelming. The coach journey was rather uneventful. Dennis kept trying to point things out and tell us funny anecdotes but she spoke so fast and kept laughing hysterically at all of her own jokes so everything just got a little bit lost in translation. Crazy or not, Dennis and our no-named bus driver got us through Hong Kong traffic and to our hotel safely. The Imperial Hotel is in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, which is mainland Hong Kong and for quite a touristy area it definitely has a shady edge to it. The streets are crawling with people no matter what time of day or night, and at least a third of them are clearly into dodgy dealings! One of the guys in our group, Iain, he looks like a proper stereotypical hippie, dreads and all, and guys were coming up to him all the time offering to sell him every drug under the sun.

The hotel rooms weren’t ready yet as it was just after 10am and check out wasn’t until noon so we had to dump our bags and all get changed in one tiny room before going to kill time in Hong Kong. A lot of people were complaining about the rooms not being ready and as a former hotel “deceptionist” I wanted to smack them all around the head! Give housekeeping a freaking chance to clean the rooms, guys! They’re doing the best they can!

Anyways, in the end we went to see what we named the “Big Ass Buddha,” also known as Tian Tan We managed to navigate the underground with no problem at all and made it over to Lautau to catch the cable car up to the Buddha. We were a little miffed at having to pay over $100 for the cable car as it looked like it only went across the bay and over the hill but we queued up any way. What we couldn’t see is that behind the hill the cable cars turned and went up a steep incline and over about five beautiful mountains, giving us spectacular views of the lovely green country surrounding Hong Kong. Then out of the mist emerges a 35’ giant bronze Buddha, it was just breathtaking!

The cable cars dropped us off at what was advertised as “a traditional-style village.” Really? Traditional Chinese villages have Starbucks and Subway? To me, building things like that around a temple is cashing in on the tourists a little bit too much and the whole village just gave me this weird feeling that I was back in the Epcot version of China, complete with hourly shows and a scattering of cute characters to take your picture with. It was bizarre. I didn’t like it at all.

The Buddha and the shrine on the other hand were amazing. From the edge of the village, guarding the path to the Buddha, were twelve stone statues of scary Chinese warrior guys to represent the twelve different Chinese astrological signs. The one for the year of the tiger (i.e. me!) was definitely the scariest, most bad-ass statue, waving his sword over his head, about to charge the other stone dudes. I’m not so sure I like what that implies about me! From there it was just a short hike up 250 steep steps to get up to the temple. At this point it was one o’clock in the afternoon and 36˚C so by the time we’d climbed to the top of the steps I was absolutely dripping with sweat. Disgusting, yes, but totally worth it. Big Ass Buddha was amazing. It was a weekday so not too busy and we could take our time, soaking up the atmosphere and the stunning views. I think that the way back down from the Buddha was worse than the way up. The heat and jet lag made me a little light headed so I had to concentrate really hard on each step so I didn’t trip and plummet head first to my doom.

After visiting the Buddha we all went back to the hotel for a nap, with plans to meet up later in the Irish pub next door for tea. I ended up sleeping through our supposed meet-up time and only woke up when the room phone was ringing. Two of the girls, Katie and Faye, had been out for tea and decided to call a random room number to see who was around. Luckily that room number was mine! We went across to the Irish bar where they gave us a free drink each for being guests at The Imperial. It’s a good job too; the prices in Hong Kong were crazy, even for a Sprite! There ended up being quite a big group of us in the Irish bar and because of the jet lag none of us were ready to go to sleep so we all squished into one hotel room for a mini-welcome party. We were lucky no-one complained that we were too rowdy! Even after we’d left the “party,” Lynsey (my roommate) and I were too hyper to sleep and ended up staying up until about 5am just chatting about nothing.

Needless to say, we slept through breakfast the next morning and woke up about 12.30. I ran over the road to McDonald’s to get us some lunch before we met up with the others for our tour. The first stop was Victoria Peak so we could get a good view of Hong Kong Island. I was a little disappointed with it as we didn’t get to take the funicular up the hill and basically they’d just built a huge shopping mall/tourist trap at the top of the mountain so it the view was kind of tainted. After that we went to the Aberdeen fishing village where some of The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. It was basically a big warren of scruffy little house boats and we could pay to go on a boat tour around the village but most of us opted out. It was just too hot and humid to be going around a smelly fishing village. We than went to Stanley Market where Dennis made us stop at who we assume was her friend’s stall for a little while, trying to make us buy these stamps that said your name in Chinese. I don’t think anyone took her up on the offer! We had a little wander around the market but it was all either designer knock off clothes or cheap tourist souvenirs so I didn’t buy anything. Last stop was Hong Kong Island where Dennis took us to a local restaurant to sample a typical Chinese eight course meal. I did not eat a single thing! Bean curd and seaweed anyone? Yuck!

The tour was over after that so the group split up into smaller sections and we went to go see the light show over the harbour. It was pretty cool but nothing uber-spectacular. If you took away the fireworks and the globe from Illuminations in Epcot you’d be left with the Hong Kong light show (lasers and cheesy music). Most of us then headed over to the bar street for the night. Dennis had warned us to check the names of the bars before we went in as a lot of them were strip clubs disguised as bars. Playing it safe we went into a Mexican themed bar where it was happy hour and the drinks came in cactus shaped glasses, followed by a bar which was blasting out cheesy tunes where some of the girls were enticed into dancing on the bar. I guess it’s pointless to say it was another late one in Hong Kong!

Miraculously, Lynsey and I did actually make it to breakfast the next morning. It was supposed to be Continental breakfast but it was chicken and noodles. The only thing continental was the one croissant that was left! As it was our last morning in Kowloon, Lynsey and I decided to explore the local area...which ended up in us getting lost in the biggest shopping centre I have ever seen. All in the quest for finding Toys-R-Us!

Dennis picked us all up again about 2pm. She took us on a mini tour of Kowloon which included the jade market and a Buddhist shrine but the weather was absolutely ridonculously hot so we cut the tour short and she took us to the airport, leaving us just a measly seven hours to kill...

Now you know why this entry was so long!

G'Day!!

Yello everyone and welcome to my new blog to keep everyone updated on my time in Australia.

I guess I don't really have anything to say as of yet as I'm still in England for the next 36 hours, but I'll keep everyone updated as often as possible.