Adrift the waves of Oz

Tim tams, roo and all things new

[adriftthewavesofoz]

Getting loosa

Location: Noosa Week 13 of Aus SOTP: Surfin' Safari - The Beach Boys Hey Sunshine Coast, hey torrential rain on our first day! Noosa is a pretty leafy town. That's a good word to describe it. It's pretty small but spread out- split between Noosa junction which consists of the essential shops (one being another Happy High Herbs) and Noosa Heads with the beach and National Park with stunning views over the water. We decided to make Nomads Noosa our home for the few nights we were there- an awesome hostel wherein we found a great roomies crew of Italians who immediately offered us each a plate full of freshly cooked pasta- an offer no one could turn down from an Italiano! With a rainforesty vibe, a cheesy yet fun bar, pool and a 15 min walk away from the Noosa National Park and lookout, it was all pretty darn cushty! Would definitely recommend. (Although the 15/20 min hilly walk to the beach was unexpected yet thoroughly entertaining on special nights... buh-dunk-a-dunk). At this point in our travels, we begun to realise that the people you meet in one place up the coast are bound to pop up again atleast several other times further on as you all pretty much hit the same places around the same time- meaning Cairns will be one huge farewell party! After the rain subsided in Noos, we began to see it for its real beauty (after a trek up to the breathtaking look out where we saw the town in its sunset glory)- a place of shimmering waters, leafy greenery and a random old-fashioned 80s (almost wealthy retirement village) feel, aswell as the longest beach my eyes have ever taken in! Loosest moments: - Visiting the lookout at the top of the National Park, perfect at dusk for views all the way out to the Glass Mountains - A certain night walk or two back up from the beach in a determined search for food, food and more food. (One piece of life advice in Australia: Golden Gaytime Krushers at KFC. Trust me.) - Becoming Noosa's Limbo Queen (thank you, thank you) after an intense and bone-defying competition on a Saturday night at the hostel bar, hurrah - Discovering "happy lollies" at happy high herbs - Wok in Noosa. The Everglades (one of only 2 in the world) would be one part of our visit which I would've liked to add in for a spot of kayaking through the National Park if we had had more time! So check that one out too fellow loosers! Over n out

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City touchdown

Location: Brisbane Week 13 of Aus Song of the post: Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

So after persuading the two coolest guys in Byron to give us a lift- armed with ginger beer, jelly snakes and a dodgy aux cable- up to the big Brisbane, we hit the road for a 2 hour drive, dodging the greyhound- wahey!

We arrived at night, seeing the underrated Queensland city in its lit up and vaguely London-esque glory. After settling in at Base Uptown (a very mediocre, if pretty gross, place- you can’t really ask much more from city hostels…) we said our dazed, emotional goodbyes to the lads and prepared for a standard Zoph stop off!

As we only had one full day in Brissy, we decided to become real tourists and hop on the FREE (one of the best words you’ll ever know as a traveller) city ferry. Brisbane is a river city- no beaches or anything of the like- another reason it’s so alike my hometown!

Luckily, the QLD sun decided to finally show it’s face for us, providing the awe-inspiring sky scrapers with a perfect glimmer and us with a big deal of PMA for our adventures to come!

Highlights of Brissy: - Waking up and wandering down to the West End, the hip downtown part of the city where you’ll find the best quirky food and “righteous” music venues. We grabbed the. best. big breakfast at a cafe down Boundary St, perfecto. - 1 hour river walk from Kangaroo Point (awesome river views) to Story Bridge, alongside the miners cliffs. - Bumping into fellow travellers doing street performing down Queen’s St Mall

- Drinking rum and fresh apple juice at an old gentlemen’s club come jazz bar with live bluesy rock music (Near Coles Uptown Brisbane, name has been forgotten) Overall, I was pretty in awe of Brissy: despite its reputation amongst travellers as only being a dull stop off on the way up North, the city was actually great for exploring and a sa-weet treat for the eyes with its towering, futuristic buildings and glimmering Brisbane River (complete with hidden bullsharks!) Next stop… Noosa!

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Brisbane ya cool city

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Mardigrass! 04.05.14

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Bliss ballin' at Mardigrass

Location: Nimbin!
Week 12-13 of Aus
Song of the post: One Love - Bob Marley On the first weekend of May, just after the big birthday, each year the small town of Nimbin which lies approx. 1.5 hours inland from Byron, goes weed mad. Mardigrass, yes the festival of legalising cannabis, comes into play and the town becomes a pathway for all types of craziness. From the weed Olympics with joint-rolling contests and bong-throwing competitions to a parade which carries a jumbo, 20ft long inflatable joint reading "Good Medicine" through the town (past the police station), you've never seen anything like it. In order to get to the town itself, we decided that, unwilling to pay $30 for a tour bus, we'd try our hand at hitching! (I don't condone trying this if you're a lone and lost traveller for obvious reasons). After wandering around the Arts Factory (most awesome hostel in Byron) car park for an hour or so nattering to hilarious groups of travellers we finally squeezed into a campervan full of German/ French lads, contributing some petrol dosh and we were on our way... So was a day spent lazing around drinking milkshakes (hit up The Rainbow Cafe for a mouth explosion of yum) and taking in the mad atmosphere of the colourful and quirky, herb-obsessed little town, having our fair share of experiences along the way- Sophia and I pretty much lost each other to other groups of interesting people for most of the day! Gander places: - The mad shops (Bringabong, Happy High Herbs to name a couple) - The hemp embassy, where you can sign the petition to legalise - Nimbin Museum, entry by donation, pretty quirky! - Chill at The Rainbow Cafe and Mingle Park As it got dark, Nimbin turned into a place which we didn't really want to be stuck in, however, so we hitched back to Byron- which actually included getting stranded on the side of a deserted road, 30km from anything, in the pitch black night with no phone reception or petrol and 3 French guys. Eventually, two Aussie men only wearing skirts made of grass (and nothing. else.) cruised past and delivered us some fuel! ...What a day.

[adriftthewavesofoz]

Byron beautifulness

[adriftthewavesofoz]

Let me stay forever?

Location: Byron Bay Week 12-13 of Aus Song of the post: Be Mine - The Kooks On the night of 30th April we hopped on our first greyhound bus up to the beautiful Byron Bay....... one word: SKITZ. This could be a long post... Byron is by far now my favourite place on the face of our planet: a sweet concoction of perfect beaches, welcoming waves, iridescent skies, a laid back petite town full of tie dye and smoothie/ sandwich connoisseurs and a bunch of easy going locals made it the most perfect of stays. We arrived the day before my birthday buzzing with excitement as we hired out a couple of bikes and cruised down the length of main beach (the infamous iPhone 5 slow-mo videos may have come into action...) getting a good feel of Byron. Checking into the best hostel I've jammed in, we realised that the Nomads Art Factory is a little hidden gem of awesomeness- with teepees, volleyball courts, a pool and jacuzzi, digeridoo painting, a smoothie bar, campsite and even it's own little lake- I would definitely 17393708% recommend anyone looking for a hostel to say there. It's not right on the doorstep of the beach but hidden about 10 mins walking outta town in a nice foresty scene, and what's more- the hippie crowd that stay there are more than amusing. The big birthday included a morning of surfing some gnarly waves at Lennox Head- one of the best surf spots on the EC where you'll spot the pros, Stu Kennedy.... Unreal!- with mojo surf camp (heaps of fun) and then jamming with a certain byron-er who was instructing that day- hey Obz! This dude made my day that much better as we headed down to The Pass- favourite spot in Byron- and had another go at catching the waves, hopped up to the Tallows Lookout and munched on birthday cake in the form of a white chocolate and raspberry brownie (yum) from Chill, Grill and Grind down by Main Beach- great for snacks n smoothies. Thanks heaps mr Oblio! That night, we checked out the scene at Lighthouse Pizza, where the coolest guy in town works...more cake (thanks sophcatt) was consumed, the few bars in town were explored- Woodys became the club of choice- and many a drinks were thrown my way... Maybe one too many... The rest was definitely history- a great birthday well spent! After max chilling all over Byron with our buds for a few days, we realised 3 days was nowhere near enough time for us so extended our stay for a few more days, meaning we had to cancel our stop off at Surfers Paradise- nothing special anywho we'd been told and not great for surfing at all! Byron highlights: • Chasing sunsets by jumping up to lookouts and back down to The Wreck, being blown away when the burning pink, reds, purples and oranges paint the sky and sea all at once • Having a Camembert picnic up by the iconic Lighthouse (definitely worth a wander up to) • Spending a day splashing around in natural waterfalls at Killen Falls, Dalwood, and jumping off exhilarating heights at Marom- about 45 min drive out of Byron • Surfing my first big wave out the back at Lennox, yeewww • Spending time with a couple of real special brothers who defined the "unreal" warmth of Byron itself! As the end of a long and memorable week came around, I definitely realised that Byron Bay is somewhere I can feel myself being pulled back to in the very near future... Righteous!

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Snippets of syd part 3.

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Snippets of Syd part 2.

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Snippets of Syd.

[adriftthewavesofoz]

The end is nigh (the last part of Sydney)

Weeks 10-12 of Aus Song of the post: A Punk - Vampire Weekend So as we set a date for our departure from the big city- where we first shared a flat together (Sophcatt and I)- our time in Sydney suddenly began to speed by. Main highlights of our 2 month stay in my favourite city included grabbing a job at a sweet little food store/ cafe down by the harbour bridge on The Rocks for a couple of shifts- if anyone is down that way definitely check out The Fine Food Store for delish salted caramel milkshakes and homemade wraps/ brownies/ all sorts! Also say hey to Detlev, the kindest manager of all! Our main job in the city however was.... Milklady-ing! Kinda. Okay it was door to door sales, possible one of the worst jobs you could get, I know. Nevertheless it was signing Aussies up to have Aussie farmed produce delivered straight to their door so it wasn't too bad and the social and money was great (if you can hack the full commission pay structure!). It was a roller-coaster but I ended up coming out with enough $ to book our 4 week trip up the coast and get outta there with a bank of hilarious ATD (at the door, sales slang yano) experiences and a bunch of real sweet mates. Once we had both quit our milklady jobs, we decided to get the touristy jams packed in... These are my Syd recommendations too so listen up: • Completing our Bondi to Coogee walk, a 2 hour coastal walk from beach to beach, gawgus! • Walking (not quite climbing, due to a $200 nip in the savings) the Harbour Bridge, abso stunning and definitely worth doing over an autumn sunset! • Visiting the Blue Mountains and hiking a bushwalk, breathtaking views and following in the steps of Kate and Wills the day before. A ride on the worlds steepest railway is also a must! • Stepping inside the big O house, so much posh! • Hopping on a ferry over to Manly (my favourite spot in the city) and watching Benjalu, an Aussie indie-folk rock band fill an old moonshine and rum brewery (The Moonshine Bar) with the sounds of heavenly happiness and a crowd of fun-loving, boogying fans, perfecto. Our last week was most definitely mainly spent in Newtown, however. Where I would move to if I were to return to Sydney. A mixture of Shoreditch's casual cool vibe and Camden's musical vibrancy, Newtown is without a doubt the hippest place in Sydney. Many a long afternoons and nights were spent sipping Coopers Pale Ale (an Aussie top!) and munching on Mad Mex/ delish sandwiches with the best of company. Speaking of company, travelling has also made me realise that your time in one place is definitely majorly influenced by the people you meet and jam with there. For me, I was lucky to meet a few special'uns in Sydney whom I know I'll definitely have as buds for a while (some of which reside in a rocking house owned by a saweet Aussie band called The Sticky Fingers- look. them. up. They were the soundtrack to my last days in the city and their house provided many a laughs, thanks lads!) Obviously Sydney held so many more memories- too many to type down into the interweb- but for now I hope y'all get the gist of the buzzing, colourful, bustling, refreshing and eye-opening city that is Sydney. Goodbye Flat 21, Milkmen and ladies, hip Newtown, gorgeous Manly, city air and iconic views, hello first greyhound trip up to Byron Bay for my birthday and the start of our adventure up the East Coast!

[adriftthewavesofoz]

Hit the road Jack!

Day 88 of aus Location: somewhere between Brisbane and Noosa! Hurrah I've finally made it back to my blog. No I didn't lose my phone (although it did go for a birthday toilet swim)/ my ability to type due to some crazy adventurous incident involving broken bones- I've just been having a helluvva busy and incredible time up the coast! But hey as I now have a 2 hour beloved greyhound coach journey ahead of me, I may aswell try to catch y'all up on my adventures so far. Here goes...

[adriftthewavesofoz]

P Sherman

Day 27 of aus (?!) Location: Sydney Right, so it seems I'm not too great at keeping on top of my blogging- it's now been nearly two weeks since we arrived off the overnight train, bleary eyed and dazed, in the big city! Yet it already feels like years- at the same time how have I been in Australia for a month now?! Madness... That's one thing I've realised about travelling- time becomes the weirdest concept in the world. From waking up trying to schedule Skype calls back home whilst your family/ boyf/ dearly-missed dawgies are just hopping into bed to travelling into the future in a little capsule named an airplane, it's all pretty crazy. So what've I been up to in the big city down under? In short: stayed in 2 pardy backpackers hostels (Nomads and Base), wandered down to gawp at the incredible Harbour Bridge and the slightly underwhelming Opera House, bared the ozone defying sun at Bondi Beach, been reunited with an old friend from Mallorca (my good ol' second home), embraced the gay pride at the mad Mardi Gras parade, jumped on a ferry across the bay to the beach town of Manly, fallen in love with Darling Harbour and most importantly moved into my first flat (!!!) and have become a working lady! Hurrah. It's been tricky and there's definitely been a few wobbles- including random waves of homesickness which result in teary blabbers to fellow travellers- but hey- I'm in sydney and that in itself is pretty darn cool. More to come on the tricky sitchoos and the big highlights of syd but for now I am sprawled out on our cushty flat sofa with big time droopy eyes, shattered from a third day of working in the hit Aussie sun, ready for some Zzzs! Over n out tumblr-ers

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6) Generally taking in the city views! Melbourne is pretty great treat for the eyes, it's towering skyscrapers, riverside bars, quirky trams jutting round each 'corridor' and contrastingly-styled numerous surrounding suburbs all come together to form a city of charisma and aesthetic awesome-ness. Good on ya melb.

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5) Gettin' sporty: Spending a day wandering through the sports precinct of melb- home to the Aus Ashes and the Aus Open- is fully worthwhile. Sneaking into back doors managing to avoid $20 tour fees is a bonus but you didn't hear that from me...

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4) Sa-weet street art: Look on practically any wall in the city and you'll find a concoction of splatters, doodles and awe-inspiring spray-paintings from floor to sky, all commissioned by the owners of the buildings. Melbourne doesn't just do graffiti, it does street art and it does it with style! Hosier Lane is a must see for street art fans.

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3) Catching a mad Mexican-esque horse rider on a beach- St Kilda is the place to be in Melbourne for sunny days spent on the beach, wandering around Californian- style froyo cafes and shops... And apparently kooky Alejandro types riding their horse aside the waves... Right.