I can't believe that I spent a whole week in the city centre of Sydney, and that I am out in the suburbs already! I arrived in Sydney late wednesday evening from the surftrip, and said goodbye to most of my surfmates. That evening I took it easy, and the next morning I went to see the doctor about my thumbnail (or lack thereof). There I was bandaged up properly and told to come back 3 days later to have the dressing changed. I then met up with Emma and Georgie - two girls from the surfcamp - and we spent the morning looking around Sydney. In the afternoon Emma went for a haircut, and Georgie and I went to the Imax theatre in Darling harbour to see a movie about the underwater world. We were a bit disappointed, it wasn't fabulous, but it kept us dry (it was raining again). That evening the three of us met up with Sandra, a friend of Emma's from travelling, and we had a fun night out. We first had drinks at the bar at Georgie and Emma's hostel, where there was quite a good live band. Once we had had enough of that we went to a pub called Scruffy Murphy's - yes, it was an Irish pub - but the main crowd was quite a bit older than us, so we decided to try another place. Sandra knew of a good bar called the three wise monkeys, which has three floors. The first two are like a pub/bar, and on the third floor at first there was a live band playing, and later on they had a dj.
Friday was quite a boring day. Emma left for Melbourne, Georgie moved into the hostel I was staying at and I did lots and lots of washing. Generally the washing facilities at hostels aren't brilliant, so I jumped at the chance to do a warm wash in stead of a cold one, which basically does nothing for clothes you have been backpacking in. Georgie and I then arranged a trip to the Blue Mountains for Sunday, and Georgie made arrangements for her next trips. That evening Georgie and I cooked dinner and just had a relaxing night.
On Saturday Sonya and her mom Viola, came into town and the three of us went to the aquarium. Viola is a friend of my mom's, and Sonya is going to Macquarie University, where I will be going shortly. The Sydney aquarium was really interesting, and we spent quite a while there. We then had lunch and went to a really big bookstore in The Galleries Victoria, close to my hostel. Sonya and Viola had to get back home, and I went back to the bookshop and bought myself a student cookbook with useful tips and quick and cheap recipies. I met up with Georgie for dinner, and we just went out for one drink afterwards, since we had to get up early the next morning for our Blue Mountains trip.
The weather forecast for Sunday had been showers and sunny spells, but luckily for us it was only cloudy and sunny spells. We had to go to a hotel to be picked up, and lots of different tourbuses came who we asked if they were the tour we wanted before ours came. Our busdriver was really nice, but he had some absolutely terrible jokes, and he just kept going all day, but it was sort of amusing to hear how bad they were. First we drove to a wildlife park where you could see lots of native Australian animals, and I had my picture taken with a snake (!) and a bird of which I can't remember the name. You could have your picture taken with a koala and feed the kangaroos, but I had already done that at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, so I spent my time just looking around. After the wildlife park we went to see a valley with a waterfall from a place called Garrett's Leap. The view was amazing, but I am always a litlle sad that it doesn't translate as well to a photo. After that we had lunch in Leura, and our tourguide told us about a sweetshop with god knows how many different sweets, and a place that does really nice hot chocolate (with marshmallows) . After lunch we went to the Jameson valley and Scenic World. First we stopped at echo point, with a wonderful view of the whole valley, the three sisters rock formation and mount solitary. We then went across one part of the valley in a horizontal cable car from where we could see the Katoomba falls really well. The cable car also had a glass floor, so you could see down into the valley below. We then went down into the valley in another cable car, and from there you could walk along a boardwalk - so that you don't disturb the fragile ecosystem of the rainforest - to the little train that would take you back up the valley. This is the steepest train in the world - Guinness World Record holder - and when you get in it feels a bit like a themepark ride, and you feel like you should be strapped in somehow. The track is indeed very steep, my friend Georgie was quite freaked out. Once we got back to the top we got back on the coach and headed to the ferry which would take us back to the CBD. Unfortunately we missed the ferry that the tourguide had intended for us, so we spent about 10 minutes at the Olympic park to kill time before the next ferry. We went on a citycat, so it wasn't too choppy, but it was rather windy. It was nice seeing the CBD and the Harbour Bridge from the other side (upstream rather than on the sea side). That evening Georgie and I had dinner at Darling Harbour, and had a quiet night because Georgie would leave the next morning.
On Monday I had to go to the doctor to have my thumb dressing replaced, and luckily it wasn't infected and looked a bit better than the last time I had seen it. With the new dressing I can now actually touch my thumb without it hurting, yay! Since it was such nice weather I decided to go to the beach. I had heard that there was a really nice walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, so I decided to do that. I took the bus to Coogee and started the walk along the coast to Bondi. There were quite a few little bays, and some surfers where the waves weren't braking on the rocks, so I took it easy stopping to admire the views and take some pictures. In the end it took me about 1,5 hrs, while one girl from my room had told me it would take me at least 2 hrs (don't know how slowly she walks). When I arrived at Bondi I put my cozzie on (as australians call a swimsuit/bikini - they also call it swimmers) and spent a couple of hours relaxing at the beach. When I had had enough I went for a look around the shops, and bought a really cute dress for only 20$ (12€). I headed for the busstop the shop owner pointed out to me, and after waiting for about 10 minutes the bus to the city centre came. I was one of the last people he let on, because the bus was completely full - we were standing like sardines in a can! At the second busstop, at the other end of the beach there were also lots of people waiting, but the bus didn't even stop because we couldn't possibly have fitted one more person in. It was quite a long busride with lots of stops, and a bit uncomfortable having to stand the whole way, but I had had a nice day and even such a busride couldn't ruin it. That evening I cooked spagetti alla carbonara from my recipe book. I was really proud of myself that I had managed to finda ll of the equipment in a hostel kitchen - although I did have to cut the onion and garlic with a bread knife, which is not very easy - and it tasted extra good because I had spent time making it myself.
I spent tuesday having a last look around the city. I walked around Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens once again, and I went to Surrey Hills where I haven't been before. While reading an Australian magazine, I noticed that some Australian celebrity (of whom I had never heard) mentioned that Surrey HIlls, and in particular Crown Street was good for vintage shopping, so I decided to go and have a look. Some of the shops were quite expensive, but some had sales on, and I found a bag and another dress, both were very cheap. When I got tired, I decided to go and relax in Hyde Park, because it had been such nice weather that day, but then I noticed that the sky was clouding over. By the time I got to Hyde park a few drops were starting to fall, so I decided to keep going and head back to my hostel (which luckily wasn't far). By the time I had crossed the street along Hyde park it was positively pouring, so I ran from shelter to shelter on my way back to the hostel. Just after I arrived two of my roommates got back as well, and these poor boys had been on a ferry (outside only) when it had started to rain, so they were absolutely drenched!
On wednesday I took the train to Beecroft, where Viola picked me up, as I was going to stay with them for the last two nights before I can move into my uni house (tomorrow!). We got back and had some lunch, and then we went to see the movie 27 dresses with Katherine Heigl. I really liked the movie - it was a nice romantic comedy, right up my alley after such a hectic time travelling around! I have spent most of wednesday and today on the computer sorting out pictures (gosh that takes a long time), out in the garden and with the Bridgers (the family) and their cute dog Mollie. Tomorrow Sonya is going to drop me off at uni, and there will be a welcome BBQ. Then on Saturday I leave on a pre-orientation trip to the south coast for a few days. Hopefully I will meet some nice people as I will be spending more than just a few days with them for a change! So my travelling days are over - for now at least - and I am going to start settling into uni and finally starting my actual exchange. I have really enjoyed travelling and seeing some of Australia - yes some, I only saw a really small part actually! But I am also ready to settle down, and eager to meet some real Australians, rather than German/English/Dutch/Swedish backpackers.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Surf Camp
So to continue yesterday's story, at 8am on Saturday I made my way to the Byron Bay busstop to be picked up by the Waves Surf School bus. To my surprise there were only six other people going on the trip. Two English girls, Georgie and Emma, an english guy actually called Simon but nicknamed Cambridge as that was where he was from, two Swedish guys called Henrik and Jonas, or more affectionately Team Sweden, and one Austrian girl who lived in New Zealand called Chris. There were also a bunch of helpers and teachers on the tour with us.
That first day we drove to a beach somewhere south of Byron Bay, where our teacher was Scott. He tought us the basics of paddeling, catching a wave and standing up while we were on the beach, and it certainly didn't seem too difficult. Until we hit the water that is. Just getting on the board in the "sweet spot" was difficult enough, let alone paddeling for a wave and standing up. That first day is now a blur of seawater and rain, but by the end of the day I could get up (but not stay up). When we wanted to go to lunch a senior citizens tour had just arrived at the covered lunch area, but they didn't take long and they donated some jolly good sandwiches so we didn't mind. After a morning and an afternoon session of surfing we drove on to our accomodation for the night which was in the middle of nowhere, where we just relaxed with a few beers and then had an early night since we were all absolutely exhausted from the surfing.
The next day we drove to another beach for more surfing, and unfortunately it was still raining. While we were on the beach before we went in the water someone spotted a snake, and the surf rescue lifeguards had to come and catch it. It wasn't very big, but it was the first snake I had seen in the wild in Australia, so that was pretty cool. We spent another long day in the water, but the difference with the first day was that we were all standing up more often and staying up for longer. By the end of the day we all were starting to feel quite good about our surfing abilities. At this beach, since it seemed to be a slightly more public one than the last beach we were on there were, thank god, showers. They were just posts outside and only had cold water, but at least we could rinse off before having to get in the bus for 2 hours this time. After the busride we arrived at "surfcamp" where we met the rest of the staff, had showers and settled into our room which was to be our home for the next 3 nights. That evening after dinner we all pitched in for some of one of the instructors special fuitpunch, and played the card game ring of fire or kings cup. Since it was still only our small group plus the helpers that evening we really got to know each other quite well, so it was a lot of fun.
The next day we drove to a new beach and had a new teacher. Seal Rocks beach was our destination for the day for more surfing, and luckily it was only half an hour from surfcamp. Our teacher for the day was Dylan, a funny hyperactive little dude who was very enthusiastic. With some help and a lot of encouragement from him we were all riding waves all the way to the beach in no time, and the boys decided they wanted to go out the back to catch some unbroken waves in stead of starting out in the whitewash. Unbroken waves are a lot harder to catch, and it is extremely exhausting to get through all the waves, so the girls decided to stay in the whitewash and improve our technique before tackling the big stuff. Unfortunately playing it safe didn't really help me all that much. I caught one particularly big wave, and just after I had stood up another one came from behind me and litterally swept me off my feet. I was knocked around a lot in the two waves that had joined to form one really big one, and when I finally came up my right hand really hurt. When I looked down, I saw that my thumbnail had been knocked off completely! I have no idea how it happened, I suppose it hit the board or the fin of the board, but I'm not sure. Luckily there was a first aid kit in the bus, and I was bandaged up well enough to keep me going until we got back to surfcamp. When we got back to surfcamp noone really seemed to think that it was neccessary to take me to see a doctor, or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered since we were out in the middle of nowhere, but the camp manager was a nurse so she patched me up. That afternoon the tour going in the opposite direction to us had arrived, and it was a much bigger group (21 people) than ours, so after dinner we played some drinking/get to know each other games. I did meet some people of the other group, especially with people asking me what happened to my finger, but there was quite a clear separation between the two groups.
On our second day at surfcamp (third day in total, so as not to confuse you) we went to Lighthouse Beach, for which we needed a fourwheeldrive, and we had another new teacher, Nas. Driving to the beach reminded me of Fraser Island, a narrow sandy track with bushes on either side, bumping around a lot, and we even got stuck and the boys had to get out and push. Even though I was missing a thumbnail I decided to get out there anyway, since noone had explicitly told me not to. That morning seemed particularly long and difficult, due to all the circumstances: my missing thumbnail, of course, the constant rain (again) and especially strong currents. By the end of the morning I couldn't even stand in kneehigh water without being pulled over sideways. Nevertheless, my determination or foolhardyness led me to catch several good waves, standing up and riding them in to the beach! Quite an achievement if you ask me (me being extremely unbiased of course)! That afternoon I decided to give it a miss. If the waves had been good, the currents less forcefull and the sun shining then I would have just taken another painkiller and gone back out there, but as it was I decided to sit out with Henrik. Henrik had cut his hand open on the fin of a board earlier on the same day that I lost my thumbnail, and had to go to hospital to get three stitches. So the two of us hid from the rain and the wind in the 4WD, and we were soon joined, one by one, by the rest of the group who had had enough as well.
That evening was everyone's last night at surfcamp. Our trip would end in Sydney the next day, and the other groups would be starting their tour up towards Byron Bay. Well, the staff at surfcamp definitely encourage drinking. I managed to keep it to a minimal level (I did not want to hurt myself any more than I already had) but it was still a lot of fun. We played a game called flipcup, which is basically a relay race with two teams where you drink your drink, set your cup on the edge of the table and try to flip it until it lands upside down. Then at least one person from each team had to join in musical chairs - the unconventional version - where they had to perform opdrachten and get back to the chairs (one less than the number of people) as fast as possible. The opdrachten included getting a piece of underwear of the opposite sex and putting it on, and the final was who can do the most stupid, most embarassing dance. Our team won of course, thanks to Emma! Apparently, after I went to bed because my thumb was really starting to bother me, just about everyone ended up in the pool, and at least one mobile phone was broken. Since I had both my mobile phone and my camera on me, and my bandage wasn't allowed to get wet it was probably a good thing that I didn't stay until the end.
On the last day we only surfed in the morning, although it was a long morning and a late lunch, because after the morning lesson there was a little competition. I decided not to surf this last morning, because I didn't want to make my thumb, which was by now wrinkly and swollen, any worse. Henrik, the Swedish guy with stitches, gave it a go, but stopped quickly since he could feel that it wasn't good for his hand. So Henrik and I were team photogrophers on the last day, and luckily the weather had cleared up so we could get some nice bright sunny surfing pictures. Jonas, the other Sweed, won the competition, and Georgie, the English girl with whom I am now spending time in Sydney won the most improved prize (although neither of them actually got anything). After lunch we returned briefly to surfcamp to go to the loo and collect our bags, and then hit the road for the three hours drive back to Sydney.
I'm sorry if the surfing sounds a bit boring, but you really have to do it to experience it. Technically you wake up, put on your bikini/boardshorts, have breakfast and take a ride to a beach where you spend about 5-10 minutes dragging on a wet and sandy wetsuit. You then pick up a board that is between 1,5 and 2 times as tall as you (depending on your height), and so wide you can barely get your arm around it to carry it. You therefore end up carrying it on your head, which is also not very comfortable. You then trudge out into the ocean to about waist level, where you fight the currents while waiting for a good wave. When one comes you slide onte your board, into the "sweetspot", paddle your arms off and then have to use them to push yourself into a standing postition. Most likely you will fall of almost immediately, and you repeat this until you finally get a good ride. Doesn't sound too exciting, but when you finally do get that ride all the way to the beach it is AMAZING and totally worth it.
So at the moment I am in Sydney, having lots of fun, even though it is raining, and only a week away from my university starting, and the beginning of my actual exchange. I will update you on my more civilized adventures here in the city soon enough, but for now, surfs up dude!
That first day we drove to a beach somewhere south of Byron Bay, where our teacher was Scott. He tought us the basics of paddeling, catching a wave and standing up while we were on the beach, and it certainly didn't seem too difficult. Until we hit the water that is. Just getting on the board in the "sweet spot" was difficult enough, let alone paddeling for a wave and standing up. That first day is now a blur of seawater and rain, but by the end of the day I could get up (but not stay up). When we wanted to go to lunch a senior citizens tour had just arrived at the covered lunch area, but they didn't take long and they donated some jolly good sandwiches so we didn't mind. After a morning and an afternoon session of surfing we drove on to our accomodation for the night which was in the middle of nowhere, where we just relaxed with a few beers and then had an early night since we were all absolutely exhausted from the surfing.
The next day we drove to another beach for more surfing, and unfortunately it was still raining. While we were on the beach before we went in the water someone spotted a snake, and the surf rescue lifeguards had to come and catch it. It wasn't very big, but it was the first snake I had seen in the wild in Australia, so that was pretty cool. We spent another long day in the water, but the difference with the first day was that we were all standing up more often and staying up for longer. By the end of the day we all were starting to feel quite good about our surfing abilities. At this beach, since it seemed to be a slightly more public one than the last beach we were on there were, thank god, showers. They were just posts outside and only had cold water, but at least we could rinse off before having to get in the bus for 2 hours this time. After the busride we arrived at "surfcamp" where we met the rest of the staff, had showers and settled into our room which was to be our home for the next 3 nights. That evening after dinner we all pitched in for some of one of the instructors special fuitpunch, and played the card game ring of fire or kings cup. Since it was still only our small group plus the helpers that evening we really got to know each other quite well, so it was a lot of fun.
The next day we drove to a new beach and had a new teacher. Seal Rocks beach was our destination for the day for more surfing, and luckily it was only half an hour from surfcamp. Our teacher for the day was Dylan, a funny hyperactive little dude who was very enthusiastic. With some help and a lot of encouragement from him we were all riding waves all the way to the beach in no time, and the boys decided they wanted to go out the back to catch some unbroken waves in stead of starting out in the whitewash. Unbroken waves are a lot harder to catch, and it is extremely exhausting to get through all the waves, so the girls decided to stay in the whitewash and improve our technique before tackling the big stuff. Unfortunately playing it safe didn't really help me all that much. I caught one particularly big wave, and just after I had stood up another one came from behind me and litterally swept me off my feet. I was knocked around a lot in the two waves that had joined to form one really big one, and when I finally came up my right hand really hurt. When I looked down, I saw that my thumbnail had been knocked off completely! I have no idea how it happened, I suppose it hit the board or the fin of the board, but I'm not sure. Luckily there was a first aid kit in the bus, and I was bandaged up well enough to keep me going until we got back to surfcamp. When we got back to surfcamp noone really seemed to think that it was neccessary to take me to see a doctor, or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered since we were out in the middle of nowhere, but the camp manager was a nurse so she patched me up. That afternoon the tour going in the opposite direction to us had arrived, and it was a much bigger group (21 people) than ours, so after dinner we played some drinking/get to know each other games. I did meet some people of the other group, especially with people asking me what happened to my finger, but there was quite a clear separation between the two groups.
On our second day at surfcamp (third day in total, so as not to confuse you) we went to Lighthouse Beach, for which we needed a fourwheeldrive, and we had another new teacher, Nas. Driving to the beach reminded me of Fraser Island, a narrow sandy track with bushes on either side, bumping around a lot, and we even got stuck and the boys had to get out and push. Even though I was missing a thumbnail I decided to get out there anyway, since noone had explicitly told me not to. That morning seemed particularly long and difficult, due to all the circumstances: my missing thumbnail, of course, the constant rain (again) and especially strong currents. By the end of the morning I couldn't even stand in kneehigh water without being pulled over sideways. Nevertheless, my determination or foolhardyness led me to catch several good waves, standing up and riding them in to the beach! Quite an achievement if you ask me (me being extremely unbiased of course)! That afternoon I decided to give it a miss. If the waves had been good, the currents less forcefull and the sun shining then I would have just taken another painkiller and gone back out there, but as it was I decided to sit out with Henrik. Henrik had cut his hand open on the fin of a board earlier on the same day that I lost my thumbnail, and had to go to hospital to get three stitches. So the two of us hid from the rain and the wind in the 4WD, and we were soon joined, one by one, by the rest of the group who had had enough as well.
That evening was everyone's last night at surfcamp. Our trip would end in Sydney the next day, and the other groups would be starting their tour up towards Byron Bay. Well, the staff at surfcamp definitely encourage drinking. I managed to keep it to a minimal level (I did not want to hurt myself any more than I already had) but it was still a lot of fun. We played a game called flipcup, which is basically a relay race with two teams where you drink your drink, set your cup on the edge of the table and try to flip it until it lands upside down. Then at least one person from each team had to join in musical chairs - the unconventional version - where they had to perform opdrachten and get back to the chairs (one less than the number of people) as fast as possible. The opdrachten included getting a piece of underwear of the opposite sex and putting it on, and the final was who can do the most stupid, most embarassing dance. Our team won of course, thanks to Emma! Apparently, after I went to bed because my thumb was really starting to bother me, just about everyone ended up in the pool, and at least one mobile phone was broken. Since I had both my mobile phone and my camera on me, and my bandage wasn't allowed to get wet it was probably a good thing that I didn't stay until the end.
On the last day we only surfed in the morning, although it was a long morning and a late lunch, because after the morning lesson there was a little competition. I decided not to surf this last morning, because I didn't want to make my thumb, which was by now wrinkly and swollen, any worse. Henrik, the Swedish guy with stitches, gave it a go, but stopped quickly since he could feel that it wasn't good for his hand. So Henrik and I were team photogrophers on the last day, and luckily the weather had cleared up so we could get some nice bright sunny surfing pictures. Jonas, the other Sweed, won the competition, and Georgie, the English girl with whom I am now spending time in Sydney won the most improved prize (although neither of them actually got anything). After lunch we returned briefly to surfcamp to go to the loo and collect our bags, and then hit the road for the three hours drive back to Sydney.
I'm sorry if the surfing sounds a bit boring, but you really have to do it to experience it. Technically you wake up, put on your bikini/boardshorts, have breakfast and take a ride to a beach where you spend about 5-10 minutes dragging on a wet and sandy wetsuit. You then pick up a board that is between 1,5 and 2 times as tall as you (depending on your height), and so wide you can barely get your arm around it to carry it. You therefore end up carrying it on your head, which is also not very comfortable. You then trudge out into the ocean to about waist level, where you fight the currents while waiting for a good wave. When one comes you slide onte your board, into the "sweetspot", paddle your arms off and then have to use them to push yourself into a standing postition. Most likely you will fall of almost immediately, and you repeat this until you finally get a good ride. Doesn't sound too exciting, but when you finally do get that ride all the way to the beach it is AMAZING and totally worth it.
So at the moment I am in Sydney, having lots of fun, even though it is raining, and only a week away from my university starting, and the beginning of my actual exchange. I will update you on my more civilized adventures here in the city soon enough, but for now, surfs up dude!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Byron Bay
Well, a helluvalot has happened in the past 9 (that long?!) days since my last post. I'll just start where I left off and see how far I get. Nora (a German girl I met in Brisbane) and I went to Byron Bay to spend a few days at the beach relaxing. The evening we arrived we had a look around the cute little town that is Byron Bay and made our plan for the next couple of days. On Wednesday, our first full day in Byron we got up early and took advantage of the hostel's free sports facilities. No it was not a gym (boring), we started the day by renting bikes and biking up to the lighthouse. We set off at about 9am, and even at that time it was swelteringly hot. The way to the lighthouse didn't look that far on the map, but it was all uphill and the bikes were small and had no gears. As a dutch person the bikes were shitty (Nora ownes a dutch bike so she wasn't too happy with them either), and in Australia it is illegal to not wear a helmet - you can be fined AU$ 50 (30 euro). So by the time we reached the lighthouse we were absolutely boiling. After having a look at the lighthouse we continued to the Australian mainland's most easterly point. The views of the rocks and the surfers (reminding me of my upcoming trip) were fantastic, and just as Nora was saying how jealous she was that I had seen dolphins in Noosa and that she wanted to see some, I spotted some. She of course thought I was joking, but then she saw them as well. They were really close to the rocky shoreline as well, it was amazingly beautiful. We then rode back downhill all the way back to our hostel - a lot easier than the way going, where we exchanged the bikes for boogie boards or body boards, whatever you like to call them. We went to the beach to try boogieboarding, to get me psyched up for surfing, and just for the two of us to have some fun. I absolutely loved it, the bigger the wave the better if you asked me! Unfortunately the big (and slightly rough) waves thrashed my bikini around a bit, and what with the sand rubbed all my suncream off leaving me with a bit of sunburn. Nothing too bad though, since we weren't out for long.
The next day Nora and I took a tour to Nimbin. Nimbin is a little hippie village close to Byron Bay, that seemed to be quite popular so we decided to check it out. We took a tour, and the busdriver/tourguide was a real hippie at heart. When we got to Nimbin, though, we were a bit disappointed. There really was not much more to do there than buy some weed and smoke up... I can do that back in Holland legally, cheaper and probably get better quality if I really want to, so I wasn't fussed and neither was Nora. Even enerally neither of us are fussed about weed. So we went into the museum and a few small shops, talked to some of the extremely weird and wacky locals, and had a parakeet sit on our sholder and nibble our hair. After a few hours in Nimbin we continued to some hippie's house, who lived in his own private mini botanical gardens. There we ate watermelon (the best thing you can eat on a hot day) learned a bit more about the hippie lifestyle from him and our tourguide and got a tour through his garden. We then continued to a waterfall with a great view, and then returned to Byron Bay.
The next day was Friday, and Nora's last day in Byron. We decided to take the boogie boards out for one last spin --- in the early morning with copious amounts of suntancream to avoid more sunburn, and then went to do a bit of shopping to pass the time until Nora's bus to Brisbane left. Luckily I had already found a new bikini (it took me 2 weeks of going into every bikini/surf/swimwear/promising looking in any way shop), so I could just browse. I did find a rash top --- against sunburn, some of you may have seen surfers wearing them. My bus for surfcamp would leave at 8am the next day, so after Nora left I just made myself some dinner, read some of the book Kevin donated to me: Down Under by Bill Bryson (Kevin got it from Laurens), and went to bed early.
Gosh this is already a really long entry, and I haven't even started on my surftrip that ended today yet. So I will just leave it at this, and write about my surf adventures another day (soon, like tomorrow or the day after) and just give you the teaser info that I absolutely loved it, didn't get pulled out to sea and drowned by a rip (dangerous current), eaten by sharks or stung by jellyfish, but I was one of 4 people in our group who were injured --- there were 7 of us in total! For now I think I will stay in Sydney until my uni starts, and just take some day trips to Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains and whatever else comes up. Take it easy and keep me posted on your lives too!
The next day Nora and I took a tour to Nimbin. Nimbin is a little hippie village close to Byron Bay, that seemed to be quite popular so we decided to check it out. We took a tour, and the busdriver/tourguide was a real hippie at heart. When we got to Nimbin, though, we were a bit disappointed. There really was not much more to do there than buy some weed and smoke up... I can do that back in Holland legally, cheaper and probably get better quality if I really want to, so I wasn't fussed and neither was Nora. Even enerally neither of us are fussed about weed. So we went into the museum and a few small shops, talked to some of the extremely weird and wacky locals, and had a parakeet sit on our sholder and nibble our hair. After a few hours in Nimbin we continued to some hippie's house, who lived in his own private mini botanical gardens. There we ate watermelon (the best thing you can eat on a hot day) learned a bit more about the hippie lifestyle from him and our tourguide and got a tour through his garden. We then continued to a waterfall with a great view, and then returned to Byron Bay.
The next day was Friday, and Nora's last day in Byron. We decided to take the boogie boards out for one last spin --- in the early morning with copious amounts of suntancream to avoid more sunburn, and then went to do a bit of shopping to pass the time until Nora's bus to Brisbane left. Luckily I had already found a new bikini (it took me 2 weeks of going into every bikini/surf/swimwear/promising looking in any way shop), so I could just browse. I did find a rash top --- against sunburn, some of you may have seen surfers wearing them. My bus for surfcamp would leave at 8am the next day, so after Nora left I just made myself some dinner, read some of the book Kevin donated to me: Down Under by Bill Bryson (Kevin got it from Laurens), and went to bed early.
Gosh this is already a really long entry, and I haven't even started on my surftrip that ended today yet. So I will just leave it at this, and write about my surf adventures another day (soon, like tomorrow or the day after) and just give you the teaser info that I absolutely loved it, didn't get pulled out to sea and drowned by a rip (dangerous current), eaten by sharks or stung by jellyfish, but I was one of 4 people in our group who were injured --- there were 7 of us in total! For now I think I will stay in Sydney until my uni starts, and just take some day trips to Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains and whatever else comes up. Take it easy and keep me posted on your lives too!
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