An explanation

Ok, I figured I have some explaining to do! I’ve spent the past week or so reminiscing about my time spent in Mooloolaba, and I figured that the people I met there, who basically became family, should have an entire post dedicated to them! Here goes:

I’m going to start with the obvious one: Sean. Nickname – America or Number 10 for obvious reasons. I don’t think this one really needs explaining, so all I shall say is this boy came into my life for a reason, and I wish him the best of luck with everything that will happen in the future :)

I shall now proceed to describe floor 2. I’ve touched on a few of these people in a post about wakeboarding and going to Gardner falls. However, this was before I got to know them and was slightly inaccurate, and I love them all, each in their special ways!

Sean’s roommates consisted of Shawn, Sungu and Tom. I’ll tell you a bit about Tom now. He and I didn’t necessarily see eye to eye a lot of the time, but we also had some good discussions about porridge and our mutual love of the news .He has some strong opinions, so living in a hostel will definitely cause some disputes, but his heart was in the right place for the most part. One thing though, those sideburns HAVE to go. For those of you who have no idea, he’s trying to pull off a wolverine-esque look, and failing miserably just having lank greasy long hair – blehh!!!!

Shawn is a typical geek, enjoying playing his computer games with Sungu, he brought a PS3 to a hostel for chrissake. But we all enjoyed playing guitar hero on it so I’m not complaining! Shawn worked for the hostel as a night cleaner, and seemed to spend more nights than not crashing on the sofa in the common room area! A fairly decent water volleyball player too!!

Sungu is awesome. He doesn’t speak often, but when he does he comes out with some gems. He also spent one night trying to teach us Korean. The only thing I can remember is milk, and how to write it!!Useful! However, he gave me and Sean a lift to the train station when we were leaving, which saved us a decent bus fare. He was going out with Emily so those two and me and Sean kinda became the hostel couples! Brought together by the love of Mooloolaba backpackers or some silly waffle along those lines.

Emily, therefore, was an occasional member of that room too. I love that girl to pieces, she’s a crazy Canadian who enjoys Avril Lavigne and dancing around the room with me to the Spice Girls! She’s my partner in crime when it comes to arguing with Tom about sleeping in the room!!

My official roommate on the 2^nd floor was a lovely French girl called Nawel (pronounced Noelle). She comes from Paris, and gets a British accent (slightly) when drunk. She’s a good laugh, and we’re hopefully going to catch up when we’re both back in Europe.

Then we have Anna and Simon. They’re both lovely. Simon is a surf bum and shared “surf guy” responsibilities with Sean. Anna and I would go along on many surf trips, and have some girl time on the beach. Our best moment was splashing about in the waves and getting caught in a rip. It’s fine when you know what to do (swim out of it sideways and surf waves back into shore) but Anna started panicking when she realised!!! Needless to say, we spent a lot more time on the beach than in the sea after that!

We also have Jeremy and Natalie who shared a room with Per. They’re a lovely couple, but kept themselves to themselves mainly. We had some good conversations about food, and what to cook for dinner – exciting life I know. All I can say about Per is that he’s a creepy German guy, who has lived in a hostel too long. All the same, the 2^nd floor wouldn’t be the same without him.

Jasmin is the crazy German girl who takes unassuming, sneaky photos including ones of you sleeping! We all enjoyed attempting to learn Japanese with her (she has to do it at Uni) and this was the same night trying to learn Korean. Too many languages!

Hana the Fin has to be mentioned. She has a quirky little hand gesture that she does when she says Fin, very similar to the finding nemo fin! She worked on reception, was fantastic always helping you out, she likes her drink and she has a loveable rust bucket of a car called Laryy.

I guess I also gotta mention Dan and Ally. Ally I love that girl! She’s always smiley and a friendly and up for a laugh. I wish her the best of luck studying out here, she’s gunna need it with Dan as her boyfriend! Dan and I have a lovehate relationship. It was constant banter and insults but meant in the nicest of ways. He was always guaranteed to cheer you up when you got a bit homesick. He worked as night security and let you get away with blue murder, he’s had my back a few times so thanks!

Venturing up to 3^rd floor there are 2 people I have to mention. Jess and Bianca. Bianca is awesome, crazy party girl who will end up on the West End because that’s where she wants to be. I have to thank her for including me in the 3^rd floor craziness when I first arrived. Jess, well…nahh she’s amazing, I’m writing this blog curled up in bed with her!!! She is another crazy Canadian, who has the entire world at her feet. She’s gorgeous, strong, and independent and will go so far in life. Also, she’s reading this over my shoulder so I don’t mean any of this…yeah I do! Jess is definitely one of my best girlfriends I’ve made while travelling.

Right, guess that sums them all up! They’re all amazing people in their own right. We’ve had some crazy times together, and I miss them all. I hope this makes up for my previous comment about Emily being some random and misspelling Ally’s name! I love you guys, cheers for making Mooloolaba so memorable.

Peace and love xxx

Melbourne

Melbourne, wow. This will be a short post! I’ve been here a few days, seen a bit of the city, a bit of the beach and a lot of my bed! I left Sean on the gold coast on Saturday evening, after seeing Six60 in concert. Pretty good kiwi band – their stage show leaves a lot to be desired, using stunts that went out in the early 90s…however, musically they had some good stuff. I recommend listening to them and Donovan Frankenreiter too. I can’t remember if I wrote about him before, but he’s an American musician who’s worked with Jack Johnson on a few songs and has some fabulous ones in his own right. Check both these acts out on Youtube!!

Anyway, I left Sean on the Saturday evening with a tearful goodbye. It was incredibly painful; we had been living together for the past 2 months so to go from seeing someone every minute of every day to not seeing them for 5 weeks takes its toll. I got on the plane on the Sunday, sat next to two pastors. We got chatting, and the conversation turned to my apparent lack of luck with transport (namely planes and cars – cast your mind back to the A380 incident and the 2 car crashes!). As the plane came to land, they both grabbed a hand of mine to create a prayer circle and they blessed be good luck for the rest of my travels. I was touched by the gesture, but still tried very hard not to laugh throughout. When I was in Palm Cove for Sean’s birthday, I ended up buying an onyx necklace – onyx is meant to bring luck to travellers and bring strength to the wearer. It’s a dolphin holding an onyx ball and it means a lot to me!

Melbourne. I landed, and had to find my way to MooMoo’s house! He lives in St. Kilda on the beach and after a little bit of working out how the tram system worked, I made my way there. Moo picked me up from the tram station and we went straight to his friend’s house. His friends are all French, so I spent the evening surrounded by French-speaking, if not cool, people. Definitely a different experience from living with an American!!

I spent the following day curled up in bed, reading my book, watching trashy TV before realising I was being silly and went for a walk along the beach. That cheered me up, and I walked up to St. Kilda’s Pavilion, a historical building along the beach in Melbourne. At the back there’s a natural Little Penguin conservation centre, and I was lucky enough to spy a penguin hiding in the breakwater. It definitely cheered me up!

Pixie arrived last night, and I met her at the tram stop after watching a few intense games of beach volleyball. It was great to see her, and we went out for a few drinks last night in a bar called La Roche. We had lots to catch up on, so it was great. Today we ventured out of St Kilda to Federation Square. It’s a sight to see, that’s for sure. We spent many hours walking around the city and various art museums – getting a little bit of culture into our trip!

I’ve just been planning my way to Adelaide for tomorrow – the trams are disrupted due to the start of the Grand Prix. As I’m writing this, I can hear the cars squealing round a track in the distance – wish I was going to the Grand Prix but alas it’s not to be.

I will give you all another update after Adelaide. Ok, not that short a post! 

Peace and love to you all xx

QLD, NSW, QLD...who knows where we are?!

Cairns was an interesting experience – I know I filled you in briefly but there is so much more to say. When I landed in Cairns, there was a brief respite from the rain! The hostel had a free transfer bus from the airport, so they picked me up and I sorted out the room while Sean flew up a bit later. It was amazing to have a private room – to be able to unpack a little bit, leave things lying about the room, wander out the shower without clothes on and the best part – a TV so we could watch the news in bed. Yes, you would be right in thinking that we have become an old married couple – that was the highlight of having a private room!!! Dear lord, I’m turning into my parents….that’s scary!

We wandered about 3km along the esplanade (a lovely footpath running along the ocean and a park on Cairn’s waterfront) trying to find somewhere for breakfast in the morning. We finally stumbled on a little café. On the walk back the heavens opened. Despite this, we decided to explore town, and found Cairns Central shopping centre. We spent hours wandering around the shops, and taking many free samples of food from outside Coles, before deciding to go to the cinema. We also popped into the Hogs Breath Café as they were showing the finals of the Quicksilver Pro. I can’t believe Slater won again, we saw his heat against Buchanan and thought he was going out! That evening we relaxed in the room, you guessed it, watching the news!

The next day was Sean’s birthday, we decided to head up to Palm Cove for it. Palm Cove is a picturesque little beachside town about 10mins north of Cairns. We had a long walk along the beach, with some awesome views of clouds and mountains (pictures will be coming up on Facebook shortly). We may have also gone on a little crocodile hunt – there was some mangroves right at the end of the beach, perfect habitat for the buggers. Unfortunately, or maybe luckily, we didn’t see any!

The days blur together unfortunately, but one day that stands out particularly was the day where we decided to go wakeboarding. We had booked a Backpacker night wakeboarding for the Thursday night. This was cancelled due to too much rain and bad weather. However, the cable park was open the next day so off we went. The cable car park was flooded, with a big sign saying “cross this water at your own risk” – brown, murky, waist deep water. No thanks, I wasn’t going to be eaten by crocs. Instead, we walked along a footpath that took us in the “back-way” to the cable – through a housing estate and a few scary croc moments again! Nevertheless, we arrived at the cable and had 2 hours riding.

I found it strange riding at the place where I learnt to wakeboard. The staff were friendly, and then all of a sudden Kirsteen Mitchell turns up. We got chatting, and laughing at Sean’s incapability to hit obstacles (to be fair he was doing well – but who goes for a toeside A-frame for your first obstacle?!). Sean had borrowed my K&S board, so I wasn’t riding. Kirsteen offered for me to ride hers, which was really nice and I came so fricking close to landing a left-foot-forward 3 off the kicker. I know, I know, close doesn’t count!!!!

After tiring ourselves out in the brown waters of the wakeboard park, we crossed the road to the Smithfield Shopping Centre, and bought some juice to rejuvenate. Raw juice is amazing; I have to give it a mention. It consists of fresh fruit and vegetables all mushed up into a juice but it tastes incredible and is a meal in itself! I can easily kill a 1.5 litre carton of it by myself!

Back at the hostel, we realised that we were out of cereal so we decide to walk to Coles Express, just over the road. However, while watching the news (see we liked our news) we saw that 3 crocodiles were making themselves comfortable wandering around the streets of Cairns city centre! We still went out, thought that Coles was too expensive for cereal and milk, so we walked to IGA. IGA was even more expensive so we figured we’d walk to Night Owl. We get to Night Owl without seeing any crocs, only to discover that Coles was the cheapest place after all! We walk back, and the heavens open. Thankfully its only about 2km back to the hostel, so we get back only after having a short shower with clothes on!

I get a phone call from my mum. She says to me that my train from Cairns to Airlie Beach has been cancelled. I think that this could be a distinct possibility as pretty much all the roads around Cairns are flooded. I think. I go to the train station in the morning and find out, yes train is cancelled. I ask for a refund, and it is given (thankfully!). I then phone the boat, who says that they will sell my place on as I can’t make it. It’s a shame, but with a cyclone due to hit Cairns/Airlie Beach way shortly, and the tsunami alert from Japan, and various other ailments with Earth (seriously, what’s with all the earthquakes?!),  I felt much more comfortable doing that. Instead, I book a flight to Gold Coast.

Before leaving Cairns, we decided to have a night out. The night out consisted of going to Cairns Night Market. This was a fair experience…it was kind of like a mix of hippies, with Thailand Masseuses and Singapore randomness! There were some cool stalls with pretty necklaces and anklets, and little tie die bags (which I really want, but I cannot justify spending $10 on one…sad I know). There were also little food stalls, and although we had been making the most of the free dinners at the hostel (pasta with either bolognaise sauce or a veggie sauce) we were still a little peckish. I managed to find a crepe stand; thin pancakes with various fruity fillings…all I can say is yum. My stomach’s grumbling at the thought of my banana chocolate pancake with extra whipped cream….

I am currently at Coolangatta Sands Hostel! It’s amazing – I recommend it to anyone coming to Gold Coast. The beds have mattresses of normal size (unheard of in most hostels), it has aircon in every room, an amazing balcony, nice bathrooms and kitchens, and it’s super clean. Definitely one of the most upscale hostels I’ve stayed in. However, our first night on Gold Coast was not here. No, we stayed at the YHA which is actually in Bilinga (3 towns away from Coolangatta and a fair 4km walk into town – at least you can walk along the beach). Sean used to work there, and left on not great terms with some of the staff. We arrived, and the reception was less than friendly to us. However, it was a bed to sleep in for the night, and it was right next to the airport so not far to walk with my ever-increasingly heavy backpack. Why did I insist on bringing so many clothes and shit?!

So, yep, I’m now staying at the Sands. Sean was here with me for the past two nights, but he’s now got free accommodation staying with the Coach from the Surf Club so he’s staying there. It’s only a km away, but it’s very strange him not being in the room with me. I can’t believe we’re coming up 8 weeks soon…it’s gone so quick! First day here, we wandered from QLD to NSW and back multiple times which is fun! You cross the border and the supermarket isn’t open (it shuts at 8.00pm most nights) and then you cross back and the other supermarket is still open! Very strange!! So we had a good walk around town, Sean spotted out the restaurant/café that Mick Fanning’s mum owns. Pretty cool.

Yesterday I made a trip into Brisbane. I had to go in to change my flight from Cairns Melbourne, to Brisbane Melbourne. That’s done now which is a relief! I land in Melbourne on 20^th March, at 6.15pm. I’m looking forward to it as one of my best friends out here, Pixie Lil, is going to be flying down Tuesday morning so I’ll get to see her and spend some time with Moo again before leaving. It should be great, and a nice distraction from leaving Sean…

Yesterday evening, we went out to La Porchetta. It’s a nice Italian restaurant in Cooly, where for 12 bucks you can have all you can eat pizza and pasta. It’s really good value, since most dishes are about 14 dollars. After stuffing ourselves there, we were going to the Cooly Hotel to see Donavon Frankenreiter play a gig. However, Sean was wearing shorts and thongs and wouldn’t be let in. His jeans and shoes were in the surf club, and his key is playing up at the minute. Nevertheless we wandered over to the surf club to see if we could get in…every single door was locked, bar one sliding door which we tried half-heartedly. That stroke of luck meant we could get to the concert in time!

The Sticky Fingers were the opening act, a duo from Sydney with amazing guitar playing skills. I’ll try and find a link at some point; they played really chilled out music. A great opening act. Sean’s friend from the YHA (pretty much his only good one!), Jack, worked the bar so we got free drinks all night! Donavon Frankenreiter was amazing. I’d never heard of him before hanging out with America (Sean’s nickname), but he has some awesome music. He came on stage in a full on Elvis type suit – white suit complete with flashy sequined stars and stuff. Fantastic music and a great showman. It was just a good night :)

Today, I have to write about because I surfed. Now, not just tiny little white water, but 3ft waves!!!! I caught 3 waves that I stood up on, and got barrelled on a few too. Well, not too bad for pretty much my first time surfing since I was 13! Not many people can say they learnt to surf properly at Snapper and Rainbow Bay!! (That’s where the quicksilver pro is held!) Needless to say, it’s put me in a pretty good mood all day, but now I’m starting to regret being out there for 2 hours as my back is very sunburnt…not so much fun.

Right I’m going now, as I think this blog is long enough!! Apologies to those of you reading, as I’m sure you had better things to do with your time, but thanks for reading. I know it seems a lot of self-absorption writing this blog (just what I’ve done and a lot of bragging :p) but it’s such a good way for me to keep in touch, and hearing certain stories about avid followers from my mum cheers me up when I’m having a homesick moment…so thanks for reading :)

Ok, time to see what’s on the news I think. Peace and love to you all xxx

Crocs, Cyclones and Earthquakes

Ok this is a quick one - crazy news tho. A more detailed blog will be written shortly!
Cairns was crazy - the town is basically flooded in only way in or out is by airplane. This meant my train to airlie beach was  cancelled so i bought a flight and am now on the gold coast. Definately interesting.
My thoughts and wishes go to those in Japan, and those with family and friends there. It's absolutely shocking, and it's scary how quickly things can go from being fine to being totally chaotic. One thing the earthquake has done has made me a little nervous about going to  California - they're about 30 years overdue on a big earthquake, and knowing my luck this will happen just before or just as I arrive! Keep reading, and I'm sure we'll find out!!!
Cairns itself had loose crocodiles running about town, cyclone warnings and various other mental situations. We went cable wakeboarding - the car park was totally flooded as was the operators hut but they opened anyway. Was good fun to ride muddy waters where your not sure if theres crocs in there or not!!! Ahh well, Kirsteen Mitchell was up there - it was good to see another Brit.
Anways best be off as internet times about out.  Catch you laters
Peace and Love
xxx

Cooly to Cairns

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote on my blog! I left you guys last time in Mooloolaba, enjoying the SUPs, surfing, wakeboarding and relaxing.  Well, needless to say, I’m not there anymore.

The original plan was to hire a car, get a group of 6 of us to reduce costs, and drive down to the Gold Coast for a day to see the Quicksilver Pro. For those of you not in the know, the Quicksilver Pro is one of the most coveted surfing competitions in the world. This stop is the first in a series that culminates at the end of September. It is used to work out surfer’s rankings and is basically the “World Championships” of surfing. It would be an incredible experience to be able to see the world’s best surfers in the flesh. Unfortunately, no one else wanted to go down to the Gold Coast other than Sean and I. So we scrap the car hire plan, pack our bags, and leave at 6am – leaving behind friends and overdue rent payments!

We caught a train at 7.25am which took us straight to the Gold Coast, and then just a public bus to take us to Coolangatta. We arrived about 1pm, checked into The Sands Hostel (I recommend it to anyone – it was so comfy and very modern and perfect location for us). We were amazed that they had dorm beds; we were expecting to have to sleep in the surf club or a lifeguard tower for the night (which would have been great fun, if a little chilly and illegal).

We grabbed a camera and a little bit of money and ran down to Snapper Rocks, where the competition was being held. Round 2 of the Pro Mens heats had just started so we got to see some amazing surfing, with the worlds best about 5m away. The crowds started edging out into the ocean, and soon the water was knee deep, with waves splashing shoulder height – a good way to cool off on a scorcher of a day!

The heats were amazing, we saw Brett Simpson, CJ Hobgood, Tiego Pires and many others (just to name a few). Round 3 was meant to start later in the afternoon, but unfortunately there wasn’t going to be enough time. Instead, the organisers put on 2 expression sessions instead. It was incredible. Literally, I have no words to describe the feeling of seeing 10x world champion Kelly Slater goofing off with Mick Fanning and the rest. I apologise if it seems like I’m name dropping but I’m not!!! It was just so surreal to be stood so close to some of the best surfing I have ever seen.  I won’t do the competition justice if I try to describe, so I’ll try and put up some pictures intead. Afterall, isn’t a picture worth a thousand words?!

Walking back to the hostel to grab a shower and some food, we stopped to grab a free drink and read the posters. A poster read “The Best…Tarp Hit” and someone had changed it to “The Best…Tarp Puta”. I read this outloud – I’d been in the sun all day and my head was a little fuzzy. Just as I reached “puta”, Kelly slater ran past, turned round and then kept on running. Yes, I just swore in Spanish and Kelly Slater! By the way, he’s much smaller in real life to how you think!

We went back to the hostel, went out for a burger and then headed to sleep. The next morning, the girls were surfing. Tyler Wright, aged 16 and a wildcard for the comp was killing it. We were surpportingn her because you could see she had masses of natural talent. She eventually made it all the way to the final, where she was just denied of the title by Carissa Moore (a solid Hawaiin surfer). While the heat was going on, there was a pod of dolphins playing in the surf. I was so happy to see them.

Unfortunately I had to leave after that heat in order to catch a bus, so I could catch a train, so I could catch my plane up to cairns! I landed in Cairns later that afternoon, got picked up by the hostel, and I’m now writing my blog laid on the double bed watching NCAA basketball as it’s raining outside!

Yesterday, we went to the cinema and saw I am Number Four – awesome film recommend it! We also browsed shops, walked along the lagoon, went to dominos for dinner and had a long walk back in torrential rain. Yes ok, so the weather ain’t great in Cairns, but we’re making the most of it. Today is Sean’s birthday so we’re heading out to the beaches to celebrate. Ok, I’m off as the bball is over!

Laters people, peace and love xxx