Ele's adventures

So after a few 'good byes' it was time to leave Byron and head for the big city lights to earn some proper cash (only after I'd managed to bust my ankle good and proper on a sand bank in the sea that morning). My friend Tim dropped me off at my hostel and I was greeted with the warm silence or should I say glares from a massive croud of Korean guys. Turns out the place was run by a really nice chinese lady called Nancy and so it attracts a big Asian community. Our first thoughts were to run away and find somewhere else as a seemingly rather odd Kiwi and French guy were sharing our dorm to boot the bizarre welcome we got to the place. However after a few drinks on our second night (thought it only best to be sociable) we made friends with a crazy Nothern Lass called Kerry or "Kewwwwiiee" as the Koreans like to say. Turns out we made probably some of the best friends ever in this place and most of them being Korean!!
We had a huge BBQ the following week with a variety of English/Aussie and Korean dishes which was amazing....I learnt how to make Korean Pizza!! (nothing like ours!).

Anyone who has checked my pics out on myspace will have seen our new friends from our rather drunken nights out in 'The Valley'.........only a couple had mind but lots of pics.

So down to the serious stuff of work! It took Dan a good few weeks to find work but with nursing it seems pretty easy to sign up with an agency and start right away that is if you have all the paperwork which the UK seem to like to hold onto!! Finally with all the documents in place I started work in a small hospital on the south side of Brisbane. Small but friendly is the best way to describe the place. The only downside was the 45min journey each way I had to endure and so managed to rent a room in a place round the corner from the hospital....that is another story in itself with the crazy land lord who appears at anytime as he is doing maintenance and with all the water restrictions STRICT 4min showers ONLY and no running of the taps unnecessarily and the endless lectures about the cleaning roster being enforced since there were 8 of us in the house blah blah blah blah blah....you get the drift.

On the few days off we had we tried to see as much as we could and get out of the city....mainly being Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to feed the Kangaroos and hold a Koala (Violet) of which you will see if you check out my pics!!

So after 6 weeks or so enough is enough, the 'cold' weather is too much and we're slowly being driven insane with the whole work and house situation we decide to rent a car for a weekend and head off into the sunset....well not exactly but Noosa is near enough.We finish work on the friday and take a drive to Eumundi. Starving and tired we look for a place to eat and sleep but hold on....we're now officially living in small town world and everything shuts super early or the local take away runs out of pizza dough so they shut up shop for the night! The only place left is a nice looking contemporary place who squeezed us in before closing the kitchen once they realised we were not locals. Dan being of the fussy sorts didn't particularly like anything on the menu but out of desperation opted for lamb whilst I had tofu...now you know the kind of place we are in!! Being slowy sucked in by the lure of the friendly owners we had pudding and got talking....really not a good idea when they start to ask where you are staying for the night!! With no place to go we spoke honestly and out of 'generosity' they booked us a room in a local B&B or should we say 'Country House'. A lovely place with a price tag to boot but to be honest by this point we were past caring and wanted to sleep anywhere other than our tiny Hyundai Getz!!

After probably one of the best nights sleep in ages we had breakfast on the balcony with the birds tweeting in what seemed like a private rainforest in the back garden. Armed with maps and some local knowledge we headed for the Eumundi markets where thousands of people travel to see in this tiny one street town. The sun beating down on us we almost thought it was summer when we left town however the the large black cloud that appeared out of nowhere soon put us right and the mist severely obstructed our veiw over the hills and out to sea as we headed for a lookout high above sea levels to get some pics. Sadly as we drove around to the next destination on the list the rain poured and didn't stop for the next 7 days!!! Feeling more down in the dumps than when we set off on our trip we briefly stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains to watch some kangaroos in the forest before heading back to the city ready for our last week at work.

Inspiration came in the form of a call of nature as we delivered the car to the depot at the airport and headed into the terminal for the bathroom...."why not get a cheap flight somewhere out of Brissie?". And so to Darwin!!!

Well a long overdue update as long as I can remember most of the stuff that's been happing over the last few months!!

Having found some work with one of the travel companies in Byron handing out fliers (amazing the jobs you do whilst travelling) they recommended a place I could stay for a good deal, so armed with this information and that Elizabeth had decided to head North I jumped at the chance of sleeping in a bed again!! So check out at the Arts Factory and into the Dive Inn...as you guessed it it belongs to the dive company!!

Armed with this fact I managed to complete my Open Water Course which was totally fantastic. There was so much to see as Byron Bay is the point where the warm Tropical North waters meet the cooler South waters so there is a fantastic mix of species to be seen. I managed to get up close and not so personal with a Bull Ray, Spotted Ray, some turtles, Wobbegong (sharks that camouflage with the sea bed), a Lion Fish.....do not touch under any circumstances!! But best of all was probably the Leopard Shark as they were migrating to make room for the Grey Nurse Sharks about to arrive in the waters for the winter.

The Dive Centre itself was a great little place with only about 23 of us if that and we all got along pretty well and had some great times. Many a goon fuelled night were to be had and far too many stories to tell!!! I made some great friends who I'll always remember as most of us have now gone our own seperate ways.

After a few weeks handing out fliers my friend Chantelle decided it was time to leave Byron (sadly) and head to Bali. In her absence I had some huge shoes to fill as I took over her role in the travel shop with general duties dealing with the customers and internet stuff....all a bit tiresome after a while to be honest but I loved it as I met so many great people that came into the shop and was being paid to stand around talking to them!!! My pet hate was having to 'burn' pics onto CDs.....however one lucky customer came in on my second day asking me to copy them for him....turned out to be a total shambles as the system was basically really crap and my boss was no help so eventually I managed to burn most of the pics and sent him packing (although not entirely happy with the serive provided). I thing the phrase he later used to describe me was 'a dumb bint'......he has now learnt not to judge a book by it's cover as we later met on a random night out in Cheeky Monkeys and got chatting. The rest they say is history as we are now travelling together.

Soooo, to recap Brisbane was rather dull so Elizabeth and I got a ride back down to Byron Bay with one of the Israeli guys at the appartments. Not having a place to stay for the night we pitched up with Ben (another guy from the first hostel in Brisbane) at a remote spot by the beach and borrowed a tent for the night....actually had a good sleep listening to the waves crashing.

Woke up rather early again with the heat and had a quick dip before heading out to job hunt. No luck at his point but the CV was left with various places. Again deciding that we wanted to spend anoth night under the stars we made a small campfire and sat drinking goon and listening to music until we fell asleep on the beach....that was until the rain came...rather quickly and hard!!! Running up to Ben's van and scrabbling to get all our stuff back inside before we got totally drenched. This was the begining of a marvelous few days!!

With the Blues and Roots Festival just around the corner we sprinted to The Arts Factory (camoing and hostel) to get an available camping spot...for this we had the privilage of paying the same amont per night to camp as we would for a dorm room at any other time of the year...YAY the festival!! The place itself is a bizarre eclectic mix of people but namely those who like sitting around doing nothing much but getting stoned around the camp and those who prefer the luxury of a bed in the dorms or bus or tepe tents.
Having borrowed the tent, already strategicaly pitched under a marvelous invention known as Tarp we settled in to our new 'home' ...were we glad of the tarp over the weekend!! Anyway, despite the torrent of rain to hit us over the next few days (a well known fact that it always rains over the Easter weekend apparently!) Things turned out pretty darn good!!

Getting a phone call from a local friend in Byron offering me a day pass for the festival on the Sunday I was definately not going to miss that for the world!! I got to see the likes of Paul Kelly (?) a bit of an aussie legend I'm told, Taj Mahal who were pretty good but the best is a very tight toss up between Xavier Rudd and The John Butler Trio, both of whom I'd never heard of before travelling but Elizabeth had introduced me to them along the road trip. For the others of you who have no idea either Xavier is a one man band playing everything drums and percussion to guitar and the didge....he is truely....awesome!!
John Butler Trio on the other hand are just as fantastic but a totally different vibe. I was buzzing by the time the night finished but looking forward to telling Elizabeth all about it.

Easter Monday also saw our tent nearly flooding in the morning (praise the tarp for keeping us dry) and me being offered another day pass for the closing day. Again something to remember forever. I have no idea of any of the bands playing as I'd not heard of any of them but the atmosphere was enough to enjoy. Having lost Tim and co I wandered the fields looking at the stalls (refraining from buying anything apart from food) until another legend know as Ben Harper came on stage to close the festival...joined by Jack Johnson and various others...a good show but not like the night before!

A fantastic weekend despite the frequent downpours.

Hello everyone!!
Just a quick update. Where to begin??? So made it to Brisbane which I think you all knew anyway. Returned the campervan and booked into a hostel for a week and attempted to find some work....not much luck on that point so have decided to head back down to Byron.
Spent a few days handing out my CV never to hear from any of the bars/pubs even though they had said they were looking for staff....plain rude if you ask me not to even acknowledge it but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Moping about this and the fact the hostel is so boring and quiet, the owner and manager of the hostel offered us a weeks free accommodation if we helped them to clear out the hostel and help them move to new premises. So armed with a cloth and some mild cleaning chemicals Elizabeth and I set to work cleaning the place which quite frankly hadn't seen so much as wet cloth in god knows how long (Think we got the good end of the deal as a couple of German guys also staying had to lug all the beds out the back, break them up and put them in the skip as well as lugging all the other furniture into and out of the truck at either end in amidst the arguments with Shay the manager as he has a habit of being rather annoying).

Pleased with our couple of days work we settled in the new accommodation only to be over run with bed bugs!!! The owners had some wild thought that simply putting the mattresses out in the sun the bugs would run away and die elsewhere....we have since learnt this is a pile of rubbish (well come on, did they seriously think we'd buy this??!!) So we got them to steam the room and since, things are a tiny bit better.

On the odd day here and there we have spent time at the Lagoon but it's not the real thing but nice to dip into when it gets too hot in the city.

It was Elizabeth's birthday last Friday so we met up with Mike and had a BBQ on the South Bank with some more delicious goon and cheap bubbly (with a hint of passionfruit..hmmmm). Had lots of fun playing with sparklers and wearing our tiaras as the pics will show.
The next day we lazed around having the odd hyper spell which was relieved by some Shlix....the best gelato in the world ever!!! It's made of totally 100% fruit and they have some of the most bizarre flavours and they really do taste like the real thing i.e. Red Bull...a bit of a head twist as you can't quite believe that you have to eat it rather than drink it. The owner even mixed a bit with some vodka for us and again it was almost too confusing to get my head round. The poppy seed is not the best and better left well alone. But the cherry, banana, ginger, jaffa orange, tiramisu and the rest are to die for!! It's seriously addictive stuff!!

We've had the odd night out in search of some people as those at the apartments pretty much keep themselves to themselves, much the same as in the previous place.

Sadly this is pretty much all I have to report of the last two weeks....not much to offer but neither has Brisbane really hence the move to Byron again whilst I wait for my Nursing registration to come through and then I can start to head up the East Coast again working my way up to Cairns.

So I hope this finds you all well and good and hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to report next time!

Day 17
Saw us taking an active approach and doing the walk up the somewhat steep hill in baking heat and sunshine, greatly appreciating the chance to sit down at the most Easterly point of Australia and time for some piccies!! Deciding that Mike would be leaving us the tomorrow we opted to shimmy down the hill and head to the nearest bottle store to buy some more sophisticated drink such as rim or vodka...sadly realising the price the good old goon seemed the way forward once more. So ladled up with our goodies we headed back to the van for dinner and drinks and to charge our electricals courtesy of the only holiday park that has no gates or office open past 18:00 hence the opportunity to sneak through in a huge automobile!!! Fully charged and before too much drink passed our lips we moved the van back to our little street spot and headed into the 'bright lights' of Byron once more....only to end up in the usual backpacker spot of Cheeky Monkey, not exactly what we had in mind but needs must!!!
Sufficiently fueled and after a good dance we wandered back to the van to grab our sleeping bags as Mikes imminant departure needed to be marked by something special...such as sleeping on the beach. If only the tide had stayed at bay a tiny bit longer we would've had perhaps managed a grand total of 3hrs sleep instead of just 2. Rather disgruntled we went to the van to roll out the beds again and sleep...but ohhh noooo the police gave us a polite knock roughtly 1hr later and asked us to move on (informing us of a better spot we could move to and not be bothered again). Now with the sun blazing and the temperature rising again sleep was sadly not much of an option.

Day 18
Forcing ourselves to have at least another 2hrs sleep Mike decided to pack up his belongings adn bring our little threesome to an end having booked a ticket up to Brisbane. Feeling a bit of beach action was in order before hitting the big city Mike and Elizabeth plonked themselves down whilst I updated my last blog entry. When done I called Elizabeth to arrange to meet only to be told that Mike had his bag stolen from the beach whilst they were swimming!!!! Panicking and fuming we helped mike to track the buggers down but to no avail...wouldn't have been so bad had it not held his passport, wallet, MP3, mobile, bus ticket, vaccination docets which took forever to get in Coffs Harbour, you name it it was in there!!!
Spent the rest of the day wandering and making phone calls to credit card companies etc before settling for one last unexpected night to play cards and drink coffee in a small cafe before heading to bed. A day never to be forgotten I feel!

Day19 Paddies Day
A last few precious hours at the beach before we drop Mike at the bus station and make the journey up to the Gold Coast. Hitting the boarder was like being slapped in the face and entering the most tacky seaside resort you can imagine. The high rise appartment blocks blocking any view imaginable. All Elizabeth had to say "I feel like I'm in Miami"...and then we actually hit the town Miami!!! Speedily making our way out of Miami we settled on Surfers Paradise...not exactly the name I'd have picked as it certianly does not depict the place in the slightest!
However determined to put our time to use we...hit the beach before hitting the irish establishments to celebrate all things irish. Again dissapointed at the lack of indie clubs we were informed by a local bouncer to try a locals club in the name of all things rock....a packed night in this place housed maybe 25 people in the rock bar but alas not getting away from the commercial dance scene upstairs was 'pumping'...oh how I love these clubs out here...blah blah blah
Again finding parking regulations in strict force another night was spent on the beach waking to find at 6:30 a hoard of people bathing and walking the dog etc and a Melbournian guy had also joined our little slumber party!! Already in the baking sun we ran back to the van after a short cooling swim to sleep some more before making the final leg of our 3 week extravaganza to Brisbane. Trusting our Lonely Planet we booked into a 'cozy' hostel to park up the van for our last night. This is the only place smart enough to let you rent a parking space for campers...genious money maker!!

Day 20
Boooo Hooooo!!! The van was dropped off and the road trip officially over. Some consoling done over a toasted sarnie before making the what seemed like mammoth journey back through the city to the hostel to dip in the 'olympic size' swimming pool. More consoling done over the best Gelato (since I've never tried it but trust me it really is good!) bought by the hostel manager Chey at a local place and trust me the name sums it up totally...shlix

So that just about sums up my East Coast experience which I hope will remain with me forever and I hope you enjoyed following me around!!