We're starting to get really low on cash at the moment. I would have been broke a couple of weeks ago if it wasn't for Anne-Marie coming over with her life savigns to blow on me! :D
So, to remedy this lack of disposable cash, we've been forced to get one of those "job" things. You know them things that force you to get up early and pay attention and exert effort into what you'r edoing? Yeah, well we've all had to try get one of those.
I've been applying online to a number of job websites here in Sydney. I've applied mainly to IT jopbs, but if I can't get an IT job, I may be forced to look elsewhere, like in a pub or restaurant or supermarket. Hopefully I'll get an IT role though. If not, I'll then also need to get an RSA (Responsible Supply of Alcohol) card. These cost about 60 dollars and you've to sit through 4 hours of powerpoint presentations to get it, and nobody will hire you without one. Not officially anyway! :p
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The girls going away party
The 2 girls from number 17, ,Donna and Karen (Karn-age), are going home in a few days so they had 1 last big bash before they went.
These girls are gas. At any given time of the day they'll be going into all the houses, drunk off their faces, full of energy, and getting people to come party with them! They are the life and soul of tge whole street.
But alas, they're going back to Kildare.
The night was fun, as expected. We started off in the terraces having beers, and a bit of a sing song with me guitar. Then when everyone was suitably drunk, we went to the Side bar in town. More drinking ensued and it got pretty messy! Then afterwards, back home to the terraces for more beer and fun.
Myself and Anne-Marie went to bed and left them continue to party. Next morning, their rooms looked like a bomb went off. Bodies all over the place, mattresses and sheets everywhere, beer bottles here, bags of goon there!! haha nothing less than you'd expect from the Terraces!
Unfortunately, the girls go home now in the next few days. They'll be packing today. Its gonna be a lot quieter without them.
These girls are gas. At any given time of the day they'll be going into all the houses, drunk off their faces, full of energy, and getting people to come party with them! They are the life and soul of tge whole street.
But alas, they're going back to Kildare.
The night was fun, as expected. We started off in the terraces having beers, and a bit of a sing song with me guitar. Then when everyone was suitably drunk, we went to the Side bar in town. More drinking ensued and it got pretty messy! Then afterwards, back home to the terraces for more beer and fun.
Myself and Anne-Marie went to bed and left them continue to party. Next morning, their rooms looked like a bomb went off. Bodies all over the place, mattresses and sheets everywhere, beer bottles here, bags of goon there!! haha nothing less than you'd expect from the Terraces!
Unfortunately, the girls go home now in the next few days. They'll be packing today. Its gonna be a lot quieter without them.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Party in 17
There was a party last night in number 17! This seems to be the main party house in the street. The lads in it are great craic. Our first day in Sydney, we ended up down there within 10 minutes with me guitar singin a song for the already drunk household, in exchange for a few beers! ;)
Anyway, there was a party last night up there. The whole street was there. They opened up the garage and put all the spare chairs they could find in there, as well as a table for the food. They had cooked a BBQ and had enough food for everyone! It was really cool. I'd say there was easily 35 people crammed into that garage! Great way to get to know people! After a while, the party started to spread out, since the police came knocking on the door and asked us to keep it down! (This was to be something we'd get used to over time!)
Some people went into the house, the rest went out the back to the communal grass area. The grass area is really cool. There are benches out back and some lights so its the perfect outdoor sitting room for drinking and having fun!
It pretty cool. Everyone was just sitting around drinking, and getting along. Good first party in the Terraces I'd say.
Anyway, there was a party last night up there. The whole street was there. They opened up the garage and put all the spare chairs they could find in there, as well as a table for the food. They had cooked a BBQ and had enough food for everyone! It was really cool. I'd say there was easily 35 people crammed into that garage! Great way to get to know people! After a while, the party started to spread out, since the police came knocking on the door and asked us to keep it down! (This was to be something we'd get used to over time!)
Some people went into the house, the rest went out the back to the communal grass area. The grass area is really cool. There are benches out back and some lights so its the perfect outdoor sitting room for drinking and having fun!
It pretty cool. Everyone was just sitting around drinking, and getting along. Good first party in the Terraces I'd say.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
First week in Sydney
So we've settled into our new house. Myself and Anne-Marie are in number 25 on the street, Ciara and Donna are in number 24, and Dave and Nikki are in 25. Christy is still floating about somewhere. There was no more free rooms on the street so he's staying the hostel down the street, which is owned by the same people. When I say he' staying there, I mean he was told he has a room there, but he's still actually sleeping out of the back of the van! We still have them for another 2 weeks so he's fine. Although, the guys in the office told us that another room in number 24 will be empty next week, and the other room will also have 1 bed so myself and Anne-Marie will move into the room with 2 beds, and Christy can share with the guy thats in the other room. Sorted! :D
I'm starting to get used to this place now. We live right beside the bus stop where we can get a bus right into the centre of the city. We went in to see the Opera House. I felt like such a tourist! But it was good. After seeing the opera house on Tv from the opposite side of the world, it was good to finally be here in person! From the opera house, you had agreat view across the river and of the harbour bridge. Yuo can actually do a walk across the harbour bridge, but it takes 3 hours and theres no toilet break! Haha, that might put us off doing it, but it'd still be fun to do it! We'll see how we get on in the future.
So, now we're settled, we need to figure out how to get ourselves a job! To the jobsites I go....
I'm starting to get used to this place now. We live right beside the bus stop where we can get a bus right into the centre of the city. We went in to see the Opera House. I felt like such a tourist! But it was good. After seeing the opera house on Tv from the opposite side of the world, it was good to finally be here in person! From the opera house, you had agreat view across the river and of the harbour bridge. Yuo can actually do a walk across the harbour bridge, but it takes 3 hours and theres no toilet break! Haha, that might put us off doing it, but it'd still be fun to do it! We'll see how we get on in the future.
So, now we're settled, we need to figure out how to get ourselves a job! To the jobsites I go....
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sydney - Bout frickin time!!
Haha about frickin time is right! While I absolutely loved travelling down the east coast, I longed for a bed that wasn't in the back of a van! And with AnneMarie over, I doubt we'd fit in the back of the van with Christy!!
We got a house in the Sydney Terraces. A row of 10 houses, and a few more around the corner, that were inhabited solely by Irish backpackers/alcoholics! Rent is $145 a week. Its a decent enough place. Has all the mod cons you need. TV, Oven, filthy microwave, washing machine, dryer :D.
I reckon the reason it was a party street was coz there's literally nothing else to do in the area. Theres a small shopping centre, 2 pubs, and thats it. Theres a small town a few minutes walk up the road called Newtown. This has a few nightclubs. It has a huge gay scene. Lesbians everywhere! This would've been so good if they were good lookin....but they weren't, unfortunately!! :p
The place seems cool though. There's a communal grass area out the back with a BBQ. Really nice.
Oh, and the houses are directly under a flight path, and it near the airport, so the planes get pretty low over our heads, especially when the Airbus A380 flies a few metres over the house!! They start at 6:30am and stop at 11:30pm. Handy for whe nya wanna get up early, but not so handy when ya've been up early and want sleep before 11pm! :p
We'll see how it goes. First port of call....getting a job!
We got a house in the Sydney Terraces. A row of 10 houses, and a few more around the corner, that were inhabited solely by Irish backpackers/alcoholics! Rent is $145 a week. Its a decent enough place. Has all the mod cons you need. TV, Oven, filthy microwave, washing machine, dryer :D.
I reckon the reason it was a party street was coz there's literally nothing else to do in the area. Theres a small shopping centre, 2 pubs, and thats it. Theres a small town a few minutes walk up the road called Newtown. This has a few nightclubs. It has a huge gay scene. Lesbians everywhere! This would've been so good if they were good lookin....but they weren't, unfortunately!! :p
The place seems cool though. There's a communal grass area out the back with a BBQ. Really nice.
Oh, and the houses are directly under a flight path, and it near the airport, so the planes get pretty low over our heads, especially when the Airbus A380 flies a few metres over the house!! They start at 6:30am and stop at 11:30pm. Handy for whe nya wanna get up early, but not so handy when ya've been up early and want sleep before 11pm! :p
We'll see how it goes. First port of call....getting a job!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Brisbane - The Return
After returning to Brisbane, I was staying in my brothers apartment beside The Ekka. I had my own room, with an inflatable bed to sleep on. Slight improvement on the camper van, I must admit.
The reason I was back in Brisbane was because Anne-Marie was finally arriving in Australia. She was travelling direct from Dublin to Brisbane. Well, not direct, there was a few stopovers. She was flying from Dublin to London, London to Singapore, and then Singapore to Brisbane. She was sick with a cold so it was gonna be a long flight for her. The worst part probably being stuck beside Ronan Keating and his missus on the plane to London while her face was all puffy and with a runny nose. Bad for most people, but worse when you're sick!! :D
So over she came, nearly a full whole days travelling. It was early Wednesday moning Brisbane time when she landed, and I was waiting there at the arrivals hall. I had been excited about her coming over. I had not seen here since June 25th, when I left Ireland. 3 months is a long time in this situation! So when she didn't show after nearly an hour, I began to worry! The last contact I had with her was in Singapore....when she got mysteriously cut off. I hoped it was her credit, but when she didn't show, my mind began to wonder if something else had happened. After another few minutes, she finally popped her head out into arrivals. Apparently she was looking for her bag, and the guy sitting beside her on the plane had unknowingly left his bag in Singapore! Bad luck, but he got it eventually.
So out she came, with about 400 bags in tow :p. 3 months of talking on the phone, and online about how we can't wait to each other, and here we are. I gave her a great big hug and kiss and I took he bags and brought her to the taxi, and back to my brothers. We had booked a hotel for the few days we would be here, instead of sleeping on my brothers inflatable single bed. The hotel was right in the city. We went exploring around the valley, the mall, and the city for a few days. She seemed to like it, but after 4 days, we had to get our flight to Sydney to join back up with the rest of them, who had gone ahead and secured accomodation for us.
The reason I was back in Brisbane was because Anne-Marie was finally arriving in Australia. She was travelling direct from Dublin to Brisbane. Well, not direct, there was a few stopovers. She was flying from Dublin to London, London to Singapore, and then Singapore to Brisbane. She was sick with a cold so it was gonna be a long flight for her. The worst part probably being stuck beside Ronan Keating and his missus on the plane to London while her face was all puffy and with a runny nose. Bad for most people, but worse when you're sick!! :D
So over she came, nearly a full whole days travelling. It was early Wednesday moning Brisbane time when she landed, and I was waiting there at the arrivals hall. I had been excited about her coming over. I had not seen here since June 25th, when I left Ireland. 3 months is a long time in this situation! So when she didn't show after nearly an hour, I began to worry! The last contact I had with her was in Singapore....when she got mysteriously cut off. I hoped it was her credit, but when she didn't show, my mind began to wonder if something else had happened. After another few minutes, she finally popped her head out into arrivals. Apparently she was looking for her bag, and the guy sitting beside her on the plane had unknowingly left his bag in Singapore! Bad luck, but he got it eventually.
So out she came, with about 400 bags in tow :p. 3 months of talking on the phone, and online about how we can't wait to each other, and here we are. I gave her a great big hug and kiss and I took he bags and brought her to the taxi, and back to my brothers. We had booked a hotel for the few days we would be here, instead of sleeping on my brothers inflatable single bed. The hotel was right in the city. We went exploring around the valley, the mall, and the city for a few days. She seemed to like it, but after 4 days, we had to get our flight to Sydney to join back up with the rest of them, who had gone ahead and secured accomodation for us.
Train from Coffs Harbour to Brisbane
So I had to get the train from Coffs Harbour, with my intended destination of Brisbane. Unfortunately, there was some sort of rail works so the train only brought me some of the way. I had to transfer and get a bus the rest of the way.
The train took about 5 or 6 hours, and then the bus a further 5 hours. I bought about 12 bottles of Carlton cold to do me the journey (what I thought was a 10 hour train journey) but unfortunately some old granny sat beside me and there was a family across from me, so I didn't feel like getting sh*t faced drunk! Hopefully they'd get off soon so I could start drinkin and pass some of the time!!!
Unfortunately for me, they stayed all the way. Even more unfortunate was that, even though the bus only had a few people on it, there is a no drinking policy on all Australian buses, punishable by a 3000 dollar fine. Ah well, I'll jsut have to carry them with me until Brisbane. Its not as if 12 bottles are heavy...
Eventually, I arrived in Brisbane. My brother met me off the bus with his friend and off we went to the nearest bar! Some things never change! :D
The train took about 5 or 6 hours, and then the bus a further 5 hours. I bought about 12 bottles of Carlton cold to do me the journey (what I thought was a 10 hour train journey) but unfortunately some old granny sat beside me and there was a family across from me, so I didn't feel like getting sh*t faced drunk! Hopefully they'd get off soon so I could start drinkin and pass some of the time!!!
Unfortunately for me, they stayed all the way. Even more unfortunate was that, even though the bus only had a few people on it, there is a no drinking policy on all Australian buses, punishable by a 3000 dollar fine. Ah well, I'll jsut have to carry them with me until Brisbane. Its not as if 12 bottles are heavy...
Eventually, I arrived in Brisbane. My brother met me off the bus with his friend and off we went to the nearest bar! Some things never change! :D
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Coffs Harbour
The next stop long the line was a small little town called Coffs Harbour. It is situated halfway between Brisbane and Sydney. Its a nice place, with a small enough population.We arrived here out of a need for somewhere to stay. It was getting late so we needed to set up camp at the next place we came to on the highway. What we found was a pleasant surprise! Its these small towns that are the highlight of travelling the east coast.
Theres pretty much one main road in Coffs Harbour. Everything stems from this road. We drove in on this road and went looking for a caravan park. We asked directions in a garage and we got given 2 options. We could pay for the nice caravan park down by the water, or we could park up by the forest up the hill for free. Needless to say, as we are free and easy backpackers, we chose....the caravan park with its nice electricity, TV room and all mod cons!! Haha, you'd hardly expect us to live without electricity for a night???
So we checked into the caravan park anyway. Got settled, and went to explore the place. As it turned out, we ended up exactly where the guy in the garage said we could stay for free. It was up in a kind of viewing area that you can park in, then walk through the forest only to come out the far side at a really nice secluded beach. We went into the forest and thought we were lost, until we met an old woman walking through the forest alone. She told us the beach was only a few minutes walk further down through the forest. She was right. A few minutes later, the forest opened up onto this gorgeous private beach. There was only maybe 10 people on it, including the 6 of us, and it stretched for about a kilometre. We had a dip, got a bit of sun, and headed back through the forest to our vans, still parked back up the far side of the hill.
It was getting late and the light was starting to fade. Throughout our journey, we have always kept an ear out for any dangerous wild animals lurking in the bushes beside our vans. A few times we've heard things, including up in Port Douglas when we had the infamous Crocodile incident, mistaking water for a crocodile, only to see Christy dive into the van, pushing the girls out of the way to get there! So Coffs Harbour was no different. As we were finishing up, we heard some rustling in the bushes. Not big enough to be human, but still big enough to be dangerous. We listened on as it got louder and louder, closer and closer. Noises sound a lot scarier when you're in a strange country, where nearly everything is either poisonous, or dangerous to humans, and you haven't a clue how to tell the difference.
The noise got closer. We still had no clue what it was, only that it was big! We got the torches out. We even tried throwing stuff into the trees to either scare it off, or flush it out so we could see what it was. Everything went quiet. Did we scare it away? Did we kill it with out leftover ham sandwiches? Neither! The noise returned, this time only a few metres away in the bushes. After a few more seconds everthing became clear. As the noise veered towards an opening in the bushes, we saw a figure. It was about6 foot tall, and definately not human. As it came out behind the bushes, we saw standing in front of us, a 6 foot odd tall......bird!! Yes, it was an emu or an ostrich, or cassaworie or something like that. It was cool to see such a creature in the wild, but still an anti-climax that it wasn't a vicious croc, or massive snake or something cool and dangerous that could have killed us!! Ah well, maybe next time!
We returned for the night to the caravan park, and the next morning, we would go our separate ways. AnneMaries flight landed in a few days, and I needed to get back to Brisbane to meet her at the airport. About midday, I was dropped off at the train station, and they all headed on to Sydney.
The train didn't actually leave until after 3pm, so I had a few hours to kill. I decided to explore the town, and I found a nice nature reserve over by the sea. It was a steep climb with my bag on my back, but I made it. Theres a viewing area on the far side that I sat for a while. I managed to spot several schools of dolphins, which was amazing, as well as seeing a hump back whale off in the distance. I had seen both dolphins and whales before, but never from such a vantage point. Definately one of the highlights of my trip!
I went for a bit more exploring, had some food, then caught the train to Brisbane. My brother said he'd meet me off it so I had a point of contact once I got to Brisbane.
Theres pretty much one main road in Coffs Harbour. Everything stems from this road. We drove in on this road and went looking for a caravan park. We asked directions in a garage and we got given 2 options. We could pay for the nice caravan park down by the water, or we could park up by the forest up the hill for free. Needless to say, as we are free and easy backpackers, we chose....the caravan park with its nice electricity, TV room and all mod cons!! Haha, you'd hardly expect us to live without electricity for a night???
So we checked into the caravan park anyway. Got settled, and went to explore the place. As it turned out, we ended up exactly where the guy in the garage said we could stay for free. It was up in a kind of viewing area that you can park in, then walk through the forest only to come out the far side at a really nice secluded beach. We went into the forest and thought we were lost, until we met an old woman walking through the forest alone. She told us the beach was only a few minutes walk further down through the forest. She was right. A few minutes later, the forest opened up onto this gorgeous private beach. There was only maybe 10 people on it, including the 6 of us, and it stretched for about a kilometre. We had a dip, got a bit of sun, and headed back through the forest to our vans, still parked back up the far side of the hill.
It was getting late and the light was starting to fade. Throughout our journey, we have always kept an ear out for any dangerous wild animals lurking in the bushes beside our vans. A few times we've heard things, including up in Port Douglas when we had the infamous Crocodile incident, mistaking water for a crocodile, only to see Christy dive into the van, pushing the girls out of the way to get there! So Coffs Harbour was no different. As we were finishing up, we heard some rustling in the bushes. Not big enough to be human, but still big enough to be dangerous. We listened on as it got louder and louder, closer and closer. Noises sound a lot scarier when you're in a strange country, where nearly everything is either poisonous, or dangerous to humans, and you haven't a clue how to tell the difference.
The noise got closer. We still had no clue what it was, only that it was big! We got the torches out. We even tried throwing stuff into the trees to either scare it off, or flush it out so we could see what it was. Everything went quiet. Did we scare it away? Did we kill it with out leftover ham sandwiches? Neither! The noise returned, this time only a few metres away in the bushes. After a few more seconds everthing became clear. As the noise veered towards an opening in the bushes, we saw a figure. It was about6 foot tall, and definately not human. As it came out behind the bushes, we saw standing in front of us, a 6 foot odd tall......bird!! Yes, it was an emu or an ostrich, or cassaworie or something like that. It was cool to see such a creature in the wild, but still an anti-climax that it wasn't a vicious croc, or massive snake or something cool and dangerous that could have killed us!! Ah well, maybe next time!
We returned for the night to the caravan park, and the next morning, we would go our separate ways. AnneMaries flight landed in a few days, and I needed to get back to Brisbane to meet her at the airport. About midday, I was dropped off at the train station, and they all headed on to Sydney.
The train didn't actually leave until after 3pm, so I had a few hours to kill. I decided to explore the town, and I found a nice nature reserve over by the sea. It was a steep climb with my bag on my back, but I made it. Theres a viewing area on the far side that I sat for a while. I managed to spot several schools of dolphins, which was amazing, as well as seeing a hump back whale off in the distance. I had seen both dolphins and whales before, but never from such a vantage point. Definately one of the highlights of my trip!
I went for a bit more exploring, had some food, then caught the train to Brisbane. My brother said he'd meet me off it so I had a point of contact once I got to Brisbane.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Byron Bay
We pulled up in Byron Bay today. From what we heard it was meant to be similar to Nimbin, in the way that it was very relaxed, and the population has a penchant for locally grown weed!
We arrived in the afternoon. Myself and Christy were a little behind the rest so we arranged to meet up with them in one of the car parks by the sea. By the time we arrived, we could tell it was a big tourist attraction, especially compared to Nimbin. It was nice and clean, and really small, and the whole town was full of visiting campers, ranging from Wicked Vans drivers like ourselves, to full winnabagos driven by middle aged couples.
The town itself was just like any regular small town we encountered. It had its coffee shops, its supermarkets, few pubs etc. The only difference really being the locals. They had managed to combine the "hippy" lifestyle of Nimbin, with a more civilised, more mainstream lifestyle, probably due to the good surf experinced there, which brough all sorts of people to the town, and obviously you can't really surf too well if you're half baked all the time! Not safely anyway! :p
The beaches were nice, the town was nice and its most famous atraction, the lighthouse, was worth the few dollars entry fee into the car park! The lighthouse was situated at the cliffhead up atop the hill. From here, you can see for miles out into the sea. This is good whale watching country, as wel as for watching dolphins. I can see why, as it is surrounded by water on nearly all sides. You've got about a 300 degree view of the water.
We had a look around, took some photos, and headed back, but not before seeing what we thought was a snake. We thought we saw out first snake of the whole trip...but alas, as we got closer, we saw it had legs. Just another salamander, or whatever they're called! :p
We headed back to town after a while to look for accomodation. The place seemed quite busy so hopefully we could get accomodation without too much hassle. We went back to the road and start asking in a few places. They were all full. We even had trouble finding parking around the town. We wanted to stay here the night so we probably would have found a spot on the side of the road somewhere if we were stuck. After all, we were in camper vans, so we may as well get some use out of them. Luckily, we found a caravan park a few minutes out of Byron Town. We stayed there the night and headed off in the morning. Byron was a nice little town but we decided to head on down the highway, and see where it took us...
We arrived in the afternoon. Myself and Christy were a little behind the rest so we arranged to meet up with them in one of the car parks by the sea. By the time we arrived, we could tell it was a big tourist attraction, especially compared to Nimbin. It was nice and clean, and really small, and the whole town was full of visiting campers, ranging from Wicked Vans drivers like ourselves, to full winnabagos driven by middle aged couples.
The town itself was just like any regular small town we encountered. It had its coffee shops, its supermarkets, few pubs etc. The only difference really being the locals. They had managed to combine the "hippy" lifestyle of Nimbin, with a more civilised, more mainstream lifestyle, probably due to the good surf experinced there, which brough all sorts of people to the town, and obviously you can't really surf too well if you're half baked all the time! Not safely anyway! :p
The beaches were nice, the town was nice and its most famous atraction, the lighthouse, was worth the few dollars entry fee into the car park! The lighthouse was situated at the cliffhead up atop the hill. From here, you can see for miles out into the sea. This is good whale watching country, as wel as for watching dolphins. I can see why, as it is surrounded by water on nearly all sides. You've got about a 300 degree view of the water.
We had a look around, took some photos, and headed back, but not before seeing what we thought was a snake. We thought we saw out first snake of the whole trip...but alas, as we got closer, we saw it had legs. Just another salamander, or whatever they're called! :p
We headed back to town after a while to look for accomodation. The place seemed quite busy so hopefully we could get accomodation without too much hassle. We went back to the road and start asking in a few places. They were all full. We even had trouble finding parking around the town. We wanted to stay here the night so we probably would have found a spot on the side of the road somewhere if we were stuck. After all, we were in camper vans, so we may as well get some use out of them. Luckily, we found a caravan park a few minutes out of Byron Town. We stayed there the night and headed off in the morning. Byron was a nice little town but we decided to head on down the highway, and see where it took us...
Friday, September 5, 2008
Nimbin
Nimbin - what can I say. If there was ever a strong argument against legalising cannabis....this is it!
I've been to Amsterdam and I have seen first hand the marijuana culture over there. Nimbin is similar. As far as I know, its not legal here, but the police just turn a blind eye. The place is full of stoners and hippys who's lives seem to revolve around smoking weed, weed history, and uhh....I forget....wait....what?
The town itself is one street, fairly run down. It is way out in the middle of the mountains about 2 hours drive from anywhere remotely recognised as civilisation. People flock to the place based purely on its reputation for good weed. The visitors stand out like a bar of soap in a pile of cow dung, owing to the lack of "Free the Weed" or "Dont drink and drive, smoke weed and fly" t-shirts. Walking along the street, I saw a man sitting on a stool outside the marijuana museum (a thinly disguised hash shop with a few "the history of..." posters, and Jimi Hendrix pictures) who was smoking a pipe. He must have been pushing 70. The mans arms were stick thin, his flesh loosely hanging, his hands shaking, and in between coughing he would take another smoke of his pipe. I got the impression that this guy had been sitting there since his younger days, and had probably been stoned ever since! These people grow their own product, and make money from selling to the tourists. I didn't like the place. It was populated with the people I hate the most....that is, people who overly promote hash as this wonderous substance that is completely harmless, and wear "Weedboy" t-shirts made from hemp! I was surrounded by them. It was nasty. Of the few locals I spoke to, the only ones that were nice to you, were selling some form of hash brownie, or cheap weed. The ones that werent selling simply came across as idiots.
We bought a sampling of the local produce anyway, and tried it out later back in the camper vans. Dave rolled a pure weed joint for Donna, and she was on the floor after about 5 minutes. The rest of them smoked regular joints with tobacco mixed in, after seing what happened to our guinea pig!
After the 1 night there, we all agreed that was enough, and made our way out of the town. Onwards to Byron Bay. Hopefully it will be a better experience...
I've been to Amsterdam and I have seen first hand the marijuana culture over there. Nimbin is similar. As far as I know, its not legal here, but the police just turn a blind eye. The place is full of stoners and hippys who's lives seem to revolve around smoking weed, weed history, and uhh....I forget....wait....what?
The town itself is one street, fairly run down. It is way out in the middle of the mountains about 2 hours drive from anywhere remotely recognised as civilisation. People flock to the place based purely on its reputation for good weed. The visitors stand out like a bar of soap in a pile of cow dung, owing to the lack of "Free the Weed" or "Dont drink and drive, smoke weed and fly" t-shirts. Walking along the street, I saw a man sitting on a stool outside the marijuana museum (a thinly disguised hash shop with a few "the history of..." posters, and Jimi Hendrix pictures) who was smoking a pipe. He must have been pushing 70. The mans arms were stick thin, his flesh loosely hanging, his hands shaking, and in between coughing he would take another smoke of his pipe. I got the impression that this guy had been sitting there since his younger days, and had probably been stoned ever since! These people grow their own product, and make money from selling to the tourists. I didn't like the place. It was populated with the people I hate the most....that is, people who overly promote hash as this wonderous substance that is completely harmless, and wear "Weedboy" t-shirts made from hemp! I was surrounded by them. It was nasty. Of the few locals I spoke to, the only ones that were nice to you, were selling some form of hash brownie, or cheap weed. The ones that werent selling simply came across as idiots.
We bought a sampling of the local produce anyway, and tried it out later back in the camper vans. Dave rolled a pure weed joint for Donna, and she was on the floor after about 5 minutes. The rest of them smoked regular joints with tobacco mixed in, after seing what happened to our guinea pig!
After the 1 night there, we all agreed that was enough, and made our way out of the town. Onwards to Byron Bay. Hopefully it will be a better experience...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Surfers Paradise
The night before we left Brisbane, I had gone out for a few beers. I ended up returning to the caravan park at 7am. We left at 9am, and I had gotten an hour sleep. Christy woke me up and I was still quite drunk. Not a good start to a road trip.
Luckily, I slept for literally the whole trip down to Surfers Paradise. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the Q1 building. The whole place was full of skyscrapers, but he Q1 building is the tallest in Australia so stood out a bit more. My first impression of the place was that, even though the buildings were big, the streets were small. It was a very tight little town. We drove around a bit to get our bearings, and got separated as usual, and found each other again and then went to look for a caravan park. We found a nice little spot near to the water and checked in. We got a spot together, and funnily enough, right beside the german backpackers that we were beside in the Brisbane caravan park! We seem to keep meeting people again the further south we go.
We went exploring, once we checked in. The town itself was within walking distance, and was pretty small. The beach was really nice, as was the esplanade and beach front. Even though it seemed like a nice, affluent place, I still got the feeling that it was quite tacky. My sister describes it as "Ballymun in the sun", which is how she also describes the Canary Islands and Spains holiday resorts. I think its quite accurate.
After our first night there, the heavens opened and it rained for our remaining 2 days, with the exception of the time it took us to walk outside, get a taxi, and get to the nearest pub for the organised pub crawl we signed up for. As soon as we got indoors....rain again. Very heavy rain! Luckily it didn't last long, as the walks in between pubs would have been very unpleasant.
The pub crawl itself was nothing special. It was basically what it said on the tin. The organisers basically just brough us to about 5 or 6 different bars, and left us alone to ourselves, with the exception of one party game, which was pretty crap actually. Nothing like the old party games back in Scraggs Alley in Carlow during Rag Week!
So, after a few days in Surfers Paradise, after having not seen a single surfer the whole time I was there, we departed. I suppose its one of those places you have to see once. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to all the hype. Admittedly, all the hype coming from its name! :p
Nimbin, here we come...
Luckily, I slept for literally the whole trip down to Surfers Paradise. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the Q1 building. The whole place was full of skyscrapers, but he Q1 building is the tallest in Australia so stood out a bit more. My first impression of the place was that, even though the buildings were big, the streets were small. It was a very tight little town. We drove around a bit to get our bearings, and got separated as usual, and found each other again and then went to look for a caravan park. We found a nice little spot near to the water and checked in. We got a spot together, and funnily enough, right beside the german backpackers that we were beside in the Brisbane caravan park! We seem to keep meeting people again the further south we go.
We went exploring, once we checked in. The town itself was within walking distance, and was pretty small. The beach was really nice, as was the esplanade and beach front. Even though it seemed like a nice, affluent place, I still got the feeling that it was quite tacky. My sister describes it as "Ballymun in the sun", which is how she also describes the Canary Islands and Spains holiday resorts. I think its quite accurate.
After our first night there, the heavens opened and it rained for our remaining 2 days, with the exception of the time it took us to walk outside, get a taxi, and get to the nearest pub for the organised pub crawl we signed up for. As soon as we got indoors....rain again. Very heavy rain! Luckily it didn't last long, as the walks in between pubs would have been very unpleasant.
The pub crawl itself was nothing special. It was basically what it said on the tin. The organisers basically just brough us to about 5 or 6 different bars, and left us alone to ourselves, with the exception of one party game, which was pretty crap actually. Nothing like the old party games back in Scraggs Alley in Carlow during Rag Week!
So, after a few days in Surfers Paradise, after having not seen a single surfer the whole time I was there, we departed. I suppose its one of those places you have to see once. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to all the hype. Admittedly, all the hype coming from its name! :p
Nimbin, here we come...
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Goodbye Brisbane
So, its time to leave Brisbane.
I had a good time here, seen the sights, met the people, and eh....did some shopping.
We checked out at 10am from Newmarket Gardens. I had been out the night before and got home at 7am. Christy woke me at 9am and I was still drunk but my hangover had also kicked in with great vengeance and force, due to lack of sleep! I hopped in the van and hoped for a bit of sleep along the Bruce Highway on our way to Surfers Paradise.
Unfortunately, our plan of staying here a month and working had not come to fruition, so we left before Anne-Marie had arrived. I had promised I'd meet her there so she wasn't happy when I told her we'd left!
I was going to have to return to Brisbane, most likely alone.....but I didn't mind, as I knew it'd be a bit of fun.
Ayway, it was goodbye to Brisbane (for the moment) and Hello Surfers Paradise!!
I had a good time here, seen the sights, met the people, and eh....did some shopping.
We checked out at 10am from Newmarket Gardens. I had been out the night before and got home at 7am. Christy woke me at 9am and I was still drunk but my hangover had also kicked in with great vengeance and force, due to lack of sleep! I hopped in the van and hoped for a bit of sleep along the Bruce Highway on our way to Surfers Paradise.
Unfortunately, our plan of staying here a month and working had not come to fruition, so we left before Anne-Marie had arrived. I had promised I'd meet her there so she wasn't happy when I told her we'd left!
I was going to have to return to Brisbane, most likely alone.....but I didn't mind, as I knew it'd be a bit of fun.
Ayway, it was goodbye to Brisbane (for the moment) and Hello Surfers Paradise!!
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