Australia

A Week in Sydney

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My time in Sydney started off with perhaps the most shifty airport transfer in Australia, but still, I made it to the hostel in one piece.

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I went straight from the hostel to Circular Quay to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Last year, I was having a bit of a shit time and I set my wallpaper to a picture of the Opera House, kind of to remind myself that one day soon, I’d be as far away from where I was as possible, and seeing it felt great – as though I gave the final two fingers.

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After, I grabbed myself a sandwich and went to China Town – just to get my head around the public transport system. I saw a counter with custard filled cream puffs with a big queue, so went to see what the fuss was about. They were amazing. I went back to the hostel after, and it seems as though I picked a bit of a party hostel – there have been people pouring goon down their throats and I’m trying to read a book. At the rate I’m going, I feel as though I’m due a mid life crisis in comparison to the others.

I had seen an article on Buzzfeed about a bunch of places you wouldn’t expect to find in Sydney, and the easiest place to get to was Taylor’s Port. I went on Wednesday – it’s a pretty nice walk there, and was surprised to see lizards sat in the middle of the paths – I think I have seen similar sized small dogs. The path lead to a small beach where I stayed for a couple of hours, sharing the beach with 15 or so other people.

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Thursday, I was planning to go to Blue Mountain but I suspect that I sprained my ankle last week so I’d give it a bit longer to heal. Instead, I headed to Bondi to do the Coastal Walk to Coogee Beach, but I got to Bronte before wanting to head back, so I caught the bus. After, I went to China Town for a few cream puffs, then it started raining so I went back to the hostel.

I leart the hard way why your just don’t wear flip flops to a fish market on Friday. Fishy feet. The market wasn’t that different to ones in say, Borough Market, but this one had a choice of hot food to cook. Food-wise, there was a lot of shellfish on offer – scallops, lobster, squid, though when you understand how food poisoning works, it’s preferable to get something else. I chose barramundi as it’s a well liked fish over here, and it was one of the best bits of fish that I’ve eaten in a while.

On Saturday, I was desperate for something to do so I opted for the 10km walk from Manly to Spit and got the bus back to Manly, then the ferry back to Circular Quay. It was a pretty nice walk, I preferred it to the Bondi to Bronte one.

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Yesterday, I went to Blue Mountain, which was posted yesterday.

Overall, I felt underwhelmed by Sydney – after spending so long in Melbourne, it just feels the same but with better weather and beaches and a fancy Opera House. I think that over New Years I’m going to skip the Sydney idea and find somewhere chilled out. One of the things that I’m missing about travelling through Europe is that I’d take a flight for an hour and a half and be in a different culture and eating something that matches the culture. I can at least take advantage of it next month when I go to Hong Kong and eat myself into a coma, probably induced by copious amounts of dim sum.

A day in the Blue Mountains

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This morning, I got on the 8.18 train from Central and arrived at the Blue Mountains by 10.45, with a little walk from the station to the mountains. After the lookout points,  I went to have a walk in the mountains. I’d just wanted to spend a couple of hours there, doing a few trails, but managed to get well and truly lost and spent just over four hours attempting to navigate a route out. I’d say that I walked around 17km, a lot of it up hills and stairs; although a nice place to walk, sod getting lost in there again.img_2575 img_2573

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North West Tasmania: a Food Tour

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To clarify, I am not in Australia with Kanye West’s child.

I am stopping in Devonport to go on a food tour with the company Australian Wild Harvest. I had a fantastic day; we stopped off at a salmon farm, Ashgrove Cheese, Anvers Chocolate, a pig farm for lunch (cheese, pork, salad, wine), olive oil tasting, a cider house/distillery and a vineyard.

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Launceston

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It took around two and a half hours to reach Launceston, a small city in northern Tasmania. With my stuff in the hostel, I went on a brewery tour in Boag’s which I think will be the last one for a while. The tour in itself was alright, but with it being the fifth or so brewery that I’ve visited in the space of a few days, I am well informed of the process of beer making. After, I went for a walk in the city and bought some dinner.

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Wednesday, I went to Cataract Gorge for the morning – it’s more or less a canyon with a few walking paths around, a really nice place for a long walk, though I chose a less strenuous path to begin with. I wanted some lunch after and I remembered an article that I’d read about the best 50 burgers in the world, and there is a burger joint here ranked amongst Fergburger in New Zealand. For those who aren’t familiar, Fergburger are famous for their over-sized, delicious burgers, and when I’m in New Zealand in two years time, it’s one of the places that I want to visit the most. After a quick schooner in a nearby bar, I visited the burger joint which ended up being a disappointment as it was alright at best – I have made a lot better. After, I headed to the city park where they have a monkey enclosure and watched the monkeys sod around for a good half hour or so.

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The next day I popped into town, there was blue sky and sun so I went back to Cataract Gorge for a two hour hiking path, then came back to the hostel for a rest.

Earlier today,  I went to Cradle Mountain – it seemed as though it’d be a drive there with a stop off, then do your own thing for a few hours, then come back. Instead,  it was a shuttle bus to take people to and from a six day hiking path and the people who opted for a day tour did a few bits and pieces to keep the driver busy for a few hours. I feel as though I was ripped off by the company so there is one of my infamous emails coming to them soon.

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For me, Launceston has been nice, but it won’t be the thing that jumps out at me when I think of Tasmania. It’d be a bit of a different story if the was no issue about driving, as I would have gone to the Tamar Wine Valley and driven myself to Cradle Mountain as well. I have my last stop in Tasmania tomorrow to go on a food tour on Sunday,  then I’ll make a start on the East Coast.

Hobart

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Finally, I have left my job and Melbourne – there were a couple of days between leaving work and flying into Hobart which were spent packing and trying to re-organise my backpack. The last night was spent at a pub quiz, our team The Great Barrier Queef did shockingly bad but the team name made up for it.

On Thursday I flew to Hobart and had to get a taxi with a couple of guys staying up the road to me as the airport bus was full. Thursday evening I did nothing, then Friday morning I went to the top of Mt.Wellington. The views from the top were awesome although it was so windy at the top that I think that if you took a small dog on a lead it’d turn into a kite. After, I went to MONA, having heard great things about it. The gallery lived up to the reputation of being weird and wonderful – it took a good couple of hours to get around the place. It’s one of the best galleries that I’ve been to, and if time permitted I would’ve visited the brewery there too.

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On Friday I went out for most of the day with some people in the hostel for literally a piss up in a brewery (or five). It was a good day out, with a stop for some pho in the middle to re-line my stomach.

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There was the option in one place to go for some chocolate stout, which I remember from a beer festival in Budapest on my second time there; it wasn’t quite the same but still bloody good. There was also quite a nice English beer named Brexit. In one of the last bars we were given beer jam, so naturally I tried it on a croissant for breakfast on Saturday morning. Not quite a hangover cure, but still good.

Saturday, I went to Salamanca Market – I was expecting more like a farmers market, but it was more like a flea market, not one that I was a fan of either. After, I headed to Cascade Brewery which took around 40 minutes to walk door to door, then went on their tour. It was pretty good for $25, with four tasting drinks at the end. By now, I think that I’ve been to enough breweries to last a few days, and since on Sunday I had a trip to Wineglass Bay, I came back to the hostel to put my feet up.

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Today, it’s warm but raining so I had a look round some shops and went to read my book with a coffee. Tomorrow, I’m leaving Hobart to go up north and hopefully heading to Cradle Mountain during the week.

Wineglass Bay

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Today, I opted to go on a tour to Wineglass Bay since my driving skills aren’t brilliant. To be fair,  I would’ve paid the $90 to not hire a car and spend 7 hours driving anyway. Once we arrived, we walked up to the lookout point, then the group split up. I chose to go to the beach as it’s ranked one of the top in the world, to walk there was good but to get back up was a right pain in the arse.

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Melbourne: Week Fifteen

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This week turned out as expected: heaps of work. I didn’t have Friday off, then I had it off, then got booked in for work. I had my last shift at work earlier on today which once again brought my hours up to above 60, and a payslip that I shall be quite happy with.

Besides work, I went back out again with the tour operators Hike and Seek to the Great Ocean Road. The tour once again was really well done and they provided me with a copious amount of coffee, which was well needed after the past couple of weeks. The company are really taking off which is great to see, especially as the people behind it are lovely, and when I’m back in Melbourne I’ll definitely check out their tours that they are starting.

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Last night I came back to the hostel last and there were people pouring alcohol down their necks almost as though the world was about to end, and I am so glad that I’m not participating in that kind of shit. Although a box of something that vaguely resembles wine costs under $10 and the following day unable to function, I’d rather just spend the money on something that I will really appreciate.

Tomorrow will be my first day where I can wake up after 5.30 am since last Thursday so I’m going to take advantage of that and get more than six hours sleep. I’m going to go out into the CBD and buy stuff for the next leg of my trip, then Tuesday I’ll carry on planning before I leave Melbourne on Wednesday.

Melbourne: Week Fourteen (and a Half)

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Last week wasn’t that eventful – I was still off work for the most part, only worked three shifts. I went out on the piss on Friday and ended up with a shift on Saturday thanks to my drunken antics, so now I have a new answer to the how easy is it to find a job in Australia question. It was actually quite an enjoyable shift. Besides work, I went for a walk down to St Kilda Beach and, as usual, been for a few drinks.

One night during the week I shared a room with the most inconsiderate people who when asked to shut up at 1/2/3am got louder and tried to make us not sleep. Me being me, I sent the reception a shitty email which was described as “sassy yet professional” by someone I showed it to. It resulted in three people getting chucked out of the hostel which was a spectacular result.

Saturday I went for a 10km hike in the Grampians National Park which was bloody good – I went with the tour operators Hike and Seek, who take you on the 6 hour round journey in their combi, as well as guiding the walk. It was so nice to get out of the city for a bit, especially on a day with perfect weather for a walk.

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This week so far I have worked 30 hours, and might be having another 17-30 or so left depending on a few things. It’s finally my last week in Melbourne and shall be on the move again on Wednesday next week, which means that my blog posts shall become a lot more exciting. In the meantime, I’m going to actually get some sleep on Monday and get my shit together for continuing with my travels.

Melbourne: Week Thirteen

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For a change, I didn’t have work this week – I hurt my back so I wasn’t allowed to come in. I made pretty good use of my time off; I went down the park and played Frisbee, went out for a couple of drinks and was part of a team who won a pub quiz. Saturday, I went for a walk with some other long termers in the hostel around the lake outside – there was such nice weather, the kind of morning that made me realise that I’m lucky to live here.

I actually booked Tasmania up this week and spending two weeks over four places, then heading to Sydney for a week, where I think I’ll be spending New Years Eve this year too.

This week at the moment I only have one shift so I may be out doing touristy stuff. After this week I only have a week left until I leave Melbourne.

Melbourne: Week Twelve

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This past week has been rough: over 60 hours worked over six days in a row. I woke up on Thursday excited for Friday evening so that I could sleep and not have to wake up until the afternoon, probably a sign that I need to reign it in a bit. I’ve still managed a few beers though, which means that the week wasn’t a huge disaster. Tonight,  I played some Cards Against Humanity with the long-termers in the hostel which was a laugh.

Next week will thankfully be a lot quieter on the work front, and have booked Monday and Sunday off, so I can actually do something semi-productive tomorrow. With only three to four weeks left in the city,  I’ve booked up to go on a 11km hike at the weekend and there are a few bits and pieces that I want to do. Tomorrow, I’m going to find a cafe, caffeinate myself up and come up with a definite plan for leaving the city and what I’m going to do in the meantime, as well as booking some flights to Tasmania and Hong Kong.