Happy New Year 2008 to Everyone :D I´m bored... I should be at the airport now, boarding for my flight to Bangkok. But I just got a phonecall from Quantas telling the flight has been delayed by 3 hours. So now I´m just sitting at home waiting :/ Everyone else went to Taronga Zoo to reserve a spot to see the midnight fire works. I wish I could´ve gone with them. New Year is such a big thing in Sydney! I´ve seen some previous fire works on TV and they looked amazing. Tons of people are already camping around Circular Quay to reserve spots to see them. Well, enough about complaining.
On Saturday I went to see the musical Billy Elliot with Sharon at the Capital Theatre. Even though we had the cheapest tickets we had a good view to the stage, and really enjoyed the musical :) The musical followed pretty much the story line of the movie, but they had added some numbers with fun and dancing. The boy playing Billy was a good singer & dancer and performed lots of skilled tap dancing. My favorites were the group numbers with lots of people on the stage. So we had an enjoyable evening, that was followed by few drinks at the roof top.
Yesterday was my last day in Sydney. I spent the day packing (my suitcase is overweight and I´m kinda worried about checking it in later today) and then we had a small party at Cameron and Kath´s new place. Their apartment is really nice indeed! It was just me, them, Tim, Sharon, NingNing, Loure Lou and Carlos there. We grilled some food and played games. They had this funny video game where you had to play the guitar and I got pretty addicted to it lol. Then we started playing this board game, but I decided to take the train home at midnight cause I was falling asleep...
Blaah... Still 3 hours before it´s time to leave for the airport. Maybe I´ll walk to Darling Harbour or something to see if anything´s going on there. Anyways, I´ll be in Asia for the next two weeks so I don´t think I´ll be updating my blog, apart from writing some really short messages. See ya all soon <3 It´s good to be coming back home!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
My Australian Christmas
Sweet, I´ve finally finished writing about the East Coast road trip. Now I´ve been back in Sydney for over a week, and to be honest I´ve been counting days till my trip to Asia. It´s been a bit boring here… Living in Gumal has been fine, apart from having flatmates that eat my food :/ This is a really big housing unit compared to Geegal and the atmosphere is more anonym. Geegal people are spread out to different flats, but we see each other every now and then, either at someone´s flat or at the roof top. The UTS wireless network works at the roof top, so I just have to take my laptop upstairs to use the internet.
So, I had my first Christmas in the middle of summer this year :) At first it felt a bit confusing having Christmas decorations, songs, presents and everything even though it wasn´t snowy and cold, but it was fine after I got used to it. I had no special plans for Christmas, but ended up having a good time anyways. On Christmas Eve morning I was at the roof top surfing online, when these Austrian people came there to bake cookies. (Gumal flats don´t have ovens so people use the common one located at the roof top.) Even though they didn´t know me they invited me to join them for dinner that evening, which was really friendly of them :) So I went to Coles to buy some cake mix and baked muffins to bring to the dinner. I would´ve wanted to make rice porridge for lunch but couldn´t find proper rice, so I ended up buying just some sushi rolls. The dinner started at 6pm. It was around 10 people there and everyone had brought something: meat & veggies for grilling, bread, salad, desserts… It was lots of delicious food; a mix of Australian and international Christmas traditions. Australians don´t really have a lot of traditional Christmas food, though, but they grill a lot and eat sea food.
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The weather was quite bad till Christmas, which was the main reason to my boredom. Fortunately it´s been hot and sunny the past days, and I´ve enjoyed being outside. I´m trying to consume as much sun and warmth as I can before returning to the cold Finland! The gym closed a week ago. I only got to go there twice – to do a workout with weights and to do Patricia´s super circuit class – and I felt kinda sad leaving the gym for the last time. Having being going there 3-5 times a week for a year, I had gotten to know people there and was kinda attached to the place. But I´ll find a new gym in Lappeenranta to keep up my training! This week I´ve been running and doing some push-ups, sit-ups and stuff in Victoria Park. And of course I´ve spent hours laying by the pool :) Besides that I´ve been to the hairdressers (got my hair died dark), Taxation Office, Darling Harbour (for ice cream and drinks)… And I got my spring semester results: Economics of the Firm 90% (high distinction - my first (and only) one, yey!) Human Resource Management 73% (credit – 2 more percents would´ve given me distinction) and The Financial System 65% (credit – I totally blew the exam, oh well…).
I´m flying to Bangkok on Monday, so I think this is my last posting from Sydney. It doesn´t seem real my exchange year is almost over. I decided I wanted to go to Australia already before I was accepted to LUT, and now I´ve fulfilled my dream. It´s been a great year and I wouldn´t change it to anything! A lot of people keep asking me if I´ll return to Australia. I don´t know. This is a great country, but there´s still so much more in the world to explore that I´ve never seen before. I´ll come back to Australia for holidays for sure, but about living here again, I´ll have to wait and see what future brings along…
So, I had my first Christmas in the middle of summer this year :) At first it felt a bit confusing having Christmas decorations, songs, presents and everything even though it wasn´t snowy and cold, but it was fine after I got used to it. I had no special plans for Christmas, but ended up having a good time anyways. On Christmas Eve morning I was at the roof top surfing online, when these Austrian people came there to bake cookies. (Gumal flats don´t have ovens so people use the common one located at the roof top.) Even though they didn´t know me they invited me to join them for dinner that evening, which was really friendly of them :) So I went to Coles to buy some cake mix and baked muffins to bring to the dinner. I would´ve wanted to make rice porridge for lunch but couldn´t find proper rice, so I ended up buying just some sushi rolls. The dinner started at 6pm. It was around 10 people there and everyone had brought something: meat & veggies for grilling, bread, salad, desserts… It was lots of delicious food; a mix of Australian and international Christmas traditions. Australians don´t really have a lot of traditional Christmas food, though, but they grill a lot and eat sea food.
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Christmas Lunch
Housing offered everyone a free lunch on Christmas Day. I was upstairs again, surfing online, and since Darkan was preparing the lunch by himself I offered to help. So I helped him to cook some of the dishes, decorate cakes and set the table. It was a lot of different dishes: salads, chicken, chips, Turkish yoghourt pasta, Indian bread and curry, fruit, pavlova, cakes… Quite a lot of people showed up and it wasn´t long until all the food was gone! Everyone felt so full after all the eating. Most people decided to have a nap, but Daniel and I felt like going for a run. So we did a nice, slow Christmas Day run to Centennial Park, where lots of families were grilling their lunch/dinner.
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Preparing Christmas Dinner
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A cake that I decorated :P
The weather was quite bad till Christmas, which was the main reason to my boredom. Fortunately it´s been hot and sunny the past days, and I´ve enjoyed being outside. I´m trying to consume as much sun and warmth as I can before returning to the cold Finland! The gym closed a week ago. I only got to go there twice – to do a workout with weights and to do Patricia´s super circuit class – and I felt kinda sad leaving the gym for the last time. Having being going there 3-5 times a week for a year, I had gotten to know people there and was kinda attached to the place. But I´ll find a new gym in Lappeenranta to keep up my training! This week I´ve been running and doing some push-ups, sit-ups and stuff in Victoria Park. And of course I´ve spent hours laying by the pool :) Besides that I´ve been to the hairdressers (got my hair died dark), Taxation Office, Darling Harbour (for ice cream and drinks)… And I got my spring semester results: Economics of the Firm 90% (high distinction - my first (and only) one, yey!) Human Resource Management 73% (credit – 2 more percents would´ve given me distinction) and The Financial System 65% (credit – I totally blew the exam, oh well…).
I´m flying to Bangkok on Monday, so I think this is my last posting from Sydney. It doesn´t seem real my exchange year is almost over. I decided I wanted to go to Australia already before I was accepted to LUT, and now I´ve fulfilled my dream. It´s been a great year and I wouldn´t change it to anything! A lot of people keep asking me if I´ll return to Australia. I don´t know. This is a great country, but there´s still so much more in the world to explore that I´ve never seen before. I´ll come back to Australia for holidays for sure, but about living here again, I´ll have to wait and see what future brings along…
Thursday, December 27, 2007
(East Coast:) Driving, ballet, Manly...
Monday 17.12.
The last two days of our trip were mostly just driving. We got up quite early and drove to Byron Bay. It was cloudy and rainy, so instead of going to the beach we decided to do this 4km-long walking loop in Cape Byron. It was worth walking, since we saw some cool beaches filled with surfers, high rocks, the most eastern point of Australia, a lighthouse and some forest. We also got some proper exercise because the walk contained lots of stairs! After the walk we drove to the little town centre, and after walking around for a while found this nice café where we wanted to have lunch. We shared this huge piece of spinach pie with salad and Turkish bread, and with cappuccino it was a delicious meal indeed.
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We had some 400km left to drive to Port Macquire so we just drove, stopping just to go to the toilet or change drivers. It was nice driving while listening to the radio :) We arrived in Port Macquire in the evening, and our last backpackers was a nice, quiet and comfy place. We walked to the nearby Coles to buy sauce for our pasta dinner, and cooked it in the kitchen. After watching TV for a while we went to bed.
Tuesday 18.12.
We had a 400km-long drive to Sydney, so we woke up at 7am to get an early start. We drove straight, stopping only to change drivers and tank the car. Because of good highways with several lines and high speed limits (110km/h) we arrived in Sydney at around 2pm. We decided to drive straight to Hertz to return the car. I had been a bit worried about finding the right exit and driving in downtown, but did really well :) Juulia drove and I read the map and gave directions. The only confusing time was when we were driving on the Harbour Bridge and had to choose from 6 different lines going either to east or west and with different road payments. With good luck we chose the right one and ended up on George Street, from where I knew the way. Returning the car in good condition felt relieving! And we had saved $200 each by not taking the insurance :)
We took the bus to Central and walked to Gumal, where my (or actually Moy´s) new room is located. I called Tim and he came to give me Moy´s student card, which is also the key. We got into the apartment, and headed straight to Coles to buy light lunch. Then it took us a while to get ready for a ballet. I had booked us tickets to go see The Nutcracker at the Opera House. We decided to go out to eat in Circular Quay before the ballet, and chose the same restaurant I had been to with Silja in February. It was kinda a nice decision, to begin and end my exchange year at the same restaurant. I chose a pumpkin frittata with salad and Juulia had some kind of chicken wraps.
We were at the Opera House just in time to find our seats, that provided truly restricted view. I wonder if you can find any crappier seats :/ But the ballet was excellent! It started Clara, the main character, celebrating Christmas with her family and their many guests. It was just so many skilled dancers, beautiful costumes and colourful preps! The dancer playing Clara´s part was this symphatic and happy looking tiny Chinese girl, who was an excellent dancer. All the other dancers were great, too, and I enjoyed both the solos/pair numbers and group performances. It´s amazing how the male dancers can jump so high with such ease! The first half was more about the story, while the second half contained more skilful dancing with the performances of different nationalities. I really wish I could´ve seen the ballet from a decent seat… After the ballet we went to the Opera Bar by the sea to have cocktails. We both chose cocktails with red berries :P Then we just took the bus back home, and went to sleep after a long day.
Wednesday 19.12.
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The last two days of our trip were mostly just driving. We got up quite early and drove to Byron Bay. It was cloudy and rainy, so instead of going to the beach we decided to do this 4km-long walking loop in Cape Byron. It was worth walking, since we saw some cool beaches filled with surfers, high rocks, the most eastern point of Australia, a lighthouse and some forest. We also got some proper exercise because the walk contained lots of stairs! After the walk we drove to the little town centre, and after walking around for a while found this nice café where we wanted to have lunch. We shared this huge piece of spinach pie with salad and Turkish bread, and with cappuccino it was a delicious meal indeed.
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The beach at Byron Bay
We had some 400km left to drive to Port Macquire so we just drove, stopping just to go to the toilet or change drivers. It was nice driving while listening to the radio :) We arrived in Port Macquire in the evening, and our last backpackers was a nice, quiet and comfy place. We walked to the nearby Coles to buy sauce for our pasta dinner, and cooked it in the kitchen. After watching TV for a while we went to bed.
Tuesday 18.12.
We had a 400km-long drive to Sydney, so we woke up at 7am to get an early start. We drove straight, stopping only to change drivers and tank the car. Because of good highways with several lines and high speed limits (110km/h) we arrived in Sydney at around 2pm. We decided to drive straight to Hertz to return the car. I had been a bit worried about finding the right exit and driving in downtown, but did really well :) Juulia drove and I read the map and gave directions. The only confusing time was when we were driving on the Harbour Bridge and had to choose from 6 different lines going either to east or west and with different road payments. With good luck we chose the right one and ended up on George Street, from where I knew the way. Returning the car in good condition felt relieving! And we had saved $200 each by not taking the insurance :)
We took the bus to Central and walked to Gumal, where my (or actually Moy´s) new room is located. I called Tim and he came to give me Moy´s student card, which is also the key. We got into the apartment, and headed straight to Coles to buy light lunch. Then it took us a while to get ready for a ballet. I had booked us tickets to go see The Nutcracker at the Opera House. We decided to go out to eat in Circular Quay before the ballet, and chose the same restaurant I had been to with Silja in February. It was kinda a nice decision, to begin and end my exchange year at the same restaurant. I chose a pumpkin frittata with salad and Juulia had some kind of chicken wraps.
We were at the Opera House just in time to find our seats, that provided truly restricted view. I wonder if you can find any crappier seats :/ But the ballet was excellent! It started Clara, the main character, celebrating Christmas with her family and their many guests. It was just so many skilled dancers, beautiful costumes and colourful preps! The dancer playing Clara´s part was this symphatic and happy looking tiny Chinese girl, who was an excellent dancer. All the other dancers were great, too, and I enjoyed both the solos/pair numbers and group performances. It´s amazing how the male dancers can jump so high with such ease! The first half was more about the story, while the second half contained more skilful dancing with the performances of different nationalities. I really wish I could´ve seen the ballet from a decent seat… After the ballet we went to the Opera Bar by the sea to have cocktails. We both chose cocktails with red berries :P Then we just took the bus back home, and went to sleep after a long day.
Wednesday 19.12.
(Even though being back in Sydney already I consider this as a part of the holiday since Juulia was still with me.) We would´ve wanted to go to the beach, but because it was a rather cloudy day we decided to do this walk in Manly instead. So after going to Coles we took the ferry over to Manly, where we picked up maps from the info centre. The walk was 10km long, and went mostly along the shoreline. I was glad I got to do it, since it provided some good views over Manly and Sydney. Some of the highlights of the walk were also these big, posh houses with great views and instant access to the beach. The walk consisted of some look outs, ideal for taking pictures, and a part of bush walking. We sat down every now and then, but reached the end point of the walk after a couple of hours anyways. It was a beach by a park, and we had our picknic lunch there. We had bought blueberry muffins, accompanied with grapes and chocolate. Then we laid down on the beach and would´ve fallen asleep if the wind hadn´t gotten too strong to make us feel cold. We decided to head home, and took a bus to Wynyard and then to Central.
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Nice houses in Manly
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A view over Sydney
We spent a quiet night at home. We cooked chicken curry for dinner, watched ER and just hung out. Juulia´s flight departed early the next morning, so she had to do some packing. I was too lazy to wake up to take her to the airport, so we just said quick good byes before she left. And anyways we´ll be seeing each other in Lappeenranta really soon :) (Auch, I´ll be home in less than 3 weeks…)
East Coast: Gold Coast
Saturday 15.12.
We woke up at 7am, planning to be at the gates of Dream World (an amusement park in Gold Coast) promptly at 10am, when it opened. We were well in time, until we were at the car park, all ready to go. But our car wouldn´t start :( This time we had turned the driving lights off so we couldn´t figure out what was wrong. We asked help from this construction man, who tried to do something to start the car but didn´t get it working. Then we called Hertz and had to wait almost for an hour before they arrived. We had ran out of battery again – this time because of leaving the little reading light on. We felt so very stupid doing the same mistake twice! Anyways, after we got our battery recharged we started driving towards Gold Coast, and arrived in Dream World at noon.
Gold Coast is a touristic place with several theme parks, beaches and lots of partying. It´s packed during school holidays and especially high school seniors go there to celebrate the end of their studies. So we expected Dream World to be really busy, but it wasn´t. We didn´t have to queue long for any rides. There were different “worlds” there, each having a theme of some sort. The area was quite big, but not huge. We started to go on to all the different rides: roller coasters, high dropping towers, spinning and swinging things etc… After some hours we felt hungry and bought over priced chicken wraps before walking through an animals section. They had both farm animals and some wild animals. Then we went to ride on log river, which was the only ride we had to queue for. Then we went to test the tower of terror, which was really high indeed! The Australian Big Brother had been filmed in Dream World and now the house was open for public. Juulia had been following the show so we went to see the house. Then we had some time to do our favourite rides again, before the park closed at 5pm.
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We woke up at 7am, planning to be at the gates of Dream World (an amusement park in Gold Coast) promptly at 10am, when it opened. We were well in time, until we were at the car park, all ready to go. But our car wouldn´t start :( This time we had turned the driving lights off so we couldn´t figure out what was wrong. We asked help from this construction man, who tried to do something to start the car but didn´t get it working. Then we called Hertz and had to wait almost for an hour before they arrived. We had ran out of battery again – this time because of leaving the little reading light on. We felt so very stupid doing the same mistake twice! Anyways, after we got our battery recharged we started driving towards Gold Coast, and arrived in Dream World at noon.
Gold Coast is a touristic place with several theme parks, beaches and lots of partying. It´s packed during school holidays and especially high school seniors go there to celebrate the end of their studies. So we expected Dream World to be really busy, but it wasn´t. We didn´t have to queue long for any rides. There were different “worlds” there, each having a theme of some sort. The area was quite big, but not huge. We started to go on to all the different rides: roller coasters, high dropping towers, spinning and swinging things etc… After some hours we felt hungry and bought over priced chicken wraps before walking through an animals section. They had both farm animals and some wild animals. Then we went to ride on log river, which was the only ride we had to queue for. Then we went to test the tower of terror, which was really high indeed! The Australian Big Brother had been filmed in Dream World and now the house was open for public. Juulia had been following the show so we went to see the house. Then we had some time to do our favourite rides again, before the park closed at 5pm.
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One of the rides
We drove to Surfers Paradise, which is the heart of Gold Coast, and found our hostel pretty easily. It was located conveniently next to the city centre, and despite of having to share the room with these really messy British girls it was fine. They had all their stuff laying around the room – I found even some $20-notes on the floor! When we checked in the hostel staff informed us about this pub crawl. It was organized together with other backpackers hostels, and included bus rides to the town centre and back, entrance to 4 clubs, free drinks & pizza and some stuff. Since it was only $30 we decided to go for it. Before the pub crawl started we walked to a nearby 7-Eleven to buy milk and had instant noodles for dinner.
We had just enough time to get ready before the bus came to pick us up. It was a real party group of over 50 people :) Many of them had been drinking already and were in a good party mood. Our first destination was this club right in the city centre. We were given our free drink coupons at the door and naturally everyone went straight to the bar. We got pretty standard drinks: vodka mixed with juice/lemonade/soft drinks. After having the drinks and sitting down for a while the organizers managed to get the group together and we walked to this square for a group picture, from where we went to the next club. It was a bigger place, where we spent most of the time dancing and chatting with these German guys, as well as with this guy from Wales. Our third destination was a nice club, as well, and we ended up dancing on a stand there. We were given free pizza before entering to the fourth club. Juulia and I decided not to go in, though, since it was already 2am and we wanted to get up early the next morning. So we walked back to our hostel through the town centre. The streets were filled with party people, and apart from some stores and restaurants there were tons of clubs and bars there!
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We had just enough time to get ready before the bus came to pick us up. It was a real party group of over 50 people :) Many of them had been drinking already and were in a good party mood. Our first destination was this club right in the city centre. We were given our free drink coupons at the door and naturally everyone went straight to the bar. We got pretty standard drinks: vodka mixed with juice/lemonade/soft drinks. After having the drinks and sitting down for a while the organizers managed to get the group together and we walked to this square for a group picture, from where we went to the next club. It was a bigger place, where we spent most of the time dancing and chatting with these German guys, as well as with this guy from Wales. Our third destination was a nice club, as well, and we ended up dancing on a stand there. We were given free pizza before entering to the fourth club. Juulia and I decided not to go in, though, since it was already 2am and we wanted to get up early the next morning. So we walked back to our hostel through the town centre. The streets were filled with party people, and apart from some stores and restaurants there were tons of clubs and bars there!
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Party girls ;)
Sunday 16.12.
It was the day to spend in White Water World, a water park next to Dream World. We got up in time to drive there so that we were at the gates at 10am, right when it opened. The weather was half sunny with some occasional clouds and wind, but it was warm enough most of the time. We started the day testing all the different slides – there were many of them! There were all kinds of tubes, tunnels and slopes, and some of the slides were so deep they created quite high speeds. Rubber tubes were used for most of the slides. Juulia and I preferred to slide together using a double tube, because we were heavier together, getting more speed. 4-person tubes were used for the biggest slides, and there was one long ride with rubber boats. In the afternoon we had a lunch break, and then rested for a while, just laying on comfy sun chairs, before heading back to our favourite slides. We spent the rest of the day having a great time; sliding and climbing up the stairs to slide again :) The park closed at 5pm, after which we drove back to Surfers Paradise to our hostel.
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It was the day to spend in White Water World, a water park next to Dream World. We got up in time to drive there so that we were at the gates at 10am, right when it opened. The weather was half sunny with some occasional clouds and wind, but it was warm enough most of the time. We started the day testing all the different slides – there were many of them! There were all kinds of tubes, tunnels and slopes, and some of the slides were so deep they created quite high speeds. Rubber tubes were used for most of the slides. Juulia and I preferred to slide together using a double tube, because we were heavier together, getting more speed. 4-person tubes were used for the biggest slides, and there was one long ride with rubber boats. In the afternoon we had a lunch break, and then rested for a while, just laying on comfy sun chairs, before heading back to our favourite slides. We spent the rest of the day having a great time; sliding and climbing up the stairs to slide again :) The park closed at 5pm, after which we drove back to Surfers Paradise to our hostel.
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The water park
After taking showers we had just a little time to walk to the beach to take pictures before it got dark. It´s a long beach right next to skyscrapers, and looked like a nice place to spend a sunny day. But since it was an evening already we decided to walk around the town centre to explore the place. So we walked up and down the streets, going in to some souvenir and clothing stores and spotting nice looking restaurants and clubs. It wasn´t as busy as the previous night, but the streets began to fill with some party people anyways. We walked back to our hostel to eat some instant noodles, and then headed back to the town centre for ice cream. We bought the biggest ice creams from Copenhagen Ice Cream :P I think it took us over half an hour to finish them! Then we walked around some more before going back to the hostel. It was easy to fall asleep after spending the day in the water…
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The beach and skyscrapers
Monday, December 24, 2007
East Coast: Brisbane
Thursday 13.12.
When we woke up in the morning we had a nice surprise waiting for us: It had rained during the night and all of our laundry, that we had left outside to dry, was soaking wet. Fortunately they had dryers so we used one to dry most of our clothes while we had breakfast and got ready for our drive to Brisbane. It was only 300km from Hervey Bay to Brisbane, so we arrived there right after noon. Finding our hostel was relatively easy – we made only one mistake turning to a wrong street – but it took a while to find the right parking hall. Being Palace Backpackers guests we got discount when parking at a certain hall so we naturally wanted to park there. Our hostel was located right in the city centre, and it was a nice old building with five floors and an old style elevator (using the stairs was quicker). After having some lunch at the hostel we started to wander around the city.
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First we checked out the Queen Victoria Mall, which is a walking street full of shopping centres, food courts and stores. There´re some nice cafes in the middle of the street and we had coffee at one of them. We kept walking around the city centre and saw some old buildings, squares with Christmas trees and more stores. We would´ve wanted to check out this casino, but weren´t allowed in because we were wearing thongs. Then we randomly found a Hertz office and went in to ask for our radio pin number. They were helpful and gave us a pin that would most likely work for Toyota Corollas. Before it got dark we headed to Eagle Street that is by the river. There´re many nice looking restaurants and ferry wharfs there. All in all, it didn´t take long to explore most of the Brisbane city centre, and to be honest I think there´re more things to do and see in Sydney and Melbourne.
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We checked out a few squares – open areas with some sort of monuments and sights – and went to eat lunch at one of the food courts. We had big portions of Japanese food, but there´s always room for dessert, so we had these huge pieces of cake at an outdoor café at Queen Victoria Mall. Mine was called 5-chocolate cake and I guess it´s needless to say how delicious it was :P Then we walked around a bit more and checked out some clothing stores. I had made an appointment to get my toe nails painted and Juulia decided to come in with me. The Chinese girl misunderstood me in the beginning and started to do a pedicure, until I noticed it and corrected her. I got my nails painted with dark purple colour, after which we headed back to South Bank for markets. They were good markets indeed! We spent quite a while wandering around and fell in love with these cute hand-made bags. Juulia bought one, while I decided to save my money and luggage space till Asia. We also found this place selling nuts, dried fruit and yoghurt covered things. They had samples of everything and we ate tons of them! We did buy a box of dried banana slices to snack in the car, though.
From the markets we walked back to our hostel. Because of having such a huge lunch we didn´t feel like eating any dinner. There was a nice looking bar downstairs so we went there for a while. All backpackers bars sell basic drinks for so cheap! It didn´t help us much, though, because due to our tight travelling schedule we hadn´t time for drinking. We both preferred having only one or few drinks per night so that we could get up early the next morning to drive and do things.
When we woke up in the morning we had a nice surprise waiting for us: It had rained during the night and all of our laundry, that we had left outside to dry, was soaking wet. Fortunately they had dryers so we used one to dry most of our clothes while we had breakfast and got ready for our drive to Brisbane. It was only 300km from Hervey Bay to Brisbane, so we arrived there right after noon. Finding our hostel was relatively easy – we made only one mistake turning to a wrong street – but it took a while to find the right parking hall. Being Palace Backpackers guests we got discount when parking at a certain hall so we naturally wanted to park there. Our hostel was located right in the city centre, and it was a nice old building with five floors and an old style elevator (using the stairs was quicker). After having some lunch at the hostel we started to wander around the city.
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Palace Backpackers
First we checked out the Queen Victoria Mall, which is a walking street full of shopping centres, food courts and stores. There´re some nice cafes in the middle of the street and we had coffee at one of them. We kept walking around the city centre and saw some old buildings, squares with Christmas trees and more stores. We would´ve wanted to check out this casino, but weren´t allowed in because we were wearing thongs. Then we randomly found a Hertz office and went in to ask for our radio pin number. They were helpful and gave us a pin that would most likely work for Toyota Corollas. Before it got dark we headed to Eagle Street that is by the river. There´re many nice looking restaurants and ferry wharfs there. All in all, it didn´t take long to explore most of the Brisbane city centre, and to be honest I think there´re more things to do and see in Sydney and Melbourne.
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At the city centre
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A cute teddybear store
After preparing pasta at our hostel we changed our clothes, crabbed drinks (we hadn´t drunk any of the drinks we had bought for Fraser Island so we brought the cans back and kept carrying them with us – actually, I still have one of them in my fridge at the moment) and went outside. We wanted to finish our drinks before getting to the train, so we took this escalator up and ended up to a random inner yard of some office building. We sat there for a while before taking the train to Chinatown. According to Lonely Planet it was one of the main partying areas in Brisbane, and we walked around looking for a nice place to have drinks. We found this club whose decorations we liked and walked in. After sitting down we started talking with this British guy, whose company was having its Christmas party there. We got to know almost everyone from the party and they bought us drinks (vodka with soda water – I couldn´t finish mine). It was fun chatting with them and we stayed there almost till midnight. Then we took the train back to our hostel, where we used the internet for a while.
Friday 14.12.
We woke up fairly early and headed towards Botanical Gardens. The weather continued to be nice and sunny so we had a nice walk around the gardens. There´re so many beautiful flowers, trees and plants here, especially in the summer! We were given a private tour around the Parliament House, which is located next to the gardens and is very similar to those I had seen in Canberra. Also the Queensland University of Technology campus is right next to the gardens, so we walked through it. It looked just like a normal campus. We also took this short board walk through some plants growing in the river before heading to Eagle Street to take a ferry to South Bank. The ferry trip lasted only for 20min but provided some nice views of the city. South Bank is basically a street next to the river with green parks, plenty of restaurants, a few shops and a big artificial swimming area. We sat by the pool for a while before walking over a bridge back to the city centre.
Friday 14.12.
We woke up fairly early and headed towards Botanical Gardens. The weather continued to be nice and sunny so we had a nice walk around the gardens. There´re so many beautiful flowers, trees and plants here, especially in the summer! We were given a private tour around the Parliament House, which is located next to the gardens and is very similar to those I had seen in Canberra. Also the Queensland University of Technology campus is right next to the gardens, so we walked through it. It looked just like a normal campus. We also took this short board walk through some plants growing in the river before heading to Eagle Street to take a ferry to South Bank. The ferry trip lasted only for 20min but provided some nice views of the city. South Bank is basically a street next to the river with green parks, plenty of restaurants, a few shops and a big artificial swimming area. We sat by the pool for a while before walking over a bridge back to the city centre.
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Showing off my skills
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A view of Brisbane
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The South Bank
We checked out a few squares – open areas with some sort of monuments and sights – and went to eat lunch at one of the food courts. We had big portions of Japanese food, but there´s always room for dessert, so we had these huge pieces of cake at an outdoor café at Queen Victoria Mall. Mine was called 5-chocolate cake and I guess it´s needless to say how delicious it was :P Then we walked around a bit more and checked out some clothing stores. I had made an appointment to get my toe nails painted and Juulia decided to come in with me. The Chinese girl misunderstood me in the beginning and started to do a pedicure, until I noticed it and corrected her. I got my nails painted with dark purple colour, after which we headed back to South Bank for markets. They were good markets indeed! We spent quite a while wandering around and fell in love with these cute hand-made bags. Juulia bought one, while I decided to save my money and luggage space till Asia. We also found this place selling nuts, dried fruit and yoghurt covered things. They had samples of everything and we ate tons of them! We did buy a box of dried banana slices to snack in the car, though.
From the markets we walked back to our hostel. Because of having such a huge lunch we didn´t feel like eating any dinner. There was a nice looking bar downstairs so we went there for a while. All backpackers bars sell basic drinks for so cheap! It didn´t help us much, though, because due to our tight travelling schedule we hadn´t time for drinking. We both preferred having only one or few drinks per night so that we could get up early the next morning to drive and do things.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
East Coast: Fraser Island
So, it´s Christmas Eve tomorrow… I´ve got no plans so I guess it´s gonna be just like any other day really :/ Yesterday I went to Christmas in Domain-concert with Renar, Tim and Loure Lou. We met Sharon and some of her friends there. The concert started at 8.30pm but they had been there since 10am to reserve good spots. It was a huge outdoor concert with more than 100 000 people, all sitting on the grass, holding candles and singing along to the songs. There was a big stage and some popular artists and choirs performing, and the event was broadcasted live on television. Most of the songs were well-known Christmas carols and it really put me into Christmas mood :) They also had cool fireworks three times during the concert!
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Anyways, I´m still trying to finish writing my travel report so here we go…
Monday 10.12.
Our alarm clock was set to wake us up at 5.30am, after having slept for 3 hours. I felt surprisingly good after taking a shower and had no problems staying awake for the rest of the day. Our Fraser Island tour info session started at 6.30am at another backpackers. It was just a 3min-drive away from the hostel we had stayed at, but we managed to spend almost half an hour trying to find it. (I guess we were a bit tired after all…) When we got there they were already showing an info video telling about camping rules and driving tips on the island. Then we were divided into groups of 10 people and had to pay some fees, sing forms etc. before starting to write a shopping list. We were going to do a self-drive tour on Fraser Island, meaning that we were grouped with 10 people and provided with a 4wheel car, tents, sleeping bags and other camping equipment. We were given a suggested itenary of what to do each day so that we could see everything important on the island. So, since we had to cook our own food, we were taken to Woolworths for grocery shopping before driving to the ferry that took us over to Fraser Island. We also had to drive to this warehouse to pick up our camping stuff – tents, a grill, coolers, a table, a light, plates & cutlery, a water tank etc. – and were shown how to properly pack everything in the car. Our car was loaded with people, stuff and food when we began our trip. Fortunately we got more space as we kept eating the food.
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Our 4w-drive car
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Christmas in Domain
Anyways, I´m still trying to finish writing my travel report so here we go…
Monday 10.12.
Our alarm clock was set to wake us up at 5.30am, after having slept for 3 hours. I felt surprisingly good after taking a shower and had no problems staying awake for the rest of the day. Our Fraser Island tour info session started at 6.30am at another backpackers. It was just a 3min-drive away from the hostel we had stayed at, but we managed to spend almost half an hour trying to find it. (I guess we were a bit tired after all…) When we got there they were already showing an info video telling about camping rules and driving tips on the island. Then we were divided into groups of 10 people and had to pay some fees, sing forms etc. before starting to write a shopping list. We were going to do a self-drive tour on Fraser Island, meaning that we were grouped with 10 people and provided with a 4wheel car, tents, sleeping bags and other camping equipment. We were given a suggested itenary of what to do each day so that we could see everything important on the island. So, since we had to cook our own food, we were taken to Woolworths for grocery shopping before driving to the ferry that took us over to Fraser Island. We also had to drive to this warehouse to pick up our camping stuff – tents, a grill, coolers, a table, a light, plates & cutlery, a water tank etc. – and were shown how to properly pack everything in the car. Our car was loaded with people, stuff and food when we began our trip. Fortunately we got more space as we kept eating the food.
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Our 4w-drive car
First we took a ferry over to Fraser Island, where we had to decrease our tyre air pressure so that we could drive on soft sand. Didi (from Germany) had begun driving, and he ended up being our pro driver almost for the whole trip. Many other vehicles got stuck on the sand but we had no problems. Driving on soft sand is pretty similar to driving on snow and Didi had practiced that quite a bit. To be honest, I did get a bit scared every now and then when we were either driving really fast (80km/h – the speed limit on the beach) and lost control and just started sliding sideways, or were driving on sandy paths with deep hills. Anyways, we began our tour by driving across the island to the east coast of it. Some vehicles got stuck in front of us, and unable to pass them we had to wait till they were rescued. When we finally got out of the road going through forest and were on the beach everyone felt hungry, so we decided to set up our lunch table and have some sandwiches. After lunch we decided to head to the northern part of the island to see the Indian Head and Champagne Pools. It took us around an hour to drive up there. We were given an itenary about tide times, too, meaning that we were allowed to drive only during certain hours of the day when the tide was low.
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A view from Indian Head
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Jumping :)
Since I had been to Fraser Island before I had already seen most of the places and knew quite a bit about them, so I provided the others with some info every now and then. (That´s why I´m not going to write a lot about the places again. You can read more about Fraser Island from my older postings.) So, we climbed up to the look out at Indian Head, and then drove to Champagne Pools. The pools was the only attraction I hadn´t seen before. They´re basically rock formations with shallow and warm sea water. Unfortunately we hadn´t enough time to swim there because we had to drive to our camping place before high tide. We saw a dingo, though. It was walking around at the parking area and I managed to get a good picture of it. We ended up stretching the driving times quite a bit, but got safely to our chosen camping spot. You can basically camp everywhere on the island, either at actual camping areas or at camping zones on the beach. We chose to camp just on the beach, close to some other self-drive tourers.
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A dingo
We built our tents and got started cooking dinner before dark. We used the grill to cook meat, veggies and corn, and had a delicious dinner. Then we just sat around and most people were either drinking or eating these “magic cookies”. Juulia and I didn´t have any of our drinks. We went for a walk on the dark beach. It was beautiful; hearing nothing but the waves and seeing tons of stars on the clear sky. We couldn´t walk far, though, because I was scared of dingos. Being quite tired we went to bed quite early. Juulia and I shared a tent with a Korean girl and boy.
Tuesday 11.12.
We woke up pretty early because sleeping any longer was impossible in our hot tent! Everyone else was awake, too, and we had breakfast and washed dishes. I was feeling quite sick; my stomach hurt and I felt weak and dizzy. I still don´t know why since I didn´t drink the night before and ate all the same food with everyone else. Maybe I was just dehydrated because of the heat or something. So I just sat in the shade feeling bad because of not being able to help the others cleaning the place and packing the car. We wouldn´t have been supposed to drive until 12pm, but we left at around 10am anyways. I got to sit on the front seat, which was a lot more comfortable than sitting on the back. First we went to take pictures of coloured rocks and then to see the Maheno shipwreck. Then we headed to the Eli creek, which is a shallow creek with clear, cold water running through forests and ending to the sea. Despite of the cold water Juulia, I and the Koreans went for a swim there. It felt refreshing and it was nice floating in the water. Then we drove further south and decided to have lunch on the beach near a small creek. After eating sandwiches Ming Young told she had left her thongs to Eli creek, so we had to drive back there to get them.
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Tuesday 11.12.
We woke up pretty early because sleeping any longer was impossible in our hot tent! Everyone else was awake, too, and we had breakfast and washed dishes. I was feeling quite sick; my stomach hurt and I felt weak and dizzy. I still don´t know why since I didn´t drink the night before and ate all the same food with everyone else. Maybe I was just dehydrated because of the heat or something. So I just sat in the shade feeling bad because of not being able to help the others cleaning the place and packing the car. We wouldn´t have been supposed to drive until 12pm, but we left at around 10am anyways. I got to sit on the front seat, which was a lot more comfortable than sitting on the back. First we went to take pictures of coloured rocks and then to see the Maheno shipwreck. Then we headed to the Eli creek, which is a shallow creek with clear, cold water running through forests and ending to the sea. Despite of the cold water Juulia, I and the Koreans went for a swim there. It felt refreshing and it was nice floating in the water. Then we drove further south and decided to have lunch on the beach near a small creek. After eating sandwiches Ming Young told she had left her thongs to Eli creek, so we had to drive back there to get them.
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At Eli Creek
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Lunch at the beach
Then we drove to … Lake. We had to walk a couple of kilometres to get there, which took quite a while for some of us. That´s because Mark is scared of spiders so he had to check the way and stop to take pictures of any big ones. Everyone else went for a swim in the warm water. Being sick I felt pretty tired after the walk so I just rested on the beach and enjoyed the scenery. It’s my favourite spot on Fraser Island: a small lake with clear water surrounded by white sand dunes on one side and by green forest on the other side. We couldn´t spend much time at the lake because we were again stretching the driving times. So we walked back and drove for a while before finding a camping spot. This time we camped more in the bushes. Juulia and I set our tent under some trees, which protected us from the sun in the morning. We also found a “window” on our tent and left it open. We had spaghetti and mince sauce for dinner. Mark is a cook so he prepared us a delicious meal. Everyone was quite tired and went to bed early.
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The lake
Wednesday 12.12.
It had been a lot cooler to sleep in our tent. I felt good again, and washed our dinner dishes with Juulia and heated some water for morning coffee. We were ready to leave pretty soon and drove to Central Station, which is located in the middle of the island and surrounded by rain forests. It´s pretty amazing how much vegetation can grow just on sand! Juulia, I and the Koreans did a short walking loop in the forest while the rest of the group waited for us. Then we drove to … Lake to spend a couple of hours, just relaxing on the beach and swimming in the clean water. It was a really nice afternoon indeed. We had to be back at the wharf at 2pm to take the ferry back to Hervey Bay. We got there pretty early and had time to sit in the café and eat lunch before the ferry departed.
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It had been a lot cooler to sleep in our tent. I felt good again, and washed our dinner dishes with Juulia and heated some water for morning coffee. We were ready to leave pretty soon and drove to Central Station, which is located in the middle of the island and surrounded by rain forests. It´s pretty amazing how much vegetation can grow just on sand! Juulia, I and the Koreans did a short walking loop in the forest while the rest of the group waited for us. Then we drove to … Lake to spend a couple of hours, just relaxing on the beach and swimming in the clean water. It was a really nice afternoon indeed. We had to be back at the wharf at 2pm to take the ferry back to Hervey Bay. We got there pretty early and had time to sit in the café and eat lunch before the ferry departed.
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Breakfast at our camp
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Our whole group at the ferry
When we arrived in Hervey Bay we had to take our camping gear back to the warehouse and then queue at the backpackers to check in. Then it was time to take a shower! It felt so nice after not having showered for 3days and having being all covered in sand. Juulia and I did some laundry and then walked a couple of blocks to the town centre to look for internet places. Unfortunately all of them were closed already, so we just sat at the dark beach for a little while before returning to our hostel for dinner.
When we arrived in Hervey Bay we had to take our camping gear back to the warehouse and then queue at the backpackers to check in. Then it was time to take a shower! It felt so nice after not having showered for 3days and having being all covered in sand. Juulia and I did some laundry and then walked a couple of blocks to the town centre to look for internet places. Unfortunately all of them were closed already, so we just sat at the dark beach for a little while before returning to our hostel for dinner.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
East Coast: Whitsunday sailing
Thursday 6.12.
It was time to pick up our rental car from Hertz and start the road trip! So we walked there in the morning, to face a touch decision of whether or not to take insurance for the car. It would´ve costed $400. Without the insurance, if we had damaged the car we would´ve had to pay a fee up to $4000! After some debating we decided to be extra careful and not to take the insurance, which ended up being a smart decision since we returned the car in a good condition and saved a lot of money :) Anyways, we began driving towards Airlie Beach, where our Whitsunday sailing trip was to depart. After driving for half an hour we received a call from the guy who had booked our tour. He told there had been a mistake and there were no cancellations on the trip we had booked. But he promised to do his best to find an equivalent tour for us. It took him almost 2 hours to find one, but he managed to book us on a tour we wanted. So we continued our journey until it was time to stop in Townsville for a quick swim and lunch.
We found the swimming place – an artificial pool that was closed and a fenced area on the sea – really randomly. (We just turned where ever having no idea of directions until we found the swimming place.) Since the pool was closed we swam in the fenced sea area before going to a nearby beach café for lunch. Then we drove along Esplanade, stopped at another café for coffee and ice cream and at Coles for some food, before continuing driving. There were road works on our way, which slowed us down quite a bit, but we arrived in Airlie Beach at around 9pm. Our hostel reception was closed already and we had to book our rooms at a bar next door. They could only give us our keys, but no bed sheets or cooking & eating stuff. The hostel was quite spread out in a camping area and it took us a while to find the right building. After taking our stuff to our room we went for a walk on the main street – which we had already done earlier looking for an ATM. We bought over priced sandwiches from a convenience store and went to the beach to eat them, before heading back to our hostel. There were many bars and clubs on the main street and lots of young people partying, but we decided just to go to bed instead.
Friday 7.12.
Our sailing trip didn´t depart until 2pm so we had some time to hang around in Airlie Beach before going to the wharf. After collecting our trip info and coupons from a travel agency we headed to the beach & pool area we had been to the night before. It was a nice area indeed with a large pool, lots of grass areas and picknic tables. We sat there for a while and then walked up and down the main street again. I bought a Billabong hat and a tank top and Juulia found some postcards. Then we went to Subways to crab some lunch, and to a bottle shop to buy canned drinks for the sailing trip. When we got to our car to drive to the wharf we had a really nice surprise waiting for us… The car wouldn´t start :( Juulia had forgotten to turn off the driving lights the night before and the car had ran out of battery. All we could do was to call the sailing people and tell them to wait for us while we walked to the wharf. We ended up getting there just in time for our departure, but I felt a bit annoyed knowing we´d have to deal with the car after getting back from sailing.
The sailing boat was called Silent Night, and our group was 12 people plus our skipper and cook. The boat was just big enough to fit everyone inside for sleeping, and it had a small kitchen and a toilet. There was room on the deck for sitting around and sunbathing, which we did most of the time when we were sailing or using the engine. Our trip started with a brief info session about safety and other practices, after which we all went outside to sit on the deck. Juulia and I ate our Subway sandwiches before arriving in our first snorkelling spot. We had to wear stinger suits again to protect us from tiny stingers and they recommended us to snorkel in pairs. Pairing up with Juulia was good, since she spotted a big turtle that we kept following for a while. It was so cool, it looked like it was just peacefully floating in the water. The reef wasn´t as colourful as the one in Cairns, but there was plenty to see anyways.
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It was time to pick up our rental car from Hertz and start the road trip! So we walked there in the morning, to face a touch decision of whether or not to take insurance for the car. It would´ve costed $400. Without the insurance, if we had damaged the car we would´ve had to pay a fee up to $4000! After some debating we decided to be extra careful and not to take the insurance, which ended up being a smart decision since we returned the car in a good condition and saved a lot of money :) Anyways, we began driving towards Airlie Beach, where our Whitsunday sailing trip was to depart. After driving for half an hour we received a call from the guy who had booked our tour. He told there had been a mistake and there were no cancellations on the trip we had booked. But he promised to do his best to find an equivalent tour for us. It took him almost 2 hours to find one, but he managed to book us on a tour we wanted. So we continued our journey until it was time to stop in Townsville for a quick swim and lunch.
We found the swimming place – an artificial pool that was closed and a fenced area on the sea – really randomly. (We just turned where ever having no idea of directions until we found the swimming place.) Since the pool was closed we swam in the fenced sea area before going to a nearby beach café for lunch. Then we drove along Esplanade, stopped at another café for coffee and ice cream and at Coles for some food, before continuing driving. There were road works on our way, which slowed us down quite a bit, but we arrived in Airlie Beach at around 9pm. Our hostel reception was closed already and we had to book our rooms at a bar next door. They could only give us our keys, but no bed sheets or cooking & eating stuff. The hostel was quite spread out in a camping area and it took us a while to find the right building. After taking our stuff to our room we went for a walk on the main street – which we had already done earlier looking for an ATM. We bought over priced sandwiches from a convenience store and went to the beach to eat them, before heading back to our hostel. There were many bars and clubs on the main street and lots of young people partying, but we decided just to go to bed instead.
Friday 7.12.
Our sailing trip didn´t depart until 2pm so we had some time to hang around in Airlie Beach before going to the wharf. After collecting our trip info and coupons from a travel agency we headed to the beach & pool area we had been to the night before. It was a nice area indeed with a large pool, lots of grass areas and picknic tables. We sat there for a while and then walked up and down the main street again. I bought a Billabong hat and a tank top and Juulia found some postcards. Then we went to Subways to crab some lunch, and to a bottle shop to buy canned drinks for the sailing trip. When we got to our car to drive to the wharf we had a really nice surprise waiting for us… The car wouldn´t start :( Juulia had forgotten to turn off the driving lights the night before and the car had ran out of battery. All we could do was to call the sailing people and tell them to wait for us while we walked to the wharf. We ended up getting there just in time for our departure, but I felt a bit annoyed knowing we´d have to deal with the car after getting back from sailing.
The sailing boat was called Silent Night, and our group was 12 people plus our skipper and cook. The boat was just big enough to fit everyone inside for sleeping, and it had a small kitchen and a toilet. There was room on the deck for sitting around and sunbathing, which we did most of the time when we were sailing or using the engine. Our trip started with a brief info session about safety and other practices, after which we all went outside to sit on the deck. Juulia and I ate our Subway sandwiches before arriving in our first snorkelling spot. We had to wear stinger suits again to protect us from tiny stingers and they recommended us to snorkel in pairs. Pairing up with Juulia was good, since she spotted a big turtle that we kept following for a while. It was so cool, it looked like it was just peacefully floating in the water. The reef wasn´t as colourful as the one in Cairns, but there was plenty to see anyways.
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Silent Night - sailing boat
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Inside the boat
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Juulia and I wearing our stinger suits (hot, huh?)
After snorkelling our cook prepared our dinner. We had delicious nachos for appetisers. I took a quick shower – each one of us was allowed to shower for 1min a day – before dinner. We saw a beautiful sunset, and spent the evening sitting on the deck, chatting and drinking whatever we had brought with us. (Juulia and I had bought just 6 cans of those “pop drinks”.) Our skipper took the little rubber boat and drove around, showing us how some plants got activated by movement and became fluorescent, creating a kind of light path behind the moving boat. It looked so cool! Later we played some observation games and it took forever for some of us to get the idea. By that time everyone had pretty much gotten to know each other. Our group consisted of 2 German guys, 3 Irish people, some Bristish people and 2 girls from Switzerland. It was a good group indeed and we all got along really well.
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Sunset at the sea
Saturday 8.12.
We woke up before 7am after sleeping really well in our small cabin. After breakfast we were taken to Whitehaven Beach on the small rubber boat. It´s one of the worlds most famous beaches and the 4th most photographed place in Australia. First we walked to a lookout, and the view from up there was amazing! The beach looked like a paradise with its white sand, palm trees and clear water. We took several pictures before heading down to spend a couple of hours on the beach. It was a really hot day, and after laying down for a while we ended up spending most of the time in the water. It was shallow and we just sat or crawled around. At midday it was time to return to our boat for lunch, and then we headed towards our snorkelling place. There were notably more fish and corals at that place. I saw Nemo fish – both in orange and turquoise – and some big fish. Some people saw jelly fish, too, but I didn´t catch any. When we got back from snorkelling we were given coffee and cookies, which was nice since I always got kinda tired/cold after returning to the boat.
We woke up before 7am after sleeping really well in our small cabin. After breakfast we were taken to Whitehaven Beach on the small rubber boat. It´s one of the worlds most famous beaches and the 4th most photographed place in Australia. First we walked to a lookout, and the view from up there was amazing! The beach looked like a paradise with its white sand, palm trees and clear water. We took several pictures before heading down to spend a couple of hours on the beach. It was a really hot day, and after laying down for a while we ended up spending most of the time in the water. It was shallow and we just sat or crawled around. At midday it was time to return to our boat for lunch, and then we headed towards our snorkelling place. There were notably more fish and corals at that place. I saw Nemo fish – both in orange and turquoise – and some big fish. Some people saw jelly fish, too, but I didn´t catch any. When we got back from snorkelling we were given coffee and cookies, which was nice since I always got kinda tired/cold after returning to the boat.
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Whitehaven Beach
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Whitehaven Beach
The wind was strong enough to sail to our days final destination so we put the sails up. Juulia and I helped pulling up the big sail and everyone else got to do some chores, too. Sailing was cool and we actually went pretty fast at times! When we reached our destination – that was also our snorkelling place the next morning – it was time to admire another beautiful sunset. After it got dark we just sat around chatting. We had delicious lasagne for dinner, accompanied with garlic bread. We went to bed quite early, planning to get a good night sleep.
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Juulia and I putting the sails up
Sunday 9.12.
We woke up again pretty early and went snorkelling right after eating breakfast. Knowing it was my last time snorkelling for a while I tried to make the most out of it, staying in the water for as long as possible. I saw a rather big fish that was kinda square shaped and had a pointy nose, but forgot to check its name from the booklet we were using to identify fish. We would´ve wanted to sail back to Airlie Beach, but unfortunately there was hardly any wind so we had to use the engine. It was really hot and I sat on the shade most of the time.
When we arrived back in Airlie Beach Juulia and I hurried to the backpackers to take showers and get ready for the days long drive. Our car had to be fixed before hitting the road, though. While Juulia was still in the shower I walked to a nearby gas station to ask for cables to charge our battery. A friendly man from a bicycle shop next door happened to be there and offered to lend me this box with cables that I could carry to the car. It was easy enough to start the car, with the help of this German guy who happened to walk by, and by the time Juulia got back from the shower I had the car all fixed. So after returning the cable box we began to drive towards Hervey Bay.
Because of our tight travelling schedule we had to start our Fraser Island tour right the next day, which meant driving 800km that day/night. It was 2pm when we hit the road and we arrived in Hervey Bay at around 1.30am. We only stopped for lunch (fish and chips – the junk food of our trip) at some small town and for short coffee/toilet breaks. Unfortunately our radio had been automatically set to security mode when the battery died so we had no music :/ We tried calling to Hertz for a pin number but they were closed already. So we entertained ourselves talking and listening to a few songs on Juulia´s laptop. The long drive went surprisingly smoothly without either of us getting too bored/tired. When we arrived in Hervey Bay and were searching for our hostel we were stopped by the police who were checking drivers´ alcohol levels. We asked them for directions to our hostel and they were helpful showing us the right way on the map. Later after we had checked in and were waiting for to get into the hostel parking area and same police officers drove there to make sure everything was ok with us. It´s good to have some police friends in Australia :)
We woke up again pretty early and went snorkelling right after eating breakfast. Knowing it was my last time snorkelling for a while I tried to make the most out of it, staying in the water for as long as possible. I saw a rather big fish that was kinda square shaped and had a pointy nose, but forgot to check its name from the booklet we were using to identify fish. We would´ve wanted to sail back to Airlie Beach, but unfortunately there was hardly any wind so we had to use the engine. It was really hot and I sat on the shade most of the time.
When we arrived back in Airlie Beach Juulia and I hurried to the backpackers to take showers and get ready for the days long drive. Our car had to be fixed before hitting the road, though. While Juulia was still in the shower I walked to a nearby gas station to ask for cables to charge our battery. A friendly man from a bicycle shop next door happened to be there and offered to lend me this box with cables that I could carry to the car. It was easy enough to start the car, with the help of this German guy who happened to walk by, and by the time Juulia got back from the shower I had the car all fixed. So after returning the cable box we began to drive towards Hervey Bay.
Because of our tight travelling schedule we had to start our Fraser Island tour right the next day, which meant driving 800km that day/night. It was 2pm when we hit the road and we arrived in Hervey Bay at around 1.30am. We only stopped for lunch (fish and chips – the junk food of our trip) at some small town and for short coffee/toilet breaks. Unfortunately our radio had been automatically set to security mode when the battery died so we had no music :/ We tried calling to Hertz for a pin number but they were closed already. So we entertained ourselves talking and listening to a few songs on Juulia´s laptop. The long drive went surprisingly smoothly without either of us getting too bored/tired. When we arrived in Hervey Bay and were searching for our hostel we were stopped by the police who were checking drivers´ alcohol levels. We asked them for directions to our hostel and they were helpful showing us the right way on the map. Later after we had checked in and were waiting for to get into the hostel parking area and same police officers drove there to make sure everything was ok with us. It´s good to have some police friends in Australia :)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
East Coast: Cairns and Great Barrier Reef
Finally I´ve got something interesting to write about! I just arrived from our road trip to East Coast. We had great 2 weeks of travelling and I´ve got so much to tell I think it´s gonna take some days to finish my trip report… I´m living in Moy´s room in Gumal (another UTS student accommodation) now and I don´t have internet here. So I´m writing this at home and taking it to the uni to publish it online.
Tuesday 4.12.
My trip began with an early morning flight to Cairns, where I met Juulia who had already done a tour in the outback and the northern territories. We took a cab to our backpackers hostel, which was located in the town centre. The weather was notably warmer and more humid than in Sydney and it put me into holiday mood :) First we walked to a nearby shopping mall where I bought some beach accessories and a pair of shorts, and we also crabbed some bread and fruit from Coles. Then we walked through the town centre, which is rather small and compact with lots of travel agencies and souvenir shops. We went to this big lagoon by the sea. It´s an artificial swimming area isolated from the sea, built so that people can swim without being endangered by sharks and jelly fish. There are lots of trees and grass areas around the pool, and we laid there in the sun – eating our picknic lunch and planning our trip. With the help of Lonely Planet we came up with a pretty detailed travel plan, that we ended up following. After sunbathing we did a return walk on the coastline, and saw a really cool kids playground and some exercise stations. Then we just walked back to our hostel, tested quickly the swimming pool there, and grilled some chicken and veggies for dinner.
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Tuesday 4.12.
My trip began with an early morning flight to Cairns, where I met Juulia who had already done a tour in the outback and the northern territories. We took a cab to our backpackers hostel, which was located in the town centre. The weather was notably warmer and more humid than in Sydney and it put me into holiday mood :) First we walked to a nearby shopping mall where I bought some beach accessories and a pair of shorts, and we also crabbed some bread and fruit from Coles. Then we walked through the town centre, which is rather small and compact with lots of travel agencies and souvenir shops. We went to this big lagoon by the sea. It´s an artificial swimming area isolated from the sea, built so that people can swim without being endangered by sharks and jelly fish. There are lots of trees and grass areas around the pool, and we laid there in the sun – eating our picknic lunch and planning our trip. With the help of Lonely Planet we came up with a pretty detailed travel plan, that we ended up following. After sunbathing we did a return walk on the coastline, and saw a really cool kids playground and some exercise stations. Then we just walked back to our hostel, tested quickly the swimming pool there, and grilled some chicken and veggies for dinner.
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The Lagoon
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UV-warning
Wednesday 5.12.
I had booked us a sailing & snorkelling tour on the Great Barrier Reef. It is a huge coral area consisting of a lot of the coastline and many islands, and Cairns is one of the main entrances to see it. Our trip departed at 8am from a nearby wharf. First we were given morning coffee with little muffins inside the catamaran, and after that we went outside to the deck to enjoy the sunshine. It took 2 hours to get to our first destination, where we were given a free scuba diving demonstration. We got all the equipment – wetsuit, mask, fins and air bottle – and spent some time just practicing breathing through the mask, holding onto a rope. We were also taught how to empty our mask of water and how to equalise ear pressure when going deeper. Breathing through the mask felt a bit strange to me at first, until I realised I can actually just breath normally. The instructor took us for a little swim and we saw some cool fish and corals. After returning we had to decide whether or not we wanted to pay $70 to do the actual scuba dive. Juulia and I decided not to do it, so we got back to the boat and changed our equipment to snorkelling gear.
I had booked us a sailing & snorkelling tour on the Great Barrier Reef. It is a huge coral area consisting of a lot of the coastline and many islands, and Cairns is one of the main entrances to see it. Our trip departed at 8am from a nearby wharf. First we were given morning coffee with little muffins inside the catamaran, and after that we went outside to the deck to enjoy the sunshine. It took 2 hours to get to our first destination, where we were given a free scuba diving demonstration. We got all the equipment – wetsuit, mask, fins and air bottle – and spent some time just practicing breathing through the mask, holding onto a rope. We were also taught how to empty our mask of water and how to equalise ear pressure when going deeper. Breathing through the mask felt a bit strange to me at first, until I realised I can actually just breath normally. The instructor took us for a little swim and we saw some cool fish and corals. After returning we had to decide whether or not we wanted to pay $70 to do the actual scuba dive. Juulia and I decided not to do it, so we got back to the boat and changed our equipment to snorkelling gear.
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The catamaran
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Juulia and I sunbathing on the deck
I hadn´t been snorkelling before, but it was really easy to pick it up. I was wearing a vest that made me float so all I had to do was to move my legs a little bit and enjoy watching all the beautiful and colourful tropical fish and corals. I had never done anything like that before! It was amazing being so close to all the fish you could touch them. They really come in all possible colours, and some of the corals are fluorescent making them glow. Unfortunately I couldn´t take any pictures of them, but Juulia hired a digital underwater camera and took heaps of pictures. I´ll post some of them online once I get them from her. After snorkelling it was time for a delicious buffet lunch with many different food courses, and it only took us 15min to get to our next destination. We had around an hour for snorkelling, which was good again. We should´ve sailed back to Cairns, but because there was hardly any wind we had to use the engine instead. It took us 2 hours to get back there, and we just laid on the deck. We returned to Cairns at 5pm and went back to our hostel to take showers and get ready for some walking in the city centre.
First we had to book a tour to go to Whitsunday and Fraser Island, which was easier said than done. We had specific days when we wanted to depart and come back, and most of the tours were sold out already. After asking from several travel agencies we started to get quite worried and decided to split up to go to different agencies. Finally Juulia found this really helpful guy who spent over an hour searching for tours and managed to find 2 cancelled spots for a tour that suited us. We felt happy and relieved, and headed to Night Markets. We both are big fans of markets, so we had a good time wandering around and looking at all the stuff. I bought a silver anklet chain and Juulia found a pretty Chinese style top. From the markets we walked back to our hostel to eat instant noodles for dinner.
First we had to book a tour to go to Whitsunday and Fraser Island, which was easier said than done. We had specific days when we wanted to depart and come back, and most of the tours were sold out already. After asking from several travel agencies we started to get quite worried and decided to split up to go to different agencies. Finally Juulia found this really helpful guy who spent over an hour searching for tours and managed to find 2 cancelled spots for a tour that suited us. We felt happy and relieved, and headed to Night Markets. We both are big fans of markets, so we had a good time wandering around and looking at all the stuff. I bought a silver anklet chain and Juulia found a pretty Chinese style top. From the markets we walked back to our hostel to eat instant noodles for dinner.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Soccer - and David Beckham!
So I´ve been on my summer break for a week and a half now... The weather has been crabby almost the whole time - rainy, cloudy and windy :( I haven´t done all that much of anything exciting. I´m suprised how many things I gotta take care of before returning to Finland. Geegal is going to be under renovation and everyone has to move out next week. We had an option to be relocated either in Gumal or Bulga (other UTS residences) but I chose to end my contract and receive almost $1000 of my already paid rent back. I´ll be in Sydney only 12 more days after returning from East Coast, and I´ll be living in Moy´s room in Gumal while he´s in Mexico. I don´t think I mentioned I´ll be doing a 2-week long road trip from Cairns to Sydney, along East Coast, with Juulia. I´m flying to Cairns on Tuesday and I can´t wait to begin our journey! So from now on my address will be:
215A, 161 Broadway
We´ve had several barbeque parties here in Geegal lately! People are already leaving for traveling before going back to their home countries, so we´ve had some farewell parties, as well as Birthdays. Moy cooked us heaps of delicious Mexican food on Sunday, and yesterday we celebrated NingNing´s Pre-B-Day. I baked pullas for everyone and it didn´t take long till all of them were gone :) Besides parties I´ve been shopping (or "shopping" - not buying anything but looking at stuff that I´d buy if I had more space in my suitcase & more money), to the movies, reading books outside etc...
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215A, 161 Broadway
Ultimo, NSW 2007
Australia
We´ve had several barbeque parties here in Geegal lately! People are already leaving for traveling before going back to their home countries, so we´ve had some farewell parties, as well as Birthdays. Moy cooked us heaps of delicious Mexican food on Sunday, and yesterday we celebrated NingNing´s Pre-B-Day. I baked pullas for everyone and it didn´t take long till all of them were gone :) Besides parties I´ve been shopping (or "shopping" - not buying anything but looking at stuff that I´d buy if I had more space in my suitcase & more money), to the movies, reading books outside etc...
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Moy´s Birthday BBQ
On Monday morning I received a text message from my new friend Mahmoud. He had gotten tickets to go see a soccer match Sydney FC vs. LA Galaxy and invited me to join him. As you might know, David Beckham now plays for LA Galaxy, and his coming to Australia was such a big deal! It was indeed his first time playing here. So I was really excited to go to Telstra Stadium to watch the game :) Already being inside the huge stadium (it was the main stadium during the 2000 Olympics) was an exprience, especially since we had tickets at a premium section. There were over 80 000 people watching the game. Sydney FC played well and won 5-3! David Beckham was hot and made one goal even though he got injured during the first half of the game. So watching the game live was tons of fun, and now I can say I´ve seen one of the worlds hottest soccer stars lol.
On Monday morning I received a text message from my new friend Mahmoud. He had gotten tickets to go see a soccer match Sydney FC vs. LA Galaxy and invited me to join him. As you might know, David Beckham now plays for LA Galaxy, and his coming to Australia was such a big deal! It was indeed his first time playing here. So I was really excited to go to Telstra Stadium to watch the game :) Already being inside the huge stadium (it was the main stadium during the 2000 Olympics) was an exprience, especially since we had tickets at a premium section. There were over 80 000 people watching the game. Sydney FC played well and won 5-3! David Beckham was hot and made one goal even though he got injured during the first half of the game. So watching the game live was tons of fun, and now I can say I´ve seen one of the worlds hottest soccer stars lol.
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Telstra Stadium
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Mahmoud and I watching the game
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David Beckham on the big screen
Monday, November 19, 2007
I´m all done!!
I´m finally all done with my studies at the UTS :D I had my last exam this morning, and now I´m just hanging around, thinking about all the fun things I´ll get to do... I think I´ll actually write a list of everything I still wanna see and do in Sydney before leaving home. It´ll definately be tons of outdoor activities!
Since my last update I´ve been studying, studying, studying... I dunno why I spent so much time studying even though my goal was just to pass my subjects. I did well on economics, totally blew my finance exam yesterday, and about my HRM exam today I really can´t say anything. But the most important thing is I´m all done and don´t have to spend (waste) any more time sitting inside studying. I did study outside every now and then, though. Broadway Cafe has nice big tables outside, which are perfect for studying while drinking coffee.
What I like about the summer in Sydney are all the different festivals :) Many neighbourhoods have their own street fares and there´re several music, performance and food fests around the city, as well. Last Friday I went to the Rocks with Renar, Cody, Renee, Maryse, Kamilla and Inger. First we had dinner at Pancakes and then we walked around the night markets while listening to live music performances. Then we took the bus to Bar Broadway, where we stayed for a while before going to check out this party at The Loft (our uni bar). It costed $10 to get in so I decided to head home instead and watch a movie. On Sunday I went to Glebe Street Fare. It was a perfect summer day and I spent over two hours just walking along the street and looking at all the stalls. There were tons of them! For lunch I had a delicious Malesian spring roll and a Japanese chocolate pancake. I´m really gonna miss all the international food! I also bought a pretty necklace and 1m-long licorice (the same stuff they sell at markets in Finland).
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Since my last update I´ve been studying, studying, studying... I dunno why I spent so much time studying even though my goal was just to pass my subjects. I did well on economics, totally blew my finance exam yesterday, and about my HRM exam today I really can´t say anything. But the most important thing is I´m all done and don´t have to spend (waste) any more time sitting inside studying. I did study outside every now and then, though. Broadway Cafe has nice big tables outside, which are perfect for studying while drinking coffee.
What I like about the summer in Sydney are all the different festivals :) Many neighbourhoods have their own street fares and there´re several music, performance and food fests around the city, as well. Last Friday I went to the Rocks with Renar, Cody, Renee, Maryse, Kamilla and Inger. First we had dinner at Pancakes and then we walked around the night markets while listening to live music performances. Then we took the bus to Bar Broadway, where we stayed for a while before going to check out this party at The Loft (our uni bar). It costed $10 to get in so I decided to head home instead and watch a movie. On Sunday I went to Glebe Street Fare. It was a perfect summer day and I spent over two hours just walking along the street and looking at all the stalls. There were tons of them! For lunch I had a delicious Malesian spring roll and a Japanese chocolate pancake. I´m really gonna miss all the international food! I also bought a pretty necklace and 1m-long licorice (the same stuff they sell at markets in Finland).
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Night Markets at The Rocks
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Glebe Street Fare
Now I´m gonna go outside to enjoy the sunshine and read a book (Jane Austen´s Emma) before going to the gym... I still can´t believe I needn´t study anymore, it feels so unreal :)
Monday, November 5, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Just an update
I´m bored of studying so I thought to update my blog even though I haven´t done anything that exciting lately... Fortunately I finished my last assingment on Thursday, so I´ve only got 3 final exams left before I´ll be all done with my studies at UTS! In a way I´m already looking forward to going back to studying at LUT to really contribute towards getting my degree. I´ve taken beneficial subjects here and learned many new things, especially during the second semester, but none of them substitute any of the compulsory subjects of my degree. The only thing I´m not looking forward to doing is taking those B2 and B3 maths that I smartly decided to skip as a freshman :/ But my general attitude towards studying is extremely positive! The longer I work at simple jobs such as sales assistant the stronger I feel I really need to get a challenging job to be satisfied. And by studying a degree I can get the kind of job I´ll be happy performing.
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So, what all have I done besides studying... I´ve been to a few parties. Last Friday I went to Carlos´ and Jamie´s Housewarming Party in Glebe. They share a nice two-storey house with a small backyard. The party was good, meeting some new people and drinking Finlandia Vodka that I shared with Sharon and Carlos. From the party we went to this nice cocktail bar. I really liked the decorations - an aquarium, lots of wood and red lights - and it was nice sitting there for a while even though I couldn´t afford to buy any drinks. Yesterday I went to another party. It was Andre´s Farewell Party. It was storming last night (I got completely wet walking there and back!) so all the people were packed inside making it crowded and hot. The two best things of the party were the DJ (a professional playing a good mix of techno, latest pop hits and Latin music) and sangria (Spanish/Latin drink with red wine, juice and fruits). Even though I knew hardly anyone there I had a good time dancing :)
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At Andre´s Farewell Party
Last Saturday I went to Food and Wine Festival in Hyde Park. The park was full of stands selling different kinds of foods and wines, and lots of people. The queues were quite long and I hadn´t a lot of time to wander around before the stands closed, so I just bought sushi. It was the best sushi I´ve tasted so far :P The two huge rolls were filled with salmon, prawns and some delicious sauce. I sat by a fountain eating them, listening to a music performance and looking at people. Once again I got to experience how friendly Australians are :) These girl and guy sitting next to me just started chatting with me and invited me to join them to walk around the fest area. After leaving the fest I bought an ice cream and walked towards Darling Harbour, from where I went to Paddys Markets to buy some veggies and fruit before going home.
Last Saturday I went to Food and Wine Festival in Hyde Park. The park was full of stands selling different kinds of foods and wines, and lots of people. The queues were quite long and I hadn´t a lot of time to wander around before the stands closed, so I just bought sushi. It was the best sushi I´ve tasted so far :P The two huge rolls were filled with salmon, prawns and some delicious sauce. I sat by a fountain eating them, listening to a music performance and looking at people. Once again I got to experience how friendly Australians are :) These girl and guy sitting next to me just started chatting with me and invited me to join them to walk around the fest area. After leaving the fest I bought an ice cream and walked towards Darling Harbour, from where I went to Paddys Markets to buy some veggies and fruit before going home.
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Food and Wine Festival
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Fountain in Hyde Park
Speaking of food (why am I always writing about food lol) I cooked Mexican food with Moy and two of his friends on Wednesday. We cooked tortillas with chicken, avocado-onion-tomato sauce, potatoes & sausage and another set of tortillas with mushroom and cheese. So much fun cooking with people :) We made enough food for everyone to take for lunch to uni/work the next day. Today I´m cooking chicken curry with Sharon; already getting hungry...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Chinese pop concert
On Monday I skipped my finance lecture to go to a Chinese pop concert with Sharon and her family. First Sharon and I met her two brothers at a Japanese restaurant near Town Hall for dinner. I had delicious teryaki chicken with rice and sallad. Then it was time to take a cab to the Opera House, where the concert was held. Outside the house we met Sharon´s mother and some of her friends, who also came to the concert. It was held at one of the smaller theathers, which was almost full of people - we were the only non-Asians there! Sharon´s mother knew the event organizers, so we got front row seats and some special treatment during the concert.
It was young pop stars from Shenzhen (a city close to Hong Kong) coming to perform in Australia for the first time, and the concert was filmed and broadcasted live nationwide China! Even though I don´t speak Chinese, and therefore didn´t understand what they sang about, I really enjoyed all the music, songs and costumes :) All the artists were good performers and it was easy to tell they enjoyed being on the stage. I guess some of them are pretty big names in China since they had their own music videos playing on screens behind them.
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One of the last things was a traditional Australian campfire song performed by few of the Chinese singers. The event organizers had asked us (Sharon´s family, friends and me) to join them on the stage to sing with them. So there we were standing, trying to sing the song - which I had never even heard before - on a live broadcast! The eight of us were invited to join all the artists and organizers for group pictures after the show, too. I bet we got such special treatment partly because we knew the organizers, but mostly because we were the only Western people there, kinda representing Australians. We hung around for a while after the concert was over, and I got interviewed for the broadcast. The lady was really friendly, asking me questions such as what I thought of the show, who was my favorite (I couldn´t remember her name so I just described her), if I knew any Chinese or if I had visited China etc... She also said I was beautiful :)
So, that was our moment of fame! It´d be interesting to know how famous the singers actually are in China, and how the broadcast turned out. We might get a DVD of it, which would be so cool. After the concert Sharon and I decided to stay for drinks at the harbourside, viewing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Two of her friends joined us, and we spent some time sitting there and chatting. We took the bus home right after midnight, still excited about our first experience of Chinese pop music! Now we also have this huge poster of the pop stars hanging on our loundry room wall :)
It was young pop stars from Shenzhen (a city close to Hong Kong) coming to perform in Australia for the first time, and the concert was filmed and broadcasted live nationwide China! Even though I don´t speak Chinese, and therefore didn´t understand what they sang about, I really enjoyed all the music, songs and costumes :) All the artists were good performers and it was easy to tell they enjoyed being on the stage. I guess some of them are pretty big names in China since they had their own music videos playing on screens behind them.
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Beautiful singer
This one guy was the Chinese Idol or something and many of the Asian girls went just crazy when he was singing. I gotta admit, he was really hot ;) During his second song many girls climbed up to the stage to give him flowers and get their pictures taken with him. Sharon´s mother encouraged us to go, too, and we finally decided to go when he was already finishing his song. But when we were about to climb to the stage this security lady told us we weren´t allowed to go anymore. That´s when one of the organizers crabbed flowers from this Asian girl who also wanted to go - she looked so disappointed - and gave them to us, permitting us to be the last persons to greet him. So up the stage we went, and I handed him the flowers, but we were kinda confused and didn´t stay long enough to have our picture taken with him. It was such a fun teenager moment, though lol.
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The Chinese Idol
One of the last things was a traditional Australian campfire song performed by few of the Chinese singers. The event organizers had asked us (Sharon´s family, friends and me) to join them on the stage to sing with them. So there we were standing, trying to sing the song - which I had never even heard before - on a live broadcast! The eight of us were invited to join all the artists and organizers for group pictures after the show, too. I bet we got such special treatment partly because we knew the organizers, but mostly because we were the only Western people there, kinda representing Australians. We hung around for a while after the concert was over, and I got interviewed for the broadcast. The lady was really friendly, asking me questions such as what I thought of the show, who was my favorite (I couldn´t remember her name so I just described her), if I knew any Chinese or if I had visited China etc... She also said I was beautiful :)
So, that was our moment of fame! It´d be interesting to know how famous the singers actually are in China, and how the broadcast turned out. We might get a DVD of it, which would be so cool. After the concert Sharon and I decided to stay for drinks at the harbourside, viewing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Two of her friends joined us, and we spent some time sitting there and chatting. We took the bus home right after midnight, still excited about our first experience of Chinese pop music! Now we also have this huge poster of the pop stars hanging on our loundry room wall :)
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