accordingtoang's blog

Newcastle...

Rare Koala Activity....he's moving!!!

The 11 hour bus ride was definitely a long haul, but the incredible scenery along the way made it worthwhile!! Every so often, the ocean would come into view in a brilliant blue with lucky towns and cities just off the coast. After the sun set, I had the moon to my right and the Southern Cross to my left...I also had a small jar of peanut butter as a snack...life's pretty good!!!

So I stayed with Ebonney and Josh, a couple that I met while travelling through Europe in 2005, who live in a beautiful house in Floraville near Lake Macquarie. During my stay, Ebonney took me to the reptile park, where I pet a roo and some very unfriendly-looking reptiles and also witnessed a koala run...an apparently rare occurence from their usual activity of sleeping! I felt quite priviliged!!

I also wandered around Blackbutt Reserve with Ebonney's Mom and niece, and got the chance to feed an emu some bird seed from an ice cream cone...never done that before!!! Was fun, especially when he/she (not sure) got impatient and bit the cone, ripped it out of my hand and dumped the seed all over his/her head...serves him/her right for being so greedy!!! We also fed some off bread to the ducks...until Samara started eating it....that's Eb's niece, not her Mom...though it important to clarify that!!!

Top o' the Cathedral

And Josh took the day off work to take me around the city and show me the staple attractions like Nobby's Beach and the Harbour. In search of some spectacular views of the city, we climbed to the top of a cathedral (one that allows tourists to do that sort of thing...) and took some great photos. That was really nice of Josh to take me there, especially since he's terrified of heights...a fact I didn't know until I noticed him white-knuckling the stair railing on the way up!!! 

Bluebottle Jellyfish

I also had my first sighting of a Bluebottle Jellyfish, a mean sea creature that is a bright beautiful blue and looks peaceful enough until its long tendril of pain touches your skin, making it sting  and leaving a nasty burn. Apparently it's not a nice experience to come into contact with these things, so it's a good thing Ebonney was with me when we came across this one that had washed up on the beach...I may have poked it out of sheer curiousity had it not been for her!!!

Newcastle Knights - Footy!!!!

Yet another first for me was attending a game of footy. Ebonney and a couple of her friends took me to watch the Newcastle Knights play the Canberra Raiders. Now, according to the magazine I flipped through prior to attending the game (I was reading up on footy so as to blend in with the fans) the Knights had a really bad season last year, so the crowd was a little concerned about how the team would fare this year. Luckily, they had a good luck charm in the crowd (me!) and the Knights won!!! I still don't fully understand the sport...I'll admit I occasionally booed even if I didn't have a clue as to why...but I do understand that this sport is not for wimps...real men play Footy...or at least men who have no fear of pain or injury!! I bet they pick up Bluebottles and play with them!! They seem that tough anyway!!!

Tempus Two Winery, Hunter Valley

And finally on my last day, the three of us drove out to Hunter Valley to sample some of New South Wales' finest wines. And while this definitely wasn't my first time sampling wine (far from it, as you know!), I really enjoyed the experience, the scenery, and, of course, the wine. I ended up buying a couple bottles, one Gurwurstraminer and one sparkling rose. Both of which I plan on drinking before flying home....they're just too heavy to tote around....darn!!!!

Me, Ebonney and Josh

So, my time in Newcastle was fabulous to say the least!! Ebonney and Josh were wonderful hosts and her family was so welcoming. They invited me to their weekly Friday night dinner and surrounded me in the family chaos and good food that makes me think of home!!! Hard to believe that my trip is into its last month!!! Before I know it, I'll be reuniting with my family at the airport in Puerto Vallarta!! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!!!

Ah, Byron Bay...

Hilltop View of Byron Bay

The magic of Byron Bay reached me long before I arrived by way of word of mouth...everyone says there's just something about it...

The aborigines say that this is one of three locations forming a triangle area of healing...I wouldn't argue with that!! Walking down its streets brings about a sense of inexplicable peace and contentment. The world is right here...

Unfortunately, I only had one full day to explore Byron Bay. I arrived late Sunday night and had a bus to Newcastle booked for Tuesday morning, so I had to make the most of my time. My day of wandering began at 8:30am and didn't finish until 12 hours later...my feet hurt and I bought lots of things that didn't follow any of the backpacker purchase rules (small, light and unbreakable)...but I felt transformed...you'll see what I mean!!

The Byron Bay Lighthouse

I decided to take advantage of the sunny morning and walk out to the lighthouse on Cape Byron. There were stunning views of the ocean along the coastal walking trail, which leads to the most easterly point of Australia's mainland. And finally, atop hill overlooking the city below and the vast ocean beyond is the lighthouse. It was surreal to see hang gliders floating around the top like melancholy birds...I promised myself then and there that I will come back here and do that one day!!!

Drinks at The Balcony

The afternoon turned out to have less-than-cooperative weather, so I wandered along Jonson Street under the cover of the balconies overhead, walking at a laid-back pace to match the steps of the people around me.

Stopping for an afternoon beer at a bar called The Balcony, I sat on one of the plush cushions along the railing, just watching passers-by on the street below and occasionally chatting with those who would join me at my table.

My Footprints....

This town is filled with the type of people who don't wear watches, don't watch TV, and hold passionate views on the state of the world. The stores lining the streets sell handmade jewellery, hippie-style clothes, and odd trinkets. I knew immediately that Byron Bay is a place I'd like to see again...

I had a great conversation with a man who owned an aboriginal art store. He felt incredibly passionate about the plight of the Australian Aborigines, a matter very much like the one at home. And so he makes sure that any art sold in his store not only recognizes the artist but also gives the proceeds of the sale to them. I ended up buying a painted boomerang and some bushtucker cloth...this store felt different from the typical souvenier shops peddling questionable products, so I appreciated my purchase that much more! In another shop, I found a bracelet made of Gold Sandstone symbolizing the journey to find and understand oneself...it encompasses the purpose of this entire trip for me.

Byron Bay is magical all right. Its vibe is so compelling that, as I stood on the street observing its heartbeat, I momentarily considered replacing my backpacker look with a flowery dress, a dreamy gaze and a laid back attitude that any problem could be solved by flashing the 'peace' sign...

But then the bus pulled up, honked its horn and pulled me out of my trance...

So I got on and put my hippie daydreams on the shelf for another day. And with my music in my ear, I made myself comfortable...it'll be a long 11 hours to Newcastle...

Plum Bum Reunion in Surfers Paradise!!

Plum Bums Reunite!!

Okay, let me explain...

Alyssa and I grew up together, and, for reasons that neither of us can remember, we called each other 'Plum Bum'. We created a Janet Jackson original dance routine and opened a restaurant that was frequented by none other than the King of Pop himself all by the age of 12. We were absolute nerds together...and we had a blast!!!

It had been at least 8 years since I'd last seen her, so you can imagine how excited I was to be making my way down the East Coast to Surfers Paradise, where she's living with her partner Troy. So excited, in fact, that I caught the very first train from Brisbane at 6am, arriving at Burleigh Heads, just south of Surfers at 7:30am....a bit early for a Saturday morning perhaps, but I just couldn't wait!!!!!!

City on Water

Let me point out here that Alyssa and Troy have got it pretty darn good! Their apartment is right across the street from the ocean...you can see it from their balcony. In the time that I stayed with them, I witnessed Troy grab his surfboard and go surfing before work almost every day. No matter which direction you walk, you arrive at a head with beautiful views of the coastline. A short drive north lands you in Surfers with enough bars/clubs/pubs to go to a different one every night for a year without repetition. A short drive south takes you to great fishing and the New South Wales Border. Honestly, as far as I could tell, the only small 'cloud' in their sunshiny paradise was their possessed stereo that wouldn't play a CD without inexplicably turning off, opening, or doing some other random function!!! So, safe to say I felt incredibly lucky to experience a week of this not-so-rough lifestyle!!

Me and Alyssa Fishin'!!

I've been travelling at full tilt for a few months now and am definitely starting to feel somewhat weary. So it was nice to be able to relax while Alyssa and Troy worked during the week and not feel guilty about it...but it's a good thing they kept me busy in the evenings and on the weekends...otherwise I think I may have left a permanent Angie-shaped dent in the couch!!

I spotted my first wild dolphin during our fishing trip to Tweed Heads. We planned on catching our dinner, and watching the fisherman down the way reel in one after another made our plan seem all the more realistic...unfortunately we weren't so lucky. Troy and I each caught a too-small-to-keep brim and then, to add insult to injury, it started raining!! So we decided to pick up fish and chips at a local takeaway restaurant and eat someone else's catch of the day!!

Road Trip!!!!

Surfers Paradise Meter Maids

One particular stand-out day was a road trip Alyssa and I did to Lamington National Park.

Surfers Throne

Our first stop was into Surfers Paradise, where we took pictures with the various random sculptures interspersed throughout the main street. I also saw the infamous gold bikini-clad meter maids who wander the main streets plugging coins into expired parking meters.

(*Note - This picture of them is from Picasa Web Album)

Alcipaca?? Acipoco?? Alupici?? Right...Alpaca!!!

Then we continued on through Canungra and up the windy roads, sometimes shockingly blind and simultaneously one-way into Lamington National Park. We stopped in at an Alpaca Farm, a word that didn't seem to stick in my memory very well!!

Alyssa feeding the obese Crimson Rosellas at O'Reillys

And finally we reached O'Reillys Mountain Rainforest Escape, where we fed Crimson Rosellas right out of our hands and gave them a nice resting spot atop our heads. We probably could've fed them all day had I not dropped the bag of seed, which was immediately grabbed by a sneaky (and apparently starving) bush turkey, who stealthily made his escape through the park, across the road and down the hill...a hilarious sight, I must say!!!! So we carried on to the treetop walk before hitting the road to get back home, encountering a cow herd road block on the way!!

Drinks on my last night....sniff sniff!!

On my last night with Alyssa and Troy, we got dressed up and went to Fisherman's Wharf with a few of their friends to enjoy some live entertainment by Lisa Hunt, a powerful singer similar to Aretha Franklin!! Then we hit a couple of the bars in Surfers - I decided to pass on the ice bar, where you get a parka to wear before you enter a freezing cold room with everything made of ice....seems kind of strange to fly all this way just to experience winter!!

So, to Alyssa and Troy....thank you so much for letting me stay and be a lazy bum!! You guys are so wonderful and I'm gonna miss you!!!

...Oh, and for anyone who has tried the Tim Tam experience...Troy's the one who taught me!!

For Those Living Vicariously Part 2 - The Tim Tam Experience!

Yum!! 

I've recently been enlightened on how to eat a Tim Tam, one of Australia's most popular cookies, the authentic Aussie way!! And boy is it dangerous!! I urge you to go to the grocery store and pick up a package of Original Tim Tam's (yes, they do sell them in Canada!) and indulge in this latest edition of Living Vicariously....

So, get yourself a hot beverage - my preference is coffee...hot chocolate would be good too! Take a Tim Tam and bite one corner...then bite the opposite corner on the other end. It's already delicious, isn't it?? Stick one end of the cookie in the bevvie and suck on the other end like a straw until the liquid comes through and turns the middle of the cookie into melted heaven....then eat it!!!

Now there you have not only an authentic Aussie experience, but a delicious one too!!!

Till next time!!

Extra Time in WA....

I consider myself to be so lucky! Most of the travellers I've come across who are touring around Australia never get a chance to make it out to WA...and no wonder!! It takes a fair trek to get there and, once you land in the capital Perth, you can literally feel the isolation that surrounds the city....it's miles away from, well, anything really!! In my opinion, though, it's well worth the trip!! 
 
So I ended up spending an extra week in Perth, taking it easy and letting the shoulder heal. I actually got into quite a nice routine, which is a dangerous thing on vacation because ineveitably you have to leave, and getting comfortable only makes that harder. In any case, I definitely felt at home there, due in a large part to Andrea and her housemates' hospitality.

Amos - AKA Bed Thief!!

My typical WA day would begin waking up on a mattress on the floor in Andrea's room with Amos the dog staring at me...clearly saying that I was to vacate the bed immediately so he could climb in and make himself comfortable. This was his more polite approach...on his impatient days, he'd climb on my face and smother me till I got up!! He may look small, but trust me, it's the small ones that are somehow capable of taking up an entire bed!!

Shortly after, my mind would think of one simple yet compelling word...'coffee'...so I'd obey both Amos and my brain and go in the kitchen to fix myself that magic pep brew, which I'd sip on the back deck, listening to the birds and waiting for the rest of the world to wake up.

Bushtucker Wine Tour

I did a fair bit of wandering around the city and its vast surroundings. Andrea and I wandered around the markets in Fremantle and shopped down Beaufort St and Oxford St in search of good coffee....something Andrea has been searching for since moving out here. And luckily Oxford 130, we discovered, makes the best skinny mochas in Perth - mission accomplished!! We also drove down to Margaret River in the southwest to sample some wines in the surrounding vineyards. My favourite was Redgate....not initially promising since the first two glasses of white wine smelled distinctly like crayons and had, according to my palate, the taste of dust. Luckily the wines got better - I particularly liked the 2007 Rose, Rhapsody in Red and 2006 Ezabella White Port. 

The Busselton Jetty

Anyway, we passed through 'heaps' of small towns on the drive to and from Margs, some of which had some interesting claims to fame. Busselton has the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 2km. Along the coast is the Tuart Forest, the last known spot in the world that these giant trees grow in the wild. Bunbury has one of the biggest roundabouts in the Southern Hemisphere. And Margaret River is, in my mind anyway, the only river to come within a few metres of the ocean without actually joining it...not up to speed on river behaviour, but I think it's strange that it just....stops! 

Sunset Over the Indian Ocean

The entire west coast is just one majestic beach after another...but I do still harbour resentful feelings towards mean old Scarborough!!! Had a couple amazing beach moments though, and both had to do with sunsets - yet another reason to make the journey to Western Australia...to see the sun set over the Indian Ocean, something you won't see anywhere else in the country!! So the first sunset was breathtaking - I actually quit taking pictures of it because I knew I wouldn't be able to capture the beauty, just like I won't be able to describe sufficiently. But I sat on some wooden steps leading down to the beach and watched the sun dip beneath the clouds and sink into the ocean, with the waves rolling into shore, meeting at one point in the sand - amazing!!

Mike Pettin' a Ray

My second WA sunset was wonderful because of my company!! Mike, one of Andrea's housemates, and I bought some sushi and sat in the sand at Swanbourne beach to eat and watch the sunset - we talked non-stop (and had the occasional giggle at the nude beach a couple hundred metres away!)

We had spent the day at the aquarium in Perth looking at the beautiful and deadly marine life that call Australia's surrounding waters home. Now, I questioned the thrill of swimming in the ocean after my incident...those waves are unpredictable and downright mean!! But now I really have to wonder about people's sanity, knowing what a huge array of stinging, biting, stabbing, poisoning and human eating creatures lurk in the depths of the ocean!! At least it'll be easy to follow doctor's orders to stay out of the ocean for awhile....in fact, I may adopt it as a general rule for self preservation!

For my last dinner in Perth, the boys planned and cooked an authentic German dinner - Rouladen with minced pork, mustard, bacon and onions, cooked red cabbage, German dumplings and German beer...an impressive menu to say the least!!!

I had so much fun, but knew that I'd have trouble saying goodbye the next day...and I did...

But on to the next place, right?