In an attempt to catch up...
Noosa
Noosa is where Aussies go to vacation. It is a quaint beach town with pricey shops and restaurants. The nightlife is almost non-existent as the town is geared towards family vacations.
Our first night in Noosa we met an Aussie boy that "lives in Melbourne, but has worked in Ios for 9 seasons!" Most of you know my affinity towards Ios. Ios is a little island in Greece where I spent a few weeks. I would say those few weeks were probably the best weeks of my life. We knew pretty much everyone on the island and we are still good friends with most of them - even though we all live in different parts of the world. I am actually traveling with one of those friends now! Oh how the world is small!
We spent our days in Noosa on the beach and our nights walking around the town and checking out the few pubs on the strip. There is one night club in Noosa, but unfortunately it was packed with schoolies.
What are schoolies you ask? Well, schoolies are recent high school grads who travel to a beach town and reek havoc with binge drinking and the like. They usually go to Surfers Paradise (a town we intentionally skipped do to the schoolies timing). They are just these young little rug rats that remind me how old I'm getting and how annoying drink kiddies can get.
We turned our car back in in Noosa - so now we are Greyhounding it with the masses.
Brisbane
All I had heard about Brisbane in the backpacker circuit was how awful it was - and everyone was pretty much right. It really isn't THAT bad, but we stayed in such a smelly, disgusting, scary hostel that it pretty much ruined the Brisy experience for us. (note to the reader: NEVER stay at Tin Billys in Brisbane).
The great thing about Brisbane is that Tamara's mother and stepfather were in town and took us out to dinner. They also introduced us to a lovely girl named Sarah.
Sarah is a grad student from Ohio studying in Brisbane. Sarah made dinner for us on our 2nd night and it was definitely the highlight of Brisbane. She lives in a Queenslander, which is a typical style home in Queensland. It is high off the ground with big windows and large patios. They used to build homes in Queensland in this manner because of the floods and to have a cool breeze go through the home. Sarah made us a lovely vegetarian dinner and we met some of her school mates which, where very inspiring to me.
One of Sarahs school mates was Chip, a British boy who just came back from Africa to study medicine in Brisbane. Her roommates were a Swedish mathematician and a German physicist. Sarah herself is working on a peace theory thesis for the UN. I really enjoyed chatting with such educated people. It inspired me so much that I am thinking that going back to school would be a real option for me - once I'm settled somewhere (God knows that Tati and settling may never happen).
Byron Bay
Oh Byron Bay - quite possibly my favorite spot in Australia thus far. It is a hippy type beach town with cute little shops, backpackers, and a few key pubs.
I LOVE the lifestyle in Bayron. The people that work the restaurants and pubs are mostly hippy style travelers picking to live in Bayron for the time being. Some become permanent residents.
Our Swedish friend Carin was still traveling with us in Bayron and the 3 of us took turns cooking dinner every night. We had some incredible meals and our hostel was more of a beachy resort than a hostel with apartment style accommodation.
We met 2 British brothers at a club one night and it turned out that they were staying in a room across from us. We hung out with the brothers most nights and just lazed around during the days. I did some surfing on 7 mile beach in Byron and LOVED it. I'm sure you will all see me on TV competing in a surfing competition soon. :)
I could live in Byron ... and maybe at some point during my year in Australia I will.
Newcastle
Newcastle is just 2 hours north of Sydney. My friend Tamara is originally from Newcastle and we have been staying at her mothers lovely home. We have been having home cooked meals everyday and spending much time with her family. They have been VERY kind to me and her mom even made some Pavlova (traditional Aus dessert - yumma)!
Some other friends that we met last year in Ios are also from Newcastle. We actually went out with them last night. We went to the pub that one of them, Sammy, manages. His brother Ian and his girlfriend met us for some drinks and some awkward Australian dancing (note: Australians might be the WORSE dancers in the world). It felt like we had never left each other in Greece. 5 minutes into seeing them I realised why I keep in touch - they are just great people.
Seeing Sammy was a bit strange as he was kind of my little short term boyfriend while in Greece. Even before I left Greece he told me that he was ready to come back to Aus, buy a house, and start a family. I knew that he would have a girlfriend in no time - being that he is uber charismatic. I could not help but note that it seemed like he was just a shell of his normal self. In Greece he was bubbly, funny, charming, and energetic. Now he just seems to sort of float around and I wonder if stability has killed his soul a bit. I think that people sometimes THINK they know what they are supposed to do and THINK it is what they want - but, especially when it comes to settling down - I find that maybe it is not the right thing to do for them. I think that Sammy might just not be the right kind of person to just work, buy a house, and live a sort of monotonous life. Maybe I'm wrong.
Hunter Valley
We spent a couple of days in the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting. We drank on and off for 12 hours - so I dont have much to say other than... I LOVE DAY DRINKING!
We also visited the Hunter Gardens with its Christmas lights and it is the first time I felt like its the season.
Tomorrow we leave for Sydney and it is bitter-sweet. Tamara leaves for Thailand next Sunday and then she is off to move to London. I can't believe our road trip down the coast is coming to an end. I have many friends to catch up with in Sydney and others who I met along the way, but it just wont be the same without her. We have become family.
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