02/01/09

Another fun day of recovery which is a lot easier than in England. Probably because of the great weather and better scenery ;-) I was just about to head out when I nearly jumped out the window. A huge orange cockroach (or something similar was trying to find a new home in my bag next to my foot. My bag is not a home for cockroaches so I asked him to leave. He started to head towards the my wedged open door and sat nicely in the door hinge. Whoops, I accidentally slammed the door and chuckled to the sound of a crushed crisps. Black blood? Very weird, it must have come from hell! Of to meet Mike and Pete in Side Bar. I also gave the heads up to Mickey (the Aussie geeza I met in Scubar a few nights previous). More beer, more Yager Bombs and meeting more people. The night ended with me, Mickey and Dana from the US. It was weird partying with people from completely different parts of the world that talked the same language and were on the same wave lengths.

01/01/09

A quiet night in as I felt terrible, oh no, I went to Side Bar again for more fun and games and Yager Bombs: a lovely concoction of a shot of what looks like car oil thrown into a glass of red bull then downed as fast as possible. Great fun!

31/12/08

Another bad hang over today even though it was meant to be a quiet one. I was meant to meet Mike and Andy (who I met last night in Side Bar) at 10am so we could start queuing to get into the Botanic Gardens. This was quite difficult because I only had about 4 hours sleep and was still pissed from last night and probably the night before. Andy was to meet us later so me, Mike, Tim and a few others headed through Hyde Park towards the gardens. Once we got to the entrance, the queue was huge. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was amazing to see how organised the queue was even though there were no markers of stewards keeping everyone in a nice regimented line. If this were in England, there would be no line and havoc everywhere.

Behind me in the queue were a couple of guys I recognized from my mates facebook photos. Saxby had been traveling for some time now and knew he was in Australia but thought he may have moved on to South America when I got there. I thought it was a long shot but worth a go and sure enough they were his mates and he was about to join them soon. It was mad seeing Saxby as I haven’t seen him since Glastonbury 2007.

New Years Eve was amazing, the weather was great and the atmosphere couldn’t have been better. Saxby and his mates were meeting more people in the gardens so there were 20 to 30 of us partying away with the rest of the 20,000 that managed to get in. The fireworks were the best I had ever seen, I suppose they should do considering they apparently cost $5m. Street parties followed the fireworks plus talking to random people and dancing to Jonny Cash that a 70 year busker was playing through a speaker that was probably older than him. I got in at about 6am and I knew New Years Day was going to be tough, what a pukka night!

30/12/08

It was my first night out last night at Scubar which is underneath the YHA hostel near Central station. All you can eat pizza for $10 and a jug of beer for $7.50, which I took full advantage of! I met loads of fun people and woke up with a massive hang over. Most of the people I met were travelers alike and from the UK. I also met a few Australians including Mickey. He looks a bit like the lead singer from Maroon 5 and sound as a pound. Even though he’s not a backpacker, he enjoys the talent in backpacker bars, which I understood very well. I told him what I was up to and he gave me his number so I’ll call him in the next few days.

This evening I ventured out to Side Bar (below Wake Up hostel, opposite Central station). Its a bigger bar and a bit more expensive that Scubar but more people to meet and better music.

29/12/08

Second day in Sydney; another gorgeous day with bright blue skies, hot temperatures and a cool breeze. I thought I would venture away from the tourist areas and look for record shops. I saw on the net that Spank Records is about a mile away from my hostel so up Campbell Street I went. I needed breakfast so I stopped in a small but stylish café called Food Game. Bacon and sausage on toast, just what I needed! While I was eating, I noticed a group of girls and two lads up the street walking my way. All of them oriental with their legs on show and other areas of their body too! As they came closer I realized it was a couple of gay guys with a group of girls with very masculine faces, it could only mean one thing: lady boys! They did well until they were close up, I’m just glad I hadn’t had a load of beer.

28/12/08

Not much sleep gained on the plane, its now daytime again which is really surreal, I feel like I’m in the Back to The Future movie. Not long to go now, just under one hour and although I’m tired, the excitement is enhancing more and more. Flying right across Australia’s Great Artesian Basin, the landscape is amazing. It looks like mostly desert with trees here and there. Very sandy looking with dried up rivers and no sign of humanity for miles apart from a lonely dirt track that the pilot has been following.

I got through customs nice and easy and headed straight to the hostel. It was very hot outside even though it was about 8am. It reminded me a lot of Florida, clean streets, similar cars, similar signs and huge buildings. Even road signs look the same. Once I got to the hostel, I quickly put my bags in my rooms to head out and explore. The room was pretty good for a hostel, it even had a beer fridge, which is always good news, I must remember to fill that up at some point.

So I was off, I no idea where I was going, apart from looking for the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. Following George Street for about 10 minutes, I then ventured left as I could see the water. I finally got there and it was amazing! The bridge is much bigger than I thought it would be. There were people walking over the top of it and they looked tiny. The sun is beaming down with clear blue skies, I am finally here!

I feel a bit weird, I have nothing to do apart from explore and do whatever I like which is a shock to the system as I was always on the go when I was back home in the UK.

After I had some lunch and wondered around the Royal Botanic Gardens then back into town and looked around some shops. I headed back to the hostel at about 4pm to get some sleep for just a couple of hours that ended up being 6. Still tired so I surfed the net in the hostel and went back to sleep.

27/12/08

13 hours later I arrive at Singapore. Never been before but I’ve heard some good things about it. Unfortunately it was only for 30 minutes so I could only wonder around the airport. So first impressions; it smells funny, maybe a bit dirty, probably due to high humidity which can be felt even in the air conditioned airport. Loads of lovely goodies in the shops but I didn’t want to spend most of my traveling funds on a fancy watch so I wondered on. The best thing I noticed about Singapore (well the airport anyway) was the amount or gorgeous women walking around. Seems like they’re definitely not a rarity so I think I’ll be coming back here some time soon!