Wellington - Cambridge - Sydney - Melbourne - Sydney May 19th to June 11th
Wellington is NZ's capital and looks more like a city than any other town I have seen in this country. My principal reason for stopping here is a guy called Jono, who is a lovely guy Eli and I befriended in Asylum when he was visiting from Sydney for the MTV Awards last month. I find my way to the large, airy flat he shares with five flatmates and we chill out together before an early night I for some reason desperately require.
Saturday is warm and breezy so Jono takes me on a long walk around the whole of his city and buys me a sandwich to boot. To make matters even lovelier, his flatmate Sarah makes a roast for dinner. She is a smiley, welcoming, warm girl and we sit and enjoy dinner together before some of Jono's friends join us for movies. Also around to liven up the weekend is bouncy little afro-headed Sam, another flatmate and a funny guy with a cheeky smile. As I leave Jono the following evening, Sunday, I feel grateful for his hospitality and hope to see him again. A good bloke with nice manners, it is widely acknowledged, is hard to find.
I fall into my coach seat, ten hours of time to fill until I reach my destination, Cambridge, home of the infamous Jeffers. Some of you reading this may have met Jeff (real name Jen) but for those of you that haven't, she used to live in our neighbouring county of Somerset and was introduced to me by Emily Weeks. Many a summer evening back in the UK was filled with the madness and mayhem that follows Jeffers around. The greatest thing about her is that nothing is a drama. With Jeff, it's all cool. As if to demonstrate this, she picks me up, on foot, from the BP garage where I am dropped off at 4.30am, even though she must work at 8am.
What follows this sleeping Monday morning starts is a week of pure old-school fun. We do whatever we feel like- sleeping late, ordering too much take-out, watching movies all day, listening to sugary pop at insane volumes. Jeff has to work most days at Pet Stop, the local pet shop, so I snooze in some mornings, potter about town, then pick Jeff up a half-hour early so I can eyeball the fish or coo at the puppies until she finishes. Wednesday is an exciting day because today Jeff and I pick up her new car- a Nissan Primera we spend the rest of the week cruising around in. On Friday we go out to see the exceptional Pirates: 3, and on Saturday we do what Jeffers and I do best, we go out and party. Practically everyone who inhabits this rainy green land is friendly and so going out is a pleasure. The two of us befriend several locals and part away the evening with no drama, only fun. The next day Jedd and I, along with her friend Scotty, have breakfast out and spend the rest of the day watching chick flicks with Jeff's boss, Chrissy. Leaving Jeffers on Monday is no drama, we both know we'll see each other again and things will no doubt be just as before.
Sitting on the plane I am very excited. I am going home, back to my Sydney family. What follows are some of the happiest and most relaxing days I can remember. As I walk into the Fitzroy and see my friends dining and laughing together I can't help but grin from ear to ear. We all go out for Asylum's Mad Monday but someone by 2am it's just me, Eli, a creepy persistent lesbian trying to hit on her, and a couple of dodgy guys dancing to cheese in the Empire Bar. Eli and I telepathically communicate our mutual desire to leave and crawl exhausted into our bunks. We snooze Tuesday away and indulge in the evening at World Bar, karaoke abound, this time 'Mr Brightside'. The evening doesn't cost a penny and it's one of the best we've had. Eli and I spend Wednesday morning lying on her bed and talking, something we've got down to a fine art and an activity we repeat that afternoon in the Botanic Gardens after tea and scones. We while away the evening watching trash TV with Sarah, an awesome Brit and Asylum old-hand, and just sitting around together, packing our bags. At midnight we go to visit Nick at work in Empire and he is genuinely happy to see us, supplying free soda and good conversation until his shift finishes and we all wander home together. The next day Eli and I window shop, she making the grave error of letting me in Dymock's bookstore, home to 250,000 volumes and not a place I can be easily convinced to leave. That night is Asylum's free bar tab night and indie at World Bar. It is, to say the least, a brilliant night. We dance like loons to The Killers and friends, drink free beer, meet loads of randoms, and I even bump into Christian, my couchsurfing friend from Perth, in Empire. It's perfect.
Today, Friday, is the day of change. After our normal morning ritual, frappes at Starbucks in Hyde Park, I ride with Eli to the airport. She is off to Thailand. Waving her off is one of the strangest moments I've had travelling, and knowing she'll no longer be around is disconcerting. I feel the loss and so take myself out to Cogee to see Jess, who not only always cheers me up but levels me out too. We dance crazily in her front room to Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'. The next day I lunch with Justine and realise how much I've been missing her. Neither of us can wait for her term to end on the 9th so we can resume our friendship proper. And then, once again, it is time for me to climb aboard an overnight coach. Another twelve hours, two more service stations, countless Tiny Teddy biscuits and a serious amount of leg/neck/shoulder cramp later and I am in Melbourne again. It is 6.30am, still very dark, and freezing cold. What does all this add up to? Yep, you guessed it, breakfast at McDonald's. Eventually I find myself once again with the wonderfully hospitable Unwins and after a delicious breakfast out with Ian I idle the day away.
Melbourne is cold at this time of year. Its residents and tourists alike bundle up against the chill and look forward to September's spring. It is this fact that makes mine and Alisdair's decision to do a two day Great Ocean Road trip seem off. But once you see the GOR, the reason for our road trip becomes evident. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stretches of road in the world, hugging the South Pacific, the sea cutting dramatic rock formations into the coast. Alisdair, you may remember from my earlier Melbourne blog, is a couchsurfer I met last time and, through phone calls, has become a good friend. He picks me up from the UNwins in the morning and I open to car door and meet the three other surfers joining us. I am very surprised to see Jay, the German I met in Perth, and he is equally taken aback. There is also a sweet German girl named Lene and an American, Katie Spotz, who spends most of the morning's drive snoring softly against the car door window.
Our first stop is at a tourist info centre where Alisdair collects about five hundred leaflets to add to his collection back home in his very own info centre come couchsurfing haven. The heavens open as we continue on our way but we brave it for photos and for a damp lunch under the eaves of a seaside building. Katie, who has thus far been uncommunicative, perks up at my mention of feral children -a direction the conversation somehow manages to take- and this moment proves to be the start of ongoing discussions on ever aspect of life that last for two days. We visit a very impressive waterfall down a great many steps before spending the next couple of hours driving around looking for somewhere to camp. The boys "navigate" in the front while we girls chat in the back, enjoying the warmth of the dark car and not worrying too much about finding somewhere to get out in the rain and mess around with tents. But Alisdair promises that it can be achieved in seven minutes, and as it happens, he's right. Lene and Jay sleep in the car, seats all folded down and on mattresses, so Katie, Alisdair and I take the tent. KS and I are mid-convo on happiness and we talk for some time, she listening intently and talking fascinatingly in turn, before she falls asleep, once again snoring, and Alisdair and I talk until our eyes close.
We awake to a furry surprise. No, it's not that fuzzy morning mouth you get if you didn't brush your teeth the night before, it's koalas. They are in the trees all over the campsite, snoozing as usual. It's the first time I have seen them in the true wild. Along the road we take a stroll through the rainforest to see Triplet Falls, KS proclaiming that she "loves moss". Next up are the Twelve (or more like 7.5) Apostles, the icons of the GOR. They are great standing towers of rock, eroded away from the current coastline and they dominate one of the yellow-sanded beaches with an ancient majesty. We meet free spirits Scotty and Holly here, he a local and she his British travelling girlfriend. They seem to be an amiable couple and so we arrange to meet them in a couple of hours later in Port Campbell, our final destination, for fish and chips. Before that we visit a few more points of interest, a blow hole among them, before the sun sets on us and we find Holly and Scotty for dinner. Alisdair, silly bugger that he is, runs into the sea but hotfoots it out pretty sharpish. It's not a warm ocean that shares coastline with Antartica. The drive home takes about three hours. KS and I sit together and she tells me about her home and friends, we discuss what achievement is and the meaning of success, as well as a myriad of other topics, and time passes quickly, interestingly, and warmly. After dropping her home we remaining three return to Alisdair's house and chat for a while before a much needed sleep.
On Wednesday I meet Jess (better known as Strossel) for a vegetarian lunch out in the suburb of Carlton. I first met her at the Melbourne CS meet-up that Sam took me to and it's a pleasure to see her again. We talk about this and that while chowing down on lentil dahl and she convinces me, with little effort needed, to return to Victoria in two weeks for her three day CS beach house hang out. It is getting into the stage of my travels now where I am less concerned about where I am and more concerned about who I am with. Tonight I meet KS and some friends of hers on Brunswick St. for drinks. The evening starts slowly but warms up as I discover that KS is a lightweight drinker. She is soon pissed and dancing like no one is watching in a bar called Bimbos. She shares the floor with just one other person- a rather hairy transvestite in a humongous blond wig. This is quite a sight, I assure you. Later we attempt to walk back to KS's house but she can't remember the way so after an hour she approaches a man standing by his extremely posh car and he offers us a lift, promising that he's not a "murdered or anything". I am about to say how bad an idea this when KS gets in the car so I climb in. It turns out our driver really isn't a murdered but rather a rather sweet paediatrician who drops us right to our door. We fall into bed (KS lives in a large shed filled with beds, clothes, and assorted stolen paraphernalia which includes a huge 'Police Line: Do Not Cross' barrier) and I fall asleep almost instantly, disturbed only by an angry housemate looking around my bed for a lost bra at 7am.
The next morning we rise slightly bleary-eyed and eat Vita Wheat cereal which is, if you can believe it, even more boring than the likes of rice cracks. The sun has got his hat on as we wander around Vic Markets, KS staring wide-eyed at all the luscious fruit and veg while I munch on some cinnamon flavoured teddy bear biscuits. Tonight Alisdair picks me up from the Unwin's and takes me to dinner, the first man ever to do so, before we meet KS, Jay, and Lene for drinks. I am pleased to have managed to spend some quality time with Alisdair, he's much the sweetest man one could hope to meet. Drinks are fun, we take lots of silly photos and laugh as KS once again takes to the dance floor, proving that she doesn't need to be drunk as long as (and I quote) the music "speaks to her soul".
It's Saturday when I awake and Alisdair drives me out to the airport. Jay is leaving too so Lene tags along to wave us off. It's great to have friends to hug goodbye at the airport. I sleep, practically comatose, all the way to Sydney. I am returning for a very special reason: Brand New. Anyone even vaguely acquainted with my taste in music will know that Brand New are my favourite band, Muse just behind, snapping at their heels. Tonight BN play the UNSW Roundhouse, near Cogee. However, the day very nearly ends in tragedy. I misread my confirmation e-mail and arrive too later at the Ticketek office where I am supposed to collect my tickets. I bang frantically on the doors and a woman appears behind the counter. I put my hands together and make please Jesus, Mary and Holy Saint Joseph signals but she just coldly shakes her head. Right, time for a sulk. I stomp around town for a while looking cross before deciding to chance it and go out to UNSW. One problem though, I don't have my confirmation print-out. A bus ride later and I am at Justine's but no one is in goddamit. Zack (Justine's man) is upstairs and gives me her temporary number as she has lost her phone. The girl is a saint and gives me her uni PC password so I run to UTS and print my confirmation before embarking on the lengthy bus ride to UNSW. I wait in the cold and rain with an ever increasing number of people for the box office to open and when, two hours later, it finally does, the heavens smile upon me- my tickets have been sent up.
The gig is immense. BN play a host of songs I haven't heard them do live before (despite this being my fourth time seeing them in nine months) and do so for nearly two hours. It's sweaty and brutal and I can barely speak by the end- just the way live rock music should be. I chat afterwards to the support act, The Paper and The Plane, and they sign an EP for me. When I get outside it is pouring with rain. Umbrellas, limbs broken and material torn, are scattered everywhere which gives the suburban scene a surreal feeling and I catch a very full bus back to Oxford Street and walk to Asylum where I am asleep with seconds.
I spend the next three days in Cogee where Jess is buried deep under the pressure and paper of the year's final two essays. I keep her well stocked in snacks and tea and make sure I am around to dance every few hours but other than that I amuse myself, glad to be introduced to Jess's new flatmate, the very friendly Jen. I go to Asylum on Monday to bid various farewells. Many people are leaving soon and I myself might not be back to the Cross. I spend an hour in Empire, chatting to Nick, before returning to the hostel for a mini Mad Monday. It is brilliant to get to say such a happy, heartfelt goodbye to everyone, especially my darling Steve who is returning to Scotland. On the bus home to Cogee and I barely banish the smile from my face. It's time to look onward. Queensland, here I come.
Saturday is warm and breezy so Jono takes me on a long walk around the whole of his city and buys me a sandwich to boot. To make matters even lovelier, his flatmate Sarah makes a roast for dinner. She is a smiley, welcoming, warm girl and we sit and enjoy dinner together before some of Jono's friends join us for movies. Also around to liven up the weekend is bouncy little afro-headed Sam, another flatmate and a funny guy with a cheeky smile. As I leave Jono the following evening, Sunday, I feel grateful for his hospitality and hope to see him again. A good bloke with nice manners, it is widely acknowledged, is hard to find.
I fall into my coach seat, ten hours of time to fill until I reach my destination, Cambridge, home of the infamous Jeffers. Some of you reading this may have met Jeff (real name Jen) but for those of you that haven't, she used to live in our neighbouring county of Somerset and was introduced to me by Emily Weeks. Many a summer evening back in the UK was filled with the madness and mayhem that follows Jeffers around. The greatest thing about her is that nothing is a drama. With Jeff, it's all cool. As if to demonstrate this, she picks me up, on foot, from the BP garage where I am dropped off at 4.30am, even though she must work at 8am.
What follows this sleeping Monday morning starts is a week of pure old-school fun. We do whatever we feel like- sleeping late, ordering too much take-out, watching movies all day, listening to sugary pop at insane volumes. Jeff has to work most days at Pet Stop, the local pet shop, so I snooze in some mornings, potter about town, then pick Jeff up a half-hour early so I can eyeball the fish or coo at the puppies until she finishes. Wednesday is an exciting day because today Jeff and I pick up her new car- a Nissan Primera we spend the rest of the week cruising around in. On Friday we go out to see the exceptional Pirates: 3, and on Saturday we do what Jeffers and I do best, we go out and party. Practically everyone who inhabits this rainy green land is friendly and so going out is a pleasure. The two of us befriend several locals and part away the evening with no drama, only fun. The next day Jedd and I, along with her friend Scotty, have breakfast out and spend the rest of the day watching chick flicks with Jeff's boss, Chrissy. Leaving Jeffers on Monday is no drama, we both know we'll see each other again and things will no doubt be just as before.
Sitting on the plane I am very excited. I am going home, back to my Sydney family. What follows are some of the happiest and most relaxing days I can remember. As I walk into the Fitzroy and see my friends dining and laughing together I can't help but grin from ear to ear. We all go out for Asylum's Mad Monday but someone by 2am it's just me, Eli, a creepy persistent lesbian trying to hit on her, and a couple of dodgy guys dancing to cheese in the Empire Bar. Eli and I telepathically communicate our mutual desire to leave and crawl exhausted into our bunks. We snooze Tuesday away and indulge in the evening at World Bar, karaoke abound, this time 'Mr Brightside'. The evening doesn't cost a penny and it's one of the best we've had. Eli and I spend Wednesday morning lying on her bed and talking, something we've got down to a fine art and an activity we repeat that afternoon in the Botanic Gardens after tea and scones. We while away the evening watching trash TV with Sarah, an awesome Brit and Asylum old-hand, and just sitting around together, packing our bags. At midnight we go to visit Nick at work in Empire and he is genuinely happy to see us, supplying free soda and good conversation until his shift finishes and we all wander home together. The next day Eli and I window shop, she making the grave error of letting me in Dymock's bookstore, home to 250,000 volumes and not a place I can be easily convinced to leave. That night is Asylum's free bar tab night and indie at World Bar. It is, to say the least, a brilliant night. We dance like loons to The Killers and friends, drink free beer, meet loads of randoms, and I even bump into Christian, my couchsurfing friend from Perth, in Empire. It's perfect.
Today, Friday, is the day of change. After our normal morning ritual, frappes at Starbucks in Hyde Park, I ride with Eli to the airport. She is off to Thailand. Waving her off is one of the strangest moments I've had travelling, and knowing she'll no longer be around is disconcerting. I feel the loss and so take myself out to Cogee to see Jess, who not only always cheers me up but levels me out too. We dance crazily in her front room to Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'. The next day I lunch with Justine and realise how much I've been missing her. Neither of us can wait for her term to end on the 9th so we can resume our friendship proper. And then, once again, it is time for me to climb aboard an overnight coach. Another twelve hours, two more service stations, countless Tiny Teddy biscuits and a serious amount of leg/neck/shoulder cramp later and I am in Melbourne again. It is 6.30am, still very dark, and freezing cold. What does all this add up to? Yep, you guessed it, breakfast at McDonald's. Eventually I find myself once again with the wonderfully hospitable Unwins and after a delicious breakfast out with Ian I idle the day away.
Melbourne is cold at this time of year. Its residents and tourists alike bundle up against the chill and look forward to September's spring. It is this fact that makes mine and Alisdair's decision to do a two day Great Ocean Road trip seem off. But once you see the GOR, the reason for our road trip becomes evident. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stretches of road in the world, hugging the South Pacific, the sea cutting dramatic rock formations into the coast. Alisdair, you may remember from my earlier Melbourne blog, is a couchsurfer I met last time and, through phone calls, has become a good friend. He picks me up from the UNwins in the morning and I open to car door and meet the three other surfers joining us. I am very surprised to see Jay, the German I met in Perth, and he is equally taken aback. There is also a sweet German girl named Lene and an American, Katie Spotz, who spends most of the morning's drive snoring softly against the car door window.
Our first stop is at a tourist info centre where Alisdair collects about five hundred leaflets to add to his collection back home in his very own info centre come couchsurfing haven. The heavens open as we continue on our way but we brave it for photos and for a damp lunch under the eaves of a seaside building. Katie, who has thus far been uncommunicative, perks up at my mention of feral children -a direction the conversation somehow manages to take- and this moment proves to be the start of ongoing discussions on ever aspect of life that last for two days. We visit a very impressive waterfall down a great many steps before spending the next couple of hours driving around looking for somewhere to camp. The boys "navigate" in the front while we girls chat in the back, enjoying the warmth of the dark car and not worrying too much about finding somewhere to get out in the rain and mess around with tents. But Alisdair promises that it can be achieved in seven minutes, and as it happens, he's right. Lene and Jay sleep in the car, seats all folded down and on mattresses, so Katie, Alisdair and I take the tent. KS and I are mid-convo on happiness and we talk for some time, she listening intently and talking fascinatingly in turn, before she falls asleep, once again snoring, and Alisdair and I talk until our eyes close.
We awake to a furry surprise. No, it's not that fuzzy morning mouth you get if you didn't brush your teeth the night before, it's koalas. They are in the trees all over the campsite, snoozing as usual. It's the first time I have seen them in the true wild. Along the road we take a stroll through the rainforest to see Triplet Falls, KS proclaiming that she "loves moss". Next up are the Twelve (or more like 7.5) Apostles, the icons of the GOR. They are great standing towers of rock, eroded away from the current coastline and they dominate one of the yellow-sanded beaches with an ancient majesty. We meet free spirits Scotty and Holly here, he a local and she his British travelling girlfriend. They seem to be an amiable couple and so we arrange to meet them in a couple of hours later in Port Campbell, our final destination, for fish and chips. Before that we visit a few more points of interest, a blow hole among them, before the sun sets on us and we find Holly and Scotty for dinner. Alisdair, silly bugger that he is, runs into the sea but hotfoots it out pretty sharpish. It's not a warm ocean that shares coastline with Antartica. The drive home takes about three hours. KS and I sit together and she tells me about her home and friends, we discuss what achievement is and the meaning of success, as well as a myriad of other topics, and time passes quickly, interestingly, and warmly. After dropping her home we remaining three return to Alisdair's house and chat for a while before a much needed sleep.
On Wednesday I meet Jess (better known as Strossel) for a vegetarian lunch out in the suburb of Carlton. I first met her at the Melbourne CS meet-up that Sam took me to and it's a pleasure to see her again. We talk about this and that while chowing down on lentil dahl and she convinces me, with little effort needed, to return to Victoria in two weeks for her three day CS beach house hang out. It is getting into the stage of my travels now where I am less concerned about where I am and more concerned about who I am with. Tonight I meet KS and some friends of hers on Brunswick St. for drinks. The evening starts slowly but warms up as I discover that KS is a lightweight drinker. She is soon pissed and dancing like no one is watching in a bar called Bimbos. She shares the floor with just one other person- a rather hairy transvestite in a humongous blond wig. This is quite a sight, I assure you. Later we attempt to walk back to KS's house but she can't remember the way so after an hour she approaches a man standing by his extremely posh car and he offers us a lift, promising that he's not a "murdered or anything". I am about to say how bad an idea this when KS gets in the car so I climb in. It turns out our driver really isn't a murdered but rather a rather sweet paediatrician who drops us right to our door. We fall into bed (KS lives in a large shed filled with beds, clothes, and assorted stolen paraphernalia which includes a huge 'Police Line: Do Not Cross' barrier) and I fall asleep almost instantly, disturbed only by an angry housemate looking around my bed for a lost bra at 7am.
The next morning we rise slightly bleary-eyed and eat Vita Wheat cereal which is, if you can believe it, even more boring than the likes of rice cracks. The sun has got his hat on as we wander around Vic Markets, KS staring wide-eyed at all the luscious fruit and veg while I munch on some cinnamon flavoured teddy bear biscuits. Tonight Alisdair picks me up from the Unwin's and takes me to dinner, the first man ever to do so, before we meet KS, Jay, and Lene for drinks. I am pleased to have managed to spend some quality time with Alisdair, he's much the sweetest man one could hope to meet. Drinks are fun, we take lots of silly photos and laugh as KS once again takes to the dance floor, proving that she doesn't need to be drunk as long as (and I quote) the music "speaks to her soul".
It's Saturday when I awake and Alisdair drives me out to the airport. Jay is leaving too so Lene tags along to wave us off. It's great to have friends to hug goodbye at the airport. I sleep, practically comatose, all the way to Sydney. I am returning for a very special reason: Brand New. Anyone even vaguely acquainted with my taste in music will know that Brand New are my favourite band, Muse just behind, snapping at their heels. Tonight BN play the UNSW Roundhouse, near Cogee. However, the day very nearly ends in tragedy. I misread my confirmation e-mail and arrive too later at the Ticketek office where I am supposed to collect my tickets. I bang frantically on the doors and a woman appears behind the counter. I put my hands together and make please Jesus, Mary and Holy Saint Joseph signals but she just coldly shakes her head. Right, time for a sulk. I stomp around town for a while looking cross before deciding to chance it and go out to UNSW. One problem though, I don't have my confirmation print-out. A bus ride later and I am at Justine's but no one is in goddamit. Zack (Justine's man) is upstairs and gives me her temporary number as she has lost her phone. The girl is a saint and gives me her uni PC password so I run to UTS and print my confirmation before embarking on the lengthy bus ride to UNSW. I wait in the cold and rain with an ever increasing number of people for the box office to open and when, two hours later, it finally does, the heavens smile upon me- my tickets have been sent up.
The gig is immense. BN play a host of songs I haven't heard them do live before (despite this being my fourth time seeing them in nine months) and do so for nearly two hours. It's sweaty and brutal and I can barely speak by the end- just the way live rock music should be. I chat afterwards to the support act, The Paper and The Plane, and they sign an EP for me. When I get outside it is pouring with rain. Umbrellas, limbs broken and material torn, are scattered everywhere which gives the suburban scene a surreal feeling and I catch a very full bus back to Oxford Street and walk to Asylum where I am asleep with seconds.
I spend the next three days in Cogee where Jess is buried deep under the pressure and paper of the year's final two essays. I keep her well stocked in snacks and tea and make sure I am around to dance every few hours but other than that I amuse myself, glad to be introduced to Jess's new flatmate, the very friendly Jen. I go to Asylum on Monday to bid various farewells. Many people are leaving soon and I myself might not be back to the Cross. I spend an hour in Empire, chatting to Nick, before returning to the hostel for a mini Mad Monday. It is brilliant to get to say such a happy, heartfelt goodbye to everyone, especially my darling Steve who is returning to Scotland. On the bus home to Cogee and I barely banish the smile from my face. It's time to look onward. Queensland, here I come.
posted by Aisling at 12:01 AM
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