Soooo.. San Francisco. I was lucky with weather in LA. It was fairly warm and always sunny. Didn't get so lucky with SF. I guess when the weather was great in LA it was also great in SF… and when I left LA it was raining…. and also raining in SF. Flight was delayed 1.5hrs so that meant another 1.5hrs at the airport. I sat next to two people on the plane that were quite friendly. Just met and the lady was telling this guy her freakin life story. He seemed pretty into it and was certainly paying attention. When we were getting off he whispered something to me about how happy he is for that to FINALLY be over haha. Awesome. What a polite guy though to let her ramble like that for almost 2hrs. I slept most of the ride but even in my sleep I could hear here going and going. By the time I finally got to the SUPER NICE hostel it was a little after 4. Just kind of hung out at the hostel for the night and made some calls. Next day, breakfast was free. Not only free, but bagels with cream cheese. They didn't really have bagels in Australia, so free bagels here was the highlight of my morning! The hostel-planned walking tour at 9 was cancelled so I went to a chinatown walking tour I found online at 10. FREE! That was about 2hrs. Pretty nice. The guide was very friendly and knew a lot. She showed us old buildings, old whore houses, a fortune cookie factory (so fun!) and an herb shop. I had lunch at some dumpling shop that was meant to have the best dumplings. Pretty good, not the best.. From there I walked out to the Ferry Plaza and all along the coast to Fort Mason. My plan was to go all the way up to Fort Point, but my shoes are NOT walking shoes and it started getting a little cooler so I gave up after I got to a good photo spot. The weather was pretty cloudy and definitely windy. It only started raining as I was getting back. I chatted on the phone for most of the walk to Mom, Katie and Ryan. It took about 2-2.5hrs to get to Fort Mason and 1.5 to get back. My poor feet hurt. I got back around 5 and it started pouring with thunder and lightning so I just sort of hung out the rest of the night. Sunday morning I had to check out, but my bus wasn't until 530pm so I took the site seeing bus around the city. It wasn't expensive, but they didn't really show me anything I didn't see yesterday and the info they gave me wasn't that exciting, basically just pointing things out. It was alright… definitely took up some time. I got off at one of the last stops and wandered around… took a look at city hall. There I remembered that The Wedding Planner (old school fav movie ever) took place in San Fran and they went to City Hall to get married. It didn't LOOK like the city hall in the movie, so I didn't take any pictures or anything but now I want to watch it to point out different buildings and stuff. Had some time to kill before another walking tour so I rode a cable car down California Street and back. Not too exciting, but I guess it's one of those things you have to do when you're in town. Still had some time to kill so I wandered to a dog park near the starting point of the walk. The sun started peaking out a bit more, thank goodness, so it warmed up quite a bit. The walk ended up being pretty shit. I figured they'd walk around pointing out a lot of really nice cool Victorian houses, preferably ones with some history or something but they didn't. It was basically some lady rambling on and on about things that happened during the victorian time period. She was more of a historian than an architecture buff so she pointed out some of the differences in the houses, but was more interested in rambling. I started blocking her out and getting irritated that we weren't continuing on. She basically showed us like 8 houses in an hour and a half. I wanted to see the Full House house and she didn't seem to be ending anytime soon. Plus I had a bus to catch, so I snuck off toward the end and walked down to the house. Gotta say… a little disappointed. I mean, it was definitely the house, I could certainly tell, but it was just like all of the other houses next to it and the street wasn't that exciting. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I stopped, took a quick picture, and kept going haha. There's also a scene in the opening credits of Full House where they are in a park with houses and the city behind them… turns out that's the "pink ladies" and is a fairly famous row of houses. The website said we'd be going to these houses, but we definitely didn't. I wanted to make it out to those too, but didn't have time to do Full House and pink ladies. Maybe next time.
Just got to Sacramento. The place is an old mansion, super cute. My room is huge with 8 beds but only one other girl in the room. Guy said the place was pretty quiet tonight. I'm okay with that. This city seems pretty cute and relaxed. Like San Fran, but smaller and less intense. I can hear some jazz music out my window.. not sure if it's someone playing on a street or some restaurant or something. Tomorrow I'll go out exploring.
Monday, November 22, 2010
November 19, 2010
Already wrote about my first day in LA, so my next day was a little more eventful. Not by much though haha. I got a message from Shannon about meeting for dinner, so we had plans to meet for dinner at like 7 so I spent the afternoon at Venice Beach. I spent the morning lazily getting ready. Still a little tired, possibly from the pills I'd been taking. Waiting at the bus stop a young homeless guy asked me for change. Since I was just WAITING at the bus stop he felt it necessary to make me uncomfortable and tell me how horny I made him. I gave him some money and he said he loved me. I joked with him, but definitely kept my bag zipped up and away from him. Kind of a creeper. Long bus to the beach. Started at Santa Monica Pier and wandered south to Venice Beach. Nothing too spectacular except the huge birds. I was there from about 3pm to 445 so I managed to catch the sunset. There weren't any clouds, so it was this perfect clear-sky sunset. Really cool. The beach was fine; seaweed isn't something I was used to in Oz, the sand wasn't as pretty, just not as nice, but still pretty. Got back, met Shannon and we went to Geisha House, which is Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore's sushi restaurant. It was a beautiful place and the waiter we had was really friendly. I figured that since the place was right on Hollywood Blvd, reasonably priced, and owned by celebrities that the place would be swarming with tourists, but it wasn't. Great food, amazing sushi and it was so nice talking to someone that knew me prior to Nov 2009. Shannon was the first person I'd been in the same room that's known me longer than a year so I probably rambled a lot more than I should have. We haven't really talked since high school so we had about 5 years of catching up to do. I was a bit jet lagged still, so we called it a night around 10.
Next day was pretty busy. Warner Brothers studio tour in the AM. WB is a bit further out of town than I think the other studios are, but I prefer WB. They film some of my favorite shows and movies, so being there was a must. The instant I stepped on the lot I got so excited. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Everyone that knows me knows my obsession for TV and movies. My obsession with celebrities has died down significantly, but being where the magic happens is so cool. They played a little intro movie showing clips of movies that were filmed there and I kept getting goosebumps. Freakin Casablanca to Harry Potter… everything! Incredible. Amazing things have been done here. The tour guide was an older guy, super friendly. I talked to him about the job and he seemed to love it. Kinda talked me into applying. Not that being a tour guide is something I'd want to do forever, but I'd be an incredible guide and WB studios would be the top notch of places to be a guide. Anyway, got back from the tour, my iPhone arrived! Synced it all up and went for a walk, chatting on my phone, and to the supermarket. On the way back a guy on the street was handing out tickets to tonights taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson! AWESOME! Started in the next 1.5hrs or something so I really had to get going. Made in with plenty of time. Waiting in line, security, waiting outside, debriefing, warm up guy, and then FINALLY the taping. Taping a show is pretty much as I expected. Goes a lot faster than I anticipated. Craig is hilarious and stayed out and chatted with us during the "commercial breaks". The audience was only about 105-110 people so a small group, which I like. Much more personable. That meant Craig wasn't a tool and talked to us a bit more than prob Leno does. There were two tapings that day so I stayed for the second. The guests were Mark Ruffalo, the author of Shutter Island (the book), and some comedian Amy Something who wrote a craft book. All are hilarious. They can do and say what they want because no one watches this show haha. Really fun. Definitely an experience! From there I had to rush back to the room, change, grab food and jump in a cab to get to my Dear Jack (Jacks Mannequin/Something Corporate) concert. Whole thing is a one day only, for charity, event. Really cool that it worked out to be during my 4 days in town. Got there late to see that instead of missing a crappy opener I missed Matt Nathanson, who I LOVE! I think he had a new album out cause he sang 2 songs I didn't recognize, Highway to Hell, and I did manage to catch Come on Get Higher. JM was awesome as well… both Matt and JM were touring together last year so I caught them in Richmond for an awesome show. I REALLY needed to go to this one because I adore Something Corporate. They broke up awhile back but did a little reunion tour while I was in Aus (go figure), so them being here was a dream come true. So happy. I knew and loved almost every song. They didn't play Down, which is my all time fav song by any artist, but they played Konstantine, which was just as good. Ended with La La Lie, and both JM and SC came out for that one (2 members are the same in both groups for those of you that don't know the groups), so that was fun. Awesome show!
Next morning headed to San Fran. That can be a separate post :)
Next day was pretty busy. Warner Brothers studio tour in the AM. WB is a bit further out of town than I think the other studios are, but I prefer WB. They film some of my favorite shows and movies, so being there was a must. The instant I stepped on the lot I got so excited. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Everyone that knows me knows my obsession for TV and movies. My obsession with celebrities has died down significantly, but being where the magic happens is so cool. They played a little intro movie showing clips of movies that were filmed there and I kept getting goosebumps. Freakin Casablanca to Harry Potter… everything! Incredible. Amazing things have been done here. The tour guide was an older guy, super friendly. I talked to him about the job and he seemed to love it. Kinda talked me into applying. Not that being a tour guide is something I'd want to do forever, but I'd be an incredible guide and WB studios would be the top notch of places to be a guide. Anyway, got back from the tour, my iPhone arrived! Synced it all up and went for a walk, chatting on my phone, and to the supermarket. On the way back a guy on the street was handing out tickets to tonights taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson! AWESOME! Started in the next 1.5hrs or something so I really had to get going. Made in with plenty of time. Waiting in line, security, waiting outside, debriefing, warm up guy, and then FINALLY the taping. Taping a show is pretty much as I expected. Goes a lot faster than I anticipated. Craig is hilarious and stayed out and chatted with us during the "commercial breaks". The audience was only about 105-110 people so a small group, which I like. Much more personable. That meant Craig wasn't a tool and talked to us a bit more than prob Leno does. There were two tapings that day so I stayed for the second. The guests were Mark Ruffalo, the author of Shutter Island (the book), and some comedian Amy Something who wrote a craft book. All are hilarious. They can do and say what they want because no one watches this show haha. Really fun. Definitely an experience! From there I had to rush back to the room, change, grab food and jump in a cab to get to my Dear Jack (Jacks Mannequin/Something Corporate) concert. Whole thing is a one day only, for charity, event. Really cool that it worked out to be during my 4 days in town. Got there late to see that instead of missing a crappy opener I missed Matt Nathanson, who I LOVE! I think he had a new album out cause he sang 2 songs I didn't recognize, Highway to Hell, and I did manage to catch Come on Get Higher. JM was awesome as well… both Matt and JM were touring together last year so I caught them in Richmond for an awesome show. I REALLY needed to go to this one because I adore Something Corporate. They broke up awhile back but did a little reunion tour while I was in Aus (go figure), so them being here was a dream come true. So happy. I knew and loved almost every song. They didn't play Down, which is my all time fav song by any artist, but they played Konstantine, which was just as good. Ended with La La Lie, and both JM and SC came out for that one (2 members are the same in both groups for those of you that don't know the groups), so that was fun. Awesome show!
Next morning headed to San Fran. That can be a separate post :)
November 18, 2010
Blog:
I've written most of the Los Angeles blog, but I wanted to do this first cause it's a little more fun. Been thinking about how I've been adjusting to being back in the US or the things I've missed here or things from Oz I've missed.. just randomness.
Getting used to the right hand side of the road was much easier than I thought. When crossing the street I actively think about where I'm looking, but as far as being in a car, it hasn't weirded me out having cars driving on the other side. It might help that I've been in a huge city that has like a million lanes instead of two. I used to see cars driving toward me in what appears to be my lane and I'd freak thinking I was about to get in an accident. Harder to do with pools of cars flowing at me with a divider in the road. I've been trying really hard to walk on the right hand side too but still sometimes end up on the left. Or, when I'm going around people I swerve left instead of right, which throws people off. I've gotten close to collision a time or two.
I know it's autumn, but the sun seems weak. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we don't have a hole in the ozone layer above us, but it just seems like a bit of a wuss here. I was outside for most of the day on numerous occasions with the sun in full swing and never felt like I was burning. If I stood outside waiting to cross the street in Oz I'd be fried. Strange.
I knew, but clearly didn't think about it at the time, but a large at Starbucks here is much larger than a large in Australia. I wanted a lot of coffee to fight my jet lag, but WHOA! I did not want it THAT big. Same went for Wendys. They don't even have an option for a small meal; it's regular or large hahah! In Oz it's S, M or L. We are fat!
Seagulls seem to be massive here. I don't remember them being that big back in MI, so maybe it's just a Cali thing, but every time I saw one I feared for my life! It could have bit off my head or cut off my arm with one swoop of it's wings! It was like the size of a small house cat! I wish I could compare to the size of the Oz birds, but all I can think is that it looks like the size of a NORMAL bird… Anyone with specifics about that let me know. I may just have to wait until I get to MI to see how these stack up to other US birds.
Guys in the US are so much more vulgar. I've had random guys screaming things at me in the streets, homeless guys getting close in my face saying I make them horny, and a tour guide giving me his number. I've also had random guys tell me how beautiful I am… most salesmen so I'm taking that as a sales pitch and not a compliment. A guy in Oz liked me for close to 4mo knowing I was into him too and didn't say a word. I know I haven't gotten more attractive since I've been gone.. pretty sure it's gone the other way, so that's not it. Guys in the US are just crazier. Probably a good thing to an extent, but still a little strange.
Lastly, I noticed as soon as I arrived in Australia that the toilets use MUCH less water. That and they have a half flush or full flush button… much more environmentally friendly. I don't usually stare in toilets or anything, so getting back to our wasteful toilets wasn't a huge change, but I must say that the first time I flushed it, I freaked out thinking the thing was broken because it just KEPT RUNNING! Sooo much water was being wasted! I just kept thinking, "stop flushing, stop flushing, stop flushing!" Random, but now I feel like I'm wasting so much water when I flush. We need European toilets.
I've written most of the Los Angeles blog, but I wanted to do this first cause it's a little more fun. Been thinking about how I've been adjusting to being back in the US or the things I've missed here or things from Oz I've missed.. just randomness.
Getting used to the right hand side of the road was much easier than I thought. When crossing the street I actively think about where I'm looking, but as far as being in a car, it hasn't weirded me out having cars driving on the other side. It might help that I've been in a huge city that has like a million lanes instead of two. I used to see cars driving toward me in what appears to be my lane and I'd freak thinking I was about to get in an accident. Harder to do with pools of cars flowing at me with a divider in the road. I've been trying really hard to walk on the right hand side too but still sometimes end up on the left. Or, when I'm going around people I swerve left instead of right, which throws people off. I've gotten close to collision a time or two.
I know it's autumn, but the sun seems weak. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we don't have a hole in the ozone layer above us, but it just seems like a bit of a wuss here. I was outside for most of the day on numerous occasions with the sun in full swing and never felt like I was burning. If I stood outside waiting to cross the street in Oz I'd be fried. Strange.
I knew, but clearly didn't think about it at the time, but a large at Starbucks here is much larger than a large in Australia. I wanted a lot of coffee to fight my jet lag, but WHOA! I did not want it THAT big. Same went for Wendys. They don't even have an option for a small meal; it's regular or large hahah! In Oz it's S, M or L. We are fat!
Seagulls seem to be massive here. I don't remember them being that big back in MI, so maybe it's just a Cali thing, but every time I saw one I feared for my life! It could have bit off my head or cut off my arm with one swoop of it's wings! It was like the size of a small house cat! I wish I could compare to the size of the Oz birds, but all I can think is that it looks like the size of a NORMAL bird… Anyone with specifics about that let me know. I may just have to wait until I get to MI to see how these stack up to other US birds.
Guys in the US are so much more vulgar. I've had random guys screaming things at me in the streets, homeless guys getting close in my face saying I make them horny, and a tour guide giving me his number. I've also had random guys tell me how beautiful I am… most salesmen so I'm taking that as a sales pitch and not a compliment. A guy in Oz liked me for close to 4mo knowing I was into him too and didn't say a word. I know I haven't gotten more attractive since I've been gone.. pretty sure it's gone the other way, so that's not it. Guys in the US are just crazier. Probably a good thing to an extent, but still a little strange.
Lastly, I noticed as soon as I arrived in Australia that the toilets use MUCH less water. That and they have a half flush or full flush button… much more environmentally friendly. I don't usually stare in toilets or anything, so getting back to our wasteful toilets wasn't a huge change, but I must say that the first time I flushed it, I freaked out thinking the thing was broken because it just KEPT RUNNING! Sooo much water was being wasted! I just kept thinking, "stop flushing, stop flushing, stop flushing!" Random, but now I feel like I'm wasting so much water when I flush. We need European toilets.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
November 16, 2010
Back in the US! Feeling so many mixed emotions. It hasn't completely hit me yet, so sad isn't quite there yet. I flew in and out of Sydney like 4 times so part of me felt like leaving was just one more time instead of for good. I'm a little relieved to know that I get to chill and settle shortly. it's a little strange having people around with American accents and talking about places in America, and knowing where Michigan is when I say that that's where I'm from. Mostly, I'm tired. I've been good at fighting the jet lag, but it's still there. I'll get to that in a minute though.. Finish up my Oz stories first….
Got to Sydney around 5pm. Only had two nights before my flight, so minimal time to see everyone. I planned one big dinner with everyone and everyone was up for it, but Michael had some plans that day so we got together Saturday night instead. We were meant to do dinner but by the time we met up it was getting a bit late and I had some coffee so I actually wasn't all that hungry. I was planning on getting some bar food wherever we went but that never ended up happening. His flatmate went out and got us some drinks so we sat around for an hour or so drinking, and then went out to the pub for a bit and met up with his other flatmate. They were pretty cool guys. I had met one last time I was around, but not these ones. I was definitely a little drunk, but I got the idea they liked me too. We sat around chatting, just the four of us, then played a few games of pool. Next day Jackie and I went shopping. Originally my Sunday plans were to close my bank account and work on tax back stuff, but I managed to do that online so I only had two more souvenirs to get. We went to Paddy Markets and the new mall on Market St. I had picked out the best souvenir ever for Kev, vegemite boxers. They came in a cardboard vegemite container and were so perfect considering every time I talk to him he wants me to be eating a vegemite sandwich. The store that had them before didn't anymore so he got a crap gift like everyone else haha. Went back to Jackie's to pack and do some laundry. Big group dinner was around 730. I knew I'd be depressed or distracted so I didn't want a late night, but the 7 of us had an amazing time just chilling and chatting. We ate at the Opera Bar, which is the bar/restaurant at the opera house, so we were able to sit and watch the sunset around the opera house and harbour bridge. The bats from the botanical gardens fly over the bridge every night so we watched them. There was also a huge cruise ship in the harbour so that was fun. Everyone semi knew each other except Jackie, so I was nervous for her, but everyone liked her and everyone kept talking and chatting all night. Klair and Carla started bickering as soon as Klair got there, which was exactly what I wanted. I love their fights haha. They started talking about politics and government, which was interesting because it's definitely different than mine. The weather was incredible too. It wasn't cold, wasn't sticky, just warm with a breeze. At the end of the night I put my fleece on, but until then, it was absolutely perfect. No bugs or anything. We drank mojitos and had some lamb. Good stuff. Being at the opera house and bridge was such a touristy thing, but exactly what I needed. I made Jackie walk up to it with me before we got to the car. I just needed that final viewing of it. The building that represents the country I'm leaving. Perfect. Woke up early in the AM to say bye to Jackie, ran to the store to get some vegemite and Tim Tams. Got some nutella too. Weather was shitty, but I figured the city was just crying for me. It was Monday so I wasn't expecting anyone to take me to the airport, but Lorelle didn't have to work until 2 so she offered to take me! So wonderful of her! She met me at the train station and hung with me for a bit at the airport. We looked for a few more souvenirs and coffee. Left Lorelle at security and made a few calls at the gate. Watched three movies and attempted to sleep around 8pm. Had all three seats to myself but couldn't really sleep much. Such crap. I kept looking up at the screen that shows stats and maps. It flashes with how high and how far you are, then shows different maps with a plane showing where you are on your route. The first time I saw a flash of the path with a plane LEAVING Australia my heart did a sad little jump. That was the first realization that I was leaving, but it was just for that instant. I wanted to be sad so I kept looking at that map but couldn't work up the tears!
Landed in LA at 8am, which is 3am Oz time. Security went nicely. A customs guy said "welcome home" to me, which was depressing. Took awhile, but finally got to the hostel. Not the best place, but nice location. Right in Hollywood, across from the Kodak Theatre. When I got to my room I heard an announcer at the Hard Rock Cafe across the street so I looked out the window and saw heaps of people out there. Once I got all settled I walked out there just as Christina Aguliera was starting her speech. I think she just got her star on the walk of fame. I took a few pics but didn't care what she had to say. Got to the metro to go find an AT&T store. Got out there and apparently googlemaps lied because the store wasn't there. Went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall (which I keep calling the Opera House haha). Frank Ghery is my favorite architect and this is my favorite of his buildings. I've been dying to see this building for years so it really was like a dream come true. I kept touching it! So happy! Free audio tour was really nice. Took me around the whole place, except the main concert hall) and explained the architecture and design of it. I took like 60 pictures of it. I was just so happy to finally be there. When I left I thought I could leave LA now… saw what I needed; a celebrity and the Hall. Walking back I saw a car flipped over on a side road. Had a mini panic attack until I saw a huge spot light and cameras. Then I got excited; filming something! Walked over and stood next to a cop who was doing security. I asked if I was able to watch and he ended up being super friendly telling me what they were filming (he thinks it was an episode of Lie to Me although I didn't recognize anyone) and where I could go to get good pictures. They just filmed the same scene over and over again, but it was cool to see. I sat and watched for 15-20 min and went back to the hostel. Looked up a new AT&T store, went out there to find that I couldn't get my phone. Came back and went to Wendy's because I have been craving it. I don't really like fast food, but if you put me in a country where I can't have Wendy's or Taco Bell… I'm going to want it! Had the spicy chicken meal with a frosty. Yummy! Went to sleep at like 830. I was skyping with mom before bed and started getting grumpy so we decided sleep was a good idea.
Woke up around 8am this morning for a tour. Wasn't sure I'd make it thought the night but I took some sleep aid pills so I was good to go. I was meant to do a 5hr day tour going to different areas and beaches but it didn't happen and some guy on the street convinced me to do a 2hr one. While waiting for the bus I chatted up one of the managers. Friendly guy, he gave me his number haha. Not going to use it. Tour was good. Our guide, James was really nice. He said that some guides point at big houses and make up who lives there but he doesn't do that. Like, the third house we saw he said was Ringo Star's and the gate opened up and he was in the car! Clearly he gives it to us straight! I wasn't able to get a picture, which made me mad, but we did see a lot of houses. Went to Rodeo Drive for a minute and came back. Not spectacular, but pretty cool. Tomorrow I think I'll check out the beaches since the 2hr tour didn't do them. After the tour I just came back to my room and have been hanging out for the afternoon. I'm a little drowsy. Can't really think of much to do if I have all day at the beach tomorrow, and a studio tour the day after. Thinking I might get Coldstone for dinner. I can't find a supermarket, so I bought a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (another thing I never ate but couldn't have in Oz) so I've had that for lunch and may have it for a snack before Coldstone haha.
Got to Sydney around 5pm. Only had two nights before my flight, so minimal time to see everyone. I planned one big dinner with everyone and everyone was up for it, but Michael had some plans that day so we got together Saturday night instead. We were meant to do dinner but by the time we met up it was getting a bit late and I had some coffee so I actually wasn't all that hungry. I was planning on getting some bar food wherever we went but that never ended up happening. His flatmate went out and got us some drinks so we sat around for an hour or so drinking, and then went out to the pub for a bit and met up with his other flatmate. They were pretty cool guys. I had met one last time I was around, but not these ones. I was definitely a little drunk, but I got the idea they liked me too. We sat around chatting, just the four of us, then played a few games of pool. Next day Jackie and I went shopping. Originally my Sunday plans were to close my bank account and work on tax back stuff, but I managed to do that online so I only had two more souvenirs to get. We went to Paddy Markets and the new mall on Market St. I had picked out the best souvenir ever for Kev, vegemite boxers. They came in a cardboard vegemite container and were so perfect considering every time I talk to him he wants me to be eating a vegemite sandwich. The store that had them before didn't anymore so he got a crap gift like everyone else haha. Went back to Jackie's to pack and do some laundry. Big group dinner was around 730. I knew I'd be depressed or distracted so I didn't want a late night, but the 7 of us had an amazing time just chilling and chatting. We ate at the Opera Bar, which is the bar/restaurant at the opera house, so we were able to sit and watch the sunset around the opera house and harbour bridge. The bats from the botanical gardens fly over the bridge every night so we watched them. There was also a huge cruise ship in the harbour so that was fun. Everyone semi knew each other except Jackie, so I was nervous for her, but everyone liked her and everyone kept talking and chatting all night. Klair and Carla started bickering as soon as Klair got there, which was exactly what I wanted. I love their fights haha. They started talking about politics and government, which was interesting because it's definitely different than mine. The weather was incredible too. It wasn't cold, wasn't sticky, just warm with a breeze. At the end of the night I put my fleece on, but until then, it was absolutely perfect. No bugs or anything. We drank mojitos and had some lamb. Good stuff. Being at the opera house and bridge was such a touristy thing, but exactly what I needed. I made Jackie walk up to it with me before we got to the car. I just needed that final viewing of it. The building that represents the country I'm leaving. Perfect. Woke up early in the AM to say bye to Jackie, ran to the store to get some vegemite and Tim Tams. Got some nutella too. Weather was shitty, but I figured the city was just crying for me. It was Monday so I wasn't expecting anyone to take me to the airport, but Lorelle didn't have to work until 2 so she offered to take me! So wonderful of her! She met me at the train station and hung with me for a bit at the airport. We looked for a few more souvenirs and coffee. Left Lorelle at security and made a few calls at the gate. Watched three movies and attempted to sleep around 8pm. Had all three seats to myself but couldn't really sleep much. Such crap. I kept looking up at the screen that shows stats and maps. It flashes with how high and how far you are, then shows different maps with a plane showing where you are on your route. The first time I saw a flash of the path with a plane LEAVING Australia my heart did a sad little jump. That was the first realization that I was leaving, but it was just for that instant. I wanted to be sad so I kept looking at that map but couldn't work up the tears!
Landed in LA at 8am, which is 3am Oz time. Security went nicely. A customs guy said "welcome home" to me, which was depressing. Took awhile, but finally got to the hostel. Not the best place, but nice location. Right in Hollywood, across from the Kodak Theatre. When I got to my room I heard an announcer at the Hard Rock Cafe across the street so I looked out the window and saw heaps of people out there. Once I got all settled I walked out there just as Christina Aguliera was starting her speech. I think she just got her star on the walk of fame. I took a few pics but didn't care what she had to say. Got to the metro to go find an AT&T store. Got out there and apparently googlemaps lied because the store wasn't there. Went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall (which I keep calling the Opera House haha). Frank Ghery is my favorite architect and this is my favorite of his buildings. I've been dying to see this building for years so it really was like a dream come true. I kept touching it! So happy! Free audio tour was really nice. Took me around the whole place, except the main concert hall) and explained the architecture and design of it. I took like 60 pictures of it. I was just so happy to finally be there. When I left I thought I could leave LA now… saw what I needed; a celebrity and the Hall. Walking back I saw a car flipped over on a side road. Had a mini panic attack until I saw a huge spot light and cameras. Then I got excited; filming something! Walked over and stood next to a cop who was doing security. I asked if I was able to watch and he ended up being super friendly telling me what they were filming (he thinks it was an episode of Lie to Me although I didn't recognize anyone) and where I could go to get good pictures. They just filmed the same scene over and over again, but it was cool to see. I sat and watched for 15-20 min and went back to the hostel. Looked up a new AT&T store, went out there to find that I couldn't get my phone. Came back and went to Wendy's because I have been craving it. I don't really like fast food, but if you put me in a country where I can't have Wendy's or Taco Bell… I'm going to want it! Had the spicy chicken meal with a frosty. Yummy! Went to sleep at like 830. I was skyping with mom before bed and started getting grumpy so we decided sleep was a good idea.
Woke up around 8am this morning for a tour. Wasn't sure I'd make it thought the night but I took some sleep aid pills so I was good to go. I was meant to do a 5hr day tour going to different areas and beaches but it didn't happen and some guy on the street convinced me to do a 2hr one. While waiting for the bus I chatted up one of the managers. Friendly guy, he gave me his number haha. Not going to use it. Tour was good. Our guide, James was really nice. He said that some guides point at big houses and make up who lives there but he doesn't do that. Like, the third house we saw he said was Ringo Star's and the gate opened up and he was in the car! Clearly he gives it to us straight! I wasn't able to get a picture, which made me mad, but we did see a lot of houses. Went to Rodeo Drive for a minute and came back. Not spectacular, but pretty cool. Tomorrow I think I'll check out the beaches since the 2hr tour didn't do them. After the tour I just came back to my room and have been hanging out for the afternoon. I'm a little drowsy. Can't really think of much to do if I have all day at the beach tomorrow, and a studio tour the day after. Thinking I might get Coldstone for dinner. I can't find a supermarket, so I bought a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (another thing I never ate but couldn't have in Oz) so I've had that for lunch and may have it for a snack before Coldstone haha.
Friday, November 12, 2010
November 12, 2010
In Alice Springs. Final stop before going home. Well, back to Syd on Saturday, and THEN back home.. Well haha, then Cali, then home. Whatever… it's almost over is my point. Pretty sad. The outback tour was pretty impressive. Overall a good time. The driver was Tommy and she was so killer. She's a surfer chick with dreads and super fun. Sounds like she's been doing a lot of traveling and completely loves this job so everyday was cool for her. The bus was only 9 people, all older, but really friendly. There was a couple from Holland, couple from England, a girl from Malaysia and three girls from France. They were always on French time so when we were told to be back in 15 min it always took them at least 20. I thought it was funny the first few times and we all managed to just laugh it off, but I don't understand the concept of NOT being back at a specific time! The weather held out really nicely for us. It's the outback, so clearly it was hot, but it's spring so it's not as hot as it could have been, No rain or clouds either. I guess since we're in the outback it's usually dry, but it is still possible. The days were long; we had to get up at 4-430 almost every morning. Most days we had fairly long bus rides so we could sleep there, but sleeping on a bus isn't quite the same. First day we drove from Adelaide to Quorn; a shithole town a few hours north of Adelaide. We stayed there for two nights, which seemed like a bit much. Flinders Ranges are there, so pretty mountain ranges. First day we did a 3hr walk, 8km all uphill. The slope wasn't too bad but I was definitely winded at the top. Down was easy. Pretty views. It was starting to cool off a bit when we were up there so it was nice. Next day was a huge walk. Shorter, like 6km return, but up a steep hill. It was tough and it was hot. I'm way too out of shape so me and another girl were the last ones up to the top. We went with another group so the guides split into two groups; one to do the hard walk and another to do the easy one. For some horrible reason I chose the hard one. When I got to the top I remembered why. The view was incredible. Basically 360 view of Flinders Ranges and Wilpeana Pound. Really pretty. 1.5hrs to get down and had lunch. Later that evening we got to do something I was so stoked about! I got to go on a camel ride!!! How bizarre! I didn't even know Australia had camels, but I guess they have heaps, and I got to ride one for a half hour. The guide, Graham, was hilarious. Definitely a country boy… kind of a hick, but so funny. He'd just talk to the camels and tell weird stories about camel races, which I now HAVE to go to. Dinner was camel sausages… so ironic and terrible, but they tasted pretty good. Next morning we got up early to get to Coober Pedy, opal capital of the world. We slept in an old mine, which was pretty cool. They had done some renovations to it so there was some wood paneling in the walls and some of the sandstone cave-like walls were painted, so it didn't look as legit, but it was still pretty cool. We did a tour of a mine, bought some opals and did a bit of our own mining. Our mining wasn't in a mine though, it was in a big pile of rocks. Didn't find anything, but Tommy found heaps of little bits so she put one on the ground in front of me and was like, "Emily, what's that? You found one!" I got to keep it, yay! Oh, and the coolest part of that day was that Tommy knew some people that had a kangaroo orphanage. Guess people hit roos on the road all the time and sometimes find babies in the pouch or kids will catch a baby or something and keep it for awhile and it gets sick. These guys get them all fixed up and let them back out. They had 6 roos: 4 "children" and 2 babies. We got to watch them drink bottles, which was so adorable. One was fighting with one of the owners too. So cute watching a kangaroo box a human. The babies were still in the pouches they had made for them so we got to watch one climb in and out and hop around. One of the bigger ones came up to me at the fence and was letting me pet him and gave me little kisses and then when the feeding was over we got to hold the babies! I got to hold the tiny hairless one. Definitely an experience. Next day we went up to Uluru. Long drive so we got there basically in time for the sunset. Sunset and sunrise at Uluru are a big deal so it was crazy crowded. Tommy found a nice quiet place down the path a little bit. She said most tourists are typically lazy and she was right, we walked like 3min further down the path and there was no one there. Sunset was incredible. Even if there wasn't a huge rock in front of us with pretty colors, I'd still just watch the sunset all by itself. We waited for the other buses to filter out before we left and got back to camp and went pretty much straight to bed. This night was at a campsite and it was nice one! The tents were permanent tents and had actual beds in them. Surprisingly though, we slept outside around the fire. The weather was perfect; not too hot and not too cold. There weren't any mozzies or bugs around. Because we're basically out in the middle of nowhere the stars were incredible. Once the fire died down a bit we all just laid around watching the stars. While doing this a HUGE shooting star shot by. I swore I was dreaming because it was too perfect. It wasn't like the small little ones zipping by, this one was massive and went across the entire sky. Incredible. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night and thought I was inside until I opened my eyes and saw an incredible blanket of stars above me. I could definitely do that every day. In the morning we did sunrise, which was basically the same. While driving to the sunrise carpark we stopped to take incredible pics of the sun just starting to come up. The sky was still pretty dark but right at the horizon there was bright red and yellow streaks. We got cool pics of uluru's silouette with the cool colors. There was even one bright star right above it too. Perfect pic. After sunrise we did a walk around the base; 10km and three hours, but all flat so super easy. Hung out at the pool for a bit and then went off toward Kings Canyon. Got there and went straight to camp. Same deal as the night before, slept outside under the stars. In the morning we did a big 3hr hike around the canyon. Steep first 15min or so hiking up, then flat all around the top until some steps down. Really cool and really pretty. Much nicer than I expected. We did that super early because it was meant to get above 100F. Finished the walk around 9, went to another pool for an hour or so and got to Alice Sprtings around 5. We had dinner together at a pub later that night and I came back to the hostel. The trip officially ended when we arrived in Alice so we're all in different hostels so I'm in an 8bed dorm alone. The receptionist was from NY so we chatted for a bit about the good ole USA and she upgraded me to a nicer room. It's right behind the pool so I just walk behind my building and there it is! Got my own bathroom and A/C. Go me! Have one full day in Alice before heading back to Sydney on Saturday. Plan for today is some laundry (being in the desert for 6 days gets you pretty dirty), gotta pick up some food, close my bank account, do some correspondence and internet stuff with bookings in Cali, then lay out at the pool all day. Figure I'm in the hottest place in Oz so I should take advantage of the sick hot sun before getting back to MI in November.
November 6, 2010
Melbourne Cup wasn’t that great. I walked out to Federation Park in the rain, got there, watched the race on the side of the building, sat there for a few, and then headed back to the hostel. I was fairly tired and exhausted the entire time I was there, so going out didn't seem that appealing. Plus, everyone in my room spoke another language so I didn't manage to make any friends in my room to go out with. I’m on the bus now for the outback tour. I got into Adelaide from my Great Ocean Road tour last night. They picked me up early Thursday and I got back Friday night. Our bus was full but most people were my age, so that was nice. I made good friends with two girls straight away; Adele and Fransy. From Ireland and Germany. Both were such sweet girls and so funny and adventurous. Seemed like everyone was just arriving in the country, so I was pretty much the most experienced traveler. Watching everyone fumble in bags for so long was entertaining.. I had a backpack and could grab stuff out of it real quick. This morning, I had everything set out so I had to pack up my charging computer and drying towels, zip up my bag and I was out of my room within three minutes without waking my roommate. GOR was a pretty good time though. The first day was pretty cold and cloudy, but we didn’t get much rain; a little, but not as bad as it could have been. We stopped at Bells Beach, which wasn’t all that impressive because the waves were fairly small. It's meant to be some insane surf beach and since I just "learned" how to surf, I appreciate surfing so much more so I really wanted to see some insane surfers. Then we drove along GOR for a ways. We made this random stop to find koalas and feed birds. That was so awesome! These beautiful wild birds, red, blue, green and gorgeous would fly all over me to get food out of my hands. I probably ran back to get more seeds from Dave (driver) more than anyone. I’ve seen and held koalas, so I wasn’t too thrilled about that, but having birds swarm me was awesome. I felt like that creepy lady in the park from Home Alone 2 or Ace Ventura. I kept trying to pet them with no success. They pulled away every time. We did spot a few koala’s so I got some pics of them... good time. Then we stopped and took a rainforest walk, which reminded me of any other rainforest walk I’ve ever done, but colder and rainy. From there we went to the Twelve Apostles. It was much better than I expected. I guess I didn’t expect it to be so big or span so far, but the whole coast there was incredible. They were just giant cliffs with huge rocks off the coast, but so beautiful. Would have been more intense with crystal blue waters and sunshine, but still insane. We stopped at another part of the cliffs where there was a cave. Guess the story is that there was some shipwreck and a man and woman survived and washed up at this cave and stayed there for a while before being rescued or something. Maybe one was injured and the other nursed them back to health. Apparently the media had a field day with it and he was found to be some hero and fell in love with the girl but she didn’t feel the same way. Poor guy. Anyway, we climbed down some steps, along the beach, around some rock, and into the cave. It was a cool little adventure. Caves are pretty awesome to me… especially ones with a story, so I was thrilled for that walk. I took a few cool pics in there, and then we went off for dinner at a Thai place, and back to camp. Since everyone was fairly new to the country, no one had seen a kangaroo and was really excited about it. The whole drive back we listened to fairly good music, Dave has good tase, and looked for kangaroos. Every time one crossed the road everyone squealed and usually they didn’t see anything. Eventually when we got to town Dave stopped at a field that was usually guaranteed to have kangaroos. Spotted a few there, and went back to the hostel. I didn’t really sleep well the night before so I pretty much went to bed straight away. Actually, I watched an episode of True Blood first, and then went to sleep (just started it, kind of loving it). Next morning we took a quick walk back to that field to spot more roos. I had seen millions since I’ve been here, but haven’t managed to get many pics so I took heaps. We got really close and my zoom is excellent so we did well. Grampians this morning and that is basically mountains, waterfalls and cliffs. Huge walk to the base of a waterfall, McKenzie Falls. It was 300 steps down, which was fine, but getting back up was a doozy. The waterfall was incredible. I took a bunch of pics and Fransy and I wandered around a bit, climbed a few big rocks before having to make the journey back up. From there we made a few stops to different lookouts. Today was so much nicer. There were a few clouds, but the sun peaked out quite a bit, so we managed to have a clear, sunny view off the lookout. A few lookouts overlooked more mountains and others overlooked fields and towns. The final lookout was of a valley between two small mountain ranges and a town between with a lake at one end. Basically that town is screwed in a flood or an invasion; water on one end and mountains on two other ends, but really pretty to look at! We made a quick lunch stop and were dropped off at a train station. Most of the group was headed back to Melbourne, but Fransy, Adele and I were going on to Adelaide, so we got to take a 7hr bus ride together. The bus made a couple long stops, which I didn’t really think was necessary, but oh well. Adelaide is in a different time zone, but it’s only a half hour behind, which I find so bizarre. I didn’t know timezones could be half hour difference! It will be confusing for calculating time back home. Only have a few days left though before going home. I’m not buying more credit for my phone; I have heaps of free minutes and texts, so any local calls should be okay… hopefully. That just means no international messages to home or FB checks on my phone. Can’t believe I go home in 9 days. UGH!
Friday, October 29, 2010
October 29, 2010
Finished surf camp, but haven’t finished telling about Byron yet. The day after the dive I went on a day trip to Nimbin. Nimbin is like a hippy town that held some Woodstock-type festival years back. Stoners and hippy stuff everywhere and where people go to get pot. The town was really really small; one street maybe 2 street blocks in length, not that great. The graffiti everywhere was cool and the museum was trippy and kind of cool looking, but it was mostly shops of incense and hippy gear. I went with some girls that were in my room at the hostel and we all went in on some pot cookies. We got four cookies for $20. I took it at like 4pm and didn’t feel it until like 8pm after the girls checked out and I was alone in my room. Pretty sure that was my first time actually being high and I didn’t like it. I think I took too much and maybe that’s why. You’re meant to take only a half of a cookie, but after the first hour when I felt nothing I took another quarter. Thinking that may of tipped me over the edge. The next day was the horse riding. That whole thing sounded really romantic, but because I hadn’t been on a horse in years the guide put my horse on a leash and he kept running into her horse so I was focusing the entire time on keeping them apart instead of how pretty the beach was. We also got to take the horses into the water, which was pretty cool. Being bareback on a horse in the water is a little slippery and off balance. It was really cool though. “Horse Surfing” is what they call it. Horses were clearly miserable, but I pet Stryder heaps and thanked him for being so nice to me haha.
Alright, for the surf camp… this is going to be hard to write. So much happened and have so many fun stories that I don’t know how to condense it to anything readable. I’ll give it a go... They asked if I wanted to come in a night earlier because I was the only person booked onto my trip. I was meant to be going from Byron Bay to Sydney (south) on a bus, stopping at a few places along the way and checking out different beaches. Turns out that they were going to take me straight to the base camp in Pacific Palms and I was going to just hang there for 5 days. Totally not a problem, but I didn’t know that because no one told me so, when I get to the bus at 6pm on Friday night (instead of Sat morning like it was meant to be), we had to drive 7hrs to get to camp. There were 3 workers and 4 guys on the bus. We got there at like 2am and it’s a proper summer camp set up. There’s a main building with bar, lounge, tables, DJ booth, and a pool. Then there are a couple cabins around the property (which is a farm with horses and stuff) with bunks. The next morning my trip started and I had to tag along with a bus full of some grade school footy team. Me and like fifteen 14-year olds all day learning to surf... awesome. They were only in for the weekend though. First lesson went alright. The instructor for the whole week Ecko, and his helper for the weekend was Shane. Both wicked cool guys. Both are really chill and laid back. Eck is a typical surfer guy: a fun 26-year old drunk, super cool. Shane is chill, I think a littler older and was super awesome with me. Since I was the only person of a decent age and the only girl, he sort of kept me company all weekend. The camp has a million beaches within a 30min drive, at least 5 that I saw so each day we went to a different one. Day one was Boomerang beach. The kids are all so tiny and light that they stood up instantly and have no fear so they were leaping into big waves without any hesitation. I, on the other hand, was terrified of every wave and it took me all day of falling to stand up on a wave. By the end of the first day Shane had me standing and I actually semi-rode one wave to shore. By “wave” I mean that super small broken wave at shore. My knees and elbows were torn up from falling in the sand on shore, but I was so happy to have stood up that I didn’t care. That night one of the helpers that was sleeping in my room got sick and threw up all over the floor next to his bed. Instead of getting up and going to the bathroom, he just continued to throw up for like 1.5hrs all over. I had to sleep with a blanket over my face to avoid the smell. The next morning he was so embarrassed and the rest of the staff thought it was hysterical. We kind of joked about it the rest of the week. The next morning, Sunday, we went to Seals Rocks but the surf there pretty much sucked. The weather was a bit cloudy and overcast but the waves were nonexistent so we played a few games in the water and then wandered the beach for a bit finding big rocks to jump off. Eck was super energetic with the kids so they were running around playing while Shane and I stayed back and slowly walked and chatted. We saw heaps of dolphins and 2-3 humpback whales in the distance. They were pretty far out there so I couldn’t really tell that they were whales until he pointed out the blow hole. The weather didn’t really improve, so we had lunch and went back to camp because the kids needed to leave camp by 2. That was it for surfing for me that day. The entire camp was gone so it was just myself and the staff at camp. I felt so bad because they kept insisting on cooking for me and always felt obligated to get me things and check that I was okay. I told them if they gave me two pieces of bread I’d make PB&J for dinner. It was still pretty rainy so we all just sat around all afternoon watching Friends. We got out blankets and snacks and just sat around from like 2 to 10 watching 2.5 discs of Friends. Kind of a perfect afternoon actually. Eck kept talking about that all week and how awesome that was. At the end of the trip he said he'd never forget our Friends Bender. How adorable. The next morning they insisted on making me eggs. Awesome eggs, but still unnecessary. I had a private lesson at Bulls Paddock with Eck. He and I and a few other staff went out for the morning. He gave me some tips on shore and went out in the water and helped me out a bit there. I felt bad that he couldn’t surf because he had to help this one person, so I went back to shore to practice standing and let him play around. I couldn’t seem to get my footing right to stand, so that was frustrating me. I felt that I was doing a lot better though. I went back out, almost stood up a few times and we went back to camp for lunch. A new group got in for the afternoon lesson. This was their first day, 10ish people that were my age, so we went back to the same beach and I got to basically start over with my lesson. Shane was done after the weekend, so a new instructor, Mark, was going to be with us for the rest of the trip. He was super cool too; younger and semi new to the camp. Weather was awesome so we played around all afternoon in the water and attempting to surf. I gave up kind of on trying really hard because it wasn’t really working out for me and I was getting frustrated, which made it less fun. That night at dinner Entourage was somehow brought up with Mark and he got so excited that I had season 7 so he insisted that we watch it straight away. Watched half the season that night. Next day (day 4) we went to Lighthouse beach, which was incredible! Beautiful blue water and a really cool bush walk. The waves in the AM were kind of huge so I opted out of fighting with those considering I couldn’t even stand in small waves. Tanned with the girls all morning. In the afternoon when the waves calmed down Mark, Kirsty, and I went on the bush walk before surfing. The walk was kind of crazy. Some of it was along a little cliff. It was really narrow and I had to hold onto plants to climb up. Eventually when we got to flat land we wandered out to the point. It was a big chunk of land that separated two beaches so we got to see another beach on the other side and the lighthouse from our beach. The water was incredible and there were some cliffs and beautifulness. Played in the water for a bit more, attempted to surf a bit more, then went back to the camp to get wasted haha. All afternoon Eck was saying that we needed to get super drunk! We played a few games of flippy cup, one round involving costumes, so the party turned into a crazy drunken costume party. Boys started getting naked and everyone started dancing around everywhere. Such a great time. I drunkenly wandered back to my room to go to sleep but found Mark drunkenly watching Entourage (without me!!) so we watched the rest of the season and went to bed. Next day was my last day for surfing. I was meant to leave that evening for Sydney, but they asked if I could stay an extra night and leave in the morning. Again, I’m the only person that needs to get to Syd because these 10 people are all heading north, not south. I was just going to Syd (for the third time) to hang at Jackie’s so I didn’t mind hanging out for another night. That meant another night hanging with the new awesome people I've met! So the fifth day of surfing was back at Boomerang beach and was pretty chill. Little bit of surfing, little bit of tanning, some volleyball, and photos. Went back for my last night of getting drunk with the clan. Everyone knows I’m not usually a huge fan of drinking, but I was so stoked to drink with these people. They were all so much fun and everyone was so open to making fools of themselves dancing and wearing costumes that it was a guaranteed good night. So, we play an intense game of scavenger-hunt musical chairs in which I came in second place. We had to undress people, go find condoms, and my last mission was to “properly” put on a wetsuit. I had to run out to the shed, strip, get on a wetsuit, and run back. I slipped on the floor and fell on the way out there, an the other girl didn’t get undressed when she put on her wetsuit. I say that she didn’t “properly” put it on, so she lost in my eyes, but whatever. My body so bad hurt from that fall and I have heaps of bruises from that… and even more from being smacked by a board all week. I really wanted to go cow tipping, but we learned it was impossible, so Mark, Kirsty, Sam and I opted for a creepy walk in the middle of nowhere. We were drunk and creeped out but had such a fun walk. The boys got naked and started running around the field. We got scared of posts we could vaguely see in the distance thinking they were animals or people coming to kill us. Got back, danced a bit more, and went to bed. Next morning everyone got all packed up and left. I was so sad to see them go. I’m terribly jealous that they all get to spend another 2 nights together and I had to leave. Eck said he wished I could have stayed longer with them and that I became part of their little family. I loved hearing that. I was trying to find a way to stay… brainstorming jobs for me so I could stay and get paid. Couldn’t come up with anything. I’d kill to manage that place because it wasn’t really run that great, but don’t see that happening haha. Probably the best week in Oz. Eck played the same song over and over again on the bus, so I’ve been listening to it, and I’ll always remember surf camp if I hear it. It’s Split Enz – 6 Months on a Leaky Boat. I loved having Eck as our alarm clock every morning waking up a room full of hung over people. He was always so energetic even after a crazy drunken night. He’d get just as smashed as everyone else and still manage to be up early with a huge smile on his face. He’s great at his job! I just love love love seeing pictures of the beaches we were at knowing that I was taught how to surf at these incredible beaches. I am quite lucky. Couldn’t have asked for a better week… well, maybe I’d ask that I could actually ride a few waves haha! That’s long enough. I have more stories from the week, but I guess these are the highlights for ya.
Alright, for the surf camp… this is going to be hard to write. So much happened and have so many fun stories that I don’t know how to condense it to anything readable. I’ll give it a go... They asked if I wanted to come in a night earlier because I was the only person booked onto my trip. I was meant to be going from Byron Bay to Sydney (south) on a bus, stopping at a few places along the way and checking out different beaches. Turns out that they were going to take me straight to the base camp in Pacific Palms and I was going to just hang there for 5 days. Totally not a problem, but I didn’t know that because no one told me so, when I get to the bus at 6pm on Friday night (instead of Sat morning like it was meant to be), we had to drive 7hrs to get to camp. There were 3 workers and 4 guys on the bus. We got there at like 2am and it’s a proper summer camp set up. There’s a main building with bar, lounge, tables, DJ booth, and a pool. Then there are a couple cabins around the property (which is a farm with horses and stuff) with bunks. The next morning my trip started and I had to tag along with a bus full of some grade school footy team. Me and like fifteen 14-year olds all day learning to surf... awesome. They were only in for the weekend though. First lesson went alright. The instructor for the whole week Ecko, and his helper for the weekend was Shane. Both wicked cool guys. Both are really chill and laid back. Eck is a typical surfer guy: a fun 26-year old drunk, super cool. Shane is chill, I think a littler older and was super awesome with me. Since I was the only person of a decent age and the only girl, he sort of kept me company all weekend. The camp has a million beaches within a 30min drive, at least 5 that I saw so each day we went to a different one. Day one was Boomerang beach. The kids are all so tiny and light that they stood up instantly and have no fear so they were leaping into big waves without any hesitation. I, on the other hand, was terrified of every wave and it took me all day of falling to stand up on a wave. By the end of the first day Shane had me standing and I actually semi-rode one wave to shore. By “wave” I mean that super small broken wave at shore. My knees and elbows were torn up from falling in the sand on shore, but I was so happy to have stood up that I didn’t care. That night one of the helpers that was sleeping in my room got sick and threw up all over the floor next to his bed. Instead of getting up and going to the bathroom, he just continued to throw up for like 1.5hrs all over. I had to sleep with a blanket over my face to avoid the smell. The next morning he was so embarrassed and the rest of the staff thought it was hysterical. We kind of joked about it the rest of the week. The next morning, Sunday, we went to Seals Rocks but the surf there pretty much sucked. The weather was a bit cloudy and overcast but the waves were nonexistent so we played a few games in the water and then wandered the beach for a bit finding big rocks to jump off. Eck was super energetic with the kids so they were running around playing while Shane and I stayed back and slowly walked and chatted. We saw heaps of dolphins and 2-3 humpback whales in the distance. They were pretty far out there so I couldn’t really tell that they were whales until he pointed out the blow hole. The weather didn’t really improve, so we had lunch and went back to camp because the kids needed to leave camp by 2. That was it for surfing for me that day. The entire camp was gone so it was just myself and the staff at camp. I felt so bad because they kept insisting on cooking for me and always felt obligated to get me things and check that I was okay. I told them if they gave me two pieces of bread I’d make PB&J for dinner. It was still pretty rainy so we all just sat around all afternoon watching Friends. We got out blankets and snacks and just sat around from like 2 to 10 watching 2.5 discs of Friends. Kind of a perfect afternoon actually. Eck kept talking about that all week and how awesome that was. At the end of the trip he said he'd never forget our Friends Bender. How adorable. The next morning they insisted on making me eggs. Awesome eggs, but still unnecessary. I had a private lesson at Bulls Paddock with Eck. He and I and a few other staff went out for the morning. He gave me some tips on shore and went out in the water and helped me out a bit there. I felt bad that he couldn’t surf because he had to help this one person, so I went back to shore to practice standing and let him play around. I couldn’t seem to get my footing right to stand, so that was frustrating me. I felt that I was doing a lot better though. I went back out, almost stood up a few times and we went back to camp for lunch. A new group got in for the afternoon lesson. This was their first day, 10ish people that were my age, so we went back to the same beach and I got to basically start over with my lesson. Shane was done after the weekend, so a new instructor, Mark, was going to be with us for the rest of the trip. He was super cool too; younger and semi new to the camp. Weather was awesome so we played around all afternoon in the water and attempting to surf. I gave up kind of on trying really hard because it wasn’t really working out for me and I was getting frustrated, which made it less fun. That night at dinner Entourage was somehow brought up with Mark and he got so excited that I had season 7 so he insisted that we watch it straight away. Watched half the season that night. Next day (day 4) we went to Lighthouse beach, which was incredible! Beautiful blue water and a really cool bush walk. The waves in the AM were kind of huge so I opted out of fighting with those considering I couldn’t even stand in small waves. Tanned with the girls all morning. In the afternoon when the waves calmed down Mark, Kirsty, and I went on the bush walk before surfing. The walk was kind of crazy. Some of it was along a little cliff. It was really narrow and I had to hold onto plants to climb up. Eventually when we got to flat land we wandered out to the point. It was a big chunk of land that separated two beaches so we got to see another beach on the other side and the lighthouse from our beach. The water was incredible and there were some cliffs and beautifulness. Played in the water for a bit more, attempted to surf a bit more, then went back to the camp to get wasted haha. All afternoon Eck was saying that we needed to get super drunk! We played a few games of flippy cup, one round involving costumes, so the party turned into a crazy drunken costume party. Boys started getting naked and everyone started dancing around everywhere. Such a great time. I drunkenly wandered back to my room to go to sleep but found Mark drunkenly watching Entourage (without me!!) so we watched the rest of the season and went to bed. Next day was my last day for surfing. I was meant to leave that evening for Sydney, but they asked if I could stay an extra night and leave in the morning. Again, I’m the only person that needs to get to Syd because these 10 people are all heading north, not south. I was just going to Syd (for the third time) to hang at Jackie’s so I didn’t mind hanging out for another night. That meant another night hanging with the new awesome people I've met! So the fifth day of surfing was back at Boomerang beach and was pretty chill. Little bit of surfing, little bit of tanning, some volleyball, and photos. Went back for my last night of getting drunk with the clan. Everyone knows I’m not usually a huge fan of drinking, but I was so stoked to drink with these people. They were all so much fun and everyone was so open to making fools of themselves dancing and wearing costumes that it was a guaranteed good night. So, we play an intense game of scavenger-hunt musical chairs in which I came in second place. We had to undress people, go find condoms, and my last mission was to “properly” put on a wetsuit. I had to run out to the shed, strip, get on a wetsuit, and run back. I slipped on the floor and fell on the way out there, an the other girl didn’t get undressed when she put on her wetsuit. I say that she didn’t “properly” put it on, so she lost in my eyes, but whatever. My body so bad hurt from that fall and I have heaps of bruises from that… and even more from being smacked by a board all week. I really wanted to go cow tipping, but we learned it was impossible, so Mark, Kirsty, Sam and I opted for a creepy walk in the middle of nowhere. We were drunk and creeped out but had such a fun walk. The boys got naked and started running around the field. We got scared of posts we could vaguely see in the distance thinking they were animals or people coming to kill us. Got back, danced a bit more, and went to bed. Next morning everyone got all packed up and left. I was so sad to see them go. I’m terribly jealous that they all get to spend another 2 nights together and I had to leave. Eck said he wished I could have stayed longer with them and that I became part of their little family. I loved hearing that. I was trying to find a way to stay… brainstorming jobs for me so I could stay and get paid. Couldn’t come up with anything. I’d kill to manage that place because it wasn’t really run that great, but don’t see that happening haha. Probably the best week in Oz. Eck played the same song over and over again on the bus, so I’ve been listening to it, and I’ll always remember surf camp if I hear it. It’s Split Enz – 6 Months on a Leaky Boat. I loved having Eck as our alarm clock every morning waking up a room full of hung over people. He was always so energetic even after a crazy drunken night. He’d get just as smashed as everyone else and still manage to be up early with a huge smile on his face. He’s great at his job! I just love love love seeing pictures of the beaches we were at knowing that I was taught how to surf at these incredible beaches. I am quite lucky. Couldn’t have asked for a better week… well, maybe I’d ask that I could actually ride a few waves haha! That’s long enough. I have more stories from the week, but I guess these are the highlights for ya.
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