Sunday funday

Today. Sunday.
It was all about making sure every single piece of clothing in our backpack is washed and dried. We then hit the supermarket to buy some burgers for BBQ. The afternoon was spent relaxing on a bench reading a book whilst the boys got themselves drunk.
It's been a very calm day with not much excitement but exactly what we needed after a week on the road.
The pics below will show my new flip flops, the boys and I doing laundry, boys making lunch, a drive thru to buy alcohol (first time I'd seen this) and finally playing Didgeridoo an Australian wind instrument. Not going to lie it didn't sound good but then again it was the ,first time I had blown into a tree branch.

RIP my lovely flip flops

The past two days haven't been great for me. On Friday I lost an earring, I removed them just before I jumped in the little crystal creek. I placed them in my camera carrier case but when I went back to wear them again only one was there. Sad times. It was gold and my mother gave it to me to wear but she did say "please don't worry and stress yourself if you lose it", so I took her advice and after spending 5 minutes looking for it I called it quits and told the guys to move on. Now this is not the end of it. On Saturday I stupidly listened to the boys and jumped over a wooden fence when it had clearly stated that it is forbidden to do so. During the jump I placed my hand on top of the fence and due to hot temperatures burned my hand, as I pulled my hand away I hit my funny bone on my elbow against it and ended up with an ugly bruise. This stopped me from having a comfortable sleep last night. Still not finished yet... The one thing that upset me the most was losing my flip flops. As we left Murray falls and sat in the car I stupidly removed my flip flops and moved my feet in the car, then forgot to bring the flip flops in and closed the door. Davy didn't realise and drove off. I only notice when we had arrived in Cairns which was nearly 200 kilometres away and had nothing to wear as I stepped out of the car. I know they are only flip flops but I had them custom made from Havaianas and I've had them for over two years with my initial on them. I will purchase a cheap version for now until I get back to London and the first thing ill do is hit Selfridges and have one made just like the old ones.

Falls falls watefalls

So the past few days we have seen a few waterfalls.its been an AMA Inge experience and has really shown us what Australia has to offer. I'm not going to write much in this post as my last post was super long. The main waterfall was called the Wallaman fall. It's the longest single drop in Australia. You can only feel the magnificence of this beauty when standing above it all. I hope the photos justify this part of nature in all its glory.

Money money money

I'd like to write a whole post dedicated to money. As far as I can remember I have worked and always tried to save some money. Never knew what I was saving for but still tried to save, it made me feel better knowing that I had some money put aside for rainy days so i decided to chose Australia as a country to use my savings on. Not so much of a rainy day situation but at least the money is put towards something useful, I get to see part of the world I never thought I'd explore and use the money in the most cautious way to survive here.
As you all know I'm not travelling alone and since Ramtin is only young and hasn't saved as money as I have, he came to this country with only enough to last him a month. I'd say its a big risk but it makes it more fun, the unknown drove us to the other side of the world and will continue to do so whilst we are here.
We arrived in Sydney (not such a cheap city to live in) and spent the first three weeks in this beautiful city but the living costs were very high with €210 a week just for accommodation and then you have to add food and other costs to this. I calculated if I just stay in Sydney and not work all my saving would be spent in hostels. So I'd say the best decision we made was to leave Sydney. Living with other backpackers and travellers has made me a little stingy. It's not a shameful thing to ask how much everything is as the Australian are used to poor backpackers and even in supermarkets they try and help you find the cheapest of cheap things to buy. In the back of my mind I know I have my savings but to be quite honest I enjoy living on a budget. I like that I can have lunch or dinner for only 50 cents (this is for simple pasta and tomato sauce split between three of us). I've been thinking about the amount of money I spend back home and I think once I return ill be more money conscious and think twice before I spend £15 for a drink and shisha. The way we have been trying to stay on budget is by buying all products from supermarket own brands and this is so much cheaper than other branded goods. My shampoo recently finished, I had brought a bottle form London but it lasted a month and two days ago I had to buy shampoo. Don't judge me but I bought supermarkets own brand, it's not the best but smells good and cleans my hair. I also bought a packet of 6 bars of soap I know it's a lot but there is three of us and we could all share, this is so much cheaper than buying shower gel and also much lighter to carry in our already very heavy backpacks.
I'm going to share another secret with you. The cheapest thing to buy in Australia is the McDonald ice cream. Not Mcflurry or a Sundae but the simple soft cone ice cream. The price... 30 cents. The first three weeks in Sydney was all about McDonald's ice cream but since we have been on the road it's been more difficult to buy them. There are drive thru's but it means going out of your way to buy an ice cream.
Ramtin laughs at me sometimes and just says "you have money just spend it" but I can't and I like not spending money and living cheap. It gives me an accomplishment feeling, like I have tried living the hard way and its not too bad.
Please don't get me wrong I miss the comfort of walking through a supermarket and just buying anything I fancy without looking at the price tag but while I'm out here living a backpackers life I might as well do it the right way and not cheat my way.
Some of you probably finish reading this thinking what has happened to Paras but that's good I'm trying new things and I'm enjoying the experience.
One more thing to add before I end this very long post, Australia is a very self sufficient country you can buy anything from a bar of soap to food all made in Australia. The mining and Agriculture has created jobs for many citizens and backpackers. Although they prefer to offer more permenant jobs to citizens and I respect that very much, they look out for each other as a nation that's why they are doing very well all by themselves.

Electricity

So it's been a while since my last post, not because I'm having too much fun and I can't be bothered to post NO but we are lacking enough charge on our phones and any other electrically charged good. I wrote a very long and detailed post two nights ago but my iPad died and I lost everything. Since my last post we have been to many places and seen many interesting people and sights.
Tomorrow will be a week that we have been on the road and travelled over 2000 kilometres. It seems so much longer than a week but the highlights have been, visiting the Koala hospital where ill or injured Koala's are looked after,swimming in the never never creek, celebrating Ben's birthday in Byron Bay and standing on the most eastern point of mainland Australia, visiting the Nimbin museum, sleeping at a free campsite that had a no tent sign 2meters away from our tent, flat tyre and help of a drunk Australian guy and to top it all off sleeping in a caravan park last night that had no kitchen and a very sick guest who was throwing up all night and asked me for a cuddle.
What can I say it's been a week but every second of it has meant something and we have laughed off many of the incidents.
The reason we are traveling up the east coast at such speed is that on Tuesday we contacted a farm and we have been told that there is a job for us. The only thing was that we were 1900 kilometres away from the city, the lady from the agency who organises work for backpackers at a cost told us to get ourselves there by Wednesday night. A little impossible but we were very desperate for work so we agreed, little did we know that the highway between Brisbane and Cairns is more like a dual carriageway than a motorway and the Australians have beaten us at the road works competition. This meant we were running 2/3 hours behind schedule until we noticed the flat tyre when pulling out of KFC car park. This was the icing on the cake, at this point we were all very tired especially Davy who had been driving all morning so I decided to call the agency and tell them the situation. No answer on the other end meant I had to call the hostel we will be staying at to inform the guy of our late arrival time but he just turned around and said "don't worry about it, you don't start work until Monday anyway, just get here by Saturday". So right now at this moment in time we are not sure when we will start work or if we have a job but we are making the most of this drive and heading towards Airlie beach where there are many ferries taking you to Whitsunday Islands. It's very pricy but we will see what happens once we get there otherwise we have to make the island visit after we have worked and saved enough money. Here are some photos of the past few days.

First time camper

Hello all

Last night was the first time I had camped. The tent we purchased was very easy to assemble. We found a nice small campsite close to town in Port Macquire it only cost us $41 between the three of us for the night. After putting up the tent we went food shopping and came back with chicken for BBQ and beer for the boys. The evening was very calm. Had dinner and and relaxed while Davy played some songs on his guitar. Around 10 pm a bunch of 18 year olds joined us in the kitchen area. They were there as part of rugby competition and had travelled from Newcastle. They taught me the difference between league rugby and normal rugby and that it shouldn't be called rugby but football.
I slept in the back of the car last night. It was nice to have my own space. This was the first time I had my own "room" since I've been in Australia and I think I'd like to keep it that way. The boys sleep in the tent while I sleep in my private room.

Our new ride

We haven now left Sydney. We are driving up the east coast towards Brisbane but will make many stops on our way. We left Sydney around 14:00 hours yesterday and spent the evening in Newcastle. It's not very far from Sydney but its a very small city with not much happening there. We were running out of battery on all devices so our best option was to find a pub and plug everything in. There was a live band playing at the pub which was a great end to our evening. There was also live performance in a small park in centre of town. It was nice to be in a city where everyone knows each other and feels more cosy than big city Sydney.
This morning before we left newcastle we found a 4 man tent on Gumtree and purchased it for $40. This way we can save so much money by camping everywhere.
We are now on our way to Bellingen, we have heard many good things about its national parks and rivers. It's 4 and half hours drive from New castle but I think we will be camping there tonight.
Until then have a good Saturday all.

Men hard at work

The last couple of days has been very relaxed. No particular plan to go anywhere or see anything so we spend the mornings in the hostel all glued to our laptops and tablets trying to find jobs, accommodation etc. It's a funny situation we all wake up roughly the same time and after having breakfast we just sit at the kitchen area exchanging experiences and findings. The only problem with such a way of living is that, when one person panics about finding work everybody else does the same thing.
So yesterday was all about taking it easy and going with the flow. Ramtin and I found a 24 year old french guy on Gumtree who is traveling up the east coast in his car and is looking for farm work at the same time. We will be joining him during his trip. This is very convenient for us as the cost of travel in Australia is very high and this way we only need to contribute towards fuel and we will have a vehicle to look for farm work. We met Davy at Hyde park and went for a drink in the pub, he seems like s nice guy and asked us if there are any places we'd like to stop on the way. This is perfect as we can see the east coast on our own terms accompanied by couple of other people to make the trip even more interesting.
After meeting Davy we went for a walk around China town with Ben (who is from Germany and staying at the same hostel) then came back to the hostel just in time for dinner. Ben and Ramtin then cooked a lovely Tuna pasta which was served on the roof top of the hostel. All in all a good evening and I hope to have many more of these to come in the near future.

Sydney at night

Last night was the first time we visited the Opera house and Harbour bridge under moon light. The views were magnificent. We also went for a walk on the bridge. There are different ways of climbing the bridge, if you are willing to pay over $200 dollars to see the view from high up then you can book a supervised climb at one of the tourist information desks but walking on the footpath of the bridge was good enough for me. I managed to see everything everyone else could from 50 ft higher up.
I also visited parts of the city I hadn't seen before like the beautifully decorated Tiffany & Co building all lighten up in time for Christmas.
Today has been another day of deciding what to do. We have now decided to move from Sydney towards higher up along the east coast and see if we can find some farm work.
I have now realised that Australia is nothing like the UK. For example you can not catch a cheap coach to travel between cities as they are too far apart. There are company's such as Greyhound were you can purchase a seasonal ticket to hop on and hop off at their many destinations. It works out much cheaper than hiring a car but it still isn't very cheap.
So I quickly thought of something a friend had done previously, ride share. I looked on Gumtree and there are plenty of explorers just like us who want to travel from city to city but don't want to do it alone or want to share the cost of travel with someone.
We have selected a traveler who is going on the same route as us and he is also looking for farm work along the way. So we are meeting tomorrow to see if we can actually travel together.
I'll let you know how it goes.
X

Pizza with a friend

Yesterday I met with Stephanie. It was nice seeing a familiar face in such a unfamiliar environment. We talked over some delicious pizza. So much had changed in our lives since 20th October (that's the last time we saw each other). Stephanie gave me some very heart warming advice and reassured me that the home sickness is only normal and will eventually go away/ or I might get used to it.
We both also agreed that sydney isn't a place for backpackers as it is extremely expensive, and if I want to stay here I have to find work.
WORK: It has proven to be more difficult than I originally anticipated. I'm keeping my spirits high and hopefully something will come along very soon.

The violin

Saturday:
The day was spent on a very relaxed and laid back mode. There wasn't a certain time to wake or certain place to go.
We continued job hunting once we had a small lunch. Have now decided to join an agency and see if I can find a job that way. I have been recommended a few agencies by fellow backpackers and it seems the best way forward.

As the sun was slipping away we walked towards Hyde Park where there was a lovely surprise. A DJ and violinist were playing some good music right in the centre of the park. It was a nice combination of House and Classical music, I hadn't heard anything like it before. I was then interviewed by a camera man who was standing close by, I was asked what I thought about the music and whether I'd like to see more of this around Sydney, what could I have said? "I've only been here for 10 days and might not be staying here for too much longer but yeah if it makes the citizens happy why not". But of course I didn't say that, bit my tongue and said "sure I'd love to see more of this sort of performance around town", felt like a sydneysider.
I'm sitting in TV room in my hostel as I write this with a glass of milk and double chocolate muffin. Oh yeah I'm definitely living it up here in down under.

Thong blister

We spent most of Friday soaking the sun on the beach. This wasn't just any beach, it was the famous Bondi beach. It is a lovely beach but I do not know what all the fuss is about, to be honest I think it's a little overrated. We walked for hours although we jumped on the train to kill the distance (only two stops) which resulted on the lovely blister you can see on my foot. It was caused by flip flops but they don't call them that here, it is a thong. A thong that u wear on your foot. So it wasn't a lovely sight this morning all thanks to my flip flops, oops sorry thong.
Apart from the blister it was nice to see everyone, all different age groups run for the waves with their surf boards. I'd like to learn how to surf but maybe I wait a little to go up north I think the beaches are nicer and the waves are higher.

The last few days

Hello. I have not been able to post much since I checked in to a hostel. The wifi connection is really bad and there are many people with their laptops, tablets and phones all trying to connect to one wifi. So you can imagine the speed we are using at the moment.
The last two days we have spent job hunting and sight seeing at the same time. This way it doesn't get too boring. We visited the opera house and harbour bridge, along with St. Mary's church. We also spent some time in Botanic Gardens, sitting on the grass watching the day go by. I will try and post more photos when I visit an Internet cafe.