It's not you, it's me.
Jesus, if I'd have know how tough settling in to Oz was going to be I'd have never signed up for this shit!
Things are strained Chez Pindon at present. THE WIFETM has a boss who is a management retard, my work is full of upheaval and TOTALLY different to what I'm used to, we appear to have little to no free time as one or both of us is in the gym/working late/farting about on bikes or whatever every evening so we tend to catch up when we go to sleep.
RAD.
Top that off with the shit winter weather and you've got a real recipe for success.......good job we went on holiday then!
So we flew out of Melbourne Avalon airport up to Brisbane. I expected more from Avalon, having flown in and out of Tullamarine (the international hub) a few times now. The main things I didn't expect were;
a) It's not in Melbourne. It's in Geelong. Which is 60km from bloody Melbourne.
b) It's not so much an airport as a barn that planes pull up to.
c) How much like getting on a bus it is here....
I was a tad windy when we left Melbourne. So much so that we were advised, amongst other things, to "keep hold of glasses in case they blow off your face".
Say what?
Now, I don't know about you, but I've never seen this happen, nor do I believe I'm likely to. Safety culture the old Aussies, they love it.
And so to Brisbane (which has a proper airport).
We picked up our car* from Budget rentals, and with directions in hand, set off south towards Byron Bay. I have to say that driving on Aussie highways is, for someone who used to drive a lot in the UK, quite a pleasant experience. They're quiet, the scenery is better, and generally they're pretty new and well maintained. We pretty much just drove straight to Byron Bay and bypassed any scenery en-route, we just wanted to get there after the flight.
Getting into Byron, we got lost. And argued. And got more lost. And argued some more. Been a bit stressful the last few weeks as I say. But finally we found our accomodation, the Garden Burees, adjacent to a massive backpackers lodge, part of the Arts Factory, which is something of a Byron Bay institution. More of which shortly.
The Garden Burees are beautiful. There are only four self contained lodges, each featuring an outside bathroom, built into the rainforest-like foliage which abounds in Byron. Allow me to demonstrate:
You can make out the champagne on the side of the spa overlooking the outside shower area? No? How unfortunate for you. *smug*
The bedrooms are pretty cool too;
We hung around Byron Bay itself mostly. The beaches are beautiful, massive, and at the time of year we went, pretty much empty. It's amazing the difference a bit of geography makes, as we left a drizzly, cold Melbourne behind for 25-30C in Byron.
Perhaps the lovely beaches are what persuaded me to try and learn to surf. Now, I fervently believe we have no business in the sea at all. Especially in Oz, where everything can kill you soon as look at yer. Still, I found myself wrestling my way into a wetsuit and rashvest, and lying on a surfboard on the beach with a bunch of other likeminded fools pretending to catch waves before we were allowed anywhere near the DEADLY DEADLY SEA.
I don't care what you say, no-one, NO-ONE, looks good in a wetsuit. Least of all me. I looked like a sausage which had been left on the barbecue for too long, and then drizzled in molten plastic.
Or just a fat cunt if you prefer.
Still, it was brilliant. I never expected to like being in the sea at all, and it was AWESOME. I'm definitely going to give it another bash, despite it being one of the most physically demanding sports I've ever tried.
I also found out that water is hard when you hit it hard enough, and sand is tough enough to wear holes in your skin if you collide with it similarly. Couple in some salt water and you have the perfect ouch.
We also took a day trip to Nimbin. Oh god.......
I can't really do the place justice, so allow Wikipedia to explain for me. Basically, it's a stoners paradise. The whole town is geared up for the sale of weed and weed related products, and there isn't really a normal shop in the place. There is a fairly big police station though, which made me wonder what the fuck the cops were doing, or whether they were just bombed out of their minds too.
Long story short, Nimbin had an influx of hippies waaaaaay back in the 70s for the Aquarius festival. And as is the way of things, many people stayed, and the town took on a commune feel. Now the place is full of new-agers looking for nirvana, or some shite like that.
I thought it was one of the saddest places I've ever been.
A school bus pulled up while I was sitting on a bench on the main street, and disgorged a lot of normal looking young kids in uniform, as they all are in Oz, who then had to negotiate the cavalcade of hippy casualties to get to their parents and routes home. Just how do the normal folk of Nimbin carry on with a normal life with all the drug trade around them? I lost count of the number of times I was offered weed, cookies or other crap, and there were a host of pissed people kicking around too.
Nimbin is in a beautiful location, but it's a long way from Nirvana these days I reckon.
But I think one of the true highlights of our trip was a little open air cathedral we stumbled on en route to Nimbin. It was in a lovely spot overlooking a valley, and though not given to religious beliefs, I could see the appeal of worshipping whatever you like in such a place.
Peace be with you and all that eh?
*car my arse. We got a double upgrade voucher with our rental, which entitled us to the dubious honour of ungrading from the roller skate Hyundai Getz to the woefully underpowered granny wagon Nissan Tilda or some shit. Worst car I've ever driven. Wouldn't pull you out of fucking bed.
Byron Bay Photos
Learning to Surf
Things are strained Chez Pindon at present. THE WIFETM has a boss who is a management retard, my work is full of upheaval and TOTALLY different to what I'm used to, we appear to have little to no free time as one or both of us is in the gym/working late/farting about on bikes or whatever every evening so we tend to catch up when we go to sleep.
RAD.
Top that off with the shit winter weather and you've got a real recipe for success.......good job we went on holiday then!
So we flew out of Melbourne Avalon airport up to Brisbane. I expected more from Avalon, having flown in and out of Tullamarine (the international hub) a few times now. The main things I didn't expect were;
a) It's not in Melbourne. It's in Geelong. Which is 60km from bloody Melbourne.
b) It's not so much an airport as a barn that planes pull up to.
c) How much like getting on a bus it is here....
I was a tad windy when we left Melbourne. So much so that we were advised, amongst other things, to "keep hold of glasses in case they blow off your face".
Say what?
Now, I don't know about you, but I've never seen this happen, nor do I believe I'm likely to. Safety culture the old Aussies, they love it.
And so to Brisbane (which has a proper airport).
We picked up our car* from Budget rentals, and with directions in hand, set off south towards Byron Bay. I have to say that driving on Aussie highways is, for someone who used to drive a lot in the UK, quite a pleasant experience. They're quiet, the scenery is better, and generally they're pretty new and well maintained. We pretty much just drove straight to Byron Bay and bypassed any scenery en-route, we just wanted to get there after the flight.
Getting into Byron, we got lost. And argued. And got more lost. And argued some more. Been a bit stressful the last few weeks as I say. But finally we found our accomodation, the Garden Burees, adjacent to a massive backpackers lodge, part of the Arts Factory, which is something of a Byron Bay institution. More of which shortly.
The Garden Burees are beautiful. There are only four self contained lodges, each featuring an outside bathroom, built into the rainforest-like foliage which abounds in Byron. Allow me to demonstrate:
You can make out the champagne on the side of the spa overlooking the outside shower area? No? How unfortunate for you. *smug*
The bedrooms are pretty cool too;
We hung around Byron Bay itself mostly. The beaches are beautiful, massive, and at the time of year we went, pretty much empty. It's amazing the difference a bit of geography makes, as we left a drizzly, cold Melbourne behind for 25-30C in Byron.
Perhaps the lovely beaches are what persuaded me to try and learn to surf. Now, I fervently believe we have no business in the sea at all. Especially in Oz, where everything can kill you soon as look at yer. Still, I found myself wrestling my way into a wetsuit and rashvest, and lying on a surfboard on the beach with a bunch of other likeminded fools pretending to catch waves before we were allowed anywhere near the DEADLY DEADLY SEA.
I don't care what you say, no-one, NO-ONE, looks good in a wetsuit. Least of all me. I looked like a sausage which had been left on the barbecue for too long, and then drizzled in molten plastic.
Or just a fat cunt if you prefer.
Still, it was brilliant. I never expected to like being in the sea at all, and it was AWESOME. I'm definitely going to give it another bash, despite it being one of the most physically demanding sports I've ever tried.
I also found out that water is hard when you hit it hard enough, and sand is tough enough to wear holes in your skin if you collide with it similarly. Couple in some salt water and you have the perfect ouch.
We also took a day trip to Nimbin. Oh god.......
I can't really do the place justice, so allow Wikipedia to explain for me. Basically, it's a stoners paradise. The whole town is geared up for the sale of weed and weed related products, and there isn't really a normal shop in the place. There is a fairly big police station though, which made me wonder what the fuck the cops were doing, or whether they were just bombed out of their minds too.
Long story short, Nimbin had an influx of hippies waaaaaay back in the 70s for the Aquarius festival. And as is the way of things, many people stayed, and the town took on a commune feel. Now the place is full of new-agers looking for nirvana, or some shite like that.
I thought it was one of the saddest places I've ever been.
A school bus pulled up while I was sitting on a bench on the main street, and disgorged a lot of normal looking young kids in uniform, as they all are in Oz, who then had to negotiate the cavalcade of hippy casualties to get to their parents and routes home. Just how do the normal folk of Nimbin carry on with a normal life with all the drug trade around them? I lost count of the number of times I was offered weed, cookies or other crap, and there were a host of pissed people kicking around too.
Nimbin is in a beautiful location, but it's a long way from Nirvana these days I reckon.
But I think one of the true highlights of our trip was a little open air cathedral we stumbled on en route to Nimbin. It was in a lovely spot overlooking a valley, and though not given to religious beliefs, I could see the appeal of worshipping whatever you like in such a place.
Peace be with you and all that eh?
*car my arse. We got a double upgrade voucher with our rental, which entitled us to the dubious honour of ungrading from the roller skate Hyundai Getz to the woefully underpowered granny wagon Nissan Tilda or some shit. Worst car I've ever driven. Wouldn't pull you out of fucking bed.
Byron Bay Photos
Learning to Surf