Daytrippin in Nimbin

After our busy weekend, we returned to our home base on the Gold Coast to relax, go to the beach, and catch a few Coolie sunsets. Katie, my friend from UCLA decided to join us on the second leg of the trip. You may remember her as the previously spontaneous traveler from Central America, she is second from the left in the pic below. Once we were rested-up, Katie, Fish, Kelly and I set out Thursday morning for a change of scenery.

Kelly and Fish decided to take us on a little road trip inland to a town called Nimbin. They described it as counterculture-ish town that I felt had a slight feel of Berkeley, but with a more mellow vibe. Shout out mom, remember our Bezerkely excursions...so fun! It was quite an adventure, about a 2-hour drive through winding countryside that reminded us a bit of the stretch of Highway 101 from Santa Barbara to SLO. Cows, sheep, and native foliage was the scenery of the car ride and was quite enjoyable to watch go by out the window.

We arrived to town and cruised the main street shops and cafes, and stopped for some lunch. Delicious sweet chili chicken wraps with chips at the Rainbow Café, the mural from the café is below.

The buildings were interesting and artsy and there were murals and sculptures scattered about. A few crazy hippies wandered the sidewalks, and one even tried to talk to us about Obama. I ran. It was a really fun day, and Kelly had never been here so it was fun for us all to go somewhere new together. Thanks so much to Kelly and Fish for planning such a great day and navigating the back roads with just a few stops to ask for directions...Good Times...

Island hopping

Once again Kyla came through for us and we spent Saturday on the beautiful Hamilton Island. A one-way ferry ride here usually costs $45/pp, we got round trip for free…THANKS KYLA!!!! We arrived on Hamilton Island after a brief stop at Daydream Island, and took a free bus around the area. There was tropical plants everywhere, and parrots filled the palm trees and cruised around all over the entire island.

I have to say I was convinced the stars were aligned when the bus driver informed us of the food and wine festival happening at the local resort. We pulled up and entered the resort where there were about 30 different booths sampling their wine, beer, seafood, cheeses, and other delicacies. P-you would have LOVED this, it was gourmet to the max. There was an oyster stand, crab from the Deadliest Catch, shrimp, salmon, ahi, chocolate covered strawberries, fresh fruit daiquiris, sausage, pastries, gourmet cheeses, and wine wine wine!!! I am drooling just reliving this afternoon. We milled around hitting each booth numerous times, I only wish I had taken a few pics of all the fare. I made friends with the fruit man, and we ended up with a direct supply of free fresh fruit daiquiris of every flavor you can imagine, mango, passion fruit, guava just to name a few. Kelly made friends with the cheeses guy and we walked outta the fair with four free slabs of amazing cheese (a 12 year mature cheddar, an ash rind brie, a triple cream brie, and a washed rind dark and stormy), olives, and crackers. Gotta love how the Cali charm works here.

After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves, we headed down to the beach to relax and soak up the sun. We posted under an umbrella and periodically strolled into the water for a dip. Took a few fun pics fooling around on the beach, including our favorite the one of us jumping in the air.

After the beach, we headed to the pool area to hang out a bit more and visit the swim-up bar. The whole pool area was incredible, so tropical and beautiful I never wanted to leave. I had a hard time picking my favorite pics, so I posted a bunch to get an idea of what this place was like. Definitely my favorite day here so far!

A drinking town with a sailing problem...

For my second weekend in Australia, Kelly organized a trip up the coast to a beautiful town called Airlie Beach. Fish, Kelly's friend, has a close mate that lives there and works on the boats, and told us she'd put us up if we made it over there. A short flight brought us to this quaint town that is referred to as a "drinking town with a sailing problem" and Kyla (Fish's friend) was there at the airport to swoop us up. Those sailors surely love their "piss" and drinking seems to be the main local activity. The main drag is filled with bars, clubs, shops, and cafes, and has amazing charm due to all the boats visible in the different harbors. On our first night we hit the pub for dinner, then out to an outside bar where her friend was performing live on his guitar. "Patches" was a great singer, and played covers of all types of songs in various genres, with each song generating excitement within our group. We stayed for both his sets, it was a great first night.

Kyla is an awesome girl that works on a ridiculous sailing vessel that takes you out to the reef on a 3 day excursion, all for the tidy price of about $1000/night/pp. She took us on a tour of her vessel which was amazing, it was like a ship straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean (pictured below). Old school style, romantic rooms, a dining area, and beautiful wood detailing everywhere. I have to admit I was pretty jealous of her job, spending so much time on the water in such a beautiful place. While Kyla was unable to bring us on her ship, she organized a day trip on one of their sister boats.

Friday morning we hopped on the ReefJet for an all day adventure on the water. The day included a bush walk to a beautiful lookout point on Whitsunday Island, a relaxing afternoon on Whitehaven beach, then snorkeling in one of the reefs. The beach was incredible, more like white heaven, the sand was the cleanest and finest I have ever seen. It felt more like Tahiti or Bali (even though I have never been there) rather than Australia, it was absolutely gorgeous.

After lunch on the boat, we headed to a reef spot to do some snorkeling. The reef was beautiful, parrot fish, giant clams, coral, angelfish, and loads of other fish cruising around. It was great fun, and luckily Kelly had her underwater camera to help document the excursion. It was a great day, and Kyla really came through. These types of trips run about $160/pp and we paid $6 to rent our wetsuits...amazing! Thanks Kyla!

State of Origin game

The game was a blast! We had a huge crew, and our team won! Here's a couple pics from the night:

Gold Coastin It

So after a fun weekend in Sydney, Kelly and I headed to her stomping grounds on the Gold Coast. She lives in Coolangatta, which locals call “Coolie.” Definitely a chill beach town with a laid back vibe; surfing seems to rule the town. The picture below is the view from Kelly's balcony.

There are high-rise apartment buildings lining the coast, lots of super modern style architecture, and cute cafes all over. Kelly lives with an older gentleman named Rich who is a schoolteacher and his Thai wife named Noi AKA “noisy”. We were welcomed with amazing (and amazingly HOT) authentic Thai food when we arrived cooked by 3 Thai women who are all chefs of local restaurants, Dad you would have loved it! I have never eaten food so hot; my lips were tingling and burning like crazy. I couldn’t even speak during the meal.

Strange birds, colorful flowers and wild turkeys are everywhere, and there is even a water dragon that hangs out by the pool in Kelly’s complex that we named Mojo. Apparently we will see bats, but haven’t spotted them yet.

Coolangatta is also the site of the border between New South Wales and Queensland, and that is what the triangle statue represents. Kelly’s school is on one side, and she lives on the other, which is kind of funny cause at one point they were on different clocks.

All of Kelly’s friends are so nice and welcoming. I love the style here; everyone seems to have their own unique look and personality. I am definitely bringing a few additions to my wardrobe home, as I can’t resist some new looks. Last night we gathered a group for ½ price sushi and sake, which as a blast. Sushi was definitely NOT up to par, a little strange; a lot of it has chicken and mayo. Bleh. But it was cheap, and the sake and company was pleasant. After, we headed to “Fish’s” house (Kelly’s close friend Linda Fisher) to hang out and drink some “Champers” (Champagne) and “stubbies” (bottled beer).

Good times so far, the weather is still a bit iffy but we are having fun nonetheless. Caught some sun at the beach yesterday, which was nice. Tonight we are going to a pub to watch an all star rugby match called the State of Origin, between New South Wales and Queensland. All the professionals play for their home state, and it is an annual best out of 3 tournament. We will be cheering for Queensland. It’s a big deal and should be a fun night out with good mates. More to come…

Sydney & Manly adventures

As far as my flight halfway across the world, I got lucky. When I boarded what I thought was going to be the most painful flight of my traveling life, to my surprise I had an entire row to myself. Score! I slept the entire 15 hours, and woke up in Sydney where Kelly met me at the gate. Kel booked us 3 nights in a beach town called Manly, a beautiful place just a 30 min ferry ride from Sydney. A good home base.

We headed straight to Manly upon arrival, and spent the first day shopping and wandering around all the cute little boutiques and side streets of this quaint town. Our first dinner was amazing, an upstairs Thai restaurant where we had our own window nook to sit in. Thai food is everywhere here b/c of the proximity to the country, and it was DELICIOUS! We retired early (after a few episodes of L Word, a new obsession) so we would be refreshed for exploring Sydney.

In the morning we hopped on the ferry and headed to the city. The weather was iffy, raining on and off all day. A few downpours, but luckily we were able to catch dry patches while wandering around. We explored the Botanicals, as per Zacky’s recommendation, and saw huge bats and parrots everywhere.

We ventured to China town, which we weren’t too impressed by (but saw a really cool sculpture),
then found a lovely pub “Scruffy Murphy’s” that clearly I felt we had to stop in for a brew. One brew turned to two, and then we made our way back to the harbor via the FREE shuttle. LOVE public transport, shout-out to Jess my transit guru ☺

Before we departed Sydney we spotted an ice bar, and decided we had to see what it was all about. AMAZING. Yes, a bit pricey to get in, and I was shocked and annoyed at the 30-minute time limit, but really a person can’t handle much more in -5 degrees. The cost includes rental of ridiculous coats and gloves and a choice of one of their icey themed beverages. This place was cool, in all senses of the word, and the delicious drinks were served up in a glass made of ice. Ridiculous. Ice sculptures everywhere, koalas, the opera house, hearts, hanging ice cubes, and a bar fully made of ice. Well everything was fully made of ice, actually. We danced around to Kanye (they seemed to be playing all Kanye, guess they really like him, I sure didn’t mind) and tried to keep our toes from freezing off. Met two women from Berkeley and dance and froze with them for a bit. Small world…

After ice bar we hoped the ferry back to Manly, and 5 minutes into the 30 minute trip Kelly realizes, oops where is my cell phone. After frantically looking through her purse we decide it must still be at ice bar, and we decide to go back to look for it. Alas after 4 ferry rides we call the phone and find out it was in Manly (she must have left it in the ferry bathroom), so alas 2 hours worth of ferrying concluded our night. At the time, not so funny, but of course today I find it pretty amusing. Shout out to Kelly’s blonde moments.
Today we head for Bondi beach, a main beach of Sydney that has its own reality show. Should be cool, hopefully the weather improves, which by looking out our window it looks like it has.