Hat likes camping and blockies

HUNTER VALLEY

Hat Head National Park

Coffs Harbour

Trial Bay Prison Ruins

Lennox Head

Byron Bay

Moving day

So today was moving day!!! Moving is never fun, so instead of standing around getting in the way of the movers, I took myself for a walk over the bridge one last time. After talking to Taya on the phone by the harbour for a while, I went to the MCA- Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. There are 3 exhibitions on at the moment- Yink Shonibare MBE, Simryn Gill, and another mixed artist show.

Outside of the museum a bunch of people were painting a large mural to raise awareness for the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. I decided not to take up the offer to join a) I would totally ruin it, b) I would get very messy paint on my lu lu's, and c) I feel like you can't just willy nilly paint unless you are passionate about something. So I watched.

Sights of Sydney, with the Hero of Waterloo pub

Hat is going road tripping!!!!!!

Road trip time is finally here!!!!! We leave in two days to road trip up the coast from Sydney to Brisbane. Along the way we will stay in various places- Newcastle, Byron Bay, Gold coast, and other smaller coastal areas. I am SUPER excited. Thanks to Steve's obsession with buying new toys, we have all the best camping gear. Our tent is so big its nik name is the Taj (as in Mahal). So it'll be a combination of staying with friends and camping.

Recently I haven't been up to too much. We took the bike out again last Sunday and drove down through the National Park. And on the Saturday night had a BBQ, and on Friday went to a work Christmas function at the RAAF base. And this week, only a small victory- finally got my hair cut. This may not seem like a big accomplishment to most, but I had been putting it off for months.

I also met up with one of my moms old friends named Wendy. We stayed with her on the Gold Coast when I was 15.

Wendy's house.

CJ

November con't

Last weekend Steve and I rode the bike up to a northern beach called Palm Beach, aka Palmie. I felt like a total biker chic. The bike was soooo fun, and the beach was peaceful and beautiful. Perfect weather.

Monday I went and tried my luck at body boarding. Out of the 50 times I got tossed in the waves, I caught about 7 good rides, hahaha, it’s harder than it looks. I haven’t given surfing a try, but am certain I will before I leave OZ, or at least in Asia somewhere. On Tuesday I caught up with Ronan again and had the best chocolate waffle lunch, he is hilarious. Then I spent the day shopping, and lounging in the botanical gardens reading.

Then yesterday I organized a mini contiki reunion. I met up with Liz and Joel and their two bubs at Taren Point Hotel, and Ben, Joel, and the Sherminator also came by. Niki was missed though!!! SOOOOO fantastic to catch up, and see the babies, and everyone else together again.

Aussie, Aussie, Canadian??

“I think the best teachers in life are the ones that inspire us not only to learn, but to live”

Okay, so I’m finally, almost, maybe ready to sit down and write about the past month. I still can’t even find the words to sum up Japan. Now that I’m here in Australia, it seems like such a lifetime ago. That chapter in my life is ending. Australia is a new and completely different adventure to the one that just passed. If this were a Bryce Courtenay novel, it would be called

BOOK TWO

By: Bailey X van Waterschoot

Alright, well… I arrived in Sydney Australia on November 4th after a very painful plane ride of screaming babies surrounding me. When one wasn’t crying, you could be sure about two other were, or at least making other annoying sounds. You should seriously be able to drug babies when flying. All in all, I got about 2 hours sleep. Oh well, I made it to OZ in one piece. Besides it’s not like I had to work the next day. Fact, I seem to be on permanent vacation. Well after working full time for an entire year, I feel like I deserve a little R&R. I am staying in North Sydney until around December 10th.
My first week was great! The weather could have been better, but anything is better than the winter that was slowly approaching Japan. Australia feels very ordinary so far though. In Japan I was reminded everyday what a unique and totally different place it was to anything back home. But in OZ, everything is the same, it’s like I could be walking down the streets of Toronto. But I really shouldn’t be comparing countries. I WAS however extremely excited to indulge in all the cuisine I craved while I was away. Like dips mainly, but also sooooooooo many kinds of chocolate bars and such. And on the third day we went to Manly Beach and had the best fish and chips (YUM!!).

Went to the Zoo

That first weekend, Steve and I drove to Newcastle. First we went to Bay beach for the afternoon, and then went to a friends place to get ready for a ball. That’s right, a ball, an air force ball to be exact. Not exactly a big dress white gloves kind of affair, but dress up none the less, and quite fun- especially the bumper cars and blackjack.

The next day we were going to go camping in Stockton Beach. It is a very wide beach about 30 mins from Newcastle. Basically it is sand doons as far as the eye can see. 4 x 4 driving there was pretty fun (Mamma Brune, MEEEAt would have been very jealous). After getting the Hangi ready (it is food wrapped up and stuck under ground to cook over coals, and under the fire) we played amongst the sand and put up the tents and what not. A little rainy to begin with, but it cleared up for a good night around the fire. Our tent was the biggest by far, therefore naming it the Taj.

Next comes Taya’s visit!!!!!!!!!! Tay came on the 11th. The first full day we had we went immediately to Bondi Beach to meet Daniel. Daniel is her Homeopathic client who flew her out for a visit. Daniel is from Hong Kong, but he also happens to have the most amazing apartment overlooking Bondi Beach and the ocean. We all went to the beach together that day and then he took us all out to the top restaurant in the Shangrila Hotel. The food was great, and the magnum of Dom Pereion was also welcome. We were very spoilt. Here I am thinking I’m a backpacker, but then am being taken to the top restaurants in Sydney and staying in a wicked apartment in North Sydney. No actual backpacking has taken place yet.

The next day we went to Belmoral beach, and at night Daniel took us to the Hilton for drinks and then out to Tetsuya. Tetsuya happens to be the best restaurant in Sydney and voted the 5th best in the world. It was actually really fun being served a 12 course meal and having the wine flowing, BUT I have had tastier things before. My favourite was the butter infused with truffles.

On Friday, Taya and I took the fairy out to Manly Beach for a hike and swim at the beach. As you can see our days mostly consisted of eating awesome food, and going to the beach almost everyday.

Thomas

That weekend we caught up with lots of old friends. Had an awesome BBQ at Ronan’s place, and then Taya went diving with him the next morning near Shelly beach. We also did a day trip to the Blue Mountains, and did some hearty hiking. But like all trips, it came to an end too soon. So I said a very sad goodbye to Taya on the 20th.

Then the next day I decided it was a good time to revisit some old contiki friends. So I headed south of Sydney and spent the weekend with Ben and Joel in Sutherland. The first night we went to a restaurant in Cronulla for their friend’s birthday, then out to Northies, and then to a club/bar called Fusion. It was really good to catch up with those boys, and hang out with them again. However, Sutherland breeds a very different type of person. When we were at the bar, not one girl around me wasn’t wearing a fancy dress and heels. I felt like I had stepped into an alternate universe of materialistic values and pretentiousness. I felt like I was in an episode of Laguna beach or something. Oh well, although I didn’t really fit in, I actually don’t desire to have such a small minded view on life. Some of those girls really need to get out and travel and see what the real world is really like. Although it was sad to leave Ben and Joel and their awesome friends after a very funny weekend, I was happy to go back with Steve to the normal world. And Ben lent me his body board, so I was excited to get out there and try some body boarding.