We booked into a friendly little hostel in Brisbane called Aussie Way. It is a converted house and the place felt quite homely. Unfortunately, it was not too homely, and as they were full we could only stay the one night and had to book into another hostel around the corner called, Banana Benders or something crazy like that, for our second night.
We wanted a spot of culture in Brisbane and went to visit the modern art museum. They were in the middle of renovations and only had a few pieces on display, one of which was a plastic seal holding a piano on its nose. From our observations, this scenario is factually incorrect as seals are not that large and would not possibly be able to support the weight of piano on their nose.
We also visited a museum in the The Commissariat Store Building which was built by convicts. We were a bit disappointed by this museum, as it didn't have much information about the convicts themselves. It was more about the people who set it up. Being quite self centred, we wanted to learn more about the Irish people who had been sent over for robbing bread to feed their starving families and the like, but this was not to happen. Out of the convicts held in the prison, half were Irish, so it would seem like an obvious nationality to have some information on. They had a full section on Italian immigrants though, always with the Italians.
We went on a wander about the town, which has some pretty traditional style buildings and impressive modern glass boxes. Surprisingly, for a city, we also got some wildlife watching in. See exhibits below.
It was on this walk, in one of the book shops that Niamh found, quite possibly, the best book ever. It shows you how to make slippers including the swan shaped ones on the cover. These are up there with the giant Guinness shaped slippers as comfort and style foot kings.
Byron Bay is a cool hippie and surfing town. There are loads of mad hemp wearing, long haired people walking around in bare feet. There is also loads of music and busking, cafes selling soy dandy lattes, organic food shops and arts and crafts.
We stayed in the Cape Byron Youth Hostel near the town centre. The evening we arrived was pretty horrendous weather wise but we were told that it would clear up the following afternoon. This was a lie. We booked into to do a kayaking trip with dolphins and a surfing lesson anyways, based on some other randomer telling us the weather was due to clear up.
The kayaking trip was cancelled, the official reason being, ridiculously humongous waves. Niamh shed many tears at missing the dolphins. We went for a walk to the lighthouse instead, which was a nice walk, but was only 40% as good as dolphins. Also, in the last post we forgot to mention we saw dolphins on the boat over to Frazer Island, they were amazing!
The surfing lesson the next day was on though, cause waves are good for surfing apparently. We went with Mojo Surf. We really enjoyed the surfing and managed to stand on the boards (with help!). The instructors were sound too. However, they booked far too many people on the lesson. There were 21 people to 3 instructors, which left very little one on one time. More annoyingly, 21 people in small space is crowded. We managed to get the hang of catching waves, but the amount of times you would have to dive of the board to avoid crashing into someone or into a board was ridiculous. It got quite frustrating towards the end. You spend so much time marching out against the tide, finding a spot, picking your wave, catching it and then working up the courage to stand up only to have some plank standing in front of you. Actually, it is not fair to say some plank, cause we were that plank on several occasions, it was more a case of too many people, too little space. Niamh also managed to get hit on the head by the surf board on several occasions. It is probably not the best sport for people who are spatially challenged. But overall, it was great craic and something we will be trying again.
You understand how surfers are so fit. We were reduced to being just a pair of two large human cramps the next day and could not lift our arms higher than elbow level.
That evening we hopped on a night bus, shudder, to the Blue Mountains. We booked into No. 14, which is without a doubt the best hostel we have stayed in in Australia. It is an old wooden house and has two common rooms, a lovely kitchen and nice outdoor chill out areas. It even has an oven, we haven't had an oven in months! We baked pork with a mustard cheese sauce for dinner the first night, delicious.
We went on an epic hike along cliffs that look into the forest. We underestimated the time it would take to do our hike by a factor of two hours and were pretty exhausted by the end. But it was well worth the trek. We saw an echidna which is a hedgehog like animal, but weirder, like most creatures this part of the world.
We grabbed lunch in the town and went for a coffee in a great 40s art deco style cafe.
Katoomba is a really nice village. There are loads of great cafes and restaurants (that we window shop at because our budget does not allow many meals out). One cafe we made it into was decorated like a wandering indoor tree house, it was beautiful. It was run by some mad religious cult, but we just choose not to engage with that part, it looks nice!
There were also some knitters and crocheters about, who have left some brightly coloured squares wrapped around lamp posts and flower pots.
We really liked it Katoomba and stayed longer than planned and would of stayed longer, if time permitted. After a few days, we hopped on the train to get a connecting night bus to Sydney, hopefully our last one in Australia. Before we left, Emmet found a reminder of home (a picture of his office!).
We have noticed loads of street art in Australia so far and have put together a collection of our favourites.
We have arrived in Melbourne and love it so far, but more about that next time.
We wanted a spot of culture in Brisbane and went to visit the modern art museum. They were in the middle of renovations and only had a few pieces on display, one of which was a plastic seal holding a piano on its nose. From our observations, this scenario is factually incorrect as seals are not that large and would not possibly be able to support the weight of piano on their nose.
 |
| An inaccurate portrayal of a seal |
We went on a wander about the town, which has some pretty traditional style buildings and impressive modern glass boxes. Surprisingly, for a city, we also got some wildlife watching in. See exhibits below.
 |
| Another mad animal |
It was on this walk, in one of the book shops that Niamh found, quite possibly, the best book ever. It shows you how to make slippers including the swan shaped ones on the cover. These are up there with the giant Guinness shaped slippers as comfort and style foot kings.
Byron Bay is a cool hippie and surfing town. There are loads of mad hemp wearing, long haired people walking around in bare feet. There is also loads of music and busking, cafes selling soy dandy lattes, organic food shops and arts and crafts.
We stayed in the Cape Byron Youth Hostel near the town centre. The evening we arrived was pretty horrendous weather wise but we were told that it would clear up the following afternoon. This was a lie. We booked into to do a kayaking trip with dolphins and a surfing lesson anyways, based on some other randomer telling us the weather was due to clear up.
The kayaking trip was cancelled, the official reason being, ridiculously humongous waves. Niamh shed many tears at missing the dolphins. We went for a walk to the lighthouse instead, which was a nice walk, but was only 40% as good as dolphins. Also, in the last post we forgot to mention we saw dolphins on the boat over to Frazer Island, they were amazing!
The surfing lesson the next day was on though, cause waves are good for surfing apparently. We went with Mojo Surf. We really enjoyed the surfing and managed to stand on the boards (with help!). The instructors were sound too. However, they booked far too many people on the lesson. There were 21 people to 3 instructors, which left very little one on one time. More annoyingly, 21 people in small space is crowded. We managed to get the hang of catching waves, but the amount of times you would have to dive of the board to avoid crashing into someone or into a board was ridiculous. It got quite frustrating towards the end. You spend so much time marching out against the tide, finding a spot, picking your wave, catching it and then working up the courage to stand up only to have some plank standing in front of you. Actually, it is not fair to say some plank, cause we were that plank on several occasions, it was more a case of too many people, too little space. Niamh also managed to get hit on the head by the surf board on several occasions. It is probably not the best sport for people who are spatially challenged. But overall, it was great craic and something we will be trying again.
You understand how surfers are so fit. We were reduced to being just a pair of two large human cramps the next day and could not lift our arms higher than elbow level.
That evening we hopped on a night bus, shudder, to the Blue Mountains. We booked into No. 14, which is without a doubt the best hostel we have stayed in in Australia. It is an old wooden house and has two common rooms, a lovely kitchen and nice outdoor chill out areas. It even has an oven, we haven't had an oven in months! We baked pork with a mustard cheese sauce for dinner the first night, delicious.
We went on an epic hike along cliffs that look into the forest. We underestimated the time it would take to do our hike by a factor of two hours and were pretty exhausted by the end. But it was well worth the trek. We saw an echidna which is a hedgehog like animal, but weirder, like most creatures this part of the world.
We grabbed lunch in the town and went for a coffee in a great 40s art deco style cafe.
Katoomba is a really nice village. There are loads of great cafes and restaurants (that we window shop at because our budget does not allow many meals out). One cafe we made it into was decorated like a wandering indoor tree house, it was beautiful. It was run by some mad religious cult, but we just choose not to engage with that part, it looks nice!
There were also some knitters and crocheters about, who have left some brightly coloured squares wrapped around lamp posts and flower pots.
We really liked it Katoomba and stayed longer than planned and would of stayed longer, if time permitted. After a few days, we hopped on the train to get a connecting night bus to Sydney, hopefully our last one in Australia. Before we left, Emmet found a reminder of home (a picture of his office!).
We have noticed loads of street art in Australia so far and have put together a collection of our favourites.
We have arrived in Melbourne and love it so far, but more about that next time.
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