Day 46

Drove to Byron Bay today, it's a bit of a ritual for me when I'm in this part of the coast. Bad traffic going in as usual although this eased towards noon. Byron Bay is one of those places that are both overhyped and yet still charming despite the hype. It used to be a hippie town, now it's more of a chain store and double macchiatto organic soy yuppie hangout..with prices to suit. Despite that it's still a really beautiful place, with great beaches and a cool lighthouse that costs $5 to park :(

I have fond memories of surfing with dolphins here, but since I've returned twice I've barely had time to surf, much less time to spend waiting for dolphins to come by. Got back to Tweed in the sauna car, air con not working - but I'm glad I had a car that works! We left the house later than the guys who left in the evening, had some dinner before which turned out to be a good idea, as everyone was already trashed when we arrived, with no food in sight except for a bag of chips.

One of the Singaporean girls decided to lose her clothes and walk around all night in her bikini, after taking in half a bottle of Jagermeister, fainting and puking on the lawn. Everyone there really treated her well though, helping carry her, covering her up and asking her to put her clothes back on (she didn't want to). Big thumbs up. The rest of us ended up on the sand dunes outside the flat, watching Queensland and NSW celebrate the new year each ( 1 hour time difference ). The moon was so bright, it was surreal! I remember that movie Point Break where they went surfing in the moonlight...definitely possible! Unfortunately the wind didn't help and made my cold worse, I was coughing badly by the time we left.

Next morning at 6am Sid woke me up with a request to pick him up... Didn't want to leave him out there trashed so went. Ended up dropping him at Dan & Kristie's place so that he could continue partying. Got stopped in police check, of course tested zero :p I didn't even take cough medicine..although I should. I don't feel so good...

Happy new year!

Day 45

Still sick today, but took Sid's car and went to Fingal Beach to get some sun and sea. We couldn't find Eric's beach so we parked in front of Kai's place and walked to the back. What a perfect location, the beach is literally in his back yard! Empty beach and beautiful water. We even found a little hut that some of the locals had made! Afterwards we helped ourselves to his mango tree, haha.. Beautiful day.

Day 44

Took a train up to Brisbane today. The place is really nice, lots of trees and old buildings. Had a nice day just walking around on South Bank. Felt like singapore, with the trees, river and buildings. The day passed in a blur for me, I am officially sick, coughing all over the place and being moody and tired.

Day 43

Slow day today. Just went to the beach. Feeling a little under the weather, so just snoozed a little. I think I'm coming down with something..

Day 42

Crazy day today, some skateboarding then went to Zain's gig at the Ivory Pub. His band is called Zeus' Baby. Everyone headed to the house for a big party, stayed up til the early morning. I didn't really take part though.

Day 41

Christmas!! Had a big lunch at Auntie's restaurant, the poor lady was up until 5am preparing. I went for a surf with the boys while Lin helped auntie out at the restaurant. Was a huge feast! Took a while, we were still preparing stuff when everyone had arrived but eventually gifts were handed out and everyone was happy. I spent most of the time building stuff with the kids' toys, culminating in the train-truck-plane-mobile! haha!

Day 40

Michaela took us to this amazing secret rockpool and waterfall! It's a fair bit inland and is so different from the glitz of the gold coast stretch. Had such a good time. Trekked through the forest and through water until arriving at the rock pool. Jumped off the waterfall, had to curl up legs but still touched the bottom. Lin did a huge cannonball off the top! Big splash and her thighs are still red today, haha..

Felt so blissed out afterwards. Irony was that before the trek I was going on and on about leeches and Michaela went " There are no leeches, don't worry "... Just as we were almost out of the forest, I got a leech on my leg. I proceeded to slap the little sucker silly (but it still wouldn't let go!) while crying out for Michaela (I blame my childhood memories of my scoutmaster telling us horrible stories of leeches). Lin and M of course were really freaked out, thinking it was a poisonous spider... No, just a panicked asian slapping the heck out of a stupid leech on her foot :p M flicked it off with my flip flop. No blood and no scar. Haha, a little drama to the end of what was a really great day!

Happy :)

Day 39

Went with Eric to Auntie's place so that he could get a lift to the airport. Hung around Auntie's for most of the day but finally got to go to the beach in the evening with Zain! Water was so good! Fish curry for dinner and home.. :)

Day 38

Went surfing with Eric, went to mall to finish wrapping presents, then home. Then out shopping with Zain for more gifts, including a trip to Vinnie's (charity shop) for hopefully some gems, but none this time. A bit of a rush with watching Avatar but it was awesome! Drove down Gold Coast stretch at night.

Day 37

Crazy day today. Cleaning and throwing out stuff as I'm moving out soon, then another crazy trip to the airport. As usual, the local buses to the airport didn't come as promised by the sydney transport authority website, so after taking the bus as far as I could go, grabbed a taxi for the rest of the way. Wasn't too bad, at least I live close to the airport. Got a bit scared though, haha.

I ended up at the airport earlier than Lin and a short flight later, hello Coolangatta! Weather is cool and nice at night and Sid picked us up and brought us for late supper at his mum's restaurant, Bali Hut.

The food she cooked was great! The restaurant was already closed so she made us some real Malaysian food (with a bit of Indonesian influence). Nasi goreng and ikan assam (something, it was red, slightly sweet and sour and very good). Too happy.

R.I.P Joe, whose room we're staying in during this trip. If your spirit is still hovering in your room, I hope that you turned around like a true gentleman while I was taking off my shirt. Seriously, you looked like a cool guy. Life is fleeting indeed, best to live every day!

Day 36

Carols in coogee on the last weekend of christmas. It was packed full of families. Also a disproportionate number of teenagers looking to be seen. Funny that. I remember carols in london being a lot more family-orientated and less a pickup zone for teenagers. Or perhaps it's just too cold during christmas in London to bare any flesh or hold a smile aside from a grimace from the cold.

If you got there late, there wasn't anywhere to sit. There were also quite a few latecomer families with strollers who were leaving. But if you bagged a spot on the green, it was nice with picnic blankets, cocktails and people of all ages. Was noticing how the kids in sydney just run around and race and jump around on everything. Out of a full beach of kids, only 2 were in white dresses and practising their candle-holding poses like little ladies. The other 50-100 kids were racing each other, jumping off head-high walls (yes, really), climbing walls. Ah, these active aussie kids.

I am starting to notice a stereotype of the male couple backpackers. More bro and no homo, these european males travel in pairs for safety and company. Generally in Australia to get away from the expensive, cold and crowded confines of europe, they drink themselves silly, spending more on one night out and a greasy breakfast the next day than they would on their total apartment furniture. Normally reeking of alcohol and hungover on saturday and sunday mornings, the strong australian sun usually makes them turn bright pink when they doze through a whole day of UV rays without sunblock.

Unfortunately I've come into contact with these species recently because I've had to sell my furniture on gumtree. On 1 weekend, they will have spent more on alcohol than the amount that I'm asking for the rest of my furniture. FACT.

Day 34

Now it's so cold. It started raining last night and now my toes are cold. Spent today packing everything up. As you can see, some summer essentials in the suitcase :) And a gateau de lune.. mooncake! yummers..

Day 33

So friggin' hot today. Was the worst day ever to be trudging about hot asphalt. Started from the Customs House in Circular Quay, into the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), through The Rocks, under the bridge, through the wharfs, back into the Rocks and finally, into Guylian cafe. The Rocks have a long row of pubs, most backpackers and uni students pub hop...slowly regressing to a pub crawl by the end of the night. No drinks for us today, which was probably good considering I've had 3 jugs of water since I got home but not had to go the toilet yet. Yes, it was ridiculously hot today. Incidentally, don't go to the Guylian cafe at the rocks, $10 for an iced coffee,overall bad and expensive pastries, when you can get far better at the Lindt Cafe.

Day 31

Relaxed day at Bondi Beach. Didn't do anything much. Some cool pics though.

Day 31

We were supposed to go to the fish market today but got there slightly late. Before that we went to Max Brenner's Chocolate cafe, hence all the photos of the interior design. I had a white chocolate and strawberry shake. Deeeeelish. Lin had the suckao, melted dark chocolate in warm soy milk. Mmmmm

As a result, we got to the markets before it closed and only 1 shop was really open. Had delicious sydney rock oysters and I had badly cut tuna sashimi. I felt slightly cheated as it wasn't that cheap as well..

Still..a good day! Chocolate and seafood..

Day 30 Edit

I was too tired and hot from walking around all day in Manly so didn't put in lots into the last post. It was a good day, woke up later than expected, lazed around so ended up at Circular Quay to take the ferry at noon. So of course it was crowded...

Lots of tourists have arrived in sydney for the holidays. And of course the teenaged girls in their tiny bikinis and tons of makeup. Enjoy it while it lasts, before your breasts head down south and the junk food you've been eating every day ends up on your hips... Youth is wasted on the young they say, but we all need to make the stupid mistakes we make when we are young. Assuming that we learn from the mistakes and not descend into gentle, early senility. Haha..

Went to a birthday bbq at a local's beach. Lots of jumping off a pier-like structure and swimming in the water. The weather was perfect. The water wasn't tropical warm but refreshing in the hot weather.

Ice cream at Copenhagen Ice cream on the way back. Of course, had to overload on the complimentary hot fudge and caramel dispensers..and the nuts and chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. My icecream might have been more topping than ice cream...

Watched daring sea gulls fly gracefully above our heads at the beach, playing with the strong air currents.Also hoped that they didn't decide to "download" on us. Walked past group after group of Santas.

Ferry home in the sunset with the best views of the sydney skyline.

Day 30

One month already! Time flies.. Went to Manly Beach today, we saw some b-boys from the Bronx, New York and then went for a barbeque. Perfect sunny weather. The clouds smiled down on us!



Last year's trip to Manly Beach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC1FQk9Ras4

Day 29

Went to Adriano Zumbo cafe, the man is a God! Droooool. I had the "Weekend in the Cross" Pistachio pâté sucree, rose brûlée, rhubarb compote, fresh watermelon, raspberries, watermelon sugar sachet, and Lin had "Your Frund un the Frudge...Toasted!" Caramelised puff pastry, toast mousse, tomato jelly & melted cheese crémeux.. obviously a play on the tomato cheese sandwich, that tasted...perfect. Just firm and then light and melted away in the mouth, nothing like a cheese sandwich. mmmm

I would have helped her finish it, but was far too involved in bringing back my childhood in the flavoured sugar sachet and black sesame macaroon. Best of all, got to meet the man in person when he dropped into the shop to check everything out! Hee hee, I was raving about his place to Lin since she arrived and insisted that she go there asap. I love the cheeky names of the food, the actual food, the presentation..what's not to love ;)

Had a good rest of the day, Queen Victoria Building is feeling very European and Christmassy. Loved the Swarovski christmas tree, and lots of cute little girls in ballerina dresses and skirts because they had just been to watch Angelina Ballerina.

http://adrianozumbo.com/gallery/