Tag: exploring

Coff’s Harbour and A Change of Plan in Byron Bay

Posted in Journal Entries, travelTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The rain had started and did not look set to stop anytime soon. We packed up, said goodbye to Janet and family and drove through the rain to Coff’s Harbour.

There isn’t a huge amount to do in Coff’s Harbour and I had always thought I would skip it out if I came back to do the East Coast but we figured it might be better to wait out the bad weather somewhere where there wasn’t a lot going on than head to Byron Bay with the great beaches we just wouldn’t be able to enjoy. So we booked into the YHA and cosied down for the evening.

It turned out to be an interesting evening. I woke in the middle of the night to giggling and the person below me seemed to not be in her bunk and there were two people on the bottom bunk opposite Joey’s. I assumed one of the girls had got back from a night out and was having a catch up with the other girl who was on my bottom bunk. I groggily stumbled out of bed to the bathroom but when I came back to the room, thanks to the bedside light that was perfectly highlighting the activities going on on the bottom bunk despite the privacy sheet they had hung up, I realised these two girls were definitely doing more than just catching up! I scurried up to my bunk, plugged my headphones in and grabbed my phone to see the disbelieving messages from Joey who had unfortunately gotten woken up by their fun times a lot earlier in the night. This hasn’t been my first experience of this but hopefully it will be the last!

While we had been driving the day before I had commented to Joey how much the weather reminded me of rainy old England. I then flipped through my Instagram stories only to see a similar comment on a video of the rain by an old friend, Sienna, I worked with at Nando’s. After seeing a few more pics I realised she must be on the same route as us up the East Coast and dropped her a message. I suggested if she was passing through Coff’s Harbour we have a catch up so we met for lunch at SOMETHING down the road from our hostel.

It was really nice to share our travel experiences with someone I knew from home. She has also had some incredible adventures through Africa, Bali and more on her way to Australia and was very much at the beginning of her trip but already had some awesome stuff planned. We shared our experiences so far and swapped stories about camping and road tripping as this is how she was traveling the East Coast.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and wondered whether we would cross paths again at another point on the East Coast. The rain was easing off so we headed to the boardwalk for a look out to sea and were rewarded by spotting a pod of dolphins swimming and playing in the bay. It must have been quite a big group and some with youngster, popping up out of the water here there and everywhere. We even saw some turtles surfacing too. So glad we decided not to hide out in our hostel all day.

On our way out of Coff’s Harbour we passed the famous Big Banana there but as the weather was still not great we only snapped a quick pic from the car and continued on our way to Byron Bay.

I was excited to see Byron Bay again and whether it was as lovely as I remember it being. The sky was overcast but a little sun was peaking through so as soon as we arrived and got checked into a beachside hostel, Wake Up, we went for a walk on the sand, revelling in the beach time we would be sure to enjoy here.

While checking in I had noticed something else, a sign at Peterpans travel shop saying Staff Wanted. I had joked about us finding work to wait out the rain and we knew we needed to find work soon enough anyway that after speaking to the manager I decided to apply.

We didn’t have any plans for how long we would spend in Byron Bay, we thought we might stay long enough to enjoy some sunny days then continue up the coast. Within a day of applying I had an interview, got a call to confirm I had the role that evening and by the end of the week I was in training. It was exciting to have such a quick turn around and also to be doing something I had been doing back in the UK and enjoyed so much there.

The only downside was going back to working so soon into a travelling portion of our trip, but being on the East Coast means we can easily plan side trips to other areas and do lots of exploring in our free time. There was also a lot of worry and stress in the first couple of weeks of me getting the job that, as great as it was I had found work so quickly, it appeared there weren’t many jobs going for Joey. Byron Bay is such a popular place for people to stop and work that many businesses, especially in the low season, prefer to hire residents who will be there permantly rather than moving on after a month or so. Our accommodation was also not the cheapest and with only one wage coming in we had doubts about making this work, were we just stuck here now, too scared to risk giving up a job to find work elsewhere but slowly draining our money if we stayed?

Luckily things turned around pretty quickly. Joey found a job as a housekeeper for 28 Degrees, a luxury high end holiday guesthouse. Though it seemed he would only get a few hours to start with he has already ended up working more shifts than planned so it finally started to look like living in Byron Bay was realistic for us.

And so far we are loving it. I’ll talk more about living here in my next post but it is great being so close to the beach, having the time to go to yoga every other day, a cute hippy town full of interesting shops and great restaurants. Byron Bay was just as awesome as I remembered it being. It wasn’t part of the plan to end up staying here, but that is part of this up and down journey through Australia, everything is constantly changing and sometimes it all works out for the best.

Melbourne – Exploring Australia’s Most Liveable City

Posted in Journal Entries, travelTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Melbourne was voted most liveable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit for seven years in a row, a record breaking length (until it recently lost out to Vienna) and out of everyone I had spoken to about Melbourne I had only found two people who weren’t too keen. It was why we chose Melbourne as our starting point, to suss it out as a potential place to live later in the trip. Yet a week into arriving in this magnificent city and we hadn’t seen anything more interesting than the VICSRoad office, the bank and our caravan park. With life admin squared away we decided it was high time we checked out what Melbourne had to offer.

Melbourne Sea Life Centre

Just down the road from our hostel (also a short walk from Flinder’s street Station) is Melbourne Sea Life Centre, so after passing it so many times we decided to kill an afternoon while waiting for van repairs to take a look around. It was fun to check out, especially when trying to spot and name the fish we had seen on recent dives, but it was definitely more of a family activity. With the ticket price at per person $42 (or $32.50 if you have student discount) it probably isn’t worth it for a backpacker on a budget. That being said I did enjoy the talk by the big tank which features several types of shark, giant rays and a massive grouper called Mr G. When they first bought Mr G to the aquarium they decided to make sure he was well fed so that when he was introduced into his new tank he wouldn’t eat any of the other fish. They stuffed him full of 12kg of fish and figured that was more than enough. Oh no. Not for Mr G! He had been in the tank only a short while before he swam up to one of the sharks, almost the same size as him, and swallowed him whole. Yep. A grouper ate a shark whole. I never thought I would be more scared of a grouper than a shark! Apparently if you had blinked you missed it, his huge mouth opened and just gulped the shark whole. As unbelievable as it sounds, watching Mr G contentedly swimming around his tank, huge mouth gaping, it actually wasn’t too hard to believe.

Melbourne Zoo

I love a good zoo! I know a lot of people question the ethics of zoos but I believe as long as you are selective about going to legit zoos with a good reputation and outstanding conservation efforts, you can support something worthwhile. Melbourne Zoo was super easy to get to with tram, bus and train routes that stop directly outside the zoo. It’s a reasonable size too that if you want to see the whole park you can fi it into a full day without feeling rushed. The enclosures are broken down into groups and paths lead you on loops around each section. There are plenty of eating options but like most zoos it is all overpriced so best to bring a picnic. The only downside was the animal talks were quite short, less than ten minute run downs on the animals main attributes and background. It was one of my favourite things to do in Melbourne because it is always a joy to me to watch animals just being animals.

Free Walking Tour

After an incredible free walking tour in Berlin that set the bar high, we always keep a lookout for free walking tours wherever we travel. They are a great way to get a feel for a city and know your way around while getting an interesting history and side stories about the place. At the end you tip what you feel the tour was worth, or what your budget will allow. We took this tour with walkingtours101 which we heard about through the YHA hostel as they do pick ups there. He told us many interesting facts about the city, including that it was originally designed without any town squares as they didn’t want places where people could gather. Our guide explained the rebellion against the gold mining licences at the Eureka stockade and how the Eureka tower represents this with the red representing the blood shed, the blue the flag they flew and of course the gold top for the gold. Another interesting fact is that the city was originally called Batmania after one of the founding fathers called John Batman. Personally I think they should have kept the name, imagine telling people you were just off to Batmania for the weekend! The highlight for me was ending. At the Melbourne gaol where Ned Kelly was hung. Our guide told us the story of Ned Kelly’s final showdown and it sounded epic and made me interested to know more.

Secret bars – Berlin’s Bar

There are loads of secret bars in Melbourne. They have adopted the prohibition style without ever having had a prohibition in Australia. I wanted to check out a few more than just Berlin Bar but being a bit far out from the city centre this was the only one we made it to. It is above a bar called House of Maximon, which holds a free comedy night (again tip what you like) every Wednesday night. The bar is designed with one half like east Berlin and the other half like West Berlin, though we heard that strangely most people choose to sit by Stalin’s portrait in West Berlin than to enjoy the glam of the East Berlin decor.

Laneways

As part of our walking tour we passed through Hosier Lane, well known for its ever-changing street art. We were recommended to go more than once as you’ll see something different every time; this was definitely true as some of the art had already changed only a few days later when we passed through again. Most of the best stuff in Melbourne happens down these laneways, there are quirky shops, cute cafes and hidden gems of restaurants waiting to be found. We also met a friend for drinks at Chuckles Park Bar, right near Flinders Street, that turned out not to be down an alleyway but the bar was the alleyway itself! Heaters gave the place a warming glow, lanterns hung above us and the little shed at the end served up cocktails, wines and beers. Perfect place to spend an evening after a day exploring the city’s backstreets.

Immigration Museum

We walked past this museum over and over again and what caught my eye was the exhibition on tattoos in different cultures that sounded interesting. On a rainy day we decided it was a good time to mooch about the museum. Students get in for free, otherwise an adult ticket is $15, and it is worth checking out. The exhibitions are detailed and thought provoking. I’ll admit I found the tattoo exhibition the most interesting but it was a great rainy day activity.

St Kilda

I had heard lots of good things about St Kilda – basically if you like cafes, good food and markets this is the place to go. We went on the weekend and there were definitely Sunday vibes in the air. Everyone was eating outside in the sun and it reminded of pub lunches back home. The other great thing about Sunday is the St Kilda Esplanade Market that runs every Sunday and sells all sorts of trinkets, home-made soaps and tasty oils, spices and other foods with plenty of tasters on hand. Another must do is to try one of the cake shops in St Kilda. Europa has windows lined with chunky cheesecakes, thick wedges of cakes and fruity tarts – just about every treat you could want! We grabbed a chocolate cheesecake for me and a lemon meringue pie for Joey and headed to the Botanical Gardens for a mini picnic.

As the sun started to set we headed to the Pier for the other reason we had come to St Kilda. Every evening the little Fairy Penguins that call the rocks surrounding the pier home come back to their nests to fee their young and rest up before heading back out into the bay at dawn to fish again. Get there early as it gets very crowded but once the penguins start coming in people tend to disperse and stay a little later to see many of these cute penguins up close. The little penguins are kept an eye on by volunteers from Earthcare St Kilda, a non-profit organisation that work to protect the penguins and their home, making sure a safe distance is kept and their habitat isn’t disturbed.

I could see why Melbourne had won the award for most liveable city. I imagined myself living here, heading to the markets for fresh veg, hopping on the free inner city trams, spending lazy weekends in St Kilda and discovering all the secret bars with friends of an evening. At the same time the cold and the rain was off-putting and with so much more to explore of this vast country we were excited to move on. It was the perfect start place and I look forward to visiting again in the summer, whether we will settle here or not is still a long way off, for now we have some road tripping to do.