Sydney opera house and THE GOON!

Note: Goon is slang for Australian cheap wine and I mean really cheap. Beer costs roughly £1 a bottle in a supermarket (an outrage!) but you can get 4.5 litres of goon for $10 (£5.50 for 6 bottles of wine equivalent!) Needless to say this year goon will be coming out in a big way and my first experience of it was last night.

Yesterday daytime was admin shit trying to sort bank account and Medicare (free healthcare) but then we went to see the opera house and bridge which was really nice and really hot as well! WATO is out in a big way and have tried to get howzat and M.I.N.E. involved too.

Night out was BIG - was a BUNAC night so met down at Scubar at 6.30 for free food and a free drink but Aaron and I got there early (planning on smashing the free food) and the BUNAC staff pretended we were also staff so we got wristbands for a bar tab! So it begins..

Obviously we smashed as many beers, cocktails and shots as we could but then went back for predrinks on the hostel roof as not everyone had these wristbands. The boxes of goon were cracked out and Gaby from Notts joined us - it was really nice seeing a familiar face - however the night took a turn for me when I gooned after the free bar, so returning to Scubar I was pretty drunk and don't remember as much as I'd like! I do remember meeting a guy called WATTO though so taught him 'What are the odds' (WATO) and got a selfie! Cracking cheap night!

By the opera house with Becky & Aaron

Botanical gardens right by the opera house

The dreaded selfie selfie

Hostel rooftop predrinks view

Halloween theme - we went all out

WATTO!!! #WATO 

Off to BUNAC HQ now to try sort my CV and apply for some jobs maybe! Tonight we'll probably go out but I have RSA alcohol course (requirement for bar work) tomorrow morning so can't get too lairy! 

Peace xox

Gary Groundwork, Stealing Sunglasses and Bondi BBQ!

Deleted the last blog post to re-write coz it was shite - wrote it half asleep on the plane, soz chaps.

Final day in Hong Kong was good craic! If we weren't already friends the night out brought us all together and recapping the drunken stories in the morning cemented the friendships!

Coach took us to a Buddhist temple and some other fancy temple-like place with gardens. Again there was little explanation of what it was and Lyona the tour guide wasn't fantastic but got a selfie selfie at each location so I think that means I win? Also had some beef noodle soup and it didn't have bones in it amazingly so nearly made up for the meal the night before. Maybe not ALL Chinese food in China is shit.

Got to Australia on Monday and it is pretty amazing - not too expensive or hot so far! Turns out I hadn't paid for the first two nights hostel through BUNAC either so arrived in Australia with no room for the night like a true traveller.

Nicknamed one of the guys 'Gary' (short for Gary Groundwork) because he put in a solid 9 hours of flanter on the plane with the girl next to him and it's taken off as a nickname now hahaha

First day and night we went to what I now call 'Spoons' across the road with $4-5 schooners (£2-3) and introduced 'What are the odds' which was always going to be funny and has led to all sorts of outrageous behaviour so far as expected. Ended up in scubar where there was crab racing and loads of backpackers like us which was a good laugh. I stole one of the girls sunglasses and gave them away to a random - the first time she retrieved them, then I did it again and they were gone for good #oops #itwasjustbanter - had to pay her €30 today for a new pair :( Stayed in a spare bunk in one of the guys rooms as I still hadn't sorted a room :p

Second day we had BUNAC presentations on employment, surf camp, campervan rental etc. all day basically which was dull but along with most of the others I signed up for surf camp next week which sounds so good, then I actually paid for a room and had a nap which I didn't wake up from in time so missed the night out and just went to the pub with the people who were around.

Today is Wednesday and the first proper day in Sydney so obviously went to Bondi beach! It's hot but the wind keeps it bearable and the sea is proper cold. We bought some sausages and burgers which we cooked for a late breakfast on the free hot plates by the beach, oh and got some fantastic body boarding videos in the sea with the GoPro #LivingTheDream

5pm here is 7am in the UK so a week ago today I was in bed at home about to leave it for the last time! Unbelievable that since then I've been via Hong Kong and am now sat on Bondi beach using the free wifi!

Selfie selfies are just too easy

Do you think they noticed?

Scubar (crab racing!)

Bondi beach!

Bondi selfie.

Keep it real homies, proper Bondi pics/vids to follow when I recharge the GoPro.

Sooooooon xx

Chinese food is better in England

I realise I'm coming across as a grumpy bastard at this point but the tour of Hong Kong was average and the meal was shite.

We got a coach tour yesterday (Saturday) - first to a pretty amazing viewpoint, then to Aberdeen harbour for a shite £5 boat ride and then to some beach where the highlight was getting an icecream and a selfie selfie (obviously). Got loads of classic tourist wanker photos and learnt some stuff like Hong Kong means fragrant harbour in English #olisfunfacts but 3 hours coach driving for 1 hours worth of stuff was a ball ache.

Meal was a joke - everything they gave us had fucking bones in it. I've ranted about it enough to this lot but in short don't bother coming for the food - I've had better takeaways in the UK.

Night out was big! Cracked out 'drink while you think', got smashed, took bare selfie selfies, kept hi-fiving Chinese people, climbed on a bar etc etc but pissed off most of Hong Kong. Somehow got away underpaying a taxi driver - he let us off coz we were just asking him deeply personal questions and he had had enough haha 

Viewpoint

Viewpoint selfie selfie

HK at night

HK at night selfie selfie

Night out selfie selfie

Seeing a Buddha and chirpsing a monk

Yo,

We got to Hong Kong this morning at 7am local time which to us felt like 11pm UK time so we've been feeling like slapped arses all day because we barely slept on the plane yet are determined not to waste a day sleeping!

Got to the hotel and straight away all went off to see some Big Buddha bloke up a mountain (who is actually just called "Big Buddha" in English because the Chinese are so imaginative). A shuttle bus, two tubes and a queue for 90 mins got us a cable car up there and then 200 steps took us right to his feet. Wasn't worth it - still don't know who he is, what he did or why he's there. I feel like Karl Pilkington.

Having said that, it was decent to get a bit of culture and the views were class. Saw a monk in full orange wavy garms but he wasn't a chatty fella - don't think he spoke English or he just didn't like me (more likely). Got to know people better which was nice - introduced a few would you rathers and the selfie selfie game! [taking selfies of people who are taking selfies]

Cable car ride up to Mr. Big Buddha

A fantastic icon worshipped by millions and a big Buddha. 

Godlike pose.

Best friends! #monkybusiness

The selfie selfie game #bantersaurus

Panorama view from hotel room :)

After all this we came back and showered for the first time in about 26 hours of being awake. It was godly. Gunna try stay up even longer to fit into the time zone - wish me luck!

Sooooooon xo

Group Flight

Not much time to write but have met loads of people while having drinks at the airport bar! Most of the 50 are Oz bound and loads of great people so it's looking good :) see you on the other side!

Soooooooon bitchez xo

Two girls, One Trolley

Had a bit of a quiet one in Landan - went to a pub near Clapham Junction for a few where I introduced the question game* which inevitably ended up with us knowing far too much about Mark's housemates!

[*you fire a question at someone and they have to ask another straight away to someone else otherwise they have to answer your one]

Heylen persuaded Mark and nearly me to go out and the "quiet one" nearly became a not-so-quiet one but thankfully the girls were going back to Mark's so I decided to be boring and stay with them. 

It turned out not to be at all boring though when we ended up having a High School Musical singalong on the way home (which I didn't start, but I did finish), followed by me pushing the girls home in a Sainsburys trolley and skilfully managing to not hit any cars! (which is harder than you'd think)

Soooooooooon xo

First Vlog

Just a test really.

http://youtu.be/w_rGzSzVljA

Day 1: Leaving home and my initial plan

The time has finally arrived boys and girls! Today I left home for the last time ahead of my flight to Australia tomorrow and I thought I'd start a blog to keep a record of what's going on.

I'll do my best to keep it interesting but I haven't written anything like this before so constructive criticism welcome!

LEAVING HOME

What a shit day. Saying goodbye to the rents seems almost routine now having been away to Uni so many times, but a two-parent platform send off in the rain is a poignant reminder of the gravity of this undertaking! (man can use big words n wot) 

Nevertheless I'm glad the goodbyes are

nearly over - I've had goodbye meals, drinks and nights out in Nottingham, Sheffield, Harrogate, Knaresborough and Leeds over the past months so I'm sick of them! Why do people have to love me so much?! HAHA shutup. 

Now all that is left is to see a few people in LANDAN where I'm staying tonight then I'll be on a flight heading for Hong Kong at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon!

All I'm taking for (up to) a year! Apart from the bag in my right hand which contains bevs (cuff me)

Final selfie with the house! #bishbashbosh #heynicetrim

CURRENT PLAN

Hong Kong for 2 nights with the rest of the group flight then onto Sydney where I'm going to stay until early 2015 so that I can settle in, get a job, make some pals (ambitious, I know), have a BBQ on the beach on Xmas day and see the NYE fireworks!

Sooooooooon mathafakas xo