Darwin PB, Asian cup final, beach, Canberra & Leaving work!

UBeen reminded that I haven't been keeping this up to date (oops) by a few people so at least I know someone's reading!

In short.. from 22.01.15 to now 16.02.15:

- Darwin was good but hot - got 11 sales in a day on Saturday which is a new PB $995 in one day before bond!

- Was in Darwin when Australia day started at midnight then had a 4 hour flight and was back in Sydney at 6am after 7 days straight working Mon-Sun in Darwin and started getting on it straight away when I got home! We H

had a mini Olympics with multiple indoor games including frying pan cricket then ended up making a hole in the wall and went to our friends to get more smashed.

- Started training a new girl called Sam for a week but she got ill, fainted in a morning meeting and then quit (oops)

- Went to the Asian cup final which was Australia vs. South Korea - great last minute equaliser from South Korea but Australia pulled it back in ET. Train home was hilarious with one Aussie starting loads of singalongs from Walzing Matilda to I'm the King of the Swingers from Jungle Book haha! We got off the train deciding not to go out then immediately regretted it so ran across to another train which actually beat our friends on the first train to Central station so we were already on our first schooner when they turned up. Had quite a heavy one - moved bar to one outside the lockout at 1am and kept going - found a place that had a special phone charging place with loads of cables sticking out the wall! Was so helpful!

- The next weekend was nuts - did an early shift at the airport for work so clocked off and went to Bondi for the rest of the day, then went out in Surry Hills for a few and was gunna go home for a relatively early night but one of my friends got into a bit of a situation with a guy she met after she left us and I was worried so got the police involved but it all worked out okay so that's all that matters! Sunday was another beach day - Dee Why this time and we just bought goon and got super high hahaha.

- Road trip to Canberra last Monday for the week, was good fun and we went to Canberra cultural festival one night which was really well done - got to try Sauerkraut and Dutch pancakes and some local beer! I also saw my first massive spider - a huntsman. WAS SO BIG!

- Got back Saturday night, got ready and went to pres - we tried to go to Home but free entry was before 12 and we got there at 11:52 so the queue was huge and entry after 12 was $30 so we went to Scubar for old times sake haha full of backpackers as usual but a good laugh!

- This Sunday was a chill day - pulled the TV onto the balcony and watched act of valour then watched some of Act of Valour then Good Will Hunting and ordered a Macca's Takeaway for the first time - was a mare and took 2+ hours and the first delivery just arrived with a McFlurry haha what a joke!

- Last day yesterday (Monday) so got to work with Jonny for one last time and had lunch with him #cuties - might join him on his pecan farm but that's what this week is all about. I need to help looking for a campervan for next week and sort farm work. 

Yesterday evening went to Cargo Bar for goodbye drinks which was really nice too to say bye to everyone but having a party on Friday to properly say bye :)

Oli out.

DARWIN

21.01.15

Soooo slogged it down to Brisbane in time for the flights home (me to Sydney, Mark to Landan) and towards the end of the week got back to work after sorting stuff out.

Found out on Thursday that I was going to Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT) on a road trip which was cool and so that's where I'm writing this from. Unlike the UK, travelling the length of the country is a 5 hour flight and a completely different climate. The humidity here is unbearable - it's pretty much in the tropics so compared to Sydney this place is a fucking rainforest! We get water condensing on the floor in our room overnight if we don't have the blind closed and aircon on 19.. I don't understand why those are the settings but they are.

Worked outside on the second day here and hooooly shit 10 hours in the humidity was sweaty work.. You don't even realise how sweaty you are until you feel your own shirt haha anyway it's been really cool up here but loads of smelly aboriginals live on the streets and wander round all over the place absolutely smashed.

As far as I understand, over here the government pay aboriginals money because "it's against their religion to work"... (aka. "we're stealing your land so here's some money") and literally all of them seem to spend it all on alcohol and live on the streets - we were in Nandos and one came in reeking of piss to steal chips off people's finished with plates.

Checked out Darwin waterfront on our day off when we got here and had a dip in the sea but initially we went to this place called Berry Springs which is supposed to be so so nice - a fresh water lagoon in a forest with turquoise water and rope swings and a waterfall and you can swim in it but it's wet season so the sea has flooded it which means the water level is higher, the water is all brown and saltwater crocs may have moved into it from the sea so you aren't allowed in! Bollocks. Australia wins again.

The best beach in the world

The Whitsunday island cruise was unbeliavable.

Day 1: picked up about 3pm and set sail on 'New Horizon' sail boat (has a motor which was used most the time though). There were about 35 of us on this boat with Germans being the largest percentage, then English and then the Scandos (Fins/Swedes). Pulled into a lovely little bay near one of the islands for the evening and the beers, goon and diving board were brought out so we all had loads of fun diving, flipping and bombing off that (all over it with the GoPro!) Had to wear "stinger suits" (wet suits) whenever we went in the water though incase of Stingrays/Jellyfish!

Carried on drinking and socialising all night, was great fun - lots of good British lads and ladies plus made a few German pals - notably the "naughty boys" who were these two German guys who were just fucking nutters!

Day 2: Early start to go over to Whitsunday island to see the world famous Whitehaven beach. Honestly I've never seen a beach as perfect, it really was breathtaking - the sand was so white and is the purest in the world - 98% pure silica. You can use it to exfoliate - I rubbed it all over my face and hair and it wasn't rough at all! You aren't allowed to take it off the beach - the only time it's been taken is twice by NASA to clean the Hubble telescope - pretty. fucking. badass.

Not only was the sand amazing, in the water we saw baby lemon sharks and stingrays! Not dangerous as babies, actually more scared of us than we are of them haha. 

Carried on to another bay where we parked up and set up the slide off the boat until it broke! I went scuba diving for the first time too! So crazy, fish 360 degrees in every direction and you can't see the surface just light above you. Running your hand through coral and seeing Rainbow fish, butterfly fish and Nemo's can never get old so once I was done diving I was snorkelling and doing my best to hold my breath and dive down but so much is just a metre below the surface it's incredible!

Once I'd knackered myself from snorkelling I went on the paddle boards - the stand up surf boards - which I got the hang off pretty quickly so it became more like dodgems for me and I just tried pushing everyone in although I would always also fall in hahaha.

Watched the sun set behind another boat  which was obviously sexy as fook.

Got less smashed in the evening but still played drinking games, card games and I cracked out some magic tricks obv ;)

Day 3: Up early again but I shot out of bed when we got woken up this time partly because I was excited for snorkelling somewhere new but also because Chase (crew member) told us there were pancakes but there fucking wasn't just cereal and melon the bastard! 

Snorkelling was amazing again - saw a shark this time probably about a metre long just laying on the sea floor but although it was red and flat and didn't look like a shark it apparently has the fastest reaction time of any shark.. #funfact

Anyway we headed back to Airlie Beach after the morning snorkle and swapped facebooks with all our New Horizon pals before leaving. Absolutely class few days and it makes me want to work on a boat like the crew who were all proper sound - what a chilled life!

Up there with Surf Camp as the best thing I've done in Australia. $380 for accom, food, snorkelling, paddle boards for two days and $60 extra for scuba dive.

Loads of GoPro footage of the road trip - had to buy a new memory card before Whitsundays so hopefully I'll compile a video this coming week fingers crossed!

NB: Boat trip song - Widen Your Eyelids by Wilderness Crew, check it out.

Soon mathafackas xo

READY FOR WHITSUNDAYS

So the campsite we stayed in Wednesday night in Eurimbula National Park was fun to get to in the dark - the car coped magnificently on the dirt and sand roads to be fair but wow. So much fun to drive but there were frogs jumping along the road and thick rainforest on either side of the single track sand "road" so it was proper jungle! 

In the morning we headed to the beach 50 metres from where we were parked to check out what it was like and it almost seemed like we'd stepped into the film set of Lost! Got to meet some wallabies on the walk back to the car too as you do..

Crayzeeee! Anyway the drive out was cool in the daylight - stopped at a lookout and for some photos with the car obviously!

Finally onto normal roads again we slogged it up to Airlie Beach all day - arrived about 7pm last night, parked up and then went for a steak and a pint. Ended up going to a bar where we bought a 3 litre beer tower dispenser with its own tap.. see snapchat!

Today (Thursday) we're just waiting for the boat at 2:30pm to take us cruising around the Whitsunday Islands - clear water, white sand "so fine you can brush your teeth with it", snorkelling, paddle boarding and SCUBA DIVING whilst aboard this 35 person party boat should all feature in my next blog!

PS. We've been given a 30 can or 4 litres of goon per person limit for the trip so that's a 15 can per night limit..??! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED💪🍺🍻🍻🍻🎉🎉

Surfers Paradise, Glass House Mountains and Noosa!

Here's my attempt to blog more frequently so it doesn't all pile up - we'll see how long it lasts!

Continuing from the last blog where we were on Main beach near Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast:

Had burgers in the end not sausage sarnies for lunch but still a barbie on the beach so can't complain haha! Then we found a hostel where Mark checked in for the night but I was content with car booting it as per. Played some bball, dossed around in the hostel pool then had dinner before getting drunk with hostel people and going out to 'Sin City' - a club where the female bar staff wear lingerie. Pretty sexist but I wasn't complaining about all the bum cheeks on show hehe!

Had a great night and even managed to kip in the hostel - was a spare bed in Marks dorm so I crashed there for freeee #hobo haha! 

Headed to Noosa in the morning but took a random detour to see some signposted glass house mountains which were pretty cool to be fair! First lookout we went to we had a 700m steep uphill climb in flipflops which we didn't expect - it was a spectacular 360 view but my calves have seen better days fo sho. Second viewpoint was much easier. Right by the car park! Also the guy who named the glass house mountains (James Cook) named them after the glass furnaces in his hometown in YORKSHIRE! 

Noosa was an amazing beach and we hired surf boards again when we got there (3pm ish) although was really busy in the good areas to surf so only caught a few waves!

Could've stayed in Noosa tonight (Tuesday) but we have a boat cruise around Whitsunday Islands booked for Thursday and to get to the pickup point in Airlie beach is another 13 hours from Noosa so thought we'd do a 6 hour chunk tonight and stop at a National Park called Eurimbula to save a massive drive tomorrow.

The catch: we'll be arriving at the National Park after dark at 11pm and the 13km track to the campsite is unsealed/sand roads only suitable for high clearance 4WD vehicles.  Our rental agreement doesn't cover off-road driving either..

..to be continued

ROAD TRIP UP THE EAST COAST!

On Friday (2nd) morning we picked up our Mitsubishi Outlander (henceforth "Glo-Rida" and picked up Aaron, Jess and Alex to go to the Blue Mountains. 

We drove to some stunning lookouts and then I wanted to go exploring so turned off the main road down a random track which turned out to be the most fun off-roading! Although technically our car isn't allowed off-road as its a rental but shhh. 

After another few lookouts we had fish n chips and went to find the campsite which was another 45 minutes down some amazing roads with fantastic scenery as we drove down into "Megalong" valley! Had a kickabout, set up camp and had carbonara for tea oooosh.

Saturday we drove back towards Sydney and stopped to do a Tree Adventure (basically go ape, an assault course in the trees) - really fun, others were knackered after a few runs (part timers) but I gave the "extreme black" run a go to see how hard it really was!

Dropped the others off near Sydney and Mark and I took Glo-Rida north towards Byron. As it was about 3pm when we set off we knew we wouldn't make Byron (10 hours away) the same day so ended up stopping at a random place called Nambucca heads right on the beach.

Sunday we woke up with a view out over the ocean, went for a quick swim in the sea and then headed on to Byron Bay!! 

Morning view from the boot!

Arrived in Byron, pitched a tent in this crazy hippie jungle campsite full of lizards and turkeys and went surfing - I taught Mark and he stood up! Then he was a pussy and couldn't hack it anymore so sat on the beach haha. Had sausage sarnies for dinner, met the people parked up next to us and just got smashed with them chatting and playing drinking games! 

Monday woke up in the jungle where our tent was pitched and had another sausage sarnie for breakfast (what of it?). Headed up to Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise beach which is cool because it's like a city with high rise buildings right on the beach!

That's it for now, not sure what our plans are for later* but we have more of the day because for some reason Brisbane is in a different time zone so our phones have switched an our back! 

*Probs gunna be sausage sarnies in there somewhere #BBQonthebeach?!