OzIntro!

On the morning of OzIntro we met 4 of the guys from our group and our group leader picked us up from the hostel and drove us to the city centre where we would pick up 4 of the girls that were staying in the city centre. So once the 12 of us were together, We took a walk around the botanical gardens, and a pretty cockatoo (or parrot?) came down from the tree to eat bread from my hand! We then went to the harbour for Jetboating! This was so much fun!

The driver of the boat was really funny and every now and then would point his finger in the air and make a circle with it, to show that we were about to do a spin. We all got wet but some of us, including me were soaked! The whole time a dub-step / house CD was playing which added to the atmosphere. It lasted about half an hr, after which we went back to Coogee for dinner at Five O’s restaurant where we each had a meal deal voucher entitling us to a drink, a main course and a side dish for $10 (Needless to say we ate here 3 times this week). Afterwards we all went back to the hostel and hung out in my room (which was the biggest room as it had 6 girls in). We all got to know each other and had a lot of laughs!

On Tuesday we had a talk about finding work in Australia and went to the bank to activate our new bank accounts. We also dropped off our passports to the Medicare office in the city centre so that we can be entitled to free healthcare in Australia. Then lunch at Darling Harbour, followed by a visit to the aquarium. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for a night out at the Gaff which is a popular backpacker bar. We had a voucher for a free meal if we buy one drink so we did that and spent the rest of the night in there. On Wednesday we were joined by another guy (Aaron) whose flight was delayed) and we went surfing! It’s the first time I’ve ever done surfing and it was really fun! I didn’t stand up on the board but I think after a few more lessons I should be able to! It was a good day but the downside was me and another guy Tom got caught in a rip and I felt like I was drowning as the currents were too strong. It was really frightening. We managed to signal for help and one of the surf instructors came to the rescue. Dinner in the evening was at Five O’s (again!).

Thursday was a chilled day. In the morning we had a travel talk and it got us all really pumped for travelling up the east coast. We booked appointments to see Nicola our OzIntro group leader on Saturday to sort out our onward travels after we leave Sydney. Then we were driven to Bondi beach where we chilled out in the sun and buried Jack in the sand! We did the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk which passes through 5 beaches and is really scenic. We walked along the coast (about an hr) to Clovelly beach which is a small beach in between Bondi and Coogee, where a barbeque was awaiting us! After food, we played volleyball and relaxed on the beach before heading back to Coogee, where surprise surprise we went to dinner at Five O’s again! Just to point out here that OzIntro took us to Five O’s the first night but the other times it was our choice – or basically laziness to find anywhere else just as cheap! Friday was an early (6.45am!) start for a day trip to the Blue Mountains. We went via OzExperience and our tour leader Smokey was cool. We saw some kangaroos out in the wild, and some horrible-looking spiders! We stopped in a town called Glenbrook along the way for breakfast and then headed on towards Wentworth Falls. It was a 2 hr trek down and then up some very steep paths/steps to the bottom of the falls but it was worth it!

After lunch we drove to Katoomba and went on another walk, followed by a train back up the mountain. The train was the steepest railway in the world with a 56 degree vertical angle! It was scary. The whole day Smokey told us about the Aborigines and the way they used the plants when they lived in the Blue Mountains. It was a really interesting day. That evening, me and the other girls stayed in Coogee while the boys went to the city for a night out. They all ended up in a gay club and had an interesting night apparently!

Saturday, we had appointments to see Nicola to book our travels after Sydney. I have bouht the following:

• “Bruce” OzExperience Bus tour – this is a backpacker bus tour going from Sydney to Cairns stopping at the following places:

Spot X (surf camp), Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Noosa, Rainbow Beach (for Fraser Island),  Town of 1770, A cattle station (includes a day at a ranch learning how to lasoo, crack a whip, ride a mechanical bull and watching a goat rodeo!), Airlie Beach (for the Whitsunday Islands), Bowen, Townsville, Magnetic Island, Mission Beach and finally Cairns.

• Day trip to Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin zoo where you can hold koalas) with 2 nights accommodation
• 3 day 2 night Fraser Island tour
• 2 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday islands
• 4 day SSI certified Dive course on Magnetic Island
• 14,000ft sky dive at Mission Beach

So Saturday was an expensive day!! In the evening we all got dressed up as “ravers”. So basically we wore bright coloured clothes, wore fluorescent nail polish, hairspray and used marker pens to write on each other. We went on the Oz Party Bus which took us to 5 bars. The bus had disco lights and music playing, and we all had so much fun that night! It really was an awesome night.

Sunday we chilled out during the day. I went for a run along the Coogee-Bondi coastal walk and after 2 hrs I was so tired! In the evening we all got dressed up for a buffet dinner up the Sydney Tower in the revolving restaurant. Everyone else tried kangaroo, octopus, emu and crocodile, so glad I’m a vegetarian! It was sad to think it was our last night altogether with our group leader.

Today: Everyone’s doing different things now, most people are travelling up the East Coast with OzExperience but they are starting this week and I won’t be doing it til Weds 18^th May as I have booked flights to go to Melbourne for a week to see some friends. I will probably bump into them as some point along the coast as it takes at least a month to do, and the pass lasts for 12 months so we can take our time and stay longer in places we like. But as we are all in Sydney tonight, staying in hostels in the city centre, we are all meeting up one last time as a group so that will be good.

It’s been a really good week – there were 13 of us altogether and we all got on so well, even on nights where we didn’t have planned activities we still went out for meals together and stuff. I’ll really miss everyone but most people are travelling for the year and if I don’t see them up the east coast, then I think there will be a reunion at Christmas as everyone comes back to Sydney for Christmas and New Year. OzIntro even do a Christmas Eve boat cruise so I’ll definitely be doing that.

That’s all for now, I am going to check in to a city centre hostel today, meet everyone later for dinner at one of the hostel bars, and then tomorrow I will be dropping my rucksack at Mitika’s new apartment in Sydney and take just hand luggage for my week in Melbourne. Booked a return flight on Friday for $69! Bargain! Can’t wait to see my friends Carmen and Lauren who I met in a hostel in Munich in September 2008 – so it’s been a while!