Hey everyone. Happy Valentine’s for the other day. Hope you were either spoiled rotten or at least did the spoiling. I’m sure you’re all desperate to hear what Soph got this year from me. Commonly referred to as the 21st century Romeo.

Well she got nothing.

Yep, nothing at all. No I didn’t forget. I don’t need a single day in the year to tell Soph how much I love her. She has 365 of them. We just couldn’t afford to get each other anything.
Awww. Anyway it’s pancake day next week and we all know that’s a far more important date in the calender. (“Ooo is it? I didn’t know that”).

Right, so. The bus. The 14 hour bus journey from Sydney to Byron Bay. We’d heard about Byron Bay lots back home and along our journey so far. People love the place it seems. Many had expressed a desire to live there due it’s super laid back culture and beautiful scenery. So although the bus journey was long, it should, in theory, be worth it.

Thankfully the buses are pretty high spec out here. Some have TV sets and WiFi and toilets with toilet paper. Ours did not have these things. What it did have however was air con. Which unfortunately turns the entire bus into a moving choc ice. Even if you turn the fans off it’s still freezing. And if the bus has to go round a corner, some unlucky passengers are going to get covered in what I can only suspect to be liquid nitrogen dripping from the vents. One bonus though, the driver was nice. I mean I can’t remember him saying or doing anything really nice. He just wasn’t a moaning old goat like the last one we had. Which was nice.

When we finally arrived in Byron we were greeted by the staff from our hostel ready to drive us from the bus stop. This was very helpful as we had only been able to get a room in the hostel furthest from town. The Arts Factory Lodge. In fact this place is a little famous. It’s where the Inbetweeners stayed in the sequel movie when they visited Byron. Neither Soph or I had seen it, but I’d heard about this claim to fame and thought it must therefore surely be a good please to stay a couple of nights.

Although it was nice of the bus to drop us at the reception desk at 9am, we couldn’t check in until 2pm. So to pass the time we chilled out in the, well I guess, the chill out area. I sat writing a blog while watching the bags, the girls lounged by the pool trying to catch up with me in terms of tanning. That’s right. I have a tan. I’m being mistaken for Greek now. Even Turkish from an angle. Anyway my olive skin and good looks are besides the point right now. Maybe later.

By the time 2pm rolled around we were all desperate to just get into our room and chuck our stuff down. We spoke to the lad on the desk, fluttered our eyelashes and managed to get an upgraded room. I suppose the room was more like a tent than a usual room. It had two bunk beds in but one of the bottom bunks was a double, so Soph and I could sleep in the same bed together since our first night in Melbourne. We could probably sleep together in the singles, but as I said before, Soph is super sensitive to the cold and I have to take a layer off every time someone in a 5 mile radius sparks up a fag. So unfortunately for Soph, snuggling in this heat is not enjoyable for me. We all have to make sacrifices to be with the ones we love. That’s hers. One of many I’m sure.

Behind the room was a private balcony overlooking a large pond covered in moss. It looked like a perfectly cut putting green until a family of ducks starting moving across it. It was a really nice setting. The only downside was the increased number of mosquitoes roaming about. What is the point in a mosquito? Really. They are helping nobody. They have no friends.

Hitting the town we aimed for the beach. The hostel has a free shuttle bus to and from the town every half hour or so. But Byron is so small that even though it’s far away in comparison to others, it’s still only a 10 minute stroll away. Within these ten minutes however, the Sun disappeared and was replaced with a sudden down pour. We took this opportunity to head back to the high street and grab some lunch. We also decided perhaps it would be best to start looking into booking our trips to Fraser Island and the Whitsunday Islands. These two have been on our list, as they are on every backpackers list, since day 1. So with only a couple of weeks left in Aus, we really had to start looking.

We asked in a couple of places before the girls were sweet talked into a particular one called Happy Travel, or something like that. I waited outside chatting away to someone else who worked there before I was spat at by a passing homeless guy who was rather peeved at the number of foreign visitors to his lovely town. I ran in and joined the girls to see what they’d been sweet talked into next.

Due to Australia’s ridiculous prices, we are running dangerously low on funds. So although our dream was to do both islands, it was pretty apparent we would have to pick one and sacrifice another. Courtney is an experienced sales woman and Soph is no fool when it comes to the tricks of the trade. So I would have been happy with whatever their decision was. None of us really had a budget in mind, but we knew what we had in our accounts and how far we could stretch. So when the sales guy said a figure a little cheaper than expected for both excursions, we went for it. Perhaps we could do both. I gave him my card, tapped in my pin, and smiled at the girls….

…Card Declined: Insufficient Funds.

This was not good. Least enough embarrassing. I quickly jumped on a computer and checked my account. I had over £700 less than I thought we had. It was a nightmare. Devastating. We just couldn’t do it. We could barely do one of them. It was a pretty horrible moment of realisation. We had been so careful with money until Australia when we simply can’t afford to live. We haven’t been out drinking every night or munching on lobster for lunch. It’s just so darn expensive out here for foreigners. We booked the Fraser Island trip and left all smiles. Although barely below the surface we were all deflated with disappointment.

Suddenly emotions changed again as Courtney squeals with glee. We turn to see she is hugging someone. We all react differently to the feeling of disappointment, but we were pretty sure Courtney’s usual reaction isn’t to grab hold of the nearest stranger. She must know someone. And she did. It was her housemate Chris from her time at Chichester University. What a small world. Oh, and it just so happened to be his last night in Aus tomorrow. He’d lived in Byron for a while working for Happy Travel but was being posted to a spot in New Zealand starting next week. He invited us all out for his leaving do before we went our separate ways. Crazy when those things happen.

The next day was a beauty. We went down the beach, jumped in the sea and rode the waves back to shore. We had a jellyfish floating past us but that didn’t put us off. We were pretty sure it was dead anyway. It was great fun jumping on the waves. Soph was a little more apprehensive and stood in the shallow water. This soon proved to be an extremely good idea, for when we looked back at the very waves we’d been jumping in, we saw something. Something long. Something grey. Something deadly. Now I don’t want to scare anyone. It probably wasn’t. But my goodness it sure did look like a shark. I’d love to think it was maybe Sharkey or George. Those detectives under sea. But it could quite easily have been Jaws. Or just a big fish. Or nothing. Let’s go with nothing.

That night we were going out. The girls dressed up. I changed my t-shirt. We’re we’d ready to go. The bar of choice was Cheeky Monkeys. Perhaps sounding a little more like a kids playgroup than a bar we were slightly surprised when we were all ID’d to get in. Surely the age to get in a place called Cheeky Monkeys can’t be any higher than 4. Inside they even had face painting on offer free of charge. They also had cheap drinks and food we could afford, so we were well up for giving it a try.

We all got our face painted as we waited for our dinner to arrive. I don’t mind having a bit of paint on the face. I’d seen a few others with some really cool effects being done and thought, still rather reluctantly I must say, that I may as well join the girls. May be it was the tone I used when I took my seat in front of the face painter. Maybe it was the look in my eyes. Whatever it was, the lady thought it best to paint my face using the brightest colour pink she could find and a flower shaped stencil. On top of this she added some glitter to round off a piece of art our old friend Jamie the brake dancer from our Melbourne to Sydney bus would be proud of.

For the rest of the night I felt like I was either going to get hit or hit on by at least one of the long haired guys in the bar. I was struggling to work out which I’d rather. Apart from this constant fear it was actually a very good night. Soph and I had a couple of drinks but decided our budget would prefer us to stay reasonably sober. Courtney had no such problem topping up her glass with cheap champagne for the rest of the night. We danced away on the tables until the very last song and the lights came on. You always forget how unnecessarily long the song ‘Hey Jude’ is when you’re sober. There was still time for a big cheer for Courtney’s old mate Chris as everyone left for the night. We may even catch up with him again in New Zealand.

The next day we pretty much laid out in the Sun all day. Courtney did have to pick up an ankle support though. On our walk back to the hostel from the bar the night before, she had tripped over thin air and sprained her ankle. Thin air does seem to get in the way ever so often after an increased level of alcohol. It didn’t seem to affect her ability to make a racket though. Even after hurting herself she went for the Guiness World Record for the most amount of people woken up in one go by screaming about how much fun she’d just had. Bless her. Look out for her in the 2016 edition this Christmas.

The day after we were on the move again. This time for the aptly named Gold Coast. An ear filled with golden sand beaches for as far as the eye can see. Our particular stop was called Surfers Paradise. It was only round the corner in Australian terms. About two and a held hours up the road. But this bus was a very special bus. It also acted as a time machine. For when we arrived in Surfers Paradise, we’d gone and regained ourselves an hour. So we are now 10 hours ahead of the UK rather than 11. Perhaps this will be easier for the girls to get their heads around. It was only last week they realised the UK is behind us….

We dropped our stuff in our room and headed down the town to see what was going on. We spent an hour or so on the beach before looking around for a place to grab some cheap lunch. It was here we realised it was in fact Valentine’s Day the very next day. So as a treat we thought we’d go to the cinema to watch something really cool. Something action packed. Something we’d all been waiting for….

….50 Shades of Grey…pfft.

I could think of many films I’d rather see, ‘The Life and Times of Drying Paint’ would be one, but there was a lot of intrigue about this film so we thought we’d go see it. Plus there were bound to be scenes of a sexual nature involved, and I’m always down for that. The girls had read the book so were of course hoping for an exact match from the film. I won’t spoil it for those that haven’t seen it yet. Just bare in mind American Sniper is also on at the moment. That’s all I’m saying.

Our time in Surfers Paradise was very short. We’d only have two nights here before moving on our journey upwards towards Rainbow Beach and ultimately Fraser Island. So on our next morning when a new room mate arrived we weren’t too bothered about how nice or un-nice he might be as we’d only have to spend one night with him. He turned out to be a middle aged man who was currently in the process of going bankrupt. We felt quite sorry for him actually. Well I did. The girls thought he was going to nick all our stuff and sniff his way through their underwear while we were out. If the poor guy is going bankrupt he should at least be still allowed some pleasure in life. I left my used boxers out for him. Bless.

The day was again spent on the beach. We do a lot of that to be honest. But why not. Rather awesomely it happened to be the Australian Sand Sculpting Championships that weekend. These guys and gals are so talented, it really was great to see. Here our some examples of what we’d seen. They were all Disney themed.

We found a nice little place for dinner where we grabbed ourselves a steak and a beer for very little money, before returning to our room to pack again. As we got back we saw all the lights to our room were off. Soph stuck the key in the door and slowly opened it. What came out was a gas bomb more powerful than anything the Americans have dropped on the Japanese. It was enough to force Shrek to faint. Our bankrupt friend must have been trying to win a little money by entering the local baked beans eating contest because the room stank of fart. It was disgusting stuff. But it was only one night. We’d get through it.

The next day we were again on a bus. This time to a place called Noosa. But that’s for next time.

Thanks for following x

Ok, part two. Hope you enjoyed part one. Soph read it out loud to Courtney after I’d posted it the other day. It was good to hear someone else read it actually, but they just kept laughing. Can’t they see I’m writing about some serious real life stuff here. So immature.

After a really good few days in Bondi it was time to visit one of Sydney’s northern beaches. The one we’d been told about most was actually one seemingly named directly after myself…Manly beach.

To get to Manly we could either jump on about 135 different buses or get the bus to the city and jump on the ferry that goes directly to Manly. Considering how both Soph and I felt on the boat to Gili T, the buses were a viable option. But we being the brave little soldiers we are, manned up and went for the ferry. We ran to the front and got some seats outside as we thought the fresh air would be our best hope for preventing us from throwing up down the side of the boat.

The view on the boat was superb. Plus it was pretty sunny too. We set off past the opera house, taking as many photos as we could. The trip over to Manly would only take about 20 minutes if that. It would cost us $7.50 each to get over, but if you were returning on the same day you could make the most of their special discount return rate of just $15 per person. Unfortunately we were going to be in Manly for a least 2 nights so had to miss out on such a fantastic deal. Maybe next time.

As we started to lose the city from our eye sight we turned to face the direction of Manly. Only to see a huge dark cloud laughing at us from directly over the town. Ever since arriving from Perth we have come across a miserable annoying cloud pretty much everywhere we’ve gone. Therefore a reasonable explanation would lead us to believe that this was in fact the same miserable annoying rain cloud every time. So I feel that if this cloud is so persistent in its desire to be ever present from now on, that it might as well have a name. So from now on this miserable annoying rain cloud shall be called MARC. Anyway, Marc was showing his ugly face again as we pulled up to the dock and made it ashore.

We found our new hostel easy enough and unpacked our stuff. The girls complaint this time was that the toilets and showers weren’t on the same floor as the dorm room. It’s a tough life not working and seeing different parts of the world. You have to now and again walk down a flight of stairs to go for a wee. I hear ya girls. Disgusting….

All four of us, me, Soph, Courtney and Marc, hit the town to see what was going on in Manly. To be honest there wasn’t a lot. Not while we were there anyway. In fact the day we were set to leave was to be the start of the Australian Open Surf Championships. The signs were all over the beach advertising the top pros that were coming to town. We could see the grand stand being set up as we tried to find some sunshine through Marc’s tiny cracks.

Although pretty slow, the beaches around Sydney offer free WiFi. It was here on the beach that I decided to see if we would be having Marc’s company all week or if perhaps he was going to leave us alone for a bit. When the report said we were set for Sun for the weekend the girls came up with a cunning plan. Perhaps we could take Scott and the boys up on their offer and stay at theirs free of charge, and have a night out in Bondi.

My thoughts?…Get him on the blower now!

All sorted then. We would leave Manly in a couple of days, have one more day in the city to do the bits we never got to do before, then head back to Bondi for the weekend.

Then next day we met up with one of the girls school friends who has now set up a new life on the East Coast and will be in Manly for a couple of hours this very day. George Hallet gave us the name of the pub to meet her so we set off to find it. Only when we got there it looked more like a bookies than a respectable bar for three girls and a handsome chap to meet. Our only means of communication was through Facebook and for that a we needed WiFi. So the girls headed about 10 yards away to the beach to grab some while I went 10 yards the other way to get some money out.

“Meet back here” said Soph as she scuttled off to the beach.

Sure thing. I’ll come straight back. So like the good boy I am I came straight back to the exact spot and waited. And waited. It then became apparent that I’d been waiting for some time. I got up and checked the beach but saw nothing. I looked inside the pub to see if she’d gone in without me seeing. Almost impossible as I’d been sitting in the doorway for 10 minutes watching every character that went in and out. Hmmm. I thought it best to just stay where she said and wait. They wouldn’t have run off without me.

After 20 minutes: I went for another look around but saw nothing. Back to my step I thought. They wouldn’t have run off with out me….would they?

After 45 minutes: THEY’VE GONE A RUN OFF WITHOUT ME!
My phone dings with a message from Soph to say they’re in the pub. The pub right next door. Has nobody wondered why I wasn’t there? Has nobody thought to just quickly pop outside to say “hey Ells, you don’t have to sit in the doorway of that grotty bookies anymore. We have found George and we’ve got the drinks in.”

Well clearly not.

Anyway the girls had a good time catching up with their old dancing mate, reminiscing about old times and chatting about George’s new life. We even managed to get little bit of Sun in that afternoon too.

The next day we were heading back to the city. We had so much unfinished business with Sydney that we couldn’t just move on without saying a proper goodbye. As we left Manly it was the sunniest day ever. Not a cloud in the sky. As we pulled up to the opera house though, Marc was back. Good old Marc! Still we managed to get a few photos in with as little cloud as possible.

Our room wasn’t ready so we put our stuff in to some storage area in the hostel and headed out for lunch. A very special lunch. A meal Soph had been pleading for since we left home. A jacket potato lunch. It was really nice. Filling and healthy. Although more expensive than a McDonald’s. The healthy stuff always is. After this we went over the other side of Darling Harbour to visit the last attraction from our all inclusive deal. The Sea Life centre.

As most people have, we’ve been to many a Sea Life. We’ve got enough fridge magnets and little penguin shaped rubbers to last us a lifetime. But actually we were very impressed with this one. Firstly because it was a lot bigger than we expected. And secondly because it had a ton of big sharks that you could get really close to. Probably the best of the attractions we did, apart from the sky walk of course.

As we left we decided it was time for a drink. We also knew we wanted to see the Opera House up close in day light. So why not combine the two. We took a walk down to the harbour on a slightly different road than usual. Still busy with cars but with barley any people. We were about half way towards the harbour when a bus pulled up in front of us. First we thought nothing of it but then we saw lots of cameras. Another look at the bus showed it had fully blacked out windows and the Cricket World Cup logo all over. I stopped us all immediately.

Further inspection brought the Sky Sports News crew to my attention. Surely this can’t be England. Surely out of all the places in the world we could be at that very moment, we couldn’t be standing right outside the hotel where the England cricket team were staying. And they were arriving right this second.

First a few woman got out. Then some old blokes. Then a fella with a beard….fella with beard? Isn’t that…oh and that’s Stuart Broard. IT IS ENGLAND! I couldn’t believe it. There we were. With the boys. Bloomin’ fantastic! It’s safe to say I was skipping with joy the rest of the way.

When we got down there we bumped into the Sky Sports boys again and started having a chat about our trip and their time in Australia and New Zealand for the world cup. They took some photos of us outside the opera house and the Harbour Bridge before we left them to it. They were due in tv in a few minutes. Very exciting.

The area was buzzing. Packed with people out and about enjoying their Friday night. The sun was shining, the tank was clean (Nemo reference) and we were on top of the world. We had a look around the Opera House, I even went for a wee inside. That childhood inquisitive instinct has never left me when it comes to seeing what the toilets look like in New places. It was a really nice evening chilling out with a drink in one of the best places we’ve ever been. Sydney we love you.

The next day we were back off to Bondi to meet the boys that we never thought we’d ever see again. As I said before, we just didn’t know how much we’d love the place. We grabbed ourselves some food to line the stomachs with and a bag of goon. Basically super cheap wine, probably made from the grapes of hell’s very own winery, served in a box. 5 letres of rose that could knock out a group of fully grown sperm whales should do the trick. The boys introduced us to a game called 3 Man which set us on our way to being fully intoxicated. We made it out for perhaps close to 30 seconds before the club’s doormen started kicking people out. When it’s closing time out here, it’s closing time. No pre-warnings. Just get out and stay out. Oh and get 50 yards away too.

It had been a good night none the less but little did we know the excitement had barley begun. On our slightly drunk walk back to the boys we spotted a young man asleep behind a parked van in the road. Being the gentleman I am I would have left him to his nap, allowing him the chance to wake up at his own pace, when he felt ready. But the group decided we should wake him up and ‘help‘ him find his way home. As he awoke he was clearly out of his face with something. He knew exactly where he was though and could have probably given correct geographical coordinates should we have needed him to. We didn’t.

We managed to flag down a taxi for him as he also seemed to know exactly where he lived, which was, as it turned out, nowhere near where he’d made his bed for the night. A rather interesting decision you must say. Once he’d got in the taxi and we waved him goodbye we set off again to get to our beds. We were just about to cross the road to get to the boys apartment when a rather familiar looking taxi pulled up. It was him again. This time we weren’t in such a helping mood. We crossed and turned the corner, went up a couple flights of stairs, turned another corner, went down another flight of stairs before finally going inside.

First things first we ran upstairs to see Scott who had been unable to get into the club due to his perceived drunkenness. In simple terms, he was obviously smashed! We stayed upstairs for a good 10 maybe 15 minutes before me and one of the boys Mark, not to be mistaken for the annoying cloud Marc, went to get some fresh air on the balcony. Then a knock at the door. Being the closest to it, I looked straight at Mark to grab some clarification as to whether I should open his front door or not. As soon as I got this I unhooked the latch and slowly opened the door….to….matey!

Matey from the street had by some sort of miracle found his way to the boys place. And not only had he found it, he’d burst in and walked straight outside to a chair on the balcony. Who on EARTH was this mysterious character. Nobody knew. I shot upstairs to tell the rest if the team the news which then led to an immediate stampede from everyone down again to see if it was true. Nobody could believe their eyes. What was going on. I knew we should have left him sleeping.

All he could seem to say was that he was absolutely fine. Fine, yes. But your also in our house mate. What are you doing here? How did you get here? None of these questions seemed to have answers from our new friend but just a few more minutes he got up, walked out the door and left. Never to be seen again. Strange but ever so funny. I hope we see the guy again. Just so we can enlighten him on what actually happened. Something tells me he won’t remember.

The next day we washed off our hang over in the Bondi sea water while spending the day on the beach. It was an outrageously hot day that deserved our full attention. The next day would include a 14 hour bus journey up to Byron Bay. I’ll let you know how that went in our next update.

Thanks for following x

Holy moly! It has been a while hasn’t it. Too long. But you can now let out that huge sigh of relief, sit back, relax and enjoy. We’re back online.

So here goes. Since we last spoke we have been all over Sydney. Experiencing the city as well as the awesome beaches scattered along the coastline. We’ve done as much as we possibly could do in the miniscule amount of time available to us, and even though the weather hasn’t been too kind, we’ve still managed to really enjoy ourselves. Though the girls have probably moaned about the weather at least once an hour….every hour.

Being such a long time since I have managed to write about our time here it’s a little more difficult to remember exactly what we did in the order it necessarily happened. But I’ll do my best. If I remember rightly I left you with a picture of the three of us under the harbour bridge on our first night in the city. We walked down George Street that night after grabbing possibly the best steak I’ve ever had for dinner. I can’t put in to words how much I’ve missed a good, perfectly cooked piece of red meat. It was the perfect welcome to the city.

As we neared the end of street we could easily see the bridge over the top of the buildings. Then, as we turned the corner, the opera house. All lit up, reflecting on to the water of Sydney harbour. It was a bit of a surreal moment for all of us really. Something we’d seen in pictures and videos so often was now right in front of us. The bridge to our left, the opera house to our right. We were now standing in the exact spot I had visualised every day since we ever considered the idea of traveling the world. It simply refused to sink in that we were there. Anyone who has also stood on this spot will know a similar feeling I’m sure.

Soph was made aware before we left England that her aunt had once climbed the harbour bridge. She’d walked along the outside of its frame and stood on its tallest peak, staring down at the city below. Upon seeing it in real life, this immediately became a must do for the girls. But realistically we just couldn’t afford it. We’re sharing a speck of dust and glass of water for dinner each day, so justifying over $200 each was simply not feasible. Disappointed we took a walk to darling harbour to see how much it would be to visit the wildlife park and sea life centre located smack bang in the city centre. Very touristy of us.

While there we were all busting for a wee. I was of course in and out in no time at all. Obviously not forgetting to wash my hands. The girls however seem to spend a life time in the toilet. I don’t think I was aware of it before Courtney’s arrival, but since Soph has had a friend to powder her nose with they are in there for ages. I reckon they’re either having a full body and hair wash in there. Or perhaps female toilets are secretly portholes to the Narnia universe where they fight evil villains and lead the Narnians to victory before growing to an old age and coming back to continue their lives where they left off. I’m leaning towards the latter.

The point of all this was that this particular visit to Narnia did actually offer an opportunity for me to flick through some of the leaflets advertising things to do in Sydney. It also gave me enough time to learn Japanese and single handedly solve the meaning of life, but that’s not important for this blog. In one of these leaflets I came across a deal where we could not only visit the sea life centre, the wild life park and Maddam Tussuads. But also go right to the top of Sydney Tower. And all this for less than half the price of the bridge climb. Sold.

It was safe to say Maddam Tussauds wasn’t in anyway up to scratch when compared with the one in London, but it was a  laugh for sure.

The wild life park was also pretty small but definitely worth the visit. Kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils. The whole Aussie line up were there. And I must say, a very  brave Sophie faced not one but two of her worst fears.

But the highlight really was the Sydney Tower. We chose to go up around 7pm on Saturday night. That way we could see the city in daylight but still have to time to catch the Sun going down and the bright lights be switched on across Sydney. Turns out it was a superb choice. We turned up around half six and made our way through the check in area to the lifts. We all got in, shot to the top, waited for the doors to open and then let our mouths drop. We had a full 360° view of Sydney. The harbour bridge looked like nothing more than a tiny Lego replica. The opera house too.

Not only did our ticket include a trip to the viewing deck, it also had a sky walk for all three of us where we could go outside and walk around the tower amongst the elements. Probably unsurprisingly they were a lot more concerned with health and safety than the Malaysians when we took to the top of Kuala Lumpur’s tower. Instead of being able to roam freely around the tower we were hooked up to the side to stop us from jumping off. Not that I would be jumping off that thing in a million years. But I guess there are some crazy people out there (Soph) who would love to bungee off the side. One awesome difference with the Sydney Tower though was the glass floor. The glass floor that looked directly down on Martin’s Place. The location of the recent Sydney Siege that was all over the news in December. Together with our group was a guide who would talk us through everything we could see as well as take pictures of us up there. Annoyingly they wouldn’t allow us to take our cameras outside so the only pictures available were the ones he took. Which of course were so expensive to buy that we would of had to sell our souls to simply afford one. It was a shame, but when the girls looked at the photos after, there was something they hated about them anyway. Of course.

When we headed back inside the Sun was well and truly on its way down and the city was starting to light up. Unlike Melbourne where everybody is seemingly on a Sun down curfew, Sydney is a bit like Courtney on a weekend. It wakes up and gets out of bed no earlier than late afternoon. The city’s new lease of life was kicked off with a firework show on Darling Harbour. Something we had front row seats to from the top of Sydney Tower. A silent firework display happening below our feet. It really was something else.

That night also happened to be the night when Australia won the Asian Cup in extra time. Although soccer isn’t as popular down under as it is in Europe the pubs were packed to the rafters, and when they scored what turned out to be the winning goal the city went crazy. Almost as crazy as the Korean who ran out the pub in tears after watching his side lose.

Having spent a few days in the city, it was time to hit the beach. A short bus ride and a mini walk later we were standing outside a coffee shop looking down on to the famous Bondi beach. This was a huge ‘tick off the list’ moment for me and Soph. We have spent hours and hours sitting in front of the tv watching Dr Chris Brown fix up the sick animals of his town on Bondi Vet, as well as the lifeguard team on Bondi Rescue save the lives of those stupid enough to swim too far from the shore. But even without those programmes, Bondi is famous all over the world for simply being super nice.

So after chucking our bags down in a our new dorm room and waking up our new room mate (it was 2 pm), we headed straight to the beach. It was sunny. For a bit. But soon enough the clouds appeared and forced everyone back off the beach again. Turns out this became a theme for our time in Bondi. Just like it has for pretty much our entire time in Australia. Apart from Perth of course. Wow that was hot.

A few years back both Soph and Courtney worked down at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge with a lad called Scott Harlow. Scott decided one day that enough was enough and he was going to pack up his stuff and head off for an adventure similar to ours. But Scott got hooked on what we now know to be the Bondi bubble. So once he’d finished travelling the world he returned to Sydney, got himself a job, and settled down in Bondi. So, as I’m sure you’ll have guessed by now,  we went to see old Scotty to see what he’d been up to and get involved in our first East Coast BBQ.

It was a really good evening chatting about our trip and getting the boy’s stories about their adventures. Eating something a little more substantial than thin air was also fantastic. They even had a sea view from their balcony where we were all sitting. And with the big city only 15 minutes away by bus, you can quite easily see why people return to Bondi. Even if the weather isn’t at its best.

As we left Scott’s place they mentioned about a possible night out the following weekend. Seeing as it was only Sunday evening, the chance of us sticking around until then were slim to none. With so much more of Australia to see and so little time to see it in, we really couldn’t be staying for that long in one place. But this was only our first day in Bondi. We had no idea how much we’d love it there.

The following day we attempted another beach session. We got our towels and all that ready and headed down to what was a very quiet Monday beach. We wondered perhaps for 2 minutes as to why it was so empty, when we were whipped in the face with an almighty sand storm. We tried to hold out, but with our faces now feeling like they’d been stabbed by a thousand armed smurfs, we had to retreat to the grass area. Which was actually quite busy. They were probably all laughing at us as we wandered confidently down to the beach. “Suckers”.

As usual I disappeared for a little walk while the girls soaked up the Sun. Only on my return they had decided to wrap up in as many layers as they possibly could. These girls are so sensitive to the cold they could sense a fridge opening from 10 miles away. I thought it was just a Soph thing as she used to take her cardigan with her during the day in Bangkok. But it seems Courtney is just as sensitive. Maybe it’s a girl thing. I, as well as the rest of Bondi, was still walking around sweating one out. For their sake, I hope New Zealand is having some sort if freak heat wave.

The next day we headed to Bondi Juntion. The sort of town centre and shopping district for Bondi. But for once we weren’t there to do any shopping. We were going to tick off the number one must do item on our traveling list. We were going to have our picture taken outside the vets. The Bondi Vets. Of course this would mean diddily squot to most people. In fact almost everyone. But for someone who’s girl friend loves animals so much they could burst and who’s mother does her best to hoard them, this was actually a significant moment. We ran up the steps to the door and had our photo outside as discreetly as possible. Although this was cool for us, it was probably super lame for anyone who actually caught us doing it. But we were spotted. Just as we took the last pic a lady pulled up in her car and smiled at us.

Rumbled.

We quickly turned, took one last look at the place, and took off. But just as we did the woman in the car shouted; “have you been inside yet?”.

Have we been inside yet? Was this even an option. Thinking fast I quickly looked around for the nearest pet cat that I could injure in order to have an excuse to actually go inside. But quickly it became clear that this plan was not necessary. The woman told us that we could by all means go inside and take a look. We needed no second thoughts. We jumped straight inside where we met a lady on reception. She told us that Chris Brown was away, which we knew, but that we could see his office and take a look around. We couldn’t believe our luck. We were introduced to Neil from the show and had a quick chat with him before getting our photo taken and then heading out again. Something that doesn’t mean much, if anything at all to most people, but was really great for Soph and I.

The sun was finally shining as we got back to Bondi beach. We had been told by a few people about a walk along the coast line from Bondi all the way to Coogee. It was going to take 2 hours to do, but with the Sun shining and it being our last day in Bondi, we thought we had to see what all the fuss was about. So we grabbed some water and headed off for an epic journey along the coast.

Sure it was long, exhausting stuff, but it was well worth it. We came across some stunning beaches and scenery that we just wouldn’t have known about without getting stuck in to the walk. By the end we were all struggling to put one foot in front of the other, but we had made it. Oh and if nothing else, the walk offered us the opportunity to capture something on camera that has never been seen before. Never thought to possibly ever happen….

I….Christopher David Eric Ells…have put on weight.

See…I’m verging on morbidly obese in this picture. And I’m not even eating. What’s going on man!

I think that’s probably a good place to take a break. Part two of our Sydney adventure to come up later.

Thanks for following x