Sydney to Melbourne via Canberra
Hello all,
When I left you last I was still in Sydney and had all my forms completed to get my new passport. All I had to do was drop them off and be on my way. Well as most of you now when government is involved it is just not that easy. I took my forms to the consulate the next day and they were all done properly but they would not accept my birth certificate. I did not know a birth certificate can be invalid but it was my original and it means nothing at all. So now I had to get a new birth certificate. I got online with the Alberta government and filled in a form for them, they were really nice and understood my problem and processed it really fast. I then had them send the new BC to my Aunt Audrey in Calgary. My Aunt then had to take the BC to the passport office in Calgary and show it to them and then the passport office had to send a copy of it to Sydney. The whole process took about 5 days to complete which was pretty quick since it was also over a weekend. Thanks to Audrey for doing all the work on the Calgary end, I owe you!!! I talked with the Sydney office and asked if I needed to stay in Sydney while this process was going on and they said that I should be able to continue on my travels. I then made plans to go to Bondi Beach for the weekend and some fun and sun. I went back to the hostel in the late afternoon after getting everything sorted and sat back and had a drink. I made some supper while chatting with a few other backpackers and we all chatted for most of the evening. We had the pleasure of having an American girl that was part of our chat and she had some interesting opinions. She had been at the hostel the entire time I was there but I had not talked to her at this point. I was talking with Tyler (dorm mate) and he said that she is very tiring to listen to. Me being me decided to have some fun with her and so what ever her opinion was i took the opposite side and we had some interesting debates. It didn’t really matter what the topic was she just was not used to someone challenging her opinions. Tyler knew exactly what I was doing and laughed a ton. She was getting very mad at me and all I would do was just smile and stick with my side, even if it did not make a lot of sense. Tyler let a few of the others in on what I was doing and next thing you know it was everyone against the American. We laughed a lot at her expense but everyone we all had fun with it. Once she figured out what I was doing she just gave up and went to bed. The group said that it was the best night they had since she had arrived. We sat up and had drinks until about 1am, I took it easy and only had a couple but made more friends.
The next day I was up and checked out for 10am and then drove to Bondi Beach. It is not very fat but I had to go through the center of the city so it ended up taking about 1 hour. I checked into a place called “Beached at Bondi” which was above a bar close to the beach. It had very small kitchen and no lounge room but the room was clean and fairly cheap. I was in an 8 bed dorm and it was full of a bunch of friends from England, Scotland and Wales. I expected this group to be a big party group but they were all pretty quiet and did not do much. In the afternoon I walked to the beach and then went on what they call the Coastal Walk. The walk goes from Bondi to Coogee. I am not sure how long the walk is but it took about 3 hours return. I walked along the cliff side above the beach for most of the walk. It was a fantastic walk with some great sites and a lot less people than at Bondi. It even goes through the middle of a huge cemetery which was a bit freaky. I got back to the hostel just before dark and sat back for a bit then went out for Pizza. After supper I relaxed back at the hostel for the evening chatting with the dorm mates.
I slept in the next morning and then went to the beach. I spent most of the day at the beach getting some sun, reading and walking. It was a very relaxing day and I enjoyed every minute of it, sometimes you just have to waste a day away. I headed back to the hostel in the late afternoon and listened to some music and tried playing my harmonica. I have lots to learn and spent a lot of time looking at the lessons I copied off the internet. It is going to be fun learning how to play properly. After supper I had a great chat with Esther and then prepped to head off the next day.
In the morning i was still not sure where I was going to go. Almost everyone I talked to said that going to Canberra was a waste of time but I just can’t see going to Australia and not seeing the capital. Not that I am a big fan of government I decided that I wanted to go anyway and see why everyone says that there is nothing to see. The drive is about 2-3 hours long so it is not far out of the way to go see. I got in the car and drove from Bondi toward the city and ran into a huge Sunday traffic jam. They were running the Sydney Marathon that day and a lot of big roads were closed down for the run. I took about 2 hours to get out of the city and turned my drive into a 5 hour experience. I was okay with it because I just looked at how mad the other drivers were getting and it made me laugh so much. I had one guy pull out from behind me and go in the wrong lane to try to move ahead of us, he ended up stopping all the traffic coming in the other direction which made them mad and then when the police officer came around to find out what was going on he made the guy pull off to the side of the road and started writing the guy a ticket. It was so slow that I got to see the whole thing and just laughed. I do have a lot more patience now than when I was at home. The drive itself was not much and not a lot to see. Once I got into Canberra I headed into the CBD and see what was there. It was Sunday so there were a lot of shops closed but it was like most other downtown areas, with lots of big buildings. You have to pay for parking in the whole area and it was quite expensive so I did not stay to long. I still needed a hostel and when I started to call everything was full. I got onto the internet to see if I could book something that way but I found nothing. I then drove out to a neighborhood called Waden Valley and found a place to settle for the night. It was close to a Macdonalds so I went on the internet for a while and then back to the car and set up for sleeping in the back seat again.
I had the best sleep that I have had sleeping in my car, not great but I felt rested. I got up and brushed my teeth and changed into some nicer clothes for the day. I then drove to Capitol Hill to check out the Parliament buildings and area. I was expecting it to be difficult to find parking but they have a huge underground park lot for tourists and it was free. The parliament is built into a hill and the top of it is actually a lawn that you can go on. I did my own tour around the building and saw the Senate, House of Representatives and the rest of the building. It looked like most other english parliamentary rooms and not that exciting. The view from the lawn on top of the building was really good but parts of it were closed off which took away from the view. After looking at the main building I went for a walk. I walked along Parliament Way and saw the Rose Gardens (no roses this time of year), the Old Parliament Building, Treasury, and National Library. It took a few hours to see it all and not all that exciting either. I was starting to see why everyone was saying that there was not that much to see here. My last stop before leaving for the day was the war musuem. This was definately the highlight of Canberra and an amazing place. I have seen all the other city war memorials and this was by far the best. The ultimate highlight was the tomb of the unknown soldier. I took a picture outside of the tomb but did not take any inside. I do not have the words to describe it but to say it was incredible. It ended up being a very emotional place for me and I spent quite a bit of time there. There was a speech that was on the wall from John Keating the Australian Prime Minister in 1993 that he gave on Nov. 11th. I am not much of a war person but reading this speech I had tears in my eyes and think that we should all take more time to thank our war heroes for what they do to keep us all safe. I go onto the internet almost everyday and it is way to often that I see Canadian Soldiers are killed keeping us safe. I think if you have time to read my blog then you have time to read this speech and think of those serving our country, even if it not Nov. 11th.
Here is the link: http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/keating.asp
After the war memorial I walked back to my car and headed out of Canberra. There were no hostels beds available again so I wanted to make it to the next town before dark.
I made it back to the coast and a town called Batemans Bay. The only hostel in the area was a YHA so I checked into there. I figured it would be pretty full but I was the only one there. Later on a few girls checked in but went straight to bed. I went to the Macdonalds down the street for the free internet. I was able to catch up on emails and a little on facebook. I also had another great chat with Esther.
I was on the road at about 10am the next morning, it was a very strange morning for me, the wind was very strong and it was very dusty out. You could not even see across the bay. It made for my mind to be a bit muddled and was thinking of crazy things, I won’t go into details but I laughed at myself afterwards. I made my was north to a place called Pebbly Beach where I saw a bunch of kangaroos hanging out on the beach. It was a pretty cool site and lots of fun to just hang out for a while and watch them. I was thinking they would not be around because of the wind, but sure enough they were there doing there thing. From there I drove back to Batemans Bay and continued south along the coast to a town called Bermagui. I found a great spot to stop and watch whales. I made myself some lunch and sat there for about an hourand saw lots of whales on their migration south. I talked with a local that was watching as well and he told me about another spot just down the road that was good as well. After he left I just relaxed for a bit and took it all in and then went to the spot he suggested called the Blue Pools. It was very nice there as well but there were more tourists there. I hoped back in the car and continued down the coast to Ben Boyd National Park. There are lots of parts to this park but I was told the best was a place called the Pinnacles so that is where I went. I had a 1km hike to get there and it was totally worth it. It was incredible to see this cliff face, red on the top and white on the bottom and then going straight into the ocean. So many awesome colors all in one view, MEJ!!! I stayed there for about an our reflecting on the day. My head was so muddled earlier and now everything was so clear in my head and the weather, it was a great feeling. I then drove to a town called Eden and stopped at the Visitor center to see if there was any accomodation in the town but it was closed. There was a nice couple walking by and they told me about a bar just down the street that had rooms above it. I went to the bar and a single room with its own bathroom was only $20. I was so surprised and did not expect much but it was a really nice room. I went down the street and had a $10 pizza for supper and then chilled for the rest of the evening. I could hear the wind pick up during the evening but was not to bothered by it. Maybe I should have been because it was the dust storm of the century. I am sure you have all seen the pictures all over the internet in Sydney when it got covered with red dust, while this was the same storm and it hit Eden at night. When I went out to my car in the morning it was no longer silver, now it was red!!! I did my best to wipe some of the dust from the windows so i could see out and made my way for a service station to clean them off. I asked where a car wash was and the guy said not to bother the there was more to come. I cleaned the windows and on my way out of town I saw an auto parts store that I stopped at. I needed a screw for my licence plate on the back of the car, which currently was held on with tape and something to fix a guard under the front bumper that was coming off. It was a very small store but the lady running was awesome and I was able to fix both problems very easily, it is amazing what a hammer can do!!!
Today the goal was to get to Melbourne and get a hostel in the St. Kilda area. It was only a 2 hour drive and I was at the hostel and settled in by lunch time. I got into a place called Habitat HQ and it is an awesome hostel. It is really clean with excellent facilities and lots of fun stuff to do. I booked an 8 bed dorm for $21 a night and went up to my room. I met 3 of my new dorm mates right away, a couple from England (Matt & Emma) and a French guy (Roman). I relaxed for most of the rest of the afternoon with a stop at the grocery store to get some supplies. That evening they had a pub crawl planned for the St. Kilda area and I thought why not. I met some great people on the pub crawl (mostly Germans) and we had a great night. The girl who co-ordinates all of the stuff took us on the tour to pubs in the area and had a bunch of free drinks for us as well. I spent most of the night with Sabrina, Julia, Antonia and Stephan but there were others with us as well. We heard some great live music and got back to the hostel at about 2am. I ended up having a great chat with Esther when I got back, no I was not drunk, I only had about 4 drinks all night. It as a great way to start my time in Melbourne again and met some great people.
There were a few reasons I wanted to get back to Melbourne, not in any particular order: sell car, grand final of the AFL season, see Mona and Susanna again. Now that I am here I just wanted to take some time to chill as well. On Friday I talked with Mona and we made plans to meet at the Victoria markets later that day. We met up in the afternoon and walked around the market. I bought some fresh fruit and veg and they bought some souveniers for family and friends. We then went for a coffee and made plans to meet up the next day for the AFL grand final. I took the tram back to the hostel and chilled with my new friends for most of the evening. I did not drink much because the next day was going to be a big outing.
Saturday Sept 26th – Grand Final day for Aussie rules football. I really like the game and we have a big group going out to watch. Totally impossible to get tickets to the game but we will go to a pub. The 2 teams playing are Geelong (about 1/2 away from Melbourne) and St.Kilda (yes, the Melbourne suburb that I am staying in). Most of us are cheering for St. Kilda and we head off to a pub in the area. It kinda reminds me of NHL playoff time and everybody is pretty excited. The game is at 2pm and the hostel has a group going a 1pm but I think that is to late so we have a plan to leave at 12 noon and make sure we get a table. We have our first drink at 11am to prepare for the day, it was almost like a breakfast drink!!! A group of 10 of us head out for the pub and when we get there, I expected it to be full but we were the only ones there. We got the best set of tables in the place and had perfect place to watch the game. Over the next 2 hours the place filled up and it was an awesome atmosphere. They had drink specials and free meat pies, what more could some one want. I had the group playing Bonanza and having fun. Mona and Susanna also showed up and all my new friends from the hostel were there. MEJ!!! It was a great game and very close, tied at half time and tied with 3 minutes in the 4 th quarter. Geelong scored 2 quick goals and ended up winning, kind of a bummer but we were having so much fun it did not really matter. The locals were not happy and ended up leaving pretty quickly but most of us hung around for a while. If St. Kilda would have won there would have been a big party on the street but with the loss there was no party. Not like at home where we party anyway. We headed back to the hostel and had some supper but most of us were still in the party mood. We decided to go to a bar that we never made it to on the pub crawl. We hung out there until about midnight and then we were all getting pretty tired from our 11am start. We headed back to the hostel and went to bed. What a great day, completely MEJ!!!!!
It was a very slow start to Sunday and did not get anything accomplished in the morning. I went to McD’s for some free internet in the afternoon and then had a chat with Matt and Emma who said they might be interested in my car. They took a quick look at it and then we all relaxed for the evening and did very little. We did play some more Bonanza but most of the time we just chatted. I also had another great chat with Esther but everyone was in bed early.
Monday morning and my plan is to start working on selling my car. I get up at 8am and have breakfast and get ready for the day. I took a walk to the St. Kilda library to use their free internet but it is really bad and end up coming back to the hostel. I made up a flyer for my car so that I can post it at all the different hostels around Melbourne. I contacted Norman (the man that helped me buy the car) and talked with him about selling it. The was used up quickly and next thing I knew it was 5pm, where did the day go? I chilled out for a bit then cooked supper and then the group of us chilled and again.
Tuesday morning and I got a call from Norman that I can bring the car down to get the road worthy test done. I get ready to go and Matt lets me know that they would like to come along and see how the car checks out. Now that I know they are really interested I agree even though I would have liked to get this done with no one there. We head down to the shop and leave the car there at about 11am. It takes the rest of the day and we picked the car up at 5pm. everything checked out very well, I had to replace a bulb in one brake light and had to get the brakes machined and new pads, also a couple of minor other things. All total it cost me $300 to get the road worthy and everything fixed. I let Matt drive the car back to the hostel so that he knew how it feels, but I know they are really interested in buying. We got back to the hostel and I went to the kitchen and away from Matt and Emma and let them think, they know that I will not go below $3500 for the car and was asking $4000. After about an hour they came to me and offered me $3500 for the car and I agreed. If you remember I paid $2500 for it and then bought all the camp gear and had to fix some stuff along the way. In total I put $4000 into the car and gear and now I am getting$3500 out of it. I am very happy with that. To think that I traveled around Oz for $500 is awesome. If I was to rent a vehicle it would have cost about $7500 and if I used a bus pass it would have been $2200 and not stop at 1/2 the places I went. MEJ!!! We had a celebration drink and chilled together for the evening.
The only bad thing about selling the car is that now I have nothing to do while I wait for my passport to get here, but I am sure I will find things to do. There are 2 things that are taking up a lot of my time right now, 1. I am trying to learn how to play the harmonica and 2. I am learning how to speak, read and write German. German is a language I always wanted to learn but never did it when I was young. I remember Dad and my Grandparents always talking in German. I would love to have a conversation with dad in German, that would be MEJ. And yes, Esther also speaks German and it would be nice to communicate in her language as well.
On Wednesday I went into the CBD and Federation Square for free internet and got onto a skype call with all the boys from the hockey pool I was in back in Calgary. It was really cool to listen in with the guys and pick on a few of them along the way. i must have been on for over an hour and it was lots of fun. I walked back to St. Kilda from the CBD, not sure how far it is but it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. The rest of the evening we chilled out and played more Bonanza and just had fun together. Sabrina has become like a little sister to me and we are having a fun time together. It is so nice having great people around so that I don’t miss those at home to much.
Thursday I went back into the CBD and had a skype conversation with Tara (work friend from McCormick days). It was great catching up with her and everything that is going on at McCormick. It sounds like a crazy place now and glad I moved on from there long ago. Over the past week I have also had chat with John (partner at Access) and everything is going great for him and the company. Back at the hostel for the evening, Mat and Emma as well as Sabrina are leaving tomorrow so we all go out for supper. We went to a burger joint down the road and all pigged out. From there we went to the Base bar for ladies night were the girls got free champagne and OJ for 2 hours, then we went to listen to some live music. It was the same place we went for the pub crawl last week but totally different music this time. It was 2 heavy metal bands and one was okay but the other was complete shit. I think I could have done better and I have not played in a long time. They even had groupies that were going crazy for the shit they were playing. It was great to do some people watching and damn they were funny. One girl was so drunk that she got up and just hit this guy in theface for no reason, he was standing right beside me, thank god she didn’t hit me. She got kicked out then tried to sneak back in from behind the stage, it was so funny seeing this girl crawling from behind the band, she got caught and taken back out. There were at least 3-4 guys hitting on Sabrina and that was hilarious. One guy kept on buying her drinks and when he started to get to touchy she just came over to me. He was totally devistated when she left with us and not him. To other guys both drunk kept on trying to talk with her and it was so funny to watch. My little sister has a boyfriend in Germany and she was coming home with us, she just laughed at them (MEJ).
Friday was a complete write off and I did pretty much nothing. Esther is helping me with my German lessons and sending me homework to do. So far I have learned the numbers to 1000 and how to tell time. I am now learning new words that you would use in the kitchen. I am trying to form sentences but it is very difficult. Sabrina is also helping so that i am pronouncing the words right. She giggles a lot so I am guessing that I am not that good yet. It is a great time to be learning this as there will not be much to do until i get my passport and it is great to be learning!!! Thanks to Esther, Sabrina and everyone else that is helping me.
So what is the plan from here you ask? Well I will stay in St. Kilda and wait for my passport to show up. My camera that mom and dad sent has made it to Matts house and I also have to wait for something that Esther is sending me. I do not know what it is and just have to wait until it gets here. When everything is here then I will fly to Perth on the West Coast and travel from Perth up to Darwin. This is the only part of Australia that I have not seen. I think it should take about 3 weeks to month to see it all and then from Darwin I will be heading into South East Asia. I was thinking of going to Bali but I will have to see how things are there after the Sunami that just went through there over the last few days, maybe they could use my help??? That is still to far away at this point but looking forward to getting on the road again.
Another blog will be coming in the next few days as I approach Oct 7th and 1 year on the road. I am putting together Steve’s Top Ten list for everyone. It is a lot of info and taking a lot of time but that is what I have lots of right now!!!
For all those wondering how things are with Esther, well things are great (MEJ). We are still texting each other everyday and we chat online a few times a week. She sends me such great messages!!! She is really busy right now with school and working at her uncles restaurant but we always have time to talk. Her brother got mugged in South Africa so that is a bit scary but all is well. She is a great teacher and her stories from school are crazy. I am glad she is teaching me German!!!
Till next time or in German (Bis bald)
Everyone take care,
Steve
PS: On my last blog I said my dads birthday was on the 3rd of October, but it is the 4th, I knew that just typed it wrong. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Have a great day!!!!
Tags: Australia
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