I remember when I first landed in Melbourne and was shocked by the amount of people and the heat. Turns out it was an abnormally hot day. But still, I encountered people and heat in varying degrees (no pun) on my journey down under.
The cities were big and spread out and had distinct subsections of culture.
I learned what it was like to live either barefoot or in thongs (flip flops). I learned the capital wasn’t Sydney. I learned that there were many breathtaking sunrises and sunsets to be seen.
Initially, I had concerns about all of the dangerous wildlife. Thankfully, I was never stung, bitten or clawed by any of those animals. I never even saw a snake in the wild. Did I? I don’t think so. I did see a few spiders and jellyfish, but nothing that threatened immediate harm.
At first, I had a hard time finding my rhythm. It’s difficult to pinpoint why. It’s not like I had to make a major adjustment or anything. Regardless, I don’t think I really settled in until I was almost a month into my time in Australia. That’s when I understood what was on offer. Traveling up the east coast was mainly about enjoying the beaches and water.
Indian Head Views
I was adopted into a large friend group of ex-pats in Sydney. They were welcoming and generous and gave me a sense of community. It was a kind of security blanket to fall back on if I ever needed it.
Speaking of people, my two marquee experiences were on tour groups. Actually, the main difference between having an awesome time in Australia vs. New Zealand came down to people. In NZ, I had plenty of fun just walking in nature. In Oz, fast friendships made the biggest impact. An interpersonal connection can easily add more value to an adventure. Since I consider myself a low-key extrovert, bonding with a few different groups of people really elevated whatever I was doing. I was fortunate enough to enjoy this on a few occasions.
There will always be something drawing me back to Australia. Part of it will be to visit the central and western areas of the country. The other part…I’m not exactly sure. To sky dive? Maybe. Either that, the crystal blue water or the gorgeous women.
It’s certainly not Vegemite.
“Awe, yeah?” “Yeah, right.”
By the Numbers
Days in Australia: 56 Days at Workaways: 16 Nights in Hostels: 31 Multi-day Tours: 2 Hours in Transit (Bus or Train): ~60 AUD Spent: ~$4,342.18 USD Spent: ~$3,192.78 (Avg conversion rate of roughly 1.36)
For those interested in visiting one day, here’s a list of where I went and how I ranked stuff: (click the top left button of the map to expand the list view)
Favorite Places: 1. Fraser Island 2. Melbourne 3. Whitsundays 4. Byron Bay 5. Brisbane
I arrived in Gosford after an uneventful train ride and met my host, Peter, in the parking lot.
Rainbow After Hail Storm
He gave me a lift to his place which was about a 20 minute drive. Insane property and house. Basically a mansion. It was 3 levels and I’m not even sure how many bedrooms. This was the first Workaway I’d done with fellow Workawayers and we all had our own rooms if that says anything.
There was also an indoor and outdoor pool. Huge bonus.
José (18yo Mexican), Leena (20yo German), and Luca (21yo French) had all been there for a few days already and were doing garden work starting at 7am. I, on the other hand, would be working inside helping Peter make some videos for his personal development business. He was looking to gain more of a following on social media as well as drum up interest for his year-long 2019 program.
It was back in saddle for me. Did I remember how to make a video out of nothing? I was working with very little creative direction and assets. That was the norm for the job I left back in the States. It was an experiment to see if I could still apply myself and harness the old creative problem solving skills.
We started by having a conversation about exactly what he was looking for and how he viewed his business. I had to some of his insight in order to utilize it in the vids. Plus I had to bone up on the whole personal development scene. I didn’t know any of the intricacies.
After diving into some YouTube clips and digesting the info session, we began the production phase. He had a daily series of videos called “For Pete’s Sake” where he discussed a particular topic a person could address to make an easy change in their lives. Sometimes he would take on a more controversial subject to get a rise out of people. His stance on the “traditional Christmas” that people celebrate was unique and hilarious. Likely offensive for the average person as well.
We started small by making a simple one and getting the look down. Once that was dialed in we cranked out a few more so the rest of the week was stocked up. Then I began to tackle the promo/teaser for his Odyssey program. That was the big boy because it was supposed to be intriguing, enticing and inspirational. And we had almost no footage of past success stories or anything.
Over the course of the week, I fell into my old pattern of spending way too much time on something to make it perfect. I overworked the hell out of this joint. I completed the requisite amount of Workaway hours in like 2 days. I even edited another video for him on the train after I left. Needless to say, I have a weird relationship with video editing. It’s an awesome exercise in creativity but probably an unhealthy level of commitment.
Outside of all the time I spent staring at my computer and pressing buttons, it was a fun time. Peter and Mel were both interesting people who were very accommodating.
The group went on a field trip out to this park with the promise of being able to see and pet wild kangaroos. When we got there, there was a lady who’d blocked off access because she was their “caretaker” and thought they were being mistreated by the public who was visiting them. The thing was, it was at the entrance of a mental hospital, so we weren’t sure if she was legit or just a random patient. It was a really strange and unlucky situation. We took a brief walk in the bush and ended up seeing a ton hop off from afar. I really wanted to see a buff ass, gym rat ‘roo but I’d have to save that for another day.
That was the most socializing the group did. Dinners were usually pretty quiet and they all went to bed early since they were waking up to work.
Everybody left on the Friday before Christmas. I had a different arrangement since the editing was working out. Peter and Mel were comfortable letting me stay for a party they had planned.
They hosted a few of their friends and kids for a day and night. It ended up getting pretty wild because they were crushing beer and wine like water. There was beer pong (undefeated) with some random streaking, a gift exchange with some scandalous presents and a late night swim and hot tub sitch. All good fun. Super nice of them to let a relative stranger take part in that.
I waited too long to book my transportation to the next place so I ended up staying on Christmas Eve and helping with more videos. They were also totally cool giving me a lift to the train station on Christmas morning.
I spent almost all of Christmas Day in transit. It was a gnarly 10 hour train ride followed by an hour+ bus to Byron Bay.
The only interesting thing about the train ride was that two super drunk dudes rode it for like 4 hours before getting kicked off because they didn’t have tickets. They were hammered at 10am when they boarded too, so it was mildly impressive.
I was told how nice Byron Bay was from a few different travelers. The added bonus was that Stephany and her friends were there too. That was a partially motivating factor to go there in case any holiday loneliness set in.
I woke up at the ass crack on Boxing Day and took a 40 minute walk up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse to see the sunrise. I think it might be the most eastern point in Australia? At least in Byron Bay. It was a pretty solid morning. I also got to video chat with some of the fam as they were opening gifts.
Cape Byron Sunrise #1
The main draw to Byron Bay is all of the beautiful beaches. I was determined to darken my shade of whiteness so I hit the sand in the afternoon (Main Beach). The trick was to not get burnt. And that was actually quite difficult because the UV index was continually at a high of like 14 – “extreme risk.” I used an extreme amount of sunscreen so I was safe after day one.
On day two, I met up with the crew at a different beach (The Pass) and chilled out. The water was insanely blue and refreshing. Beaches, man. They’re pretty awesome apart from the sand. I’m not the only one that thinks it’s a nuisance, right?
We all got cleaned up at our various places after getting our fill of sun and reconvened at the girls’ AirBnB for dinner. They went HAAM on buying food when they first arrived so it was one of those meals with a collection of miscellaneous sides that was awesome. There was promise of going to a brewery after but everybody bailed from sun fatigue.
I went back to the hostel and met up with one of my roommates. Philip was from Sweden and he was hanging out with a few guys who lived in the Netherlands. We all went out to a bar that had live music for a beer. It turned into several.
We changed venues to a place called Woody’s, a pseudo-club. One of the dudes was the most friendly drunk ever. Pretty sure he introduced himself to everybody in the establishment. Toward the end of the night he was going around and collecting half-empty drinks. Bold move. He has herpes now but he saved a decent amount on alcohol. Worthwhile trade off?
In the morning, I met the group at their spot again. We had a pretty solid breakfast and then went to yet another beach (Little Wategos). It was a somewhat secluded spot that also had a nice shady area for me to take refuge in after I felt the burn coming on. The sun variety, not the herp. I didn’t share any of the foraged drinks.
The Pass Beach
Surfers Going In
Little Wategos
It was everybody’s last night in Byron, so we planned to go to the brewery for real and then go from there. After a sunset beverage, they called an audible. I couldn’t take a two-day brewery tease with no payoff so I split from them and agreed to meet up later. I rendezvoused with Philip and we started walking.
We were almost there when some people heading the opposite direction told us they were at capacity and not letting anybody else in. Dammit.
We ended up going to a converted railway station. It was a super popular spot with a large outdoor area. They also had music on and the band was crushing it. They did pretty exceptional covers of Bohemian Rhapsody and Hey Jude.
Once the band was done, we met everyone at a bar called the Sticky Wicket where there was also live music. It was all relatively well behaved until things moved upstairs to the dance floor. The night seemed to end in a quick blur from there. We closed the place down and I said a brief and segmented goodbye to all of the lovely people I’d hung out with there and in Sydney. Then I went back and got terrible sleep in my sauna of a dorm room.
In the morning. I repacked my bag and hopped on a shuttle bounds for Surfers Paradise. This is where I would spend New Year’s Eve.
Even though the trip to Blue Mountains was a long and draining day, I was up at 6:30am the following morning. Not just because the heat and city noise in my room was next level, but because I was headed to watch a soccer game.
Tottenham were playing an important Champions League match away to Barcelona and the 7am kickoff time was manageable. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to watch it with the local supporters group. And my hostel’s internet was dog shit so I wouldn’t be able to stream it or pull up a replay later.
The Sydney OzSpurs met at a hotel (bar) in walking distance, so that was convenient. There was a turnout of probably 25 people. There were having projection issues for the first 5-10 minutes so a few people had pulled it up on their phones.
It got sorted out and we all watched anxiously as it took to the 85th minute for our boys to draw level and get the result they needed to advance to the next stage of the competition. It was actually a super fun moment when we scored. The place went nuts and I pumped my fist so hard my bracelet flew off (it was later found). That meant everybody was leaving happy, to start their days at 9am.
I bumbled around town for a little bit. Nabbed some internet from a cafe and had a small bite to eat. I went back to the hostel around noon and ended up taking a critical 4 hour nap. It felt like work to rouse myself from the dead.
Once I was alive again, I went to check out the architecture of the Queen Victoria Building and The Strand Arcade. Both were nice looking indoor malls.
Then I walked down to the Circular Quay to scope the Opera House at night. I had a good time finding different setups and learning some new capabilities of my camera.
In the morning, I checked out of my hostel and transferred all of my stuff to Stephany’s place in Bondi. Maria returned home, so Steph was nice enough to let me crash on the couch.
After a lazy afternoon, we caught a bus down to the beach and she showed me some cool spots. We hopped on some rocks to a lookout called Ben Buckler, then walked North Bondi to Dudley Page Reserve, which had a great view of downtown Sydney.
Our intention was to watch the sunset there. Instead, we were watching a gnarly lightning storm over the skyline. Some guy set up a full news-style camera next to us. That should’ve been a hint. It seemed like the clouds were moving closer to us, but not at an alarming rate. I had just stopped filming myself when lightning struck incredibly close to us. I could feel a small electric pulse from my camera. The dude next to us “beat feet like a fuckin track star.”
It was for sure the closest I’ve been to being struck by lighting. We immediately headed for the bus and hoped it would be there before the downpour came.
Lightning Strikes at Dudley Page #1
Thankfully, we were still dry when we got scooped up. By the time we got dropped off, though, the rain was comin on down. We had to wait under an awning for 10 minutes before it was tolerable enough to brave. Even then, we had to wade through an ankle deep river in the street.
This started a trend of intense evening rain after getting off the bus.
The next morning, Steph and I put on our walking shoes. We were set to do a coastal walk from Watson’s Bay back to Bondi with a few detours here and there.
Diamond Bay Reserve Gateway
It was a warm day. We were getting some good views and an obvious sweat on. A few kms in, we reached a sweet bluff and cove called Diamond Bay Reserve. She took me down a pseudo-secret path that led to this gateway to death.
I took out the drone and was getting some tasty footage. I was starting to get good at 3 part simultaneous movement.
Then I crashed it on some rocks close to the water. Oops.
We followed its position on the map and Stephany spotted the lights. It was in a dangerously inviting spot. There was a few ropes and a ladder that sort of led down to where it was. But it was way too unsafe to venture down there without a harness or any sort of safety equipment. Stephany was game to climb, but I didn’t feel good about that optjon. As much as I wanted it back, even if it was damaged, it was too risky.
I hopped on a few Sydney forums to see if I could get in contact with somebody that had done the climb before without any luck. We had to leave it behind. Brutal. A very costly mistake. So many thoughts in hindsight.
An hour later when we got off the bus near her apartment, it started raining heavily yet again. That along with waves crashing on the rocks would’ve claimed the electronics anyway. Still sucks. A repair is cheaper than a full re-buy. Also, the sweet footage.
But that was that. The only way to make it better was to have a beer.
The solution to that was Marta’s office Christmas party. Coincidentally it was in a WeWork space, which is the company my brother works for.
The event was catered and there was booze galore. Draft beer FTW.
All of Stephany’s friends from the pool party were there. I also met a few other people throughout the evening. Potentially the most miraculous thing is that I lost at tic tac toe like 3 times. Not even sure how that happens. There was some rough karaoke to take my mind off of it.
Once it wound down, the group went to a place called Retro where there was dancing. I saw the real-life version of that Dane Cook joke about girls putting their purses in the middle of the floor and dancing around them.
After coming out of the bathroom, I got approached by a random dude. He was trying to sell me hard on photographing his friend’s wedding on some island in a few months. I kept trying to tell him I was amateur at best and couldn’t even figure out how he knew I had a camera to begin with.
Eventually, it came time to eat a late night kebab and catch a bus back.
The next day Stephany was working a concert. I went back to the scene of the crime to see if 1) drone baby had been swept into the sea or 2) people were out for their Saturday afternoon climb and could help a brother out. The answer was ‘no’ to both scenarios. Still didn’t have a solution of how to get it back so I said a fond farewell.
Apart from arranging my next Workaway, that was pretty much my entire day. Cool.
On Sunday, we hung out for a little bit by the pool. Then we went to another person’s place to have a few bevs and snacks on the way to see “Christmas Carols” on Coogee Beach. Unexpectedly, it was a full on concert with a ton of different acts and a million people. They did have a pretty good firework show at the end before everyone dispersed.
Since it was my last night, Steph busted out some solid Japanese whisky and we debriefed on my time in Sydney.
Her hospitality and guidance around the city was an obvious highlight. The lowlight was clear. Tried not to dwell on it. We had a nice chat and then I repacked my bag as is necessary every few days.
I got up the next morning to catch several modes of public transportation up to the Central Coast.
Sydney is not the capitol of Australia FYI. From what I heard, the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney led to a compromise which saw Canberra receive the honors. I thought that was an interesting tidbit.
My bus had a quick pit stop in Canberra on the way to Sydney but I can’t say I saw much of it.
We arrived in Sydney around 930pm. The Central Station stop was right across the street from my hostel. Clutch. Sydney’s CBD was much more spread out than Melbourne’s but being by this hub was perfect.
I checked into my hostel, Wake Up!, and had a look around. It was a relatively new place with modern amenities. It had good reviews and reflected that in the cost.
I was in an 8-bed dorm. The first night I was woken up to a guy pissing on the floor at 6am. The last time I experienced something like that was in college. Bros. Ugh. My bag was so close to the danger area too. The dude checked out in a cloud of shame the next morning. Or he was just moving on anyway, but I’ll pretend.
A big benefit was that the hostel offered a free walking tour so I hopped on that. It was a big group and the tour took around 4 hours. I enjoyed the walking aspect and the places we stopped, but it was less informative than I thought it would be. Either way, it was a good intro to the city.
It was Friday and the adjoining bar was offering free drinks to hostel guests, so I capitalized on that. It seemed like watered down Goon (Australia’s Franzia). In any event, there was a limited amount so bottoms went up.
That led to a few hours of dancing. There was a DJ that played live saxophone along with a few songs. I hadn’t experienced that before. It made the set marginally more interesting.
The next morning there was another group walk to the Glebe Markets. At first I was underwhelmed by the amount of thrift clothing tents but then I found my jam. It was a guy making one-of-a-kind items from up-cycled materials. There were some fresh hats. Two for $50 which really wasn’t bad but I didn’t neeeeeeeed it. I did a few more laps around the market to see if it continued calling to me. I popped my head in a few more times but couldn’t pull the trigger.
I still want one.
I never got a card and don’t know what the shop was even called. Amateur hour. I did overhear the guy saying he was working on getting his website and Instagram accounts up and running. Damn. I may never find them again.
Regardless, I had somewhere to be that afternoon anyway. There was a pool party going down in Bondi. I was connected to this sitch through a friend of a friend (thanks, Makaye!). Stephany used to live in Richmond but has resided in Sydney for the last 2 years. She’d been advising me on cool shit to do and also invited me to hang out with her and her friends. One of whom, Maria, was in town from the US and formally lived in Richmond as well.
Pool. Party.
*Photo Courtesy of Maria
I was mad excited to chill at a pool with a group of people my age who were residents of the place. There was a BBQ, there was beer, there was sun and everybody was really nice to talk to. It was also an informal congratulatory party for Jules and Denise getting engaged.
I later ended up going back to their place to borrow some clothes from Jules to go out. He also took me on an impromptu tasting of some whiskeys and piscos. Incredibly fun and passionate people.
We rejoined the rest of the crew at a hoity-toity cocktail bar called Mrs. Sippy’s. Everybody there was paying someone to bleach their teeth and their assholes. Separate people, probably.
It wasn’t really that bad. But it kinda was. Also, the only piece of my outfit that belonged to me was my underwear. I’d like to think that played no part in my assessment of this bar.
Eventually, we moved to the Coogee Bay Hotel & Bar. As an aside, “hotels” are largely just bars. I don’t think they let drunk patrons sleep there, or anyone for that matter. I don’t know. Maybe they were all hotels during the Gold Rush but then converted to restaurant/bars at a certain point.
Either way, this place was massive. It had several bars, a live band with a dance floor, and a grill with some delicious looking sausages.
There was a moment where two of Stephany’s friends dragged me on the dance floor and told me that I had to enjoy this song because it was the most Australian song ever written. I have no idea what that song was. I recall it being relatively dad-rocky, but have no clue beyond that.
Around 3am, I decided it was time to head back. I got a bus card and rode that puppy home.
The following day was a Santa-themed pub crawl around Manly Beach. I caught the ferry out of the city in the early afternoon. On Sundays, it only costs $2.50 for unlimited public transportation which was sick. Nice to get that perspective of Sydney for so cheap.
Sydney from the Water
Myself, Stephany, Maria and Marta lounged in the sand for a bit before donning our Santa gear. The girls all looked great and I looked ridiculous (on purpose). I was wearing a scandalous apron. Notice the strategically placed mistletoe.
The crawl began. Apparently it had been off to the races for a while. At the first bar we went to, which seemed completely chill, a chick vomited through her hand onto the floor. It was 2:15pm at best. Giddyup. The second place had music blasting and a saucy dance party happening insane. The line outside, however, which we were in, came to a stand still right when it was getting good (video doesn’t do it justice).
We went to another hotel (bar) and chilled on the balcony for a few beers and snacks before catching the ferry back to downtown. Stephany took Maria and I to a semi-classy rooftop spot with a solid view of the Opera House.
In case you were wondering, I was still wearing the apron. Two people were kind enough to mime some extremely sexual actions while I ordered my drink. It was an experience.
Light Show at St. Mary’s Cathedral
We ended the night by watching a holiday light show displayed on St. Mary’s Cathedral. It was a story for children about making friends or something. The voice actor had to do some weird singing and “meowing.” Nonetheless, a solid cap to the evening.
The following day I wandered around the city some more. I retraced a few of the walking tour steps to spend more time at a few places and checked out some carnivorous plants. Then I met up with Stephany and Maria to head to the fish market. It was almost closed, but we were able to snag a sushi donut for $10, which I’m told is a steal. I wasn’t familiar with the concept before. To clarify, it’s various types of sushi in the shape of a donut. There is no actual dough. The construction and taste were quite fantastic. I’d highly recommend if you’re ever in the area.
ANZAC Memorial
The Calyx #2
Sydney Fish Market
Next, we took a train over to Newtown, an artsy suburb, to walk around. That meant finding a brewery and getting a flight. I was in my element. The beer was aight. We went to yet another hotel and I got a local Strong Ale. Again, deece/sub-deece.
We made a plan to venture out to Blue Mountains in the morning, so we went back to our corners to rest up.
It was an early morning rendezvous at Central Station to catch a train to Katoomba. We had visions of doing a 3 hour trek around the Three Sisters before doing a 3 hour canyon walk. The guy at the information desk essentially laughed at us because there just wasn’t enough time in the day to complete it all.
Three Sisters
Instead, we hit the lookout and also walked down to touch the Three Sisters. Then we went on some crazy track down the Furber Steps. Aptly named because there were so many steps.
Along the way, we heard a sonar-like ding, echolocation noise happening that was really bizarre. Turned out to be Bell Miners (birds), even though we couldn’t see them.
At a junction on the trail, we came to one of the strangest signs I’ve ever seen. There were two options that would both take 45 minutes — one was “medium” and the other “moderate.”
Very curious if there will be a clear consensus on this question.
Anyway, we chose the moderate path and continued on. I was leading the group and we walked through a section that was very much in the bush. I kept thinking that I was going to either get webbed and bitten by a spider or step on a snake. Thankfully none of those things occurred. We found a cozy picnic table under a canopy and had lunch before furiously climbing a shit ton of steps.
In the town of Leura, we had a victory drink and then boarded a train back to Sydney.
As Stephany napped, Maria and I had a solid conversation about spirituality, death and legacy.
I’m abusing polls now for some reason.
I walked back to my hostel as they caught their connecting train back to Steph’s flat. It was nice to do a decent walk in Australia. I’d been missing that since leaving New Zealand.
