Sydney to Byron Bay

About three years ago a friend of mine from Maui went on a trip with his lady friend to Australia. They rented a hippie camper van and drove the eastern coast of Australia. Ever since he told me about it, I've wanted to do it. So guess what...I'm doing it. We picked up our van in Sydney and realized straight away...we didn't need to worry about breaking anything. It's a piece of junk, but it's a perfect piece of junk! It goes, and we can sleep in it, so it has all we need.

I present, The Toaster.  My current home.

Sophie and Chris, my housmates from Jindy have one van, and Andy and I have our own. If Chris and Sophie van is a rockin, don't go knockin. If our van is rockin, please call the police, break a window, and get me the heck out of there! Two stinky dudes holed up in a tiny old van...I guess it could be worse.

The theme of the first few days of this trip seems to be BEACHES! Oz sure has a lot of them. And they are all pretty awesome, and all of the sand squeaks! We usually sleep in the parking lot of beaches, and we usually ignore the no overnight parking/camping signs. No problem so far. I absolutely LOVE waking up to the ocean. Though it is still quite chilly, nothing wakes me up like a cool morning dip in the sea. Almost everywhere we go we are greated by migrating humpbacks, cousins of my friends in Maui, my favorite oceanic creatures!

It has taken us four sleeps to reach our current destination of Byron Bay, which I'll get to later, which is a pretty slow pace but suits me fine, as NOT being in a hurry feels absolutley awesome. We really have no plan, no agenda, we're literally figuring it out as we go. The road is our journey and our only destination is tomorrow. I love every second of it! It's nice to finally see parts of Australia other than Jindabyne and Perisher, and I like it! It really is a beautfiul country. We have mostly been on the coast but did spend a day in wine country.

These are out of order...

That's Chris and Sophie in front of us, somewhere in Oz.

View from inside the Toaster

Hey!  Do you guys know where we are?  Nope, let me check...

In hippie spirit, Andy likes to drive without his shirt.

I believe this was sleeping spot number 2.  Blueys Beach. 

More of Blueys Beach

Lots of bridges over lots of water so far.

Eating lunch at Nabucca Heads.

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like from the point of view of the critters that live in tide pools?  Well wonder no longer.

Finally got out of Sydney!  Stopped at some bushwackers pub place...thingy.

Kangaroos!

Our first sleep spot was actually a campground near someplace called Broke.  Which was fitting.  Searching for firewood here at night was unpleasant on account of Australia containing 90% of the worlds poisonous critters.

Sophie is a great cook!

We took a detour through wine country.  Where they make wine from grapes that grow on vines...like these.  It was very informative.

Everyone else tasting wine and pretending like we actually intended on buying some.

The first proper grass lawn I have seen here.

Naughty vans at another winery.

We finally got in the ocean at a place called Hawks Nest! 

Me at Hawks Nest

Sophie on Boomerang Beach

Everyone on Blueys Beach

Boomerang Beach

Booti Booti Beach

Booty, and Booty

Watching migrating whales

Chillaxin in North Haven.

Pretty waves at North Haven

Chris and Andy trying to catch dinner during the sunset.

Watching a movie in the living room

Sophie, in the kitchen.

Nambucca Heads, stopped for lunch

The ocean somewhere...

I think she caught something!

Kangaroos!

Sleeping spot # whatever at Evans Head.

SYDNEY

Wow, such a big change from sleepy little Jindabyne! I spent two days and some change here. I have realized since being in Sydney that I really haven't spent that much time in big cities throughout my life. But the city that Sydney reminded me of the most is Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The downtown area is very busy with pedestrians and everything is very close. I really loved Sydney though! I've decided that if I ever have to live in a big city someday, then it needs to have nice beaches and good surf spots. We went to Manly Beach, which reminded me of Varna (another Bulgarian city), it was a very chill little beach town just a short ferry ride away from downtown Sydney. Also went to Bondi which had really good surf. I didn't paddle out on account of we had plans already. I'm too spoiled from Maui to be bothered with wet suits now anyway. We walked along the beach from Bondi to Coogee beach. A very pleasant stroll, again, right on the edge of the posh big city. Our hostel was everything you'd expect from a hostel. I'm glad to announce that my first stay in a hostel didn't result in being kidnapped and sold for body parts. I'm not entirely sure I could live in that big of a city for too long, but my experience there for two days was pretty cool. I'm quite disapointed in how tired and sore I am from walking around so much. You would think a season of deadly ski instructing would be sufficient exercise to allow for a bit of walking around, but alas, I'm an old fart. Ended up in more taxis than I'd like to admit. We went to an aquarium. Pretty much the ocean here has lots of critters in it too. I really missed the ocean. So my favorite part about Sydney was...the ocean. So, I'm in a hurry to use this internet before computer dies, so sorry about the lack of humorous wit. I'll let the pictures tell the story. Also, Sydney was almost a week ago, it's going to be hard for me to stay up to date, I'll do my best!

Our Hostel

The Sydney Tower Eye

Opera House

Ferry docks

The Harbor Bridge

Shark!

Downtown Sydney

Bondi Beach

Marianna, Sophie, Chris on our walk to Coogge

Coogee

Really cool cemetery on the sea bluffs

This was just a cool inlet they turned into a swimming place.

More to come soon.  Hint: If we were meant to pop out of bed...we'd all sleep in Toasters!

The End and The Beginning

I apologize for my blogging neglect once again. My excuse this time is that I simply didn't have much to say. But alas, my time in Jindabyne has come to an end and thus begins a new adventure for me that will hopefully be ripe with blogging material for all 3 of you to enjoy! 

First though, I will give an eulogy to little Jindabyne. Since I arrived in Jindabyne I had not once traveled beyond it's borders other than the 15 minute drive to Perisher. All of Australia that my eyes had seen was contained in this tiny town and road to the ski resort. But, Jindabybe is such, that I was quite content with this containment. It's a very tiny town with a LOT of people there. People from all over the world migrate there every fall to staff the positions at Perisher and Thredbo ski resorts. Creating a melting pot of young diversity. In Layman's terms...it was fun! I met loads of people with similar passions for skiing, mountains, and travel. Watching the Olympics was particularly enjoyable as every night no less than 6 nations would be represented on our couches cheering for their countries and against the others. (though the horribly biased Australian coverage made this experience slightly less than ideal for those of non-aussie decent) Americans, Brits, Aussies, Canucks, Argies, Slovenians, Dutch, and more were commonly cheering for their countrymen. Other than the Olympiad, Jindabyne offered little in the way of entertainment. The main attractions being 4 small pubs. You can imagine then, a town with close to 40,000 young people, the amount of business these small establishments were receiving. The effects were seen and heard nightly. Personally I have a strong opinion of those who are under the influence, and I was almost daily affronted by some manner of drunken idiotry. This was my least favorite part... But still almost daily we'd get together with friends from all nations for dinner, or a movie, or for fun and interesting conversation. A sports center offered trampoline aerials coaching. A bistro offered $10 steak nights ( a very good deal). The town itself offered nice parks by the lake with free gas grills. Despite the extreme rurality of the place, seldom did I feel want of something to do. I have really grown quite fond of the place and the people there that are now my friends. 

Life at the ski resort was much less relaxed. I find it hard to describe in words what it was like working at Perisher. To put it into perspective, you must realize that most of the people visiting Perisher and taking ski lessons, have never seen snow before. The snow literally only falls on the very top of the highest mountains which very few Australians actually live near. The wonderful world of snowy winter is very foreign to 99% of the population. So the common sense that those of us accustomed to winter and snow inherently possess, is not to be found in our guests at Perisher. Everything from driving on a road with a little bit of slush on it, to waiting in a lift line, are tasks of great disconcern, confusion, chaos, and terror for them. So, being their instructor entails a much greater effort and much lower expectations. Things that seem common sense to me, are as foreign as a Slovakian film about a dooneri chef with Cambodian sub-titles is to them! Add this chaos with a class size of ten people or more, and you have a recipe for a ski instructors worse nightmare. Trying to keep track of, keep safe, and actually teach 9 four olds all while avoiding the hundreds of punters on the hill that have no idea what they are doing, was enough to drive several of my co-workers to the brink of insanity. I barely made it to the end. In fact, despite the odds against me, I even managed to have some fun! I will say this, being a ski instructor anywhere else in the world...will seem like a walk in the park from here on out! And I can't wait, to go for a walk in the park!

As I said though, that time has now ended. I have left Jindabyne (and only now in the midst of the huge city of Sydney have I realized how tiny it was) and started my travels. Of which I will do my best to share with you. So come back oft to find out where I have gone next! Mom, don't worry, I'll tell you where I'm going!

The Town Of Jindabyne

Skiing at Perisher

What it is like in Oz.

Life Down Under. As far as foreign countries go, this one isn't that extreme. We speak the same language and both our countries are from the 1^st world. But there are several subtle differences that I'm beginning to understand. And in case you are ever planning on coming down under yourself, let me share with you the cultural knowledge I have gained.

First...the obvious: Australia is some sort of English extremity. So the obvious differences you would expect to see in England are also found here. Driving on the left side of the ride for example. The first several times I rode in an automobile were quite strange. After going to the wrong side of the car to sit shotgun about ten times I finally figured it out. Then I started driving. I often drive my housemates all to work in the morning due to blood alcohol levels still being too high from the night before (legal drinking age is 18). So I've driven quite a bit. There have been a few moments of turning onto the right side of the road, which is the wrong side, and freaking everyone out. But for the most part remembering to stay on the left is the easy bit. Driving from the seat on the right side of the car is more difficult. Luckily, the foot pedals are all in the same spot, but the gear shift is on your left hand and the blinker is on the right side of the steering column. These both took lots of concentration to master. Which I still haven't. And checking mirrors is weird, plus I'm always driving too far left in the lane. I forget that there is more car on that side than on the right side, so staying on the right side of the actual lane is hard. I still haven't crashed into anything yet, so I'm good. I still have no idea how fast I'm going at 100 k though. The speedometers don't show MPH. A little inconsiderate I think, we show KPH after all!

Another really obvious difference would be the language. Obviously they speak English here, so I can usually understand everything. Every once in awhile though the accents are too much to understand or the words and phrases are so different I get lost. I would describe their accents as adding etra syllables to words. Like saying here, would sound more like he'ur. And they don't pronounce the last syllable in words. The letter Z is called zed. And for some reason as confusing to me as using different measurement variable for everything between our countries (mostly our fault), there seems to be another word for just about anything... For Example:

Candy = Lollies

Diapers = Nappies

To Crash, fall over = Stack it (skiing)

Ski poles = Stocks

Trunk = Boot (car)

Gas = Petrol

Bar = Pub

Well done = Good on ya

Friend, Buddy = Mate

Bathroom = Toilet (makes more sense)

(there are a lot more, but thinking about them isn't fun right now, go here instead)

The Landscape is pretty much what you would expect. The vegetation and wildlife are all very different, but movies and TV have painted a pretty accurate picture. Imagine The Man From Snowy River, and that's my drive to work every day. The weirdest part is the whole snow thing. It's very different. Here in Jindabyne it usually just feels like an early October day. All the trees still have leaves. This is the case pretty much all the way up to the base of the ski resort, where suddenly there is snow on the ground, but still leaves on the trees. From the top of the ski resort you can almost see all of the snow in the entire country. Powder is a very relative term... The kangaroos don't live in zoos here. In fact, they're pretty common roadkill. They're all over the place, equivalent to our deer. Instead of porcupines there are wombats, instead of moose there are Brumbys (wild horses) and there are even wild emus walking around. Most of the birds look like a mix of parrots and pigeons.

Some other more subtle differences:

The kids curse all the time. I can't tell yet if these words aren't considered cursing or if it's a cultural thing. Adults seem to curse a lot more as well (though this may be a product of my Utah upbringing, though it's still worse than Maui, Kansas, Alaska, and everywhere else outside of UT that I have lived) But for whatever reason, I have already given up trying to regulate the foul language, unless it gets too out of control. They usually think I'm weird for thinking those are naughty words...

Toilets don't flush in a swirling motion. Leaving the myth of the southern hemisphere flush direction a great mystery. They all flush from front to back. And as of now I have only seen one urinal. There are only pee troughs. Economical...sure, but much more awkward. The number 1 and number 2 flush buttons are quite genius though.

Light switches are a little less user friendly, I would place them somewhere between our original switches and the newer flat type switches. A quick swipe up or down won't do it here, gotta find the thing and carefully push it. Electrical sockets are obviously different, but the biggest change is that every individual socket has an on/off switch. Kinda nice actually.

All the zippers are on the wrong side. At least for me. (the zippers are on the left side) Isn't that how girls clothes are? I'm always angrily tugging on my coat zipper thinking it's stuck until I remember, and feel like an idiot.

There is no Dr. Pepper, or Root Beer, Mountain Dew, or Pepsi. In fact, there is only Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite (which they just call lemonade). And no fountain machines anywhere. If you want a soda with your burger (which is also quite different) you gotta buy a bottle.

The only sport I've seen reported about on the news is Rugby. And I've learned that there are several versions/leagues of rugby, or 'footy'. There is the National Rugby League (NRL), Union, and Australian Rules Football. All similar, yet very different. After rugby, I guess it would be soccer, at least among the youth. Gambling on racing is pretty big. All gambling is actually, I heard that Australians loose more money to gambling than any other country. Field hockey is pretty big as well, they just call it hockey, it gets confusing.

Sydney is not the capital. Canberra is. Pronounced Canbra.

The sun is in the north, not the south. This should probably be in the category of obvious differences though. Like I mentioned before, there really isn't a winter here like we know winter. It's not nearly as cold. And as far as I know, there isn't an actual city in the country where it commonly snows. You literally have to go to a ski resort in the highest mountains to find snow. And there still isn't very much of it. The constellation on their flag is easily seen, yet the dippers and orion and the other ones I'm used are no where to be seen.

Money is more colorful. There is no one dollar bill, and no one cent coins. There are one and two dollar coins though. The two dollar coin being much smaller than the one. Tax is included in all posted prices, which is nice. The queen (of England) is on most the coins and bills, I suppose they will have to redo them all when she departs. Everything is considerably more expensive though. My $80 dollar ski goggles are $210 here. Needless to say, I don't do a whole lot of shopping. Retirement here is nice though, every paycheck you get regardless of job or age earns you a percentage that goes into your retirement fund (called superannuition). You don't pay a dime of your own money, it's all from the Gov. As far as stores go, the only crossovers I've noticed (no surprise here) are Macdonalds (called Mackers), KFC, Subway, and Target. Most of the car manufacturers are familiar, but all the models are different. The ski/snowboard brands are all the same. But no other brands really are. People drive a two hour trip to “Mackers” to buy a stock of burgers then freeze them in the fridge for later...weird. Cell phone plans are way better here. You pre-pay and get credit. When you have used all your credit, you pre-pay again. No contracts. Its the one thing that is way cheaper here.

The food isn't all that different. Most of the same types of food here, just prepared quite differently. The biggest differences I have noticed are the bread to meat ratio on burgers, hot dogs, etc. Way too much bread, or not nearly enough meat. I don't understand why the buns are so massive and the patties are so tiny. In the morning I get a breakfast roll. Which is just a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. The bacon is cut much differently. A thing called sausage roll is quite popular. I'd compare it to a crisp beef burrito from Taco Time. Fries are called chips, unless their from Mackers. Chips are crisps, and cookies are biscuits. They don't pronounce kebob correctly and this has become a topic of considerably heated debate. And no one drinks Fosters.

Well, obviously there are so many other differences I could write about but frankly I'm bored of writing about it so I'm sure you're bored reading about it. Right then, g'day mate!