Melbourne

So with little happening in my ways of planning my trip any further than knowing I was going to be in Melbourne for Australia day (January 26th - my new favorite day) on Tuesday evening of last week I jumped on the train and took the over-nighter to Melbourne.

I arrived downtown Melbourne just after 7 in the morning, and to be honest, it had been a long time since I had seen this un-godly hour. I got off the train and found myself a map of the city, as unlike in Sydney, my hostel was not next to the train station and I knew I was in for a hike. I figuring I had some time to kill before having to meet my friend Mike, who I met in Sydney and chose to travel further with, rather than just taking the street car, i decided to walk the early morning streets of Sydney. It was dead! It took some time for me to process why a city that claims it will be bigger than Sydney by 2020 was not busy, but then I remembered...Australia day! Like Canada day, eveeryone has the day off. So here I am, parading around town with my massive backpack on my back and my day-pack in my my hand trying to find my hostel. While Sydney is kind of built like New York City, grid patterned, Melbourne city map may as well have been drawn up by Picasso himself! Streets criss-cross, round-abouts everywhere, what was I to do but jump on the tram and get to the hostel ASAP.

One on the street where my hostel was located, I noticed Mike walking in at the same time with some friends he made in Bondi. Seeing the three of them all groggy from being on the Grey Hound all night, I new that getting a train pass was the right move. We all checked in the hostel, and decided, that we should walk around town and see what this city had to offer, or better yet, what we had to offer the city.

AUSTRALIA DAY EVENING...

Mike and I had decided that to show Australia and Australians that we were here to celebrate their holiday as Ausrtralians and not as some laid-back back-packers, so in honor of Australia day, we bought ourselves some flags, and wore capes for the evening. At the hostel, before we went out on the town, we met an English couple, who after realizing how much fun a night with Australian Pete and Kangaroo Mike might be, joined us in our adventures to find a bar and celebrate smashingly.

We found this cool bar with live music and boat-loads of partiers, and decided that if anywhere was right for us, this was the place. Don't ask me the name of it, because I can't remember, but what I can say is I knew evvery song the band played and it was an evening sing-along. After making our way back to the hostel, just shy of 3am, we decided that we had done this country a favour and celebrated in an Aussie way.

Thursday morning (haha, not really morning) found us realizing that we wanted to perhaps stay in at the hostel and make a nice dinner, have drinks on the patio, take it a little easier and save some money. Well, we didn't spend as much money, we had a great lamb dinner with a really nice greek salad and we partied a lot harder. Only this time we did it with friends we made at the hostel. While the day went on, we enjoyed tanning on the roof-top patio at our hostel, which over looks downtown Melbourne, enjoying some beers and conversation with new friends and for some, even a 9pm jog through the parks near the hostel. The party once again went on till 3 am where we decided once again that we should make our way to bed, because checkout was at 10am and we were making our way to St.Kilda, to a new hostel, 400m from the beach.

St. Kilda

When arriving to the hostel, you can see that they have a great PR and Marketing team that build their website. Don't get me wrong, it's an ok hostel, but for the price, I would have expected a little more. None the less, in St.Kilda, there is a beach (not a great beach my any means - think Lake Ontario), there is a cool strip with shops, coffee shops and some galleries and a tram that can take you back to downtown Melbourne.

We spent the majority of the afternoon yeasterday at the beach and in the parks and I am so burnt I look like a firetruck! After realizing how burnt I was, I went straight to the Chemist, spent $25 on 100% aloe vera and a spray can of Solar Cane. Slowly I am getting better.

Friday night, Mike and I went to see a friend of mine from Toronto, Tiiu. She has been out here for about 8 years, and before last night, I don't think I had seen her since one of my epic, KJ last friday night parties from about 10 years ago. We met up with her and her friends at this cool brewery, The Little Creatures Brewery, where for the first time in a long time, I got to enjoy a proper beer at ok prices in a very chilled out restaurant, rather than being in some backpacker type club. Catching up was nice, and meeting new people was also great, we got invited to a house party tonight which sounds like a great time.

Other than that, I can't really think about anything to say. Nadal is out, Federer is out and Murray is the only one left worth seeing (in my opinion) at the Australian Open, so maybe that will be tomorrows entertainment. Hope all is well with you, I'm having a blast.

Till next time,

Peter

The Luck of the Irish, and a New Yorker

So if you have been following my blog, you would be fully aware that I am hiking in Katoomba, also known as the Blue Mountains. I started hiking on thursday with some friends from Sydney and decided to make my way back for the weekend. It's called the Blue Mountains, because when the sun hits the mountains, they look blue. Pretty cool I guess.

The Blue Mountains is a little bit like Port Sydney in Muskoka. A very small town, with a grocery store, and two bars. There is probably more, but the general pace here is much slower than anywhere else I've been too in Australia (Sydney). After been in Sydney for 2 weeks, I figured the best way to plan more of my trip was to get out of the city, somewhere remote where I would have the chance to do some research about the land down under and maybe plan my next couple of months. What better place to do that than in Katoomba. There probably won't be many people to meet, let me rephrase that, there probably wouldn't be many people that would want to party and drink till all hours of the night. Man was I wrong.

After arriving to Katoomba friday afternoon, a little hung over from partying in Sydney the night before, I placed my luggage in my room, put my food in the kitchen and had a lonesome beer on the sun deck, where I figured I could start my planning. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes when a group of girls asked me to take there picture. Being no stranger to photography or interested in meeting new people, i quickly obliged and started my photo shoot. Seeing that I was on my own, these lovely ladies invited me over to chat with them and this is really where the stories begin.

Where in the begining there were only 4 of us, our number quickly grew to 7, then 10, and in the end there was easily a crew of maybe 20 travelers, ready to enjoy a weekend in Katoomba. When you find yourself traveling on your own, and you are in a big group of people, you quickly realize who you vibe with and who you don't. The English travelers, really chose to stay within there own group and that left me with the wittier, more enjoyable Irish. Now, I've never really hung out with the Irish, except for an old boss who spoke "wit a tick aksent", and I'd been told that the women talk so damn fast, if you aren't 100% into the conversation you're lost. Most of this Irish knowledge I'd had was accurate, but once you start chatting and drinking with them, you pick up the accent quickly and partying with them become easy.

So here I am, Friday night in Katoomba with an original plan of detoxing and planning my trip and by midnight, I find myself in Katoombas only nightclub with 9 Irish drinkers and a single Aussie. With drinking and conversation, I volunteer myself to walk with these new friends of mine into the Blue Mountains the next day (Saturday) and show them around.

SATURDAY MORNING and INTO THE AFTERNOON

FML, it's 10:30 and these Irish are ready to go walking. I'm not the kind of guy to leave my partying Irish to travel through the woods on there own, so as promissed, I decide to, wait a minute, Lara the New Yorker (an English teacher in Oz with both an Irish/New York accent), changes my name from Peter to tour guide for the next 4 hours. After another great hike through the Blue Mountains, with 6 of my Irish comrades, we get back to the hostel and decide we shall have a BBQ. After going to the grocery and more importantly the liquor store, we get back to the hostel, and start our evening off with "crisps" and beer.

While some would love a nap after such a long day, the Irish, the new Yorker and the Tour Guide decide that enjoying the weather and beer was a much more enjoyable way to enjoy our Saturday evening. Well to make a long story a little shorter, our party went on till 6am Sunday with highlights such as:
- an evening bbq with beer and 5L of goon
- a visit to both bars in town, obviously with the night club being the last stop

- a kitchen break-in, which included scaling a wall to get our booze from the fridge

- a fort build only out of couch cussions, which was invaded on more than once

- and Brian the story-teller, keeping us laughing for hours on end

I wouldn't change a thing from this weekend. I met some great people I'll visit and party with again when I make my way back to Sydney, and really that's what this trip is all about for me. Meeting great people, having a good time, and enjoying myself to the max! Thanks for the memories guys!!

As far as my travelling plans are concerned, I know that I am booked in Melbourne till the 3rd. Which gives me lots of time to plan my trip further, and write more about my adventures in this blog. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Peter

KATOOMBA!!!!!

Three guys go hiking in the forest, minding their business and suddenly they are captured by this aboriginal tribe. The tribe members bring the three men to their tribe leader. The tribe leader explains to the men that they have travelled over sacred grounds and unless each man can bring back 10 pieces of the same kind of fruit back to the leader, he will have them killed. The three men agree to get the fruit and set out to the woods.
The first guy comes back with 10 apples. The tribe leader tells him, " If you want to live, you must with no facial expression shove all your 10 fruit up your ass and we will let you go." The first man knows he has no choice, so without facial expression gets the first apple up, then the second, but come the third apple, he lets out a single tear and the leader instantly kills him.
The second guy comes with 10 grapes. The leader explains the rules of survival and the second man starts his task. He inserts the first grape, then the second, third and fourth. By the time he gets to the 9th grape, he bursts out in laughter. The tribe leader kills him instantly.
At the Pearly Gates, the first man asks the second man, " you were so close to survival, 9 grapes in, what the hell could have been so funny that you had to laugh?"
The second guy tells the first, " I saw the third guy coming back with pineapples!"

Katoomba is a beautiful place to hike and enjoy nature. Located just 130kms outside of Sydney, a 2 hour train ride, you can enjoy the mystical Blue Mountains and walk trails for 7 hours if you like. Today will be my second day doing the walk. I did it on Thursday with some friends from Sydney and figured that I wanted to get out of town and try something different. Thursdays walk included seeing the Three Sisters, 3 massive rocks in the middle of the "jungle", many waterfalls and all kinds of birds. I met some people here in Katoomba that are staying at my hostel and want me to "guide" them around. Today should be another adventure with loads of walking. Hope you enjoyed the joke. More to come later. I'm off for a hike!

Peter

Too Tired...

Well, I got bored so you get to read a little more. Originally I planned to be out of Sydney within a week and here I am almost 2 weeks in and finding myself in the black hole of this YHA hostel. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving every minute of it, but now is the time to start planning on where I will be heading next.
One of te reasons I am still in Sydney is because I have to wait for the bank to send me all my work papers and bank card. I guess I could have filled all the papers out last week, but to sum it up "too tired!" I went to the work and holiday office today to get the ball rolling and they have informed me that my bank card and other final papers will be ready in 3 business days. That means I will be around Sydney till at least Tuesday. The good news is, that I have found cheap ways to drink, and carouse the Sydney surroundings.
Tomorrow I will be going to the Blue Mountains with some friends, which will be great. The Blue Mountains are about a 2 hour train ride outside of Sydney and there is tons of hiking, swimming and maybe even some rock climbing. As of right now, I am only going to be there for tthe day, but if it is worth going to visit for the weekend, I may consider staying there till monday night. You see, I am only booked at the Railway hostel in Sydney till friday so tomorrow is a great day to explore other areas that aren't too far from the downtown core.
Following Tuesday, I plan on making my way down to Melbourne where if I'm lucky I will be able to get some tickets to the Australian Open. Trying to get a hostel in Melbourne is next to impossible right now, because of Australia Day and the Tennis, but hey, what are you gonna do? I guess I will just have to role with it.
I also picked up this amazing cd of a guy playing the didgeridoo with some mixed in house, dance and trance. Dan you would really like it. I will see if I can post it on Facebook. Hope all is well with you guys, but for the time being I am going to melt myself in a bean bag chair and enjoy watching some solid tennis.

Peace out Hommies,

Peter

Burnt!

Well it has been exactly a week since I have arrived to Sydney and every day is a better day. I have made some great friends from everywhere in the world, and even some locals from Toronto. The last three days have been great, mostly because we kept going back to Manly Beach to enjoy the hot sun, the warm water, and some great places to eat and drink. I found a Bavarian pub that serves proper beer, not just the Australian stuff, a German food store that has got some great prices, and it is all located in the wharf at Manly. Awesome!!
When we went to the beach yesterday, we had a group of 13 people from the hostel and the ocean was wild. Some of the waves were 2-3 meters high and it is tough to swim with the rip pulling you around. After about 30 minutes in the water, it was time to call it quits and enjoy the sun. I can't help but think of the Simcoe tanning crew, which really was myself and the ladies, and Momo's brother when he was in town. Tanning in Australia is a totally different beast! They don't sell any tanning lotion less than 30+ because the ozone is so thin, you will just fry. I did 2 days of basing myself, and today still applied my 30+ and I am crisp. The good news is that I'll have a solid tan in a week or two, but for the time being, no matter how hard I tried not to be in this situation, I am applying Banana Boat Aloe spray to my entire body, especially my forehead! Shit!!! Factor 30+, Factor 30+!!!
Momo, if you ever come to Aus, Factor 30+ :)

Another great thing that has happend is that my bag went for a swim with my towel, hat, camera (waterproof - best purchas) and cell phone. Great! I've ruined my cell phone in less than a week. It's amazing how fast the tide comes up on the beach and how little you notice it happening when you are playing frisbee. lesson learned, don't spent money on expensive phone! I didn't buy a super expensive phone, but I still spent over $100 (idiot). Today i went out and bought a new phone for $39 and I already like it more. :)

All my friends here are great and we spend most of our time drinking and partying at the hostel. We have a solid crew and while some are already gone to other towns or cities, we all plan to meet again before we depart this amazing country. Late nights, good friends and loads of conversation, what more could you ask for?

Till next time,

P

Stupid Cold...

Well here I am on day 3, and I have a brutal head cold. No big deal really, I guess I will just have to take it easy for the next couple of days. Luckily I brought some tylenol cold with me, so self medication is well on its way.

Today was one of the nicest days so far. There was virtually no clouds in the sky and the temp felt like it easily could have been in the 30's. It kind of sucks that this col has chosen my path on the first day of sun, but what can you do? I went to the Coles (Australia's Metro) and got boat loads of Vitamin C and some food so I can eat at the hostel rather than going out. After a sweet pasta and salad dinner, I've decided to do nothing but sit in the lounge area; watch movies on my computer, surf info about Oz and leave another post.

I think I am going to be in Sydney till next Wednesday, and then I will see where I am going to go. Perhaps you can help me. Inspired by Norm, I think I am going to list 2 places that I want to visit next and you can tell me which you think would be more fun. I'll have to do my research and get rid of this cold, but in the next couple of days you can expect to see some sort of post where you can vote on where I should go.

It's awful to think that most of you are waking up to go to work. I hate to rub it in, but I can't help but want to let you know that not only am I not in bed yet, I am sitting next to the pool on the outside deck in a t-shirt and shorts, with the whitest feet in the world.

Have you guys heard that Brisbane has been evacuated. It's so crazy. They are saying it is the worst natural disaster in over 100 years. Hopefully everyone north of me is ok, but the city is shut down and there is no traveling north of Byron as of this morning. So you can expect that I will be heading south in the next couple of weeks.

Well I am beat and it's time to take some tylenol. Enjoy your days...

Peter

Leaving and Arriving...

I remember a couple of years ago (at least it only feels like a couple of years ago) when my sister left for Europe to live in Brussles. I remember saying good bye to her in the airport with my parents and having this feeling of excitement for her because she was going on this amazing adventure, but while I knew that she was super excited to go on her European adventure, she seemed sad to be leaving. It wasn't until January 8th, 2011 that I could truly understand why she seemed sad at the Airport. Was it because she was scared to go on her trip? Nope, she seemed very excited about living in Europe. Was it because she didn't know if she was making the right decision in moving to Brussels? Nope, Dan was there! So why do people get emotionally effected before embarking on a trip, big or small? Well I don't have the answer yet, but I believe it has something to do with you. The people that are ready my blog and my story.

Family and friends are what make you emotional before you travel anywhere. It doesn't matter if you're 18, leaving your home for school in another town, city or country; or if you just decide to pick up and get the hell out of dodge, you will always miss the people that are in your life that you are (for lack of a better term) "leaving behind".

On January 8th, it was my turn to experience that feeling both of sadness and being super excited at the same time and let me tell you something, so far it is more than worth it!!!

JANUARY 8TH

I'm not going to bore you with the nitty gritty of my travels in the planes to get to the other side of the world, but I will give you the condensed version. Toronto - Shanghai took 15.5 hours in the air. Air Canada has some pretty comfortable seats. Food was meh, and the movies good. Shanghai - Sydney took 10.5 hours in the air. China Air has awful seats and I'm pretty sure someone got caught for smoking in the plane. China Air's solution to the smoking bandit was to make the rest of it's passengers enhail about 3-4 spray bottle of a chinese rip off version of febrees. Are you also wondering if inhailing 4 cans faux-brees is better for me than smelling a little smoke? Yeah me too.

JANUARY 10TH

I'm here! I've made it to my destination, I am now in Sydney and f#*k is this place expensive!!! I am staying at this cool hostel which is next to the train station, tucked behind some building so it's kind of like a secret location. AWESOME! After getting my bags to my room and feeling a little adventurous, I decide to trek out to the Sydney harbour. From my hostel, it was about a 35 minute walk where I come to the corner of George St and Alfred St and between 2 massive palm trees I see the Sydney Opera House. WOW! It was cloudy out, but i still got some pictures.(i haven't loaded them yet) After a tour around the harbour, where meals average $45, i decide that eating here is not the best choice for someone that would rather not work on his trip! I decide to move on and make my way throught the Botanical Gardens and follow my hunger to a bar called Scruffy Murphys where i enjoy a beer and chicken sandwich for a mere $18.50. Did a mention that beers here aren't even full pints. They are those childish 3/4 pints you find at a University pub.

This place is so chilled out and relaxed, I can see why Tank to me I would love it. After a solid 2.5 hour walk, I made my way back to the hostel, enjoyed a solid 3 hour nap, woke up and found the closest pool hall. IT'S JUST DOWN THE STREET!!! More has happened, in my 2.5 days here, but for the time being that is all I am willing to write about. The city is awesome, the people are great and the sun has finally come out. Talk to you all soon.

Peter