East Cost, Australia

Byron Bay

Me and Stina decided to do some traveling, since she's been in Australia for almost a year without beeing anywhere other than Sydney and Leeton. Our plan was to head up east cost, but without really making any plans. We got ourselves an early flight to Byron bay, and as we are way to cheap to pay for a hostel night only for a few hours, we ended up spending the night on McDonalds again. Just like I did my last time there as well. After a not that great sleep, and a hour flight we got ourselves to Ballina airport where we catched the local bus to Byron. We met up with Kat in the morning, who was on her way to Brisbane to try to find work. The three of us went for breakfast and a stroll around town. All the hostel seemed to be fully booked that night and Instead of spending the night outside in the rain (which was our first plan) we ended up buying a tiny tent to stay at a camping spot nearby, where Kat was staying as well. 

We put ourselves to sleep really early that night and got a 13 hour sleep before waking up to say goodbuy to Kat who was off to Brisbane. Me and Stina walked in to town to meet Isabella again. Together with her and her boyfriend we spent hours catching up and playing pool over a couple of beers. Me and Stina walked back to our camping where we happend to run in to Nikolaj and his girlfriend. Funny thing is that Stina just had a dream the day before about how we're meeting them in Byron bay, as we knew that they're traveling east cost as well. And here they are, standing at the same camping area. 

Me and Stina walked back into the city after sharing a couple of beers with our tent neighbors, 4 guys from New Zealand who's currently working in Byron. We met Isabella and Eric again when we went for pre drinks in the courtyard of their hostel. The same hostel as I stay'd in during my last stay in Byron. We all had a quite big, late night out together and it wasn't until 1 pm we woke up in our tent the next morning. As it was still raining, and I couldn't get in touch with Isabella, me end Stina spend the day hanging out with our kiwi camp neighbors. We went back into the city that night as well to celebrate one of the guys 25th birthday. And for me and Stina to get a chance to improve our pool skills. We're getting pretty good. 

We met up with Isabella and Eric at the beach the next morning, even if it took me and Stina a while to get there since I remembered the way wrong. We spent a few hours on the beach, got to meet her family for a short while before there were driving back to Brisbane to catch a flight back home to Sweden. Me and Stina went for a coffe at the cafe where two of our new Zealand neighbor was working. They're just about to finish their shift for the day by the time we got there and decided to come with us for a walk up to the lighthouse, and the Australia's most eastern point. It was a bit of a hike to get there, but we got the most amazing sea view with sharks and dolphins  in the water as well.  We walked over to the lighthouse and historical museum, before heading back down to the beach. As it was our last night in Byron, we found ourselves back at the bar again that evening. And because of our kiwi friends who are currently working in the bar. 

Broadbeach, Gold Cost

Neighter me or Stina had any plans or suggestions where to go next, we just wanted to travel. But up north would be preferable. As none of us been trying hitch hiking yet, we decided to give it a go. We wrote a sign saying 'anywhere pleace!! :)' and stood on the road just beside the campingarea as that's the one leading to the highway.  We stood there for less than 5 minutes before we got picked up by 24 year old Jesse from New Zealand. He gave us a lift to Broadbeach, just next to Surfers paradise where I did go my last time at Gold Cost. Jesse was super friendly and apparently he had a spare room in the house he's sharing with some friends,  where we was happy to stay. We spent that whole day chilling out in their backyard pool, just next to the river before going out for dinner. Me and Stina managed to convince Jesse to walk there instead of driving. It wasn't far but he managed to get os lost in every single way possible. And he's been living there for the last year. In the end we managed to get ourselves to the cinema to catch one of the movies. We ended up with 'hunger games 2' which was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. My expectations was quite high thought since I've read the books as well, but this was quite ridiculous. I didn't feel bad by falling asleep.  

Me and Stina with our sign in Jesse's backyard. 

We woke up the next day to go to the Broadbeach beach. We had to hide from the rain for a while thought and looked for a Internet cafe for Stina to sort her second year visa out. We didn't really found one and went back to the beach where Jesse met us after finishing work. Together with one of his housemates we went back out for dinner again and back home to spend the night drinking beer in their backyard. 

Me and Stina walked along the beach from Broadbeach to Surfers Paradise the next day to meet up with Elis. He's currently staying at a nearby beach at gold cost together with a couple of Australians that we all met in Bali, and just got back to gold cost from beeing somewhere else. We spend some time hanging out at the beach, and some games of pool before he was heading to work and me and Stina went back home to spend our last night at Jesse's place. 

Brisbane

Since Jesse worked in Brisbane, he gave us a ride to one of the suburbs early in the morning. We got ourselves into the city where we spent hours on the mission to find a place to storage our bags. Just for a couple of hours while we're waiting for Isabella to wake up. Shouldn't be too hard, you think. No one seemed to be very helpful so we just had to carry our bags around until Isabella called us to tell us where to go in about mid day. We got on the local bus to Hugo's place. One of my and Isabella's friend from home who's currently staying studying in Brisbane. He lives a little bit out in the suburbs in a house that he's sharing with a few other Australians. One of them turned out be well unhappy by us staying there, but I'll get to that. We spend that day, drinking beer and hanging out in the sun of Hugo's backyard. We took the bus down to south bank in the evening, but ended up back at Hugo's as the last bus back runs around 11.

After a good night sleep in the couch we spent hours cleaning the house as ther're selling it and have people to come look at it that day. And since the four of us got to stay there for free, we felt that's a way for us to show our appreciation.  We went to the fake beach in southbank in the afternoon. Basically a beach next to a pool in the middle of the city. We happened to run into Nikolaj and his girlfriend again and decided to try to meet up with them over a couple of beers the same evening. As Hugo was off for hokey training me, Stina, Eric and Isabella walked to west end for a beer. We told Nikolaj to meet us there, but they happend to walk in the wrong direction for ages because their GPS told them so and never got to the right place. We met back up with Hugo to take the bus back home. We decided not to stay at the veranda this night as Hugo's neighbor complained about us beeing to loud the night before. Hugo happend to get into a huge fight with one of his housemates as soon as we got into the front door. He was extremely unhappy, and started to scream at Hugo going mad over the fact that we were staying there. The four of us felt a bit bad for still beeing there after that,  but it was way to late to find somewhere else anyway. And he was definitely overreacting. 

  We walked down to a nearby park to listen to music, drinking wine and chatting the hours away. 

The police came chatting with us for a while too, since the were getting really bored that night. They are usually super friendly in this country. When we got back to Hugo's all 5 of us got in to he's room not to pist his housemate off even more. We got back way too late to get up in decent time the next morning thought. 

Coulandra, Sushine cost

Since Hugo live in the southeast part of Brisbane, and me and Stina was going north we had to travel by local buses across the town to find a good spot to hitch hike.  And we all stay'd in bed a little too long as well and didn't hit the road until the afternoon. Isabella and Eric was about to leave the same day as well to go back south to Byron bay. By hitch hiking as well. 

Even if we did travel across town to find a good hitch hiking spot, we didn't really. We stood on the road leading out of the city to the highway, but the traffic was little too fast. We got a little bit worried, especially since it was already getting late. After just a few minutes, a girl in our age came up to us offering a lift to the highway service station. As soon as we got to the service station (after having dinner) we met a wonderful mid age woman who drove us all the way to sunshine cost, where she's currently staying. So it all worked out pretty good after all. 

We checked in to a backpacker hostel, our first hostel since we started our travels. Bought a couple of beers chatting with people on the hostels common area. As it was Friday, the majority of the people staying there where all off to to clubbing later that night. By the time they left, which was pretty late, me and Stina went to bed. 

We went to check out the beach the next morning and spend a couple of hours in the sun. Since both me and Stina is really eager to improve our pool skills we ended up spending hours and hours at a sports bar that evening. We went together with an Australian guy who helped us out giving us tips how to get better. 

Mooloolaba, sunshine cost

We was about to leave for Noosa the next evening, but when we told the owners of the hostel that we planned to hitch hike the offered us a lift to their other hostel in Mooloolaba as the're going there anyway. It was only an 20 minutes drive, but at least it got us a little bit along our way up north. 

We stay'd in Mooloolaba only for the night thought, and headed for Noosa in the morning. 

Noosa, Sunshine cost

While we were walking down the street, dragging our bags after us this man pulled over asking where we're going. When we told him that we were looking for a good spot to hitching from he offered us a ride just to the next closest city along the way to Noosa. He couldn't find a spot good enought to drop us off so he ended up driving us all the way to Noosa, and back. He was very kind. 

During our travels throught Australia we've heard only good things about Noosa, and therefore our expectation was quite high. It is not very big, but very spread out. We stay'd at a tiny camping ground outside Noosaville, and for us to walk to Noosa head, or Noosa junction would take us almost an hour. 

As Patrick and his friend arrived to Noosa the same day we went back to Noosa head after dropping our luggage off, to meet them at the main beach. We decided to meet up again that evening for a couple of drinks as me and Stina went back to the camping for a while. 

The campground itself was extremely basic, and we weren't allowed in the area between 9.30 and 4.30 since the scouts were gonna be there at that time. The Mosquitos were killing us, there was not very many people staying there (understandable), but at least it was cheep. 

We walked back into Noosa junction where we was about to meet Patrick at a bar where they met some other friends. We found ourselves walking for ages and ages, on the darkestpath way, not knowing if we were walking in the right direction. And after an hour, always there I realized that I forgot to bring my id. Normally we'd probably be able to find a place where they don't check Id, but today they had some kind of happening in town and guards outside every pub. Patrick came to meet us anyway, so we ended up buying some beer drinking at the beach for a couple of hours. We ended up having a great time thought even if I did feel quite stupid walking for hours to get into the bar without bringing id. 

We walked to sunshine beach the next morning, which is a beautiful beach in the area where Patrick where staying. About 1,5 hour walking from our camp site. We spend a few hours on the beach before me and Stina where off to the Internet cafe to sort some stuff out. Me went back into town a few hours later, with my id this time, for some beer and pool game. Patrick joined us as well so we all improved our pools skills. We went to meet up with Patricks friends for a while before me and Stina started our one hour walk back home. 

Rainbow beach

Since Patrick and his friend where off to Rainbow beach the next morning, me and Stina decided to try to get there as well. We stood by the road just outside our campsite and got picked up by an Australian guy's living about half way to rainbow and offered us a lift there. After talking with us, and realizing how nice we were, he ended up driving us all way to rainbow beach. We stopped at his place on the way for a coffe,  beautiful located in the forest. We checked into a hostel in Rainbow, had lunch and a swim in the ocean together with our driver before he was heading back home. Me and Stina met up with Patrick and his friend at their hostel bar, where we spend the next couple of hours playing pool and chatting the night away. Since this was about to be the most northest part me and Stina reach this time (because of our money situation), and Patrick where heading further north the next morning this was about to be our last chance to hang out in a very long time. 

Sydney, Australia

Since Paulo was about to come to Sydney for a few days as well, just over new year, we'd love to spend the day with him and Nikolaj and his girlfriend. But also With Kat, Patrick and his friend. Nikolaj, Paulo and James wanted to go up at 6 in the morning to stand in the queue for hours into the botanical garden, where you're suppose to have the best view over the fireworks over Harbour bridge and the opera house. Kat went away to a park with some of the people from our hostel way to early as well. In the end, me and Stina decided not to follow anyone and just do our own thing, in our own way. And we ended up having the best day. 

As Stina couldn't be bothered walking back to Glebe last night, and to sneak into our hostel is too easy, She ended up spending the night there as well. We started the day going for brunch at kings cross, she waited for me to get my stuff ready before we were off to Glebe. We spend a couple of hours at the pool together with Canadian Nilusha, who's the one living there.mUnfortunately she felt a bit too sick to come with us later on.  Me and Stina decided to go for dinner, and ended up at this lovely Indian restaurant. We shared a bottle of whine, delicious food, and talked for hours. We bought ourselves some beer and a bottle of champagne on our way back to welcome the new year with. We ended up walking to Bulmain, which is a big park not too far from Glebe, with a view over the Harbour bridge, and where a lot of people go for the fireworks. The walk there was a bit longer than we expected, and when we finally got there we weren't allowed in since we were carrying alcohol. We finished our beer at a tiny grass spot outside, and hide the champagne in my bag with the help of Stina's scarf and it worked perfectly. We met up with Patrick and his friend in the park as well just before the fireworks started off. 

Even if the firework itself wasn't as amazing as expected, I was in the happiest place. In an amazing country, surrounded by gorgeous people after a perfect day. Me and Stina agreed that after this moment, nothing could go wrong. We shared our bottle of champagne, cheering and hugging around. Made New Years conclusions including not making plans (as that was we went for today, which gave us the perfect day), live in the moment, and make as much of it as possible.

The fireworks ended quite quickly, and we're all thinking about heading back, or somewhere else. As it was impossible to even think about getting a cab, or even the bus, we started walking. By this time it was Me and Stina together with Patrick and a bunch of his friends friend. Probably the biggest group of Swedish people I've been around since I got here. It was a bit of a walk, almost 2 hours, but me and Stina enjoyd every second of it since we had such an amazing day and nothing could change that. We lost the others during our walk since they walked way to slow. You know how it's hard to keep a big group to walk in the same speed. We met Patrick back at kings cross, but the rest of them went to bed. We was suppose to meet up with Paulo, Nikolaj and James as well, but since they all been up since 6 in the morning queuing to the botanical garden, they were all back home by the time we got back. We we're not in a mood for clubbing so we went to a more quiet bar for another drink together with a British guy from our hostel. As we felt like the night was about to come to an end, and the sun was about to rise we're soon enought finding ourselves back in bed as well. 

Me and Patrick during fireworks at new years eve

Our first day of 2014, we wanted to spend on the beach. Paulo Said he was gonna meet us there vut headed of to blue montains instead. Me and Kat met up with Stina and her gorgeous canadian friend Nilusha, and we went down to Bondi together were we met James, Nikolaj and his girlfriend, who basically just came to visit him for a few weeks. The beach was absolutely packed with people, and the wether wasn't great, but it was still worth going and we a great time. As it was Kat's last night, and James's last night as well we decided to all meet up for a few drinks later on. Even if it is New Year's Day. I didn't stay up for too long thought as me and Stina where getting up early in the morning to visit Livy in Wollongong. 

Me and Kat checked out from the hostel and I went to meet Stina at the trainstation at 9. Turned out that she hadn't got any sleep at all yet, since she and James decided to stay at the bar quite a while after the rest of us left. So she had a great sleep during our 1,5 journey to Woolongong. So did I and we almost missed our stop in Wollongong, in which by the way turned out to be the wrong one. Livy got her friend to drive there and pick us up and arrived to the sight of me and Stina sleeping on each others shoulders. We did had a lovely day together even if Stina was a bit out of energi. We had a coffe, a look around the beautiful little town before we went to the beach for a while. Livy seemed to be living an amizing life in Wollongong. She's been getting up early every morning doing yoga, eating healthy, drinking te instead of alcohol and felt just great while me and Stina where complaining about how much our body's hurt and how bad we felt after our kings cross alcoholic lifestyle. 

Stina had a little nap that afternoon, and we woke her up just a few minutes before we had to leave for the train back to Sydney. As she still wasn't really awake, she accidently took Livys phone for her own (as they have the same one) and brought it with her to Sydney. It took us a few hours before we found out later that night. It's quite funny too since Livy been so unlucky with her technology, lost her old phone in blue montains and just bought a new one. We managed to send it back to her a few days later. We met up with Kat back at kings cross since she decided to stay another night. She also forced us to another night out since she claimed that this was her last night (again). Neither me or Stina enjoyd that night out, since we felt to fed up with the kings cross nightlife. All three of us, me, Kat and Stina, sneaked back in to our old hostel to sleep even if we didn't pay for the night. They did question it in the morning thought so I needed to find another place to stay by then. 

Kat left us in the morning, sadly enough, and me and Stina walked down town to get her a new suitcase for her future adventures.  We met up with her friend Nilusha who couldn't wait to tell us all about her morning being on a date with this guy she met last night. As soon as we saw her we could tell that she was on clouds of happiness and just couldn't stop smiling. She told us her story over and over again as we were walking to Broadway's shoppingmall close to Glebe. Stina got her suitcase, or a package of 7 bags, so I got one of them for myself as well. 

Even if me and Stina made the decision not to go out that night, Patrick managed to convince us to come with them to this club in darling Harbour. And since I didn't had anywhere to stay that night, we thought that we might as well go there and stay out all night until we could check into our new hostel in Glebe the next morning. Great plan huh. I went back to kings cross to collect my luggage before heading back to Stina's where I could storage them at Nilushas place during the night. By this point, Stina just picked up all her stuff that she left in her old apartment before she went away to Leeton a couple of months ago and was just in the session of sorting stuff out. We had a few beers while we were sorting and packing which took us a while and it wasn't before 2am we met Patrick and his friends in the club. In the end, both of us ended up sleeping on the floor of Nilushas tiny studio apartment for just an hour or two. 

We spent that day on Glebe's Saturday market as well as sorting and packing some more, leaving giant bags of Stina's old stuff to charity before we finally went to check in to our hostel in Glebe. On our way there Stina's big new suitcase manage to brake for being overpacked and she ended up drag it all way there in which obviously made it brake even more. 

After having our earliest night in weeks we woke up after a great full nights sleep to meet up with Nilusha. We went for a morning swim in her rooftop pool before getting some breakfast, or more like brunch. We headed back to the hostel to re-organize Stina's baggage with her new bag. Playing ping pong with an Estonian guy from our room before having another early night.  

Since we woke up at decent time we decided to try to walk to the beach. It took us about 2 hours to coogee wich is one of the beach southern suburbs of Sydney. We spend a couple of ours working on our tans, swimming in crazy waves and strong currents. A British guy that we met in kings cross came to join us as well. Nilusha told us about this Swedish pizza restaurant called 'sven's Viking pizza' in the area which we obviously had to check out as well. Turned out that it was closed only at Mondays though so we ended up at a sushi train place instead. We went for a game of pool, and me and Stina almost managed to beat the British guy even if we lost in the end. We finished the day with a sunset walk along the cliffs by the beach. 

Our last day in Sydney we went to the cinema to watch 'the secret life of Walter Miller'. Not a great movie, but it got a lot better halfway throught (I obviously fell asleep for a little bit in the beginning, because that's how I usally end up spending my time at cinemas). After the movie we met up with Nilusha for a last dinner together, and to finally try to make it to this Mexican place where our friend Tom use to as a bar manager before coming to fruitshack. We had a tasty meal and a few drinks together before saying goodbuy to Nilusha for this time. 

Me and Stina stay'd in town for a couple of more hours to meet Patrick for a last couple of drink as well. Even if we'd probably see him soon enought anyway since they're traveling up east cost as well.