Byron Bay and Environs

I've spent the last few days in Byron Bay, a city that has lived up to all it's reputed to be. For the first time, there are lots of backpackers around that give a place life. Though my hostel is only 1/3 full, there is still a good number of people (~40) that make it fun. Byron is a place where everyone initially plans to stay for 2-3 days, but ends up staying a week or longer. I totally see why.

Sunrise View from mainland Australia's most eastern point (Lighthouse).

I went surfing for the first time two days ago and it was fantastic! Though its winter here, the water's not that cold if you wear a wetsuit. During the day, its about 20 degrees with a perfectly clear sky. At night, however the temperature drops precipitously to 5 degrees or lower, which equals major layering.

I started surfing on a minimal (8''6' board) and stood up! You know what I just realized, everything here is in meters and kilograms, except for board lengths! All the surfboards are measured in feet--an American influence? But that's strange because surfing is more popular in Australia than it is in the US. I dare venture to say that surfing is an integral part of Aussie culture--they even have surfing reserves here-- stretches of pristine beaches that are free from future development (such as Bells Beach, Lennox Head, etc.)! So why are surfboards measured in feet?

I'm not too into the partying scene, but there is a bar/club here worth mentioning, that quoting my Let's Go predecessor, "Cheeky Monkey’s is to Byron Bay as that bar with the frog is to Cancun" (a clear reference to Mr. Toad's). It’s clearly a touristy bar and a pretty decent crowd gathers there on most nights. The club promoters come around to all the hostels each night giving out fliers for $2 meals or free drinks. But I find it more fun to hang out at the hostel where everyone is cooking and eating together. One of the best distinguishers of a backpacker is the Ultimate Backpacker Meal: the famous pasta dinner -- I easily counted over 10 pasta eaters out of 15 dinners last night!

Inflating a hot air balloon

Byron is probably my last beach town stop. After this, I’m heading inland to the cold deserts of New South Wales.

Sunrise on the water

Coffs Harbour

There are some nice beaches around Coffs Harbour, but their main attractions is the Big Banana. It started out as a big banana sculpture on the side of the road, that has grown into this kitschy tourist site with a 3D interactive film/tour, a tobogganing ride, an inflated waterslide park, a trike ride (these 3-wheeled motorcycle car things), an ice skating rink, a puzzle shop, a candy factory shop, and café that sells delicious chocolate covered frozen bananas. The area is home to a couple banana plantations, but they really capitalized on the tourist market by creating the big yellow banana sculpture and joining in the "BIG" Australia craze. People now go the "Big Things" Australia tour to see all these larger than life sculptures of randomness: there's a Big Prawn in Ballina, a Big Guitar in Tamworth, a Big Oyster in Taree, etc.

Here's the famous Coffs Harbour Big Banana.

In Coffs Harbour, I took a whale watching cruise to see the migrating humpback whales. But the sea was really really choppy and I got terribly sea sick. The 4m waves (~12ft) were horrible, and I spent most of the time laying down. Nevertheless, I managed to snap a few good whale pictures before relinquishing myself to a nap on the boat bench.

Two whales!!

In Bellingen

There was a massive thunderstorm when I first arrived in Bellingen and I was afraid that it was going to be an ominous stay here. However, after getting to know this place better, it has now become one of my favorite places in the world. The people here are incredible and the views are just spectacular.

The Hostel

View from veranda

The Bellinger Backpackers YHA hostel has open verandas and a patio balcony that overlooks the river and lush cattle pastures. People play chess, ping pong and just hang out on the balcony. There are about 7 permanent residents here who work or are associated at the hostel. Some of them are backpackers who work a couple hours a day in exchange for accommodations. The others include are a grounds supervisor, a tour guide and locals who are so drawn to the place that the keep coming back. I can definitely see the draw of this town--I myself was originally booked to stay here one night, but ended up staying three. There's a great openness and warmth here, and even though I have only been here for two days, I feel at home.

Yup, that's a chicken!

This morning, I visited Bellinger's monthly market replete with food, clothes, crafts stalls. The highlight was trying new fruits such as lemonade (citrus hybrid), Monstera deliciosa (aka: fruit salad plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstera_deliciosa), tamarillo (aka: tree tomato) and custard apple.

I had planned to spend the afternoon writing, but the weather was too beautiful to pass up. Instead, I join Graham, the bike mechanic and permanent resident, on a ride to the Never Never Stream in the Promise Land (Peter Pan and Moses)! The 24km trail offered the prefect amount of hills -- providing some challenges but also some downhill thrills. Coming back, Graham's bike got 2 flat tires! The first one sprung a leak and his replacement spare both sprung leaks. But as knowledgeable is a cyclist, he was able to continue pumping the spare up and get back to camp.

It has been wonderful here and I'm sad to leave.

Picture from Dorrigo NP: Bower bird nest

In Port Macquarie

I have mixed feelings about Port Macquarie. It is the one place where I got honked to death by a impatient driver when I was driving just a tad slow. Goodness, I'm trying to find my way in your confusing city, can't you be just a bit more understanding???

The Visitor's Center here was most unhelpful and refused to give me any information. Instead, I was sent to speak with their tourism marketing department. However, the conversation with the marketing department of the tourism council ended up being very interesting. Port Macquarie is situated between Sydney and Byron Bay and often gets bypassed as people go up the coast to these two larger party towns. Port Macquarie currently caters to the family vacation market (80%) but wants to expand its backpacker (20%) draw. The city hopes to become market itself as a place of relaxation for backpackers in route to the larger party cities (capitalizing on its current strengths as a relaxation destination). It was fun learning about PM's tourism market and brainstorm ways to leverage a potential partnership between PM and Let's Go!

Near Port Macquarie is Crowdy Bay National Park, and in my opinion, one of the most spectacular parks ever. Not only is it home to gorgeous beaches and cliffs, but also to hundreds of kangaroos. The Eastern gray kangaroos lounge around, sunbathing on the lawns among picnicking families.

A picture of a joey peeking out of its mother's pouch.

A koala being cured of chlamydia at the Koala Hospital.

Cassowary, animal as large as an emu, at Billabong Park

In the Great Lakes Region

In the Great Lakes Region

Leaving Newcastle, I headed towards the "Great Lakes"-- a series of gorgeous lakes between Port Macquarie and Newcastle.

The weather has been super finicky these last few days. The dismal rains and my tight itinerary prevented any hikes or exploration of the Myall Lakes, Pacific Palms and Booti Booti parks. I did manage to shoot some great pictures from the viewpoints close to carparks.

However, the good is with the showery weather is that that I've seen a rainbow everyday for the last 4 days! Woah! And a double rainbow today! Rainbows also form on the waves as the mist strikes the foam spray.

I also met some chill surfers from Newcastle at Seal Rock. The Australians I have meet have been friendly--they have made my trip sooo much more enjoyable. Even their speech is cheerfully interspersed with "mates", "yeays", etc.

In Newcastle

In Newcastle

On Saturday, I left Sydney for Newcastle, a town with a vibrant music scene. I took the intercity train, but due to road construction, an ordinarily 2.5 hours trip took over 4 (we boarded a bus in the middle of the segment and then reboarded another train). During one of these transfers, I was approached by two old girls who wanted me to buy them cigarettes. They claimed that they were of age, but had their wallets stolen. It’s apparently the same everywhere.

While waiting for a bus, I met some extremely cute elderly ladies. One overheard that I was from San Diego and quipped that her sister lives in El Cajon. Her 86 year old sister was a "War Bride" who had married an American soldier during WWII. Apparently, this was a fairly common occurrence and there's even an Australian song about it!

Newcastle has some beautiful beaches, but my favorite parts of the city were the wildlife parks. The Blackbutt Nature Reserve had koalas and wombats. It is also the home to 20,000 grey headed flying foxes = bats. These cantaloupe sized bats hung by the hundreds from the trees. Even though it was day, they were still chirping loudly with each other, maybe pulling a bat all-nighter. At the Hunter Wetlands, I got to hold a Blue Tongued Skink. I learned that a skink regrows its entire tail if lost, whereas a lizard only grows a stump. I also held some amazing insects--they must have been inspiration for some horror movie out there.

In Manly, Sydney

In Manly, Sydney

On my second day in Australia, I decided to see the famed Sydney beaches. A very helpful man at the tourist information booth recommended that I ride the ferry to Manly, then make a trip to Watson's Bay and finally take the bus to Bondi Beach to hit up all the Sydney beach highlights.

However, my traveling style involves visiting everything thoroughly. I find it much more rewarding to really experience the place by traveling at a slower pace—taking the time to converse with locals and observe the environs. So instead of visiting 3 beaches, I ended up only visiting one.

I explored the ENTIRE Manly peninsula from the Manly North Shore peninsula to the Manly Scenic Walkway. I underestimated the distance of the various hikes, yet I also refused to go back without seeing everything—so ended up I walking around 20km… probably not the smartest thing to do. Still, I'm proud to say that I saw everything at Manly! Including an old forsaken lighthouse and a public access restricted government memorial that I inadvertently wandered into…

Manly North Shore reminded me of Torrey Pines in San Diego. The imposing cliffs, dry chaparral and dark blue ocean waters were exactly like those of home. The city of Manly, a quaint yet posh beach town was also reminiscent of La Jolla/Del Mar.

Following my day of adventure, I met up with two Sydney friends, Leo and Michael. We had a ton of fun grabbing dinner and catching up at a famed pancake restaurant (Pancake on the Rocks). Wished I had more time in Sydney--I plan to reserve my days off in the itinerary to go back.

Picture Album Link

The number of pics I can post through blogger are limited. I've linked other fun photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/LanZhou1

In Sydney

After settling in my hostel in King's Cross, I headed out with my camera to see the Sydney sights.

I walked through the lush Royal Botanic Garden that boarders the glorious Sydney Harbor. The attitude in the Gardens is as relaxed as the Australians--note the amazing sign "Please walk ON the grass."

There were hundreds of joggers in the park; maybe it's just the city, but Australians seem more fit than Americans. The Royal Botanic Gardens = Central Park, only with better vistas of the Sydney Harbor.

The Opera House is a surprising shade of cream, not the pearly white featured in pictures. I was told that the coloration was due to age. Architect Jorn Utzon apparently drew inspiration for the design from an orange peel -- so if the darkening continues, the Opera House will soon become an orange not only in shape but also in color!

In Transit

My Quantas flight from LA to Sydney was great. I found the trick to escaping jet lag either pull an all-nighter or sleep for 14 straight hours to match my sleep to the time of arrival location.

A picture of an exhausted jet lagged traveler in the terminal...

Quantas is a great airline compared to the traditional American ones. The in flight entertainment has tons of movies and TV shows to chose from. And if you wanted, you could easily join the mile high alcoholic anonymous club by ordering from the wide selection of complimentary wines, beers and spirits!

The Sydney airport designers are ingenious -- all travelers must pass through a large duty free store before entering customs. Also, the in words my friend in reference to the customs check, "Australian security is more worried about letting in apples than terrorists."

Some Pre-departure musings

Though I'll be traveling alone in a new country, I feel relatively confident in defending myself. After learning the art of self defense in the Currier Mousehole and Lowell Courtyard, I'm prepared to wrestle any killer kangaroo or cranky crocodile that comes my way (I'll pick up a boomerang for good measure).

Some interesting things to start off the trip:

*It's wintertime there right now!!! No sun. No beach. No tan.

*Kangaroos are sadly one of the most common roadkill animals
*In 1954 Bob Hawke made it into the Guinness Record Book: he sculled 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob Hawke went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia
*The Great Barrier Reef has a mailbox. You can ferry out there and send a postcard, stamped with the only Great Barrier Reef stamp.
*And for us Californian skater-brand whores, "Billabong" = "Pond" in Australian slang

From the Beginning

In fewer than 12 hours, I will be a college graduate.

In fewer than 4 days, I will be 10,000 miles away, literally.

For the past four years, I've lived safely behind these ivy gates. Life was certain: class. extracurricular. meal. fun. sleep. But all this academic structure vanishes when I receive that slip of paper proclaiming me a knowledgeable Scholar of the Arts. What will next year entail for me? What will it be like when I'm finally in the "real world"?

Yet before I officially embark on the New York type of life, I will spend some time reflecting in the land down under. While driving alone through national parks and the "almost" outback roads of Australia, I seek to find a sense of self and to create my own definitions of success, happiness and good. And if I later learn that my current conception of life is relatively clear, this trip will only improve and strengthen it further.

How changed will I be when I come back? No idea. ni idea. But I definitely look forward to reading your feedback and your insights. Please comment (private or public) to let me know that you care. And thus begins my first blog post.