Never Leaving

So what has been happening? Well, school started! Horray? Hah, but really. It’s nice to have a little bit more structure in my days instead of lazying around. Thankfully don’t have school on Mondays/Fridays so most days I go to the beach and/or lay out and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Now because I haven’t blogged in forever, something I promised myself I would stop doing, I’ll just give you some highlights J

1.  FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL

            The day started off splendidly getting 80s and sparkled out. I had my floral 80s swimsuit and snapback on and was ready to go. Before heading in with my friends we met some dains for a pre, which involved my climbing over a fence and yelling their names to see if that was who was on the fb exchange page mentioning the pre. Thankfully it all worked out! Marin, Rune and Shannon are now my new best friends and we all stuck together in the venue. Walked in, no breeze, and saw Pharell, Hardwell, Phoneix, Macklemore as well as some other techno rave bands. During Pharrel I got on my aussie friends shoulders, a brand new friend met just that day, and was able to grove like I’ve never grooved before. If you want to see more of that I have an awesome video of it. It was beautiful and spectacular. I also was about 10 feet away from Phoenix later that night because everybody was busy aweing over Deadmau5. It was totally worth it. Throughout the day, too, the dains bought be beer b/c I was still moneyless, and I nomed on a personal pizza. We also saw a guy pee on a tent then get punched, which was interesting, as well as many body parts that should normally be clothed. (If you want more stories on that, just ask me personally).

That night I then came back to my flat with Sophie (my amazing roomie) throwing a rager with her Korean friends, with one passed out in the bathroom. We ended up picking him up by the legs and dragging him to the appropriate sleeping spot. With Sophie alright, the Festival crew then went out to a bar with Shannon pushing me in a shopping cart as transportation. Sadly we weren’t able to get into the bar because it wasn’t a “wife beater night” and all the boys were wearing them. But secretly I was glad because I was beat.

2. GORDON’S BAY    

            Now I’ve been to Gordon’s bay a few times, an amazing secluded beach on rocks, with the bluest water you could imagine. So beautiful! Every time I go there we swim out to the other side and explore the rocky beach, or just come back to our little rock island and lay out. It’s also a lot more chill then Coogee which is nice, meaning less people and more playful dogs. Let me tell you, the thing I probably miss most down here are my dogs. Dog induced depression is a real thing.   

3. BLUE MOUNTAINS

            The girls, plus Kevin, and I took a weekend Groupon trip to the Blue Mountains! It’s about 2 hours away, but so worth it! We had a very energetic bus driver that wouldn’t keep quiet, even though he said he would, which made trying to sleep on the way there after our 6am wakeup call very hard. Once we go there, my tired eyes couldn’t believe what I saw. Our bus climbed to the top of the mountain to overlook what seemed like heaven. A vast expanse of mountains and cliffs, almost like a green grand canyon. We were high above the clouds and I didn’t want to come down. We first stopped to see some traditional aborigines dancing, took a picture with a life size koala, then opted for some other Kodak moments before hopping on the bus to our next destination.

            The main part of the Blue Mountains was an hour plus hike where we could choose our own adventure, all leading to the same end. We saw wild cockatoos and many more wild Australian animals. We hiked to a waterfall then to a lookout to see the 3 Sisters, a rock formation of 3 huge bluffs. There’s an aborigines story about how they were turned into stone by their witch father. After our hike we were all pretty tired and famished, so we had a quick bite to eat in town. I had a veggie sandwich which consisted of a bit of lettuce, carrots and beets, but the taste was made up for with my side of chips (fries).

            My favorite part of the Groupon, though, was the wildlife sanctuary we visited. There were kangaroos roaming free EVERYWHERE so of course I took it upon myself to take as many selfies as I could with them. We fed them some kangaroo food in little ice cream cones, which they absolutely loved! Saw a Tasmanian devil, some penguins, koalas, dingoes, crocodiles, flying foxes (my favorite) and 2 quokkas!!!! If you don’t know what a quokka is, Google it. You won’t regret it.

            After our exciting day I fell asleep on Kevin on the bus ride home, a rarity for me, but not for long b/c we also visited the Olympic Stadium from when the Olympics were held in Australia. Then came a HUGE thunder storm which was nice, seeing as it had been a bit dry lately. We finished off the day in Darling Harbor where we had dinner at Margaretville and then watched free fireworks at 9. Truly a wonderful day!

4. NEW CASTLE

            Well this weekend I had the amazing opportunity to visit Newcastle, I place I have decided will one day be home to me, at least for a little while. I made a friend at Future Music Festival that said I should come down, so OF COURSE I took him up on his offer. The day was incredible.

            First, the only bad thing, is that Newcastle is so far away that I had to get up early and take the bus to get there in order to get the most out of my trip. It’s about 2.5 hours so you can imagine my alarm clock. We started the day with lunch at a lookout point that is INCREDIBLE! It overlooks Merewether Beach, a secluded surfers paradise, as well as a lot of green untouched land. It really was so beautiful. To make lunch even MORE spectacular we dined on pizza, garlic bread brownies and beer. I was definitely a happy camper.

            After that we drove around for a bit and I really got to see Newcastle. It’s just a very chill beach down with a good atmosphere and happy people. My kind of place. I also heard from my friend there’s lots of young people and a nice music scene, which is even MORE perfect. After driving around for a bit we went to Bogey Hole, a little seaside natural pool that’s just shallow enough that only my head comes out the top. With it being right on the shore the waves come up and crash, spraying everywhere and making a big fuss. It was, again, perfect.

            However after our long day we decided to take it easy for the afternoon and watch some NRL (National Rugby League), of which I’m finally understanding at least a little bit of the rules. He also challenged me to flip cup, a game I thought I could easily win due to my American drinking superiority, but I was sorely mistaken. Aussies go hard, and they’re good at it.  

            Sadly left later that night when I was so not ready to leave, but it was alright. For the bus ride home I got the most AMAZING falafel wrap of my life. Getting on the bus with it by my side made the journey a bit easier. Watched Fast and Furious 6 and before I knew it I was back in Sydney.

So as you guys can see I’m basically never going to leave Australia, so this is my goodbye letter to home. Just kidding… But really. If you would like to see any pictures just let me know! Sadly left my camera --> computer cable back home so need to borrow one of my friends. But for now xoxo.