Rules of the traveller's road

Warning: This blog post doesn't actually contain any interesting information about our Australian adventure. It is merely a means for getting stuff off my chest!
After returning our car, we spent one further, restless, night in Sydney before heading to Canberra. There are various types of fellow dorm-sharers I dislike. The sort who come crashing in at any hour without a care for those already asleep in the room. The sort who fart really loudly. And the sort who bring other people into the dorm without your knowledge or permission. Guess who got all of those in the recent Sydney hostels!?
Before we headed to Parkes, we stayed in a dorm in the Sydney Central YHA. This is one huge hostel and it was fully booked for the first two nights of our arrival. I had just about got to sleep on the first night when lo and behold, the door comes crashing open, the lights come on and someone is making no effort to be quiet despite the rest of us being asleep in the dorm. He then goes to the bathroom, crashing the door behind him. He then returns from the bathroom, again crashing the door and finally switching out the light before falling into bed, after which he spends about 5 minutes farting REALLY loudly. In case Chris managed to sleep through this, I tried to fill him in on some of the details the next day, knowing we'd left the guy fast asleep in the room. Imagine my surprise when the guy in front of us in the queue turns round and says "Hi, nice to meet you, I was in your dorm last night!" Embarrassed is not the word. Especially as we still had another night in the hostel to go (thankfully in a different room this time). Turns out he was much quicker at getting ready than us!
Our last night in a different hostel was also spent in a dorm with one lovely Canadian girl, and one annoying guy who I had originally thought was part of a rather large 'Schoolies' crowd. To say the hostel wasn't quiet was a bit of an understatement. It was particularly loud because of this group of kids running around the corridors. The reason I thought one of them was in with us was because our door was repeatedly knocked at all hours by the kids trying to get the group together.
In the middle of the night, the door again came crashing open as our 4th guest found their way to the bed. That I could handle. What I couldn't handle was the next half hour or so of his phone repeatedly sounding out that annoying Nokia tone really loudly. Grr! Then the door went again. Then, apparently, the Canadian girl told him to shut up which I think he did. It wasn't until the next day I realised he had a girl in his bed with him. I know this isn't anything unusual for backpackers, but I've been lucky not to have to put up with it until now. Thankfully they were too drunk to create much havoc. And in their defence, they seemed quite nice. They were also about to embark on a working holiday visa each. The girl he had brought in was swearing never to drink again (yeah, right). When I explained we were heading to Canberra she told us some great places we should go, and those we should avoid... all nightclubs. Not once did she mention any of the actual 'sights' within Canberra! That's when I realised I was getting too old and too sensible far too quickly!
Basically, this blog post was more about me having a little rant than any adventures. It's all over for now though, promise!

Sparks in Parkes

After a chilled out weekend in Sydney, we decided to leave the hustle & bustle of the city and head further inland in a hire car. We'd seen the weather reports and it was supposed to be rubbish for the next couple of days. It seems the report was accurate as it was absolutely tipping it down. Glad we decided against the beach this time. The car was from a national company this time (I did try local, unsuccessfully), but this meant the car was of a much higher quality. It was an automatic, which I remembered being easy to drive last time. I obviously remembered this at a time when I'd had about 4 weeks practice. This time, I drove straight out of the car hire place into the busy streets of Sydney and suddenly realised I'd forgotten how to drive auto. I'd got so used to our rubbish manual from Brisbane that I faltered for a few junctions until I remembered the rules. Thankfully Chris was on hand to navigate and remind me of the differences (2 pedals, no clutch, that kind of thing!)...

Our destination for the next 2 days was to be a place called Parkes, famous for its radio telescope that helped with the moon landings in 1969. It was made more famous by a film, The Dish, released in 2000 (starring Sam Neill, the guy from Jurassic Park, and Kevin Harrington, Harold Bishop's son in Neighbours). However, unbeknown to me, this isn't the only thing that Parkes are particularly proud of. Oh no, it turns out the people of Parkes-shire are also massive Elvis fans! In January it gets packed out as they hold celebrations and everything! It appears the moon landings are nothing in comparison to the works of 'the king'.

Anyway, we knew it was supposed to be about a 4.5-5 hour car journey to Parkes from Sydney. This didn't account for the rubbish weather and not-so-great Sat Nav we hired with the car. It took us absolutely bloomin' ages to get out of the city, and when we were nearly on the road to take us out, I managed to take a wrong turn thanks to the Sat Nav's poor timing at giving directions. "Bear left" when you've already been passing the line of traffic in the left hand lane for about 2kms is not enough warning to get me into a lane! So we took a minor de-tour, although it may not have done us any harm as it stayed busy everywhere for quite some time.

We eventually arrived at our destination in Parkes over 5.5 hours later, without stopping once. It was a great drive though - loads of brilliant scenery. I was glad to be out of the big cities for a couple of days. We had booked a motel for our time here. We could've got a train but it was going to be more expensive for the car hire and I feared Parkes would have very little in the way of public transport. I was right, public transport was nearly non-existent, but there were lots of taxis so perhaps we'd have been ok. Anyhow, I was happy to have the car.

We slept in the next day before we ventured off to the Telescope visitor centre. I was very excited about this before we even got there. When we arrived, I saw a sign for 'Whispering Dishes'. These are basically 2 semi-circle dishes facing each other, but quite far apart. I don't remember anything like this when I did science at school - if I did I may've been more interested and gotten better grades! Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but for the benefit of those more like me, let me explain the principle. Basically, one of you whispers into one dish while the other stands at the other dish, and vice versa. Because of the way they're facing, you can hear each other really clearly. Chris had to explain it to me and help me demonstrate its functionality - it's so clever! I was even more totally impressed and this was before we'd even set foot inside the visitor centre!!

Having set foot in the centre, we were presented with a few other scientific displays, including a floating pen. It was using magnetic fields to float. Then there were the funny mirrors, the sort you get in Paulton's Park and other kids fun parks, that reflect you in different and warped shapes. They were trying to represent how the radio-telescope worked. I didn't fully understand, but again, it was fun so I didn't mind! We went for a 3D experience (a trip to Mars and various other stars and stuff in our solar system and beyond). It was quite cheesy but none-the-less enhanced my experience and appreciation for all things astronomy-related. After watching another non-3D presentation and looking at the various displays of how the telescope has changed over the years, and how the film The Dish didn't really give a true representation of the moon landings (for example, Cricket was never really played on the Dish and there were far more scientists present than the film led us to believe), we headed out to get some lunch and pictures of 'The Dish' (visitors are not allowed into the control rooms at the telescope as it is still an active instrument for astronomers). We went for lunch in the cafe there and soaked up the scene.

All-in-all it was a great day, I'm glad we made the venture out here. We even went to Forbes afterwards, which is where much of the filming was done away from the telescope (apparently they felt it hadn't aged as much in 30 years compared to Parkes

We went out to dinner a couple of times in Parkes and if you're ever in that neck of the woods, let me know - I can recommend an excellent Chinese with lovely hosts!

This morning we got up early and made the 5.5 hour journey back to Sydney. We were making excellent time until the Sat Nav mucked up again and made us go wrong several times. Unfortunately we were in the vicinity of several toll roads so goodness knows how much the upcoming credit card bill will be! I'm going to blame it on the Sat Nav... what sat nav sends you into a toll-road tunnel without clear instructions when it knows it's going to lose satellite signal?? Stupid thing. Grrr. Anyhow, Chris and I are now back on talking terms - if our experiences are anything to go by I reckon Sat Navs are probably a considerable factor in many break ups and divorces - we get along brilliantly until you get one of us behind the wheel of a car and the other controlling the sat nav!

For Iain

Apologies for the delay in blogging lately, I can't even blame it completely on internet this time, just laziness! However, it appears some people (my brother at least) have felt a little disappointed with my efforts of late, so I'm making up for it now!

Having arrived in Sydney ridiculously early in the morning, I was surprisingly perky, despite having had no sleep on the overnight journey. I didn't even bother trying this time as I knew it was pointless. If my body wanted to sleep, it just would, whether I liked it or not. Sadly, it chose not to. So, I adopted Meatloaf and Michael J Fox to keep me company on the journey - Meatloaf to listen to on my MP3 player, and Michael J Fox for his latest book to read. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertained they kept me.

Upon arrival we checked into our hostel (well, dumped our bags, checking in wasn't going to be possible until later) and then ventured into the city in search of breakfast. Not long into our search we found Market City. It was ridiculously early, but a few places here were open. Market City, from what I can make out, is Sydney's answer to Melbourne's Queen Victoria Markets. We headed to the food courts and I suddenly felt like we were on a European touristy beachside holiday - various restaurant owners were beckoning, no BEGGING us to THEIR breakfast establishment - we had several to choose from, so I decided to do the usual Hannah-style of choosing; go to the people making the least fuss. I'm glad we did, they did gooood coffee which helped to wake me up (as now I was beginning to flag).

Chris and I weren't feeling up to much and were due to meet Lindsay & Lizette, Chris' school friend and his fiancée, in the evening. What were we going to do to keep ourselves entertained? We'd already seen most of what we wanted to in Sydney and didn't have enough energy for anything further afield. We settled for a trip to the cinema, to see Jackass 3D. I'll be honest, I mainly went for Chris' benefit and for a sit-down, maybe even a snooze (ok, expensive snooze)! But for some reason or another, I couldn't stop laughing pretty much the whole way through. I don't know if it was genuinely that funny or if I was just that sleep deprived - it wouldn't be my usual type of film, and I don't think I'd recommend it to most of the people I know will be reading this! If you choose to go see it based on my description, I would ask that you don't hold me responsible - I repeat, I was delirious when I watched it!

Anyhow, we decided we weren't going to be at our best to meet up with Lindsay and Lizette, so made alternative arrangements. Turns out there is a festival in a suburb of Sydney, Newtown, on the Sunday, so we headed there to meet them instead. That was great; free-entry (well, gold coin donations) and loads of bands, stalls and food/drink options. No-one famous, but it was a really good atmosphere. Quite a hippy festival, but a great day for us. The highlight was a band who were blatantly nothing to do with the festival, but had chosen to set up their own stage in their back yard and had captured quite an audience, including a bunch of policemen who obviously couldn't figure out what to do for the best! Still, it was quite near the end of the festival anyhow, so I think they let them play on.

After the festival we headed out for a few more drinks and some dinner with Lindsay and co, before heading back for the hostel. Tomorrow we would be picking up another hire car to take us inland, and everyone else, of course, had to work. Oh this is the life!
 

Confessions of a Robinson's Apple & Blackcurrant (No added sugar) Addict

We hired a car for our last week in Brisbane. We did our bit in supporting local businesses and hired from a local firm. Local and cheap, which was nice. Upon picking up the car, we discovered why it was so cheap - I don't know how old it was, but I think we can safely presume older than our cars back home, possibly both of them put together. The clutch was pretty poor and I wondered whether the distance restrictions were imposed for fear of the car breaking down, as opposed to the usual restrictions faced when hiring cars. Still, it was perfect for what we needed.

We decided to make the most of what little sun had appeared since our arrival in Queensland and headed off up the Sunshine Coast (North of Brisbane) to a lovely beach - Mooloolaba to be precise. Watching Chris dodge the waves was great fun. I don't think I can upload a video on here, but if I work out how to I will!

Chris, Sophie and I also took a little nostalgic tour to Cleveland Bay, about a half hour drive from Brisbane. Nostalgic, not because we'd been there before (well, Sophie had), but because it reminded us of a typical British seaside scene; Muddy/stony beach with dark browny/greeny sea and mud crabs scuttling about. Particularly uninviting, just like some of the south's beaches! The main difference was a lack of ice-cream van and a presence of sunshine. There were plenty of Brits around to make us feel at home though. And although there was no van, we stopped for a gelato (posher ice-cream from what I can make out).

As the day was taking a turn for British nostalgia, we decided to go all out and get proper British fish & chips. Those of you who have read mine or Chris' blogs before may well remember that whilst Fish & Chips is not short in supply down under, malt vinegar is. Not so today though! We went to a place called Britain on the Bayside, complete with a proper British Fish & Chip shop, a British import store AND a British style Indian restaurant... I know what you're thinking, what the heck is BRITISH style INDIAN? I've no idea either, but that's how it was advertised! Thinking about it, I think Indian is the only meal we've not eaten since we got here actually... perhaps I should investigate the finer points of the difference between British-based Indian cuisine compared to Australian-based Indian cuisine... but enough about that, I've digressed!

So, the fish & chip shop. Complete with Malt vinegar, cod, haddock and plaice, to name but a few. Amazing! Apparently it's owned by a couple of Brummy's who imported the chip fryers and have all the fish frozen and imported too. It was great. I also visited the import store, but alas, no Robinson's Special R Apple & Blackcurrant. I decided to invest in the non-sugar-free variety. When will I ever learn that this is definitely not for me?!? I understand from Auds that there is still a bottle of the stuff that I left at Skandia when I departed in September. Still, it was a lesson well learnt, this time at least.

After our trip to Cleveland, Chris and I took a couple of trips down the Gold coast beaches (south of Brisbane). These were slightly rougher than those up north. I couldn't go in the sea properly for fear of being swept out, or worse, losing my swimming costume as Sophie had warned me about! So I paddled into about shin-depth, which soon became chest-depth when the waves hit, but it was fun watching Chris play in the sea again. He looked like a big kid.

On Thursday, we bade farewell to Dan, Sophie and 'Bump' and returned our car before we ventured on our 16+ hour train-coach-train trip back to the big smoke (Sydney). Not before Dan had made us up a quick bottle of bourbon from his home-distillery (mmmm, thanks Dan!). We somehow found a train from the outskirts of Brisbane, into the city, before getting a coach to Casino (inland a bit), and then another train to Sydney. It was our longest journey yet I think, but we were going to meet up with Chris' old school friend, so at least we had something to look forward to...