Welcome to the third, and hopefully finally, part of my Oz blog. We left off right as we were about to clamber up that most recognisable of bridges, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was a few days before Valentine's Day, so this was a present from Clare to Robbie, and Hayley to her boyfriend Mark...and Carol and I were just doing as much as we can! (I should mention that we were surprised at how many couples we met. It seems that people move to Australia and couple up – and most of them are with people from back home!)
To do the climb, we had to don some very sexy Teletubby-esque jumpsuits, and go through a bit of training. We couldn’t take anything up with us, I guess for fear of things falling. So we got our jumpsuit, a harness, and various things to clip to our suits, including a raincoat, which we all scoffed at since it was a beautiful day. The most important accessory was a cord-type-thing that we would attach to a bar that ran the whole way around the route. This cord-type-thing would make sure we didn’t fall off!
So off we set, to climb up the 134m (440 feet) tall bridge. The walk starts in the lower section, and just after we started out, it started to rain. And I mean rain! It was pouring out of the heavens, big fat heavy rain. We quickly pulled on the raincoats that we had scoffed at only minutes earlier, and struggled on. Thankfully, the rain stopped after less than ten minutes, but it left us almost soaked to the bone – think trousers sticking to legs, hair flattened and shoes sopping. However, it turned out to be a good thing that it rained at that point, because it meant the sky had cleared by the time we reached the top.
Along the way, our guide filled us in on the usual quirky stories, about Sydney, the bridge’s construction, and the Opera House. I won’t bore you with it all – go do the climb yourself! But finally, after climbing four vertical ladders, we reached the arch, and began the ascent to the peak. It felt amazing to be walking along the top of one of Australia’s most famous structures, while the cars whizzed by on the road below and Sunday life went on as normal for those on the ground.
When we finally reached the summit, we had some delightful touristy photos taken (like I said, this was a holiday full of such photos!) while our hair blew around in the wind. Bee-autiful! The descent was just as interesting, but I won’t deny of tinge of sadness that we ever had to come down at all!
It was a great experience, and even though my shoes took 3 days to dry, I’m glad we did it.
The rest of the day was spent lunching at a German restaurant, escaping heavy rain showers (by shopping some more) and attending a comedy show at the Opera House. Yup. The Opera House! We wanted any way we could get to be inside it, and opted for a stand up comedy show. I thought it was ok, a bit different, but ok; the others weren’t so keen, however. Ah well, we got into the Opera House!
The next day was our last full day in Sydney, and Carol and I wanted to do some more shopping (for work, honest!) Unfortunately, the torrential rain that had been falling all night was still falling when we woke up! But it’s impossible to stop a woman who’s been living in Korea where she can’t fit into anything from going shopping! So Carol packed a change of clothes, and off we trudged, into the darkness!
We were soaked through in less than 2 minutes. Hopped on a bus and got to the city centre, Carol changed, and I suffered the wet clothes! The rain did eventually stop, and I did dry off eventually, and we managed to buy another chunk of Sydney, so it was a successful trip!
That evening, we were going out to dinner with 14 other Irish folk (and one Aussie). It was a big deal. Because we were going to a legendary place on Bondi Beach called Hurricanes.
All of the people we had met had the same opinion of the place, and it was something we couldn’t leave with doing. Hurricanes is essentially a steak and rib restaurant; they have other food, but everyone goes for the ribs. Apparently, it’s all about the sauce. One guy had a full rack of ribs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was longer than my arm! It was an immense amount of meat, and it just came with chips.
I didn’t say this to anyone, because I would have been slaughtered and thrown on the barbecue, but I didn’t think it was anything overly spectacular.
I would have preferred something other than just chips (maybe that's the Korean influence coming out; I’m so used to multiple side dishes for free!) and the sauce was just alright. Sorry guys! If you’re really into your meat, I think you’d enjoy it. This is the bowl of bones left by a couple of people:
After dinner, we headed out for a few drinks, and witnessed fully the strictness of Sydney’s bouncers, who seem to take a dislike to you if you’ve had more than one drink. But the next morning, we were up and away again, on the next leg of our trip...
...to Byron Bay! This is a town further north up the eastern Australian coast, and it’s known for its laid-back way of life and general hippy-ish atmosphere. It attracts a lot of surfers, hippies and backpackers, and is full of craft stores and restaurants, as well as many pubs and clubs and cheap food stores aimed at said backpackers.
The laid-back atmosphere is almost impossible to describe, just because it’s so laid-back, it’s quite unbelievable! What struck me most, however, was how many people walked around in bare feet: down the street, in shops, in restaurants, in the supermarket, everywhere! Maybe I worked in the café for too long, or maybe I’m just paranoid, but as a manager, there are lots of places I wouldn’t allow people with bare feet, and as a person, there are lots of places I just wouldn’t walk in bare feet!
The second day we were in Byron was Valentine’s Day, and the occasion distressed me so much, that I did something drastic…I jumped out of a plane. Oh yes! Obviously, it wasn’t distress that made me do it; it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. So I booked it (couldn’t talk Carol into it) and we headed out to the airfield. Training lasted about 2 minutes! I was doing a tandem jump, so all I had to do was keep my arms and legs in the right place, and I was flying...literally!
So up we went in the tiny little plane, over Byron Bay, which is, incidentally, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. We were steadily climbing, and I was looking out the window, enjoying the view and thinking that we were getting quite high; then my instructor informed me that we were half way there. Half way?? Eek! This was the only time that I felt a little fear: I couldn’t help but think to myself “I never got to say goodbye to Mum...who’s going to tell her?” (Sorry Mum!)
We eventually reached our altitude – 14,000 feet, or 4,800 metres – and the door was opened. I was the last person to jump, so I watched as three others before me disappeared into the atmosphere. My turn came. We shuffled towards the door, legs went out over the edge...and out we went.
The force that hit us was even greater than I expected, and it took me a few seconds to catch my breath; but when I did...my oh my it was incredible. The first 70 seconds were freefall, so I was plummeting to the Earth at god knows what speed, with the spectacular views of the beautiful Byron Bay below me, the wind rushing through my hair and flapping my skin! It was amazing. Thinking about it still makes me smile, and I can’t get over the fact that I’ve actually done it!
70 seconds seems like a long time, but it went by quickly, and before I knew it, our parachute was out, and we were gliding. I didn’t want it to end! I never wanted to land, I wanted to go back up right away! When I landed, I had the biggest smile ever seen, and I was deliriously happy. And some of that feeling comes back every time I think about it.
I paid a little extra to have a dedicated photographer; that’s how I have the photos. I also have my jump on DVD! When I get a nice computer savvy geek to help me, I’ll try and get it online.
It was awesome. Truly awesome. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done.
That night, Valentine’s night, Carol and I shared a romantic Indian meal, and a couple of hot fudge sundaes, before retiring back to bed, me exhausted by the day’s adventures. And the next day, we were up early again, and off to Surfers’ Paradise.
Surfers’ Paradise is the focal point of the Gold Coast, the ultra-touristy stretch of the east Australian coast. It was just over an hour’s drive up the road (another care was hired; smaller this time, and orange!).
It’s like Vegas (not that I’ve ever been there…I’m guessing). It rises on the coastline out of nowhere: you round a corner, and there it suddenly is. When I say it’s ultra-touristy, I mean, ultra-touristy! It is a total tourist resort: endless high rise apartments, countless restaurants, all plastic and fake looking. Not my idea of a good holiday, but interesting, just for a day.
Once we were settled in a hotel, we headed to Warner Brothers MovieWorld, a theme park just outside Surfers’. It was a terribly hot day indeed. The park didn’t have enough thrill rides – not high enough or fast enough – to satisfy me, especially the day after jumping out of a plane! But it was ok, there were a few things to see and do; I headed to the kids’ area and went on a hunt for Bugs Bunny, which was a little fun.
The best part was a Police Academy Stunt Show, which was very impressive indeed. Stunt people are crazy.
That evening, we had another bizarre touristy experience: we headed to a restaurant called Dracula’s, which is a cabaret dinner theatre. It was a little like Rocky Horror...a little. All the employees/waiters/actors were dressed in gothic-y witch-y style, and the place was done out in a similar décor. The bar served themed cocktails, and to get through to the main theatre (where dinner is served) you have to take a little ghost train (which, for those who were there, was actually better than the one at Woobang Land!)
The food was grand, and the show was great: music, comedy, dancing, singing. It had it all. There were some great moments, but the best by far was the closer: a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by the Black Light Orchestra. This meant puppets under UV light playing instruments and singing. A little like the Muppets. It was awesome – very impressive. It was an interesting night!
The next day, we dandered around Surfers’ a bit more, and absorbed the falseness of it all. Don’t think I could have taken much more of it! So it was a good job that we were heading back to Byron Bay that afternoon. When we got there, we drove up to the lighthouse at Cape Byron, and walked out to the tip of the Cape: the most easterly point on the Australian mainland.
We watched dolphins and stingrays in the sea, and ate some delicious ice cream. It was a much more relaxing and natural afternoon, compared to the plasticity of Surfers’ that morning.
On that last evening, we had some delicious Thai food and then headed to Cheeky Monkeys, which is one of the best-known clubs in Byron, where all the young, cool kids go. Maybe I’m getting too old for this malarkey, but it was too hot and sweaty, there were way too many people, a total meat market, and they were all too damn young-looking! But we danced for a few hours, and had a laugh. An experience, shall we say!
The next afternoon, we flew back to Sydney; that night we tackled the mammoth task of packing all the new stuff we had bought (Carol even bought a new suitcase!); and early the next morning, we were back at Sydney airport for the last time. The flight to Tokyo wasn’t so bad this time, partly because we had about 6 feet of leg space (thank you JAL check in lady!) and it didn’t disturb our sleep. And that night, we stayed overnight in Tokyo; we didn’t bother heading into the city, since it takes an hour or so, and we arrived around 8pm and were away the next morning at 8am. A short hop back to Seoul, a good healthy Korean lunch (and it was good to be back on Korean food) then a four hour bus trip, and I was safely back at home.
Fair play to Carol, who was the first person apart from my family to ever spend more than a weekend travelling with me, and she survived! She was a delightful travelling companion; she may have been sore on my purse with her “sure buy it anyway, you can’t get anything in Korea” attitude, but she was a laugh.
A few things about Oz that don’t fit in anywhere. Firstly, I said Byron was laid back, but the whole country is. Everyone is very friendly and relaxed, and it helps to make visitors relax. They’re also very environmentally aware: shopping bags in many places were actually reusable cotton (or whatever they’re made of!) bags, strong enough to carry a lot and last a long time. And only a handful of places charged for them. And they’re very sun aware, like I said. But then, that’s understandable given they have no ozone left! But you rarely see an Aussie sunbathing – it’s all the tourists and ex-pats that are doing it! And when they’re out in the sun, they wear hats, and slap on the sun screen (although they have nothing higher than Factor 30, very disappointing).
The last thing I want to talk about – and I promise this will close the Oz chapter! – is about bananas. Bananas are prized in Australia. Apparently this is since last year, when there was a tropical storm in the north-east, where the main banana groves are, that destroyed most of the crop. The result was AU$4 bananas (£1.60). At the time, apparently anyone who was seen with a banana was pounced upon, and interrogated about where they’d got it! And although the crop was better this year and bananas have come down in price, there’s still an air of luxury around the yellow fruit. It’s strange how things like that happen, and they make a big impact in one place, but aren’t even heard of somewhere else.
So that’s it. That was Oz. It was sunny; it was new; it was relaxing; it was hot; it was delicious; it was exhilarating; it was non-stop; it was a joy; it was never dull. I apologise that I’ve written so much about it, but, as I’ve said before, this blog also serves as a diary for me, so that I can remember what’s happened. And I don’t do brief narratives. So, to those who have complained (looking at no one in particular,
brothers!) I’m sorry. But I gave you the abridged option at the start of part one!
Since my return from Oz (who can tell me who sings that?) I’ve been up to Seoul a few times, and I have great experiences from there to talk about…but I won’t do that tonight. And tomorrow I’m off to Gwangju for the St Patrick’s Day weekend. Then next weekend is the birthday extravaganza (I’ll explain later). So it’s a busy few weeks ahead of me still! I promise I will eventually catch up, and I’ll go back to making this more regular, and thus shorter!
If you’ve stuck it out this far, well done. You have my eternal respect! And I hope you enjoyed.
