We were tying up the loose ends in Sydney last Monday (8/6/2009).  Still staying in the Strand hotel on William St in Darlinghurst we decided to make the most of a beautifully sunny, but chilly Sydney morning and hit Bondi beach.

A short hop from King’s Cross Rail Station to Bondi Junction and a skip via local bus found us on the legendary slice of surfer’s paradise.  The high winds we’d been cursing in the city for the past few days meant something else here; Big waves;  surfers of all ages were out in force.

Kicking off the thongs/jandals/flipflops (*delete as applicable) and strolling down to the water’s edge we both commented on the soft sand cooling between our toes, I moreso to keep Delyth’s attention off the many tanned, toned and tightly-clad surfers.  This was the middle of winter but it hadn’t stopped many from hitting the surf or lounging on the sand.

We sat a while, watched some guys get told off for frisbee, watched someone get told off for smoking, I started to piece together why the beach was so nice.  Confirmed in pressed metal, the list of don’ts on the entry to the beach was longer than that in my local pool, I read them out to Delyth: “no balls, no frisbees, no food, no smoking, no dogs, no heavy petting..” actually that last one wasn’t there but I wasn’t taking my chances with so many hunks around ogling her.

The list was long but almost completely adhered to by the hundreds, no doubt turning to thousands in the summer, who visit her.  That list and the 4WD golf cart carrying the beach patrol were all that we needed to thank for such a beautiful and unspoilt beach.

I have to come clean, After reading the list I let out a derisive pommie snort, but on reflection I was completely wrong to.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see Brits take that kind of responsibility for the beauty of our coast?

With the beach taken care of and a quick bout of McWifi Twitter-bragging (twagging?) we checked out the few shops and caught the bus back to Bondi Junction.  Lots more shops, bars and restaurants there.  We made a few calls home on the payphones in the large Westfield mall and grabbed a well earned bowl of Ramen noodles from a back street Chinese vendor.  We said goodbye to Bondi Junction with a few Schooners of Bulmers and some very heavy eyelids.

Funny how tiring it is doing nothing…

Onto Christchurch

The next couple of days flew by in a flight-booking, shuttle-catching and flight-waiting haze.  10Pm on Wednesday, the tenth of June, we landed in Christchurch.  Now I would say we’d caught a flight out there but the last hour was a bit more like a fairground ride.  Bumpy air round ‘ere you know.

In the interest of adventure, and thanks to the excellent instructions from the hostel, we hopped on the number 10 airport service into Chrischurch’s central bus exchange.  After a 5 minute wait we were on the 7 to Addington, stopping outside Tony’s Tyres to reach our accommodation for the next two nights…

Jail.

Jailtime in Christchurch

When booking, I told the Jailhouse that we’d be checking in late so the day before we arrived, instructions on how to break into the jail after hours were already sitting in my inbox.  We found our allocated cell, had a brief look around the 130 year-old detention facility, made a quick plan for tomorrow, briefly considered fashioning a shiv, then put the lights out for some shuteye before the warden gave us any trouble.

On waking to an overcast but dry day we set about exploring the jail and finding out a bit more about its history.  Built as the sole jail for Christchurch in the late 19th century it was in service as late as 1999.  By then the town had grown outwards into a city and too close to the lags for comfort.  A new prison was built and Addington jail closed the gates for what most thought was the last time.

Talk of museums, sports clubs and cafés was squashed when a couple bought the building.  They gave it a clean, added a lick of paint and the beds used in the 2000 Sydney Olympic village, launching it as Christchurch’s kookiest backpacker hostel.  Everything in there is absolutely immaculately clean and largely original (including the cell doors!), but also delightfully tongue-in-cheek.  From the freshly-made striped bedding with a humbug (striped, of course) on the pillow to our “warden” receptionist’s insistence on calling us all inmates.

So it’s been nearly a week outside the UK and that makes it time to update the blog, it feels like we’ve already been about a month in Sydney, amazing how quickly you’re sucked into the different ways of doing things.  We’ve had a couple of days of sun which has been a welcome relief from the biblical Sydney rain that greeted us on Wednesday.

The Good:

Cider does exist! Many variants in fact.  Bulmers Red on tap, and both Strongbow original and dry, neither of which taste anything like strongbow but they’re made with apples so I’m not complaining.  Some pubs even serve proper imperial pints.

People are friendly.  Bit of a cliché this but we had a great laugh last night with a bunch of people who just came up and introduced themselves.  I guess backpackers are all in the same boat so it was nice to see locals make an effort.  NB: bouncers are just as surly and unapproachable as in the UK though, some things never change.

Museum of Contemporary art: Free entry and they’re showing a photographic exhibit by Ricky Maynard and the works of Yayoi Kusama‘s mirrored years – in a word, amazing.  Maynard’s pictures are a great look into aboprinigial Muttonbirding and there are several sets from his favourite photographers and inspirations which we both really enjoyed.  Yayoi Kusama is frankly, completely bonkers.  The exhibition starts slowly with a room filled with massive (rubbish) marker pen doodles.  It gets better quickly though, the infinite mirror rooms are a huge highlight and I’d really recommend taking a look at some of the stuf she’s done.

Botanical Gardens: Also free entry and they’ve got a seedling of the world’s oldest tree here – we couldn’t find it but we’re assured it’s there somewhere.  We took a walk along a rainforest path which was lovely, seemed fitting considering the bloody weather.

NSW State Library: great collection of travel books and free wifi – we whiled away a good couple of hours just getting a feel for what was going on, the Mitchell reading room is also an awesome sight; lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves across a ground and mezzanine floor.  It’s a personal collection I think, read more here.

Darling Harbour Jazz Festival:

We’ve luckily coincided with a huge live Jazz and Blues festival in Darling Harbour.  To be fair, the harbour area is really nice anyway but the transformation to the festival venue has meant it’s been buzzing for the last few days, there are 5 different performance stages with a variety of jazz, blues, soul, funk and rock bands – we really enjoyed lounging in the sun yesterday to the Steve Clisby Band.

Hostels aren’t all horrible: Granted, The Strand Hotel is the first hostel we’ve stayed in and it did smell a bit mildewy when we got there but we’ve been pleasantly surprised.  Clean, cheap and the pub downstairs seems to be the launching pad for peoples’ nights out, great atmosphere and open til 5am and the jukebox is dripping with 80’s nostalgia.

The Bad:

Weather: This is the obvious one.  Although not all that cold it rained solidly for our first 2 days; massive, soul-drenching drops.  I’d be lying if I said it didn’t knock our spirits a bit, first couple of days were pretty tough.  On the plus side though it’s amazing how a bright morning on Thursday cheered us up.  More rain came around 11 but the past 2 days have been stunning sunshine.  Just a shame the days are so short.

ATM cards: This was a little unnerving to say the least.  Our bank cards didn’t work.  Not in any cash machine and not to buy anything with Maestro.

Panic is not the word.

We survived the first day on the money that was given to us before leaving.  Fortunely, it was as simple as calling the UK call centre and getting the block lifted but it’s something I wish we’d been told about in advance, it really put a fug on the first couple of days.

Getting into it: I think we’ll both admit that it hasn’t been all that easy getting into ‘traveling mode’.  With no base we found ourselves walking around alot between payphones and internet cafes, getting tired and feeling as if we just wanted out of Sydney and off to NZ.  Some of the darker moments saw us wondering if this was even a good decision.

Glad to say we’re settling into it much better now.  Setting a couple of things to do on each day and taking our time exploring and just taking things as they come, enjoying the generally chilled out atmosphere that Sydney has to offer.  We’ve extending our stay here until Wednesday and have already fitted alot in as a result.

We also toyed with the idea of chasing the sun up to Cairns but we’ve decided against it.  Going to stick with the original plan and fly over to Christchurch on Wednesday.

The Unknown:

In the short time we’ve been here, more than a few things have had us scratching our heads.  If you know the answer to any of these things, please feel free to comment below. Kat, James: I’m looking at you.

Schooners/Meddys: What on earth kind of sick joke are the alcohol measures here?  both these measure look like a lumpen, mutant cousin of the half, almost indistinguishable from each other.  Delyth and I are still struggling to order with a straight face.

I’ve got to be fair to the Australian Comission for Weights and Measures though, they are evened out by much bigger coke cans, the extra 45ml sip is a lifesaver.

Urinal Grille: One for the boys, there are kind of grille-type platforms on most of the urinals here, I’m not sure whether to stand on the the grill or back on the step and pee through the grille.  Random checks on other toilet users have proven inconclusive..

King’s Cross: We took a stroll up there last night for a few drinks and just ended up coming back to the pub.  Really didn’t get it at all – about 15 grotty club/bar/thingys packed with try-hards.  I still think we must’ve missed something.

Crossings: Broadly speaking, Sydney feels more American than European, nowhere moreso than the roads.  The lack of roundabouts means that there are hundereds of crossroads latticing the city, not a problem in itself but coupled with the fact that the green man doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe to cross makes basic walking a bit of a mission, most of our trips have panned out something like:

• Walk 50 yards
• Stop
• Wait
• Look around at other people
• Wait
• Start to think the lights are broken
• Look at the traffic lights to see if they are in any way related to the green man
• Realise they aren’t
• Jump at the space invaders ‘Ok to walk’ noise
• Gingerly step out in front of a car that’s creeping round the corner and realise they have a green light too
• Run across road
• Walk 50 yards
• Repeat

Queuing: And finally, you thought Brits were fans of queuing?  Ozzies are the undisputed kings.  In banks, you have to queue up to collect a queue number before you’re even allowed to queue.  A pre-queue if you will, this first happened to us at Changi Airport and was unnerving, but now it’s just annoying.

Well, that’s the first instalment done.  Got another post on the way about the flight and our jetlag but I thought I’d post up what we’ve been doing first.

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Where’s Wally (going)?

Today we leave.

Our tickets are booked, injections painfully and repeatedly administered, backpacking associations and frequent flyer programs applied to and accepted.  It’s real.

Here are the main dates and then I’ll fill in the details a bit further on:

The Trip

• 1st June – 22:05 Departing flight QA10 Heathrow to Sydney (via SIN)
• 5th June – Flying Sydney to Christchurch
• 8th July – Flying Auckland to Cairns
• 1st Sept – Departing flight QA11 Perth to Singapore
• 17th Dec – Departing flight QA10 Bangkok to Heathrow

So that’s pretty much all that’s set in stone. We’ve then got minitineraries (see what I did there?) in each continent which is split mainly into week-long chunks(ish).

Australasia

This is a pretty flexible section, we’re planning to spend about a month in New Zealand, taking in both the North and South Islands to some degree.  After that month we’ll be flying across to Cairns to pick up a camper van and drive it down the East coast, ending in Adelalide.

Luckily, friends of ours have just emigrated to Oz so we’ll be nipping over to Perth to go on a few week tour with them up the West coast, hopefully taking in Shark Bay and Ningaloo reef – so broadly, leg 1 is:

• < 1 week – Sydney
• 3 weeks – South Island
• 1 Week – North Island
• 5/6 weeks – Cairns -> Adelaide
• 3 weeks – Perth and surrounding

That takes us to the flight into Singapore on the 1st Sep

South East Asia

Amazingly, that’s pretty much half the trip gone by this point.  We’re flying into Singapore and spending a few days there.  Then on into Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, via a couple of beach days relaxing in Melaka.  We’ll take in a few of the islands of Malaysia, particularly I want to go on the mentalist Langkawi Sky Bridge.  If we make it off there alive, then it’s into Thailand, right up to the top for some Chiang Mai jungle action and across into Northern Laos.  Depending on time, we’ll travel the length of Laos into Cambodia, down through Kratie province, detour to Siem Reap for the temples of Angkor Wat and onto Phnom Penh.

Across into Vietnam and up the east coast.  I’m hoping we’ll have enough money/time to take a motorbike tour into the east highlands.  On up to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay where we’re booking onto a junk for a tour of the UNESCO-listed wonder. We’ll try to take a moped up to Sapa, then a short flight back into Bangkok.

Depending on how much time we’ve got left we’ll have up to a month to hole up in Thansandet or somewhere we liked on the way up.

This is a really rough set of timings as I’ve worked out an alternative route which doesn’t include the full length of Laos and a whistlestop of Cambodia if we’re running short on time.

• <2 weeks Malaysia
• 2 weeks – Thailand
• 2 weeks – Laos
• 2 Weeks – Cambodia
• 3 weeks – Vietnam
• <4 weeks Thai Islands

And that’s it – 17th december we’re back to rainy, cold England.  Hopefully with tired feet, some lovely memories and even lovelier photos.  Obviously you can follow all the action here and on twitter, rural wifi permitting.

Now where did i put that mosquito net?