Sydney to Byron Bay

After taking care of a few last minute errands in Sydney like going to the bank and buying an esky, we set off north up the east coast. I've never owned a GPS device before so it was quite handy to have one to direct us how to get out of Sydney. Even as the city gave way to suburbs to farmland I still didn't feel like I had left Sydney yet. Maybe it's because I had literally just left my home for the last 12 months or because I still don't feel like a traveller yet, but regardless I still felt like I was at home.

The weather over the last few days has been less than ideal. On the way to Port Macquarie the weather alternated from cloudy with a few streaks of sunshine to torrential downpours. All of which doesn't make for comfortable driving when you're still getting re-acquainted with driving a manual transmission. The car is still full of red outback dirt from the previous owners but thankfully the odour has gone away. Port Macquarie itself is more posh than I imagined. There are international standard hotels and residences all around the waterfront. We parked up by the town beach, made use of the public barbie area to cook dinner, and then settled in for the night in the carpark. It's rather nice to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing in the distance the smell of sea blowing in through the crack in the car window. And the rap music from the campervan parked next to us. '

After a morning surf and quick brekkie we headed up to Coffs Harbour to get new tyres and a general checkup done on the car. Since that took a few hours we explored the town a bit and decided to spend the night there. The beach just north of the jetty beach has an excellent surf break so I gave it a go. Almost was able to stand up on the new board (7' shortie) but in the end was unsuccessful. We found a commonly used area for overnighting on the south side of the jetty beach and spent night there, again listening to the sea. 

In the morning we woke up to see loads of cars pulling near us to look out at the sea. The night before there were loads of cars out there too, including a fire engine that was shining its search light at the rough surf. We couldn't figure out why but soon a local shouted out to us to have a look at the dolphins. There was an entire pod of dolphins not far off catching a few waves and playing. That was a wonderful thing to wake up to. 

It started raining again not long after so we took off for Byron, taking the coastal road via Ballina. Unfortunately a good chunk of it was being worked on but we still managed to get some nice views in. We made quick stops at Crescent Head and Lennox Head on the way up. Crescent Head has an amazing surf break but you've got to walk over some very slippery rocks to get to it. And it's not for beginners so I passed on getting in. Lennox Head has a beautiful long beach that is lined by very upmarket housing. It was raining all day so we didn't spend much time at either of them. 

The Great Aussie Road Trip

I resigned. My last day of work was on 14 March, 2012. Since then I've moved onto the air bed in the common room aka "the pit" and packed away all my belongings. In a 1970s second-hand suitcase which cost me a whole 8 aussie dollars I've deftly packed away about 21.5kg worth of footwear and clothes. The most important thing to remember when packing clothing is to roll everything up tightly to conserve space, not even my suit jacket was spared. In another bag are some odds and ends which I'll sort out before I leave Australia. Everything else is in a 25 litre daypack and a 74 litre backpack. Considering that I've been living here for a little over a year, that's not a lot of stuff.

Tomorrow Fintan and I will be driving up the east coast of Australia. We picked up a 1994 Toyota Camry off some French backpackers who very recently completed their travels. The car is in good shape but it looks like we'll need to replace the front tyres pretty soon as well as clean it out. One guy has been living in it for a couple of weeks now and even though he said he was showering daily the odour in the car doesn't reflect that... The Camry is a manual transmission so driving it today was pretty nerve racking since I haven't driven a manual since last Jan/Feb when I learned how. Considering the rain, darkness, and big city traffic I was surprised that I got back in one piece and only stalled two times. It's been a few hours but my heart rate is still above normal.

The plan is to drive from Sydney to Perth via the top end (appx 11000km) in about 8.5 weeks. I'm hoping to surf in Byron Bay, sail the Whitsundays, go off road on Fraser Island, dive or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, see an outback sunset, bushwalk in Kakadu, swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, not get punched by a wild kangaroo, and not get bitten by a shark or croc. I'm sure there's plenty more to see and do but because of time and money we won't be able get to everything. We may not even get to Perth. Anyone ever seen the film Wolf Creek?

Cremorne Reserve, North Sydney

I finally got my road bike sent over to Sydney and went for a ride over the Harbour Bridge on Sunday. I didn't have any destination in mind but after looking at google maps for a while it seemed like the southern tip of Cremorne Reserve would have provide a great view of the harbour. What I didn't know was that the road leading there was full of hills. Wycombe Road is a massive hill and I had to stop a few times to rest my legs. After not riding for a year I really felt the burn! After a sweaty ride and a short stroll from the ferry landing to the tip, I found what I came for :

For those who aren't keen on climbing hills on a bicycle, Cremorne Reserve can be reached by ferry and bus. There's a children's playground, plenty of grassy areas, park benches, and a short nature walk through the reserve. 

My Australian Broadband Saga

When I told my mate Ariel back home that it took me 23 days to get my broadband connected her response was "where the f*ck are you? the jungle?". In terms of telecommunications, I may as well be in the jungle. I got free high speed internet in the middle of the Thai jungle; you'd be hard pressed to find free high speed in Sydney.

The main reason why it took so long to get hooked up is because of Telstra. They have a monopoly on all physical lines and has done a great job overcharging Australians as well as stunting the advancement of telecom technology in the country. As as result of this, the telecom situation in Australia is horrible. My provider TPG put in an order to Telstra to setup my phone line on 12 April, the day I ordered my broadband service. Telstra didn't respond till 18 April to inform TPG that the installation would be done on 28 April. There are two things that really bother me about the initial order:
1) It took Telstra 6 days to respond
2) TPG is perfectly fine with that fact that it takes Telstra 6 days to respond to an order

When I called to inquire why it was taking so long TPG had the audacity to tell me to call Telstra and find out what the hold up was. Hello! I'm not Telstra's customer, I'm yours!!! To this day, TPG has yet to respond to my written inquiry which I lodged back in April. TPG is not the only provider at fault here. It's like Telstra has them all in headlock that no provider can break free of. Everyone's scared of challenging Telstra. It's pathetic.

Finally Telstra did their bit and despite TPG's verbal guarantee that we would be connected on 28 April, we were NOT connected. What followed after this was me negotiating with TPG to get us connected. Seriously, I had to negotiate with them to get them to complete the installation job that they had already billed us for back on 12 April. I don't understand why no provider will take ownership and simply say "you do business with us and we'll guarantee that we'll connect you". It's such a simple concept that would easily make your business look more attractive and yet no one will do it. In Hong Kong it takes 1 day to get connected. In Bangkok it takes about 10 days. Sydney, 23 days.

While most travelers won't have to go through this ordeal, those with working holiday visas be aware if you get your own flat!

Vivid Light Show, Sydney

Singapore to Sydney...The Long Way

Back in Hanoi in October I spent some time one day researching how I'd get from Singapore, where I planned on spending Christmas, to Sydney where I would spend the New Year. The straightforward thing to do was to fly directly to Sydney however this proved to be very expensive at around US$450 for a one way flight. So I did some digging and eventually found a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne for about US$195 followed by a flight from Melbourne to Sydney for US$102. Combined with the cost of transport from Singapore to KL I was going to save about US$100. The downside was that I was going to have to get from Singapore to KL by early evening, then take a redeye flight from KL to Melbourne, then spend about 4-6 hours in the airport before finally catching a flight to Sydney; total time in transit would be about 36 hours. Compared to an overnight flight direct to Sydney from Singapore it was a no-brainer...I would save the money and spend 36 hours to get to Sydney.

It all started with a bus ride and short walk to the unofficial bus depot. All the buses to KL departed from here and there were passengers everywhere. I would've rather taken the train (even cheaper than the bus when a return ticket is purchased in Malaysia) but it was fully booked. Passengers on my bus were told to check-in by 07:30 but there was quite a bit of anxious confusion since the check-in window for Starmart (I know, it sounds like a supermarket but it's actually a bus company) was closed until 08:00. Finally someone showed up and opened the check-in window. The bus was scheduled to depart at 08:30 but the actual time of departure was 08:50 and unfortunately we got caught in the massive traffic buildup at the border. The border crossing took over an hour because of the sheer volume of cars and buses. Once we crossed into Malaysia the going was pretty smooth.

We got caught in some more traffic as we entered KL but we eventually made it to the drop-off point in the middle of the city. I went back to the hostel I stayed at to store my bag and make use of the free wifi, got a meal, then got to KL Sentral station a bit too late to catch one of the many US$2.5 shuttle buses to the airport. Since I was in a rush I had to pony up and pay about US$33 to get a taxi to the airport. Very very upset about my timing error and about having to take the bus instead of the train to KL. Oh and I was in such a rush I forget to collect my change at the taxi stand. The only redemption was that the taxi driver did an excellent job and get me to the airport in time.

The flight was delayed for quite a while but we took off with no problems. Since I was flying on Air Asia, not even the water is free so I didn't eat or drink for the entire flight. However since it wasn't full I was able to stretch my legs and take up the seats around me. I landed in Melbourne at around 10:00 extremely tired, hungry, and thirsty. After passing through immigration I went to straight to Virgin Blue to check in for my flight to Sydney, scheduled for departure at around 17:00. I passed the time eating and watching movies on my netbook. After many hours of sitting on the floor next to a power outlet it was finally time to check in. Upon arrival in Sydney I collected my bags and then walked about 2km from the domestic terminal to the Mascot train station to save AU$10. The ride to the city from Mascot costs about AU$5 compared to AU$15 from within the airport. In the end, I didn't save as much money as my initial calculations predicted but I still saved a bit!

Happy New Year from Sydney!!