Enjoy Coogee

So I haven't updated in a while, but for good reason! I spent last weekend in Sydney, got back sunday and then had to do a presentation monday, midterm tues, and midterm wed - and throw an essay in somewhere in between. This week has not been fun... my high from the weekend got smashed real quickly by school. But nonetheless, it's wednesday arvo which means weekend for me now!

Sydney - my friend Ellen and I caught a train on friday morning at 9am in Hamilton and arrived in Sydney around 12:30 (only cost $9 with student id!). We met up with her friend from home, Madeline = Mad, and caught a bus to her apt. in Randwick. We got takeaway burgers from Arthur's - I got mine with egg and cheese on it. Never heard of egg on a burger but damn is it good! We ate, have a mid day drink, and headed down to Coogee Beach. It's about a 15 minute walk from her apt. to the beach- too easy! It was a beautiful day, little windy but sunny as can be. The girls wouldn't get in the water, but I had to since it was my first time at Coogee.

Hey Dad, really cool old pic you sent of Coogee circa 1928.


This is what it looks like now - no pier!


Then we walked to the natural bathes which were a bit warmer and I took another dip - had them all to myself - too nice!

Followed by some rock climbing:


And here's a spot where the Virgin Mary appears quite often... but not the day we visited :


After the beach, we walked over to the Coogee Bay Hotel, located directly across the beach with quite a view, played some pool, and had some drinks. One of the best afternoons ever. We then headed back to Mad's apt, met her roomies, ordered the best noodles I've ever had, and got ready for the night. We headed out around 10 to Kings Cross, THE strip of clubs in Sydney you go to. After being hassled by strip joints, we v-lined to Empire, one of the best dance clubs. The night was amazing.

The next day Ellen walked with me down to Coogee Beach again and I checked into my hostel. I got a hostel saturday night since Ellen was meeting up in the other side of Sydney with her friends from Africa, whom she met when she taught there for her big year off. I stayed at Surfside. Nice place from the outside, but I got a 4 person room for $30 (not bad)... but paid in other areas. The other guys were pot smokers, chain cigarette smokers, slobs, and snorers. Luckily I only slept there and didn't need to be in the room for long at all. So I dropped off my bags (prayed they didnt steal anything, and they didn't) and headed to Paddington Markets in Sydney.

After taking the wrong bus, but luckily asking the bus driver and getting off with only a 10 minute walk (actually got to see more of the city), I made it to the markets. Really cool, they occur every saturday from 10-4pm. Got some awesome souvenirs for people, and a cool silver ring for myself. Although some of the people were shady and you had to bargain with... I bought a really cool silver/leather bracelet from this lady who was a drunk, and talked my ear off for over 30 minutes and spat her food on me... she told me the bracelet was one of a kind, she hand made it. Asked $23... I got it from her for $20. Well later that day I saw it from another vendor for $9, sweet. Lesson learned, coulda been worse.

I then took the bus to Bondi Beach (most famous beach in Aussie). They actually have a reality show here on TV where they film the lives on the lifeguards called Bondi Rescue. The one I watched a guy died on it... serious waves here. Beautiful beach! Sooo many people though. I dumped my backpack and jumped in the water - had to get in Bondi! I watched my stuff from the water since I was alone. There were sooooooo many asians, all fully dressed taking 1000's of pictures! HAHA all with the peace sign in it. And I noticed a lot of asians photographing aussies, especially children and the parents running up to them and saying "No photos please." Interesting.

Pics of Bondi :


Natural swimming bath :



I dunno if you can see it, but there was a Lazy-Boy chair and semi living room set up here. Not sure if it was a homeless persons or what... :



Some awesome cliffs! There were places you could walk over to the very edge and look down :




There's a coastal walk where you can walk from Bondi to Coogee in about 2 hours. The most beautiful views Ive ever seen. You walk on the edge of cliffs then through parks and beaches - incredible. I got so many pics it's hard to not post 200.



Surfers at Tamarama:

Bathes at Bronte, why don't we have these at home?? :



Crazy cliff view with cemetery to the right which I walked through :



So I finished up the walk around 7, just as the sun was setting and it started to drizzle. I went to my hostel, got a shower, and sat on the beach for a while. Then I headed to 5 0's for an awesome meal. They have a $5 menu but you gotta buy a drink to eat - so I got a beer - $4.80!! Thats where they get ya... well actually it was about $5 anywhere from a beer in Sydney - geesh!

After dinner I walked about 20 minutes to a Cinema I saw earlier that day to catch a movie (yes Ant, I saw a movie by myself - I officially can not make fun of you anymore!! HAHA). I haven't heard or seen any previews since they dont advertise in Aussie, so I asked the girl behind the ticket booth what I should see. She suggested, "Run Fat Boy Run." AWESOME MOVE!! HILARIOUS and yet good story.

The movie ended around 11:30, and I walked back to Coogee through the many drunks on the street. I got to my hostel around midnight and went to bed. Well, sorta - hardly sleep with the stench of BO and snoring all night. So around 8:30 am I got up and checked out and headed to the beach for the day. I stayed at the beach long enough to watch the rowing team and lifeguards set up, then went shopping for about an hour. Then headed back to the beach and finally met Ellen around midday. We ate lunch at "A Fish Called Coogee" - best fish I've ever had!! And at $17 should have been too. I got kingfish marinated in peppers and all good stuff. Ellen and I then caught a bus to Central train station with no idea of when the next train was leaving for Newcastle. Luckily we got there and the next one was leaving in 7 minutes, so we bought tickets and ran to catch it.

Got back to IH around dinner time... ate up quickly then started homework.
OH, and heard about some bad news - my roommate Ben - his car was stolen over the weekend from the parking lot on campus and torched!! They have no idea who did it and they only drove it about 2 miles away... he got some sad pics of it. It was the same one we just took to Narromine. His was the 5th car this semester to be stolen and burned... kinda scary. Never heard of this back home. And the police or uni doesn't seem to care. It's actually a very safe campus, aside from this... lol. No other crimes just torching cars.

So that is what leads me up to now, wednesday evening. I'm about to run to the dining hall for dinner - Pizza and Pasta night.

Hope all is swell at home!