Friday, February 1, 2013

Australian Hostels are Hostile

























For those of you who travel, you likely understand what it feels like when you're on a trip and you feel both like you just arrived, and like you've been here forever. I suppose life is a bit like that as well. Just the other day I was a surly preteen dying my hair with manic panic purple and cranking up the Nirvana, and today I am some watered down 30-something version of that pubescent Briana. Good lord, did I really just say that?

But I digress. The past couple days have involved a couple of cities, a couple of hikes, and a couple of hundred hours in the car.

On Wednesday, I was once again up for the sunrise. I had some solo moments on our balcony before Jackie woke and we headed out for an early morning hike up to the lighthouse at Byron Bay. A little circuitous, but beautiful nonetheless to watch the fog burn off as we walked beside the ocean, even getting to spot a wild red haired kangaroo- a highlight for us both!

After a quick change, breakfast and WiFi were readily ingested at my new favorite cafe, Moka, before we said goodbye to this sweet little town and packed up the car for hours of winding through the Australian countryside. With more blocked roads our route became a bit more indirect as my blood pressure became a bit more irregular.

The countryside is lush and green and freckled with cows in every pasture. I loved watching is from the drivers seat - only problem is that makes it awfully difficult to photograph. Sometimes, when these things happen I figure it's ok, and those memories can be just for me to see. Like a visual secret I share only with myself.

What is not just for me to see is my ever expanding ass. When stuck in the car for hours, snacking seems to be a major pastime and after a quick stop at Aldi's for some fruit and vegies (that's how they spell veggies here) we immediately began to consume Tim Tams and Starburst babies. Can I just say that down here they have little gummy babies that look cherubic and happy, yet are meant to be masticated and swallowed. Might I also say that they are delicious. Kind of perverse - right?

After what seemed like 4 days in the car we rolled into Port Macquarie around sunset and headed straight to Port Macquarie Backpackers, a quaint shutter board home on a corner lot that ha a kitchen with a big bay windows and rooms without outlets.

Word on the street, or word from our Alaskan receptionist, was that Mc'y D's had the WiFi hook up so Jackie and I headed there for $4 sodas in the hope of some contact with the outside world. No such luck- the connection was slower than the can and string method of the days of yore. Having never dined at this establishment, and not planning on starting out now- we bounced.

Back and the hostel and not yet having had a real meal all day, I ate crackers and peanut butter on the floor of my door room and contemplated my existence while trying to mellow my frustrations with the workings of this country. The weather, cost of food and occasional aggressor has left me with a bad taste in my mouth - much like the Tim Tams.

That night, as I lay atop a bottom bunk with Arctic winds whipping me in the face from the ceiling fan from hell I could feel that irritation, that stress that rises from deep within your belly into your throat until you kick someone in the face- ok, maybe not actually kick someone in the face, but for sure think about it.

With road blocks, both literal and figurative at every turn of this journey I am feeling short tempered and exhausted and we've only just begun.

No choice but sleep, I closed my eyes, only to be awoken at 2 am but some late night check ins who were well meaning but noisy nonetheless and up again to watch the sunrise from the bay windows at the hostel.

Waking early has been a god send on this trip. I am not a morning person by nature, but with the time difference I am still adjusting, and going on morning hikes has been my favorite part of the day. Today Jackie and I walked from our hostel, to the beach, and did the Port Macquarie Coastal Hike, at one point scaling a small mountain to find a monument dedicated to a woman's husband who had drowned nearly 100 years prior trying to save his friend. Both eerie and beautiful.

After our 3 hour hike in the early morning sun of Australia we were feeling crispy and went back, showered and loaded up the car, yet again - this time Sydney bound.

We had been told that the weather was worse in the North and we would have no problem since we were now Southbound, but since this trip seems to be a living metaphorical embodiment of my life currently, that was bullshit. I can honestly say I have never driven through rain that intense before and doing it while driving on the wrong side of the road, seated on the wrong side of the car, was no small feat. Luckily, this storm also provided me the opportunity to bear witness to one of the most awe-inspiring natural wonders - lighting. Jackie and I saw a strike of lightning so close, so bright and so precisely on the mountainside next to our car that both of our jaws dropped - literally.

Not wanting to be struck ourselves, we moved on, eventually landing in Sydney. I want to say Sydney is beautiful and majestic at sunset, but it was overcast, stormy and congested with Friday evening rush hour traffic. So forgive me if I save the adjectives till a later date.

Will update soon.




















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