So here is what the hostel looks like. This is the kitchen. Usually it's pretty clean but on occasion there are backpackers who for whatever reason don't feel the need to do their own dishes and then I am left with them. Hence a sign above the sink that says "Unless you are travelling with your Mother, please wash, dry and put away your dishes". We seem to get complaints on the hostelworld website about the kitchen but if you ask me, of all the hostels I've stayed at this one is very well equipped and fairly clean.
This is the T.V./internet room (mind you only one computer is working. Since I have been here the guy who is supposed to come and fix it has rung almost every day to say he will probably come the next day and he never does. That's island time for you!)
Hammocks! I love hammocks.
The "pool" (not really a pool as it takes 0.2 seconds to swim from one end to the other but nice to jump into after going for a run).
The BBQ/Picnic table area...
Where I eat most of my meals...
This is what my room looks like now. There are 2 more beds on the other side but Greg tries to keep it empty for me as much as possible. I keep trying to convince him to give me a double room to myself and he says he will but I'm not sure when. Oh the luxury!!!
THIS is what my room used to look like when I was sleeping in the work for accommodation room with one VERY messy boy who has since left. I was there for about a week and then told Greg I couldn't handle it anymore.
He would wake up at 6am, role over and smoke his bong. That's what I would wake up to every morning. Nice! There were cigarette butts all over the floor and cleaning it was useless as it would be dirty again within hours. It's amazing how my standards have changed since travelling. I wouldn't have put up with a room like this for a second let alone a week at home.
This is the owner Greg. He is 50 but so very young at heart and sweet as pie. He treats me like gold. I feel very grateful to have met him. Although I need to get him away from Picnic Bay. His only exercise is walking from the hostel to the pub every day!
This is Maggie from England. She was staying at the hostel for 3 nights and Greg put her in my room. She was awesome! When she talked about someone from another country she would always use their accent and it was really authentic. We cycled to West Point together (about an 8km ride each way), hung out at the beach and had a few drinks together at night. I wish she could have stayed longer.
This is Laura and Ricardo. Ricardo is from Italy and has been living at the hostel for a few months and also works for accommodation (not the messy one). His Mother is Australian so he has both a European and an Australian passport. Lucky! He does some maintenance and painting around the place. Laura was here for a week when I got here. She's Scottish. We called her the house Moose. "The moose is loose in the hoose" (imagine it with a Scottish accent). She is very tiny and cute. So much fun to hang out with. We had one really fun night together when we went to this other hostel on the island called X-Base and had some drinks and danced it up. She left a few weeks ago but luckily for me her and Ricardo got on quite well;) so she is coming back to the island on Tuesday for 17 days. I really miss having girls around. The only people who live at the hostel for a long period of time are boys so I am around far too much talk about how nice someones "rack" is (or mine for that matter) on a daily basis. I went shopping for clothes the other day and made Greg sit and look at everything I bought. He was not impressed.
This is Sarah and Fraser, also from Scotland. They lived on the island for a few months. Laura was travelling with them but they are now in Asia.
This is Adam on his 28th B-Day. Love him to death even though all he does is take the piss out of me. He is the definition of an Australian dude, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and makes me laugh every day.
This is Katharina. She is German (along with most people who stay at Hideaway) and was here for about a week so we hung out a few times as well. She celebrated her 20th b-day a few days after she got here and didn't know anyone so I bought her a piece of chocolate cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. She is still on the island working for accommodation at X-Base which is about a 20min walk away so I see her on occasion.
Some of the things we do on the island are go to X-Base since they have a bar (although the music they play is terrible dance music). But it can be fun to watch backpackers play silly games and make fools of themselves to try and win drinks. Here I am at X-Base one night. Was trying to capture the moon in the background which looked really beautiful but it didn't really work:(
There are about 6 Bays around the island. So far this is my favourite. It's called Alma Bay. You don't have to walk far after you get off the bus to get to it and it has very few rocks so it's easy to swim.
The first time I went there was with Adam. He can't sit still. I was suntanning while he listened to his ipod, wrote down the phone numbers in his phone in case it ever got lost, went and got me some beer and talked a lot of Sh*t...which is what he does best;)
On Friday nights there is a market in Arcadia with delicious Indonesian food and home made desserts.
My favourite is the lady who makes cheesecake (lemon, strawberry or mango) and sells it for $5/slice. Cheese cake is different here then in Canada. It's much lighter and more like mouse so you can eat a big piece and not feel like you're going to barf or that you've gained 500 pounds.
There are usually lots of kid's running around and although it's quite small, it's a pretty big event for the island.
One of my favourite things about the island is the wildlife. These Laurakeets come every morning and hang about. We usually feed them bread.
Aren't they pretty???
This tree frog hangs out in the ladies toilet which is awesome cause he/she eats all the spiders and various other bugs that I don't want to run into when I get up to pee at 4am!
And of course the Possums which as I've mentioned before are considered a pest in Australia but I still maintain are very cute. This guy quite enjoyed the leftovers of my pesto pasta. Pesto Possum!
Often the Mum carries the baby on her back which is really cute. When I got up close to take the pic she leaned forward which kinda makes it look like they're doing something else!?
Lazy baby possum!
This guy was perched in the top of the hammock pole.
...and came towards me as I snapped the shot.
These Ghekos also like to hang out in the toilets (not actually. That's what Asutralians call the bathroom) and eat various bugs.
They are very tiny and quite cute.
This was the first Koala I have seen on the island and it was right near the hostel.
This is my favourite tree on the island. The colours are so pretty in the sun.
This deck and chairs was built by a local and is an amazing place to watch the sun set.
As you can see...
So the plan from here is as follows:
Oct 12th: Fly to Melbourne to say goodbye to the friends I met there (flights are super cheap right now. One good thing about the recession!)
Oct 22nd: Fly to Christchurch New Zealand and meet up with my friend Lindsay who I met at Cirque Du Soleil and who will have been there already for some time and fingers crossed will have some insight as to where to find work.
Stay in NZ (assumming I find a job) until the end of February
Go to Thailand for the month of March
Come home at the beginning of April (just in time for the warmer weather to start:)
If I need to come home earlier I will just couch surf for a while. I'm so used to just sleeping where ever at this point. I've slept in cars, on buses, on the beach, in single beds with another person, in tents, on planes, and on couches. It's all good. No worries, mate!
Next week there is a full moon party on the island (they attempt to copy the Thailand full moon parties with very little luck I am certain) and then there is a month long festival with events everyday including a pirates picnic, Grease put on by little kids, a beat boxing show, movies under the stars and drum sessions so I'm sure there will be plenty to blog about.
P.S. One thing I have come to appreciate on this trip is the absense of work and the layed back mentality of Australia. I really notice a difference between here and North America where it's all work work work and money money money. The starting vacation time with any job here is 4 weeks and the wages are almost double. When I tell people that we only get a week or two off every year they think I'm crazy. There is so much more focus on relaxing and spending time with friends and family. When you call a government office or the telephone company here they answer the phone and don't sound annoyed to answer your questions. When you go to the pharmacy they make suggestions if you need medication or vitamins. If you go to the walk in clinic and are in pain (as I was a few weeks ago with a bladder infection) they put you at the top of the list to be seen. When I called my insurance company in Canada to try and claim the $70 back that I had to spend at the clinic I was treated so terribly. She had no simpathy and just kept telling me that I should have called them first (right! cause that's what I was thinking about when I was crying cause I was in so much pain and on a road trip in Darwin!). Ugh! I am sooooo not looking forward to having to deal with the beaurocratic crap that is everywhere in North America!!!
P.P.S. I think you should all quit your jobs and move to paradise with me!
The next day we slept in an woke up 4 minutes before we were supposed to check out but the guy at reception still made us free breakfast which consisted of toasted sandwiches and unlimited cups of tea or coffee. Then we stopped first at Buley swimming hole which was another lovely place to chill out for an hour or two. The sign in the carpark read...
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