Not much to do in Auckland but dance

Friday was wonderful for seeing Caitlin. Really great. In the evening, on our first day together since January, we went to meet some gay friends of hers (Seb, Daniel, and Brendan) who just happened to live on the street next to me! It has been Caitlin's obsession for some time now that I go gay-clubbing, and being such a great sport, of course I'd oblige.

I don't remember the names of where we went, but after pizza we went to some straight clubs so I could get into a groove, and then moved down to K' Rd to probably the most well known gay club in Auckland, Family. It was fine just dancing away, and I wish Carys had been there to spend the entire evening laughing at me, but it was fine. I only got hit on once, and it's easy saying no to someone who you aren't gender sexually attracted to. At 5 a.m. we went back to the boys' place, and woke up on Saturday to a cooked breakfast with everything. Baked beans have never tasted so good (except perhaps when I went to Edinburgh with Imperial by coach).

After refreshing back at the hostel, I walked to Sky City (a shopping/entertainment complex near the Sky Tower), where I met Caitlin, and Charlie Paterson, who's been cycling around Australasia. We ate Korean food at the "D-Restaurant" (which I don't think is its real name - it's so-called for its health-rating), and eating cross-legged is so painful! Flexible - not something I am.
After dinner we went to meet a fellow waitress of Caitlin, Laura, and her flatmate Lorna, before doing a repeat of the night before; straight clubs, then Family, before crashing at 5 a.m.

Bleeeergh. I had SUCH a sore throat in the morning, and it lasted pretty much all week. It was nice talking to my parents with that voice. I spent much of the week drinking either caramel coffee, or green tea, to soothe the throat, and I don't think I've ever bought anything after seeing an advert on TV, but I had to for Strepsils.
On the Monday I finally decided to start living properly in the hostel, so did some groceries, buying bread, noodles, butter, and what I thought was bacon, but apparently pork belly is not sliced unless it's labelled "bacon", so that was interesting to cut up and eat with the noodles.

The rest of my stay in Auckland was a fairly stable one with no great events taking place. I think it's one of those cities where you either have to have a lot of money, or to know the city well, before you can really take advantage of whatever it has to offer. Walking up to Hobson Bay, or around the Domain, is peaceful, and really lovely, but Sydney has better places to walk, and a whole lot more to see over smaller distances.

Caitlin and I rented Wall•E one evening, so at least she's seen that now. Once we go back to Auckland (I'm writing this retrospectively from Sydney), we'll rent Schindler's List for many happy times. Seb and Daniel took us on a drive up Mt. Eden one evening too, which really showed off the city at night. Apparently Auckland's built on a load of dead volcanoes, of which Mt. Eden was one, and the crater at the summit was very impressive.

I learnt how to play the guitar at my hostel! Mr Allans had Guitar for Dummies, and a travelling musician had left his guitar there, so I picked up both and started to play. Ow, my poor left hand. So I've now got slightly calloused fingertips, and I'm adding to that each day by pressing my nails into them, but I wish I'd known about how painful it is playing chords beforehand! Regardless, I picked up some tabs for loads of Rodrigo y Gabriela off the internet, and can now play (albeit slowly) the intros for Stairway to Heaven, Tamacun, and I learnt by ear the intro for Viking Man! Go Christopher. Definitely buying a guitar the second I step off the plane in London.

Our last day in Auckland, Seb had told us about a horror-attraction 40 km south of Auckland, called "Spookers", so Charlie, Seb, Caitlin and I all went to that. It was based in an abandoned insane asylum that had been set up so that you could walk through, and as you did so, actors in gruesome make-up grabbed and chased you. I think it could have been more scary, especially if it hadn't been as busy, but walking in pitch black, and then having a man with nails through his face pin you to a wall, is damn freaky. There was also a forest through which you are chased by men wielding chainsaws... That was more scary.

So, on Saturday at 5:00 a.m. Caitlin and I left for Auckland airport to catch separate planes to Sydney, and that's where we are now. Caitlin's got a cold at the moment, but hopefully things will improve.
Back in Auckland in a week.

Caitlin's Surprise

Karangahape Road (colloquially "K' Road") is a hive of scum and villainy. Actually it's just filled with hookers, sex shops, clubs, and ladies called Brian.
My arrival in Auckland didn't start well. I paid $15 for a bus ticket I couldn't use, and then got a bus that goes anywhere to City Rd, which wasn't where I needed to be, so I ended up walking in the unfamiliar territory of K' Rd at 2:00 a.m. with all of my baggage towards my hostel, Borders Beyond. Dodgy walk through aside, I arrived safely, and K' Rd became my new home for 9 days.

The hostel was great. It's run by about 5 Sri Lankan guys who were all really friendly, and I guess as a result of working with backpackers, fairly liberal-minded. The owner studied (something) at Leeds! And apparently he was the first man to stay at the YWCA there as well. Then there was Mr Allans, an aging Australian who was trying to sell hand cream through old lists of people who used to buy his product before he was sold out by a backstabbing partner - he had been at the hostel for 8 months; Stevie, a reggae-dub musician from Fiji who lived at the hostel occasionally; Hagar, a German potential-farmer who had been learning English for a week; Marcos, the Argentinian; and a load of other people whose names I can't remember.

Anyway, more important than my hostel was the fact that Caitlin had no idea I was in the same country as her, let alone the same city, and Friday (22nd) I decided I'd surprise her at work. I spent most of the day beforehand exploring Auckland. K' Rd is great in sunlight (not that there was much sun). The unknown of the night was more intimidating through its unfamiliarity, but all feelings pass once the shadows are lifted. Auckland is not much of a city compared to Sydney either, and the constant overcast skies didn't help. The Sky Tower was an impressive part of the skyline, and the Domain was pretty, but beyond that, on the first day, nothing left me awe-struck.
So after my walk I went down to Newmarket to the café where Caitlin was working. After some stalking, and no sign of Caitlin, I warily approached one of the waitresses outside and asked if Caitlin was there.
"No, she left an hour ago" meant that I had to go to Orakei Rd and hope that she hadn't left partying or similar. I half-ran, half-walked the two miles, before turning a corner and stumbling upon what I thought was the address Caitlin had given me a while before. So I phoned her.

No answer.

I called again, three times before finally she picked up. I'm not sure I knew what to say, particularly considering I was about to turn her holiday around (at least until Sydney, 8 days later when she was meant to be visiting me).
So I asked her how she was, then double-checked she was at home, and that I knew her address (which luckily, I did), and then told her she should go outside, before hanging up abruptly. From outside the gate I saw some movement through the windows, and then a few seconds later Caitlin was outside, holding her mouth in disbelief, and running towards me.
It was so nice seeing her again. She couldn't believe I was there, and I almost couldn't believe I was either. After much hugging she took me inside the house, which belongs to family friends of hers, and introduced me to Andy (Mum), and Bez (son), before we chilled out and caught up in front of music videos.

Great times.

North Island; First Visit

New Zealand was 8 degrees when I arrived at 2 a.m. this morning. What the hell? Sydney was much more temperate and loving than that.

The 'Burbs

I've spent the last week exploring various suburbs in the far reaches of Sydney. First staying with my first-cousin once-removed, Barbara, in Bangor, from where I saw Woronora, Cronulla, and Como, and then staying with family friends in Middle Cove, and seeing Willoughby, Chatswood, and Palm Beach.

First stop, Bangor, via Sutherland. Barbara's place was hugely different from the CBD and surrounding areas of Sydney. This was true suburbia: houses with garages, and perfect lawns, and probably a swimming pool each (there was one where I was staying at). It was peaceful in a different way to the countryside of Forster.

Phil, Barbara's husband, is one of the nicest people I've stayed with, and probably one who I connected most with so far this holiday. Not in his generosity, but in his love of music, and films, and comedy, and food - he was a genuine bloke and we shared similar tastes. The first full day I had there (Wednesday 13th), he took me on a drive to Cronulla, a town that was home to riots that took place in 2005 between racially charged Australians and Lebanese migrants. Everything's died down since then, and the greatest tension between such people is mainly restricted to what goes on in the AFL (rugby). Cronulla itself is a very beautiful town. The beaches stretch for miles, and the shopping plazas were buzzing with people grabbing a quick coffee, or enjoying the local seafood, or taking a break from the surf. Bondi certainly has a great beach, but Cronulla had about it a more electric atmosphere, which would have been interesting to see at night.

After Cronulla we drove up to Como, an Italian-influenced town set on a beautiful stretch of the Georges River. This was tranquil. Houses on the banks of the river all had slipways, but there wasn't a stir of life save for a few people crossing what used to be a railway bridge. It was dead calm, and absolutely stunning.

Over the next few days I explored the area around Bangor further. I took out Phil's old bike (aka the deathtrap from Hell), a sturdy frame with a horrible braking and gears system, to Woronora and the neighbourhood there. Again, it was peaceful, and very beautiful. I particularly like Woronora Bridge. Like many roads throughout Sydney, it's not bicycle friendly, and you have to go on a walkway underneath, but the architecture was cool. The roads on the otherside were less so. I seriously had problems with the bike, so much so that I almost took myself out in front of three cars.

Another day I decided to walk to Sutherland station (because walking is cheaper than the bus), before catching the train to Cronulla. It was my intention to swim...but winter is fast approaching, and it was too cold in the afternoon for me to want to get wet. If I hadn't missed the first train having to wait half an hour for the next, I might have changed my mind though...

Saturday 16th I returned to Edgecliff to swap over some clothes before making my way to meet some family friends (who we know because my Dad worked with Andrew, their Dad, back in '95). Aaaand I might have walked from Edgecliff to Middle Cove (look it up on Google Maps) to save some money. It was a good walk, and helped me get to know the streets and routes around. I'll always enjoy walking over the Harbour Bridge too.

Eventually arrived at Middle Cove, and met Sally, Andrew's wife at the front. Later I'd meet the "children": Fiona, 13; James, 18, and his girlfriend Jess; Megan, 20; and Catherine, 22. Wow how people get older. That's not to say I remember what everyone was like back in 1995 or 2000 or whenever we last saw them, but I remember what they looked like, and what can I say other than people change. Like I've changed.

They lived in a fantastic secluded part of Sydney. They were just short of the branches of Sydney Harbour, which you couldn't see for the thick forestry all around. There wasn't even a pavement to reach the house - it was all perfect for driving, and well out of the way of everywhere. Nice and quiet.

Sunday we had a day out to Palm Beach, which is MILES away. The beach was quite nice though, and the water was insanely warm. I think back to those punishing summers on the Isle of Wight with it's freezing water, and then here in far north Sydney where you could almost bathe in the ocean. Well, not quite bathe, but it was nice and warm. The waves were a bit much though, and there was a very strong current, which was slightly unsettling (there are all sorts of horror stories about rip currents here). And we had fish and chips for lunch. Classic food.

In the evening I went out with James to a (local?) sports club to play 5-a-side with his team, who were a man down. We lost 3-2, and the majority of the opposition were arrogant ****s, but it didn't bother me. It was fun just running around and getting stuck into sports.

Afterwards we went back to one of James' friend's house for barbecued kebabs, and humous, and that sort of delicious food. They lived on Hazelbank Rd, the road next to our old house, and apparently another of his friends there went to NSDS (my school), though being 2 years younger, I would never have seen him...

In my time in north Sydney, I walked to Chatswood, a shopping haunt from '95, where there's a Toys'R'Us we used to visit lovingly. I also walked around a local nature reserve that stuck out into Sugarloaf Bay. Apparently wallabies, echidnas, and all sorts of creatures lived there, but I didn't see any. Australia has some wild wildlife though. Some of the plants were crazy, and everything's a lush, beautiful green.

I also Star Trek, which actually was quite good. Why couldn't the Star Wars movies (the latest 3) have some of that quality and decent character development?

Anyway, I'm now back in Edgecliff, composing myself for a couple of days, and washing as much of my laundry as possible. I'm preparing myself for something different, and you'll hear all about that in due course.

North-East New South Wales

I spent a few days revisiting the beaches and city before I moved on. I was able to hire a bike in Centennial Park for a couple of hours and enjoyed remembering what cycling was like. I really wish I'd bought mine over to Sydney, if only for the speed at which I'd be able to get around. I also went to see X-Men Origins, which was rubbish.

On Wednesday 6th I left Edgecliff, and got the train from Sydney Central to Newcastle, where I met my great uncle Don, and aunt Winsome. I've now got all my relations sussed and what cousins are what too. Before, I was staying with Wendy, who was my first cousin once removed (a generation older than me), and her daughters are my second cousins. My grandmother is her aunt. So Don is my grandmother's brother (she had 8 brothers and 1 sister), and their children are my first cousins once removed, and their children are my second cousins. Easy.

Anyway, I met Don and Winsome at Newcastle, and they showed me around the town before we drove another 150 km north to Forster. All the way Don talked about the local wildlife and history of various things. We saw the roadworks for the expansion of the Pacific Highway along the way too, which was interesting. We also drove past his old farm, which I visited in 1995, and unlike many things in Sydney, I didn't recognise it this time. In the evening we went to an all-you-can-eat dinner at a local bowling club, and I enjoyed the beginning of what was to be a totally free, money-saving week.

In the morning I walked around the area, and got to see the town and a couple of the nearby beaches. Don and Winsome have a house a few rows of houses away from One-Mile Beach. The beach had recently been ripped up by cyclones and a brutal ocean; several feet deep of sand had been torn up and washed out to sea. At the end of the beach is a sand-dune, and my walk round brought me to the top of it, where I got some great photos and had fun running down. Running up is another matter. The sea was beautiful there too. I took a body-board out and jumped through and down some waves, but it rubbed my body badly, and afterwards I stuck to swimming and diving through waves.

Forster was incredibly peaceful. A lot of the houses around there are normally rented out in the summer, and since it's now approaching winter, not many people were around. And besides that, Forster is a world away from the buzzing atmosphere of Sydney. Dead calm at night, with only the ocean washing against the shore to stir you. The moon was extremely bright too, and created beautiful reflections on the water, as did the sun first thing in the morning. The view from the veranda was stunning.

On Friday Don took me on a drive south to Seal Rocks, showing me the beaches and lakes along the way, all the while telling me about each area and its history. Seven-Mile Beach was particularly impressive, and driving alongside it with Wallis Lake on the other side of the road was awesome. Beautiful green vegetation and blue water as far as the eye can see, with only the tarmac and phone lines as man's influence. It wasn't primitive, just lush. At Seal Rocks is a lighthouse where we got rained on - we could see the where the rain started and ended on the water - and I went to the top for a spectacular view. There was a rock placed there, commemorating a lighthose keeper who had died; his body was found on the rocks in the sea below, which was grim.

The next day I went to stay with Don's daughter, Ingrid, my first cousin once removed, and her husband on their small farm in Hallidays Point. It was fairly luxurious there. I rode their mower, fed their horses, and saw wallabies and kookaburras in the field! At lunch time she took me to meet her friend Chris, a keen surfer, and we went out to Black Head Beach. Chris lent me a wetsuit, a surfboard, and he gave me my first lesson in surfing. Incidentally we were in water which recently had been the site of a shark feeding-frenzy. Hmm...

I haven't used my arms for exercise since I did rowing at St Paul's, 3 years ago, and wow paddling out on a board was tiring! My legs are alright with exercise from all of the cycling I do, but after about half an hour I was exhausted, and could barely lift the board. The "surfing" was fun. By the end of it I could just about judge catching a wave, and out of the few times I did get one, I only managed to get onto my knees once. My arms are weak. But it was good fun, and I'll need to have another few goes and start doing 100 press-ups a night.

Sunday 10th was Mother's Day, so Don and Winsome came over to Ingrid's for lunch. I played the piano for them all, and later did something"crazy", according to them, which was play the piano whilst listening to my iPod. I also uploaded a load of photos to facebook - what an exciting day!

Monday was my last full day in Forster. I had only anticipated staying until the weekend, but because it was so beautiful and peaceful I spent a bit longer there. I spent the day walking back to Don's from the town, swimming in the town beach, and running up and down the sand dune at One-Mile. In the evening, as I had done every evening, I walked a few blocks after dinner with Don while he gave me a history lesson either about the first settlers in Australia, or about the Lawler family and the history of my ancestors, and so on. The moon was particularly bright on that last night, so much so that we were casting two sets of shadows - one from the moonlight, and one from the streetlights. It was nice. But I had to be up at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to get the bus from Forster to Sydney Central. I didn't have to pay for it (thanks to such generous relatives), and the six hour journey was bleary. Travelling by myself is something I need to fix with companionship (soon), but at least I had my iPod.

So Forster was beautiful, and I'm quite upset that I've left it. I wish I'd gone up there much sooner, especially because it would have given me more time to see other people afterwards. Oh well.

On Tuesday afternoon I went back to Wendy's to sort out my stuff, and also topped up my phone with $300 worth of credit ($49 real money), before meeting the husband of another first cousin once removed at Martin Place in the evening. Barbara is the daughter of another great uncle, and her husband Phil met me in the City, from where we got a train to Sutherland before driving to their house in Bangor, a suburb very south of the City, which is where I am now.

The Blue Mountains; SERIOUS nostalgia; and Australian friends

I've spent enough days on fine sand with the Tasman Sea before me to last the entire holiday. I'm yet to visit Manly, or to learn how to surf, or other such exciting things, but too much beach by myself can lend itself to being monotonous, regardless of the fun to be had swimming underneath waves...

Anyway, so on Thursday I got a train out of Sydney Central to Katoomba, which is one of the towns in the local "Blue Mountains". Whilst out there it's hard to distinguish them as mountains, but signs relate your position as being 3000 ft above sea level...so I suppose that's fairly mountainous. And what breathtaking views! I went because it was something different; something that had been recommended, and I will now recommend it to everyone. The mountains are covered in dense forests with trails and paths constructed throughout, and you can choose to walk along the clifftops above, or through the trees down below. I did a huge amount of both, though only after orientating myself with the world's most unhelpful map (included on the back of a bus tour leaflet). And it was just so much fun! Running through rainforest, standing on precipices hundreds of metres high overlooking the mountains.

My knees didn't like it though, and there were many occasions when trying to stand and take photos that my legs started wobbling uncontrollably. But it was worth it, and all came to a wonderful conclusion after the Giant Stairway at Leura Cascades. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery at that point, so I don't have photos of the water, which is a shame. The Giant Stairway was an epic trek too. In the mountains where I was, there is a formation where the rock has been weathered away so that there appear to be three stone heads, commonly known as the "three sisters", and up the innermost one are a set of man-made steps that allow people to climb the rockface to the top. What. A. Massive. Effort. It was exhausting, yet my spirits were totally lifted at the top. Something that was nice about that climb, and about walking through the forests in general is how friendly everybody was. Maybe it was simply the endorphins flowing from all of the exercise we were doing, or maybe people were just enjoying the view and the experience so much; whatever the reason, everyone was cheerful and in a positive state of mind.

What a day.

Now the following day was very, very different, and definitely a whole lot more emotional. It was Friday, and in the evening I would be meeting Anna and Lucia for dinner and catching up (or meeting/getting to know in Lucia's case). So, to pass the time in the day I thought I may as well go for a walk. But instead of doing the usual walk around the various bays or different streets of the local area, I thought that it would be worth going across the Harbour Bridge in to North Sydney.

And 14 years ago I lived in a suburb called Wollstonecraft which is located in the North part of Sydney. So, I decided to walk there.

Going across the Harbour Bridge is a mission in itself. Pedestrians can only walk along one side, while cyclists use the other side and motor vehicles occupy the uncrossable road. And to get to the footpath you have to join the Bridge at particular sets of stairs too. From the south side there are a few connecting staircases, but the closest ones are still a long way from the south pylons, and on the north side you don't have a choice but to follow the path all the way to the end.

I made my way over to the other side of Sydney, and immediately started enjoying the familiarity of the way things looked, and certain streets. Luna Park is a fairground right next to the Bridge, with its creepy laughing face, and I remember going inside the grounds of it when a lot younger, but not being allowed to go on any of the rides. Way to scar a child for life. I'll just explore it better one of these days.

The roads along the way were not nearly as exciting or vibrant as those to the south. I think my mind was a little preoccupied with where I was going, but even so, they seemed remarkably emptier and soulless. There was a bridge along the way with great echoing acoustics: I was walking underneath it as a car drove past, and it sounded like it was coming at me from all directions. An exciting distraction.

This is where I used to play as a child.

This is where I went to school.

And this is where I lived.

Seeing my old house 14 years later...wow it was overwhelming. Again it's that old tale of "never thought I'd see it again" that keeps ringing around. It was dreamlike seeing the house, and the park, and the school, none of which seem to have changed one bit. The park still had it's rubbish toilets and swingset where a 3-year old showed me up once upon a time. The school didn't seem to have been refurbished, and there were the benches where I'd eat my lunch, and the steps running down to various playgrounds and climbing frames. And then there was our house, where I lived for a year, which looked just like it does in all our old photographs...

Massive sigh. It's strange revisiting the past.

Lucia picked me up in the evening, and drove us (on a slightly convoluted route) to Sydney University where we met her boyfriend John, and Anna. Given how long it's been since I saw them (particularly Lucia), it was really nice catching up; talking about dropping out, HMV, gap years, people in London, etc. We had Japanese food which, like all food here, is so much better than anything I've eaten back home. Anna showed us briefly around her college too; it was reminiscent of Oxford and that style of architecture and decor. Swanky for Sydney. After that we all called it a night until the next time.

I'm leaving my current accommodation on Wednesday to see further family and family friends. And after that? We'll see.