Hold That Thought

I have to say, since my rather downer post about Sydney I've had a pretty amazing time in Australia. Of course, I've done nothing of my previously planned out itinerary (which included, but was not limited to, the Whitsundays, Cairns for the Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rock) but the ultimate point is I've had a great time doing the random things I've been doing.

Before I go on though, I do want to say that I was a little bit harsh on Sydney. There was a lot of good that it offered, and I did have a reasonably good time and Manly (the area that is 30 minutes away by ferry and is a beach town) was very, very cool. I enjoyed the living heck out of that day, and it was a really relaxing way to spend a day - you know, laying in the sun being a lazy good for nothing.

Not too bad.

I think my biggest problem with Sydney realistically was the fact that I didn't like my hostel at all. Actually, the quality of my hostel often dictates the quality of my days of travel. I can say unequivocally that Base in Sydney was the worst hostel I stayed in so far, and it was just kind of a party house filled with sketchy people. I had a really good night there, mind you, but the rest was kind of crap.

Meanwhile, my time in Noosa has been massively improved (even though there has been bad weather) by the hostel I've stayed in - Noosa Flashpackers. Definitely the best hostel I've stayed in yet, probably the best one I've stayed in ever. Great people, great staff, rooms are comfy and affordable, shuttle service to and from town, free internet/wifi (mother of god!!! I didn't know it was possible!!!), and just lots of fun.

Combine that with going to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and hugging a koala (and getting loaned money from the boyfriend of an actor from True Blood), spending the day feeding animals at the Australia Zoo, heading to Fraser Island for some ridiculously beautiful Australian scenery, and a whole lot more, and my stretch in Australia has vastly improved.

The current downer is it has been on full out torrential downpour often here, and my plan to go to the Whitsundays (a beauitful island area - google it) has been killed because of that (because what is the point of hanging out on a sailboat for two days in gnarly rain?), but it's okay. I adapted and am now headed to Melbourne for a few days to hopefully get a press pass to go to the Supanova Pop Culture Expo and if I'm really lucky, I'll be seeing Paul with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in attendance and maybe, JUST MAYBE, even interviewing them.

We'll see though.

Music of the day: ZOOMIE ZOOMIE ZOO EHHH! (the chant a slew of people were yelling while playing a drinking game - it got caught in my head like a pop song)