Australia: August 2005 Archives
We made it to Sydney on Wednesday and met up with Henni yesterday. Today we enjoyed a day of walking (and sitting and eating) around Darling Harbor, Sydney Cove with nice views of the Opera House and the Harbor bridge, the Rocks, and the city center. Here's what else we've been up to since Darwin:
We stayed one night in Brisbane at a great hostel--our dorm room was up in the tower of an old building originally built as a hotel with "1st class service and 3rd class prices". We liked Brisbane a lot, it reminded us a bit of Toronto and it was great to see so many people outdoors--walking, biking, barbequing or just hanging out. We also enjoyed the West End a lot, especially the 3 Monkeys Cafe. Of course we also had to go check out the "Birdee Num Num" bar, just because of the name (anyone else know the movie?, besides Lex and Papa of course).
We then took the local train up to Sandgate to stay with our Servas hosts Anishka, Tony and Sophie. Anishka is a yoga teacher so we got to join her for one of her classes, which was wonderful! We also got to enjoy yummy veggie food and laid-back conversation about life, travel and crazy Americans.
Our next stop was Mullumbimby, near Byron Bay, with our hosts Karin and Manfred, who are originally from Germany. Until recently they were living on an organic farm nearby, where they had hosted over one hundred WWOOFers. It was great to hear their WWOOFing stories and read in the guestbook how inspirational they have been in many people's lives. Karen drove us around to see some of the beautiful views of the area, including the amazing Byron Bay light house. They also introduced us to Dandelion coffee and dowsing (finding energy lines--interesting stuff!).
Sophie had convinced us to spend some time in Byron Bay itself, a beach town with a cool vibe. The first night we went to see Crash at the funky Lounge Cinema--intense movie! The next day was our anniversary, which we celebrated by relaxing on the beach, browsing in bookstores, getting a little drunk on two bottles of wine, and fending off a crazy German woman at dinner who was trying to steal Michael and our bread!
Monday we rode the bus 10 hours down to Buladehlah, where we met our next Servas hosts Ian, Kate and their 10 month old daughter Sage. Their house runs completely on solar power and rain water--it was great to learn more about that. Ian and Kate have also travelled a lot, so it was fun to exchange travel stories. And again we got to eat wonderful, healthy meals. We followed their suggestion and checked out Manly (a 30 minute ferry ride from the center of Sydney) for one night. We went through a bit of an ordeal at Circular Quay (changing from ferry to ferry and listening to the one boat guy warn "we don't want another Titanic"), but the gorgeous harbor views on the way to Manly more than made up for the wait.
We've really come to appreciate what a wonderful organization Servas is. It's amazing to experience the generosity, trust, open-mindedness, and feelings of connectedness that we have with all of our Servas hosts. When else do you just get to drop into other people's lives and interact almost like family with people you've just met? We've really met some great people, learned lots, and made connections that we hope will last a lifetime. Thank you to all of our hosts and we hope to return the hospitality one day!
