Sydney

Hey!

I haven't written for a couple of weeks, been busy visiting cousins and friends all over Estonia, celebrating friend's birthdays and Midsummer Day, kite surf camp, surfing in Pärnu and so on . .

Of course it would have been easier to write a post earlier, all the memories were fresh etc. But here it comes now, better later than never.

As You know I fell in love with Byron Bay, didn't want to leave that place at all, but I had to, because Sydney was waiting for me. I had really cool shuttle bus driver, he told me different surf stories and so on, it was bliss!

The flight duration was 1,5 hours, then VOILA stepped out of airport and Sydney greeted me..
I stayed in a YHA hostel (new hostel, very clean, great views from the rooftop and location.. super!)
Damn the hostel was expensive, about 60 dollar for a night, comparing with Byron Bay's YHA hostel the price was nearly double + living expenses are over there really high as well. But spending a lot of money in Sydney was worth it.

I was lucky with timing my visit to Sydney, the VIVID festival was taking place while I explored Sydney. That festival is just INCREDIBLE! You're just standing in Darlig Harbour and smiling, skyscrapers are colored purple, yellow etc. with different moving pictures, the Harbour Bridge is also changing colors and Ophera House is unbelievably beautiful and fascinating to watch. Vivaldi music is playing and couple of thousand people are taking pictures and enjoying the play.

I met in Sydney with 3 Americans (with whom we walked around the city, grabbed ice-creams and talked about traveling+ living abroad and a lot more) Also got many other nationality friends, love to meet totally random people and later on become friends with them.

I took a ferry ride from Darling Harbour to Manly, though the weather wasn't the best, I still got to enjoy walking around Manly. Later in the evening I took a ferry ride back to the city.

The next day I decided to go and see the very famous Bondi Beach, it is really cool place, I spent aprx 3-4 hours over there, most of the time just watching surfers smashing those HUGE waves.. I highly recommend that activity :D

Also I finally tried the famous meat pie, it was good, but not something very special (some Australians say that meat pie is kind of their traditional food)

I was sitting one morning in the common room, eating breakfast, when suddenly 2 people came to me and offered a climb on top of the very famous Harbour Bridge, totally free, not bad at all (it costs about 300-400 dollar, so expensive, I paid for a flight ticket 340 dollar to Bali, so it's ridiculous price for just a climb in my opinion)
It was really cool experience, at first a bit scary as well, because the track didn't look very safe at all, but in about 5 minutes my small fear disappeared. While climbing on top of Harbour Bridge, I also attended a World Record breaking (about 350 people were on top of the bridge at one time)

Sydney is a city, where I would like to move to. This city amazed me with its cool vibe!

Waiting for a flight to Sydney

 Last sunrise in Byron Bay

 Yumm!

 View from hostel's rooftop

 Harbour Bridge

 Bondi Beach

Bondi

And then I flew to Adelaide and Bali ..

Byron Bay

Hey!

Words to describe my time in Byron Bay: paradise, fun, beautiful and powerful nature, surf, sun, sand, ocean, sea turtles, whale, lighthouse, backpackers, sunrises, sunsets, beach, laughing, swimming, happiness. . .

On the 24th of May I drove with greyhound bus from Brisbane (QLD state) to Byron Bay (NSW state). I listened to some good music and just smiled the whole bus ride. When I stepped out of the bus, I got a feeling already that this is a place I'm going to love. I had to carry my big and really heavy suitcase and two other bags about 1 km to get to my hostel. Once I arrived to my hostel and put my stuff into my room, I felt pure happiness. I went straight to the beach, ran to the ocean and later on just watched people strolling around the beach. Some people danced on the beach while others had a yoga session etc.. Everybody seemed to feel themselves great!

Byron Bay is a place, where you lose your time sense and just enjoy days on the beach doing mostly nothing at all. Every evening people gather mainly to two places: lighthouse which is located on top of the mountain to see the sunset or on the beach, watching surfers, drinking beer and enjoying sunset while listening some live music.

On the first evening I met a lot of backpackers from all over the world, that's huge plus side when you're staying at backpacker's. (Must say that I absolutely loved that hostel, people and staff were really friendly and fun, beach was 100 m, main street 30 m, clean rooms, great atmosphere)
Second day: I walked on top of the mountain to see the famous lighthouse and also to stand on the most eastern side of Australia's mainland. I also got an opportunity to climb on top of the lighthouse, in matter of fact I spotted an whale and sea turtles, while I was observing the ocean.
Third day: surfing, sunbathing, walking around the town, went to a pub with new friends, sunset on the beach. There were a lot of surfers every day in the ocean from early morning till late night.
Fourth day: spent a day on the beach reading book and swimming.
Fifth day: watched the sunrise early in the morning and packed my suitcase, took a airport shuttle from Byron Bay to Ballina (driver was a really cool guy, who gave a small tour, while we headed to airport)
In the airport I was so lost, because I really wanted to stay in Byron for a longer time, not to leave so soon.  One day I will go back there :)
Flight to Sydney was an hour and half long. . .

The following post will be about exploring Sydney
Cheers!

Surfing

Sunset

 The Pass

 Little Wategos Beach

The Pass

 View from the Lighthouse

Wategos Beach

Leaving my heart to Byron Bay, on my way to Ballina airport to catch a flight to Sydney

Off to my first stop. Byron Bay !

Hey!

It's 8.37 am drinking my last coffee and ginger tea in Highgate Hill , home. I somehow managed to pack all my things :D, but I have 3 extra bags, I need to get rid off those, when I fly to Sydney and to Bali, don't know yet how it's going to be possible ..

I had a wonderful day yesterday!!
Last day at work and last walk through city..

At 7.30pm went with my family to South Bank Thai restaurant, yum yum , food was delicious and SPICY. I got the sweetest present from Marko and Zoe, a necklace to remind my time in Australia.
Later on we grabbed ice-creams, I picked a cookies and cream one with my all time favorite tim tam.

It is so sad to leave Brisbane, time flies way too fast.. I remember everything so well, when I first arrived here, the first night in Australias. I wish I could take Marko and Zoe with me to Europe.

Now I'm about to take a bus to Kings George station and then Greyhound bus to Byron Bay, finally I got to go there, I've been dreaming about Byron Bay since January, hope it's a cool place.
Backpacker's life is about to start..

I might update my blog soon if I find wifi somewhere, but will see ..

Cheers ! :)

I am so freaking happy right now that I have to share my happiness with you guys!

I'm sure that everyone know that absolutely amazing feeling, when you feel that you're on top of the World, because you're so so happy , everything is  great and there's no .. BUT..

I am so grateful for everything in my life, every day when I walk either to work or just power-walking through different roads, I think about that how lucky I am because I can see, I can walk, I can hear, I can talk, I can be independent .. there are a lot of people in the World, who doesn't have those possibilities.. People tend to forget to be grateful for their lives. 

I am so grateful for my family, thanks to them I've been able to travel the World, sail, kitesurf in different parts of the World.  I'm a person, who loves to discover new places and travel as much as possible. I feel the happiest, when I'm spending time with my family/ I'm abroad sailing/kitesurfing/ sitting on the beach/watching the ocean. 

I've grown so much, while living in Australia, it is the best decision in my life, I've ever made.

Ps.Tomorrow is my last day at work, yay..
Now I'm going to have a dinner with my australian family

Another adventure is about to start !

Hey!


I've booked all my flights:

1. Ballina (Byron Bay)- Sydney  28.05
2. Sydney- Denpasar (Bali)         01.06
3. Denpasar- Stockholm (through Singapore and Doha)  11.06
4. Stockholm- Tallinn 12.06

Can't wait to start traveling next Saturday morning, I'm excited to go all to those places :)

I've booked hostels in Byron Bay and Sydney ( Sydney's backpacker is supposed to be with really good views to Sydney Opera House).  

What I'm planning to do in Sydney: 

• take a picture in front of Sydney Opera House 
• take a ferry ride to Manly Beach
• walk along Bondi Beach
• visit Adriano Zumbo's cafe (eat macaroons) 
• have a picnic in Botanic Gardens 
• go to Sydney Tower 
• maybe take a tour to Blue Mountains 

I still need to book hotels in Bali, I never thought that it would be so hard .. I've been looking for hotel offers for the past 2-3 weeks, read a lot of reviews, but the thing is that all the reviews are so mixed and I guess that's why I haven't booked hotels yet. But I have to hurry, I'll try to book them today, but that's what I say to myself everyday :)

But at least I have plan :) where I'm going to stay overall:

1. Ubud (ricefields and locals) 1-4.06 2014
2. Gili Trawangan (an island, it takes about 2,5 hours by fast boats to get there)  4-9.06 2014
3. Seminyak (not far from airport)  9-11.06 2014

And on the 11th of June I'll start flying back to home :) 

12.06 spending a day in Stockholm with friend (fika fika)

Today I feel excited about coming back to home, but it changes basically everyday :) 

I want to see my family, eat blackbread and everything else :) Also I want to sail, I miss sailing so badly !! And I want to kitesurf as well. 

Hej! 

Nüüdseks on mul kõik lennupiletid ära ostetud, jehuu! 

1. Ballina (Byron Bay)- Sydney    28.06
2. Sydney- Denpasar (Bali)           01.06
3. Denpasar- Stockholm (läbi Singapuri ja Doha)   11.06
4. Stockholm-Tallinn                     12.06

Järgmise laupäeva hommikul hüppan bussi peale ja söidan 2,5 h Byron Bayle. Seal veedan 3,5 päeva ning seejärel sõidan lennukiga Sydneysse, kus olen samuti 3,5 päeva. Otsustasin viimase öö Austraalia pinnal veeta lennujaamas, kuna mul on varahommikune lend Sydneyst, kuigi Balile jõuan 16:40, aga vahemaandumine on mul Adelaide's. 

Elamine on nii Byron Bayl kui ka Sydneys ära bookitud. Olllallaaa mis hinnavahe on ikka Sydney ja Brisbane'i backpackeritel, peaaegu kahekordne, aga see-eest on Sydney hostel väga hea vaatega, nimelt vaade kurikuulsale ooperimajale :) 

Sydney plaan:

• Oopermaja ees pilti teha :) (+kohvitada seal)
• praamiga sõita Manly Beachile
• Bondi Beachil jalutada
• Adriano Zumbo kohvikut külastada (süüa makroone seal, nt hamburgeri maitsega jne :) )
• piknik botaanikaaias
• Sydney Towerisse minna
• võib-olla võtta tuur Blue Mountains'ile 

Bali hotellidega on mul nukrad lood, sest ma ei suuda ära otsustada, mis hotelli bookida. Olen viimase 2-3-4 nädalat lugenud peaaegu iga päev arvustusi erinevate hotellide kohta, aga siiamaani pole kindlat otsust teinud. Olen leidnud häid hotelle (vähemalt enda arvates, kuigi niikuinii sinna minnes on need poole väsinumad ja vanemad  kui piltidel :) ) aga kuna ma reisin üksinda, siis ei saa ma kellegagi arveid jagada.. seega mulle on köik hotellid poole kallimad, kui inimestele kes reisivad vähemalt kahekesi ..

Mul on plaan olemas, mis kohtades viibin Balil olles:

1. Ubud (riisipõllud, kohalikelu)   1-4.06 2014
2. Gili Trawangan (saar, ligikaudu 2,5 h kiirpaadiga sõita maismaalt)     4-9.06
3. Seminyak (hea asukohaga, kus 2 viimast päeva veeta enne lendu Euroopasse, lennujaam on üsna lähedal)        9-11.06 2014

11.juunil hakkan lendama kodu poole õhtul hilja, 12ndal juunil veedan päeva Stockholmis koos Kai-Lyga :) ! 

Ja 13nda varahommikul olengi Eestis tagasi.

Täna siin rõdul istudes, vaadates Mount Coo-that, pilvelõhkujaid ning palmipuid, tunnen elevust, et kohe-kohe näen oma pere, sõpru ja saan peagi purjetada ning surfata, nii väga tahaks juba istuda purjeka peale ja lihtsalt merel olla...  Samas on väga kahju siit ära tulla, kuna Austraalia on super riik (imeline loodus, lahedad inimesed) ja ma jätan siia maha oma Austraalia pere, minu armsad sõbrad. Olen kogunud siin veedetud ajal väga palju imelahedaid mälestusi, mis jäävad minu Austraalia seiklust eluks ajaks meenutama. (Kuidas sõitsime Maarjaga toidukäruga koju, kuigi ise elasime teada-tuntud mägises rajoonis Highgate Hillis, kus on killer tänavad üles-alla-üles-alla. Kuidas sõitsime autoga 30-40 km mööda randa, soe tuul juukseid sasimas, pidasime imeilusal Rainbow Beachil piknikut, ujusime ookeanis, suu naerul. Kuidas lendasime Airlie Beachile minu sünnipäeva pidama, kui imeline tunne oli olla lumivalgel Whitehaven Beachil, mis oli peaaegu inimtühi, seljataga vihmamets.
Ma võiksingi jääda meenutama.. küll kui Eesti tulen ja pildid välja ilmutan, siis teen "konverentsi" oma ajast Austraalias :D )

Uskumatu, kuidas aeg lendab, mäletan nii hästi, kuidas alles istusin kodu ees autosse ning sõitsin lennujaama poole ja siis hüppasingi pea ees tundmatusse kohta, Austraaliasse! 

Tunnen, et olen Austraalias elades palju-palju-palju iseseisvamaks saanud (kõigega tuleb ise hakkama saada, pole kelleltki abi küsida, ise peab tööotsa saama/elamise leidma ja palju muud), samuti olen enesekindlamaks muutunud, seda oli mul väga vaja,  sest nüüd tean, et varem olin ma iseenda kõige suurem vaenlane, oskasin end imehästi maha teha ja ebakindlaks muuta. 

Olen kordi õnnelikum inimene, positiivsust ning teotahet tulvil!

Cheers! :)

Loving my life!

Hey!

I've wanted to write a new post for a quite a long time now and here it comes . ..
Unfortunately I'm not able to post good quality photos from my new camera, because my mac's memory is full, but somehow it allows me to still save photos from my iPhone, that's good :)

So what I've been up to lately (highlights) :

• Hiked in rainforest (Mt.Glorious) 

• Travelled to Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. 

• Had a wonderful dinner with my Australian family 

First of all let's talk about hiking in rainforest: On Sunday (27.04) evening I drove with Gavin to Mount Glorious to go for a hike in rainforest. Wow ! What an awesome experience, something new ! We had been walking for about 20 minutes when it suddenly started to thunder and only in matter of seconds it started to pour as well. The thing in Queensland with the rain is that, when it rains it really means that it rains A LOT- floods. I had my phone in my pocket and seriously I thought that it will die because all my clothes were way too wet for phone to survive.. but it survived tough it was a bit slow at first when I tried to dry it.  But it was so much fun, we walked as fast as we could the same route back where we started our hike, I literally felt as if I was walking through a river. I got hit by peanuts or something like that, it was pretty painful experience but still a lot of fun. Couple of trees had fallen onto the road when we headed back to our car. Later on in the car we put the air conditioner to maximum temperature and started driving back to Brisbane. I was so amazed by the experience the rest of the evening.

On Monday (28.04) I decided to go to Gold Coast after work, just to spend some time out of the city and to watch the ocean.  I finished working about 2 o'clock and then ate a late lunch and went to central station to catch a train to Gold Coast, it takes about an hour and half to get to Gold Coast and then you have to catch a bus as well to whenever you want, I went to Surfers Paradise. 

It was such a great feeling to see the ocean, waves, kite surfers and beach! 

I sat on the beach about 1 hour and then took a bus to Southport, where Terje lives. I stayed at her place for a night. Love love Terje's and her partner's apartment (17th floor, great view) . We ate a dinner and then headed downstairs to sauna and pools. Spent a lot of time chatting in sauna and watching stars in the pool. 

In the morning we ate yumyum BREAD, (can't remember whether it was latvian or russian bread, anyway it was so gooood, miss black bread a lot). After breakfast I headed to Australian Pacific shopping center, obviously to do some shopping :), later took a bus to Surfers Paradise, spent couple of hours on the beach and then grabbed a pizza before going to railway station. 

Had a wonderful time ! 

On Thursday (31.05)  I had dinner with my Australian family in Turkish restaurant in West End, yumyum!

We ordered 4 entrees + mains+ desserts= excellent ! 

I ate way too much as always, can't stop eating before plates aren't empty :)

Lovely evening ! 

Hej!

Kahjuks ei saa ma oma uuest kaamerast pilte blogisse üleslaadida, kuna arvuti mälumaht on täis, ülla-ülla!
Mis olen vahepeal teinud:

• käisin matkamas Mt.Glorious vihmametsas

• sõitsin Surfers Paradise'i, Gold Coastile 

• perekondlik öhtusöök Türgi restoranis "Agora" Marko ja Zoéga 

Esiteks pisut vihmametsas matkamisest. Pühapäeval sain Gaviniga kokku ning sõitsime mägedesse autoga. Läksime vihmametsa matkama, olime pisut aega matkanud, kui järsku kuulsime müristamist, otsustasime siiski edasi matkata.. Siis aga hakkas niimoodi vihma sadama, et ohohooo, ulme ! Olin üsna kindel, et mu telefonist ei jää midagi alles, kuna ma olin täiesti läbimärg, TÄIESTI! 

Selline tunne oli nagu seisaksin keset jöge, sest igaltpoolt tuli vihmavett suure hooga, päris keeruline oli mitte libastuda. Arvan, et sain pählitega vastu pead, sest mingid asjad lendasid mulle vastu pead ja nägu, päris valus oli, aga samas ka naljakas. Naersin kogu südamest, sest see olukord oli nii ebareaalne, olin ju üleni mudane- nägu, juuksed, riided jne. Tagasi kiirköndi tehes/joostes olid paljud puud matkaraja peale kukkunud.  Hiljem jöudsime ühte vahepunkti, kus umbes 10 inimest olid varju all, nad vaatasid meid nagu hernehirmutisi :) auto juurde jöudes esimese asjana vaatasin, kas telefon on elus, läks önneks ja jäi ellu! 

Autos panime konditsioneeri maximumi peale, nagu saunas olin. Lahe kogemus! 

Esmaspäeval peale tööd istusin Central Stationis rongi peale ja söitsin Gold Coastile, rongijaamast vötsin bussi Surfers Paradise'i. Esimese asjana läksin kohe randa, istusin seal tunni, jälgisin merd ja tegin pilte, mönus! Seejärel hüppasin uuesti bussi peale ja vötsin suuna South Porti poole, kus Terje elab. Nii mönus oli nende juures ! Söime öhtust, jutustasime, käisime saunas, ujusime pikalt ning istusime mullvannis ja hiljem vaatasime filmi. Hommikul söime hommikust, nomnom, sain kaua igatsetud leiba suitsuvorstiga süüa.

Läksin shoppama ning seejärel randa, vötsin päikest, kuulasin muusikat, jälgisin ookeani :) !

Enne bussi ja rongi peale minekut haarasin pitsa ning seejärel vötsin suuna Brisbane'i poole tagasi. 

Super !

Neljapäeval käisin oma Austraalia perega (Marko ja Zoe) öhtusöögil West Endis, valisin seekord Türgi restorani " Agora" kuna köikidel olid köhud nii tühjad, siis tellisime palju süüa. Nimelt 4 eelrooga+ pearoad+ magustoidud, nii hea toit oli ! 

 Surfers Paradise

 South Port, at Terjes apartment

 Pools and sauna complex

:)