Sydney: Cockatoo Island (…the accidental film set)

OK, so weird fact about Lucy and I – we both love anything to do with murders, prisons and anything a bit gruesome, so when we heard about Cockatoo Island we knew it was worth a visit. Cockatoo Island is a little island located in the harbour but when you’re there it feels like you’re a million miles away from the city and even from the current day, it really feels like an island that’s lost in time.

Now I can’t remember all the facts that I learnt about the island (the $5 audio tour was actually really cool and interesting!) but I will say that between 1839 and 1869 Cockatoo Island was an island for convicts who had re-offended and was NOT a place you wanted to end up. In 1869 the convicts were relocated and the island became a reform school for girls and a very sad place to grow up,

So weirdly enough you can actually camp on the island, as you start the tour around the old barracks you can see lots of little tents lined up amongst the old metal ruins. The views across the harbour of the city were pretty sweet from here too!

Walking through the ruins was really interesting, we had the audio tour playing in our ears telling us stories of how the convicts would have lived and the conditions that they had to deal with.

We then walked around the parts of the island that were used to house young girls who had committed petty crimes, it was really sad to walk around there and listen to the lives that these young girls would have lived. This place had a real eerie feel to it and a real sad atmosphere.

We walked to another part of the island that is called the Industrial Centre, the insides looked like a factory and had old discarded machines inside, whilst I was walking taking photos Lucy gasped and starting freaking out “They filmed Wolverine here! They filmed Wolverine here!”…low and behold, they had filmed Wolverine there! We found this VERY exciting (the film Unbroken had also been filmed there too but c’mon guys it’s Wolverine!)

The video below is the scene that was shot on the island, it also features Hugh Jackman naked so it’s worth a watch…just saying.

We really enjoyed our trip around Cockatoo Island, finding out about the history and walking amongst it all was great. It was hard to believe we were only a 5 minute ferry ride from the city’s harbour, it’s definetly worth a visit, if just to geek out about the Wolverine set!

First few days in Sydney (on a budget)

After having a great time in Melbourne it was time for Greyhound bus journey to Sydney (yay!…NOT) We stocked up on snacks, had all our electricals charged, had podcasts and films at the ready and finally boarded the bus at 10pm, 12 hours later we were in Sydney (and feeling pretty gross after being cooped up on a bus all night) We checked into our hostel and decided to freshen up, put our tourists hats on and have a walk down to the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

We then walked back to the hostel, freshened up, made friends with one of the girls in our room, bought the cheapest bottle of wine we could find and then headed out to Darling Harbour to go for some drinks…que the one drunken photo we took from that night.

The next day we decided to check out The Rocks area of Sydney, I had never been there before and it was really great to discover this gem of the city. The Rocks is the oldest part of Sydney and is full of history. We walked along the cobbled streets and alleyways and visited The Rocks Discovery Centre.

The next day was Anzac Day and a public holiday in Australia, we woke up and decided to go and do some exploring (if anywhere was open!) We got given a map from our hostel that had a free walking tour on it so we decided to give that a go and it was bloody brilliant!!

There was a really nice atmosphere in the city on Anzac Day, we were out early and it was lovely to see so many people who were going to march in the parade later that afternoon.

We continued on our tour and it was great to learn all about the history of the city. There were so many hidden treasures that we learnt about and our tour guide was brilliant, she was so enthusiastic and funny and the tour was so interesting. This is the website for the tours – it was all FREE and I would definitely recommend doing it if you’re in Sydney, they also do them in Melbourne too.

I particularly loved this piece of street art that was in a little alley way. It’s called Forgotten Songs and it’s a memorial for all the species of birds that would once have lived within the city. “Forgotten Songs commemorates the songs of fifty birds once heard in central Sydney, before they were gradually forced out by European settlement. The calls, which filter down from the canopy of birdcages suspended above Angel Place, change as day shifts to night; the daytime birds’ songs disappearing with the sun, and those of the nocturnal birds, which inhabited the area, sounding into the evening” – quote from the citysydneyart.com website.

We finished our tour at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, learning about how the bridge was made and how you can take a tour across the top of the bridge! After the tour was finished Lucy and I decided to take a walk across it, this was my third trip to Sydney but I’d only ever seen the bridge from across the river.

We started our walk along the bridge, the views from the top were great and it was nice to see the Opera House from the other side.

The walk along the bridge was fun, although we felt we were fighting the onset of a downpour so we walked at quite a quick pace just incase!

Spending your time in a city can soon get expensive but there are so many free choices that you can make. With a little research you can see amazing sights within the city without breaking the bank. I’ve visited Sydney twice before but didn’t see half as much as I did in the first few days of this trip.
My advice for anyone visiting a new city is to take part in some kind of tour to get your bearings of the city you’ll be staying in. The tour guide is usually a local who can recommend great places for you to eat, drink and enjoy during your stay!

Sightseeing in Brunswick Heads

After having a great day visiting Bangalow we decided to take the bus and explore another new little place close to Byron Bay. We picked Brunswick Heads which is only a 20 minute bus drive away.
Brunswick Heads was very similar to Bangalow in that it had lots of lovely little cafe’s and cute shops but it also boasts the most amazing beach!

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After exploring the beautiful sights at the beach we headed into the town to have a mooch about. We did the usual and stopped off for some coffee and a look around the town. All the shops are independent shops and there are lots of nice boutiques to look in.
After our look around the town we walked across the bridge to an amazing lake which connects the town to the beach. The water in the lake is crystal clear and it’s amazing to see all the fish swimming around. You can rent paddle boards and canoes and swim in the lake, it’s glorious!

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After having a little sit down at the lake and looking out on the beautiful sights we decided to walk to another part of the beach. It was so beautiful, the beach was deserted, apart from the washed up jellyfish that were on the sand!

Another incredible day sightseeing and exploring whats around us. Any suggestions of where I should explore next?!

Exploring Dayboro ‘The Town of Yesteryear’

I have been living and working at Farm Animal Rescue for three weeks now, it’s a vegan farm about an hour from Brisbane, the farm rescues animals from the meat and dairy industry. You can read about some of the animals and my first two weeks on the farm here.

On my days off I like to walk down to the local town for some coffee and civilisation! Dayboro town is a 20 minute walk from the farm. It’s a tiny little farm town with a population of about 1,600 people. The first time I went there I was captivated by how small and quaint the town was. It has a really ‘old farm town’ feel to it with its old wooden clad buildings, little independent shops and peaceful laid back vibe. I mean even the town sign is adorable! ‘Yesteryear’…like c’mon!When you walk around the town you really feel like you’ve gone back in time! The place is so idyllic and it’s lovely to see all the little quirks that this town has to offer.

I fell in love with the petrol station and the church, I mean look at them! They are so cute and remind me of something from 1940’s America (…the church also reminds me of the church from The Walking Dead!…thankfully there aren’t any creepy messages carved onto the side of this one)My days in Dayboro are usually centred around food (duh!), coffee and free wifi! There is a great little cafe which has vegan options too, I’ve had breakfast and lunch there a few times, their smoothies and Frappes are to die for!

My next stop is usually one that I spend most of my day at and it’s a real gem. It’s a lovely coffee/book shop called Rendezvous which has a really nice, relaxed atmosphere and it also has a really sweet book exchange outside which is too cute! The books that are on sale in the shop are really great books too, lots of art and photography books, nature books and adult colouring books. I’m now one of those annoying people who buys endless cups of coffee so I can scrounge the free wifi. It’s nice to do it in this cafe though because the people are really friendly, the coffee is amazing and they once played a Bright Eyes song in there so I’m always gonna go back!

Another random little place that I stumbled across in Dayboro was a weird flower shop/antique shop/saddle shop. It was incredible and so unique! It’s starts off as a really cool plant shop…
…which has lots of cool handmade furniture and statues and an art gallery upstairs!
…you then turn the corner and it’s an antique shop! The lady who runs the shop was really lovely and was telling us all about the building, it used to be an old butter factory. The building itself was amazing with beautiful high ceilings and lots of character. What a unique place to find in such a tiny little town!
This is one of the things I love about travelling, you stumble across little places that you’d never normally encounter. Dayboro isn’t in any of the travel guides for Australia because it’s so small but I love little places like this, they have so much character and they are great to explore. Even though there isn’t much to do here, I’m going to miss my days in Dayboro…..and the chai lattes… and lazy afternoons surrounded by books and good music!

I’m going to end this post with a creepy photo of the view as you leave the town, the name on the sign doesn’t help, obviously I had to edit it to make it look even creepier…

Don’t know what to do with your day? …Climb a mountain!

A few weekends ago me and Jake were trying to think of what to do with our day, we wanted to do something that was cheap and outdoors because the weather was really nice.
‘We could climb Mount Ngungun?’ said Jake, after I’d stopped laughing at the name I decided it would be a great idea!
The mountain is about an hour from Jake’s house, it’s the sixth tallest of the Glass House Mountains and stands at 253 metres high.
It only took us about 25 minutes to climb the mountain, it was a bit tough because it was so humid that day and it took us about half the time to come down because it’s so steep (we got overtaken on the way down by a man running down, huffing and puffing and looking very uncomfortable…have a day off mate!)

The climb was beautiful, lots of amazing views along the way.

Within no time at all Jake told me we were near the top, you couldn’t get a bearing for how high we were because the walk in lined with trees so you can’t really see out. I could not believe it when we reached the top. You have to climb over a few big rocks before you get to the top and I know it sounds super cheesy but when I got to the top and looked out, the view took my breath away. I had never seen something like that before and it was beautiful! You just look out for as far as you can see, the sun was shining and it was amazing!

Me and Jake sat down just looking out onto the amazing view, I didn’t want to rush being up there because the views was incredible (…and I wanted a rest and was putting off the walk back down!)

It was such a great day and amazing to do something different. When I see and do things like this it reminds me that I’m living in an amazing country with such natural beauty and that there is so much more of it explore!

Here is a video that I made of the climb

Farm Animal Rescue – my home for the next month.

One of my main aims while I’m in Australia is to volunteer at animal sanctuaries and tomorrow I’m off to my first one. It’s in Dayboro which is about an hour from Brisbane. 

When I was in Australia on a holiday in 2014 I visited the farm for the day and thought it was amazing. The farm is a vegan farm which takes in animals from the meat and dairy industry. Many of these animals have suffered years of abuse and so when they come to the farm they are very ill. The farm then nurses them back to health and the animals live the rest of their lives in peace and safety.

When I visited the farm in 2014 I was shown around but two volunteers, they were passing through Australia on their travels had been staying at the farm for a month. They both spoke so highly of their time there and it made me think that that’s something I’d like to do in the future. Fast forward to now and I leave tomorrow to stay there for a month! I remember thinking that I’d love to do something like this but I was worried about doing it on my own and meeting people etc but after living with 11 other strangers in Borneo and making some amazing friends I know it’ll be a great experience. Plus I get to live on a beautiful farm and look after animals everyday!

Here are some photos and a video from my recent visit there on one of their open days… they’ll be plenty of blog posts to come about my time on the farm!

Byron Bay, Boy & Bear and Beaches…

Above is a video documenting my time in Byron Bay…I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Byron Bay a couple of times before and it’s so lovely there, so chilled out and relaxed.
We were heading to Byron to watch Boy and Bear, a great Australian band, play at the Beach Hotel. I’ve seen the band twice before in London and I was so excited to see them while I was here!
We had a really chilled out weekend, we walked to the lighthouse, chilled out on the beach and most importantly ate AMAZING food!

The new adventure – my first few days in Brisbane.

After three plane journeys back to back I was finally in Brisbane, I have never been happier to see Jake when he collected me from the airport, it’s been nearly two years since I saw him so I was super excited to see him, I hugged him and instantly burst into tears, I couldn’t believe I was finally in Australia, that and I was really, really tired!

For the first few days I just chilled out, it honestly felt like I was readjusting to being back in civilization! The noises from the road was deafening, so much so that for the first days I kept the windows and doors shut! It was weird suddenly being in such a built up area after living in the middle of the jungle for two months, the only noises I would hear there were birds or frogs (yep…one night I got woken up by frogs!)

Two days after I got here it was my 29th birthday! It seemed like it had come around stupidly quickly and I hadn’t really thought about it to be honest. In the UK the changes of the seasons get you acclimatised to certain times of the year…in the UK November is cold, dark and miserable – in Australia November is HOT, let me tell you that’s a bit weird to get your head around! On my birthday Jake woke me up so that we could have breakfast together before he headed to work, he also gave me my presents and I opened cards from home which had been posted to Jake’s house. I also had my lovely card from all my Sepilok family – there was definitely a theme with my cards and presents this year!
I decided to go into the city for my birthday so I hoped on the bus and was there in under 20 minutes. I bought myself a few bits, a new cruelty free shop had opened up in the city so I headed there and got chatting to the lovely woman who owns it. I also popped to LUSH so I could stock up on a few bits.
On the evening of my birthday me and Jake took the dogs for a nice walk in the forest opposite his house. Then we went out for dinner – Vegan Pizzas! YES PLEASE! We drove to a place about 10 minutes from Jake’s house and had the best pizzas, after eating rice and noodles for the last two months a big pizza was great!

I’ve also been exploring the surroundings near Jake’s house by going on dog walks. Jake’s housemate has two beautiful black labs who have been keeping me company during the past week! There is a big forest just opposite Jake’s house so I’ve been going there with them, it’s great to walk around, although I did get lost in there on the first day with the sun beating down on me, with no water and no idea which way to go…I had visions of the film 127 hours flashing through my brain, what happens if I get bitten by a snake?! I have no sim card in my phone! How long can you last without water?! Why is no one else in this forest?!….after about 20 minutes of panicking I figured out that I wasn’t going to die and managed to find out where I was…phew! No arm chopping for me!
Jake and I have also been going on bike rides in and around the city. One day we caught the bus into the city and picked up some bikes while we were there, they are the same as the Boris bikes in London and only cost us $2 for the day!

Catching the Citycat to collect the bikes

It was great to cycle in the city, it was so relaxing (even though it was 35 degrees out and I was paranoid I was going to get burnt!) we cycled along the river and it was great to take in all the sights.

The day after we cycled into the city from Jake’s house, this is when I saw one of the best sights I have ever seen – Jake getting attacked by a magpie whilst cycling through the park! The magpies over here swoop at you to protect their babies and you often see people with sticks etc stuck to their helmets to try and fend them off!
After the Magpie incident we cycled into the city, once again it was over 30 degrees but we had such a good time! It’s great cycling into the city, it’s all sectioned into cycle lanes so it’s a really easy ride. I haven’t been on a bike in years but we ended up doing over 10km that day!

My first few days in Brisbane were a bit of a shock to the system, going from ‘working’ 6 day weeks in Borneo, with a laid back lifestyle to being in the city, with the hustle and bustle that goes along with that was a bit strange at first but it’s been a great first few days. Going into the city is really nice and it’s great to walk around see new sights.I’m looking forward to exploring the city more and meeting new people along the way!