Beaches galore!

So, it's been a few days since I last wrote and so much has happened!

Left the Blue Mountains on Monday just before midday and arrived at Sydney central station only to hear taht I'm going to have to do a bit of detour with the train becuase of the bush fires up north. So I'm thinking: "why is that? becuase of the smoke?" But it turns out that some of the railway track was badly damaged by the fires. Aapparently in some areas the track even melted! But the day I left the Blue Mountains was unlike any other day: It was very misty and nice and cool! Made a lovely change! The forests had this mystic feel to them.....very beautiful!

So I had to take a train to Hornsby, then took the bus to Godsford and then had to wait an hour for the train to Newcastle. All in all I say it was an experience to drive along a motorway and see large parts of a forest completely burnt down and still simmering. The firemen must have been relieved with all the rain!

That evening we (about 40 of us from the hostel) went to the Pub for some free food. This hostel here is owned by a pub owner, and he gives free food on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. So you can guess: a backpacker with a tight budget...who's going to refuse some free grub? It was very nice. Pasta with a mushroom sauce. Had the same thing last night. Met two Aussies, Craig and David, from Sydney here that jsut wanted to go up north for a bit. Craig had jsut arrived from London so was heavily jet-lagged but still managed to get up early the next morning for an early surf!

Tuesay was a good relaxing day. Watched a lot of the cricket on the TV and it's good to see SA is doing a good job. Much to the annoyance of everyone here! But I was delighted! At five 11 of us gathered to play beach volleyball which was a lot of fun! Played like five games and just had a good laugh! After that many of us just ran to the sea to cool off. Turns out that even that late the sun still tries to burn you! Trying really hard not to get sunburnt here but to no avail even with suncream of factor 40! The sea water was gorgeous and had fun diving under the waves, though once this wave took me by surprise and I got pounded! Really got washed out towards the beach and as I came up for air, another hit me and took me all the way to the beach! Lol! Was a bit stunned, but got up and swam back in.

After our free meal and a walk to some local bars, we stayed up and celebrated and Canadian guy's birthday, Andy at midnight. He's on his way to see the cricket now in Sydney and he's going to support Australia.....NOT IMPRESSED!

Today I plan to just catch up with my journal and just relax a bit. Perhaps go to a park here about 30 min with the bus and have a bit of a walk and see them feeding the Koalas. That will be cool. And tomorrow i'm off to Sydney to see the cricket myself! Can't wait!

Righty, gotta run....internet time running out! Thanks to everyone replying on my blog! It's really cool! Take care!x