Climbing in Oz

(Burleigh Head, Gold Coast, Oz 12:30pm 10.25.08)
Next morning (10.19.08) I had to wake up early to catch a train to a bus which would take me up the coast to Palm Beach. Danielle set me up with her friend Sarah to go rock climbing for the day. I was suppose to meet Sarah in a small town close to Palm Beach at 8:30am since we were meeting her friends at 10:30am but I missed my bus and had a to take a later one which got me there about 9:15am. Sarah had suggested that we could get breakfast and eat out by the beach but when I called to tell her I was gonna be late she said we’d have to just eat at home. When I got on the bus I told the driver which street I needed to get off and told him I wasn’t familiar with the area. He just gave me a really short “yeah” as if to say don’t bother me. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up I noticed that we just passed a sign for the town I was supposed to be getting off in. I moved to the front seat opposite of the driver and reminded him of the street I needed and again he just said “yeah”, as if he understood the first time so why was I bothering him again. I noticed a cute girl sitting about 10 rows back and thought about whether or not I should hit on here but decided against it since there was no where it could really go. About 15 minutes later he pulled over and said “hey mate, sorry your stop was about 8 streets back” I called Sarah and let her know I was in town but that I had been missed the street and she came to look for me. 8 Streets was actually about 1 ½ miles so it was a good thing she had a car. When she picked me up I was surprised by how cute she was. Danielle has said she was cute and showed me a picture but the picture didn’t do her justice. She took me back to the house she was staying at and made me breakfast then we hit the road. After a short, 20 min, drive we pulled into a beach park and Sarah noticed one of her friends sitting in the grass waiting for us. Her name was Miz, and just so happened to be the cute girl from the bus. I asked her if she was on the bus, just to confirm, then I explained to them both that I had been checking her out and had thought about making a move. She admitted that she was checking me out too. We waited for Sarah’s two other friends to show up and then took a short hike to the climbing spot. Sara set the lines at the top and then abseiled down. We did several routes, ranging from 12 to 19 on their grading scale. There are apparently 3 or 4 different ways to grade climbing routes depending on what system you use. The views from the top of route were amazing!! You could look out over a large lake and the forest. After our climbs we went for a swim in the lake. Well they went for a swim, but as soon as I stuck my toes in I made up my mind that I would just sun bathe on the rocks. The water seemed pretty cold but I did eventually, slowly, make my way in and went swimming. After our swim we parted ways with the others and went back to the house Sarah was house sitting at. We got to go food from an Indian restaurant and walked across the street to eat at the beach. Sarah saved my life by pulling me back as I started across the street. I have a bad habit of walking out in front of cars since I look the wrong way before crossing the street, since they drive on the opposite side here. After dinner we went back to the house and watched movie. Next morning (10.20.08) we woke up at headed back to Epping, a suburb of Sydney. Sarah had to interview a guy for the café she works at and Danielle met me there for breakfast. After breakfast I went with Danielle around Sydney while she went to appointments and ran errands, before heading back to her house. I took a nap outside on here veranda and then woke up to meet Sarah at the bus station. We met one her friends in the city and went to the Noodle Market for dinner. After the dinner we made our way to a small lil bar for some live Jazz music. Around 10:30 we left and I headed back to Danielle’s for the night. She still had the two CS’er from Estonia so I slept on the couch on the veranda. Next morning (10.21.08) I woke up at 3:30 am to catch the 4:03am train by Danielle’s house to the Kings Cross station in Sydney. It got in at 4:40 am and I got picked up by the coach for the South Eastern Sydney Canoe Club women’s division. I was surprised when I got off the train up to the street that there were people still out from the night before. Apparently Kings Cross is the Red Light district and there were quiet a few prostitutes around. 10 minutes later we pulled up to a Boat and Yacht Club where they store their canoes. I was also surprised when I looked around and saw that I was the only male. We ended up taking out two boats, 6 in one and 5 in the one I was in. We paddled down to the Opera house and back and coach gave me a visitor paddler’s tour of the harbor, pointing out historical or interesting things along the way. We got off the water at 7am and Danielle met me at Kings Cross and took me to the Airport so I could catch my flight to Brisbane. She had to go that way to meet a friend that had just flown in from New Zealand anyways. I arrived in Brisbane at noon and found a mtg that started at 2:30 right down the street from the train station. I made my way to an internet shop and try to sort out my couch for the night. I had found a host a few days earlier but hadn’t heard back from him about the directions to his house. I emailed him from Sydney the night before and again that morning from the Sydney Airport still had no reply. I decided to search in Brisbane again and sent out around 20 emails stating my situation and that I needed a couch for the night. Within an hour I had already received two phone calls. I decided to stay with Erin but she was busy with a work function till 8:30pm so after the mtg I made my way back to the internet café. I passed some time hitting on the girl that worked there and then decided to explore a lil bit of the city. I walked to some museums on the other side of the river but they all closed at 5:30pm. It began to pour rain so I took refuge in the library for a half hour and when it looked as if it were gonna start to break I headed out. Barefoot I trekked through the city back to the travel agencies where I had left my bags. As I crossed over the bridge a break in the clouds let enough light through to produce an amazing rainbow over the city. It was still raining pretty hard so I didn’t take out my camera. However a few minutes later I looked back at the sun shinning down on the city streets and couldn’t resist the shot. I paused for a few minutes in the rain to take some pictures and then kept on to the shop. I used their internet again for a half hour before they closed at 7pm and then headed to a restaurant on the corner to grab dinner till it was time to meet Erin. I sat down with two girls from Denmark and ate dinner while finished theirs and had drinks. Erin came by at 8:30 and we took a train back to her house. We chatted for a little bit and I made plans to paddle in the a.m. with club in the city. The girl was gonna pick me up at 4:40am but she told me if jet lag got the best of me and I wanted to cancel, just call her before 4:20 am.