hostel – One Chance to See the World

My one regret in Brisbane

Brisbane is the second city I have lived in after Sydney. From my experience in Sydney I took into account a couple of things and implemented them in Brisbane for my six months here.

One of them was choosing to stay in a hostel instead of a hotel.

Sydney is huge, and despite the commute to work not being too much hassle I met a few people that decided to stay in hostels right in the CBD. This would have cut my travel time drastically and allowed me a bit more time to blog too. I often feel that in a larger city it can seem harder to socialise as everyone is so rushed and in such big crowds, it is harder to walk by a friend in the street and stop for a quick catch up. Because I was blogging so frequently and in an apartment outside the city, I feel I didn’t socialise. I didn’t mind that too much though as this was the six months that really boosted my blogging. However being in a hostel would have been fun and travelling to work would have been a breeze.

It was only after Sydney that I stayed in my first hostel. It was during my 88 days farmwork and I did it because, well, I had to. But this showed me how fun hostels can be and how easy it is to make friends there. Friends I will no doubt keep in contact with for years to come.

And with this in mind I booked a hostel in Brisbane close to work. I have stayed here for the duration of my time in the city and despite being a sacrifice in privacy, it gives me more freedom to travel around. If I want to go to Sydney for a week I just pack and leave. No rent to pay! But although I have had an amazing time in Brisbane, I feel I may have benefited from doing this a little differently.

In Sydney I should have stayed in a hostel. And in Brisbane I should have stayed in an apartment. It is cool I have tried both living styles out however I did them the wrong way round. This is my friends pool in her apartment complex, it is really close to the city and I work among the highrises.

Brisbane is small enough to get a decent place close to the city. And commute times are short. I could probably walk to work from here if I wanted to, or grab one of those really convenient Lime Scooters to get me there.

I only have a month left here, so I am sticking to my guns and seeing it out in a hostel. Don’t get me wrong I have loved it and made some great friends here, and my two minute walk to work has given me so much more time to write. But I just wanted to share my thoughts on this with you as my time here comes to an end and I look back at my time in Brissy.

Now, time to think of my options for Melbourne in March…

Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my A bout My Blog section

Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diary or follow me @samest89 on Instagram

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Happy blogging,

Sam

Six days left: I’m going to miss the alcohol

Alcohol is a weird thing. I cannot think of anything else that people (including me) both love and hate so much. Maybe marriage from what I have gathered… It’s hard to live with or without.

You see, when you are stuck in a small town with little to do (or haven’t already done), alcohol is the answer. And when you are in a hostel with 200+ other twentysomethings, alcohol is the answer to everything. It helps you to relax after a hard day on the farm in increasingly hot temperatures as the winter comes to an end. It is a friend when you are off and all your friends are working. It’s a help when it is too hot, it is a great beer-jacket when it is too cold. Alcohol is the answer, until the day comes when we get bored of making it the answer.

I have said it many times, this place is just like being back at university. It’s as much of a party hostel as it is a working one. It is safe to say that I cannot wait to end this constant flow of booze and live a (slightly) healthier lifestyle outside of Ayr, however if it wasn’t for the alcohol I wouldn’t have had so many funny stories and hilarious encounters with people. If it wasn’t for alcohol, I probably wouldn’t have half the friends I have. I can be pretty socially awkward and a pint is the great escape from that.

Or goon for that matter. Just don’t tell the hostel, it’s banned.

Travel Diary: The Blue Mountains are stunning

Who knew a short train ride from a city the size of Sydney could take you to a magical landscape like this. It wasn’t even a high speed train, with plenty of stops along the way. These mountains really are on the doorstep of Sydneysiders.

Oddly enough, as I was waiting on the train for it to depart, the advertisement board displayed a performance called The Three Sisters. Strategically placed on the platform heading to the attraction of the same name?

Who knows. But before long, the Sydney skyline disappeared into the horizon.

What replaced it was a blanket of green, trees as far as the eye could see. Every now and then the station would stop in smaller and smaller towns, eventually the platforms were so small there weren’t signs telling me where I was. I had to use the TripView ap- which is fantastic- to get my bearings.

Leaving the station in Katoomba, I headed to the hostel. This was roughly a ten minute walk and after dumping my bag and getting directions from the lovely staff, I found I was halfway to some great Blue Mountain viewing points.

The clifftop is lined with reminders of those that worked to build the roads and the people that lived here at the time. I took a moment to reflect on this and the hard work it must have been to create such infrastructure in the summer heat. A pretty powerful reminder.

There was also messages from those that had visited for the first time during times of exploration and discovery. One was by Charles Darwin, stating that the view through the trees was ‘quite novel and extremely magnificent’.

This is the view he was speaking of.

The weather certainly improved which helped greatly for some nice shots.

This stairway was a little nerve-racking, although doable even with a mild fear of heights. It was cool to be able to touch one of the Three Sisters, even if it did get a little crowded.

Now, walking west towards Scenic World, there are two ways to head to the ancient rainforest below. The worlds steepest railway or Australia’s steepest cable car. You can choose to go down one way, walk through the rainforest on one of the various route lengths and up again via the other route. I decided to head down via railway and up via cable car.

If you’re in and around Sydney and have a enough time to venture out of the city, definitely make time for this place. I only spent one full day here and headed back early the next day after a pleasant night in the local YHA hostel. I have a feeling I could have spent more nights in the region and ventured a little further off the beaten track, however 24 hours was still great fun.