Coogee Bay Boutique Hotel

Let's see...it was a great weekend. Hung out with Yuka and Emily. We hit the Paddington Market, Centennial Park, and walked back to Coogee. Good fun, lots of walking, lots of talking. Saturday was Emily's last night in Coogee before her parents arrived, so we hit the town -- pizza, wine, and then on to one of the two bars in Coogee, the Coogee Bay Hotel. Another interesting evening. Beer, dancing, and funny foreign blokes. We were first approached by a lovely Irish gentleman. Yuka told him we...

January 26th - Australia Day. An official holiday which, once upon a time, was used to praise the day when the British Empire first set foot on the dust in New South Wales and decided it would make a fantastic prison for bread thieves. After the prisoners developed an aversion to the Brits however, it's been used to celebrate all that is Australian which - according to Sam Kekovich at least - is to eat a lot of lamb and drink a lot of beer.   Well I didn't want to break tradition so after som...

Mark - Our journey into the southern hemishpere began with a brief 3 day stop-over in Sydney. The city holds a certain charm for me as it is the place where I first met Caroline (Ah!) during an unforgettable two and a half weeks in November 2003; when a sea of white shirts help carry the Webb-Ellis trophy back to England. My stay was needless to say immersed in memories of the Coogee Bay Hotel, drinking on the Rocks and in the Homebar at Darling Harbour, the sight of the Opera House, and a ve...

The one thing I never really got from all my previous travels and that I was looking forward to on this trip was the chance to stop and catch my breath in one place for a week or so at a time. Sure, things can get a little boring at times now that I've been in Sydney for two weeks and knew the place before I even got here. But on the other hand I've had the opportunity to really get to know the people who I'm staying with at my hostel. It's fun and all to bounce around and be in a new place e...

By now I'm getting pretty blasé about this travelling malarkey and touched down in Sydney with a stretch and a yawn. As I'd gone to the southern hemisphere, it was now summer so the sun was shining brightly. Jo came to collect me from the airport. I was amused to tell her that I only found out about her not-so-new man Hamish from my cousin's girlfriend Emma, who has never met Jo and has only known her for a few weeks via Facebook. Hamish is the evil twin of Dermot O'Leary (he that silly Big B...

Monday: Jogged to the gym in the morning to help burn off some of the **** I'd eaten over the weekend, hasn't actually been too bad, would have probably eaten more if I was at home. Spent an hour at the gym but didn't have the energy to run home so just strolled. Got the bus to the Junction after lunch to have a look at the sales, was just window licking really, only wanted a new pair of jeans and was looking around at the mobile phones as a Christmas present to me, not gonna buy a new one th...

Hi. So, well into the new year at this stage, and I'm getting seriously acclimatised. At least we're going back to Ireland during the 'summer', I think the recent freeze-fest over there might have sent my body into convulsions if I had gone back now. I've certainly been keeping myself occupied, gone to a couple more gigs in January (crowds are nowhere near as lively as back home) as well as an Aussie rugby game (oh my god, tedious) and finally scratched the surface of some touristy-type activ...

Our last full day in Bondi and Australia, and we'd made plans to meet up with my friend Pauline's brother Steven (who lives in Clovelly now) and his girlfriend Claudia. We had a wander part way round the cliff top walk from Bondi to Coogee (about 5k - we only did a tiny portion) but even then got some breathtaking views from the cliffs over the ocean - really wish we'd had more time to do that properly. Headed to the Coogee Bay Hotel to meet Steven and Claudia, had a few drinks and then a lat...

Writing this entry reminds me of the time I was on the Khao San Road in Bangkok, the heat here today is incredibly intense, the kind which makes me feel light-headed, listless, irritable and lethargic. Even a simple stroll down the main road is enough to send rivulets of sweat pouring down my neck, my back, my legs ... not the most pleasant of sensations but at least I have no task more physically exerting to do right now that move my fingers across the computer's keyboard. I left Coogee thre...

YAY! I finally have internet in my apartment! Yesterday was a very productive day, and a beautiful one at that. Unlike today, which so far has consisted of sleeping late and sitting around my apartment. But today it's raining, so that's my excuse, which is unfortunate because the big Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is today. Anyway, yesterday I started off by paying my rent for the first time (the man at the bank told me Australia's glad to have me here - I love this country!). Then I finag...