(mostly) Port Stephens
After my housing application was accepted, a weight was lifted from my shoulders and I was able to just enjoy my last few days at the hostel without worrying about where I was going to be living. I went out clubbing with the group of people I met at the hostel (made up of mostly people from France, with the exception of Steven who is from Holland, and Anthony who speaks French but is from Quebec), hung out at Newy Beach on Sunday, and then had orientation at the Callaghan Campus (main campus for the UON) on Monday morning. There, I met Lone (pronounced Luna) from Sweden, and Filip from the Czech Republic, who have become my closest friends here. More about our various adventures to come! Below are some photos I snapped at Newy & Mereweather beaches over my last weekend at the hostel/first week in the sharehouse
The day after I moved into the sharehouse, Steven and I decided to go north to Port Stephens to meet Anthony. Anthony had been staying in Newcastle, but was only there for a week before moving along up the coast to another hostel. We had followed each other on Instagram, and I had seen some really beautiful places on his story. Port Stephens is only an hour via public transportation, so I asked Steven if he wanted to make a day trip up there and he said, why not!
We originally planned to leave around 11am on Wednesday. The bus leaves once an hour, and I wanted to get there early. Of course, Steven wasn’t quite ready when I got to the hostel, so we delayed an hour. I had a route all planned out – we needed to take one bus, and then transfer to the one that only leaves every hour. But Steven wanted to take the Stockton Ferry across Hunter River, transfer to a bus, and then transfer again to the bus that would take us to Port Stephens. I hadn’t taken the ferry before, so we did that instead. We successfully crossed the river, got on the first bus, and got off at a stop on the side of a two lane highway where we needed to wait about 10-15 minutes for the next bus. Well, I guess we got too deep into conversation because the bus came and went.
This meant we had an hour to kill – and I had to go to the bathroom. There wasn’t much around, and we couldn’t stray too far from the bus stop, but there was a little community across the road. Think trailer park, but nicer. I think it was some kind of retirement community. All the homes were trailer-sized, but each one was landscaped well and overall had a much nicer feel than a trailer part you might come across in the US. Anyway, we went into the front office and asked about a bathroom. The receptionist gave us directions to some building across the way. We attempted to follow these directions but found no bathroom. We continued down the road a ways, not quite sure what to do, and a van came down the road. To my complete surprise, Steven flagged them down and they stopped and gave us directions. I never would have thought of doing this because I feel like people in the US would have just kept on driving! Or maybe it’s because I lived in St. Louis City for a while, where flagging someone down like that could potentially be dangerous. Regardless, I was surprised.
We had to get directions two more times before we finally reached the community center that had an accessible bathroom. We walked back out to the bus stop after that and waited in the hot sun for another fifteen minutes before finally getting on. I hadn’t put on sunscreen that morning (thinking that I was going to be on buses for an hour and a half and not wandering around outside), and I knew even then that I was going to come home with a tank top tan line that night.
We finally made it to the Koala Sanctuary around 2pm, where we met Anthony. It wasn’t very big, so we didn’t stay very long, but it was cool to see the koalas! They are so cute and sleepy. The Sanctuary takes in injured koalas (usually from car accidents) and rehabilitates them. They each have their own little area with trees for them to climb up in. They also have one bigger habitat for breeding as koalas became endangered in Australia last year.
After the Koala sanctuary, we went into town, got Fish ‘n Chips (and some crazy big calamari) to go, and ate down by the water where we had to fend off a hoarde of seagulls trying to steal our food. They are very bold and will come right up to you trying to get to your food unless you shoo them away! After we ate, we threw the football around for a few minutes before walking about ten minutes to Zenith Beach. There was no one there and we had the whole place to ourselves for a while. We swam and then hung out on the sand listening to music and talking as the sun went down.
I thought we had all the time in the world, as I had been the one to read the bus schedule that said the last bus wasn’t until 11pm. So we stayed until shade began to creep over our spot, and then headed back to the bar across the street from the place we had gotten lunch from. We figured we would have a drink or two and then head back. Except, when we pulled up Google Maps to route us home, it told us the next bus wasn’t until 5am the following morning. It was at this point that I realized there are two sections of the PDF public transportation schedules. The beginning portion is the route there, in this case the route that departs Newcastle and arrives in Port Stephens. The second portion is the route back. I had been looking at the former, and it was true that the last bus from Newy to Port Stephens didn’t leave until 11pm. But the last bus the other way left at 5pm and by the time we realized this, it was past 7 o’clock.
We were all confused by this for a few minutes, so the boys went to talk to the bartender to confirm. He was able to tell us that yes, the last bus to Newy had left at 5, but no, we might not be stuck here for the night! One of the guys on shift, Alex, apparently lived in Fern Bay which is about fifteen minutes outside of Newcastle. The bartender went and told him the situation and he offered us a ride back when his shift was over.
At this point, Anthony caught a bus back to his accommodation, and Steven and I had a few drinks while we waited several hours for Alex to be done working. Then we had a drink with him and finally left around 11:30pm. By which time I was completely exhausted and half asleep in the back seat the entire way home! At the end of it, Alex wouldn’t even take any money from us for the ride. He and Steven chatted the whole way back and he said that “the experience was payment enough”. He even took us all the way back to the hostel which was probably 30 minutes out of his way round trip. I would say we got lucky but honestly.. this is Australia. Everyone is so friendly here. Random people have struck up conversations with me here in all kinds of places. I remember this old man started talking to me once during my first few weeks here while I was waiting for my morning coffee. He asked if my chest tattoo hurt and I said yes, terribly so, and we talked for five or so minutes while he waited for his coffee. In the US I would have been absolutely creeped out by some random old guy striking up conversation with me like that because he probably would have some kind of ulterior motive, or tried to hit on me. But this guy was totally friendly and that has been my experience with every person that I’ve met here. At the Uni Orientation Week party, this group of people struck up conversation with me simply because they wanted to use the empty chair next to me and when I spoke, they noticed my accent and immediately wanted to chat. They were all super nice and two of them actually ended up being in one of my classes (what are the odds!). I’m starting to ramble now, but you get the point! People are so nice here! I love it!
That’s all I have time to write this week, it’s midnight here now and I have a TON of homework to do tomorrow. I’ve got two big group projects due next week so I’m hoping to knock out everything I need to do for them within the next few days. Until next time!
