Ultimate Oz

3rd - 8th September 2012

The first day of Ultimate Oz and the most incredible week of my life!

MONDAY: We met Big Dan down at the reception at WakeUp and we got to see the extent of our group. I had been meeting people here and there as they arrived and they said they would be on our week but now I got to meet all of the 25 or so people in our group in. I made a point of introducing myself to everyone in the hope that I could make some friends but I needn't have tried so hard, it was easy to make friends with this lot.

Big Dan ran us through our itinerary for the week and then we set off for Darling Harbour where we were to have our lunch. Never had so much small talk in all my life. "Where you from?", "What's your plans?", "What was your name again?!". They seem like a good bunch of people though so I was happy.

We had lunch and walked to Ultimate Oz HQ where we had a few presentations on campervans and surfing etc. BRUCE! No idea what his actual name was but we decided to call him Bruce and he seemed happy with that. Then Little Dan went through most of our important stuff like phone cards, where to get our bank cards and the tax back situation. Then we set off for a walk around Sydney.

Charlie, Me and Hollie

Front row: Dennis, Me, Charlie and Christoph
Second row: Hollie, Shanna, Sarah, miserable German, Ashley, Ben, Kelly, Mel, cant remember
Third row: no idea

We walked to Circular Quay and the Opera House. Me and Hollie had seen it 3 days in a row now so the novelty was slightly wearing off but we joined in none the less. Then we went to the Botanic Gardens and tried to entice some Cockatoos out of a tree so we could get pictures with them. It took a while. Only the fat ugly ones wanted to play but eventually we saw about 20 of them all milling around this bird man who was taking photos and he let us steal them of our own photos. There claws are sharp!

Cockatoo!

Best picture award goes to Mel

Out of nowhere two Rainbow Lorikeets landed on me and shouted at Dan to get a picture of me with them before they flew away! He said that he had never seen that happen before so I was fairly pleased with myself!

I steal the best picture award

We had our Welcome Dinner back at WakeUp that night. Free pizza chips and wedges, cant complain. Lots of drinks later we went to Shenanigans, an irish bar around the corner. The music was good but there wasn't much of a atmosphere. We managed to create one though. I dared Charlie to have a dance off with the only guy dancing on the dancefloor, a middle aged bloke thinking he was awesome. Its safe to say Charlie won and afterwards the dancefloor seemed to fill up. There were many MANY photos taken that night and most aren't suitable. I got bored of photos after a while and decided to give up smiling!

Mark, Shelly, Mel, Sarah, Beckie, Gem in Side Bar at WakeUp

Angela, Soph, Shelly, Hollie, Charlie, Me, Dennis and Jess in Shenanigans

TUESDAY: Today was the Sydney Harbour Boat Cruise or as we called it, The Booze Cruise. Easily the best way to see Sydney. We sailed out of Darling Harbour, under the bridge, past the Opera House and all the way up to a little beach further inland. Just us lot, beer in hand and good party tunes on, it was amazing! BRUCE! Yes he was there too. There were two things we were shouting all day. BRUCE and GOON!

Party boat!

This really is the way to do it

We stopped off at a beach where we dived in and swam to shore. It was bloody freezing! It was a nudist beach and there were a few old men with there tackles out and Mark decided he'd go up and chat to them! After that we booze cruised our way back to the city. Trying to keep your balance while drinking on a boat is a skill! Then we had a few more drinks in the bar and went to bed.

Little Dan in his budgie smugglers!

WEDNESDAY: Finally getting over the jet lag now I think. I thought one nights sleep would do it but your body is so used to getting up a different times.

A few us went to the bank in the morning to set up our bank accounts and it took bloody ages. They were doing us in big groups so when we got there a big group had already gone in so we had to wait for 2 hours before we complained. We told them that were going to be late catching the bus to basecamp and they suddenly seem to find more staff! But they didn't even have our bank cards so we couldn't get any money out and I had to use my English account which then got blocked because I used it in a different country. So I had to ring them and sort that out. Was a stressful morning and Hollie had lost her passport too so she was stressed as well! Nightmare! (She found it a week later in a book!)

We all piled onto the upper deck of a coach going to Port Stephens. The lower deck was full of old people who must have been delighted to see us all pile on with our crates of beer and boxes of goon! It took us 3 hours to get to Port Stephens. Some of scenery out the window was amazing. There were so many places I wanted to stop and take photos but we weren't in charge so instead, Me, Charlie, Hollie and Ashley played endless games of Eye Spy. I could quite easily never play that game again for as long as im in Australia! I think we named everything on the coach!

By the time we got to Melaleuca Surfside Backpackers (Basecamp) it was getting dark already. So we quickly chose our rooms then headed down for a quick look at One Mile Beach which, funnily enough, is one mile long and is just 5 mins from the camp. On the way we saw a koala attached to the tree which was really cool but it was too dark to get a picture of it without the flash.

One Mile Beach

We went back to the camp and we got chance to unpack a little bit and settle in. I was sharing a cabin with Charlie, and three Germans; Dennis, Christophe and another German dude I cant remember the name of. The cabins were quite basic but nice enough (if you don't mind a few bugs).

Back in the lounge area Big Dan had returned with our booze and lots of pizza. We met some people who had been there the week before and were starting off their journey up the East Coast. They were already very drunk by the time we got there so I didn't talk to them too much.

Plenty to go around

We piled all our drinks into a wheelbarrow and went back to the beach where we lit a fire, put some music on and danced under the stars. We were the only ones on or even near the beach so we could make as much noise as we wanted. It was awesome!

On drinking carrying duties

Party on the beach

THURSDAY! It was an early start to get some breakfast in before we set off for the day. I woke up extra early though because of the bloody roosters! So I had another look round the place as it was dark the night before and I didn't get to see it properly. There were 4 cabins set in amongst the trees that fit up to 5 people in, a bigger cabin which had 4 dorm rooms, a large toilet block and a big cabin with the lounge area and kitchen. The couple that owned it lived in a separate wooden building on the site. They were a really friendly couple with loads of stories about the place and it was nice to finally meet some real Aussies! They have a few pet birds which I saw. A pink cockatoo and a Galare (as in flamin!)

Melaleuca Backpackers

There were two mini buses and a jeep and me being towards the front of the queue went straight for the back of the jeep for a more exciting journey. We were on our way to some sand dunes to go sandboarding. Being in the back of the jeep when we were driving over sand was pretty awesome when you're sliding all over the place.

Charlie, Hollie, Dennis, Soph, Gem and Me in the Jeep

Sand dunes are very sandy! There was quite a wind when we were there and sand just gets everywhere. It sticks to your hair, your lips and even gets stuck in your eyebrows!

Sandboarding is essentially sledging on sand. Apparently its the most dangerous sport after Formula 1 as sand is as hard as rock when you hit it at spend so we were banned from standing up on the boards and the guy told us some horror stories of dislocated shoulders so that we didn't forget! It was really good though! We were on a steeper slope then I expected so most people took some persuasion before going down but once you had done it you couldn't wait to go again. But the problem is the bloody trek back up! Climbing a sand dune once is an effort but 5 or 6 times and you are knackered!

Yours truly

I couldn't possibly begin to name them all

We set off back but we stopped off at a beach for a while where the drivers were telling people horror stories of sharks and crocodiles and all kind of scary shit that wants to kill you. We also saw these awesome shell things that bury themselves in the sand.

We went back to camp for lunch and then out to Tomaree National Park on the edge of Nelson Bay. It was quite a climb but the views at the top were spectacular. You can see right over to the other side of Nelson Bay and some islands out to sea. We were told to keep an eye out for whales as they were still migrating. It was towards the end of the migrating season but apparently they could still be seen. None of us saw any though. On the way down we explored some old war bunkers which were full of empty beer bottles!

The view from the top

Mark and Big Dan in the bunker

Back at the camp Josy had come out to play. Josy is the kangaroo that lives on the campsite. She is so used to seeing people now that it really doesnt bother her and everyone can right up close and get a picture with her, which obviously i did.

Profile picture moment with Josy

We ate a proper Aussie BBQ and had some more drinks that night. We saw a possum munching is tea in a tree near the lounge. Dennis got a whipping! I can't remember why. I think he didn't wash he plate or something but I have pictures of him getting whipped with a tea towel and he seems to be enjoying it! Anyway, most people weren't up for another big night but as the wax strips had come out and most of the guys got cornered I quickly went to bed. I could here the screaming from my cabin!

Whipped!

FRIDAY: Woke up bloody freezing. We had heaters in the room but it didn't really make much difference. It gets so cold at night with it still being very early spring. We only had one bus today and as I was on the first load we had a quick look round the shops in Nelson Bay. When the others arrived we all piled onto the boat for our dophin cruise. It was a bit chilly today with a strong wind so everyone was a bit cold on the boat. There's a side netting thing on the side of the boat which you can jump into but most of us decided it was too cold.

There were a few dolphins around but it was blink and you'll miss it which I did several times so I was surprised I managed to get one on camera. The trip wasn't very long either. As soon as we saw a couple of dolphins we went back again. We needn't have gone on the tour either as we saw a dolphin in the marina. a couple of hours later.

We piled onto a bus which took us to Newcastle and in true Newcastle fashion it was raining. The first rain I'd seen in Australia! The train took us back to Sydney where it was sunny again. I was talking to Ben who turns out was in walking distance from my house at home and I may well have served him in the pub!

SATURDAY: Today we did the walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. Thats 'Coogee' is in what you would say to baby not as in Cougar which is what I thought! Its a really scenic walk. More so than i thought it would be and we took a couple of alternate routes over rocks which was good fun. There is a rock with a hole in it and you can crawl underneath and stick your head in it and overhanging rock which you can sit on if you've got the balls as its quite high up!

Coogee Beach

Scary looking cliffs

Cheesy grin

Mark and Shelly

Taking an alternative route!

and again!

Me doing scary shit

Bronte beach

We stopped on Bronte Beach for some lunch in the cafes along the front. After lunch some of the guys decided to challenge each other on the exercise stations along the front. Brandon seemed to have all kinds of excuses why he couldn't do it properly. When we got to Bondi Beach some of us decided to stay for a while when most went back to the hostel. Me and Charlie decided we would brave the sea and it was sooooo cold. We ran down the beach to warm up after we got out. We only stayed for an hour as it got cold and we had to get ready for the party bus!

Brandon and Little Dan

We met in a bar on Darling Harbour. Well it was more of a bowling alley but we were in a side room all to ourselves and it had karaoke. 30-40 of us in a room murdering some karaoke classics was awesome.

I was surprised by the party bus. I thought it would just be a regular bus with some speakers fitted in it but it was like a full on nightclub with lights, disco balls and some bad ass speakers. We weren't allowed to sit down otherwise they would turn the music off!

The second bar had a sex position game which I managed to avoid but obviously Mark and Shelly got up for a go. Hollie also volunteered (before she knew what it was) and she was paired up with a moron who threw her around. Most of us were just stood there shocked. Last I heard Big Dan was trying to get the manager sacked and the party bus has been taken off the Ultimate Oz week. Hollie was fine though, apart from a few bruises.

We went to 5 bars in total and partied on the bus in between. It was a really good night and its safe to say I was quite drunk by the end of it!

And that ends one of the best weeks I've ever had! I wasn't sure whether or not to do Ultimate Oz but I am so glad I did. You can do all these things separately but its the people you meet which really makes it really worth it. I was in a big group and I would like to think that I have made friends with all of them, really good friends with some of them. When I bumped into the next group of people fresh off the plane I found myself quite jealous of the fun they were about to have. But nearly our whole group is meeting up again at Christmas in Sydney for another awesome week of fun.

Anyone reading this and debating whether or not to buy this package I would say to them DO IT! The experiences you have and the friends you make really sets you up for your time in Australia! I now have 25 friends I can go travel the country with and the support of the guys in the office at Ultimate Oz who really look after you even after your week is over.