Wollongong beware Shelly has arrived!

G'day all,

Wed 12th Jan

Oh no go to try and fit all my stuff back into little Bazza and not quite sure how i am going to manage it. I seem to do pretty well with my packing and by 1pm i go and pay John and Judy a visit to say goodbye AGAIN and only stay for a little while. I go back to Davids grab some lunch quickly and actually manage to fit everything into Bazaa and another bag which i am highly impressed by. We set off at 2pm so David can stop off somewhere along the way. David takes his time and i have to hurry him along his way as i really don't fancy missing my bus. The traffic to Melbourne is bad and i really start to panic about catching the bus on time as i don't even know where to get it from yet. We eventually manage to see the coach with 3 mins before it is supposed to leave so i ahve to quicly jump out of the car amidst traffic and run with my bags without even having a chance to say goodbye and thankyou. I manage to get to the bus before iot leaves without me and ring David to say thanks then sit on the bus to depanick myself. The bus is pretty empty but we pick up loads along the way and soon i have a strange Chinese woman with big red socks sit next to me, great! When i get up for a toilet visit i notice at the back of the coach is a cast member from Home and Away, any Home and Away fans she plays Tasha and she is just as gorgeous in real life as on the programme. Whilst on the coach i realise for the first time that my broken heart is now actually mended (about time) so that really brightens my very dull evening on the bus. When we get to a petrol station at 10.30pm for a stop i make some general chit chat with Home and Away member but didn' mention the programme as i thought it would be rude and she is probably sick of it but she seems to be a really nice girl. Back on the coach and i manage to get some sleep at last.

Thur 13th Jan

I eventually arrive in Wollongong at 9.45am and get my map out to find my hostel and have a nice trek to the place and book in. I am not impressed with the place but it has a bed so im happy. My dorm is in a n outside block and we have lovely outside toilets and bathrooms to share but the kitchen is ok. I throw my stuuf down grab a shower and go an investigate. First stop the beach where i decide to ring my friend Jude in Sydney and let her listen to the sea. The beach is glorious so i think i have a good idea of where i will be spending most of my time if it satys sunny. I go Mc D's for lunch and have a nosey around the shops. When i get back i have a chat to a guy who is staying there called Marco and he comes from Switzerland and we decide to go and find somewhere for some dinner. I go for a walk to try and book into another hostel and find a YHA and plan to move to there in the morning, whilst on my walk i also find somewhere that does steak for $5 . Me and Marco decide to track down the $5 steak and have a nice cold beer and some fantastic tucker and some very funny and interesting conversation. Marco makes me laugh because his english is good but he can't understand what i am saying because of my accent so conversaions kept going very wrong and taking very strange turns. After dinner we go and find a drive through bottle shop and get some wine and go back to the hostel. We sit outside in the hostels garden and chat all night with loads of other people. I manage to track down fellow Brits Sarah and Lindsey who are in my dorm and a german guy called Patrick who also has the pleasure of our company. So for my first night i am doing good and already have plans to go to th Nan Tien Buddhist temple tomorrow with Marco.

Fri 14th Jan

I decide after such a fun night to stick it out at the hostel where i am staying as everyone is so friendly so i book in for a couple more nights. My healthy eating is going good and i have some yummy peanut butter on crackers for breakfast. After brekkie i go to Wollongongs art gallery which is really interesting and very impressive for contemporary artworks. After luch me, Marco and Patrick get the bus to the temple and my god it is huge and extemely impressive! I have never seen anything like it in all my life and the temple is just so peaceful and spiritual. Inside the building is stunning and is so breathtaking it got me really emotional and i just can't find the words to describe it. The buildings were beautiful (as you can tell from the pics). We manage to get back in one piece and had some very intersting conversations as you could imagine between an english person who can't speak swiss or german and a german who can't speak swiss and little english and a swiss who can manage to kind of understand both of us, im suprised we manged to get there at all! We decide to cook dinner together and get some snags on the BBQ and some pesto pasta and salad so a good meal just lacking the fine wine so i decide to get some beer and have random conversations with these two english people who sounded like farmers whose wine i kept borrowing.

Good night boys and girls
xx Shelly xx

---

---