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Sharks Below posted:Sweet! I cannot say that being that far north will result in no stingers. Like I said, Heron escapes because it's not near the coast and it's pretty darn far south. There may be stingers. Suits may be worthwhile. Check with the locals. Yeah stingers will definitely be an issue, but then I did some soul searching and decided I'm not a huge fan of swimming at beaches anyway! I'm looking forward to the jungle stuff, girlfriend looking forward to some diving. Will try to remember to post a trip report afterwards
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Feb 1, 2015 08:11
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I'll have to make a note of these places. I'm in desperate need of a relaxing beach based holiday but I doubt I'll have any time before the Easter Break.
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Feb 2, 2015 05:00
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Whew, student visa came through 48 hours before I'm scheduled to leave for Tasmania! Basically had a mix-up in submitting my documents to the wrong department (were going to the department that my course is through rather than directly to International Admissions, and actually not being received there either), which delayed getting the electronic Confirmation of Enrolment that I needed to apply for the visa. Fortunately I was able to correct it swiftly, or at least mollify any concerns that I hadn't actually graduated university  Don't think I want to know how much I've spent just notarising photocopies of stuff for all of this, lol. My course ends late November of 2016, but my visa goes through mid-March of 2017, which is unexpectedly nice. I think it gives me enough time to get my degree assessed (10 weeks!) so that I can submit an Expression of Interest, then transition to a bridging visa once I'm approved to apply for the 189. Before I knew I had that much time, I was thinking I'd have to do the Temporary Graduate one (which costs like $1400) just to be able to stay in the country for those few months. I don't recall having to get a physical for my last time studying in Australia (maybe because it was an exchange of less than a full year rather than a full degree), but that was pretty annoying. US$320 for a chest X-ray and a pretty half-arsed physical (no blood work, just my vitals, a urine sample, and 5-10 minutes of questions and poking)... there were only 3 clinics in the entire state that could do it, fortunately there was one an hour away from me, the other two were down in Miami, which is more like 4-4.5 hours each way. Can anyone else confirm that if your driving license is in English you don't need an IDP to drive in Australia? That's what the Tasmanian Department of Transport seems to say. I'm going to convert to a Tassie license once I get an address sorted, but was considering hiring a car straight from the airport for a day or two. Welp, that's it. I'll probably post up some more once I get there and settled in and all. I had a place lined up to stay through HelpX but I kinda let two weeks go by without communicating (sidetracked by visa stuff, leaving hometown stuff) so hopefully that's still on. If not, hostels are still showing availability, and there are a few promising share house listings on Gumtree.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:00
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Can anyone else confirm that if your driving license is in English you don't need an IDP to drive in Australia? That's what the Tasmanian Department of Transport seems to say. I'm going to convert to a Tassie license once I get an address sorted, but was considering hiring a car straight from the airport for a day or two. I didn't have a problem in Victoria without an IDP, can't imagine Tassie would be any different. The RACV site says you might need an IDP to rent a car, but I checked 4 or 5 of the big companies and they all said the same thing, that you only need an IDP if you're original license isn't in English. I guess it might vary by company policy, but not state law.
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Feb 7, 2015 04:30
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My husband has lived here and used his New Hampshire licence the whole time, he has been RBTed a couple of times and they've always accepted his NH licence without any issues. (QLD)
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Feb 7, 2015 08:40
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Awesome, thanks! Got here two days ago, really liking Hobart so far. The wooden boat festival and a few other things are going on right now, so it's probably a lot more lively than usual, and weather has been great. (Tassie summer is actually pretty analogous to the Florida winter I just left.) The NSW Blues were on my flight over from Sydney I'm doing a HelpX stay for at least the first couple of weeks, helping a guy with gardening and a few other random household duties in exchange for room and board, about 20hrs/week. Doesn't stack up too favourably to having a part-time job from a time:money standpoint, but I like having some breathing room to find more permanent digs, and both the host and house (dates from the 1830's, in the process of being gradually restored) are great.
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Feb 7, 2015 21:20
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Awesome, thanks! Welcome to Hobart. You are pretty much on the money about Hobart bring more lively right now. The wooden boat festival is really good and is one off the best events we have (I'm currently looking down on it from the port tower). As for the weather, for some reason we decided to skip summer this year. With the exception of yesterday and a couple of days late last year, it has been colder with more rain than usual. Just watch out for the UV in summer here, it seems far easier to get sunburn than a lot of the warmer parts of Aus.
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Feb 7, 2015 21:51
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Friendly Fire posted:Welcome to Hobart. You are pretty much on the money about Hobart bring more lively right now. The wooden boat festival is really good and is one off the best events we have (I'm currently looking down on it from the port tower). Haha, I was looking at temps a few weeks before I got here and thinking "That's supposed to be summer?", glad to hear it's at least a bit anomalous. I walked down to MOMA (~10kms?) since I couldn't find a bicycle helmet at the house (apparently that's the law here? My freedom  ), which was having a Sunday fair type thing I wasn't expecting. Had a wallaby and rice dish that was pretty nice, a so-so pale ale, and wandered the museum for an hour or two before walking back. Got crisped up pretty nicely by the sun, of course I come home to this post, damnit.
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Feb 8, 2015 08:55
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Haha, I was looking at temps a few weeks before I got here and thinking "That's supposed to be summer?", glad to hear it's at least a bit anomalous. The UV index in Hobart today was 10 even though it never got that hot, I get burnt every year. That said, the weather can turn real fast down here too and it's not unusual for it to be boiling hot one minute, cold and raining the next and then back to hot 10 minutes later. There is a bike rental place down a little alley in Hunter Street on the waterfront that might rent out helmets. Mona regularly runs little mini-events on site and is involved in several major festivals around Hobart each year, they are pretty awesome for that. From the waterfront you can catch a ferry or the Mona Roma bus service to get there too. The museum is free entry for residents, did they charge you to get in?
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Feb 8, 2015 09:55
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Friendly Fire posted:The UV index in Hobart today was 10 even though it never got that hot, I get burnt every year. That said, the weather can turn real fast down here too and it's not unusual for it to be boiling hot one minute, cold and raining the next and then back to hot 10 minutes later. I'm just gonna go out and buy one; I actually brought a bunch of bicycle accessories over with me from the USA (kevlar tyres, a rack, pump, toolkit, etc) My old helmet was kinda grody so I didn't bother packing it. Yeah, I only got here Friday, so haven't had time to get my student ID (have to wait until Tuesday since we've got that Tassie public holiday tomorrow) or driver's license yet. With the license I need some kind of proof of address... I don't have any bills or anything since I'm doing a HelpX thing so it may have to wait until I have a more standard living situation.
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Feb 8, 2015 12:03
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NZAmoeba posted:Yeah stingers will definitely be an issue, but then I did some soul searching and decided I'm not a huge fan of swimming at beaches anyway! I'm looking forward to the jungle stuff, girlfriend looking forward to some diving. Will try to remember to post a trip report afterwards Boy am I glad I didn't take up Sharks Below's suggestion of Heron Island! Up in Port Douglas we won the cyclone lottery and the weather conditions were perfect! Snorkelled at the Agincourt and Opal reefs, managed to see a couple sea turtles, and some schooling juvenile sharks, our guide was more excited than we were! Daintree rainforest also pretty awesome, so many Golden Orb spiders! Port Douglas is definitely an expensive tourist town, but it's still worth while. Small collection of jungle related photos here: http://imgur.com/a/0KwNp
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Feb 21, 2015 12:36
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Got an address  Now to start doing all the grown-up things (getting a tax file number, driving license, etc) that have been on hold the last two weeks.Other than eBay.com.au (and Gumtree I guess, selection down in Tassie kinda sucks though), is there anywhere else in particular that's good for online shopping in Australia?
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Feb 22, 2015 13:10
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depends on what you're looking for really. nothing really all encompassing/great like Amazon down here in my experience though.
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Feb 22, 2015 23:52
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NZAmoeba posted:Boy am I glad I didn't take up Sharks Below's suggestion of Heron Island! Up in Port Douglas we won the cyclone lottery and the weather conditions were perfect! Snorkelled at the Agincourt and Opal reefs, managed to see a couple sea turtles, and some schooling juvenile sharks, our guide was more excited than we were! Daintree rainforest also pretty awesome, so many Golden Orb spiders! Port Douglas is definitely an expensive tourist town, but it's still worth while. Lmao! SAME! Thank god for that! Heron would have copped it pretty bad, not as bad as us, but still badly. I hope all the birdies are okay  So stoked that you are having a great time!
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Feb 23, 2015 00:18
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If we had $6,000 and three weeks and are somewhat pampered city people who don't like "the bush" or 35+ degree weather, is Sydney/Melbourne the default first trip? My wife has never been to Oz and I haven't been since 1987, but this is almost a scouting trip to see if we'd want to live there one day, so what time of year is a good time to go? I can't go during December/early January due to work rules.
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Feb 28, 2015 23:16
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I can't talk for Sydney, but for Melbourne I personally like (early) March. Summer is fading and the temperature is pretty consistently a pleasant 20°C.
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Feb 28, 2015 23:27
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plasmoduck posted:I can't talk for Sydney, but for Melbourne I personally like (early) March. Summer is fading and the temperature is pretty consistently a pleasant 20°C. Thanks. Is Melbourne a touristy place is just a big mass of people like Toronto?
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Feb 28, 2015 23:56
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If you're scouting for a place to live but avoiding certain times of the year because you don't like the temperature, maybe it's not the best place to live? But really in Sydney/Melbourne the temperature only really reaches 35+ in summer, which is generally December/January, and you're not going then anyway, so you're all good. Melbourne is very similar to Toronto in terms of tourism. Sydney is quite touristy but to be honest apart from that the super touristy parts of Australia tend to be outside of the major cities. There's museums, a lot of cultural stuff to do in Melbourne, a zoo, etc, but most of the really touristy stuff is outside of the city. Same as Toronto, you have the CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, that sort of thing, but Niagra Falls is still a few hours drive away.
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Mar 1, 2015 00:26
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Reverse Centaur posted:If we had $6,000 and three weeks and are somewhat pampered city people who don't like "the bush" or 35+ degree weather, is Sydney/Melbourne the default first trip? My wife has never been to Oz and I haven't been since 1987, but this is almost a scouting trip to see if we'd want to live there one day, so what time of year is a good time to go? I can't go during December/early January due to work rules. I would say go to Tasmania for a week but then again, the job market isn't so great there so even if you love it there it might not be a practical place to live. Which can be heartbreaking to realise, because it truly owns.
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Mar 1, 2015 01:19
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Sharks Below posted:I would say go to Tasmania for a week but then again, the job market isn't so great there so even if you love it there it might not be a practical place to live. Which can be heartbreaking to realise, because it truly owns. Yeah, it's pretty scanty for basic uni-student type jobs on Gumtree, aside from the apparently near-insatiable demand for baristas with at least 1-2 years experience (guess I missed out on my opportunity to break in to the exciting world of "making coffee" when I didn't take that Barista Studies internship in uni). I actually did see a decent assortment of mid-career (or high level) stuff on the major employment sites when I looked, I suppose it depends on your field how employable you'd be down here. I've heard it can sometimes be very much about the "good ol boys" network for jobs in Tassie due to how small it is though, compared to elsewhere. I'm planning to go visit my girlfriend overseas around May/June/July ish (depending on when my one exam is scheduled, which they won't tell me until early May  ) for 4-6 weeks, so I don't think there's a huge point in me getting a job right now anyways. Think I'll look for some volunteer opportunities in the meantime, and try and find something paid when I get back. Not really holding my breath on that one though (I still have to work around my practicums), I've also been thinking about doing some freelancing. Immigration never replied to my email so I guess I'll give them a ring about it next week, seems unclear on how it would work on a student visa. Been keeping my eye out for a car/motorbike but the market down here is frustratingly small, and the costs of bringing something over from Victoria (Spirit of Tasmania wants something unreasonable like $500 for a bike to come over unaccompanied)* aren't really worth it, not to mention the hassle/expense of having to get whatever it is pit-passed again. *It is literally cheaper to fly to Melbourne myself, book an overnight berth, and pay the normal passenger motorbike fee than it is to get them to load/unload the bike off the boat for me. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Mar 1, 2015 |
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Mar 1, 2015 01:56
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HookShot posted:If you're scouting for a place to live but avoiding certain times of the year because you don't like the temperature, maybe it's not the best place to live? Are you serious? I'm asking when is the best time to go on vacation. You can choose an optimal time, tolerate less desirable times of year, and still think it's an improvement over godforsaken Canada. I know you think Vancouver rain is not that bad but in our opinion it is and I'd gladly take 35+ degrees over 8 months of rain. quote:Melbourne is very similar to Toronto in terms of tourism. Sydney is quite touristy but to be honest apart from that the super touristy parts of Australia tend to be outside of the major cities. There's museums, a lot of cultural stuff to do in Melbourne, a zoo, etc, but most of the really touristy stuff is outside of the city. Same as Toronto, you have the CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, that sort of thing, but Niagra Falls is still a few hours drive away. Thanks for this. Any opinions on the Gold Coast? As a skyscraper nerd it looks like heaven, but maybe a bit thin on content?
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Mar 1, 2015 02:36
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Reverse Centaur posted:Are you serious? I'm asking when is the best time to go on vacation. You can choose an optimal time, tolerate less desirable times of year, and still think it's an improvement over godforsaken Canada. I know you think Vancouver rain is not that bad but in our opinion it is and I'd gladly take 35+ degrees over 8 months of rain. The way you phrased it in your original post you said you wanted to come basically scout the country to see if you'd like to live there, but didn't want to come when the weather is too hot for you. As long as you're fine with actually living in 35+ degrees for multiple months of the year (honestly Melbourne doesn't really get THAT hot for that long, it's far enough south that I think you only get like a week or two of 35+ degrees a year) then that's fine, but if you absolutely don't want to experience it at all then Australia is probably not for you. The Gold Coast is VERY touristy. Like, much more so than you'd find probably anywhere else in Australia. It really depends on what your interests are. If you like surfing then the GC is pretty good, if you like partying and committing petty crime and glassing people then it's also a good place. It doesn't really have a "city" feel to it though. It's very spread out, it's sort of like if you took the entire population of Edmonton or Calgary and spread it out over like 100km of coastline. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend the Gold Coast for a first trip, everything that the Gold Coast does well other places do better. What do you and your wife plan on doing in Australia/what are your general interests? That might help us figure out what places would be really good for you to visit 
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Mar 1, 2015 04:13
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Who wants to host and meet up with an out of town goon in Sydney/Melbourne? I can be your steam games /video games/electronics smuggler  Hey Oz goons, Hong Kong goon here. Browsed the last ten pages, too bad I missed out on the Heron Island deal. Anyways I'm flying with my girlfriend to Sydney next week for a 2 week trip. Haven't really planned on the itinerary but OP and the Australia tourism website gave me lots of pointers and ideas. I heard great things about Sydney but I think I would try going to the Great Barrier Reef or at least some kind of nature reserve. Appreciate any pointers! I don't need to have an exact plan but there are still a few things that need to be ironed out. Normally I would wing it, and not really care or worry about findings things to do since Sydney should be an awesome city. But my girlfriend is not too keen on that and we would be in "action packed (or super safe boring) tourist mode" - wake up 8am, go sight seeing, quick lunch, come back 10pm, and sleep at 11pm. We have a goon friend in Melbourne and if he's free I will fly to Melbourne for 2 days and visit him if not then I will spend more time up North around Brisbane because I have another goon friend there. If I had more time I definitely would go to Tasmania and visit my internet idol Pompous Rhombus but he's too far away. He also sleeps on the floor like a weirdo Anyways here's the breakdown: Mar 28 - Mar 31 - Land in Sydney, buy a sim card,
Apr 1 - Apr 3 Melbourne maybe? If my goon friend is free, i will fly over to meet him, if not, more time in Brisbane Great Barrier Bay and other activites Apr 4-7 Apr 8 return to Sydney Got any recommendations for top fine dining restaurants in Sydney? I saw a few "Modern Australian Cuisine" places but I don't know...  This is the skeleton for now, I will add more things in later tonight. But man I have a feeling that the tourist parts of Sydney is like Vancouver caberham fucked around with this message at 10:57 on Mar 17, 2015 |
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Mar 17, 2015 10:45
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I feel like you should skip out on Brisbane/QLD and just split your time between Sydney and Melbourne. There's plenty to see and do in both cities beside the obvious boring things (Harbour Bridge/Opera House come to mind...).
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Mar 17, 2015 11:25
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I kind of had that feeling, but my goon friend is in Brisbane so I got to visit him and do more fun stuff with him. Honestly though, I'm kind of burned out on short travel trips and checking out new cities as much as I love museum hopping and doing city/cultural stuff. I was just in Malaysia and had a lot of fun driving a car around the Cameron Highlands and going to Singapore, so I probably will drive a car from Brisbane up north and then fly back to Sydney. My girlfriend has never experienced the feeling of dull sub-urbia so taking her to a costco and then having a BBQ would probably be a fun afternoon for us. Hope I'm wrong about my expectations and will enjoy as much as I can but the prices aren't anything to scoff at
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Mar 17, 2015 11:31
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caberham posted:I kind of had that feeling, but my goon friend is in Brisbane so I got to visit him and do more fun stuff with him. Honestly though, I'm kind of burned out on short travel trips and checking out new cities as much as I love museum hopping and doing city/cultural stuff. I was just in Malaysia and had a lot of fun driving a car around the Cameron Highlands and going to Singapore, so I probably will drive a car from Brisbane up north and then fly back to Sydney. Just keep in mind that driving a car from Brisbane to the GBR will take you a really long time. 6 or 7 hours might get you to the base of it near Rockhampton I guess, but somewhere like Townsville or Cairns are about as far away from Brisbane as Melbourne is.
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Mar 18, 2015 11:25
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Gromit posted:Just keep in mind that driving a car from Brisbane to the GBR will take you a really long time. 6 or 7 hours might get you to the base of it near Rockhampton I guess, but somewhere like Townsville or Cairns are about as far away from Brisbane as Melbourne is. Also, if you think "oh hey driving from Brisbane to Cairns will take a while but it'll be a nice scenic route along the beach", absolutely not. The highway is super ugly and absolutely no fun to drive.
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Mar 19, 2015 16:16
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Yeah thanks for the tip. I know it's a boring stretch of road, but I don't mind using it as an opportunity to just chill out chatting with friends and "de-stressing". I kind of enjoy slow car trips (for now). My Brisbane friend is on a budget and is not too keen for me to buy him a flight to GBR, so i was considering driving. Then again, tolls will probably add up in costs
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Mar 19, 2015 18:39
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Yeah, plus gas. I'd go to Airlie Beach then if you're going to drive, I wouldn't go so far north as Cairns. At least then you're only looking at 12 hours of driving instead of 20.
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Mar 19, 2015 22:44
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How much is your time worth to you that you'd rather lose 2 days (4 if you count the return trip) than do a 2 hour flight.
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Mar 22, 2015 02:05
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caberham posted:Yeah thanks for the tip. I know it's a boring stretch of road, but I don't mind using it as an opportunity to just chill out chatting with friends and "de-stressing". I kind of enjoy slow car trips (for now). My Brisbane friend is on a budget and is not too keen for me to buy him a flight to GBR, so i was considering driving. Then again, tolls will probably add up in costs Yeah it's a loving long trip dude. I live along that highway, I'm hoping to be gone to the USA next week but it's looking less and less likely, thank US Consulate Sydney, you bunch of stains. I live in Rockhampton which is about halfway between Brisbane and Townsville. I have driven to Cairns and back three times in my life, and loving regretted it every time. I am dumb. It's long and mostly boring as hell and trucks are insane. It's an EASY 12 hours. poo poo's hosed mate.
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Mar 24, 2015 07:11
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NZAmoeba posted:Myself and my girlfriend happen to be in Sydney and have a free week from Feb 14th to Feb 21st. However at this point we've already "done" Sydney, and want to spend that week elsewhere. 38C and 83% humidity. Nah. Sounds lovely. You should go.
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Mar 25, 2015 00:12
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Sharks Below posted:How's the loving serenity. I laughed irl.
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Mar 25, 2015 00:14
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Kommando posted:38C and 83% humidity. Nah. Sounds lovely. You should go. We did, it barely broke 30C, and had a wonderful time.
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Mar 25, 2015 04:05
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Kommando posted:I laughed irl. No big two stroke engines on full throttle either. 
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Mar 25, 2015 04:26
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Hey guys, stupid tourist checking in. cross posting from the LAN thread Hello, Any Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane goons here? It would be nice to meet some goons within the next 2 weeks! Any craft beer recommendations would be appreciated! If no one is starting one, I don't mind starting a goon meet Sunday in march 29 in Sydney and another one next weekend. What kind of chat apps do you guys usually use? Whatsapp/Line/Kakao or God forbid Wechat? Sorry to be so lazy in organizing meet ups, I used to be on the spot but nowadays I'm kind of drained. HookShot posted:Also, if you think "oh hey driving from Brisbane to Cairns will take a while but it'll be a nice scenic route along the beach", absolutely not. The highway is super ugly and absolutely no fun to drive. Hey at least no traffic lights! Yeah I will probably skip GBN  But do other city trips like Melbourne and Brisbane. Sucks but I have some friends there. I just realized my friend is still in Christchurch being a farm worker. Tempted to fly there for 2 days and back. Oh well.
caberham fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Mar 27, 2015 |
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Mar 27, 2015 07:45
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I don't live in Brisbane but if you are after an amazing beer selection you cannot go past Archive in West End. West End rules anyway but Archive is like ~the~ beer place and it rules and I love it and I'm jealous that you're going there for beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mar 27, 2015 09:03
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Thanks for the tip. Man Australia customs were jerks. Held Me up for an hour then they checked my phone to see if my references match. It's not the best way to start the trip buy I'm glad to be in Sydney
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Mar 28, 2015 14:32
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caberham posted:Thanks for the tip. Man Australia customs were jerks. Held Me up for an hour then they checked my phone to see if my references match. Wow what the gently caress!
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Mar 30, 2015 06:51
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caberham posted:Hey guys, stupid tourist checking in. cross posting from the LAN thread I'm hosting an auspol goonmeet on sat night at South Bank in brisbane. some goons from Sydney are coming up. you're welcome to join. at this stage it will be at Stokehouse.
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Mar 31, 2015 05:35
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