Category: Australia

The Night I…Got Pissed For Free at a Gay Rights Lecture (The Annual John Marsden Memorial Lecture)

Posted on by Jonny Blair

It was mid November 2009 and we were in our first few weeks in Parramatta, Australia where I worked in the awesome PJ Gallagher’s Irish Pub. We lived with Ruben and Rebecca. Rebecca was working for the local government in New South Wales. When she mentioned she was organising a public conference in the last week Read more about The Night I…Got Pissed For Free at a Gay Rights Lecture (The Annual John Marsden Memorial Lecture)[…]

Jonny Blair on Clontarf Beach, Sydney, Australia

Manly, North Head, O’Malley’s

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Manly is famous mainly for its beach, but there is so much else to see and do there, that it meant planning another day trip. We went there in December 2009, on one of my days off, a Monday. Unfortunately on that day, the weather wasn’t that great and so instead of spending the day Read more about Manly, North Head, O’Malley’s[…]

Backpacking in Australia: Exploring Leura and The Everglades

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Leura is another of the villages in the Blue Mountains. It has a train station of its own, a main street and is a main entry area into the Jamison Valley region of the Blue Mountains. Its hardly well known, but it was one of those on the list whilst staying in Katoomba. Katoomba is the Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Exploring Leura and The Everglades[…]

Backpacking in Australia: Cronulla and not meeting Jarvis Cocker in Sydney

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Cronulla was another of the famous beaches in and around the Sydney area. It wasn’t on my list of must sees, but we decided to do it anyway. My current pub job normally means I have two full days off (or one over Christmas and New Year!), and so at the start of December I Read more about Backpacking in Australia: Cronulla and not meeting Jarvis Cocker in Sydney[…]

Leura Cascades, Bridal Veil Falls, Lyre Bird Dell, Pool of Siloam, Golden Stairs

Posted on by Jonny Blair

The village of Leura is the next stop down from Katoomba, our base while trekking the Blue Mountains. We visited Leura twice, once just to walk around the town and a dubious area called “the everglades”, and on this occasion we did the treks round Leura, which included a few waterfalls, many hikes and some Read more about Leura Cascades, Bridal Veil Falls, Lyre Bird Dell, Pool of Siloam, Golden Stairs[…]

Backpacking in Australia: First Impressions of Sydney

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Sydney itself is the place most people end up in Australia at some point. Yes its big and great and yes it has some amazing things to see, but don’t get caught in the “rut” of Sydney. There’s more to Australia than the city of Sydney. Although for the benefits of this post, I’ll outline Read more about Backpacking in Australia: First Impressions of Sydney[…]

Sweet Home Parramatta

Posted on by Jonny Blair

Ask me a year ago if I knew where Parramatta was and I’d not have had a clue. That’s why life is so unpredictable, and now I’m living in a city called Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia!! Parramatta doesn’t even appear on most maps of Australia. It’s hardly part of Sydney, though some class Read more about Sweet Home Parramatta[…]

Backpacking in Australia: The Golden Stairs, Blue Mountains

Posted on by Jonny Blair

The Golden Stairs get the honour of being in my first blog post of this new decade. The Golden Stairs were first mentioned by Martine to Dan and I in the pub one night in Katoomba. It sounded interesting, and the very next day we walked past the entrance/bottom part of The Golden Stairs, on route Read more about Backpacking in Australia: The Golden Stairs, Blue Mountains[…]