Indy's / Surfside backpackers

I feel like I need to devote a blog to my living accommodations in Sydney. I know that I have touched on it a bit, and some of it may be redundant.. but deal with it and read on. As it was quite entertaining for me living there for 2 months, I think you should find it quite amusing to read!

As I mentioned before, I stayed in a hostel- a backpackers haven or hell to some, but I will touch on that in a bit. Many groups came and went, always hard to say goodbye. I have to say that has been the best and worst part of staying there. I met so many dynamic people that really taught me a lot about myself and influenced my life, that saying good bye was almost tragic. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is just a fact that I probably wont see about 90% of them ever again. Thanks to email, facebook and myspace I hopefully will at least be able to stay in touch.

I first stayed in room 3, me being the only girls for a few days till Lottie and Celia moved in. It housed 12 and was hot as hell!(temperature, but the guys too!) Sometimes more slept in the room, sometimes less... I am sure you can figure out why- privacy was a rarity! We often slept in the TV room... found downstairs. It had a large screen TV, a plethora of comfy bean bags- which we shared and cuddled as we slept in the only room with air con! A lot of our hungover days were spent there too... after the beach that is! We also held many movie nights here. About 20 of us would cram in and watch a flick... I think I got banned on picking them though... Welcome to the Dollhouse didn't fly, Donnie Darko was borderline and Election was mixed response as well... movie nights were our nights off from going out. My roommates from room # 5 (the all girls room I moved into which housed 8) used to tease me when I would actually sleep in my room... it was a shock if I did.

I think I will interrupt and talk about our Brekky spot. About 12 of us (this of course is all before I started working, though things didn't change that much), would go out for brekky everyday at the same spot. It was just up the road... we usually wore last nights dress, no shoes, a fresh face and sunny's! They made the best fruit frappe's (like a fresh fruit slushy!). This brekky spot carried on through my entire stay, from the newbies to the vets! Lizzie and I developed a little crush on our server... we never got anywhere with him though... oh wait, I did get a sentence out of him the last time she and I went together! I never saw him again though...

Back to Indy's... Indy had a buzz gate we had to get through.. then a little outdoor hallway and into the main area. The hallway was filled with smokers and drinkers post 10pm as our 'garden' closes at night. We hung out there every night till the sun came up or till we went to the beach for a skinny dip in the shark infested ocean, sunrise singalong on the beach or bed.

Speaking of sunrises... the one that stands out to me was really amazing. It was spent with a special friend... blanket brought to the beach- summer was ending at this point. After some time on the beach we walked up to a bench and watched the sun rise. The most beautiful orange and yellows flashed through the clouds and made them glow. It was one of those moments that was shear happiness and you could only be thankful to be in that spot at that moment with that person... comically we went to McDonald's afterwards with all of the degenerates for some brekky... it was one of the funniest moments ever, still a little tipsy, giggling the morning away.

As I said before we had sing-a-longs on the beach with Bob as our song chair. Bob was and is a great character. A very genuine man, full of positive energy and wisdom- as well as being Irish! He would play the tunes in the garden playing DJ... always playing good songs and dancing the afternoons away. He had a theme song for those he liked... mine was 'those boots were made for walking'... as I wore my cowboy boots a lot... and late night (or early mornings) it was New York New York. We spoke of having dance offs, but never did... as competitive anything was thrown out the door... but it was a good laugh! The garden as I speak was a concrete area... with two pic nic tables, stairs leading to a bottom area with a ping pong table. We had a 'boy band' in the garden. Little Phil, Matty, Dave and the random straggler with their guitars would serenade us all and try and woo the ladies... My best mate Jay envied their voices... hahahaha...but he had charm of his own! We all listened and sang along as we drank the backpackers delight- Goone.

On to Goone... to put it bluntly- it's box-o-wine! It is an amazing creation. It is big, but gets you drunk in about 3 cups full. It cost about $13 AUD for 5 liters of the stuff. The metallic bag inside, when empty can blow up into the most comfortable pillow! The box when cut creatively, makes the ever so impressive goone hat or even armour! All juvenile, yes... but we shared many laughs!

The bathrooms at Indy's were gross! I often showered in the guys room... sexy shower time! hahahaha... Much like boarding school we would shower at the same time and gossip or sing. The site of Steve and Marc in the shower together was classic.

The kitchen was a nightmare. It had two sets of burners, no oven and enormous cockroaches. the sinks were always filled with dirty dishes and I think I mentioned before that the lack of dishes led us to drinkign out of bowls! it just made the place even better... Our food was kept in huge restaraunt style fridges, though if it were not locked up it surely would be gone in the morning... It was kind of an unspoken free for all.

As I said before the hostel was too much to handle for some. It was a constant party... even on down time it was always fun. We had big dinners, usually catered by me, or bbq's at the beach. The greatest thing was knowing that you always had people around you- especially when knowing all your friends and family were thousands of miles away. We all became family very quickly and became quite astute at realizing when someone needed a little cheering up. I learned a great deal about myself here... learning patterns that I fall into in regards to friendships or seeing how other people react to situations and how I would differently or the ability to analyze other people- their demeanor and how I see myself or how I strive to be... the list can go on, on how introspective this time was for me and how extroverted it allowed me to be! It definitely was a confidence booster and eye opener for me... for another, not so much. A Hawaiian girl left after one night... she couldn't deal with the on goings of the place and left in tears... dear sweet kukoo... I hope she found her peace.