The Not So Big Banana

On the morning of New Year's Eve Guy and I headed into Sydney to have lunch with Sarah and her friend Kate. The city was already pretty crowded and we found a cute cafe to get some food. Unfortunately our waitress appeared to have been out celebrating a night early and it took us almost an hour to get our sandwhiches. All of us are the kind of people who get very grumpy when not fed so instead of a nice catch-up lunch it was a grumbling where-is-our-food-why-is-our-waitress-walking-out-of-the-restaurant kind of lunch. After we finally did eat we said goodbye to Guy who going to a concert and the rest of us went to find a nice spot from which to watch the fireworks. We decided on the botanical gardens which are right next to the opera house and have an amazing view of the harbour bridge, where the fireworks would be set off from. We sent Kate in to get a spot and Sarah and I went shopping for provisions, since we would have close to 8 hours of sitting around waiting for the show. We bought more sandwhiches, chips, fruit, and some Tim Tams. We also had 3 bottles of champagne that were not allowed in our viewing area. The botanical gardens would be selling wine and beer and there was no BYO. We decided that that was ridiculous and that we would be bringing in our champagne. We bought a bottle of Sprite and sent Sarah to the bathroom to empty out the Sprite and fill it with the champagne. Our flaws in this plan included that champagne bottles make a very distinct popping noise when opened and that angry ladies waiting to use a toilet are not very patient. Somehow Sarah managed to get all but a quarter of the 3 champagnes into the Sprite bottle, hurry out of the stall when a cleaning lady began knocking, and run down to the food court to find me and get the hell out of the mall we were in. When we got to the botanical gardens we had to go through two checkpoints and wait an hour to make sure we were not bringing in any contraband. When we got to the second checkpoint we saw several bottles of confiscated Coke and Sprite and realized that we were not the only geniuses with our great sneaky plan. Somehow the guard decided that our Sprite bottle actually contained Sprite and let us through. Sarah and I then found Kate and spent the next several hours sitting directly in the sun drinking warm champagne and eating chips and melted Tim Tams while waiting for the sun to set and the fireworks to begin. There was a skywriting plane which added some entertainment as it spelled out words and phrases like "Dance at 10". "sagm", and "Jesus." There was also a couple making out in front of us for most of the wait which was also very entertaining. At 9 a first set of fireworks went off and were incredibly cool. Then some barges flotaed around with lights on them around the harbour and then at midnight the second set of fireworks went off. They were amazing! It lasted almost 15 minutes and shot out of the bridge and from both sides of the harbour and the tops of buildings in the city. there were even heart shaped and cube shaped fireworks.
Almost immediately after the fireworks ended guards began coming through and telling us to leave. Kate and Sarah and I had planned to sit around for an hour and wait for the crowds to die down before trying to push our way onto a bus to Bondi. No such luck. We did somehow manage to get on the first bus we saw and climbed aboard along with a group of very drunk Brazilians who proceeded to sing loudly as we drove to the beach. Our bus driver was not so happy about this and would slam on his brakes whenever we hit a red light, sending me flying into the laps of a honeymooning couple across the aisle. When someone yelled at the Brazilians to shut-up they took it as a request to sing the Black-Eyed Peas song "Shut-Up." Finally the seriously pissed-off bus driver screamed for everybody to get off that he wasn't going any furthur.
Even though it was New Year's Eve and there was a huge concert on the beach all of the bars were shut and the only open establishment was Boost Juice. We got some smoothies and headed to the beach. We watched security guards wearimg shirts that said "safe Event" flirt with drunken teenagers. It was all very entertaining and we found a patch of grass to sleep in. As the sun was rising a wine bottle rolled down the hill and hit Sarah on the head so we all woke up and enjoyed the views of the sunrise over the beach and bottles and trash and sleeping revellers everwhere. The three of us began an exhausted walk along the cliffs to find a place open for breakfast, which we did in the town of Bronte. I then said goodbye to Sarah and Kate and continued on the cliffwalk back to Jenny's house where I fell straight to sleep on my bed made of sofa pillows. Guy and his friend arrived home not long after me and then Sarah called and asked if she could come sleep for a little while longer. All the beds and floor space of Jenny's house was taken up with sleepers.
That evening, once everyone was mostly recovered and caught up somewhat on sleep, Jenny, Guy, and I went to the city to see Elton John's new musical Billy Elliot. It was great! After the singing and ballet dancing was through we all went straight to bed, our first day of 2008 finished.
The next day I left Sydney behind and boarded a train to the beach town of Coff's Harbour. My neighbour for the 8-hour train ride was a 4 year old Indian boy who wanted to talk and play with me for the whole ride. Ignoring my head phones and magazine he made me watch him play games on his dad's cellphone and shouted "damnit" whenever he lost. After an hour or so he was climbing on top of me and singing High School Musical songs and begging to listen to my ipod. His mother, who was sitting behing me with his younger brother, kept yelling at him to leave me alone but he would yell back that I was his friend. He finally fell asleep and I few hours of peace before I made it to Coff's.
One of my reasons, other than breaking up the trip to Brisbane, for stopping in Coff's Harbour was to see the Big Banana, a giant banana on the side of the road. I thought this sounded very exciting and set off the next morning an hour walk across town to see it. Once I arrived and saw it across the highway I realized that I was expecting a much, much bigger banana. Maybe one ten times the size of what I was actually seeing. It was disapointing but since it was beginning to rain i crossed over and went on the banana experience tour. I learned all about the history of banana farming and the health benefits of banana before touring the plantation and eating some tasty samples. When that was over it was still raining so I sat down with my book to read and wait for the rain to stop. 3 hours later it was still raining so a lady in the gift shop called me a cab and I headed back to my hostel. Coff's Harbour is a beach town and other than seeing the big banana there is not much to do other than be at the beach. Luckily I had some cool girls in my hostel room and we chatted and had some beers while the rain poured down. The next day was not any better and I was very happy when it was time to board the train for Byron Bay that afternoon.
Well that is all the typing I can handle for today so I am off to explore Byron Bay, the "hippie" town of Australia.