Is this the place for couchsurfers?

Once again we found ourselves boarding an early morning train. We decided to test out another couchsurfing host in Newcastle named Kevin. Newcastle is the second biggest city in our state and another option that we had picked for our exchange program so we wanted to see what the city was like. There seemed to be a little more to do here than in Wollongong since we have not gone to the famous Hunter Valley and the vineyards or sandboarding, swimming with the dophins or whales. We didn’t really know what to expect but we were soon exploring the city after we dropped our bags off at Kevin’s place. Once again we had gotten lucky with the location since it was a straight walk from the train station and pretty much in the middle of one of the main streets in the town. Kevin was very nice and new to couchsurfing like us so we were both a little unsure on how things worked. He gave us a brief tour of his place and Lauren immediately picked up on the fact that he likes to run in races just like her sister Tiffany. We soon realized we had a lot in common with this guy – he is in the Air Force, runs in races, has been skydiving, just to name a few. Conversation was really easy between us which was nice for having just met him. He was going to be busy watching the NBA play-offs, but we didn’t mind since we were just going to explore the city anyways. He gave us a map of the free shuttle bus and we were on our way. He had pointed us in the direction of the lighthouse where he has seen dolphins both times he’s been there.

We both think the trees here are awesome!

And here is the lighthouse! Just slightly bigger than a marshmallow!

I think Lauren has found her big grading pencil!

Look what washed up on shore!

It was a rather long walk all the way out to the stormbreaker, just a long pathway out into the ocean and kept our eyes peeled for dolphins but unfortunately never saw any. I think it was probably because it’s the time between whale season and dolphin season, but regardless it was a little disappointing. Along the way we had seen a shopping centre with a Big W and knew we wanted to see what that was all about. We had gotten the impression that it was the Australian Walmart, and walking up to it we thought we were right.

They look the same don’t they?

As we wandered around we realized that it probably wasn’t like our Walmart because their prices were nowhere near as low as ours were, and they also didn’t have food section or a pharmacy. It’s a nice try though Australia. Kevin had asked us what we wanted to do for dinner and had somewhat offered to make dinner or we could go out, but we didn’t really want to put the burden on him to make us dinner. We grabbed a snack before we left the shopping centre just in case we had to wait a while for dinner. We figured that we would go easy and make spaghetti but Kevin insisted on him making it for us, which was very nice of him. Definitely not something we’re used to anymore since we’ve been cooking for ourselves for over 2 months now. It was nice to just sit back and relax after a full day of exploring, but we also had plans to catch a couchsurfing social event. The Polish couple that had stayed with Kevin the weekend before had heard about this place where couchsurfers/hosts meet up on Fridays. It was right on Kevin’s street, so we figured why not. It appeared to be in some community centre, so we ventured upstairs where a lady directed us and walked right into a salsa lesson. We asked around to see if we were in the right place and everyone knew about couchsurfing so we figured we were and took to the dance floor. We had missed a few of the lessons, but as we rotated partners we soon picked up on the steps. Everyone was so nice and the same age as us. We soon put the pieces together and realized we weren’t at a couchsurfing event but rather a Newcastle University event called FEAST. Its just a club that focusing on bringing unique events to campus that pertain to Food, Expression, Art, Song and Thought. This was part of the expression part, but either way we were getting free salsa lessons – something we’ve been meaning to catch in Sydney at one of the pubs. We had a great time and met a few more Australian people that go to the uni of Newcastle. We even met a girl that had been to South Carolina and raved about our nice the people in the South were. That was nice to hear, or just to hear somewhere say they’ve been close to North Carolina anyways. She gave us a few tips on what to do in Newcastle as well. The small room that we were in was busting through the seams with salsa music, so we soon had to escape the loud music. We felt like Kevin wanted to stay out and enjoy the nightlife more but we were already exhausted and still full from dinner. We ended up just people watching from his balcony since there is a popular pub right across the street. They actually started scanning IDs there, so if you get in a fight and get banned then they can keep track of it. We all thought this was a great idea and something that the US should definitely adopt. We just swapped stories from Australia and the United States, which kept us entertained. He grew up in Brisbane with koalas in his backyard. One night he had a male koala stand outside his open window and start his mating call which just sounds like heavy breathing to us. He said that’s been one of the only times in his life when he’s been truly scared since he thought someone was standing outside his window, staring at him, while breathing heavy. That could be very haunting.