To hell and backpacker

Friday, March 28, 2008

Beer bongs, jelly wrestling and rampant sex – Barry Divola gets busy on the Aussie backpacker trail.

Last year I had a great idea. Instead, I decided to spend a month travelling up the east coast of Australia, sharing buses, boats, beaches, barstools and bunks with backpackers. Along the way I drank my weight in cask wine, listened to Poms complain, smoked weed with Swedes and danced to “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” with 19-year-old Swiss girls way too many times. I witnessed pick-ups, piss-ups and throw-ups. And I had the dubious honour of being the only person in a room of five not having sex.

First stop, Bondi Beach
INDY’S Beachside Backpackers is a sweatbox of a place. It was like Big Brother, backpacker style. The first slab of beer was torn open at noon. The ashtrays were full by 2pm. A joint came out at 3pm. By 8pm, the beer bongs had started. “Bondi is the worst place in the world not to be getting action, man,” warned Gavin, a teacher from Cairns visiting Sydney on holidays. “It’s in your face all the time.”

Cans in Cairns
At around 11pm everyone decided to go to The Woolshed, a large club around the corner from the hostel. The Woolshed is also known as The Pull Shed. It’s renowned as one of the biggest pick-up joints in the country. I was with Jack and Adam, my 19-year-old English room-mates. Over two hours we’d played a drinking game with plastic cups of goon and warm stubbies. Adam told me he’d had sex with an American girl the previous night. Jack said she was a slut.

Which country have the "friendliest" girls? Leave your comment below.