Solo Yolo: Nick's Chapter

As Christine returned to work after our South Island Adventure and Maggie moved to Queenstown to work for a different Dux de Lux, Nick followed Caitlin’s lead and made the leap over to Oz on the first of March.

Immediately upon landing in Sydney, Nick was in love. The first days of life as a Sydneysider involved loving real summer (and humidity), exploring every neighborhood and enclave, and cursing Christchurch for stealing away months he could have been loving Sydney.





YOLOing makes it to Sydney! In front of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, even more amazing in person than one can even imagine.




Many things are different for a naïve NZ Yoloer in Oz. Take random city birds for example. Meet an ibis. These birds are about 2 ft tall and love eating Hungry Jack’s (Aussie Burger King) almost as much as the YOLOers love Hungry Jack 40 cent ice cream cones. (We realized Hungry Jack’s cones for 10 cents cheaper than McD’s and we’ve never been back, cheap is one adjective a YOLO prides themselves on)




Upon coming to Sydney, Nick somehow managed to pick the absolute shittest hostel in all of Sydney. Even though he had to dodge trannie prostitutes outside the front of it and fall asleep to them making deals in the alley way (only $5 for a ‘pull,’ what a deal!), he was still able to make some friends while Solo Yoloing. Meet Lee and Adam, two Brits who started Nick’s bad habit of partying in Sydney till dawn. This is the three of us at Darling Harbor.





Nick’s Solo Yoloing went on a temporary hiatus when Caitlin and her mother flew into Sydney. Nick said goodbye to poverty for a few days as he was once again adopted by the Pegnim family and ate meals that weren’t instant as well as enjoyed the good life by spending hours sitting in Sheraton Hotel bar remembering what air conditioning was. (Thanks once again to the Pegnim family!) Nick, Caitlin, and Mom Pegnim all attended Sydney’s Gay Pride Mardi Gras. This is a picture of the “Furries” float. If you are unfamiliar with this fetish, just imagine what they must like doing while in those costumes and you’ll get the picture.

After Caitlin left Sydney, Nick spent a couple of days with the Brits at the Sydney ocean suburb of Manly soaking in the rays followed by yet another long weekend of consecutive days of partying till dawn (as Nick recalls why he’s such a city boy). After two full weeks in Sydney, it was time to conquer more of Aussie!




Nick took an overnight train to Melbourne to visit his friend Mel, whom he worked with bartending at the Dux in Christchurch. Caitlin eventually had to say goodbye to her mother and her life of luxury as she rejoined Nick on the homeless-wagon in Melbourne. Here is Nick, Mel, and Caitlin getting their drink on (as always) for a hot time hitting up the Melbourne nightlife.




One of the many cool bars Caitlin and I bar-crawled through was Croft Institute, a medical themed bar full of beakers, test tubes, and even hospital beds in the “Department of Female Hygiene” (aka bathrooms) which Caitlin found upon entering. But to get to such a cool bar, one must first know where it is. Croft Institute eluded the two Yoloers for a bit because you first had to go down two long sketchy alleyways. You can barely see Nick looking in the rubbish bin in the alleyway because that’s exactly just how dark and scary the alley really way. Totally worth it though.






Easter Down Under is pretty crazy as you can see. We may or may not have gotten a little carried away in Target over the vast amounts of chocolate in all forms (Eggs, Bunnies, and even Rugby Balls).




You don’t want to mess with the Yoloers, we’re thugs, clearly. Caitlin and Nick in jail after being ‘arrested’ during their tour of the old Melbourne Gaol (the un-american way of spelling jail apparently).




Nick and Caitlin love their alcohol. Especially on St. Patty’s day… and when their friend Mel is behind the bar and making whatever they want for prices that should be considered stealing (because it may or may not have been depending on how you look at it)




Just a picture to prove that Nick and Caitlin did more than just go out at night. Melbourne is beautiful and super modern. This is the train station. Crazy undulating roof. In addition, Nick and Caitlin tried to stalk down swimmers since the Swimming World Championships were being held in Melbourne. The closest they got was some tool kid with a swimming lanyard who didn’t even know what it meant, so yeah, they crashed and burned there.

After Melbourne, Caitlin left Nick yet again to fly to the Gold Coast where she met up with Christine and Kate. Nick trained it back to Sydney and then later flew up to the Gold Coast to meet up with the girls. Reread the previous blog post about the Gold Coast to get the chronology right. Nothing more to say about it but here’s another picture of how gorgeous Surfer’s Paradise was.








Nick returned to Sydney and rediscovered his love for it. He has also subletted a flat in (pictured above) in Bondi Junction for the remaining time in Sydney. The flat is basically the UN with foreigners from all over renting rooms. Nick currently shares with a French guy named Flo who has long wavy hair and is very surfy. Very Maggie Corr if you ask me, alas she is in Queenstown… Below you will see the amazing 5 story and 2 building Westfield Bondi Junction complex, so huge that Nick gets lost in and full of too many tempting buys.



Did I mention I live in Bondi Junction… as in Bondi Beach?



Bondi Beach, huge beach and even bigger waves.

Since returning on the 1st of April, Nick has been hanging out with his Aussie friends, Rob, Adam, and Laura, that he met his first two weeks in Sydney. Knowing Aussies is good because they make you dinner, take you out on the town, bring you to house parties, have cool accents, let you sleep over, introduce you to all things Aussie, laugh at your pronunciation of words, and take you on road trips! This is Nick, Rob, and Adam in front of Metz Gorge in “bush New South Wales.”



Life as a Sydneysider has been pretty sweet for Nick. Long nights of dancing, Aussie friends, beautiful beaches, and more fun than he ever thought he could have on his own. He’s already decided he will be returning one day to live here again. He will be reunited with X and Caitlin this Sunday, April 15th and 3 days later with our other American Christchurchers, Katy, Maggie (Hughes, not Corr), and Noah. Then its back to the cold of kiwi-land when he flies to Wellington April 25th.

Hopefully Maggie Corr will make an appearance with the rest of us on the North Island of NZ before we all head home (May 8! So soon!) and we can recapture the brilliance that happens when the 4 of us blog together. Until then, this will have to do.

Solo Yoloing Nick Style: Check