Join Our Newsletter E-Mail Address: Newsletter Archive Backpacker Videos	Cronulla Beach YHA Sydney NSW Australia Backpackers Hostel for Sydney Beaches Budget Accommodation Cronulla Beach YHA Accommodation Sydney Backpacker Newsletter March 2003 Hi All, Apologies for the delay in writing -- it's been a busy summer for Cronulla Beach YHA! Cronulla has seen a fair turnover of events these past few months: Cronulla Plaza was home to the Summer Fashion Expo on November 02nd. The inaugural Cronulla Sand Sculpting Championship 2003 was held from 11 to 26 January, where Australian and international sculptors created world-class works of art in sand, viewed by more than 120,000 people. A couple of weeks ago Cronulla Plaza hosted the Classic & Vintage Car Show. And of course away in Sydney on March 1st there was the annual Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, attended by a sizeable crew from the hostel, not all gay or lesbian I'm sure. The previously mentioned Australian Bodyboard Championships were a hoot -- grommets from all over Oz descended on Cronulla. We hosted our own rat-pack and for a week Dorm 3 was a no-go zone. When they left it took an hour and three full bin liners to clean! Christmas and New Year were of course manic, we could have filled the hostel five times over. Amazingly there were still people phoning up hoping for beds on their arrival in Sydney on New Years Eve itself, we hope they found somewhere other than a park bench. Our traditional Xmas Day dinner went down well, as did the irresponsibly vast quantities of booze consumed before, during, and afterwards. And Hogmanay saw the usual exodus with the hostel trekking en-mass to the Rocks and Observatory Hill to see the New Year in. A pity as high winds forced the cancellation of the 9pm fireworks, however those still conscious at midnight witnessed the traditional spectacle over the Harbour Bridge. Back at the hostel we witnessed the spectacle of their dragging themselves in over the next twelve hours... (I think the record was a 3pm return from the gutter.) Also let us remember the horror of the October 12th Bali bombing. We spent a frightening time worrying for those ex-hostellers we knew to be there. Thankfully all these were accounted for safely, but our thoughts and hearts go out to the many hundreds of families and friends who are less lucky. I did a spot of S.E.Asian travelling myself, jetting off to Vietnam last month for a couple of weeks with an old hostel faithful. Do you remember London's Lee "Two-Bob White-Trash" Follett? Those who don't are probably better-off leaving it that way, as things have a habit of coming frighteningly undone in his sphere of influence. Some words to describe Vietnam: cheap, different, hard-core traveling, beautiful sites, not much beach life, always a bar to be found, great food, nail-biting long distances on rough roads, loads of history and resentment to USA in museums, etc. Hire a motorbike or a guy with one to show you around - the only way to go. We now host regular visitors in the form of work-experience placement students from the local Loftus TAFE College's Travel & Tourism course. One per week and we haven't struck unlucky yet. To all you red-bloodied guys out there: you could do a lot worse than to follow a career in travel & tourism! A small hiccup in February when a certain hostel manager who shall remain nameless, by the name of Michael, crashed the minivan. Could it be the distraction of a young work-experience lovely who was sitting alongside him at the time?! Now repaired we are moving up a gear with an expansion into the shuttle-bus business -- 'Cronulla Beach Shuttle Tours' -- watch this space. And of course the most important event of recent months: this week saw my birthday! Twenty-five years young..... again ;-) Please post all presents to the usual address, cash/money-orders are more than acceptable. An update with our first (confirmed!) hostel-pregnancy... Bevan and Kirsty are due to return to NZ in April for the birth of their P3-conceived child. Some staff comings and goings: Our gorgeous weekend-manager Annette left in October to head north to Cairns with her Brixham boyfriend Ben. They are now both back flatting and working here in Cronulla. I believe they are due for a break in Bali at month's end. Annette's replacement Kate from Barnstaple in Devon hit the ground running and was a steady hand at the tiller for a couple of months, before herself heading on over to Perth in December to enjoy the famed West Australian relaxed lifestyle. And, we understand, the famed West Australian 'wildlife.' Having recently returned here she is due to head back home this weekend. Our current weekend-manager Danny's philosophy on life is very simple: "all good things happen when you're horizontal." His hobbies are chocolate, beer, avoiding all forms of work, and lying on his lazy-arse. He occasionally ponders why he is not as popular as his predecessors with members of the opposite sex. Also he seems somewhat of a weather-god... Sydney has had only a handful of rainy days this summer but he faithfully picked them for both times we've been out party-pontooning on Port Hacking, turning them into damp squibs. At the time of writing we're planning another this week... third time lucky?! Monday night sees our pool-comp. No bullshit Aussie rules here, firmly British pub-regulations: two shots for a foul, shoot in any direction, no nominations, and intimidating threats of violence trump all the above. There have been many pretenders to the pool-king throne, but (reluctantly) it has to be said: "All Hail Barnzee!" And perhaps losing might have been more attractive than winning -- as a "private viewing of Edwina's [assets]" form our third-prize. When Devon's Ed was initially approached for the role her only reservation was that she wasn't first-prize! Last weekend saw the N.R.L. season opener for the Cronulla Sharks, who hosted Melbourne Storm here at Shark Park. The hostel ran a shuttle to the game and filled a couple of vanloads. Unfortunately yet again the Sharks sank to the challenge, snatching defeat from jaws of victory by squandering a 22-0 lead to lose 32-36 in the final minutes. All present were devastated, at least until making it to Northies for an after-match drink-or-twelve. Finally a request -- to all the David Baileys out there -- after nearly three fun-filled years our long-promised lounge photoboard is now taking shape. But there's lots of room still... if you have any photos of your good times here buried away in your sock drawers you'd like to share with everyone, please send them to us. We have loads of recent months, but are a little light on the earlier days. Any and all are welcome: yourselves, group-shots, local hostel-outings, etc. More importantly we'd love evidence of drinks/drugs/debauchery, the ruder the better, nudity is most definitely acceptable! Either prints or negatives are fine, ideally accompanied by a short explanatory note with names and dates. "Leave a little of yourself in Cronulla and share the shame!" We'd be more than happy to receive any of your news, especially of friendships and relationships continued after meeting here in Cronulla. Hope life continues to treat you well, you know you are all welcome back here whenever... Keep the faith and I'll try to write more often in future. Cheers, Michael. Newsletter Archives Main Page... 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