The Blue Parrot: An Unusual Hostel in Sydney

Written and Directed by Miranda Molen

Cast of Characters (in no particular order)

Claire – blond party girl from somewhere in England who is everybody’s best friend and supplier of random groceries (since she’s lived at the Parrot for 6 months)

Henning – German guy, desperate to sell his beat up station wagon after spending the last 6 months driving 30,000 kilometers across Australia, rarely showering

Jean – Frenchie from Lyon who stole 180 bottles of 12 year old whiskey from his previous job in Sydney and was on a mission to see how quickly he could consume all of it (sharing with the fellow hostel guests of course)

William – Dutchman with fitted jeans and a cowboy hat, often seen texting his Aussie girlfriends or planning the launch of his next company from his Apple laptop

Greg – incomprehensible Cockney Brit with shirts so tight they may give Right Said Fred a run for their money

Linnea – Swedish blond with impossibly long legs who found work for a couple days in the strip club down the road only to realize it doesn’t pay much better than cleaning the hostel

Liz – Frenchie who doesn’t actually live at the hostel, but takes the crew out every night for some free drinks and good laughs

Kalston & Tobias – my German roommates who like to debate which is superior: East or West Germany

Random Frenchies – crew that travels in a pack of no less than 3, chain smoking and refusing to speak English, though they all do so fluently

Thomas – 18 year old Dutch guy who spends his days eating chocolate chip cookies and strumming his guitar

The Setting

Back patio filled with tables, chairs and a BBQ that doesn’t actually work (though repeatedly tested).

Kitchen, where all dishes can usually be found in the sink and everyone’s food is stolen at will.

Dining room consisting of a table used for late night card games and a counter covered in a jigsaw puzzle.

TV Room where Hellboy 2 is on the big screen and any number of the cast listed above lay quietly on the couch wishing their hangovers would subside.

Modern, but not quite stylish, home décor shop 2 doors down with a windowsill ledge used as a bench for late night smoking after the patio is closed.

The Scene

Frenchies sit on the patio smoking, speaking French and laughing loudly.

Claire and Linnea plan which nightclub may suit them best this evening.

William and Greg discuss the awkward morning after conversations they’ve endured with the locals of the opposite gender.

Thomas eagerly takes inventory of everyone’s plans for the night before decided where and when he’ll join.

Kalston and Tobias speak in German while discussing how terrible the sausage is in Australia.

Miranda, Henning and Jean sit at the dining room table and play a card game while Jean tries to convince Miranda to switch from her bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to whisky, unsuccessfully.

The Plot Summary

Short days and long nights are what best categorize my time in Sydney. I did see the sights: Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, neighborhoods like the Rocks and King’s Cross, shopping on George St., Oxford St. and at Bondi Junction. In terms of the sights, I was completely captivated by the Opera House. It is such an iconic building and one that makes the average person feel dwarfed in its presence. I sat on a park bench and marveled at its beauty for the better part of an hour and returned several more times over the course of my 5 days in Sydney if only to see its glory from a new vantage point or with differing amounts of daylight.

But the majority of my time was spent at the Blue Parrot. There was simply too much fun to be had to want to do much else. Everyday brought new arrivals of crazy characters and new laughs to be had. Every night was spent at the local bars or sitting around the dining room table playing cards and misunderstanding each other’s broken English. By the end I even found myself speaking without verbs so that everyone would comprehend. But it all worked. We ate. We drank. We played together. And by the end, I didn’t want to go. I easily could have wasted another week, or month with this crazy international crew. But alas, the world is a big place and there are many corners undiscovered, many sandy beaches not yet walked upon, many fish yet to be seen through the mask of my snorkeling gear. It’s time to move north.

I’m in Brisbane now, but start making my way further north tomorrow, where I’ll set off the following day to Fraser Island. It is one of Australia’s most wild and untouched nature reserves, where I’ll stroll through a subtropical rainforest, swim in turquoise water and soak in bubbling seawater. Should be a splendid reprieve after a couple weeks of city life and will hopefully help me move on from my fabulous stay at the Blue Parrot!