Game On

---

Here in Sydney, what happened? Well, Karl - a bit of a ditherer - dithered in the direction of Malaysia/Singapore and I got word that Bob and his fishpot were not leaving for quite a while so I thought bugger this for a game of soldiers and took a flight to Darwin.

Good job really. One day in Darwin and I came down with some mysterious tropical fever thing I musta got in Timor. The doc wasn't the most tactful bloke in the world and I spent the next day scared half shitless that I had malaria and was going to die in a less than graceful style. 2 days later, 6 vials of blood and $250 lighter, I found out I wasn't going to die. A week later and feeling better after the worst illness since something really bad when I was a kid, the test for number one suspect, dengue fever, came up negative. Eh? I could have another test, they said, to double check that it wasn't dengue. Why? I am convinced it was dengue so it *was* dengue(like I know). I feel hunky-dory now anyway, so ner.

I flew straight to Sydney from Darwin and spent a week in bed. But even so my ma n pa, brother, sis-in-law and niece seemed glad to see me, if a bit unsure how to celebrate the family reunion when one member cannot stand up without wanting to puke for the first 3 days.

Okay, so from the "over land and sea" perspective, I got tantalisingly not quite there. I got to the foot of the travelator, ran at it a few times and fell flat down with the rotating rubber grinding against my face. But believe me, after a few days in Dili you gotta leave from sheer boredom and I simply couldn't wait to head up that runway. I thought I was going to be be sent back there as the polite people at Darwin customs grilled me for an hour, went through my stuff in minute detail, asked me the same questions again and again and marveled at the visas I had (they were particularly impressed with Mongolia and Iran, but one guy was convinced that Iran was synonymous with opium and I thought I was close to a rubber glove encounter so I pointed out that it was way back last September).

Now there is a semblance of normality and 'reality' in Australia. Things cost real money, the government is trying to scare us and property is unaffordable. Which means just one thing: get up off my arse, find some work and rejoin the rat race before time runs out. Then I can afford to do the really fun stuff here, if I get the time and can be bothered to get out of bed at the weekends after the night before.

The Pope popped the old clogs this weekend. We had a sweepstake over the time of death, I was out by miles. We commemorated the occasion with a Father-Tedathon.

---

Photos

Drive in and load up on beer, how cool is that?
They don't allow drive-in booze shops like this, or allow petrol stations to sell booze in Blighty because, of course, it may encourage drink-driving (!?). You are allowed to buy porn mags in your local Esso for some reason.

Down on the farm
My brother, Simon, wears all of my old clothes.

Have you ever seen this before?
Just fulfilling the Travelblog.org legal requirement to have a picture of the Bridge + Opera House when writing from Sydney.

Gold in that thar hill
This is a real, working, one-man gold mine we visited out in the sticks.

Comments

[anonymous]

I just HAVE to comment
Having no idea how to address you, I'm going to go with Sken. Hi Sken! I am a complete stranger to you but for the past few days I have been sitting in the death-slump pose at work and would rather chew off my own head than do any of the multitude of mundane tasks that are awaiting my attention. Then I stumbled over your travel blogs. And they're brilliant. So even though this is probably not the right forum I just had to add my comment and thank you for entertaining me so wonderfully. Your stories are making me laugh out loud which does unfortunately attract my usually zombified workmates and leads me to do some dancing to hide the internet and make up some story about how funny it was that somebody had used a comma instead of a full stop in their PC coding. Yawn. Travel happy and stay safe and thanks for the laughs! Jess (Complete stranger) - Jess

[tannismc]

Great Story
Amazing Adventures--I was on the edge of my seat wondering if you'd make it to Oz without a plane. Amazing that you got as far as you did, really. Love the photos too--what kind of camera do you have?

[anonymous]

Chess or Buckaroo ?
Ahh Father Ted. What better way to celebrate the end, or pause in, a great journey. I'm talking yours here, not the Popes. Thanks for your comments and sorry I'm a bit tardy in replying, but we've really enjoyed catching up with your tale and, with some trepidation, are literally about to step out the door to follow you - In search of Mister Bob. - Cumberland Sausage

[Desert Rose]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOO
As an Aussie I am aware of our Customs Officers serious approach to travellers returning from countries abroad and cracked up at the rubber glove comment. Can't say they have ever gone that far with me, but don't ever try and bring wood products into Aussie from Vanuatu!! Good reply about it being September you were in the Opium smoking surrounds, love your style. Enjoying your journal very much and hope it all works out in Aussie for you, it's a great place. I'm stuck over in an island of the East Coast of Australia called New Zealand or Sheepsland at the moment. Hope that I can make my journal as interesting and humourous as yours. Take care.

[Desert Rose]

Where are u??????????
I've read all your journals and am so keen to read some more, especially on my home country!! Please get blogging again as there are many peeps who enjoy reading your tales.

[Ali]

Will there be another update?
I hope so - any plans to be on the road again? - I miss the whitty observations from random places!