'Australia' ... The true story - Not the Baz Luhrmann one!!

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Guess first things first - Hope everyone had a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a MERRY NEW YEAR - 2009 (Don't the years go quick these days LOL)

Have not written one of these for 72 days according to this website, basically because each time i went to the computer i could not be bother but as it is a new year, then got to have a new attitude!!

Australia has been interesting, considering i was not that fussed about come here, it just happens to be on the route from Asia to New Zealand so thought i would stop off for a couple of months, it has been really good (and really EXPENSIVE) ... So touched down in Perth and could not find a bed anywhere because there was a gay Mardi Gras the night i arrived so crashed on a hostel reception sofa but had to leave at 6am before the boss of the hostel arrived as was not meant to be there i new it was going to be an interesting few months ... I had 3 weeks on the west coast and through about travelling up and down it to see a few places, however this country is HUGE, i will say a gain HUGE - No chance to do it in 3 weeks so spent 3 days in Perth and 2 and half weeks in Fremantle (Freo to those in the know) as decided travelling was too much hard work so crashed out in the hostel bar for my time there chatting to some cool travellers who also could not be arsed to move 😊 I did however spent a fortune on schooners (half pints), Jager Bombs - WOO they destroyed me!! and Goon which is just a plain wrong thing to drink but is bloody cheap - $10 a litre :-/ After 3 weeks of drinking in Freo was time to head on, can not sit on my arse drinking forever (unfortunatley) ...

Alice Springs next, i arrived there on November 15th, and did you know it has not rained there for over 11 months - FACT ... Well it did the night i arrived, in fact it was heavy and roads were flooded, even the dry river bed ran wet which meant the Aboriganies actually had a wash - You see it is not in their culture to bathe so when they were playing in the river the smell was dampened down a little. Believe me, when a family of Aboriginies pass you in the street unwashed for umpteen years, the smell is serve!! Because it rained could not see the sunrise at Uluru or even get into King Canyon as roads were blocked ... What we did get though was, an amazing thunder storm the first night. We were all a sleep in our swag bags outside when rain drops fell on our heads, some rushed into the dry others, (ie - myself) decided to brave if, "only a few rain drops", then a few more and a few more, eventually i head thunder and saw lighting above my head - "Better move inside now" got in just before the heavens opened. However there was only one space inside, and when i say inside, i mean a tin roof propped up over a concrete base with no sides, so inside isn't exactley correct and anyway once i got there the only space left was under the table LOL

After a few days in Alice where i meet Peter Crouchies look-a-like (i do have a video of him doing the robot as well - AWESOME) and having already meet Toadie (Neighbours) look-a-like in Freo was time to move again to try to spot another almost famous person 😊

Flew into Cairns, don't bother there is nothing there, except of course the Great barrier Reef, which as the name suggest is GREAT ... So many colours, the coral, the fish, saw a shark (not sure what type but will guess at a Reef shark) when was scuba diving there - Go to Cairns do the diving then get out as soon as possible because nothing there LOL
It was at this point i some what reluctantly decided i had to work to0 make sure i have the pennies to do the rest of the trip - Oz is expensive ... After no joy of finding work in Cairns (Admittley i only looked for 30 minutes) i rang up a farm and went 150km south to the most boring town in the world called Tully. My job was to move boxes from 'A' to 'B' for eight hours a day, which i di for three weeks. Even though was crap, dull, boring and very repetative did give me a chance to work on my guns LOL My job was to stack the boxes of bananas onto pallets for shipping out. Each boxes weight was 14kg, each pallet would hold either 66 or 72 boxes. One day i loaded 44 pallets all by myself (oh yes mine was a one man job apparently), that is a total of 2970 boxes stacked, or if you prefer, 44,550kg moved in a day - Which just happened to be a new RECORD for the Farm, thank you very much .... And for this achievement of excellence what thanks did i get, higher pay??, a pay off?? A round of appluase?? Nope, boss did not even care which then meant i did not care so for the final week just did the bare minimum - Which i agree is not the best attitude to have but fuck it LOL

Sydney was next, after a few more days in cairns where i met my parents, they did not know i would be there so was a good suprise - Never seen mum cry so much, was abit overwhelmed!! In Sydney we climbed the Harbour Bridge on Christmas morning - This was brilliant and if ever in Sydney definatley do it was even though expensive is a great three/four hour trip ... the views were great and was a nice present ... Christmas lunch consisted of a pre cooked chicken from the Australian equivalent of Tesco, a pasta salad and some Doritos and plenty of beer on our balcony 38 floors up looking over Sydney, this was nice however as was 32 degress i did not feel Christmassy at all. Christmas should be cold with family arguments. I had it hot with the family getting on well - Just was not right 😊

Parents left day after Boxing day and i made my down to Kings Cross (where my hostel was), Kings Cross is the seedy area of Australia, strip clubs, hookers, the homeless and backpackers - All the best people are there, seriously!!
There were a few drunken nights here, because basically that what Kings Cross, Christmas and New Year is all about - Getting drunk - Which the 5 Irish in my room took to extremes, did have some good nights out with them ... CRAZY!!

So New Year, Sydney is meant to be in the top 3 places in the world to spent New Years - Not sure where the others are though ... Met up with some mates who knew from Vietnam, and started drinking games at 3pm, quite a late start for New Years i agree but only got home at 1pm after a night out and crashing on a girls so who met previous night ... So drinking games with Goon, if you do not know what Goon is, then you have to come to Australia just to discover how bad and how drunk you can get with it - Three of us drank 2 litres in a couple of hours then went to pub then found a spot to watch fire works, at this point were out of beers so first stop - Bottle shop ... Few more hours of beer then fireworks, which are very impressive!! Not 100% sure how i got back, we seemed to all get split up, then remember getting on a bus but did not ask where it was going but woke up in my bed so must of being going the right way 😊

That was Australia in a nut shell or should i say in a Kangaroo's pouch!!

Love ya all!!

..Marky..

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Comments

[Laura]

you got home at 1pm after "crashing on a girls"!!!??? Well well well MArky ;)