New Years Eve/Troubled Youth/Missing My Mates...

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DATE: THURSDAY DECEMBER 31ST , 2009
NEW YEARS EVE/TROUBLED YOUTH/MISSING MY MATES…..
Today was the hottest day I had experienced in Tasmania, I think the official gauge said 36 degrees Celsius, scorcher! That could only mean one thing for me, the beach. Being in one of the best diving/snorkeling locations in the world I went serious flipper hunting. I found a pair on sale for $25 even though they supposed to be on sale for $45 (mismarked). Now I can more easily go bodyboarding as well, even though the waves I’ve seen here ain’t nothing compared to Sydney waves. Not sure why that is, probably something with the moon cycle or something. Anyway I’d heard good things about Kingston Beach, about 10 km south of Hobart, so I headed there. The beach was pretty good; it had whitish sand and kinda turquoise water. It was pretty crowded as well since a lot of people had the day off. I went snorkeling off the rocks on the north end where I saw maybe 10 fish, a few of them really colorful. The underwater world is pretty incredible, especially reefs and such. I can’t wait for my dad to bring my snorkel. I had a little tiff with my mom about that earlier but I don’t really want to get into it. Point of it was…blood is thicker than H2o. Anyway, highlight of the snorkeling was definitely seeing a stingray. AWW CRICKEY!!! Haha, I immediately thought of one of my favorite Australians, the late Steve Irwin. Unlike him I survived this stingray encounter though. To be fair the stingray wasn’t swimming around and it was probably only 3 ft long. It was lying at the bottom covered in sand stealth hunting I think, still I was pretty impressed. Afterwards, I suntanned out on a floating dock for an hour. I talked to another snorkeler and was excited to tell him about seeing a stingray. She pretended to be impressed and after I finished my story she told me she had seen an 8 ft one snorkeling up north a few days ago. Point to her! After that I met sorta like a gang that was sitting on the cliffs. They seemed cool enough, there was four guys (25, 18, 17, and 14) and three girls (16, 14, 14) but after talking to them for like 20 minutes I found out they all were punks and druggies. The oldest one was even a drug dealer. I got to hear all about the places he dealt (he even dealt in the town I lived in at Sydney) and about jail and “how it made him soft”. I also learned about Tasmanian bars and how it is quite common to get stabbed. The oldest guy had like 8 knife wounds. Evidently bars fight in Tasmania, which are pretty routine, involve everyone grabbing for their knives and stabbing each other….even the girls. I got to see their knives, for some reason half of them brought them to the beach and I learned a few self defense moves so I could go out for new years that night. I learned which bars I would be most likely to be stabbed at and how to smuggle a knife of my own into a bar. Guess I learned a lot, huh. Anyway I went from being most scared of snakes in Tasmania to bars. Anyway, regardless of their violence/drug tendencies they were pretty nice to me. They all called me “the yank” and tried to do an American accent which pretty much sounded like a bad Boston accent. Tasmania is kinda ridiculous; these kids were all drinking and smoking right on the public beach with tons of people around when only 2 of them were even legal. And it’s not like the rest of them could have passed for 18 either, they definitely looked like typical 14 or 15 year olds. Also, the 3 older guys were dating the girls, who were definitely too young for them in my opinion. 25 to 16 is a pretty big gap, it seemed obvious to me that the girls were only dating them so they could get access to alcohol and drugs. Girls using guys to get what they want….that’s unheard of haha. Anyway, they left after an hour or so because they all wanted to go take ecstasy before they went out that night. How the 14 year olds were going to get into the bar I have no idea….haha probably hold the bouncer at knifepoint would be my guess. Anyway, I headed back to the city because I wanted to see the fireworks that night. There were two shows one at 9:30 and one at midnight. After the one at 9:30 show, which was pretty impressive, everyone started heading to the bars…and got caught in a flash downpour. This thunderstorm was nuts, it was like a hurricane hit with the driving rains and tons of lightning and wind. Everybody ran for cover and the bars/underneath trees, filled up pretty quickly. The storm lasted 20 minutes and most people got all soaked in their nice going-out clothes, so they were not too happy. Other people embraced the storm, peeled off their clothes and went running down the streets. I guess it only turns to a new year once every 365 days so why not go crazy! It was definitely a one of a kind New Years to say the least. I went out and had a few celebratory drinks as well. I met a few people and managed not to get stabbed but I really really wish my friends were there. I feel like Ross J. and Justin H. would have definitely had my back in any bar fight. Ross J. would have probably used his sick jujitsu skills and Justin H. would have probably just walked around with his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder as a preventative measure. I feel like Bob K. probably would have enjoyed peeling off his clothes and going for a run in the rainstorm. I bet Thomas H. and Sara R. would have been one of the couples welcoming in the New Year by making out in the streets of Hobart, btw hope their wedding planning is going well. Lauren W. definitely would have ‘just danced’ (Lady Gaga) since all they club music they play here is American anyway. Anna W. might have joined Bob in the rainstorm run or maybe just had a pleasant chat with me. Stephanie C. definitely would have enjoyed the organic beers that were flowing that night. I think we could have got Tyler B. tipsy enough to freestyle rap for us, the night freshman year he did is still a legendary. Alec S. would probably be in some sort of competition with me and could help identify any and all ‘creepers’ in the crowd. Sara L. would also be identifying potential creepers and might even break out the salsa dance moves she supposedly learned in Mexico. Anyway, that’s the night I wish I had.

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