Australia (Twelve)

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G'day one and all,

Firstly Happy New Year I trust you all had a good Christmas & New Year. Sorry it's taken so long to write. Any way last time I wrote to you I was on the Gold Coast, from there I caught a flight down here to Melbourne. I had a reservation at the same hostel as Camilla was staying at. However instead of arriving at about 2pm as planned lovely Tiger had cancelled my flight so I had to get on the later flight so I managed to arrive at the hostel about 2am instead!! I managed to get a bus to Southern Cross Station and from there I jumped in a cab to the Pint on Punt. I got out of the taxi and there were a few people hanging around outside who all seemed to be nice and friendly and they'd just shut the pub as Johny & Jacky were still inside somewhere so I waited a while and gave Camilla a call. They did eventually appear and check me in and I dumped my bags upstairs and then came back down the stairs where they opened up the bar for a few of us and we had a lock in for a few hours!! Awesome!! Totally unexpected but a beer or two went down so well after the flight down!!

The next day Cam and I went and had breakfast in the pub and then we headed down to St Kilda, we headed down Fitzroy street and headed for the beach as we chatted away Cam suddenly said to me "Did you just see Campbell?" I had to be reminded who he was, I hadn't seen anyone I recognised but she sent him a quick text and the response was "Sitting on the Beach in St Kilda" so we turned about and there he was. All very random but great to catch up. We'd met Campbell at Tropic Days in Cairns. So we headed to the Esplanade Hotel, known as the Espy and had a few afternoon beers there. We then spent the next few days around St Kilda and I finally managed to see some football!! Arsenal vs. Chelsea and we won too!! Ha!! Also a crazy night followed at the Casino bar on Monday night and then I said goodbye to Cam as she flew off to New Zealand!

The following day Amy and her friend Rosie arrived from new Zealand. We had arranged to meet them at the new hostel, one in the city centre as the Pint was unfortunately full over Christmas - however as it turned out we didn't need to stay over Christmas as Dug has invited us up to his parent place. However Amy and Rosie had managed to bring one thin with them and that was rain!! Their first few days was rain, rain and more rain. We still managed to sort all their visa/tax/banks etc and see a bit of the city.

Then on Christmas eve Amy, Rosie & I went to my friend Dugs parents place which is located on the NSW/VIC border near Howlong which is near Albury-Wadonga. Dug is an Aussie I met in the Malaysian Rainforest a year or so ago. We were even lucky enough to find ourselves a lift there as his mum was picking him up from Melbourne Airport on Christmas eve. We managed to find his Mum before he'd even landed. Not many people with pommy accents turn up at the arrivals carrying big backpacks J So when Dug landed we jumped in the car and drove to his place which took us around about 3.5 hrs. We then got settled and met everyone. The next morning, Christmas day we went to a Anglican church in Howlong and pretty much doubled the congregation!! The vicar looked rather ancient!! We then went and had a look around The property, I have to say Dug's back yard is slightly larger than our one!! We then all jumped in various cars and headed to Dug's brothers Ian's for lunch. We had a great day there meeting his brothers and family - we had some great food and the weather was stunning - clear blue skies and must have reached about 28 degrees... lovely after the rain in Melbourne!! It was 15 degrees when Dug landed the previous day. In the afternoon there was one more present for the kids to open - that was a mini quad bike. The kids were allowed to be a passenger where as the adults got to ride it alone!! Too much fun!!

Boxing day consisted of Herding sheep from One property to another - they have 3. That took a fair while and we got to meet Nugget and Ted the working dogs! They were lovely. And sheep, well they aren't the brightest!! Once this was done we escaped for a swim in a damn!! Then the following day we went back to the farm and assisted in the process of sheep shearing. The girls helped by removing any dirty or spoiled bits of wool - I'm sure Amy will fill you in on more accurate details on that one. I was packing the fleeces into a compactor which pressed it into bundles weighing 185-190kgs!! Rather heavy!! I was then called upon to drive a Ute!! I helped Ian move some straw bales from the field . While he drove a tractor I drove the Ute which had a trailer on the back. That was heaps of fun. After lunch I assisted in move a massive pivot which is part of an irrigation system and rotates around a pivot watering the crops. We then headed to another pool of water next to the fish farm and had a swim. That evening we met a couple of Dugs friends who then came and slept on Dugs lawn in their swags. We all went Spotlighting on a ute, Tim - Dugs other bother drove and they had a massive spotlight attached to the cars main battery and we went to see what we could see, a few 'roos, rabbits, a fox, a hare and even some cows!!!! We ended up at the highest point of their land and witnessed a stunning moonrise - very beautiful as were the stars!

The following day we didn't do any work on the farm instead we went driving to a few places of interest locally including the courthouse where Ned Kelly - an Aussie Robin Hood figure - only difference he stole from the rich and er.. kept it! We had some nice food and a nice local Ale :D The following Day Dug and I headed over to Albury where we met with Dug's Ex-Girlfriend Dee, Who he had been with when we met him in Malaysia. So that was nice to catch up with her. That evening we returned and walked up the hill and watched the sunset which was lovely! Then the following evening Dug, Rosie & I headed to the river where a load of his friends had set up camp. We Spent the night there and had some laughs with all the lads under the stars.

The following day was New Years Eve, we got back to the house then headed to Albury where we jumped on a rather hot train - it was over 40 outside and the aircon was pretty much non-existent!! We than found out way back to the hostel and said hello to all our old friends who were still there and went and watched the fireworks at midnight near the river at Federation square. We then went back to the Pint on Punt which I far preferred, it has to be one of the friendliest hostels I've stayed in.

The Search was then on for a job. Amy and found some smart clothes and headed to a few agencies. One of which has put us both to work. I found 2 jobs so far through them. Which was good but need more!! While I was at my first job the Australian Open was in full swing so I organised some tickets for that for the 3 of us. Initially we planned just the Saturday but had such a fantastic day we just had to return. We had tickets , both days, in the Vodafone arena which is a 10,000 seater (I think) and it's the 2nd court. The Rod Laver was sold out both days 😞 but we still had an awesome couple of days and saw some great tennis. Quite lucking in fact that we did have Vodafone tickets on the Saturday as it has a closable roof and it didn't stop raining all day!! then next day however the roof was open which was good as we got better photos with more light 😊. And as it turned out we saw both the women finalist (both fitties too) and Djokavic. Brilliant!! We also saw a bit of the Federer's 5 set thriller game on the big screen and on Sunday he was knocking a ball about with a young bloke in one of the miner courts which caused a small crowd!!

Then came along Australia Day 26th January and there was a festival in the city centre called Kiss My Grass. Myself and Finnish guy, Joonas for Helsinki went along and danced the afternoon away with a few drinks. It was a really good afternoon as it turned out and we chatted to loads of random people and even though there were over 100 odd DJs and acts I hadn't heard of one, the idea being it was all Aussies being Australia day. Since then I have been hanging out with people at the hostel and meeting loads of random people there and in the pub downstairs. There was also the St Kilda festival & a Gay Pride march. The march was a lot smaller than the Sydney Mardis Gras but still a fair few people came out to watch. The main event was the following week when the actual festival took place. I went down with Campbell and met one of his friends from home and his Girl friend. There were about 300,000 people on the streets, so a fair few I'm sure you can imagine.

I'm now unemployed boo L but still things to look forward to, I have a ticket for the Grand Prix in a few weeks and then I'm going to do the Great Ocean Road with Rob, a guy I climbed mountains with while in China back in October 2006, in Emei Shan to be exact feels such a long time ago now!! We'll end up in Adelaide from where I will fly up to Cairns and back to the Lagoon Cafe where I actually did manage to save money!!

Well that's all for now folks



Mark

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