Blogs from Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 592

Looking out of the plane window I realised that people werent kidding about Melbourne weather. Long trousers, fleeces and even the odd wolly hat were evident in the Airport groundcrew - so on leaving the plan I braced myself for the worst. But the worst didnt come. It really wasnt that cold. When I reached the city itself... the same again. I'm sure even in London in winter people don't wrap up like this - down jackets, scarves, huge overcoats. What's going on? Im walking amongst these people in shorts and a shirt. I mean, yeah, it's cooler that Sydney. But its still not really cold. I was lucky to arrive in Melbourne during the International Comedy Festival. The first show that I went to watch was a sketch show call "You say Potato; I say ... read more

G'Day Mates ( It's Good Friday and we are heading nothwards towards the Grampians. And as we travel the sky gets darker and darker, before we see Mt Sturgeon and Mt Stokes, at the stat of the Grampians we been through pouring rain. However when we arrive at Dunkeld, they have not had the rain, but desparately need it!! It's Easter weekend and we are told at the I-site that all the camps are fully booked, but the ranger finds us room at Halls Gap at the Grampians Gardens. So off we head, and as we travel we pass forest that was severly burnt in January. It is all showing great signs of recovery though, amazing how regrowth can occur on such badly burnt trees. But it is all part of the ecology of Australian Bush, ... read more

Hoi allemaal... hier ff een kort berichtje om te vertellen dat Balou de ongelijke strijd met zijn ziekte heeft verloren. Hij is sinds afgelopen zondag enorm achteruit gegaan, wankelde als hij liep, plaste naast zijn kattenbak, en was heel zwak. Sinds gisteren had hij niets meer gegeten, en dat is altijd de grens geweest die wij ons hebben voorgehouden. Vandaar ook dat we vanochtend hebben besloten om hem te laten inslapen... de dierenarts is gelukkig langsgekomen, en ze heeft Balou een injectie gegeven terwijl Jackie hem op haar schoot had. Erg emotioneel dus, maar wel heel persoonlijk en op een heel vreemde manier ook heel prettig. We voelen ons enorm verdrietig, maar ook op een vreemde manie ropgelucht dat hij nie verder heeft hoeven lijden. Nou, dat is het ff voor nu, geen zin in een ... read more

I arrived in Melbourne with hardly any money and knew that the champagane backpacker lifestyle or 'flashpacking' had come to an end. It was supposed to be the time to get work and earn enough money to contiune on with the travelling. A month-and-a-half later and i'm still in a similar position to when i arrived. The job situation is better (marginally) but unfortunately the promise of full time work for a backpacker is hard to come across. In such situations sacrifices have to be made - for one (as the pictures showed previously) my accomodation is pretty basic but cheap, drinking has to be limited and purchases of other items has to be logical. Food is one of these and since arriving back in Australia I have been on the pasta diet. I was speaking ... read more

Starting to get bored. Yes, I know it's a sinful thing to say when you're on the otherside of the world, enjoying the good life, but I think I'm starting to loose direction. It doesn't help that I havn't got a job and the weather is overcast and cold. Think I need to figure out what I'm doing here: The original plan was to work for 3 months then do Taz, then travel up the East coast to Cairns, catch a lift to Cape Tribulation, fly to Darwin, jump on a tour to Uluru and finally fly back to Sydney by the 1st Aug to catch my connection to Bali. Simple really. Just writing it down has improved my mood - at least there's a vague plan! The problem is I'd planned to do that over ... read more