Nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy

Today I passed my last exam, so i've now obtained the MCSA qualification. Not managed to put an update (or send many e-mails) over the last month or so as have been working from 6AM-10PM 7 days a week, definitely the hardest work i've had to do in a mental capacity.
It's been good though and i've learnt a lot.
Looking forward to getting home and not having to think for a while.
I've put some pics up of stuff in India. I would have liked to have seen more of Delhi as there's several Tombs and Temples, unfortunately due to the workload it wasn't really possible.
Now i'm really looking forward to flying home and seeing everyone again, finding it hard to believe my trip is nearly over!

What is your Good Name?

During my last weeks or so in Australia and the time since I feel like i've been walking round with my eyes extra wide to try and take in all the information, trying to commit all the places I love in Sydney to memory and absorb all the new experiences i'm having.

The hotel in Bangkok is advertised as being 2Km from the airport, while this is true you need to drive for approx 20 minutes to get there. There is a strange one-way system outside the airport which meant we had to drive for 5 minutes in 1 direction, turn around and drive 10 minutes in the opposite direction (passing the airport and my hotel), and then turn around again and drive for another 5 minutes. Brilliant. This is after waiting for ages at passport control and being very tired. When I arrived at the hotel the guy checking me in asked if I was on my own, when I told him I was his eyes seemed to light up (bit weird). He must have said something to the guy who led me to my room as he talked constantly about getting a lady in to massage me, when I explain I wasn't interested and was tired he seemed to take this as a queue to start describing the extra services the women could provide...this show culminated in him putting his hand on the front of my jeans, again a bit weird. When I told him I wasn't interested he did the same speech with the same end move...after this happened a third time I had to open the door and point to tell him to get out. Tres amusing.

Managed to get the best legroom seat ever on the 4 hour flight to India, could stretch my legs out fully before the touched the partition in front of my, great stuff.

Arrived at Delhi airport at around 3PM (I think), forgot to change time on my watch so got a bit confused, India is an hour and a half behind Bangkok which is conducive to becoming a bit befuddled. Delhi is nothing like Goa…Goa is quite spread out and with lots of greenery, Delhi is a mental city. Crazy driving, all the cars have dents from accidents and everyone honks their horns religiously. The guy who picked me up had a very basic grasp of English and it threw me a bit, I thought I was going to be meeting someone from Koenig so went in with big smiles and handshake but only got a blank look…he must have just been a taxi driver on an errand. I’ve been out for a couple of walks, bought lots of water (extremely hot and humid here), some toiletries and power adapters for all my kit. Tried to buy a SIM card yesterday but I needed a passport and a picture apparently, madness. Managed to sort it out today but it doesn’t seem to have activated yet. It’s a bit of a culture shock being here after being in Sydney for the last 9 months, will take me a while to get used to it I think.

I went to a tailor this morning and got myself measured up for a shirt...costs 600rs which is about £7.50! Went to another tailor this afternoon and have been measured again, this shirt only costs 355rs. Went to buy some fruit from a guy in the street earlier...he said 30rs for 1 plum which I thought was a bit much but he meant a kilo of plums, so they are currently residing in my sink.

I have Internet in my room and lots of time over the next 2 days which I’m going to use to relax and get used to the time zone. Heat is mental – 37 degrees and extremely humid. I was considering going to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow but it is 5 hours drive in a non airconditioned bus - 10 hours in total! I will possibly go once my course has finished.
Oh yeah and for some reason if an Indian person asks you your name they same “What is your good name?” I thought at first that I was taking part in a favourite names survey and wasn’t sure what to say.

End.

Good morrow,

It's been a hectic 2 months since my last update, i've now finished at APRA which was a really good experience.

Aside from that i've been doing the normal eating out and suchlike. The fam visited for 2 weeks and left on Monday. I've spent the last few days packing and sorting out bank accounts and all that other boring stuff.

On Monday Lou and I went for an Indian meal with her folks, nice grub. On Tuesday I went out for a meal with all the good friends i've made over here, we went to a Czech restaurant and Lou and I put $300 behind the bar...good time had by all. Last night we stayed in a hotel for the evening for our last night together for a while.

I haven't really got the time to write a bigger update, there's still a few odds and ends to sort out and I need to leave here (the riot factory) in about half an hour for my 18:30 flight (it's 2PM at the moment).

So i'm off to India for just under 6 weeks. After that i'll be knocking about the UK - looking to move to London in mid-September time.

Feels weird leaving Australia, today always seemed like so far away and it's a bit surreal. I've made so many good friends over here, including the woman who I will hopefully spend the rest of my life with. I didn't really have a plan or any great expectations when I decided to come to Australia, so all of my experiences and many surprises have been a bonus to visiting a great country.

I can't wait to get back to the UK to see some familiar faces and surroundings, first I have to study (yawn)

Smell you later.

Tom

Lou: I have infiltrated the Tom blog walls (nudging him off the couch went quite sucessfully). I'm off to London on Saturday, waiting for the boy to join me. The next few months will be full of changes, very exciting, but i'm looking forward to the time when it all quietens down and everything goes back to smooth sailing. Bye x.

Flibilibilalia around Australia

Right then, about time for an update.
The weekend seeing Bluebottle Kiss went a bit pair shaped as Lou had tonsillitis, she's doing well now tho.
The guy I mention in the "Funny fella" update died about 2 weeks after I put up the post about him...bit sad, he had worked for KPMG for longer than i've been alive. He was still weird tho.
I finished at KPMG, we had a meal (paid for) at a Spanish Restaurant called Captain Torres...named after the guy who discovered the Torres straight (bit of water North of Australia).
The day after I left KPMG Lou and I flew up to the Northern Territory for a 5 day trip knocking about Uluru and the surrounding areas. The trip details are here
We missed the first bit with the camel farm and flew straight to Ayers Rock. This meant we missed out on a 6 hour drive so it was cool with us. The pics are up on the pictures page but there's loads to see up there; Kings Canyon, Palm Valley, Standley Chasm, The West Macdonald Ranges. There are so many lookouts, pools of water, cool animals, stories and things to do up there. I really recommend it. We had a snake in the camp on one night, I tried to sleep outside on the last night but the mossies were too annoying.
I’m now working for a government department; Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), getting a bit more cash ($28/hour). I was originally on a 3 week contract covering a guy who’s gone on unpaid leave, but he has told them he’s not coming back so I’ve been extended until the end of June – buckaroo! My other news this week is that I’ve sorted out my visa for India and yesterday booked my flights. I leave Australia on 13th July.
I can’t be arsed to write any more, been so busy recently as there’s lots to learn at work and I see Lou all the time as usual. I don’t have as much free time as at KPMG so I’ve not been able to study that much…never mind.
Bye.

Chimpanzee this

Will do a proper update soon when I can be arsed. Put up some pics for anyone who still looks at this site!

Start a new job on Monday for 3.5 weeks...

End communication.

Extendo-matic

KPMG have said they are extending me for a month...which is top news. Will have a job until 7th April. Plan to go to Uluru in the week after that if possible.
I'm going to see Billy Connolly tonight with Lou and her folks...should be good. Then going to see a band called Bluebottle Kiss with Lou tomorrow night. Also off to an open air film festival on Sunday.

This could be an opportunity

Trying to think what I have been up to that’s been interesting. We went to Big Day Out which was pretty good, not too hot. Loads of young teenagers getting really pissed and acting like idiots tho, that’s the problem with having an all ages event I guess. Saw The Presets who were pretty good, reminded me of New Order. The big arena was mental for Wolfmother. Apparently there was a crushing incident there a few years back so now the area next to the stage is segregated off in a “D” which you have to queue to get into…just means that there is a big crush in the queue bit and also people are constantly jumping the fences to get into the D. We watched from the top of the arena (it’s in a sports ground) and it was highly amusing seeing the fights between the security and people who were so desperate to see their favourite band…nerds. We saw some Japanese Beat boxers that were pretty cool and while that was going on a huge game of cricket involving about 50 people just started out of nowhere, they were using a bottle as a ball, the plastic layering from the ground as a bat and a bit of metal stage as the stumps – crazy Aussies! I had a good boogie to John Ferris (I think) and later on Kid Kenobi, bit rubbish Aussie dance music but still quite fun, the dance arena was an absolutely massive warehouse place which gave it a good atmosphere. It was nice to have your hand shaken every now and again and wished a “Happy Australia day mate” – don’t get that sort of friendliness on any day in England!

The day after Big Day Out Lou and I flew down to Melbourne for the weekend. We went to see Brokeback Mountain which was an OK film (although not as good as Brokeback To The Future I’ll bet). The hotel was pretty nice and right next to the bus station (result). We basically spent the whole weekend eating and drinking excessively which was great fun, some nice places to eat in Melbourne including a café in St Kilda that had Mal Kennedy from Neighbours working there! While we were there he had 3 different sets of people recognise him – so I didn’t want to bother him for a photo or anything. We also saw lots of Chinese people as it was the Chinese New Year that weekend – lots of fireworks and dragons. So yeah I had a great weekend and got to see some more of Australia.

Since then…errr. Not sure really. Work has been going alright I guess but has made me remember why I want to get away from helpdesk. Stupid people all day long! The fault finding is quite fun when it comes along but it’s few and far between. I have booked myself on a course in India to do an MCSA…I’ve been on about it for years so it’s definitely time I got motivated and did something about it. The course runs from mid July to mid August so after that I will return to the UK. Lou will be going to the UK in mid July so we will meet up and hopefully get a place together in London

Oh yeah we had a party a couple of weeks ago, that was pretty fun as we all got verily drunk and dressed as goons (pics soon). Met lots of cool people to; there’s a German guy next door called Sebastian and also a French guy from across the road…called Sebastian. Lou’s family friend Jesper from Denmark has been staying with them aswell so it’s International mania at the moment.

Didn’t really do much for Valentines as I don’t think I need a day to tell me what to do! We went for a very good meal in Manly (Northern beach) on the Saturday beforehand, the mains took about an hour to arrive so we got desert and coffee for free….which was nice. There was a hen night on the ferry on the way back and the hen lost the diamond from her engagement ring! Gutted.

On Friday night some girls got mugged right outside my front door. My housemate, her friend Ella and French Sebastian had just got back from the pub when we heard shouting outside. We went to the door and 2 young girls (about 19-20) said some guy had just taken their bags, I chased after him and he dropped the bags and ran off but when I got back to the girls they said their digital camera was missing. Made me a bit more wary of people I know (Lou especially) being out on their own in my area at night. They had just come back from a 50 Cent concert and were dolled up in miniskirts so must have looked a very easy target I guess.

My contract at KPMG runs out in just over 2 weeks, I’m going to ask next week to see if they are keeping me on. Had a chat with my manager last week which seemed quite positive but I guess it all come down to whether management higher up is prepared to release funds.

So yeah that’s all for now. Next update in a couple of months probably!

Funny fella

I'll write a proper update soon but I feel I need to write about this guy who works on my floor. He must be about 50 and is really thin, like he's eaten too many lemons and all of the juice has been sucked out of him. He works in the mailroom and pushes around the mail cart a lot of the time, he honestly is the strangest little man i've ever had the fortune to encounter. When wanders about he's constantly doing these weird exhaling breaths (not sure how they would be spelt - eeeeehhhhhg!) and he licks his dried out lips as he potters around. I've just seen him eating his lunch and he was tucking into a slice of bread! No butter or any sort of trimmings but a plain slice of bread. I wish I had a camera phone to record his exploits serreptitiously as he is just so weird. While i'm on the subject there is a woman in the office who has the voice of a little girl...I keep thinking someone has bought their kids in when she talks, she must be late 40's aswell and a smoker as she feels the need to attempt to clear the mucas off her lungs whenever she walks by my desk. People are weird.

RAN

I was watching TV last night with Lou and her folks when I saw someone I know! Belford who I works on the boat with (check the pictures page) is in a show called Remote Area Nurse! He plays a Cop and Clergyman here is what IMDB has to say on the show and here's a little write up with Belford in the credits. The man's a legend!
I realise most people reading this won't care but I thought it was cool.

Website update

Just updated the website with some pics (including trains for mum). I tried to extract pics of the New Years fireworks from th videos I took but it's a pain in the arse as the vids don't pause on the frame I want...I can upload the whole videos if anyone is interested. Just add a thing to the comments down there \/

Monkey News

Well New Years Day was a scorcher…hit 44 degrees, which was the hottest NYD ever and the second hottest January day since records began. I ended up going on a massive trek to Pub Day as when I got there they had no cash point, luckily there was a wind (felt like a hair dryer) so I didn’t melt in a pool of salty water. It was quite good with loads of different music styles…I only stayed until about 8PM as I went to meet Lou :)

Since New Years I have been to Ikea with the Swedish Anna’s (who LOVED it) and said goodbye to them :) Had to say goodbye to Jon aswell who flew to Perth for a few days before flying back to the UK to start a real job in the real world (scary stuff!). I have decided that Jon was a bit of a bad luck charm…on the day he arrived I left the lights on the car which caused the battery fiasco. Then we had a BBQ and his friend broke 2 wine glasses (bought some replacements from Ikea, they're different tho so I had to tell them what had happened), also at their BBQ Jon’s other friend put a hole in their wall with a plate...I got $50 off him which they accepted but I think I might have to give them some more money to pay for it (they weren’t too happy when I told them!), fan exploded (not sure how much a new one is) (this knocked off the power which I couldn't work how to turn back on for ages, ended up turning off the power for the street, long story), then I got a parking fine for parking facing the direction of the traffic - $125 for 30 minutes – joy!
Anyway 2 Friday’s ago I took Jon to the airport…after about an hour of being back in the door I had a phone call from an agency who had a job and wanted me to come in for a chat. Had a chat which went well then just as I was getting home the agency called again and said they wanted me to come in for an interview with the client as they were keen to get someone in asap. Had the interview and then was called about 15 minutes later to say I had the job! Cool hey. It’s working for KPMG (http://www.kpmg.com.au) which are some sort of financial company doing 1st/2nd level support, it’s $25 an hour aswell which is pretty good money…since then I’ve had 4 calls from agencies about other jobs so I’m pretty optimistic that when I finish at KPMG (in 8 weeks time) that I should be able to get something else quite easily…looks good on my CV aswell. So yeah anyway the long and the short of it is that Jon, top bloke that he is, was my bad luck charm for a month…oh that reminds me. I was driving to Lou’s 1 night; my first time driving at night, not sure where I was going and worried about meeting her friends when I saw a bloody huge spider crawl up the side window…I was scared at first but then reasoned it would be hard for it to get inside and it would probably fall off when I go some speed up. Anyway as I was stopped at some lights in central Sydney 2 guys in a car next to me were waving and beeping at me, so I wound the window down at the fecking huge spider started to climb in! I’ve never pressed so hard on an electric window in my life…haha! I managed to sort of force him out so no harm was done…twas a very stressful drive tho as I became sure he would find a way in.
Aside from that I have been spending lots of time with Lou…met her parents and get on well with them which is a Brucey. We are going to go to Melbourne on the weekend of 27th for a few days which will be nice (Lou and I, not me and her parents).
I will try and sort out some more pics soon (mother wants to see pics of the trains – closet train spotter?) and some of New Years too.
We are having another party in 3 weeks time so hopefully there will be some crazy story from that…or just some silly pics. It’s Big Day Out (http://www.bigdayout.com/) aswell on 26th and there’s bound to be some jape japery afoot there...

Oh yeah nearly forgot, this is possibly the funniest thing i've heard in my life; http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais - Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington talking absolute rubbish for half an hour. They basically use Karl as a filter for any news which is semi amusing, using Karl's filter it is transformed into absolute genius. They mock him but he doesn't seem to mind. I'm sure this will be seen in the future as classic comedy material. Oooh, Chimpanzee that; Monkey News!

Happy New Year

I’m sitting here in Alexandria, Sydney on the first morning of 2006. Last night was spent next to Sydney Harbour Bridge at a place called Milson’s Point (I’ll try and get some sort of picture online so it’s more easily understandable), where we were wasn’t packed at all (despite rumours to the contrary which prompted us to head down there at 4PM) and we had a great view of the bridge, Opera House and the Sydney CBD. 5 of us went down; Jon (friend from Virgin who I spent New Years with 5 years ago) and 3 Swedish girls, all called Anna (believe it or not, at one point they phoned their friend; Hannah, haha!) We spent the day munching on cheap eats, drinking a few beers and chatting, very enjoyable. There was 2 fireworks displays; one at 9PM for the kids (which at the time of seeing was the best fireworks display I had ever seen) and then an even bigger one at 12 which went on for over 10 minutes. The fireworks were absolutely mental, no way could I put into words the mass of sight and sound. The finale involved fireworks coming from 2 big ships, about 8 smaller boats dotted about the harbour, the top of the bridge and loads shooting out at 90 degree angles from the bridge into the river. I’ve never seen anything like it and would recommend everyone to do it at some point in their lives.
Just before midnight one of the Anna’s asked me what had been the highlight of my year and I couldn’t give an honest answer as so many great things have happened to me; going to Goa and my first Scuba Dive (and later gaining my dive cert in Cairns), going to Dubai (for possibly the last time), New York, Canada, the Hardcore Weekender, Glastonbury, some superb nights out clubbing in London with Karl, going to Edinburgh for the MakePovertyHistory march, seeing all my friends again and spending some decent time at home after Iraq, going to Singapore (briefly)…and then coming to Australia; Skydiving, Whitewater Rafting, probably the best birthday I’ve ever had, Whitsunday Islands, Fraser Island, meeting some fantastic people (and some not so fantastic, all part of the experience tho), discovering Byron Bay, living on my own properly for the first time ever (and having the coolest housemates), working at Circular Quay looking out onto the Opera House/Bridge, being given a house and car for free for a month and then rounding it all off with the best fireworks display ever looking on to one of the most picturesque scenes in the world.
The other main highlight of this year has been the last few weeks…I’ve met the most wonderful woman. Her name is Louise and we have so much in common it’s scary. We’ve been spending every possible moment together and it really couldn’t be going any better.
Oh yeah Christmas day was good…I want with my friend Chris to a BBQ at a place called Maroubra with 15 other English people (and an Austrian!), it was very nice and they were all top people. After that we went to our friend Becs’ parents house in Western Sydney somewhere…again really nice people who made us loads of food and gave us beer! Couldn’t have felt any more welcome really.
Today I am heading off to Pub Day which is an all day event at a pub (surprise surprise) somewhere near Sydney Uni.
Hope everyone reading this has had as good a year as I have an good luck for 2006! I do appreciate your e-mail aswell so if we haven’t spoken in a while get off your arse and send me something...

Unemployed in summertime

AMP were only able to extend my contract by 2 days so I finished there on Tuesday....
I'm staying at my friends house (The Palace!) and it's going well. Apart from a bit of an ongoing saga with the battery on their car which I accidentally flattened (must have turned the lights on when indicating on the drive home from the airport and forgot to turn them back on - doh!), i've had 3 jump starts (1 from a taxi driver - made me pay him $5!), many visits to the local garage, a charge of the battery and i've finally bit the bullet and bought a new battery...so now I have a working car but not enough money to buy petrol to go anywhere with it!
It looks like I might be spending Christmas on my own...everyone I know is either going away, staying with friends or visiting family. It's no so bad tho cuz it's not like i'll even realise it's crimbo...
I have had several calls from job agencies and they all want someone who is Australian resident, seems a bit arse but there you go. Hopefully there will be more jobs going next year.
Aside from the poor Christmas situation I'm really enjoying it in Sydney; i've been meeting lots of people still (I went to 4 Christmas parties in the space of a couple of weeks - lots of free food and drink!), the weather is great, been getting some top new music. Life is good :)

I predict a riot!

I haven't put anything up here in a while so i'm probably due an update...

I'm in my 4th week at AMP and it's going well, it has been mentioned that they might extend my contract which would be handy as i've been applying for lots of other jobs and not heard anything back...plus I think getting anything over Christmas would be unlikely. It's fairly boring and I have to talk to some immensely stupid people but then that’s not a far cry from most other jobs i’ve had.

Had some good nights out in Sydney, getting to know the place more so working out where's good and where to avoid.

My friend Jon from Swindon is going to be moving in with me in 2 weeks for a month or so, will be good to have some male company and to see someone I know well. 5 years ago we worked in Virgin together - how things change!

An English couple I know are going back to the UK for a month from 10th Dec and have asked me to housesit for them...they're even giving me use of their car - result! They have a BBQ, loads of films and Sky TV - tis going to be a great Crimbo/ New Year period!

A guy I know from America is visiting this weekend and we are hitting the clubs...

Not sure what else to put...oh I snogged a girl called Ivan, she's German and I thought her name was Yvonne - doh!

Oh yeah and i'm going to see The Kasier Chiefs tonight...hence the title of this post.

Blog update

I'm so unfeasibly bored at work that i've been tinkering with the blog format, it should be easier to read and navigate now and you can also post comments!

Working fool

First day at work was pretty poor, i'm a phone monkey for a bank. Resetting password and giving people the correct numbers for things, at least its money I guess.
I work 2 minutes walk from The Opera House and can see it and Sydney Harbour Bridge from my office window so things aren't all that bad.
End communication.

Job

Not had major luck on the job front yet. Must have applied for about 80+ positions so far and had very few callbacks. Not sure if this is due to my lack of qualifications or that the final date for applications hasn't yet been reached.
While typing this update i've just had a phonecall from an agency offering me a 1st line support role on $21/hour. It's a bit naff but in the absence of anything else i'm going to take it. I've seen about 10 jobs advertised that i'd be really good at so hopefully one of them will call me and I can jack this job in. I start on Monday and it's quite central so should only take about half an hour maximum to get to work. Seems odd that I haven't seen or spoken to anyone from the company involved but hey ho.
Aside from the job search i've been lying about watching Scrubs and shopping. Settled in well to the house, I really like it here. Just need to get out and meet people!

House

I have found a place to live! Visited 3 places on Tuesday and another 3 yesterday, some were very nice although quite out of the way. I have found a house sharing with 3 very nice women which is about 2 minutes away from a major train station. I moved in about an hour ago and am already making use of the free internet. It has a real homely atmosphere and is only $130 a week. Now all I need to do is find a job.

Job, Flat, feel old

Started today to look for a job and a place to live. Have applied for about 40 jobs so far and had 2 rejections already...no phonecalls or e-mails apart from that tho.
Phoned a few places to find a house share, viewing one tomorrow at half 6 and have a meeting with some sort of house share company tomorrow afternoon. It's all pretty stressful and I have no idea what i'm doing which adds to the experience.
Not sure how much this is going to get updated as i'll be quite static for the next few months, we'll see I guess.

Welcome back to Sydney

I'm back in Sydney - hurrah! Arrived at about 1AM after a mammoth 13 hour bus trip and went straight out for a drink with the lovely Tara...buckaroo!
Went to get some cash out this morning and realised that my Co-Operative Credit and Debit cards were missing, searched my room and couldn't find them (I wouldn't have taken them out of my wallet anyway). Phoned up Co-Op and they've informed me i'm 990 pound lighter on my credit card and my debit has been suspended due to suspected fraudulent use...joy! So both cards are now suspended. I've reported the fraud to Sydney Police who weren't very helpful; the officer gave me another number to ring who then referred me back to the police. When I spoke to them again she seemed somewhat annoyed that I wasn't immediately aware i'd been the victim of fraud (instead of just the theft of the cards), she seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I was more concerned about being liable to cough up nearly a grand instead of swotting up on law terminology. The upshot of all this is that the fraud squad in the UK will call me next week to discuss how to progress...except they only work UK office hours so they're not going to be able to speak to me, genius. Although it has messed up my plans for the day a bit it's been quite fun, a learning curve anyway.
I'm not sure when the cards were nicked as they've been with me the whole time apart from a couple of times in my room at Byron and when I went diving (but they were locked away). Whoever stole them did a good job as it's not left me out of pocket and I had no idea it had happened. All the transactions have happened today (22nd) so I assume it was quite recently...curioser and curioser.

Dive Byron

I went diving with the Byron Dive Centre (http://www.byronbaydivecentre.com.au) at Julian Rocks. It was very choppy and the captain saw a whale on the way out there, I thought I heard it at one point so stopped breathing to listen better (not a good idea when under water). We saw loads of fish, 2 turtles and 2 wobbegong sharks; one was about 6-7 foot and chilling out with his face in a hole and the other was about 3-4 foot, he came right underneath me and I thought he was going to have a bit of a chew, would have been a good story but no such luck. On the way back up the guy I was diving with spewed everywhere - nice!
One of the guys took some pictures and should be mailing them to me...finger crossed.

Byron Bay

I'm staying at The Arts Factory in Byron and it's definitely the best hostel i've ever stayed in. The talent show last night was amazing and there is such a nice atmosphere. If I didn't have to go to Sydney I would stay for months!
I've been diving today but I can't remember where or exactly what I saw so i'll write another update with better info.

Brisbane and Surfers Paradise

Brisbane was cool, met some nice people including a guy from Swindon. Was cool to talk about home (sad as that is!) I think with any city if you are going to spend more than a few days there you need to have some other interest, ie. getting a job or finding a house as there's only so much to see. Nice place anyway.
After Brisbane we took a short (80Km) trip down the coast to the brilliantly named Surfers Paradise, my first impression was that it was a place I could spend a lot of time in as it reminded me of some parts of Spain. It was very touristy and a trashy tho and I soon got a bit fed up with it. I did have my first surfing lesson which was good fun, definitely plan to do that again. Went out on a "pub crawl" on Saturday night which was a bit of a disaster. spoke to some alright people although everyone was already in groups, they took us to 1 bar and then straight to clubs. All I wanted to do was chat to people but everyone else seemed intent on getting fantastically drunk and dancing like tits, besides it was pretty much impossible to hold a conversation over the music. There was a huage fight aswell which I nearly got pulled into, I walked home shortly afterwards.
Anyway i'm now back in Byron and I love the place, booked up until Thursday but might stay longer; i've just found out one of the worlds top 10 dive sites is here and also the waves break beautifully (nice long barrels) which should be good for surfing...but at the same time I want to get to Sydney and get a job before they all go. I could come back next year I suppose. Anywho got to dash as it's the first sunny day i've seen in a while.

Whitsundays and Fraser Island

Since my last entry I have been pretty busy. After my birthday I spent a day chilling out in Cairns recovering before getting the Greyhound bus with my travelling companion Karolina down to Airlie Beach on the Friday (30th). There’s no much to do in Airlie really as it’s just a street with a few bars and shops etc. It was strange tho as within the space of 5 minutes I bumped in to a Scottish guy I met in Cairns and 4 women I’d met in Port Douglas, then after I came back from the boat trip I bumped into 2 Swedish girls I had met in Cairns.
Anyway, we left for a 3 day/3 night sailing trip on the Sunday. It was really good, so relaxing and peaceful. We didn’t have to worry about money or food or accommodation for 3 days and our biggest trouble was deciding which beach to go to next or where to moor the boat for the night. There was 12 of us on the trip and 2 crew members and we all got on really well which always makes things easier. When I woke up on the first day I was amazed at how flat the sea was, it was like glass (see the pictures page). On the first full day we went to a place called Whitehaven beach and it had the finest sand I’ve ever seen, it trapped air in it when the tide came in so that if you walked in the shallow water there was a constant stream of bubbles coming to the surface. I did a couple of dives from the top of the boat which was great fun. There was also a lookout over the beach which was pretty spectacular (again see the pictures page, although the camera doesn’t do it justice). The rest of our time was mainly spent snorkelling the reef which was nearly as good as diving (most of the marine life is in the first 5m from the surface anyway). I was surprised at the diversity and sheer numbers of the marine life as I don’t think there was nearly as many when I went diving off of Cairns. We saw Parrot Fish (in shoals munching at the coral), Clown Fish, Turtles, weird eel things and these huge black meat-eating fish which the captain fed while we were in the water with them. I saw so many fish and even with the fish guide book struggled to identify most of them. On the last day on the way back we saw a humpback whale and calf swim near the boat, as with the rainforest canopy the sight of such awesome creatures took my breath away. I don’t think any of the passengers on the boat stopped smiling for about an hour. The wind picked up on the last day aswell so we got a chance to unfurl the sails and ride the wind back to Airlie. I can definitely see the attraction in spending a lot of time at sea.
After returning to Airlie we sneaked in to one of the hostels for a hot shower (no proper shower on the boat) before getting pretty much straight on the Greyhound to go to Rainbow Beach, we travelled from 6PM until 10AM the next day and I must have had all of 20 minutes sleep which was pretty tough going, specially as we couldn’t check in to the hostel until 11 – rubbish!
At Rainbow Beach we stayed at a place called Dingo’s which is where we paid for the 4WD drive package (hire of tents, vehicles and they provide food) to a hire a wagon to drive around Fraser Island for 3 days and 2 nights. Fraser Island is the worlds biggest sand island at 120Km long and 30Km wide at it’s widest point. That night we met the rest of our team who we would be driving round Fraser island with, there was 2 Swedish girls, 4 Irish girls and an Irish bloke. Only me and Karolina had a driving license which was pretty cool so we got to do more driving than the other groups who had as many as 5 drivers per car. Unfortunately we were not blessed with the most motivated individuals in our group and I spent most of the 3 days unpacking stuff, packing stuff or waiting around for lazy people to get out of bed so we could go and see things. We couldn’t drive on the beach 2 hours either side of high tide and as high tide was around midday it was obviously easier to get off early in the morning if you wanted to travel anywhere. This fact seemed to sink in easier with some people than others and on the 2nd night 2 of the group were up till well after 12 (despite huge bloody signs saying no noise after half 9) which was just annoying, especially as we couldn’t get them up the next day. Most of the time people were moaning about sand being everywhere and how dirty they felt (not sure what they expected from camping on beaches) and at one point someone said “I want an ice cream, can we go to the shop?” regardless of the fact we were on a single lane track which was 15Km from anywhere (to travel 15Km on the roads would have taken the best part of an hour). Despite the subtle genius of my travelling companions we still managed to see a fair chunk of the island. There’s a freshwater lake with a beach called Lake Mackenzie which was really nice to swim in, as well as “champagne pools” which is at the North of the island and consisted of a natural rocky seawater pool type thing. On the first night we slept next to another of the groups from the hostel which was nice as there was so many of us and I could avoid the less desirable members of our crew. On our first morning waking up on the island we found an absolutely huge spider in the car (right next to the drivers seat), luckily it was found before I set off otherwise I could have had an accident. Not sure what it was but it was a sandy grey colour and was pretty big. I was given extra tuna as I said I didn’t eat red meat but when we went to open the tins we found the tin opener was broken. On the last day we had to be at the barge to get off of the island for 3PM but accidentally took the wrong way (the signs on the island were rubbish) and ended up at a barge on the west side of the island (we were there for 3PM tho) so had to make our way back to the east side of the island and then down the beach, luckily the tide was out so we just zipped along the beach but still ended up nearly 2 hours late back to the hostel. When we got back to the hostel we were informed that we had broken one of the rear springs and had to cough up $350 between us. The Irish guys argued the toss for fecking ages before coughing up, they didn’t seem to understand that the hostel had a credit card authorisation from them so they were getting the money whatever. They also helpfully suggested getting another mechanic out for a second opinion on whether the spring was broken until I pointed out that we would then be stuck with an $80 callout charge for telling us something we already knew. I also managed to hit a post when turning round in a campsite on the second night and this bent the bumper a bit, luckily as we came back when it was dark no-one noticed and I got away with it.
By the time I got to Rainbow Beach I had spent all of my money and thought it would be easy enough to change my travellers cheques. But there’s no banks in Rainbow beach and I was unable to change my cheques in the hostel or post office as they were visa cheques and in Sterling. As a result I had no money to do anything and had to borrow some from Karolina, the credit had run out on my phone aswell so I couldn’t even send a text home to let people know that I was still alive, doh.
Anyway we spent a day at Dingo’s hostel to chill out for a bit before heading 5 hours down the coast to Brisbane which is where I am now. We had a nose about the city yesterday and took a ride on the City Cat which is like a public transport catamaran that run you up and down the river, pretty cool. I think we are going to stay here until tomorrow before heading down the coast again to Surfers Paradise as I know a couple of people there so should be able to party it up a bit this weekend.

Airlie Beach

Arrived yesterday and stayed a hostel that was a bit out of the way so have moved today to a more central one. Have just booked a 3 day/ 3 night sailing trip which leaves tomorrow and a 4WD thing around a place called Fraser island. Going to chill out at the beach/lagoon today I think.
Also just bumped in to loads of different people in the space of 10 minutes, crazy.

Birthday boy

The paper obviously weren't interested in my eye-witness account of spear gun man as they didn't phone back...and would you believe he only made page 5! Rubbish.

Well yesterday was my birthday and I can honestly say it was one of the best ones i've ever had. I went to Kuranda in the morning which is a town in the middle of the rainforest, got there via Sky Train which is a big cable car thing going over the forest canopy, the website is here; http://www.kuranda.au.com/Kuranda_tours/kuranda-skyrail-tour-options.htm The town of Kuranda is completely a market town with loads of stall and little cafe's etc, not bad if you like shopping I guess. Good food too.

After Kuranda I had a hectic few hours sending e-mails and getting phonecalls from home before going out to the BBQ at about 6. Ate far too much but it was so nice; great company, great scenery, nice weather, couldn't ask for more really. We had a few drinks there (despite it being illegal and being warned twice that we were heading for a $150 fine) and then went back to Karolina's hostel where there was a mini-party going on in her 10 bed dorm. Met some top people including a Korean girl called Tomoka who was also celebrating her birthday yesterday. After the jape japery of cramming 20-odd people into a little room we went to a club called Soho's and danced like loons for a while before hitting the hay.

Top day all round, everyone was so friendly. It's really good when you can properly celebrate things like your birthday despite being on the other side of the world. I'll try and get the pictures up later today.

The plan now is to leave Cairns tomorrow and head down the coast, maybe to Airlie Beach where I can go to the Whitsunday Islands. I'll be gutted to be leaving Cairns as i've had such a good time and met loads of really nice people. Travelling is brilliant!

Back in Cairns

Well I didn't end up getting on the bus on Saturday morning due to being convinced to stay a bit longer by some people at the hostel. Had a couple more chilled out days at Dougies in Port Douglas before getting the bus back to Cairns yesterday morning. Had a mental day/night out yesterday and met some top people.
After the pub at about midnight we went for a pizza outside a place called the Woolshed. As we were sitting there we saw a guy get refused entry by one of the doorman, he then started mouthing off big style and at one point I thought the doorman was going to floor him...anyway this guy eventually got the point (so I thought) and disappeared. Then about 5 minutes later the doorman started shouting to everyone sitting down to get out of the way, I turned round and the guy who had been refused entry was running toward the Woolshed with a spear gun! It was about 4 foot long and could obviously do serious damage...we all pegged it and hid behind a big pillar as the guy was swinging it in all directions. I considered rugy tackling him at one point as he was close enough but thought better of it as he would probably end up firing it at me or someone else nearby. He kept running towards the doormen and then backing off swinging it wildly, eventually he must have realised what a stupid thing he was doing and how he could either unload it at someone and then get his head kicked in or run away still swinging wildly...so he ran off still swinging it. The police turned up about 30 seconds afterwards (very quick!) and chased him round the block. We saw him being wrestled to the ground a few minutes later while heading back towards us...absolute nutter! I don't know how he ever thought it was a good idea. I have phone the local paper in an attempt to give an eye witness account and maybe get my picture in the press...they haven't phoned back tho. It's only been about 2 weeks since I feared for my life so I guess I was due some excitement!
Anyway i'm having a chilled out day today and will possibly head up to Kuranda in the mountains tomorrow to go on a thing called the sky rail, supposed to be really good. Then tomorrow night a load of us should be going to a funky house club to celebrate my birthday. Top banana!

Rainforest Biodiversity

Today I hired a car and drove to Cape Tribulation, I had been told by several people that it was really nice and one of the best places in Australia to go to. Not sure why tho as there was only a beach, a few cafe's along the highway and nothing else. Twas a nice beach tho and at least I can now say I have been to the only place on the planet where 2 world heritage sites meet (the North Queensland Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef).
I was a bit worried about hiring the car as it was my first time driving on my own, it was an automatic which made things easier. Everyone I know from the hostel was working today so I made the trek on my own, was still good tho (although more expensive).
Along the way I stopped off at Mossman Gorge, it consisted of a 3K walk through the rainforest and some top views of the water in the gorge as it ran down the mountain, really nice and free too.
I also stopped off at the Daintree Discovery Centre which is an information centre type thing which has been built into the rainforest. There's walkways to take you above the forest floor aswell as an audio guide thing which lets you know what you're looking at. It was really impressive and one of the best things i've done so far. They have also built a canopy tower which is a 23m high structure looking out above the rainforest. When I saw it I thought it looked a waste of time but it was amazing. I find the expression "took my breath away" overused and often tacked on to very mundane things but the view from the top of the tower really did take my breath away and I felt quite emotional. I took a picture but I don't think it will do it justice, nature is amazing.
They also had some water tanks with different marine life swimming about. I've decided that turtles are the coolest animals around, they are proper little dudes (or big dudes, depending on what you're looking at).
I'm booked on the bus back to Cairns tomorrow and will try and jump on a bus to Townsville on Sunday morning. Looking forward to getting down south where it should be a bit cooler!

Port Douglas

Got to Port Douglas yesterday lunchtime, seems like a nice place although very small and pretty expensive. The hostel i'm staying in is very nice although my room is right next to the bar so no sleep for me until the early hours. The people at the hostel seem quite young and are quite loud, I don't think I will stay longer than saturday. I have looked at hiring a car to drive up to Cape Tribulation and will most likely do that tomorrow for the day. Going to head down the beach in a bit with some peeps i've met.

PADI Certified

I finished my PADI course yesterday so am now a certified PADI Open Water Diver. Went out on the boat again today and did my first 2 dives without an instructor, exciting stuff. I've seen a Turtle, Shark (small one, about 4 foot long), Nemo-type fish (dunno what they're called), Giant Clams (they're huge), an extremely friendly Giant Wrasse called Willie who I got to stroke (feels slimy), Rays and numerous other marine life that I would be able to name if I were only slightly more knowledgeable. It's very strange underwater as it's a domain humans are not designed to intrude upon, there's no vocal language so we have to communicate with a sort of rudimentary sign language. A lot of the animals will come close for a look but then zip away effortlessly at the slightest indication that you attempt to make physical contact with them, so it feels as tho they are the ones observing you. Definitely an amazing experience.
The only downside to the whole thing was the mind-boggling lack of organisation displayed by the company I went with, it seemed that at every point where something needed coordinating they managed to foul it up. On the first day of our sea diving we ran out of petrol, then lost power in one of our engines (meaning it took us over 3 hours to get back to port). They lost our temporary PADI certificates so we had to go to the office (where nobody knew what was going on) to sort it out. We weren’t booked on the boat today and only managed to get on when 10 others didn’t turn up. There’s more minor niggles but I’ll probably sound like a grumpy fart if I type them all out, the point is to avoid Down Under Dive if you ever happen to be passing by the Cairns area.
Aside from that I have been going on with less reckless abandon but with more frequency (if that's possible), the Swedish girls I met left yesterday to work on a farm for a few weeks and since my last entry I have met and bade farewell to some very nice Irish ladies. Dave and Dalton who were in my room have gone, as has James who was also staying in my hostel, I bumped in to 2 of the guys I worked with on the boat on Sunday night and they have now headed off aswell. It seems like I am going to have to get used to finding people I really connect with who are then off on other plans, one of the downsides to travel I guess.
Tonight will be my last night in Cairns as I am travelling up the coast to Port Douglas tomorrow morning at half 10, I get a free trip up there (it’s about 70Km away) if I stay at one of the hostels for 2 nights, can’t be bad. I’ve really enjoyed the last few weeks (despite doing my shoulder in, the diving has aggravated it a bit) in Cairns and have surprised myself really as I only intended to stay here for a couple of days originally.
I am off out tonight with the 2 French guys and the Dane that I have been diving and working on the boat with for the past 2 weeks so hope to be heading off in style :)
My plan now is to make my way back down the coast to Sydney (changing back to my original plan), I think I would need to be down there before December realistically in order to get a job as nearly everyone I have met plans to head down there for Christmas/New Year. The other possibility is Melbourne as several people have said it’s a bit nicer than Sydney.
I have spent 2 grand (sterling) since arriving in Australia exactly 5 weeks ago which I think is a bit excessive, although I have done a lot of stuff so I wouldn’t say it has been wasted. I definitely need to get a job in the next couple of months or all of my cash will be blown. I have been eating cheaply with Woolworth’s Home Brand (the backpackers dream) everything in a bid to make my money stretch a bit further, as well as flirting with the girls in Subways so they give me extra free Subways tokens - back of the net!
Best go and pack now before my final night out. Ta-ra!

Chill with the still

Today has been a very lazy day. Had a mammoth night last night and didn't get in until after 4AM. Met some top people. Will be out again tonight no doubt as it will be my last big night for a few days (I start my dive course on Friday).
I was woken at half 7 this morning by the loudest and most annoying alarm clock in existence, I thought a carnival was taking place in my room (alas that was not the case).
There are several new pics up including ones from around Cairns and pics of the boat I worked on. Check it.