We've only bee in Bali a few days, but I feel that I have to write a blog as I already have so much left to say from Australia.
Our last week in Australia was a mad one - it was the last week as we decided to bring our flights forward two weeks as we just seemed to be hanging about having seen everything and had pretty much spent up.
After leaving our friend Matt we headed down the Great Ocean Road to see the Limestone formations of the 12 Apostles, London Bridge etc, stopping on the way to see Bells Beach - the one from the end of Point Break. We had a good time there and enjoyed getting back into camping - we'd really got to enjoy the outdoor life. The Great Ocean Road was billed as one of the best coastal routes in the world - well it must have been only number 2 at best, as the Pacific Highway in California knocked spots off of it - it was still very good to see and the weather was fine during the day but got cold at night - about 16 degrees! While on the Great Ocean Road we decided that we would change our flight as we had done everything we wanted to, and could afford to in Australia. We made the call and brought our flight forward two weeks. - The excitement started again in anticipation of our new adventures - Asia!
There was one small hitch - we must first sell the car. We headed back to St Kilda to reduce the price to a more realistic one - we'd try to sell it for more than we paid for it - cheeky but just typifies us. Anyway, the reductions worked well because in the first 3 hours we had 2 calls. We had driven up to see Matt to say bye so arranged to meet the prospective buyers the following day. We had another massive night at Matt's meeting Benny again - yes he was working and Heath - another crazy Aussie - he really liked our company and we spent the night playing drinking games with Whiskey and Vodka! Heath was a legend on the guitar and could play most of the songs we were asking him to play - we had a drunken sing song and dance about while Ben went to bed at about 3am as he had to be up at 4am! Needless to say when we went upto the house at 4:45am to get some more beer, Ben's alarm was going off waking the whole house - You had to be there but it was so funny. We called it a night soon after as we realised that we had a big day the following day to sell the car.
We cleaned the car and headed down to St Kilda to meet the guys who'd called. As it turned out someone else called and it ended up with there been 2 groups of people looking at the car at the same time and wanting it - in Oz you need to have a safety certificate to sell a car but the Irish guys wanted the car at the published price without one - done deal. We spent the night in a hostel in the city where we met some interesting characters.... We headed into St Kilda for one last time and while in St Kilda we called into to sell our cricket tickets to Fletch - so we'd miss the MCG - I'll be back soon to have my date with the MCG. We said bye to Hayley and Carly and headed to do the exchange. Job done and we were $1500 better off. We'd lost on the car but it was going to cost us $5500 to hire and most cars from Cairns end up at the side of the road so we were pretty pleased with ourselves as $1500 goes a long way in Bali. That was it then - back packs on (18kg), we headed upto meet Matt again - Roscoe was having a party and we just had to go to see the guys off one last time - and in style. As well as seeing the guys off the rest of the Hervey Bay crew Chewing Gum and Celina were there too which was great.
The party was again off the scale - we drank our last slab of Aussie beer - Hahn was the discovery for us and partied hard into the night. You need to see the photo's and video's - but we've been to some awesome parties in Australia.
The next day we said goodbye to everyone and especially the Hervey Bay gang. It was a little sad to say bye to Rosco, Matt & Ryan - I cannot believe how such good guys they are and how much fun they have added to Australia - I really do hope they stay in touch and take up our offer for them to come stay with us in England so we can show them a good time in England. We had one last photo together in front of the Troopie and that was it - we headed off for our next adventure.
The 6 hour flight felt quite long and nothing to report really except that I had a a good chat to the girl checking us in and we seemed to get good treatment on the plane - good leg room and all the trimmings that our ticket told us we would have to upgrade for! You learn to be a cheeky twat when backpacking and we pretty much managed to do Australia for half of what people have told us we would need. We don't feel that we have missed out on anything from our plans so we really got into it.
For me, when we got to Bali it felt from the familiar smells and sounds that I'd returned to a second home. As you maybe aware, Bali is where I came to get married in 2005, so emotions were running a bit high - but this time it would be different and I'd leave Bali with a whole set of memories - if they are anything as good as Australia, then we will have had the most unbelievable time.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Thursday, 17 January 2008
'I don't know whats going on....'
Hi all - hope the new year is shaping up well for you all.
Here's a little update to how our travels have gone since Sydney. Before we left our kind hosts in Sydney we went to watch Australia v India in the New Years test match - the atmosphere was a lot tamer than the Headingley party atmosphere, but the ground was an amazing arena for cricket - 35,000 people - mostly Australian, so the atmosphere was still very good! The Indians gave the Aussies a run for there money - they didn't turn upto the first test, but we saw some good cricket and the Aussies being frustrated by some good Indian Batting - we're off the the Mecca of cricket next week the MCG! 100,000 people capacity and supposedly electric!
Before we left Sydney to head to Canberra, Elaine and Jez took us out for the day to see the sights of Sydney properly - I absolutely loved Sydney and the sights were fantastic - especially the ladies on Manly beach!
We said good bye to Elaine and Jez and we thank them for their time and hospitality. Without them we would have missed a big part of what had made our trip special. We then headed to Canberra to the Indonesian embassy to get our 60 day visa - we found that the visa system is a farce - we should have gone to the embassy in England, although the visa is only valid for a month when issued - so we need to re-think our strategy, wither leave Indo and return on another 30 day visa, or add another country to our itinerary - any suggestions?
On our last morning before we left Canberra, we discovered that a funnel web spider had made its way into our car - it can kill a man in 90 minutes! - you should have seen our faces! Canberra was a pretty non descript place - just Government House and civil service offices - pretty much it.
We were aiming to hit Melbourne at the weekend so we could join the girls for a house party and BBQ that they were having. We spent a few nights camping on the coast and drove through a bush fire on the way to Melbourne.
When we met the girls in Sydney, they said we could stay with them in St Kilda for a bit while in Melbourne. St Kilda is like Headingley - young people and nightlife.
Our plan was to get to Melbourne early so that we could have time to sell our car as Melbourne is one of the hardest places to sell, due to the market being a buyers one, with it being a major exit point for Australia.
On the first night we gave our car a really good clean and then chilled out and watched a couple of DVD's with the girls, before getting an early night for the party the following day.
The house the girls are staying in is amazing - it is Victorian with wood panel walls and antiques everywhere - the owner is an antiques collector. Antiques and party, I hear you say!?
We got up and Hayley took us around St Kilda's hostels and notice boards to put up notices advertising our car. We then nipped to stock up on food and beer for the BBQ and then decided we'd crack open another Hahn and start the boozing early. By the time people arrived we were quite drunk but the party was still tame at this point. We cooked food and before long the party was pumping, especially the music - after a while, Brett a friend of the girls turned up and thought it would be good to get some poppers! Once you pop you cannot stop! It was piss funny watching people pass them round. At about 2am everything just went crazy and the lounge was full of people dancing on the antique furniture, with drinks everywhere.
We were the first drinking and the last to stop - we were still up at 5am having another BBQ finishing off our slab of beer.
The next couple of days after the party, we relaxed and took it easy. On our last night before we headed to see the guys we'd gone to Fraser with, we went out with Fletch - one of the other guys that lived with the girls. Carly and Fletch were the other two tenants and were really nice guys.
We started at the pub where Fletch had worked up until the week before, before he left after having an all night lock in! It was a typical night - boozy and we seemed to get very pissed and separated all leaving separately.
By the time I had wandered back and found my way around St Kilda, then broken into the house through a window, Rob has been gone about an hour - he'd been put in a taxi, with no money, by an Irish guy and been kicked out of the taxi somewhere in St Kilda. He'd been walking around trying to find the house. I went to look for him and could hear him shouting for me. I'm surprised we didn't get arrested. We were shouting trying to locate one another at 3am, when the police drove to the gate of a park I'd been walking past - I dashed into the shadows as we've heard the cells here aren't too pleasant out here! I found Rob sitting in the middle of a roundabout one street away from the house.
The following day we went to the cinema with Carly and Fletch to watch I Am Legend, before heading upto the mountains to Matt's house to meet him and Ryan for a roast that Matt's mum had cooked
We'll update before we fly out of Australia on the 12th Febuary to Indonesia, but from now on, photo's will be posted less often as I am having to post them home, so be patient but keep upto date with the blog - and keep in touch - its good to hear what you guys are upto.
Here's a little update to how our travels have gone since Sydney. Before we left our kind hosts in Sydney we went to watch Australia v India in the New Years test match - the atmosphere was a lot tamer than the Headingley party atmosphere, but the ground was an amazing arena for cricket - 35,000 people - mostly Australian, so the atmosphere was still very good! The Indians gave the Aussies a run for there money - they didn't turn upto the first test, but we saw some good cricket and the Aussies being frustrated by some good Indian Batting - we're off the the Mecca of cricket next week the MCG! 100,000 people capacity and supposedly electric!
Before we left Sydney to head to Canberra, Elaine and Jez took us out for the day to see the sights of Sydney properly - I absolutely loved Sydney and the sights were fantastic - especially the ladies on Manly beach!
We said good bye to Elaine and Jez and we thank them for their time and hospitality. Without them we would have missed a big part of what had made our trip special. We then headed to Canberra to the Indonesian embassy to get our 60 day visa - we found that the visa system is a farce - we should have gone to the embassy in England, although the visa is only valid for a month when issued - so we need to re-think our strategy, wither leave Indo and return on another 30 day visa, or add another country to our itinerary - any suggestions?
On our last morning before we left Canberra, we discovered that a funnel web spider had made its way into our car - it can kill a man in 90 minutes! - you should have seen our faces! Canberra was a pretty non descript place - just Government House and civil service offices - pretty much it.
We were aiming to hit Melbourne at the weekend so we could join the girls for a house party and BBQ that they were having. We spent a few nights camping on the coast and drove through a bush fire on the way to Melbourne.
When we met the girls in Sydney, they said we could stay with them in St Kilda for a bit while in Melbourne. St Kilda is like Headingley - young people and nightlife.
Our plan was to get to Melbourne early so that we could have time to sell our car as Melbourne is one of the hardest places to sell, due to the market being a buyers one, with it being a major exit point for Australia.
On the first night we gave our car a really good clean and then chilled out and watched a couple of DVD's with the girls, before getting an early night for the party the following day.
The house the girls are staying in is amazing - it is Victorian with wood panel walls and antiques everywhere - the owner is an antiques collector. Antiques and party, I hear you say!?
We got up and Hayley took us around St Kilda's hostels and notice boards to put up notices advertising our car. We then nipped to stock up on food and beer for the BBQ and then decided we'd crack open another Hahn and start the boozing early. By the time people arrived we were quite drunk but the party was still tame at this point. We cooked food and before long the party was pumping, especially the music - after a while, Brett a friend of the girls turned up and thought it would be good to get some poppers! Once you pop you cannot stop! It was piss funny watching people pass them round. At about 2am everything just went crazy and the lounge was full of people dancing on the antique furniture, with drinks everywhere.
We were the first drinking and the last to stop - we were still up at 5am having another BBQ finishing off our slab of beer.
The next couple of days after the party, we relaxed and took it easy. On our last night before we headed to see the guys we'd gone to Fraser with, we went out with Fletch - one of the other guys that lived with the girls. Carly and Fletch were the other two tenants and were really nice guys.
We started at the pub where Fletch had worked up until the week before, before he left after having an all night lock in! It was a typical night - boozy and we seemed to get very pissed and separated all leaving separately.
By the time I had wandered back and found my way around St Kilda, then broken into the house through a window, Rob has been gone about an hour - he'd been put in a taxi, with no money, by an Irish guy and been kicked out of the taxi somewhere in St Kilda. He'd been walking around trying to find the house. I went to look for him and could hear him shouting for me. I'm surprised we didn't get arrested. We were shouting trying to locate one another at 3am, when the police drove to the gate of a park I'd been walking past - I dashed into the shadows as we've heard the cells here aren't too pleasant out here! I found Rob sitting in the middle of a roundabout one street away from the house.
The following day we went to the cinema with Carly and Fletch to watch I Am Legend, before heading upto the mountains to Matt's house to meet him and Ryan for a roast that Matt's mum had cooked
We'll update before we fly out of Australia on the 12th Febuary to Indonesia, but from now on, photo's will be posted less often as I am having to post them home, so be patient but keep upto date with the blog - and keep in touch - its good to hear what you guys are upto.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Simply Different!
Here's our latest blog, which covers our Christmas and New Year - and what a time it was! It's a long one but I wanted to cover Christmas and New Year in detail as it was without a doubt one of the highlights - I never expected Australia to hold so much for us - if the rest of the trip holds this many good times then we will be blown away! (Hopefully not in Kuta!)
After Fraser Island we headed down the coast stopping at various National Parks and camp sites trying to hit Sydney for New Year. We'd got a loose arrangement with our friend Matt (there's your mention you 'orrible man), to collect him from Wollongong, which we renamed Wollondong - and actually got confused with the name so were telling people we were heading down to the dong! Classic!
We had no idea what to do for Christmas but we couldn't be arsed with the massive crowds and the huge rip off that Christmas was making the camping grounds, so we decided to stock up on food, water, wine and beer and head off into the wilderness for an, off the wall Christmas, away from the commercial chaos (apart form alcohol) that we were used to. Just us in the middle of a National Park! It cost us $90 each for a weeks supply of food, including masses of meat for the Christmas Day BBQ and copious amounts of alcohol - Another bargain!
We got there Christmas Eve and set up our camp in the 30 degree heat, played stick cricket using the esky and an empty beer box as wickets (Hahn Super Dry - what a beer - no hangovers!) and lit a camp fire after going on the hunt and finding a pile of logs nearby! As it got dark, and after a slab of Hahn, we couldn't resist some of the meat we'd got for Christmas lunch, we'd got far too much, so we had burgers and sautéed potato (yes we are now culinary one stove, two pan specialists). After this, and to avoid the Mozzies (we were right next to a river - what a setting for Christmas), we retreated to the tent to play cards and sat up to wait until Christmas Day - we had no signal on our phones either, which made the whole wilderness experience.
We slept till quite late Christmas Day, 11:30am - I think is was because we'd freaked ourselves out in the middle of the night while going for a toilet break, seeing the massive eyes in the torchlight of a wild cat eating the remains of our tea! First job was to build a fire that we could keep going all day, just like back home, but for a different reason - to cook Christmas lunch on! We went gathering wood in true Ray Mears stylie, leaves and pine needles to get it going then small twigs, getting larger until the logs. The fire was as good as he could have built - except we needed matches! - However, thinking about it we should have used Rob's magnifying glass on his army knife.
Once the fire was lit it was time to hit the Hahn again, still sleepy eyed, but hey, it was Christmas and we were doing it so differently and loving it so much. We played a little more stick cricket, but due to the beers we soon started loosing the ball and had to go bush whacking in true Taipan country - either we are getting brave, or the beer made us stupid, but we did manage to loose 1 ball and find 4 - I guess that told us whether we should have been looking for our ball in the bush! God knows what we would have done if one of us had got bitten - mega!
After we'd fed the fire some more wood to get the hot plate hot, we carved our names into the picnic area we were near and wrote in charcoal - "Rob and Pete 25/12/2007". After this - about 3pm it was time to start our Christmas feast - it was so tasty, we'd got some superbly flavoured kebabs and seafood. We're used to cheap simple dishes - this was luxury! Its amazing how back home we spent so much on things, yet we have adjusted to this simple live easily and we are not bothered about the luxury - what life learning! We decided to have a true feast spending ages cooking everything two at a time so we could spread out the whole experience and take in what was happening. After lunch we played more stick cricket but after the litre of Rose wine it just wasn't happening, so we sat and talked for a bit around the fire about us, what was going on and what thoughts we were having about back home - but its difficult with so long to go to have any idea about what we want to do back home but we both have some interesting life changing thoughts! Eventually it started to get dark so we retreated to the tent, and played cards until we fell asleep. - What an amazing Christmas - I love been around the family and friends at Christmas, but this was definitely special as it was just so simple and stress free, at one with nature.
We headed down to Wollongong in preparation to meet Matt, and stayed a night at 7 mile beach. As we'd not had any mobile signal we hadn't been in touch with Matt so didn't know his plans were not to meet us until later, so we called Elaine and Jez - A Bradford couple living in Sydney. Elaine is the sister of robs mums friend from work. They had offered us their garage (carpeted with beds and a fridge with a toilet attached, minus Black Widdows! - so luxury for us campers) over the New Year, as they has 4 girls from Bradford coming up from Melbourne who had first dibbs on their spare room. Elaine said we could go there early and Matt could join us later getting the train up the coast. So that was it we headed up to Sydney.
Elaine and Jez are fantastic people and it was good to hear a friendly accent - we went to the pub with them on our first night for some beers and we bought them tea for letting us stay for free over the New Year - very generous!
We headed into Sydney for a walk around to take it all in and look at the sales - we thought we may need something smarter than short shorts (we don't want to be untanned down to our shins by wearing boardies!). We had lunch in Sydney, which is such a great city - it had such a great feel to it. We then met Elaine and Jez in a Sydney FC supporters pub to watch Sydney take on Adelaide at soccer - the fans are quite hardcore and the atmosphere was boisterous, but nothing like the crowds in England.
The following day the girls were arriving but by the time me and Rob had got back from the beach they had arrived, after a 10 hour drive, and hit the town. The 4 had turned into 5, Gemma, Louise, Sarah, Ginge and Harris.
The day after, Matt was arriving. We waited for Matt and headed for the beach - which was very nice but the waves were small, we love playing in waves and body surfing them into the shore. However, there was a storm brewing off Fraser so we were guaranteed some big waves after the New Year - Fraser Island had been evacuated!
It was really good to see Matt as he is a good guy who likes to have a laugh and was the last person to see us off in the UK, taking us to the airport. He even said he'd collect us when we get back, nice one!
When we got back from the beach, Elaine and Jez had got a BBQ going so we all sat out and had a few beers and an early night in preparation for the New Years Eve celebrations. We had no plan of what to do, but knew we wanted to see the display but had no idea where to get the best view or when to go - luckily the girls were planners and had everything planned - including an early start - 8am! As we had no idea we decided we'd go with the girls as they seemed to have everything covered. Entry times, train routes, food, water... we had nothing. Oh well 'If ya don't know, go with the flow!' and we did.
When we got to the Botanical gardens there was a 2 hour queue in the hot morning sun and once the park had 22,000 people in they would shut the gates, we just hoped as we got close we weren't 21,999! Rob and I managed not to burn - we're quire brown now so I think our skin is more used to the Aussie sun - the girls looked very pink the next day!
Once we got in and had picked our spot, a nice shady spot under a tree on a grassy verge just at the top of the stairs down to the harbour front and infront of the bar, we just had to wait for the bar to open - at 2pm! Needless to say we were all a little thirsty by the time the bar opened.
Although we were in the park for over 12 hours the day went fast as we all had a good laugh getting to know about each others travels and catch up with things back home with Matt. A few of the girl’s friends turned up Aaron, Eamon and Christine. Aaron was a real good laugh and he spends a lot of time in Leeds so we hope to meet him when we get home.
The atmosphere was electric - 22,000 people all waiting for the same thing - it was like a festival with so many people having a good time yet like Cafe Del Mar everyone waiting for the grand finale in a loved up mood - it was really unreal and I’ve never experienced anything like it.
Our phones are crap and even during the day we couldn't get a service to wish people a happy New Year - we're not even sure 4 days after that our phones are working as Rob got a text yesterday from New Years Eve!
By the time the 9pm show started we had all had a few beers (we were getting 4 every time we went to the bar) and I managed to find an optimum spot just as it started, as I was on the way back form the loo. I was in the middle of thousands of people in awe at the kids display - I just thought what the hell is the midnight one going to be like and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck!
Not long after the kids display, we headed down to the harbour front, right opposite the bridge with the Sydney high rise buildings to our far left and the Opera house to the left of the bridge - people had paid thousands for a view like this and we were just there for free! Some of the people who were sat on the slope took a disliking at our good fortune and started throwing drinks over us, so there were nearly fireworks before midnight when security had to calm the whole thing down.
At midnight the display was unbelievable - I’ve seen it on TV and the TV does nothing for the atmosphere of 22,000 people going wild all wishing each other happy New Year - what an unforgettable experience - it was a long hard wait but worth it for the 12 minutes at the end!
After the fighting our way out of the crowds in the park we were all a bit jaded so headed home.
New Years Day we headed to the beach and the storm had produced some huge swell - about 3m the lifeguard board said. We went straight into the sea drawn like moths to a light and immediately felt the strongest rip ever - I'm surprised the beach wasn't closed - but then again it was a bank holiday and..... tourism pays! We managed to get out of it but people were been dragged back into it before then, the Baywatch style rescue started - the life guards were in the water pulling and pushing people out of the rip and for the rest of the afternoon the made a man line into the sea stopping people drifting out with the rip.Most of the life suars seemed like girls, so it was really like Bay watch! We caught some good waves here and I even managed - I don't know how - to get sat on the top of a wave and ride it until it broke - more stoke! The face of some of the waves was 2m+ crazy but good exercise, especially for the lungs and fun.
That evening we chilled out as Matt and the girls were leaving the following day and watched some Australian comedy - which I’m sure would go down well back home - it was quite amusing.
Those of us that could manage to leave our pits hugged good bye to the girls, who said we could use their garden in Melbourne, before we had to say good bye to Matt for him to go down to Wollongong - We got to the platform and his train arrived so we didn't get chance to say thanks for the company and the good time - Cheers Matt - see you in sunny England next November - at Manchester Airport ;)
After Fraser Island we headed down the coast stopping at various National Parks and camp sites trying to hit Sydney for New Year. We'd got a loose arrangement with our friend Matt (there's your mention you 'orrible man), to collect him from Wollongong, which we renamed Wollondong - and actually got confused with the name so were telling people we were heading down to the dong! Classic!
We had no idea what to do for Christmas but we couldn't be arsed with the massive crowds and the huge rip off that Christmas was making the camping grounds, so we decided to stock up on food, water, wine and beer and head off into the wilderness for an, off the wall Christmas, away from the commercial chaos (apart form alcohol) that we were used to. Just us in the middle of a National Park! It cost us $90 each for a weeks supply of food, including masses of meat for the Christmas Day BBQ and copious amounts of alcohol - Another bargain!
We got there Christmas Eve and set up our camp in the 30 degree heat, played stick cricket using the esky and an empty beer box as wickets (Hahn Super Dry - what a beer - no hangovers!) and lit a camp fire after going on the hunt and finding a pile of logs nearby! As it got dark, and after a slab of Hahn, we couldn't resist some of the meat we'd got for Christmas lunch, we'd got far too much, so we had burgers and sautéed potato (yes we are now culinary one stove, two pan specialists). After this, and to avoid the Mozzies (we were right next to a river - what a setting for Christmas), we retreated to the tent to play cards and sat up to wait until Christmas Day - we had no signal on our phones either, which made the whole wilderness experience.
We slept till quite late Christmas Day, 11:30am - I think is was because we'd freaked ourselves out in the middle of the night while going for a toilet break, seeing the massive eyes in the torchlight of a wild cat eating the remains of our tea! First job was to build a fire that we could keep going all day, just like back home, but for a different reason - to cook Christmas lunch on! We went gathering wood in true Ray Mears stylie, leaves and pine needles to get it going then small twigs, getting larger until the logs. The fire was as good as he could have built - except we needed matches! - However, thinking about it we should have used Rob's magnifying glass on his army knife.
Once the fire was lit it was time to hit the Hahn again, still sleepy eyed, but hey, it was Christmas and we were doing it so differently and loving it so much. We played a little more stick cricket, but due to the beers we soon started loosing the ball and had to go bush whacking in true Taipan country - either we are getting brave, or the beer made us stupid, but we did manage to loose 1 ball and find 4 - I guess that told us whether we should have been looking for our ball in the bush! God knows what we would have done if one of us had got bitten - mega!
After we'd fed the fire some more wood to get the hot plate hot, we carved our names into the picnic area we were near and wrote in charcoal - "Rob and Pete 25/12/2007". After this - about 3pm it was time to start our Christmas feast - it was so tasty, we'd got some superbly flavoured kebabs and seafood. We're used to cheap simple dishes - this was luxury! Its amazing how back home we spent so much on things, yet we have adjusted to this simple live easily and we are not bothered about the luxury - what life learning! We decided to have a true feast spending ages cooking everything two at a time so we could spread out the whole experience and take in what was happening. After lunch we played more stick cricket but after the litre of Rose wine it just wasn't happening, so we sat and talked for a bit around the fire about us, what was going on and what thoughts we were having about back home - but its difficult with so long to go to have any idea about what we want to do back home but we both have some interesting life changing thoughts! Eventually it started to get dark so we retreated to the tent, and played cards until we fell asleep. - What an amazing Christmas - I love been around the family and friends at Christmas, but this was definitely special as it was just so simple and stress free, at one with nature.
We headed down to Wollongong in preparation to meet Matt, and stayed a night at 7 mile beach. As we'd not had any mobile signal we hadn't been in touch with Matt so didn't know his plans were not to meet us until later, so we called Elaine and Jez - A Bradford couple living in Sydney. Elaine is the sister of robs mums friend from work. They had offered us their garage (carpeted with beds and a fridge with a toilet attached, minus Black Widdows! - so luxury for us campers) over the New Year, as they has 4 girls from Bradford coming up from Melbourne who had first dibbs on their spare room. Elaine said we could go there early and Matt could join us later getting the train up the coast. So that was it we headed up to Sydney.
Elaine and Jez are fantastic people and it was good to hear a friendly accent - we went to the pub with them on our first night for some beers and we bought them tea for letting us stay for free over the New Year - very generous!
We headed into Sydney for a walk around to take it all in and look at the sales - we thought we may need something smarter than short shorts (we don't want to be untanned down to our shins by wearing boardies!). We had lunch in Sydney, which is such a great city - it had such a great feel to it. We then met Elaine and Jez in a Sydney FC supporters pub to watch Sydney take on Adelaide at soccer - the fans are quite hardcore and the atmosphere was boisterous, but nothing like the crowds in England.
The following day the girls were arriving but by the time me and Rob had got back from the beach they had arrived, after a 10 hour drive, and hit the town. The 4 had turned into 5, Gemma, Louise, Sarah, Ginge and Harris.
The day after, Matt was arriving. We waited for Matt and headed for the beach - which was very nice but the waves were small, we love playing in waves and body surfing them into the shore. However, there was a storm brewing off Fraser so we were guaranteed some big waves after the New Year - Fraser Island had been evacuated!
It was really good to see Matt as he is a good guy who likes to have a laugh and was the last person to see us off in the UK, taking us to the airport. He even said he'd collect us when we get back, nice one!
When we got back from the beach, Elaine and Jez had got a BBQ going so we all sat out and had a few beers and an early night in preparation for the New Years Eve celebrations. We had no plan of what to do, but knew we wanted to see the display but had no idea where to get the best view or when to go - luckily the girls were planners and had everything planned - including an early start - 8am! As we had no idea we decided we'd go with the girls as they seemed to have everything covered. Entry times, train routes, food, water... we had nothing. Oh well 'If ya don't know, go with the flow!' and we did.
When we got to the Botanical gardens there was a 2 hour queue in the hot morning sun and once the park had 22,000 people in they would shut the gates, we just hoped as we got close we weren't 21,999! Rob and I managed not to burn - we're quire brown now so I think our skin is more used to the Aussie sun - the girls looked very pink the next day!
Once we got in and had picked our spot, a nice shady spot under a tree on a grassy verge just at the top of the stairs down to the harbour front and infront of the bar, we just had to wait for the bar to open - at 2pm! Needless to say we were all a little thirsty by the time the bar opened.
Although we were in the park for over 12 hours the day went fast as we all had a good laugh getting to know about each others travels and catch up with things back home with Matt. A few of the girl’s friends turned up Aaron, Eamon and Christine. Aaron was a real good laugh and he spends a lot of time in Leeds so we hope to meet him when we get home.
The atmosphere was electric - 22,000 people all waiting for the same thing - it was like a festival with so many people having a good time yet like Cafe Del Mar everyone waiting for the grand finale in a loved up mood - it was really unreal and I’ve never experienced anything like it.
Our phones are crap and even during the day we couldn't get a service to wish people a happy New Year - we're not even sure 4 days after that our phones are working as Rob got a text yesterday from New Years Eve!
By the time the 9pm show started we had all had a few beers (we were getting 4 every time we went to the bar) and I managed to find an optimum spot just as it started, as I was on the way back form the loo. I was in the middle of thousands of people in awe at the kids display - I just thought what the hell is the midnight one going to be like and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck!
Not long after the kids display, we headed down to the harbour front, right opposite the bridge with the Sydney high rise buildings to our far left and the Opera house to the left of the bridge - people had paid thousands for a view like this and we were just there for free! Some of the people who were sat on the slope took a disliking at our good fortune and started throwing drinks over us, so there were nearly fireworks before midnight when security had to calm the whole thing down.
At midnight the display was unbelievable - I’ve seen it on TV and the TV does nothing for the atmosphere of 22,000 people going wild all wishing each other happy New Year - what an unforgettable experience - it was a long hard wait but worth it for the 12 minutes at the end!
After the fighting our way out of the crowds in the park we were all a bit jaded so headed home.
New Years Day we headed to the beach and the storm had produced some huge swell - about 3m the lifeguard board said. We went straight into the sea drawn like moths to a light and immediately felt the strongest rip ever - I'm surprised the beach wasn't closed - but then again it was a bank holiday and..... tourism pays! We managed to get out of it but people were been dragged back into it before then, the Baywatch style rescue started - the life guards were in the water pulling and pushing people out of the rip and for the rest of the afternoon the made a man line into the sea stopping people drifting out with the rip.Most of the life suars seemed like girls, so it was really like Bay watch! We caught some good waves here and I even managed - I don't know how - to get sat on the top of a wave and ride it until it broke - more stoke! The face of some of the waves was 2m+ crazy but good exercise, especially for the lungs and fun.
That evening we chilled out as Matt and the girls were leaving the following day and watched some Australian comedy - which I’m sure would go down well back home - it was quite amusing.
Those of us that could manage to leave our pits hugged good bye to the girls, who said we could use their garden in Melbourne, before we had to say good bye to Matt for him to go down to Wollongong - We got to the platform and his train arrived so we didn't get chance to say thanks for the company and the good time - Cheers Matt - see you in sunny England next November - at Manchester Airport ;)
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
2007 Summary
You’ll have to draw you own conclusions as to what type of year 2007 has been for me. I’m not sure myself, one thing for sure, is that there have been a lot of people this year that I should thank for been around and this is what I want to do here.
2006 ended with me breaking my ankle at a works party, which resulted in me needing surgery to repair the break. This was followed by 8 weeks off work, followed by a further 12 weeks of physiotherapy. The events of that stage of 2007 made me realise a few things about my life – mainly, things can never be as bad as they seem in normal day-to-day life – things can always be worse.
I battled hard for my Foundation Degree to catch up on the missed teaching and assignments, which were only average. This meant that a good result was needed in the exams for me to pass. Like I said earlier, I’d stopped worrying about trivial things in my life (even wanting children had entered my mind, and this was huge for me).
I completed my exams and all that was left to do, was wait and enjoy the summer. The course had been over 3 years and I had made some really good friends – Brett, Luke, Dan and John. It was a little sad to say goodbye to these guys as I thought I’d never see them again in any other way other than a professional mannor. I was pleased when these guys made it to my leaving do and made the effort to keep in touch!
About a month after my exams, Emily, my wife told me that she wasn’t happy enough with the way our relationship was going and she wanted us to split up. My life was shattered. Everything I’d worked towards since I was old enough to have aspirations (and I’d achieved), rapidly fell to pieces. I had lost the most precious thing in my life, my rock, the person I could let the entire world fall down around me and not flinch, so long as I had them to hold, had gone.
Things could have gone two ways for me; I could have stopped living and crawled into a hole of self pity or I could have stood up to be counted for – I had never given up on anything in my life, so, although I was still hurting very badly, I tried to focus in the things I had left in my life; my family, friends and job.
The marriage was over. I had so much fight in me to rescue things, but Emily seemed to have done her thinking and fighting was not an option.
Not long after the start of all this I got a call from the University saying that I’d achieved a Distinction and managed to achieve the top mark in our year, getting a personal commendation from the Dean of Engineering. I was proud of this, but at that time I would have traded it to be back in my own life.
Everything in the break up was happening very fast. I got my head down at work and buried myself in that. I’d moved teams earlier in the year to do more of a role that I wanted to do. I quickly became one of the team and brought a different set of skills and attributes to the table. Together, the team me, Garry and Gerry played hard and worked hard. This made the things that were going on in my home life have less of an impact, as work became something of a distraction. A huge thanks to Garry and Gerry – simply the best people I have and I think I will, ever work with.
From the breakdown emerged, the best and I hope long lasting friendship I had ever had. A guy from the course, Brett Kirk, who had been and was still going through, a very tough marriage break-up himself, made the biggest effort of all my friends, (you all know who you are, and I’m grateful for the time you have given me) to keep me off the ground. I am so indebted to Brett for this and regret that I couldn’t have understood his situation earlier and been there for him, at probably the toughest time of his life. We had a few good nights out and then followed them with days out in the county side where we would talk for hours as well as think lots about our lives.
Brett and I were the guys on the course who seemed to have the most fun and never expected to do as well as we did but we finished up been the top two in the group at the end of the course.
Brett pretty much dragged me to graduation, we were the only two there from the group. I’m glad he did because this was the start of the light at the end of the tunnel. We had a great night and one of the phrases of the year came from my hung-over conversation with the ticket office. ‘I don’t no!’
About 2 weeks after graduation me and Brett found ourselves in Ibiza on a 2 minute decision and one phone call. That was it; Ibiza was possibly the most emotional week of 2007 for me and I suspect Brett too.
We let our hair down this week and were just ourselves – it was awesome. We realised that we’d both been something else for someone else for so long, and now the real guys were coming out. Don’t get me wrong, I’d wanted to be what I had been and the life I had, I had dreamed of since I was a kid.
We met some of the best people ever in Ibiza, especially Pete Osbourne, a Captain serving in the British army in Iraq. He said that mine and Brett’s company was just what he wanted, but his company and Brett’s was just what I needed. Pete was the most inspirational person that I have ever met and such a great bloke. He made me feel good in myself again if only for a week, but he gave me so much more fight to go home with. I’ll never forget the email he sent me once we were back. That week I’d started to live again, thanks to Pete and Brett! This was just as well as this week could have made or broke me, but I arrived home a different person. I’d learned that you can only worry about things in your own control. I’d come to realise that nothing matters except what I want. I know that sounds selfish, but I’d tried things so differently and ended up in a heap with nothing, except me and what I did.
Before I’d gone to Ibiza, Rob and I had been discussing the possibility of leaving everything behind for a year to travel Australia, Asia & India. After Ibiza and Pete Osbourne’s inspiration, I’d decided that I was going whatever happened. The house had sold and I only had a week to move out and find somewhere to live. I had an offer at home, but I’m not sure if it was a pride thing or I just wanting more privacy, but I wanted to live away from home. Someone once told me ‘you find out who your true friends are when you really need them’ – and I have this year.
The night after I had moved out and spent some time at my parents, Michelle, a friend of Emily’s who had become a friend of mine, called out of the blue to offer me her spare room. I was nearly in tears at this kind offer. Even prior to this I thought Michelle was a superb person and this just cemented it. Michelle deserves all the happiness she can get in life as she’s such a lovely person.
Soon after Ibiza I told work that I was gong away for a year and would like to return to work there. They worked hard to secure me a sabbatical, especially Graeme, but one of the conditions was that they had to find a suitable replacement. They couldn’t find a replacement with the right skills to fit into my shoes; however Graeme pushed and secured my sabbatical. So that was it – we were off. The flights were booked and we were in off in November 2007 to return 52 weeks later. Thank you Graeme – I know how you love adventure – I I’ll do it properly down here for sure!
This is where I write this as 2007 comes to a close. We’ve not been out here long but we’ve met the most mature 18 yr olds I’ve ever met, 3 guys from Melbourne, Roscoe, Matt & Ryan. These three have had the adventure of a lifetime and travelled for a year in their own country in ‘Troopie’ their 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser. Their story has inspired me so much for the months ahead – such great guys.
I’ve not felt homesick, but I’ve done a lot of thinking about me when I return home, what I’m going to do, and what I must do, thoughts may change, but it’s a starting point. I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about the people who have helped me through this tough year – a big thanks to you all. Obviously I’ve done much thinking about Emily. How we may have done things wrong and I would have loved to have given things a second chance… but where do chances stop?
I have no ill feelings towards Emily, I have admiration and respect for the decision that she made. I feel for her as she’s going through the rough at present and I would have loved to have been there for her in this difficult time. I’m glad we are still close friends and were until I left, but I cannot see how this can be when I return as I still have love for her and it would be crushing to see her having what I wanted, with another person. I hope we can remain good friends and wish her all the best.
So that’s it, my 2007 summary. I may do a 2008 one, but then again the year maybe uneventful.
This is here is not about sympathy, it’s about my year 2007, simply year of 2 halves. Its my honest thoughts and I thought it would be wrong putting them here – but then one of the people I have the utmost respect for said, ‘Pete, its you, its your honest thoughts. Don’t worry what people think’.
2007 is the worst year of my life, but I’m discovering new friends at every corner. Maybe me and Emily should have lived things out differently, I will next time.
No sympathy, read the lows and see the highs. I’m doing what I feel and keeping it real. I’m not great, but here’s to 2008.
“Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”
2006 ended with me breaking my ankle at a works party, which resulted in me needing surgery to repair the break. This was followed by 8 weeks off work, followed by a further 12 weeks of physiotherapy. The events of that stage of 2007 made me realise a few things about my life – mainly, things can never be as bad as they seem in normal day-to-day life – things can always be worse.
I battled hard for my Foundation Degree to catch up on the missed teaching and assignments, which were only average. This meant that a good result was needed in the exams for me to pass. Like I said earlier, I’d stopped worrying about trivial things in my life (even wanting children had entered my mind, and this was huge for me).
I completed my exams and all that was left to do, was wait and enjoy the summer. The course had been over 3 years and I had made some really good friends – Brett, Luke, Dan and John. It was a little sad to say goodbye to these guys as I thought I’d never see them again in any other way other than a professional mannor. I was pleased when these guys made it to my leaving do and made the effort to keep in touch!
About a month after my exams, Emily, my wife told me that she wasn’t happy enough with the way our relationship was going and she wanted us to split up. My life was shattered. Everything I’d worked towards since I was old enough to have aspirations (and I’d achieved), rapidly fell to pieces. I had lost the most precious thing in my life, my rock, the person I could let the entire world fall down around me and not flinch, so long as I had them to hold, had gone.
Things could have gone two ways for me; I could have stopped living and crawled into a hole of self pity or I could have stood up to be counted for – I had never given up on anything in my life, so, although I was still hurting very badly, I tried to focus in the things I had left in my life; my family, friends and job.
The marriage was over. I had so much fight in me to rescue things, but Emily seemed to have done her thinking and fighting was not an option.
Not long after the start of all this I got a call from the University saying that I’d achieved a Distinction and managed to achieve the top mark in our year, getting a personal commendation from the Dean of Engineering. I was proud of this, but at that time I would have traded it to be back in my own life.
Everything in the break up was happening very fast. I got my head down at work and buried myself in that. I’d moved teams earlier in the year to do more of a role that I wanted to do. I quickly became one of the team and brought a different set of skills and attributes to the table. Together, the team me, Garry and Gerry played hard and worked hard. This made the things that were going on in my home life have less of an impact, as work became something of a distraction. A huge thanks to Garry and Gerry – simply the best people I have and I think I will, ever work with.
From the breakdown emerged, the best and I hope long lasting friendship I had ever had. A guy from the course, Brett Kirk, who had been and was still going through, a very tough marriage break-up himself, made the biggest effort of all my friends, (you all know who you are, and I’m grateful for the time you have given me) to keep me off the ground. I am so indebted to Brett for this and regret that I couldn’t have understood his situation earlier and been there for him, at probably the toughest time of his life. We had a few good nights out and then followed them with days out in the county side where we would talk for hours as well as think lots about our lives.
Brett and I were the guys on the course who seemed to have the most fun and never expected to do as well as we did but we finished up been the top two in the group at the end of the course.
Brett pretty much dragged me to graduation, we were the only two there from the group. I’m glad he did because this was the start of the light at the end of the tunnel. We had a great night and one of the phrases of the year came from my hung-over conversation with the ticket office. ‘I don’t no!’
About 2 weeks after graduation me and Brett found ourselves in Ibiza on a 2 minute decision and one phone call. That was it; Ibiza was possibly the most emotional week of 2007 for me and I suspect Brett too.
We let our hair down this week and were just ourselves – it was awesome. We realised that we’d both been something else for someone else for so long, and now the real guys were coming out. Don’t get me wrong, I’d wanted to be what I had been and the life I had, I had dreamed of since I was a kid.
We met some of the best people ever in Ibiza, especially Pete Osbourne, a Captain serving in the British army in Iraq. He said that mine and Brett’s company was just what he wanted, but his company and Brett’s was just what I needed. Pete was the most inspirational person that I have ever met and such a great bloke. He made me feel good in myself again if only for a week, but he gave me so much more fight to go home with. I’ll never forget the email he sent me once we were back. That week I’d started to live again, thanks to Pete and Brett! This was just as well as this week could have made or broke me, but I arrived home a different person. I’d learned that you can only worry about things in your own control. I’d come to realise that nothing matters except what I want. I know that sounds selfish, but I’d tried things so differently and ended up in a heap with nothing, except me and what I did.
Before I’d gone to Ibiza, Rob and I had been discussing the possibility of leaving everything behind for a year to travel Australia, Asia & India. After Ibiza and Pete Osbourne’s inspiration, I’d decided that I was going whatever happened. The house had sold and I only had a week to move out and find somewhere to live. I had an offer at home, but I’m not sure if it was a pride thing or I just wanting more privacy, but I wanted to live away from home. Someone once told me ‘you find out who your true friends are when you really need them’ – and I have this year.
The night after I had moved out and spent some time at my parents, Michelle, a friend of Emily’s who had become a friend of mine, called out of the blue to offer me her spare room. I was nearly in tears at this kind offer. Even prior to this I thought Michelle was a superb person and this just cemented it. Michelle deserves all the happiness she can get in life as she’s such a lovely person.
Soon after Ibiza I told work that I was gong away for a year and would like to return to work there. They worked hard to secure me a sabbatical, especially Graeme, but one of the conditions was that they had to find a suitable replacement. They couldn’t find a replacement with the right skills to fit into my shoes; however Graeme pushed and secured my sabbatical. So that was it – we were off. The flights were booked and we were in off in November 2007 to return 52 weeks later. Thank you Graeme – I know how you love adventure – I I’ll do it properly down here for sure!
This is where I write this as 2007 comes to a close. We’ve not been out here long but we’ve met the most mature 18 yr olds I’ve ever met, 3 guys from Melbourne, Roscoe, Matt & Ryan. These three have had the adventure of a lifetime and travelled for a year in their own country in ‘Troopie’ their 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser. Their story has inspired me so much for the months ahead – such great guys.
I’ve not felt homesick, but I’ve done a lot of thinking about me when I return home, what I’m going to do, and what I must do, thoughts may change, but it’s a starting point. I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about the people who have helped me through this tough year – a big thanks to you all. Obviously I’ve done much thinking about Emily. How we may have done things wrong and I would have loved to have given things a second chance… but where do chances stop?
I have no ill feelings towards Emily, I have admiration and respect for the decision that she made. I feel for her as she’s going through the rough at present and I would have loved to have been there for her in this difficult time. I’m glad we are still close friends and were until I left, but I cannot see how this can be when I return as I still have love for her and it would be crushing to see her having what I wanted, with another person. I hope we can remain good friends and wish her all the best.
So that’s it, my 2007 summary. I may do a 2008 one, but then again the year maybe uneventful.
This is here is not about sympathy, it’s about my year 2007, simply year of 2 halves. Its my honest thoughts and I thought it would be wrong putting them here – but then one of the people I have the utmost respect for said, ‘Pete, its you, its your honest thoughts. Don’t worry what people think’.
2007 is the worst year of my life, but I’m discovering new friends at every corner. Maybe me and Emily should have lived things out differently, I will next time.
No sympathy, read the lows and see the highs. I’m doing what I feel and keeping it real. I’m not great, but here’s to 2008.
“Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
