G'day mates. I am finally in Australia, the country which inspired me to get out of England and see some of the world before settling here for a year of work and travel.
But let's back track a little and bring you up to speed with my last few days in SE Asia.
I was in Kuala Lumpur at the time of writing my last post and from there I jumped on the bus and travelled down to a town called Melaka. As soon as I got off of the bus I was accosted by some old dude from California who was just going back to his hostel and offered to show me the place. I had nothing booked so took a strole with him through the town to the hostel. No more than 5 minutes into the walk and he is telling me his life story. Highlights of the chat were:
1) he is from California but now travels the world full time, spends a month here and a few months there
2) he is very partial to SE Asian women. He took one woman out for the day into the jungle on his motorbike, and as they are sitting there kissing (he is in his 60's) the woman tells him that they should move away from that particular spot as there are wild tigers patrolling in the area
Anyway, we get to the hostel and the guy had delivered. The place was new, very clean and had a very homely atmosphere. Better still, the owner was a footy fan and told me to get back to the hostel at 9:30pm so we could watch Liverpool vs Man Utd followed by Wolves vs Spurs - my kind of hostel owner.
I went out to explore Melaka and I have to say that it was a really cool little town. It had a very European feel to it, but I guess it would as the Dutch and then the British had set up colonies here in the past. There was also a canal that ran through the middle of the town with boat trips going up and down.
I wondered around, took in the colonial architecture, walked up to Bukit (which means hill) St Paul's to watch the sunset and took a nightime ride from atop of the observation tower.
On my way back to the hostel I took a diversion through China Town and was treated to the biggest karioke session I have ever seen. There was a huge stage in the middle of the square and loads of old Chinese people would get up and sing traditional Chinese classics. That was entertaining enough but the cherry on this aural and visual delight was the fact that they had 2 backing dancers - an old bird and some old guy who was fantastic. He was wearing a skin tight silver all in one cat-suit with a yellow shirt and had the best wig ever. His dance moves were something else and for not the first time on my travels I looked around to see that I was the only one who found this guy really funny and was the only one laughing.
The evening was rounded off with the footy and I finally got to bed at about 2am - quite early really.
The next day saw me travel to my final Asian destination of Singapore. I stayed in Little India but the hostel was an odd gaff, full of African guys who were residents at the hostel and here for work.
I arrived late in the evening but as the guys in the hostel spoke very broken English and some looked a little scary I took myself off on a night time walk of Singapore.
I headed off in the direction of the city and past the famous Raffles Hotel, but did not venture in for a Singapore Sling. After viewing the skyline of the city from the harbour side, which was quite impressive, I headed back to my hostel and as I was walking down a desolate road I noticed that the corner of the road looked like the corner of a race track. Before I realised where I was I found myself walking down the starting grid of the Singapore Grand Prix and then there to my left were the drivers' garages. The first garage I saw was Michael Schumacher's and just up from his were Hamilton and Button's garages. I am not the biggest F1 fan but I still found myself very excited that I had just stumbled upon the place.
The morning brought more childlike excitement for my little brain - a trip to Singapore Zoo. I have been to some good Zoo's before (Latner do you remember getting stalked by a panther at Barcelona zoo?) but I have to put Singapore Zoo at joint top position with Australia Zoo.
My reasons for this are very simple:
1) there are no cages. The animals are enclosed in big areas with only a moat to keep them from getting out
2) the orangutan enclosure is anything but an enclosed area. The zoo has ingeniously created a series ropes and walkways so that the orangutans can basically travel around 1/4 of the zoo and only get down to the ground in their designated area. So you are walking around the zoo and an orangutan is about 3 metres above your head at some points.
I must've spent a total of 1.5 hrs just watching them. I could not get over how human-like they are in appearance and behaviour. When I made eye contact there was no doubt in my mind that this is where we came from in the distant past. Orangutan translates to Man of the Forest afterall! It also made my mind up that I will travel to Sumatra and do some volunteer work at the Orangutan sanctuary. I have to get up close and personal with them
3) you can also follow the guide in the map and walk around the zoo to catch feeding time. I got to watch Cheetah's, Jaguar's, Lion's, Rhino's, Giraffe's and White Tiger's get fed - bloody great.
The zoo also puts on some sort of show for the kids in a huge arena. As I am a kid I went to watch it. As I approached the arena I was running a little late for the start and there were 3 guys dressed in tribal outfits waiting to go in to conduct their part of the show. Being a sociable person I said hello to them all as I passed, but 5 minutes later I wished that I hadn't.
They came into the arena, bare chested with spears and shields making a right racket and headed straight for me. Next thing I am stood at the front of the arena in front of about 200 tourists and made to take my top off, do some tribal dancing and flex my muscles. Embarrassed does not quite do it justice but I got a big round of applause which was nice! Why does this always happen to me?
In the evening I met up with Dispesh, a guy from Bombay who lives in Singapore and one of the people I trekked with in Nepal. It was really really good to catch up with him and we had a great night chatting about random stuff. Dipesh is quite a spiritual person, but not in a wanky way. He dreams of achieving a Shiva god like status. As he has told me on numerous occasions, Shiva is the god of gods and he spends eternity meditiating in the mountains, smoking weed and making love to his wife - I can see why he aims so high; not a bad life at all.
He also told me about his travels after we separated in Nepal and how he spent 3 wks in a village in the mountains of north India. He has offered me the chance to go with him next time and experience it for myself. Hopefully I will be able to do it as it really is in the middle of nowhere and would allow me to live like an Indian villager for a few wks as well as do some more trekking - to good an offer to turn down.
How my life has changed since I left England - who would've thought that I would be wanting to live in an Indian village in the mountains and live a very basic lifestyle. I don't think living back in the UK full time is ever going to be an option for me any longer.
I also took in a visit to Sentosa Island whilst in Singapore. I can't say that I liked the place; it was far too commercial and American in feel. The island is a resort of sorts with hotels and also a Universal Studios on site. Highlights of Sentosa were:
1) getting off of the train and seeing Tom and Jacko - 2 lads I met in the rainforest in Malaysia and who were schduled to be on my flight to Oz
2) standing at the most southerly point of the Asian maninland
I spent the day with the lads and Nikki, a Brum girl staying at their hostel. The lads told me a great story of how they got to the hostel in Singapore and when Jacko took his shoes out of his bag to put them on there was a scorpion in one of them from the rainforest! Turns out is was a very rare specimen, Singapore zoo wanted it and if it had stung Jacko he would've only had 2 hours to get help.
In the afternoon, myself, Tom and Nikki went to the top of the Sky Park Skyscraper Hotel in the city. The reason for venturing up was that they had an infinity pool that looks out over the city skyline.
Now the pool is only open to hotel guests who are paying a lot of money for the privilege, but as skanky travellers we do not obey the rules. We were not able to get into the pool but there were a couple of unused jacuzzis, so we made a quick wardrobe change and got the hell in. I was so eager to get in that I missed the steps and fell in head first - clearly at that moment I looked like a composed, genuine paying guest to the security!
When one member of staff did approach us and ask if we were hotel guests we of course answered "Yes" and to prove it we ordered cocktails from him.
Whilst in Singapore I had a phone conversation with an ex-colleague who lives and works there. He gave me to opportunity to visit the office and talk about a role based in Melbourne which would then relocate me to Singapore in the future. The cold sweat that I felt talking about serious work ensured that I kindly declined what could've turned out to be a great opportunity.
The following day was 'travel to Oz' day. I needed to be at the airport for 7:30am, but before that there was the little diversion of needing to get up at 3am to watch Spurs triumph over AC Milan in the Champions League.
I jumped into a cab and got the driver to take me to the nearest place to watch the game. After much fannying around he decided on taking me to the red light district and I have to confess that for the first time in my life I didn't care about the 'sexy' spots he was pointing out. I just wanted to see the game, which had just kicked off and I was still 10 mins away.
I got the watch the game alongside 50 or so Chinese men at some Chinese eatery where we all sat out on the street - it was good fun.
From there it was straight to the airport to meet up with Tom and Jacko and head out to Oz.
I landed at 8pm and I am not lying when I tell you that 'The Locomotion' by Kylie Minogue was playing over the tannoy in the Arrivals lounge. What a way to enter Oz! I was greeted by Shahn and Nadia, 2 of my 4 homegirls from Nepal. We went to the pub for a couple and then back to Shahn's place (my home for my first weekend in Oz) for some wine in the garden. A very civilised first night in Sydney for me.
My first full day saw me hanging with Nadia whilst Shahn was at work and we waited for Arancha and Josie to arrive in the evening from Melbourne.
It was a nice day; we went for breakfast at Bondi Junction, then for coffee with one of her friends Sunita, followed by a couple of pints with some other friends, the fantastically named Mandy and Andy.
Arancha and Josie made their grand entrance at ab out 9:30pm and I have to say that they were sh*tfaced. Their flight was delayed so they had decided to get on it early. Still it was great to be back in the company of my 4 favourite Australians. (Rolf Harris and Joe Mangel are my real favourites but I do not know them personally, although I have stood next to Rolf and his wife in front on the paparazzi on a red carpet in London, but that's another story and it is true!).
Out we went into Sydney to meet up with some other friends of theirs and to get drunk as a load of skunks.
Myself, Arancha and Josie headed back to Shahn's at about 3am (Shahn was already in bed after chucking up earlier).
We couldn't figure out how to open the front door so we all climbed over a wall to get in via the back door. Josie got stuck half way over so I had to climb back and give her a shove. The funniest thing was that her trousers had sort of fallen down a litte by then, so I had to be careful where I put my hands!!! Sorry Josie, but it was a good story.
On the Saturday I went with Arancha and Josie to the airport to pick up their hire car - the one that they were too smashed to pick up the night before.
Saturday night was out for one of the girls' friends leaving do's. The girl who is leaving is moving to London to become the partner of some billionaire. He owns a safari park in South Africa and she told me about all of the places she will be travelling to this year - sounds pretty amazing, but not my sort of thing any more.
It was a good night out and finished in some gay bar on Oxford Street.
I had the Sunday to myself so I took the 30 minute walk to Bondi Beach. There was an international surfing competition on so I hung around and watched that, as well as taking in my surroundings - hundreds of amazing birds in bikinis. I have to love Australia for that reason alone.
The evening was back out with Arancha and Josie to meet up with some other friends around The Rocks area of Sydney. The Rocks area, next to Circular Quay is the first place that the English arrived at 200 or so years ago with the convicts - that is 1 of only 2 bits of history that you will get in this post!
Again it was a good night out and I got to hang out with one of the girls' sons. We talked about computer games, footy, roller coasters and animals - he was only 10yrs old but we easily found a mutual mental level to work on.
My final day with the girls took me to Manly via the ferry and lunch with yet more friends of the girls. Not much to say about the day, except that we missed the ferry back so had to make a quick dash in a cab back to the centre so that the girls could get to the airport to fly back to Melbourne.
I just want to say thanks again girls for a great weekend. I appreciate you making the time for me and Shahn cheers for the bed and the use of your place.
So I was then alone in Sydney, but only for about 2 hours. I had arranged to the move on to stay with another friend - Lauren Greenall (or just Greenall to me) who I used to work with in London.
Greenall is one of my best girl mates and loves a random conversation like myself. We once had an hour long chat in the office about shoes made out of meat and how would be the best way to make them - obviously I worked very hard during my time in London!
I got to Greenall's place at 6:30pm and we got straight into the wine. That night was like all of the others, out with some of her friends, got drunk, and Greenall threw up when we got home.
The next couple of days were spent hanging around, visiting the harbour, falling asleep under the sun in the botanical gardens, going for my first run in 5 months and getting mutilated by some crap hairdresser. I am over the haircut now but I cannot tell you how much I miss the locks, I want them back; so lesson learnt from that experience was you get what you pay for.
By the Thursday I had spent one week in Sydney and had to get out. I like Sydney but it is too expensive (as is the rest of Oz) and a little sterile, especially after travelling through SE Asia, so I decided that a visit to the Blue Mountains was in order.
I jumped on a train, headed inland, and within 2 hours was in the cool, crisp air of the mountains and rainforest.
The first thing I did when I got to Katoomba, my home for the next 2 days, was head straight to the sights. I saw the 'Three Sisters', a rocky outcrop which is the most famous sight within the Blue Mountains. The legend is that a tribal leader, fearful of the oncoming attack from the enemy, changed his 3 daughters into stone to protect them from the savages that may abuse them should they be defeated. Unfortunately, he was killed and never got the chance to change them back. How annoying would that be?
(Part 2 of 2 history lesson)
From there I did some more exploring in the forests and viewed various waterfalls. After that I decided it would be best to actually find a place to stay.
I found a nice little hostel, really relaxed and a nice homely feel. That night was St Patrick's night and for the first time that I can remember I actually went out to celebrate it. I never go out for it as I am English, so there is no need for me to do it, but if you are in a hostel and people offer you a chance to go out and socialise you take it.
It soon became apparent that Katoomba was a slightly strange place. Not sure if it is the mountain air or the thick and persistent rain, but the travellers that were here were not my sort of people. For one thing, they were resident here; they had found jobs and were quite content to hang out day to day and not really do a lot apart from work. They hadn't even really explored the mountains or rainforests.
The next thing that struck me was that they had a few issues and were far too complex for me.
For example, I am talking to an English guy, about 28 yrs old, and bearing in mind that we had only met maybe 20 mins earlier launches into a 30 minute rant about his parent's divorce, how it was messing him up and also some ex-bird that he was escaping from. Now I do not want to sound harsh, but a) you are 28 yrs old, get a grip b) just man-up a little c) you are in an amazing country, go and explore and see that there are a few other million girls here
Another example was a young English lad who was obviously from a very wealthy background and was stuck in some vicious cycle of booze and drugs. His issue, apart from the aforementioned, was if he talked to a girl and he didn't get the right response he would go AWOL and we wouldn't see him until we walked into a different bar and he might've been there.
It seemed to me that there were too many people brooding in the mountains and too many of them were English - a reason why I try to avoid English travellers where I can. Afterall, if I wanted to meet English people with issues I would've stayed in England.
Anyway, the next day I set out to explore for real. I was told about 2 sights that I could visit that were a 30km there and back trek. I set out in pouring rain with poor visibility, got myself a packed lunch and got on with it. I loved it!
In the Oz rainforests / outback it is quite apparent that you are out there alone. If things go tits up, you are in trouble and it is up to yourself to get out of it. It is odd, in the Himalayas you always felt safe because you knew that a village would be relatively close and people were always passing the trails, whether it be trekkers or local tradesmen / porters. On this trek I only saw 1 person to say hello to in 6 hrs of trekking.
My first risky situation of the day was the navigate over the Golden Steps - a golden coloured rocky formation on the side of a steep incline that you need to scramble / climb / fall over for about 10 minutes, following some poles sticking out of the ground to show you the correct way to go.
I headed for a rocky outcrop called the 'Ruined Castle' that should have given nice views of the surrounding wilderness, but the weather was appalling and I seriously could only see to a distance of about 10 metres.
With the Ruined Castle being a disapointment I decided to carry on and attempt to reach the summit of Mount Solitary, hoping that the height might afford me a better view.
Climbing Mt Solitary was brilliant. There were signs that said that there was no track and that it was for experienced climbers only, so of course I paid no attention.
The climb wasn't too tough but there were moments where I would have to rely on my arms to support my whole body, moments where my legs were at the same level of my head and moments where I was hanging very closely to open space below. Only one word describes it and that word would be 'precarious'.
Even being constantly aware of how much Suzie AKA Ma Lambert would be fretting if she knew what I was doing, I can't tell you how much fun I had on my own in the rain on the side of a mountain. Being responsible for your own life, knowing that one wrong footstep could be a serious problem was invigorating. I mean it wasn't all that difficult a climb, and real mountaineers would scoff at me, but it still made me feel alive.
When I made it to the top I was greeted with the most wonderous sight - more thick mist.
I was hungry by now and wanted to tuck into my amazing picnic, but before I could do that I had to burn off the 5 leeches that had somehow attached themselves to me. Of course, before I could remove them I had to take photos.
The worse thing was watching the 8 or so other leeches making their way up my boots towards the heat source that was my bare leg.
So that was my trek into the rainforest. Only one other thing to mention was that I did fall down some rocks on the mountain upon my descent. The reason for this is that as I was in a crab position trying to get down a tricky point when I saw a leech right under my bum trying to fasten onto me. Now a leech on your leg is one thing, but on your bum or around that area is not for me, so whilst keeping an eye on it's movements I missed a place to put my hand and slipped down the rocks. I will admit that I was scared, but I did laugh too.
When I made it back to the hostel I took off my soaking boots to discover 2 more leeches on my feet. I burned them off and chucked them into the gardens.
Later that evening one of the girls from the hostel was in a restaurant when she noticed a lot of blood on the floor and a fat leech crawling away from her foot - I got the blame for this! Still, in the end she was happy that she got to experience a leech attack.
To celebrate my trek I went out that night and got very drunk with the hostel crew.
Next day was Saturday so I headed back to Sydney and went out with Greenall, her best mate Sharon, who I also know from London, and her partner Jon. I do not need to tell you that I got drunk.
Good thing about the evening is that Jon, who was a bloody good lad, works for an events company and they need workers all of the time to help get the events ready, so as soon as I get back to a big city, I hope to finally have a job, as the prices here are crippling me.
Oh, as I got off of the train in Sydney some religious guy came up to me for a 'chat' and we talked for a few minutes. He then asked if he could say a prayer for me. You all know my religious beliefs, or hatred for them, but I liked the guy so said he could do it. Before I knew it, my eyes were closed, one of his hands on my forehead the other around the back of my neck and off he goes. You have to bear in my mind that this outside of Sydney's Central Station ie. it is really busy.
I started to giggle but he didn't seem to notice. When he ended, he gave me a hug and proclaimed 'Less drugs, more hugs', and walked off.
AMEN brother!!!!
The weather in Sydney that weekend was crap, rainy and grey so I decided that enough was enough and that I needed to get to beaches.
And so began my time in Byron Bay, a small but busy surfer town - I am still here 8 days later.
I took an overnight train to Byron and arrived at 5:30am - too early to check in anywhere. As I was up early I thought it best to take advantage of the sunrise over the beach - which was very nice indeed.
Sitting there watching the sun rise a very old hippy approached me (there are a lot in Byron and the surrounding areas).
We chatted for a while and then he proclaimed the following:
"Adam, you are great, God is great, Buddha is great and so are you. You must never leave Byron. Ring up your mum, tell her you love her and put the phone down. That will be enough for her to know that you are happy here".
I told him that I would think about it, and off he trotted with the flower garland around his neck, wishing me a good day. I liked him.
I checked into the Cape Byron YHA and that was that, I am still here. It is like being on campus at uni, I can walk in and know about 20 people, it's great.
One of my favourite people here is Madu, a French African 24 yr old. He is great and in his broken English says "Adam, my best English friend". We have become quite close over the past few days and watching him on at night out is so funny. He never gives up with the women, if one says no, he is straight onto the next and then the next. We keep going to place called Cheeky Monkeys - a shabby place where everyone dances on the tables, but it is good fun.
My first night at Cheeky's saw me dancing on a table and at the other end was Jacko and Tom who I met in Malaysia. Byron is quite small, so I keep seeing them about as well which is cool.
The other guys at the hostel who are part of my close 'group' are JB and Oliver, both French but sound as a pound (or Euro), Nils and Thilo, 2 Germans who I went on a road trip with which we will shortly come onto, and Anthony, a 36yr old from Holland.
Anthony is a legend. He comes to Byron every year for 3mths and stays at the YHA. He has his daily rountine which consists of getting up and taking a walk up to the lighthouse, then he gets the papers and reads them, this is followed by a walk around the town to see all of the locals that he now knows, back to the hostel for a few beers until 11pm (in 'Anthony's chair' as we have named it) and then finally to the 'Great Northern' pub for 1 pint before bed.
Next day will be the same and so will the day after that apart from Mondays when it is cheap at the local cinema.
We love it, because if you are out on your own, you know that you can come home any time after 4pm and Anthony will be there. As he reads the papers daily he is also our internet source and gives us a daily weather report.
So what have I done in Byron? I have hung out at the beach, of course been out clubbing every night, and taken nightly bike rides up to the lighthouse to see the sunset which is so different and equally beautiful each evening.
The lighthouse is also home to the most easterly point on the Australian mainland and also affords views of the ocean on both sides where you can see dolphins, sharks, sting rays and turtles - none of which I have been lucky enough to see yet, but all of the other lads have.
I also took my first surfing lessons here (I have been in Newquay but that doesn't count). I have had 2 lessons and I know that this is something that I want to pursue, but it is not easy. I stood up on my first attempt but not for long.
Both lessons were great fun and the groups were full of really nice people. The tutors were quality as well. As they say, how can they not be happy when this is their office - desolate beaches, sun, blue skies, big waves.
Surfing is cool though - I got wiped out a number of times, swollowed lots of sea water, took a surf board to the face, but it is all worth it when you catch the right wave or you see dolphins surfing in the waves as well!
Our second surf lesson was at Lennox beach - rated in the top 10 surf spots in the world.
Apparently I need to go the surf in Indonesia though as I am a 'goofy' surfer and not a natural surfer! This means that I stand with my left foot at the back of the board and not the right foot like most people. Indonesia has waves that fall to the side that would make surfing best for me - when I am a pro of course.
One thing I forgot about Oz is that you can be on an amazing beach on your own quite easily. It is easy to forget that I am on a continent with a population of only 22 million people - easily enough quality beach for everyone.
Now onto my Anglo-Deutsch road trip.
Myself, Thilo and Nils are all 31 and we all have the same sense of humour. We are also here for the same reasons of being bored with our lives and looking for something else. They are stereotypical pure race Germans - 6 foot plus, blonde hair and blue eyes - so it must look funny when we walk down the street with me in between them.
They are also 2 of the most gracious people that I have ever met, they are generous and always polite enough to speak in English when I am around them.
Thilo has his own car and he knew that I was keen to visit Nimbin, so they lads invited me along. The next 2 days turned out to be a great laugh.
Nimbin is Australia's version of Amsterdam I guess. A festival was held there 30 yrs ago and some of the hippies that attended never left and made the town into what it is today - one small street where anything goes. All of the locals on the streets are alcoholics, drug addicts and they are all dealers as well.
We took a walk through the town (one street) and visited the Nimbin Museum, which is where we met Kate. Kate would be the topic of conversation for the next 2 days.
The museum itself is just 3 rooms full of crap. In the second room there is a TV screen showing a Nimbin festival from yesteryear. We were watching the TV when we first met Kate. She swayed over and the first thing she said, pointing at the TV screen was -
"I know him, he is a dickhead"
And then it continued...."I know her, she is nice, oh him, he still lives here, that guy is dead now, he was a dickhead too, god rest his soul, but he was a dickhead..."
She then stopped mid-sentence, leant over some display and produced a half full bottle of Vodka. Off comes the top and after 5 big gulps puts the vodka back and continues with the TV commentary -
"see him there, that's my husband..." (I am telling you the absolute truth here)
Next thing she grabs a bewildered couple and stands them next to us. We all share looks and giggles.
At this point we are all told to be quiet to listen to the next bit of the film. Because the next bit was important she tried to turn the volume up but couldn't focus enough to see the actual button, so I did it for her.
"Shhh, shhh, listen to this......"
An old dear in a soup kitchen was being interviewed and when asked if she happily serves soup to drugs addicts as well as clean people she says of course she does, we are all people afterall. At this 'revelation' Kate turns to us all and applauds the women.
Then a kid of about 11yrs old is on the TV smoking a joint - again this brings massive applause from Kate.
We carried on looking around the museum but just laughing rather than focusing on anything.
As we were about to leave, Kate materialises out of a thick Vodka mist and goes straight for Nils. She guides him to the boot of a car in the museum and says to watch this. With great anticipation myself and Nils watched her open the boot. That was it!
When we asked her if that was it she said "No! Now try and close it"
So Nils walked over and with 2 fingers closed the boot. So we asked again what the deal was?
This time she opened the boot, turned the volume up to full on the radio and then looked at us as if to say - "What do you think of that?"
We had no time to reply as someone came in from outside and told her to "F*cking turn it down".
We left - in fits of laughter.
The night was spent in a Tee-pee at one of the hostels in Nimbin. It was amazing - a tee-pee with disco lights, set apart on its own near to some hammocks with a view out across rolling green hills.
We hung out there all afternoon and were treated to wild wallabies, possums, toads and spiders at nightime.
The next day we only had one thing on our minds - a visit to the Nimbin Museum to see Nimbin Kate. We don't even know if that is her name, we just think we heard her say it.
So back to the museum to get some video footage of Kate herself. She wasn't on top form but still funny.
Whilst filming Kate we met 3 girls, 2 Germans and a Danish girl. We had decided that we would camp in a national park that night and asked if they wanted to join us, which they did.
So that day and night was spent in a national park, barbecuing kangaroo steaks and playing drinking games in pitch black apart from candlelight. Again, another good night to add to all of the rest.
This road trip also signified the importance of getting my own vehicle. This weekend would not have been what is was without a car. It gives you the freedom to really explore places at your own pace and places you would otherwise miss out on.
It also acts as a place to sleep so will save my $ in the long term.
I have a dream of parking up next to an empty beach, cooking my evening meal on a BBQ and then waking up early the next morning to take my surf board out into the waves with nobody else about apart from the wildlife.
That is the dream which will become reality once I get a job.
In the morning I awoke to find a fat leech for company in my tent. I picked it up and could tell it was fully fed as it didn't even try and latch onto me. I looked down and saw a lot of blood in between the toes of my left foot. Yum yum for the leech, but I bet it is pretty drunk right now.
On the way back to Byron we stopped off at a waterfall / swimming hole and did some rock jumping. It was scary and there was not much room for error with the rocks below, but I did it and was happy once I got out even if I was shaking with adrenaline.
So that brings you all up to date. I will heading south soon to meet up with some friends and then onto Melbourne to settle for a while - after hopefully climbing Australia's largest mountain first.
I always do things the wrong way around and should be heading north to chase the sun. However, I do not mind some winter in Melbourne as that is where I have a lot of mates, so if I am going to settle and work, better to do it with some good friends around me.
I have also applied for a job at Australia's top ski resort, so hopefully that will come off and I can get some serious ski action in.
No idea what the next couple of weeks will bring, but be sure that out there somewhere I will meet some more interesting characters as I always seem to do, but maybe none as endearing as Nimbin Kate.
Right it is 16:15pm - I am off to sit with Anthony and find out what is going on in the world.
But let's back track a little and bring you up to speed with my last few days in SE Asia.
I was in Kuala Lumpur at the time of writing my last post and from there I jumped on the bus and travelled down to a town called Melaka. As soon as I got off of the bus I was accosted by some old dude from California who was just going back to his hostel and offered to show me the place. I had nothing booked so took a strole with him through the town to the hostel. No more than 5 minutes into the walk and he is telling me his life story. Highlights of the chat were:
1) he is from California but now travels the world full time, spends a month here and a few months there
2) he is very partial to SE Asian women. He took one woman out for the day into the jungle on his motorbike, and as they are sitting there kissing (he is in his 60's) the woman tells him that they should move away from that particular spot as there are wild tigers patrolling in the area
Anyway, we get to the hostel and the guy had delivered. The place was new, very clean and had a very homely atmosphere. Better still, the owner was a footy fan and told me to get back to the hostel at 9:30pm so we could watch Liverpool vs Man Utd followed by Wolves vs Spurs - my kind of hostel owner.
I went out to explore Melaka and I have to say that it was a really cool little town. It had a very European feel to it, but I guess it would as the Dutch and then the British had set up colonies here in the past. There was also a canal that ran through the middle of the town with boat trips going up and down.
I wondered around, took in the colonial architecture, walked up to Bukit (which means hill) St Paul's to watch the sunset and took a nightime ride from atop of the observation tower.
On my way back to the hostel I took a diversion through China Town and was treated to the biggest karioke session I have ever seen. There was a huge stage in the middle of the square and loads of old Chinese people would get up and sing traditional Chinese classics. That was entertaining enough but the cherry on this aural and visual delight was the fact that they had 2 backing dancers - an old bird and some old guy who was fantastic. He was wearing a skin tight silver all in one cat-suit with a yellow shirt and had the best wig ever. His dance moves were something else and for not the first time on my travels I looked around to see that I was the only one who found this guy really funny and was the only one laughing.
The evening was rounded off with the footy and I finally got to bed at about 2am - quite early really.
The next day saw me travel to my final Asian destination of Singapore. I stayed in Little India but the hostel was an odd gaff, full of African guys who were residents at the hostel and here for work.
I arrived late in the evening but as the guys in the hostel spoke very broken English and some looked a little scary I took myself off on a night time walk of Singapore.
I headed off in the direction of the city and past the famous Raffles Hotel, but did not venture in for a Singapore Sling. After viewing the skyline of the city from the harbour side, which was quite impressive, I headed back to my hostel and as I was walking down a desolate road I noticed that the corner of the road looked like the corner of a race track. Before I realised where I was I found myself walking down the starting grid of the Singapore Grand Prix and then there to my left were the drivers' garages. The first garage I saw was Michael Schumacher's and just up from his were Hamilton and Button's garages. I am not the biggest F1 fan but I still found myself very excited that I had just stumbled upon the place.
The morning brought more childlike excitement for my little brain - a trip to Singapore Zoo. I have been to some good Zoo's before (Latner do you remember getting stalked by a panther at Barcelona zoo?) but I have to put Singapore Zoo at joint top position with Australia Zoo.
My reasons for this are very simple:
1) there are no cages. The animals are enclosed in big areas with only a moat to keep them from getting out
2) the orangutan enclosure is anything but an enclosed area. The zoo has ingeniously created a series ropes and walkways so that the orangutans can basically travel around 1/4 of the zoo and only get down to the ground in their designated area. So you are walking around the zoo and an orangutan is about 3 metres above your head at some points.
I must've spent a total of 1.5 hrs just watching them. I could not get over how human-like they are in appearance and behaviour. When I made eye contact there was no doubt in my mind that this is where we came from in the distant past. Orangutan translates to Man of the Forest afterall! It also made my mind up that I will travel to Sumatra and do some volunteer work at the Orangutan sanctuary. I have to get up close and personal with them
3) you can also follow the guide in the map and walk around the zoo to catch feeding time. I got to watch Cheetah's, Jaguar's, Lion's, Rhino's, Giraffe's and White Tiger's get fed - bloody great.
The zoo also puts on some sort of show for the kids in a huge arena. As I am a kid I went to watch it. As I approached the arena I was running a little late for the start and there were 3 guys dressed in tribal outfits waiting to go in to conduct their part of the show. Being a sociable person I said hello to them all as I passed, but 5 minutes later I wished that I hadn't.
They came into the arena, bare chested with spears and shields making a right racket and headed straight for me. Next thing I am stood at the front of the arena in front of about 200 tourists and made to take my top off, do some tribal dancing and flex my muscles. Embarrassed does not quite do it justice but I got a big round of applause which was nice! Why does this always happen to me?
In the evening I met up with Dispesh, a guy from Bombay who lives in Singapore and one of the people I trekked with in Nepal. It was really really good to catch up with him and we had a great night chatting about random stuff. Dipesh is quite a spiritual person, but not in a wanky way. He dreams of achieving a Shiva god like status. As he has told me on numerous occasions, Shiva is the god of gods and he spends eternity meditiating in the mountains, smoking weed and making love to his wife - I can see why he aims so high; not a bad life at all.
He also told me about his travels after we separated in Nepal and how he spent 3 wks in a village in the mountains of north India. He has offered me the chance to go with him next time and experience it for myself. Hopefully I will be able to do it as it really is in the middle of nowhere and would allow me to live like an Indian villager for a few wks as well as do some more trekking - to good an offer to turn down.
How my life has changed since I left England - who would've thought that I would be wanting to live in an Indian village in the mountains and live a very basic lifestyle. I don't think living back in the UK full time is ever going to be an option for me any longer.
I also took in a visit to Sentosa Island whilst in Singapore. I can't say that I liked the place; it was far too commercial and American in feel. The island is a resort of sorts with hotels and also a Universal Studios on site. Highlights of Sentosa were:
1) getting off of the train and seeing Tom and Jacko - 2 lads I met in the rainforest in Malaysia and who were schduled to be on my flight to Oz
2) standing at the most southerly point of the Asian maninland
I spent the day with the lads and Nikki, a Brum girl staying at their hostel. The lads told me a great story of how they got to the hostel in Singapore and when Jacko took his shoes out of his bag to put them on there was a scorpion in one of them from the rainforest! Turns out is was a very rare specimen, Singapore zoo wanted it and if it had stung Jacko he would've only had 2 hours to get help.
In the afternoon, myself, Tom and Nikki went to the top of the Sky Park Skyscraper Hotel in the city. The reason for venturing up was that they had an infinity pool that looks out over the city skyline.
Now the pool is only open to hotel guests who are paying a lot of money for the privilege, but as skanky travellers we do not obey the rules. We were not able to get into the pool but there were a couple of unused jacuzzis, so we made a quick wardrobe change and got the hell in. I was so eager to get in that I missed the steps and fell in head first - clearly at that moment I looked like a composed, genuine paying guest to the security!
When one member of staff did approach us and ask if we were hotel guests we of course answered "Yes" and to prove it we ordered cocktails from him.
Whilst in Singapore I had a phone conversation with an ex-colleague who lives and works there. He gave me to opportunity to visit the office and talk about a role based in Melbourne which would then relocate me to Singapore in the future. The cold sweat that I felt talking about serious work ensured that I kindly declined what could've turned out to be a great opportunity.
The following day was 'travel to Oz' day. I needed to be at the airport for 7:30am, but before that there was the little diversion of needing to get up at 3am to watch Spurs triumph over AC Milan in the Champions League.
I jumped into a cab and got the driver to take me to the nearest place to watch the game. After much fannying around he decided on taking me to the red light district and I have to confess that for the first time in my life I didn't care about the 'sexy' spots he was pointing out. I just wanted to see the game, which had just kicked off and I was still 10 mins away.
I got the watch the game alongside 50 or so Chinese men at some Chinese eatery where we all sat out on the street - it was good fun.
From there it was straight to the airport to meet up with Tom and Jacko and head out to Oz.
I landed at 8pm and I am not lying when I tell you that 'The Locomotion' by Kylie Minogue was playing over the tannoy in the Arrivals lounge. What a way to enter Oz! I was greeted by Shahn and Nadia, 2 of my 4 homegirls from Nepal. We went to the pub for a couple and then back to Shahn's place (my home for my first weekend in Oz) for some wine in the garden. A very civilised first night in Sydney for me.
My first full day saw me hanging with Nadia whilst Shahn was at work and we waited for Arancha and Josie to arrive in the evening from Melbourne.
It was a nice day; we went for breakfast at Bondi Junction, then for coffee with one of her friends Sunita, followed by a couple of pints with some other friends, the fantastically named Mandy and Andy.
Arancha and Josie made their grand entrance at ab out 9:30pm and I have to say that they were sh*tfaced. Their flight was delayed so they had decided to get on it early. Still it was great to be back in the company of my 4 favourite Australians. (Rolf Harris and Joe Mangel are my real favourites but I do not know them personally, although I have stood next to Rolf and his wife in front on the paparazzi on a red carpet in London, but that's another story and it is true!).
Out we went into Sydney to meet up with some other friends of theirs and to get drunk as a load of skunks.
Myself, Arancha and Josie headed back to Shahn's at about 3am (Shahn was already in bed after chucking up earlier).
We couldn't figure out how to open the front door so we all climbed over a wall to get in via the back door. Josie got stuck half way over so I had to climb back and give her a shove. The funniest thing was that her trousers had sort of fallen down a litte by then, so I had to be careful where I put my hands!!! Sorry Josie, but it was a good story.
On the Saturday I went with Arancha and Josie to the airport to pick up their hire car - the one that they were too smashed to pick up the night before.
Saturday night was out for one of the girls' friends leaving do's. The girl who is leaving is moving to London to become the partner of some billionaire. He owns a safari park in South Africa and she told me about all of the places she will be travelling to this year - sounds pretty amazing, but not my sort of thing any more.
It was a good night out and finished in some gay bar on Oxford Street.
I had the Sunday to myself so I took the 30 minute walk to Bondi Beach. There was an international surfing competition on so I hung around and watched that, as well as taking in my surroundings - hundreds of amazing birds in bikinis. I have to love Australia for that reason alone.
The evening was back out with Arancha and Josie to meet up with some other friends around The Rocks area of Sydney. The Rocks area, next to Circular Quay is the first place that the English arrived at 200 or so years ago with the convicts - that is 1 of only 2 bits of history that you will get in this post!
Again it was a good night out and I got to hang out with one of the girls' sons. We talked about computer games, footy, roller coasters and animals - he was only 10yrs old but we easily found a mutual mental level to work on.
My final day with the girls took me to Manly via the ferry and lunch with yet more friends of the girls. Not much to say about the day, except that we missed the ferry back so had to make a quick dash in a cab back to the centre so that the girls could get to the airport to fly back to Melbourne.
I just want to say thanks again girls for a great weekend. I appreciate you making the time for me and Shahn cheers for the bed and the use of your place.
So I was then alone in Sydney, but only for about 2 hours. I had arranged to the move on to stay with another friend - Lauren Greenall (or just Greenall to me) who I used to work with in London.
Greenall is one of my best girl mates and loves a random conversation like myself. We once had an hour long chat in the office about shoes made out of meat and how would be the best way to make them - obviously I worked very hard during my time in London!
I got to Greenall's place at 6:30pm and we got straight into the wine. That night was like all of the others, out with some of her friends, got drunk, and Greenall threw up when we got home.
The next couple of days were spent hanging around, visiting the harbour, falling asleep under the sun in the botanical gardens, going for my first run in 5 months and getting mutilated by some crap hairdresser. I am over the haircut now but I cannot tell you how much I miss the locks, I want them back; so lesson learnt from that experience was you get what you pay for.
By the Thursday I had spent one week in Sydney and had to get out. I like Sydney but it is too expensive (as is the rest of Oz) and a little sterile, especially after travelling through SE Asia, so I decided that a visit to the Blue Mountains was in order.
I jumped on a train, headed inland, and within 2 hours was in the cool, crisp air of the mountains and rainforest.
The first thing I did when I got to Katoomba, my home for the next 2 days, was head straight to the sights. I saw the 'Three Sisters', a rocky outcrop which is the most famous sight within the Blue Mountains. The legend is that a tribal leader, fearful of the oncoming attack from the enemy, changed his 3 daughters into stone to protect them from the savages that may abuse them should they be defeated. Unfortunately, he was killed and never got the chance to change them back. How annoying would that be?
(Part 2 of 2 history lesson)
From there I did some more exploring in the forests and viewed various waterfalls. After that I decided it would be best to actually find a place to stay.
I found a nice little hostel, really relaxed and a nice homely feel. That night was St Patrick's night and for the first time that I can remember I actually went out to celebrate it. I never go out for it as I am English, so there is no need for me to do it, but if you are in a hostel and people offer you a chance to go out and socialise you take it.
It soon became apparent that Katoomba was a slightly strange place. Not sure if it is the mountain air or the thick and persistent rain, but the travellers that were here were not my sort of people. For one thing, they were resident here; they had found jobs and were quite content to hang out day to day and not really do a lot apart from work. They hadn't even really explored the mountains or rainforests.
The next thing that struck me was that they had a few issues and were far too complex for me.
For example, I am talking to an English guy, about 28 yrs old, and bearing in mind that we had only met maybe 20 mins earlier launches into a 30 minute rant about his parent's divorce, how it was messing him up and also some ex-bird that he was escaping from. Now I do not want to sound harsh, but a) you are 28 yrs old, get a grip b) just man-up a little c) you are in an amazing country, go and explore and see that there are a few other million girls here
Another example was a young English lad who was obviously from a very wealthy background and was stuck in some vicious cycle of booze and drugs. His issue, apart from the aforementioned, was if he talked to a girl and he didn't get the right response he would go AWOL and we wouldn't see him until we walked into a different bar and he might've been there.
It seemed to me that there were too many people brooding in the mountains and too many of them were English - a reason why I try to avoid English travellers where I can. Afterall, if I wanted to meet English people with issues I would've stayed in England.
Anyway, the next day I set out to explore for real. I was told about 2 sights that I could visit that were a 30km there and back trek. I set out in pouring rain with poor visibility, got myself a packed lunch and got on with it. I loved it!
In the Oz rainforests / outback it is quite apparent that you are out there alone. If things go tits up, you are in trouble and it is up to yourself to get out of it. It is odd, in the Himalayas you always felt safe because you knew that a village would be relatively close and people were always passing the trails, whether it be trekkers or local tradesmen / porters. On this trek I only saw 1 person to say hello to in 6 hrs of trekking.
My first risky situation of the day was the navigate over the Golden Steps - a golden coloured rocky formation on the side of a steep incline that you need to scramble / climb / fall over for about 10 minutes, following some poles sticking out of the ground to show you the correct way to go.
I headed for a rocky outcrop called the 'Ruined Castle' that should have given nice views of the surrounding wilderness, but the weather was appalling and I seriously could only see to a distance of about 10 metres.
With the Ruined Castle being a disapointment I decided to carry on and attempt to reach the summit of Mount Solitary, hoping that the height might afford me a better view.
Climbing Mt Solitary was brilliant. There were signs that said that there was no track and that it was for experienced climbers only, so of course I paid no attention.
The climb wasn't too tough but there were moments where I would have to rely on my arms to support my whole body, moments where my legs were at the same level of my head and moments where I was hanging very closely to open space below. Only one word describes it and that word would be 'precarious'.
Even being constantly aware of how much Suzie AKA Ma Lambert would be fretting if she knew what I was doing, I can't tell you how much fun I had on my own in the rain on the side of a mountain. Being responsible for your own life, knowing that one wrong footstep could be a serious problem was invigorating. I mean it wasn't all that difficult a climb, and real mountaineers would scoff at me, but it still made me feel alive.
When I made it to the top I was greeted with the most wonderous sight - more thick mist.
I was hungry by now and wanted to tuck into my amazing picnic, but before I could do that I had to burn off the 5 leeches that had somehow attached themselves to me. Of course, before I could remove them I had to take photos.
The worse thing was watching the 8 or so other leeches making their way up my boots towards the heat source that was my bare leg.
So that was my trek into the rainforest. Only one other thing to mention was that I did fall down some rocks on the mountain upon my descent. The reason for this is that as I was in a crab position trying to get down a tricky point when I saw a leech right under my bum trying to fasten onto me. Now a leech on your leg is one thing, but on your bum or around that area is not for me, so whilst keeping an eye on it's movements I missed a place to put my hand and slipped down the rocks. I will admit that I was scared, but I did laugh too.
When I made it back to the hostel I took off my soaking boots to discover 2 more leeches on my feet. I burned them off and chucked them into the gardens.
Later that evening one of the girls from the hostel was in a restaurant when she noticed a lot of blood on the floor and a fat leech crawling away from her foot - I got the blame for this! Still, in the end she was happy that she got to experience a leech attack.
To celebrate my trek I went out that night and got very drunk with the hostel crew.
Next day was Saturday so I headed back to Sydney and went out with Greenall, her best mate Sharon, who I also know from London, and her partner Jon. I do not need to tell you that I got drunk.
Good thing about the evening is that Jon, who was a bloody good lad, works for an events company and they need workers all of the time to help get the events ready, so as soon as I get back to a big city, I hope to finally have a job, as the prices here are crippling me.
Oh, as I got off of the train in Sydney some religious guy came up to me for a 'chat' and we talked for a few minutes. He then asked if he could say a prayer for me. You all know my religious beliefs, or hatred for them, but I liked the guy so said he could do it. Before I knew it, my eyes were closed, one of his hands on my forehead the other around the back of my neck and off he goes. You have to bear in my mind that this outside of Sydney's Central Station ie. it is really busy.
I started to giggle but he didn't seem to notice. When he ended, he gave me a hug and proclaimed 'Less drugs, more hugs', and walked off.
AMEN brother!!!!
The weather in Sydney that weekend was crap, rainy and grey so I decided that enough was enough and that I needed to get to beaches.
And so began my time in Byron Bay, a small but busy surfer town - I am still here 8 days later.
I took an overnight train to Byron and arrived at 5:30am - too early to check in anywhere. As I was up early I thought it best to take advantage of the sunrise over the beach - which was very nice indeed.
Sitting there watching the sun rise a very old hippy approached me (there are a lot in Byron and the surrounding areas).
We chatted for a while and then he proclaimed the following:
"Adam, you are great, God is great, Buddha is great and so are you. You must never leave Byron. Ring up your mum, tell her you love her and put the phone down. That will be enough for her to know that you are happy here".
I told him that I would think about it, and off he trotted with the flower garland around his neck, wishing me a good day. I liked him.
I checked into the Cape Byron YHA and that was that, I am still here. It is like being on campus at uni, I can walk in and know about 20 people, it's great.
One of my favourite people here is Madu, a French African 24 yr old. He is great and in his broken English says "Adam, my best English friend". We have become quite close over the past few days and watching him on at night out is so funny. He never gives up with the women, if one says no, he is straight onto the next and then the next. We keep going to place called Cheeky Monkeys - a shabby place where everyone dances on the tables, but it is good fun.
My first night at Cheeky's saw me dancing on a table and at the other end was Jacko and Tom who I met in Malaysia. Byron is quite small, so I keep seeing them about as well which is cool.
The other guys at the hostel who are part of my close 'group' are JB and Oliver, both French but sound as a pound (or Euro), Nils and Thilo, 2 Germans who I went on a road trip with which we will shortly come onto, and Anthony, a 36yr old from Holland.
Anthony is a legend. He comes to Byron every year for 3mths and stays at the YHA. He has his daily rountine which consists of getting up and taking a walk up to the lighthouse, then he gets the papers and reads them, this is followed by a walk around the town to see all of the locals that he now knows, back to the hostel for a few beers until 11pm (in 'Anthony's chair' as we have named it) and then finally to the 'Great Northern' pub for 1 pint before bed.
Next day will be the same and so will the day after that apart from Mondays when it is cheap at the local cinema.
We love it, because if you are out on your own, you know that you can come home any time after 4pm and Anthony will be there. As he reads the papers daily he is also our internet source and gives us a daily weather report.
So what have I done in Byron? I have hung out at the beach, of course been out clubbing every night, and taken nightly bike rides up to the lighthouse to see the sunset which is so different and equally beautiful each evening.
The lighthouse is also home to the most easterly point on the Australian mainland and also affords views of the ocean on both sides where you can see dolphins, sharks, sting rays and turtles - none of which I have been lucky enough to see yet, but all of the other lads have.
I also took my first surfing lessons here (I have been in Newquay but that doesn't count). I have had 2 lessons and I know that this is something that I want to pursue, but it is not easy. I stood up on my first attempt but not for long.
Both lessons were great fun and the groups were full of really nice people. The tutors were quality as well. As they say, how can they not be happy when this is their office - desolate beaches, sun, blue skies, big waves.
Surfing is cool though - I got wiped out a number of times, swollowed lots of sea water, took a surf board to the face, but it is all worth it when you catch the right wave or you see dolphins surfing in the waves as well!
Our second surf lesson was at Lennox beach - rated in the top 10 surf spots in the world.
Apparently I need to go the surf in Indonesia though as I am a 'goofy' surfer and not a natural surfer! This means that I stand with my left foot at the back of the board and not the right foot like most people. Indonesia has waves that fall to the side that would make surfing best for me - when I am a pro of course.
One thing I forgot about Oz is that you can be on an amazing beach on your own quite easily. It is easy to forget that I am on a continent with a population of only 22 million people - easily enough quality beach for everyone.
Now onto my Anglo-Deutsch road trip.
Myself, Thilo and Nils are all 31 and we all have the same sense of humour. We are also here for the same reasons of being bored with our lives and looking for something else. They are stereotypical pure race Germans - 6 foot plus, blonde hair and blue eyes - so it must look funny when we walk down the street with me in between them.
They are also 2 of the most gracious people that I have ever met, they are generous and always polite enough to speak in English when I am around them.
Thilo has his own car and he knew that I was keen to visit Nimbin, so they lads invited me along. The next 2 days turned out to be a great laugh.
Nimbin is Australia's version of Amsterdam I guess. A festival was held there 30 yrs ago and some of the hippies that attended never left and made the town into what it is today - one small street where anything goes. All of the locals on the streets are alcoholics, drug addicts and they are all dealers as well.
We took a walk through the town (one street) and visited the Nimbin Museum, which is where we met Kate. Kate would be the topic of conversation for the next 2 days.
The museum itself is just 3 rooms full of crap. In the second room there is a TV screen showing a Nimbin festival from yesteryear. We were watching the TV when we first met Kate. She swayed over and the first thing she said, pointing at the TV screen was -
"I know him, he is a dickhead"
And then it continued...."I know her, she is nice, oh him, he still lives here, that guy is dead now, he was a dickhead too, god rest his soul, but he was a dickhead..."
She then stopped mid-sentence, leant over some display and produced a half full bottle of Vodka. Off comes the top and after 5 big gulps puts the vodka back and continues with the TV commentary -
"see him there, that's my husband..." (I am telling you the absolute truth here)
Next thing she grabs a bewildered couple and stands them next to us. We all share looks and giggles.
At this point we are all told to be quiet to listen to the next bit of the film. Because the next bit was important she tried to turn the volume up but couldn't focus enough to see the actual button, so I did it for her.
"Shhh, shhh, listen to this......"
An old dear in a soup kitchen was being interviewed and when asked if she happily serves soup to drugs addicts as well as clean people she says of course she does, we are all people afterall. At this 'revelation' Kate turns to us all and applauds the women.
Then a kid of about 11yrs old is on the TV smoking a joint - again this brings massive applause from Kate.
We carried on looking around the museum but just laughing rather than focusing on anything.
As we were about to leave, Kate materialises out of a thick Vodka mist and goes straight for Nils. She guides him to the boot of a car in the museum and says to watch this. With great anticipation myself and Nils watched her open the boot. That was it!
When we asked her if that was it she said "No! Now try and close it"
So Nils walked over and with 2 fingers closed the boot. So we asked again what the deal was?
This time she opened the boot, turned the volume up to full on the radio and then looked at us as if to say - "What do you think of that?"
We had no time to reply as someone came in from outside and told her to "F*cking turn it down".
We left - in fits of laughter.
The night was spent in a Tee-pee at one of the hostels in Nimbin. It was amazing - a tee-pee with disco lights, set apart on its own near to some hammocks with a view out across rolling green hills.
We hung out there all afternoon and were treated to wild wallabies, possums, toads and spiders at nightime.
The next day we only had one thing on our minds - a visit to the Nimbin Museum to see Nimbin Kate. We don't even know if that is her name, we just think we heard her say it.
So back to the museum to get some video footage of Kate herself. She wasn't on top form but still funny.
Whilst filming Kate we met 3 girls, 2 Germans and a Danish girl. We had decided that we would camp in a national park that night and asked if they wanted to join us, which they did.
So that day and night was spent in a national park, barbecuing kangaroo steaks and playing drinking games in pitch black apart from candlelight. Again, another good night to add to all of the rest.
This road trip also signified the importance of getting my own vehicle. This weekend would not have been what is was without a car. It gives you the freedom to really explore places at your own pace and places you would otherwise miss out on.
It also acts as a place to sleep so will save my $ in the long term.
I have a dream of parking up next to an empty beach, cooking my evening meal on a BBQ and then waking up early the next morning to take my surf board out into the waves with nobody else about apart from the wildlife.
That is the dream which will become reality once I get a job.
In the morning I awoke to find a fat leech for company in my tent. I picked it up and could tell it was fully fed as it didn't even try and latch onto me. I looked down and saw a lot of blood in between the toes of my left foot. Yum yum for the leech, but I bet it is pretty drunk right now.
On the way back to Byron we stopped off at a waterfall / swimming hole and did some rock jumping. It was scary and there was not much room for error with the rocks below, but I did it and was happy once I got out even if I was shaking with adrenaline.
So that brings you all up to date. I will heading south soon to meet up with some friends and then onto Melbourne to settle for a while - after hopefully climbing Australia's largest mountain first.
I always do things the wrong way around and should be heading north to chase the sun. However, I do not mind some winter in Melbourne as that is where I have a lot of mates, so if I am going to settle and work, better to do it with some good friends around me.
I have also applied for a job at Australia's top ski resort, so hopefully that will come off and I can get some serious ski action in.
No idea what the next couple of weeks will bring, but be sure that out there somewhere I will meet some more interesting characters as I always seem to do, but maybe none as endearing as Nimbin Kate.
Right it is 16:15pm - I am off to sit with Anthony and find out what is going on in the world.
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