The End

It was on November 20th, 2010 that it ended. It only took 3 years and 15 days to do it, but it's finally over.

Sadly.

Yes, sadly. As you can imagine, being on the road for so long, you become accustomed to the lifestyle of the living on the road. Which, as you may know, is disturbingly addictive? I mean, come on. I was only meant to be gone for 6 months, but instead, I was gone for 3 years, so that must mean something, eh? Or it was just a great time for me to run away from all the growing up that is socially expected of me. I even want to progress a bit more in life, so it needs to end sometime. However, I guess I could argue that by running away to see the world is far better than just sitting around and doing nothing, or? I mean, I'm culturally expanding my horizons, and meeting heaps of people with other life experiences who in some way may inspire me to go in the right direction.

However, has it?

Since I've returned, actually being able to talk about my trip isn't something I'm dying to do all the time. For example, some people will pretty much brag about their time overseas, but instead, I don't really have a lot to say. It all boils down to "so how was your trip, Chris? Tell me about it!" How do you sum up a 3 year trip into a few sentences? This is how: "Yeah, it was good." I will tell a story about my trip if the occasion arises and is in context with what’s being talked about around me.

Before I left to New Zealand, a friend of mine gave me an assignment, or better yet, several assignments. However, the most important one was to do three things that I had promised myself I would never do. I ended up doing a fair bit of random fun stuff! And has opened my mind a little bit more, and even bent my otherwise disturbing straight moral and ethical compass. Not that I did anything that would put me in jail...I think, but I did a fair few things which I wouldn't of done before. I know that just writing about it, without any real details is a bit of let down, but as you can imagine, I would prefer not to write every minute, intimate, and possibly incriminating detail about my trip. Moving on...I ended up falling in love with two girls, and wow, it is quite the experience. I also got my heart crushed too, which, to say the least, is quite the experience. I never fully understood why people were so why people got the way they got once a relationship had ended, but now I have a better idea.

As I said, it was a whole lifestyle bumming around New Zealand and Australia. It's not your typical 3-5 week vacation you get from work year after year. And just for the record, "yeah, it was good" is not an adequate summary of the whole trip. It was amazing during some parts, sad during others, and mundane too. What does that sound like? Yup, you guessed! Like life! Hence the reason for me calling it a lifestyle. And, I guess lifestyle could mean something else, however, this is how I'm going to be using it for now.

So what am I doing now? Working at my old job at Ericsson, doing the same thing I was, which is, entertaining to say the least. Mainly because I now work with one of my best friends, which means that we're joking all the time and just having a good laugh pretty much all the time. However, it still feels pretty much the same as when I was working here last, but we'll leave that topic for another time.

____

I started writing this a couple of months ago, and now I have decided to finally finish it.

As I said, I work at my old job, but I have changed assignments. I was working with one of my best friends, but now I have taken on a different assignment which will be on the grave yard shift. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I felt it was the right one. I'll be earning a fair bit more money, and I'll be working more by myself, which is something I fairly enjoy. I don't like having to rely on other people to get simple tasks done. Or having to take care of others either. I can get fairly annoyed if people can't pull of simple tasks. I will always take the time to patiently teach someone how to do something, and do it so they understand. And I'll do this about 3-4 times. After that, it gets really annoying. Especially when you've asked them to start taking notes on what's happening and then they leave their notes at home - permanently.

Sigh.

Anyway, I have a new adventure planned. Canada! I want to bike across Canada or do some serious mountain biking in Canada. Or mountain bike across Canada. Not too sure just yet. That's one of the main reasons for me taking the grave yard shift: to earn a bit more cash to pull off something pretty wild. However, I do have my doubts about Canada, mainly because of the wild life. Apparently, cougar attacks aren't all that uncommon, which scares me a fair bit, espcially since they like mountain bikers. So, I need to think a bit more about that potential trip.

Man, I don't even know what to say anymore.

Did the trip change me? I would like to think so. I try to be more adventerous/active in my daily life and even more out going. I try to say yes a bit more than what I used to, and try to hang out a bit more with my friends and even do some more activities with them. Basically, try to live my life with my friends instead of living an individual life, if that makes sense. Along with trying not to limit myself, push myself to do things I know I would hesitate to do/say.

Do I have any advice to give to you before I finish this? Yeah!

Get out there and live the life you want to life! It’s only as complicated as you make it to be and you are freer and more capable than what you fully know or understand. People generally don’t know their full potential, nor are they willing to explore and find out. I say explore, find out. If you fail, so what, who cares! Some of the most successful people in history were complete failures at some point in their lives!

And now, I bid thee adieu!

Will lose. To Lose. Lost.

It has been almost 3 years now, and the only thing that comes to mind that I've lost, is a bandana.

Amazing, eh? However, two nights ago, I lost my passport. Awesomeness. I contacted the pub I was at, but no luck. I've made a police report and contacted the embassy, and they said I have to go there today to apply for a new passport. Waiting time? 3-4 weeks. Happy days. Well, that's not too bad anyway, get to see more of Seattle!

Why don't I get an emergency passport? Because it's more expensive, and I don't have any flights booked yet, so I'm in no rush.

That is all.

Mental Suicide

My time in Australia has finally come to an end. Did it end on a good note you ask? Meh. Yes and no.

I'll explain.

After Bello, I, as you know, made my way to Sydney, where Pablito organized it so I could crash at his parents place. Which was a trip! His parents are some really good people to say the least. They were extremely helpful and accomodating along with being great company. I just hope they saw the same in me :S

Yet again, it felt like being home. I had my own room with a king size bed along with an en suite bathroom, with one of the coolest shower heads I've ever come across. It's basically a huge rectangular block with silicon nozzles sticking out of it, which gave a nice even pressure and great spread. Awsomeness in a shower head.

My first day in Sydney I printed out ads for Voa to be put up in all the hostels around town, which was really fun to do, because I kept on seeing the same cars, and the same day of posting, so I was quite literally following in some ones footsteps on this one. And one thing that really got me was that some hostels wanted charity donations for the ad to be posted on their notice board. First one I posted at, I thought "yeah, okay, why not?" Next one, my suspision rises with the third when they say they take a minimum donation, I knew it was all BS. Anyway, I posted in about 24 different hostels. Mind you though, it was only a few that asked for the donation.

Towards the end of my list of hostels, I go into the Apple Store and see what cool stuff they have, and while there, decide to go see a movie. It basically boiled down to two movies: RED or The Social Network. Both of which were going to be playing at the same time, and decide to decide when I'm standing infront of the cashier. As I'm walking into the cinema, I see something out of place...or better said, something I recognized. It was in the shape of a tall, slim and well built man (funnily enough, I have a hard time using the term man, how old do you have to be to be considered a man?) I yell out a name I had associated to it. No response. I tap him in the back and lo and behold, it is Jose from Rosemere! I had seen this guy for about 2 years and it was in New Zealand, when we lived in the same hostel. We embrace each other and are both equally shocked about standing infront of each other.

We go and watch RED together, and grab a pint afterwards to catch up and exchange stories of adventures past. I bought the round, since he paid for the movie, and without asking the price, I bought a scooner of Ashanti beer, which was pretty good, but bloody dear! 9 bucks! That's more expensive than in Sweden.

On my way back to Manly, I started to think about what the chances were of bumping into him, while on my to, pontentially, watch a movie about the popular webpage Facebook. What I've learned about bumping into people is that there is a small pattern to it all, which is basically you have a greater chance to bump into someone at the touristic spots than the more plain spots, since both are usually out to do some sight seeing. Although...wait...I have bumped into a fair few people in non touristic spots during my time away. Hmm...Anyway, see how I would find it interesting? If not...well, too bad. I can't explain it any further without sounding like a complete wanker.

Once, I got to Manly, I was going to meet the parents of Pablito from up in Bellingen, since he was so cool as to hook me up with a place to stay with them. At first I was a bit concerned that it would be a bit awkward, but it was quite the contrary, they were really fun and interesting to hang around. Both lively and excited about life, something you don't see very often for people in their age.

I was given my own room with a king size bed and an en suite bathroom, which had one of the best shower heads I've ever seen. It was a big rectangular block with silicon nozzles giving a nice even spread and dripping kind of shower. Awesomness!

Next day in Sydney I drive my car to where all the backpackers advertise their car, where I met a hitchhiker I picked up a fews before, a couple from the cherry farm, and a girl from Darwin who is friends with my ex workmates. It seemed pretty cool. Not to long into it, there was a group of us sellers sitting around heckling passersby saying how awesome our cars were. A lot of people looked at my car, but no one was fully interested. Most of the potential buyers were looking for a full sized van of course. N00bs. They don't know style when it's sitting right in front of them :P Well, seriously, as nice as Voa is, it's a pretty crap car if you're two and it's raining. Not a whole lot of space for just chilling around INSIDE of the car. Oh well.

Head back home to Manly, and eat dinner with Pablitos parents and his brother and his brothers flat mate. Which was really nice and chill. Fun too see different family dynamics in action. It always fascinates me.

It's now been almost a week since I started writing this, so I'll do my best to recollect it all.

Ok! Here goes!

Next day, after the dinner, I drive back to Victoria St, where I met some people I worked with in TAS, had breakie with them, and then drove their gear to the airport for them, so they didn't have to take it on the bus with them.

I wasn't to motivated to sell the car that day, which is bad, but meh. By this point in time, I didn't really give a rats ass. After having dropped off their gear, and saying good bye to them once more, I decided to head back home and prepare for the up coming night with Jose. We had decided to eat at a pizzeria which my friends that I just dropped off recommended, and I can vouch for it too! It was Jose, his missus, a friend of theirs, and me, and we smashed about 4 bottles of wine I think, and I didn't feel a thing since we had literally gone balls to the wall on this one. Entre, dinner and dessert! It was delicious!

After which Jose's missus decided to head home and go to bed, and at which point the rest of us headed over to the The Hero of Waterloo, where we only bought one drink, because they were closing up for the night. Since neither of us were very keen to head on home, we decided to keep on moving our bloated asses over to The Löwenbräu Keller where we kept on drinking and partying until it closed, and decided that we were all to drunk to do anything else, other than keep on partying, so we head over to Kings Cross, where we all got the ingenious idea of going to a gentlemen's club, where we had a blast!

Ah yes...it was awesome and quite a night to remember. However, our female partner in crime was crashing in the middle of the club on the benches, so we all decide to go to Jose's place which is only around the corner to get some serious R'n'R.

Jose grabbed the rose some random dude had bought our female comrade, and tried giving it to his sleeping missus who had tried calling several times during the night, and upon giving the rose to her, he was beaten up by it....we all decided to go to sleep at that point. Next thing I remember was that our female comrade was running around the flat swearing grabbing all of her stuff trying to make her way out to the races.

I woke up not too long afterwards with Jose making me a cup of tea, and me preparing to close my bank account and book some tickets to Seattle and all the way home.

Today was also going to be the day that someone had promised me that they would buy my car off of me (at a reduced price too of course), and while I was trying to contact him all day, no go. This however, was all after I had booked my tickets to the States. So at by this point, I was shitting myself, thinking that I wasn't going to have any cash for Aotearoa or the States. Happiness.

I go to the bank to see what the story is about closing it and all that jazz, and when I asked them about my balance, it had over 1000 dollars more than expected, and we began talking about how I could get the money out over seas and other boring things, and it all ended up with me leaving my account open (which I'm now happy about mind you).

Once I was done at the bank, and had trying to call this guy with little success, I go back to Manly and prepare my bags for the airport, and decide that I had to take a risk with my car, since the guy I had offered to give it to for free wasn't going to take for reasons I understand and won't mention, I decided to take my chances with the girl that I had met the night since she said that she had a spare parking space where she was living. Call her up and organise it so she becomes my seller for Oz. Big risk? Bloody oath, but what other choice did I have. To make some money out of it at least. I could of have scrapped it, but then that wouldn't of accomplished anything in the end. And yes, I have thought it through, and the car could already be sold for all I know. But I know someone else on the ground who can help me out, need be – Jose. However, my Spidey senses tell she's a good egg.

End up chilling having a small yarn with her until I had to head back to Manly to get ready for my 03.30 wake up. Great.

My trip to Manly was long. Really long. Not so much in 'physical' time, but more like the mental time. You know what I mean. When you're going to do something big, or important, time slows down so much that it just becomes insane. I start thinking about coming home, about my time in Oz, people I've met, the people I want to meet again, and so much more. Almost depressing actually, and we all know how great I am about that, eh? Hmm....

I stay up the whole night, just slowly packing and taking my time. Before I notice it, it's already 03.00. I cram the rest of my gear into my bag with no real structure and pray for sleep to over take me.

Pablo's father drives me to the airport and I fall asleep in the car while he's talking about something I'm not too sure about. Great man. Very very great man, who had the misfortune of getting brain cancer. So fucking bullshit. It seems like only the good people are set to have the bad luck. Ok, it could have been worse, and he is still alive, which is borderline a miracle I suppose.

I go to the check-in desk, and then the onslaught of terror begins. Proof that I'm leaving NZ, proof that I am a human being, proof that the sky is blue and not purple. Retarrrrrded.

The woman was even skeptical about me getting into NZ, and very doubtful about me getting into the States. Great. Happy days.

I end up having to go to a printer hidden away in some random part of the terminal to get stuff printed out, and then finally check-in.

Make my bloated tired ass to the immigrations, where I warn the lady that my passport is fragile, and she doesn't give to shits about it, and almost breaks it, claiming it wouldn't be her fault.

Here's how I see it: The local council puts up signs not to start a fire, since everything is dry, and something bad could happen. I look at the sign, take it down, take a shit on it, and then set it on fire, and walk away. Well, not my problem.

What. A. Fucking. Bitch.

She made leaving Australia that much better. As awesome as that country is, there are some serious fucktards who don't deserve to be breathing, or at least be removed from the gene pool.

I'm drowsy, and incoherent. I just want to sleep.

I wake up, and I'm in NZ. Move to the immigrations, ready to turn around and give the finger to the world. Instead, they take me to the side, and issue me a months visa on a temporary form of identification which has the same value of a passport.

Get into Auckland and call my BFG (Big Friendly Giant) in the Bay of Islands. He's surprised and happy that I'm coming up.

I don't really want to go into too much detail about my trip up there, but I will say that it was beyond awesome. Awesome is the feeling I had when I woke up the next morning knowing that I was in a place where I truly loved.

Here's what I did there: got drunk, met awesome people, did some work, drove around the islands, ate amazing food, came first place on quiz night, did 3 dives, and did some serious thinking about it all.

Man...leaving there was a really hard thing to do. Seeing the summer roll in made the whole leaving process even harder. However, the hardest part was meeting this cool French dude, who was going to be my BFGs deck hand over the summer. It reminded me so much of myself it's just crazy. He was 23, one year younger than what I was when I was in Paihia first. Living the dream.

Damn.

The actual leaving NZ wasn't easy either, with immigrations that is, since I had that special ID. Yeah. Oh, and this was the...4^th or 5^th consecutive pat down and 'random' search that they did to me. I was just laughing about it.

No big deal, but it still got me nervous about getting into the States.

Flight over was epic and harsh. Had a one hour stop over in Tahiti before doing the final leg to LAX.

Upon getting to LAX, and finally having assembled my story to have any sort of coherent meaning, I step in front of the immigrations officer, and tell him to be careful with my passport, since I had been travelling for such a long time, it had become a tad bit fragile.

He carefully scans my passport, asks how long I'm in the country for, logs my fingerprints, and tells me to enjoy my trip. That's it!

Ok, a bit more security than the other countries I've gone to, but still! How piss easy was that?! And I was worried that I had entered the wrong details for my passport in the visa waiver. Lucky boy I guess.

Grab my bag, and make my way to my next flight, which was 5 hours away. No rush. After having checked in, I start trying to make contact with my friend Kobe here in Seattle, to verify that I was now in the US, and all was well.

I land in Seattle, and Kobe (who has been an awesome host) was there to meet me, which was a bit surreal, but freaking awesome!

What have I done here? Partied (had some amazing cocktails), a lot of beer (not to the point of getting drunk, just to enjoy), great food, a lot of shopping, went to the Swedish Cultural Center (which doesn't have any Swedes working there) and meeting some great people.

I also did 2 dives here which was pretty fun. The vis was clear and I saw a HUGE octopus twice. I have never seen anything quite like it.

Was invited to a brunch at the home of Kobe's friends which they hold every Sunday, and the house was beautiful, and unlike anything I've ever seen! It was an old church which was been modified to be liveable and is a real piece of art. It has so much potential it's not even funny! The only issue is funding.

Ok, I've been trying to piece this blog together for a while now, and as you could tell, the end has just kind of flopped together.

Several things that I've noticed:

Seattle is a great place

I need friends close by

Travelling sucks, because you never want to stop

Growing up is mental suicide

My mind is blown away by the consumerism in the US

I think I'm pretty emotionally dead in certain ways

I also ended it with Amy. Long story short, I'm too shitty of boyfriend to be together with her. I'm still way to selfish and have my own plans which she isn't involved in. She doesn't need to be waiting for something which I'm too afraid to commit to, she doesn't deserve that.

Any who. Ah yes, I've put on some more weight in my last weeks, since I felt that this is the end of very important chapter in my life, and just kind of went bananas, and now feel like a bloated tub of shit. So once I get to Sweden, it's back to the no-carb diet. Looking forward to it.

Ciao!

Apologies.

Sorry for not having written anything. I just don't feel like I had anything to write about.

My birthday was pretty chill, and thanks for those who tried calling or texting. Sadly, Bellingen doesn't have very good, if any, Vodafone coverage. I was swimming in the local swim hole, and ate an amazing dinner with Pablito and his missus.

As for coming back to Bello, it was good. Not as great as the first time, but still good. I was welcomed to Pablo's house, like it was my house. I was given my own room, with a king size bed and en suite bathroom. Awesome.

I tried to do what I did last time when I was there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, you know how to ask me. Sadly, it wasn't the season.

It pretty much felt like I was at another home hanging out there, along with his two dogs and five birds.



Truth be told, I'm not too keen on writing anything just now, because it's 02.40, so I'll write some more later.

Toodles my poodles.

no subject

Oz - Darwin to Brisbane

It has come to my attention

What have I done on my trip so far, that's scary?

I have swum with sharks.

I have scaled walls where if I fall, I'll either break something, die, or become a vegetable.

I have consciously walked past the resting place of one of Tasmanias deadliest snakes on a daily basis.

I have driven a 4x4 car in some dodgey areas.

I have hitch hiked, and been picked up by ex-gang members.

I have bungy jumped 135m.

I have walked into dense bush where you can only see about 5 meters a head of you.

I have gotten fully grown cows into the pens with no training.

There's probably some more stuff, but you know what, going back home scares me more than all of those. Funny eh?

I've been trying to figure out why, and I have some ideas.

1) Falling into the same rut that got me travelling in the first place.

2) The winter.

3) The dark that goes with the winter.

4) The inability to talk to strangers while being somber and not be considered strange.

5) The lack of snow.

6) Dead trees.

7) No small adventures.

8) Funny Aussie expressions.

9) Aussie/Kiwi happiness (I tried using it when I got back to my old job, and it was rejected like an unwanted baby).

There's some more I reckon. I just don't think I'm designed for Swedish society.

If I don't get into Uni, I've come up with the following ideas:

a) Move up north

b) Move to Örebro or Uppsala for the paintball scene

c) Go to Canada on a WHV

a and b both involve me studying anything extra to help me get into uni

Damn it. It's all just so fucked up.

Hmm...it's all coming to an end soon. I can't believe it. 3 years feels like 3 weeks. Damn-it.

Gah. I'm going to stop writing now. Later.

Back in it.

I'm in Brisbane now, doing some Couchsurfing, which is really nice.

I'm working again, and can you guess where? That's right! Schweppes!!! Driving a forklift and other work. Same work I did at Carlsberg in Sweden, which also made Schweppes. Random, eh?

Any who, I think I'll be here in Brissy till either Sunday or Monday and then make my way further down south.

Not long left now.

Fuck.

More than just a car

It happened, last week actually, Voa had a break down. It all happened in Mt. Surprise after driving for a fair while, and then having to use a drive-through a weed seed shower (shower heads on both sides and under the car which blast a you with heaps of water). After which Voa decided to have a bit of melt down. It lost a lot of power in the gas pedal, and the rear diff started to make some noise.

A few hundred kilometers down the road, in the town of Atherton, I take a right turn, and the car cuts out. Awesome.

I try very briefly to fix it, but call RACQ (roadside assistance) shortly after. A guy rocks up about 40 minutes later and pokes around the engine and gets running again, but guarantees me that it will occur again, and that I need to take it to a mechanic and what should be fixed.

Rock up to Cairns and park outside my friends share house for the night and try to drive away the next day to do some exploring. Nah. Voa wouldn't have it. Call RACQ again, but the mechanic tells me pretty much the same thing as the previous one and tells me that it would be pointless to get it running this way (which he believed to be quite doubtful in the first place).

Take it to a mechanic the next day and tell them what problems were described to me. He gives me a jolly smile and tells me he'll be in touch. Next day he tells me what his boys found and says that they needed to fix a bunch of gaskets first before they dared to drive it on the road. Tell them to fix it, and once they fixed it, they said that they had it running perfectly fine. Next was the rear diff. It was only a crappy bearing, which got replaced as well. Price of all this, about a third of all the money I put into her in the first place.

You may be thinking that it's a lot of money (which it is), but for me, it's the equivalent of granny with the dinosaur for a dog pumping it full of medicine trying to keep it alive and breaking all the laws of nature and life and death.

Dogs are affectionate and show you love. True.

However, with Voa, I have learned how car enthusiast see cars as being more than cars. Voa has not only been my car, it's my home, my way to meet people, and source of a lot of fun.

I was in a share house here in Cairns, and will be leaving tomorrow or Tuesday.

I'll be stopping off in Brisbane to work for a week (hopefully) to try to get back the money I spent on the car.

Be in Bello for my birthday and then just...yeah, take it from there.

I'm off!

Summary.

Am I a pissy guy? A pessimist? I sometimes think I am.

Anyway, here's the break down on the car and it all: rear diff is stuff, carburetor is stuffed, water pump is leaking, got the stereo working again by ripping it out - looking at it and putting it back. Dropped my laptop, so it now has dent, but still works. Was really pissed off and want to drop a nuke on something or destroy something with my own bare hands. Preferably play a good Xball game (paintball) where I can really channel my built up rage (yes, anger just doesn't cover it anymore).

I really wonder if there's some sort of supreme being that is just testing my limits. It's pretty common that the rule of 3 doesn't count for me, it's more like rule of...5-10. You know, how everything supposedly comes in three, well...yeah. Anyway.

OR I could take the more rational approach. The car is 34 years old, travelled a very long distance in a short period of time, and been through some strenuous environments. Basically, I could compare it to an 150 year old man running a marathon, while being whipped by a slave driver. Yeah, that's a good comparison, or? Oh, and he's carrying a big dude and all his gear.

Not too bad to do over...what, 11,000km? for such an old car. Took a real beating. Hopefully I'll be able to get her fixed for a decent price.

We shall see. Toodles.

Now...

...I met some friends from TAS, and we had a chat, they had to wait a week to see the mechanic. Awesome.

Oh, and when I left McDonalds, my stereo decided to die as well. Sweetness. It's all falling apart. All this crap makes me want to leave Oz. Trying to keep it on semi high note.

Bonus though, I figured out how to connect to the internet with my laptop via my phone. Sweeet.

Bugger.

I finally got off my ass and left Darwin.

I'm now in Cairns, it's raining outside, and dark. Not cool. Here's a run down of my trip down here.

I left Darwin pretty late, well, later than hoped (16.30) and while I was driving out, I saw that my engine was about to explode from overheating. Something that got my attention very quickly. I pull into a servo, and see what's up. Take a rag, pop the hood, and from a safe distance, unscrew the radiator cap. I knew what was going to happen, radiator fluid went everywhere it was fantastic! Like a ghetto water fountain going off in some sort weird celebration.

Quickly fill it up and hit the road (thinking that was the end of it).

I end up going to Litchfield National Park (NP) which was really nice. It had a bunch of pools where I could swim and cool off. Something I had been dying to do for a while while being up in Darwin. I stay there for two nights, and on the day I leave, I meet a Dutch guy who drove his motorbike from Holland, all the way to Australia, quite the accomplishment if you ask me. He was working with pearling in Darwin with someone who I also knew, random.

Next stop, Edith Falls. "Big" lake with a small water fall, filled with fresh water crocs. Swim there, and then leave. Nothing amazing (I think I've seen too much at this point).

I then make my long drive to Katherine, where I check out the Katherine Gorge and do a 19km return hike in 40 degrees heat. I, no joke, almost collapsed. It was really tough. And, really random, when I was walking, my right hand swelled up a little bit. I had trouble closing it, and my finger tips felt harder than my left hand. When I reached the water, and swam around a bit, it went back to normal, but swelled back up when I was back on the track. FUBAR. The gorge was ok, nothing mind blowing, but the water was great! It could of been a little bit cooler, but you can't have everything. There I met a French guy who had been growing up in Tunisia who helped me with getting my camera over the river to get some photos of Aboriginal art, which, sadly, was a bit disappointing.

When I got back to my car, I decide to fill it up with water, and see how much it sucked up. It took up about 4-5L. I was loosing fluids quick. I go to an auto parts store in Katherine and try to get the gasket I'm missing. It was all the way on the East Coast. I had it organised for it to be sent to Cairns where I would pick it up and have it fitted. Oh, it only cost 3.99 AUD, but since it wasn't in Cairns, like a days drive south, the freight would cost me only 20 AUD, about. Sweet.

Leave Katherine, and start on the hardest part of the journey. Just getting to Cairns as quickly as possible. I had found a Finnish girl who was looking for a ride down south to Sydney, and I knew there was nothing between Katherine and Cairns.

On average, I was covering 750km a day. I ended up getting fuel from a small...uh...hmm...station? called Daly Waters, and the Pub there was pretty awesome! It just had a bunch of random things left over from people passing through, and it had a lot of character.

That night, I slept like a dream. It was cool in the car, and I didn't feel like I was turkey in an oven. Splendid! However, I did lose a filling and my right ear somehow got damaged from all the wind hitting it, so now it sounds a bit funny from the right side. Awesome.

Everything between Daly Waters and Normanton is nothing special. Ok, the last 140km to Normanton was pretty neat, because it felt like I was driving in the African Savana. I was hoping to just fly through Normanton, before refueling of course. Sadly, it was all closed. My engine was pretty hot too, so I had to just wait and let her cool down before making my next move. I see another backpacker rock up. A few minutes later, we start talking, and go to the pub where we enjoy a few cold beers, and I chow down a delicious barramundi (fish). He was from Germany, and a cupboard builder. The one occupation I have never encountered before. We have a few laughs, and then find a camping spot together. Oh, almost forgot, on my way up to Normanton, some sick bastard thought it would be funny to place a wild pig/boar on one of the road signs. It was very random, and funny in it's own way, but some how just wrong....yeah.

Next morning, make the last leg of my trip. Fill up the fuel, and radiator coolant (which has started to leak a lot faster).

During most of the driving, I was in a weird limbo zone in my mind, pondering a lot of random things, and just realising that I didn't remember the last 100km of the trip. A bit concerning. Well, this was the worst of all the days of driving. There are a lot of blank spots.

When I reached Atherton, the town reminds me of NZ in a many ways, the green foliage, the light drizzle, and rolling hills covered by clouds. I take a right turn, and Voa dies. OH! Forgot to mention that when entering Mt. Surprise, you have to put your car through a high pressure wash to rid it of any weed seeds (no, not marijuana seeds, just normal weeds), and after that Voa really started to suffer. She lost all of her umph, and the rear differential became even louder. This really bummed me out.

So there I am, sitting in the rain, side of the road, looking like an a$$hole. I call the Road Side Assistance, and see what the deal is. After some tinkering, the conclusion is that my points are out of whack, and need to be fixed. And maybe the water pump is buggered, and not the actual gasket. I thank the mechanic, and drive the last stretch to Cairns through some windy roads which really reminded me of NZ, bit time! It was great, without a doubt.

And so, here I am, sitting in air conditioned room of the Golden Arches writing this blog to you people.

Oh, another point. I try calling this Finnish lass, wanting to tell her there might be a set back, no reply. A minute later I get a text, saying she was sorry for missing my call, and that they were now two people, only wanting to go down to Townsville (3-4hrs drive) for work, and wonders if that's a problem. My reply: "Yes, that is a problem, only have space for one person, and you can hitch hike to Townsville in a day. And my car is broken down 2hrs outside of Cairns"

Her reply: ok tnx and good luck with your reliable car.

Which for me tells me she read my reply as: Congratulations, you can get f$%ked!

Yeah, didn't mean that, and so I sent a message explaining what I meant, and wishing her the best of luck.

I get really tired of people sometimes, really. Ok, fine, I take responsibility for writing that text, maybe wasn't clear enough in the first place. Hmm...

However, makes you wondering how people ask if more people can come when you clearly state in your ad that you can only take/fit ONE more person in your car. Yeeeeaaaah.

So, in conclusion:

I have lost a filling, my right ear is buggered, rear diff is stuffed, and the engine needs some work.

You can guess how I'm feeling (hint: not the greatest).

And, I might not be going to Asia, I might be going to the States instead or Canada to meet some people from my inter rail trip in Europe and maybe some people from Hungary and Mexico and if all goes well, maybe some people from NZ or Oz.

Later.

Photos!

Check it out here!

*sigh*

Hi readers, what's happening? Sorry for not posting anything for a while, but the only thing that has been happening is work. And work. And work.

I did go to Sydney to hang out with Amy during her last days here in Australia. I booked a four star hotel for us on the first night with a view over Darling Harbour, and then took her out to dinner over in Manly Beach, which was pretty nice. It was a king size bed, so I had plenty of space to stretch and sleep comfortably. Oh, and the room was air conditioned which is a real novelty for me, as you could guess.

After leaving Sydney, I didn't really know what to feel, it was as usual, shoved into the back of my mind and just left there to...dwindle.

I had three days off this time around, very long days. First day, I did my standard routine of laundry and then I went to the library to do some stuff on the internet along with playing with Photoshop (oh, bought a Photoshop magazine with a tutorial which I found really interesting, attempts will be posted later).

The next day, I drove out to Mandorah, which is on the other side of the bay of Darwin. Long drive, which was pretty nice. Getting out of Darwin is something I've needed for a while now. I drove over to Berry Springs, a place where you can swim, and some place I've been recommended by several people too. While driving out there, I suffered pretty heavily from Voa's broken exhaust pipe. No joke, I stepped out of the car and it was like coming out of a concert, not cool. Find out while I was driving in that swimming was prohibited due to bacteria having a party in the springs. It was a real let down, especially when I saw the pools. They were beautiful! Sad times.

I then found the local hotel and decided to have some lunch there, after I had just been wandering around on the jetty where the ferry docks (a lot people were fishing there). I had a burger and a beer, and talked to some Ozzies for the first time in a long time. People at work don't count. I only talk to French people, an Irish, an Indian, and a Nepalese. Gets a bit boring. A lot of French too. Bah.

Leave them (they were only talking about things that had happened, past parties, etc, didn't really fit into the converstations), and keep on driving. I try to find a location where there had been a massive party a while ago, and end up driving Voa through the bush to another which, where I had to turn around because she isn't a 4x4. Too bad, it was a great spot. Oh, there were other people there too, so I let them have it to themselves, seeing as how they were the first and all.

I head back into town, almost getting lost in the bush, and decide I need to fix the exhaust pipe. Go and buy some falafels for dinner, and then cook it up. Yummy!

Today (Monday) I got the exhaust pipe fixed, and driving Voa now is a completely different experience. Almost like a dream or like a normal quiet car. It's great now.

Another thing, I don't think I can ever become Australian, I'm just not racist enough.

The racism here is just unbelievable.

Anyway.

I'm going to be leaving Darwin next Sunday for the East Coast. My time in Australia is coming to an end, quickly too. It sucks. I cannot make a permanent life for myself in Sweden I have decided. I'll probably end up going insane if I do.

This is a crappy post, I know. It's just that I'm not really feeling it right now. I think I need to eat something, get my blood sugar back up.

Toodles Poodles.

UPDATE: I hate not having a fridge. It's hard to find single serving portions of food in the super market. There's only tuna, shredded chicken (which doesn't sound very interesting), and...yeah, that's it. And I need to go on a sugar detox. Bad.

I forgot to mention.

I had my first HOT shower a few days ago.

It. Was. AWESOME!!!!

I had only been taking cold showers for the past 6 weeks prior.

That is all. Continue what you were doing.

Oh, here's a good link.

Kerr splat!

Work has been interesting, I don't know if it has reached all the way to Sweden or else where in the world, but where I work, there was a riot. I can't talk about it, due to a NDA I signed. Lame. However, you can read about it here. Good news is that I'm okay, nothing bad happened, I didn't even witness it. Non of the kitchen staff did. And that's all I'm going to write about that.

Oh, I'm making some serious bank with this gig. Already a bit bored of the job, but like I said before, the people make it for me. And so far, I've been getting more and more hours. Example: week 1: 48.5; week 2: 56.5; this week I'll end up having done 60 hours! W00t!

A friend of mine has now left Darwin which was a bit of a bummer, but you know, nothing new about that.

Also, I found out a way to keep myself cool while I'm sleeping. Sleeping with the doors open isn't really an option for me, I had to come up with an alternative.

Here's how I was thinking, use the rear vent on the car as a source of fresh air. What's a good powerful fan, and small? Computer fans! Ok, where do I get one cheap, or free? Internet cafe! I get an old PSU (power supply unit) and strip it, and realize that there's a powere switch inside of it as well! Score! Use the wire sticking out of it too, and then hooked it all up to my second battery. At first, I was using blue tac to keep on the vent, but it made some serious noise by it's vibrations. So, it had to hang, and be loose, and absorb the vibrations. Rubber bands! It's now hanging down, suspended by the rubber bands, sucking in good air for me. It's great! I actually need the covers now, because it cools me down that much. Next upgrade, install a fan speed regulator, so I can make it a bit more quiet and energy efficient.

As some of you may of figured out, there was something going on between Amy and me. And I apologize if I didn't tell you about it, I just didn't want to be bombarded with the usual questions, so I kept a bit hush hush. She left for Brisi on the 25th of August, and it's been a weird period without her around. However, the old skool me has been popping back out and executed the standard mental protocols of ending the emotional tie. I've been asking myself how long do I want to keep this...skill? Talent? Whatever you call it, I know I can do it extremely well, and very quickly. Hmm...

I think I actually wrote something about that before, oh well. I'm pretty tired, sitting at the Golden Arches waiting for the battery of my laptop to finish charging. Ok, laters!

Seclusion

This is getting weird. Or I don't know, maybe just getting annoying.

"Where you from?"

"Germany."

"Oh...how about you?"

"France."

"Ooooh...." He gets back in his car and drives off.

I can walk through the parking lot where I hang out sometimes, and just hear French or German. They clutter together, and just stay that way. Oh, and they complain that there's so many of them.

Funny, eh?

No, don't get me wrong, I like both nations, and the people that come from them, but damn it. Usually, when they try to stick to english, it only lasts about for 5 minutes, and they switch to their native language amongst themselves. And wonder why their english doesn't improve as it could. Food for thought.

Tonight, when I rocked up to my usual showering area, the parking lot was chocka block full of vans and backpackers. I get out, and I was surrounded by Germans. My response. Take a shower, and hauled ass out of there to my Fortress of Solitude (read: picnic area by East Point Reserve).

On a lighter note, the detention centre gig is going well. I'm learning Indonesian as I work, and here's some:

Nashi – rise

Kotta – box

Pirring – plate

Sabi – meet

Iam – chicken

Sousou - milk

Terra makasi – thank you

Tirul (I think) – egg

Kuggi – squid

Ikan – fish

I made a movie which is on YouTube and hope you enjoy it, because it was fun making it. Just too bad I didn't have a enough footage for a really good movie.

Working It

I'm now working at the Berrimah Defence. Which is also a detention center for asylum seekers and people who were being smuggled.

Working as a kitchen hand and I also serve the 'clients' as they're called.

This will be interesting.

Links

Here are some photos and one video.

Changing times

The past few days have been interesting for me.

I was recruited to help out a company by the name of ALPA (Ahrnem Land
Progression Association) by removing some shelving from an old Coles
store which has now been shut down. The shelves will be sent to remote
Aboriginal communities out in the bush for their chain of stores,
which by the way has a great business plan: get the community healthy
by putting a tax on junk food. They've been doing this for the past
10-20 years if I remember correctly. And Australians call Aboriginals
stupid. Anyway, I digress.

The HR manager was the one who I had to work with, and through him
(mind you, he's a white guy) he told me a lot of information. A lot of
things most of Australians never tell you, mainly because they don't
know. Like how there's 100 jobs in a community of about 1500 people.
FUBAR? Oh yes. Anyway, he tells me how great the Aboriginals out there
are awesome, and true to their old way of life. Maybe not to the point
of running around in their old skool clothing, which comprised of
nothing, more so that they focus on keeping the language and culture
alive. Props for that.

You look at the people in the cities, and they're pretty much the
exact thing that you're average Australian thinks and talks about
Aboriginals. Drunkards. Now, not all of them are bad when they get
drunk, but some of them are. As are some white people, but sadly
Aboriginals just don't have the biology to handle booze like the
majority of human population does. Tragic, and something I can't
explain.

Going on, one thing that I do hear from the both sides, is that
Aboriginals don't really control their kids like Westerners do, or
other cultures for that fact. Or maybe it's just a generation thing,
and not so much a cultural specific issue. For example, today, there
for three kids hanging out in McDonalds, just hanging out, listening
to their music on their phones, and just screaming whenever someone
just walked through the door. It was so retarded. This was around
23.30 mind you, on a Friday, and they were not even 15. What. The.
Fuck. Don't they have anything better to do? Do they run away from
home, because all the male members of their family have goes at finger
fucking them or what? Sorry for being blunt, but at this point in
time, I'm over it. If there are problems at home, shouldn't they be
solved? Ok, this topic isn't just a touch'n'go topic, it's a
get-your-swim-shorts-on-because-we're-going-into-the-deep-end kind of
topic.

Oh, and what the hell is all this shit of having ear plugs in your
ears when you're hanging out with your friends? Jesus, I'm getting old
aren't I? Listen to me. However, what's funniest, is when you see a
whole group of kids doing it? What started this trend? Fashion? Well,
I have one thing to tell you fashion: Get fucked. Who on the hell do
you think you are? Why do we let it influence us so much? It's beyond
retarded. No joke. It's like we were all dropped on our heads, and
then we figured it would be fun to drop ourselves off of some ledge
(head first of course) and cause brain damage for ourselves to make
dealing with choice and individuality as simple as possible.

I talked to the manager of McDonalds, asking him if it's a common
thing that Aboriginals hang out and just cause a ruckus. His reply is
yes, it's all the time. They can't ask them to leave because it would
be classified as racist, and as long as they're not destroying
property, they can do pretty much whatever they like. By the way, this
is coming from a non-white person.

We, as a society (ie, the world) are fucked. It seems like we'll latch
onto any sort of previous damage caused to ones race for as long as
possible, and just play that card as often as possible just to get
ones way.

Ok, here's a history lesson that will probably make you shit yourself.
It wasn't until the 1960's that Aboriginals were taken off the fauna
and flora list. Did you get that? Before that time, they weren't even
classified as being human, thereby giving you the right to do whatever
you saw fit with them. You could kill one, and it wouldn't be
classified as murder. How sick and narrow minded are we as species to
let that kind of thing pass us by?

"Well Chris, I was sitting on my ass in Sweden, what the fuck was I
meant to do, even if I did know about it?"

Fine, kind of hard to know what's happening on the other side of the
world with the communications technology available during that time,
but what if you did know. And you told your friends, and the word just
spread. Would you ever do anything about it? What would you do? I
think it would just remain a simple topic over the coffee table for a
week, at best, and then switch over to something more important, like
how many kids Branjelina have now.

Here's a good current example. The punishment system in Sweden, life
is what, 12 years? What about raping a little girl, 3-4 years? Wow.
Why don't you just spank my bottom and call me a bad dog while
instead, it's just as effective. Ok, granted, most prisoners would
love to kill a child rapist, so survival chances aren't all that
great, but let's just say that they did live, survive the whole ordeal
of becoming the communal finger puppet (read: ass raped by everyone –
at the same time).

I'm noticing this is becoming a very dark post. Don't know if I should stop.

Oh, and I have a stronger and stronger feeling to get involved with
the news, but I hate being lied to and I just don't know where to get
straight facts that would allow me to form my own opinions. I was told
about Al-Jazeera, how straight edge they were. "Awesome!" I thought.
Go to their web page, and it's practically only how we're ripping
ourselves apart, and how we're trying to find new and more fun ways of
doing it as well. Maybe it was the wrong day to check out the news, I
don't know. But it gave me a good incentive not to get any off spring
and push some poor child into a world where we don't give two shits
about another person. Yes, the majority of people are good, but how
good are you willing to be to a complete stranger? How much are you
willing to help and how much are willing to risk in exchange of
feeling good and knowing that you changed someones life? Me? Not so
much. Because it feels like no matter what I would do, it wouldn't
solve the problem that the specific person in question has. Maybe
short term, but what about long term. I'm simply not qualified to do
something like that. However, what if we as a society helped one
person. Think of it, not just your three friends giving you support,
but a whole city. Let's scale it down, think if it was just your whole
local community, within a mere 2-3 km radius of your house? Think of
what we would be able to accomplish.

Bah...ok, just going into a never ending ramble which has no end.

Anyway, I went to a rodeo tonight. It was cool to see a bunch of
cowboys. Real cowboys.

I'm off. Laters.

Guess what?

So, this is my first official blog post from my new MacBook Pro 15"!!! Whoop!

It's going to have to be a short post, because I'm a bit busy masturbating over this baby. Sorry guys!

However, now, when I do want to write about something, then I can do it straight away instead of having to wait until I get to a computer. Schweet!

Toodles!