The sky’s not falling, it’s just angels committing suicide

Since I last wrote here, it was...a while ago.

Now, lets try to summarize what`s happened. I just have to remember-ok, I remember now, it was Australia Day!

I get to the party, seeing my friend sliding on a massive plastic sheets spread out all over the garden, which has sprinklers overhead sprinkling water. My friend is lying on the ground, face up, with one person pulling him by his feet, and then there was another person running next to the two holding a goon bag (aka, death bag, cask wine, boxed wine, etc) trying to get the wine into the mouth of the person on his back. This game is called Goon Sledding. He then saw me and forced me to sled. It was damn messy, I smelled like goon for the rest of the night, and it wasn`t very nice, at all.

The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly, talked to a person who lived in Hamilton and told me about a really nice swimming hole, someone got totally drunk (and possibly high) and just lost it, completely. The ambulance came over and had her restrained I think, I didn`t really watch it since it didn`t concern me, and her close friends were trying to help her out as well. I personally didn`t get too drunk, but I definitely couldn`t drive a car. Two people got on the roof to go to the bathroom, a guy and a girl, both only had to do a number one, so it wasn`t as bad as it could of have been.

One of the party people got pretty hungry as well, so he decided to go and buy a heap of food, so there was plenty of lamp chops, burgers, and snags (sausages) to go around. And there was a small food fight between two girls which was entertaining to watch, it could of have ended pretty badly too.

The next day, me and some friends went to a cafe and we treated ourselves to a super nice breakfast. I had a super thick pancake with hot berry sauce and hot apples, topped off with vanilla ice cream. Nummers!!!

After which I went to the beach and tried to surf and got some stings from some sort of jelly fish all over my body. Don`t freak guys, it was more irritating than anything, no visit to the hospital was required of me. Jumped back into the car to drive back to the orchard when the sun was setting, which made the drive back a lot more beautiful. Super amazing in fact! I was tripping on life, I was just as happy as I was when I tried shrooms for the first time! While listening to Triple J at the same time, there was no way I could of been happier with my current situation!

Parked on the side of the road was a van for sale which I had seen when I was drove to the beach, and so I stopped to see what kind of condition it was in and what not. I checked it all out and it looked a bit shabby, but pretty much what I was looking for. I write down the details and tell myself that I`ll call them later to have a look at, first thing was to get back home. And while I was driving home, I couldn`t let go of the thought of not getting the van and missing a potential good buy. I pull into a parking lot about 5km later and call the owners. 5 minutes later, I was off to check out the van. Green coloured Toyota Mareda, don`t remember the name, from, wait for it.....1983! The car is just as old as I am! It had done about 422,000 kilometers, no locks, you could start the engine with a coin, or any key you wanted, there was a kitchen knife in the front seat, Mag wheels were included, electronic windows up front, with a sun roof and a moon roof (if you folded down the rear seats you could make a bed and do some star gazing if you so wished. There was some potential in the buy, but it would of need a fair bit of work. It had a roo bar on it too along with extra high beams on it too which is a big bonus for if you`re in the Outback and don`t want to run over a roo and destroy your car in the process. After checking the engine and giving it a quick drive, I had a pretty good vibe. I just needed a more experienced second opinion on the matter, so I decided to come back with someone the next day to have a look at it with me. However, work took over and missed the buy, oh well. At least I went to have a look at it. And also, 422 THOUSAND km is a fair bit of usage, so I think saved myself some trouble by not buying it. I now have a car which I`m pretty keen on buying. Another Corrala too, but one year younger than my previous one, but so much cooler! And cheaper! I need to take photos and make a video for you to fully understand how fully awesome it is!

Anywho, after a few more days of work, we got a few more days off, so me and some of other workers here took a trip down to Bruny Isand where we had a barrel of fun. I almost destroyed their car by ripping out their gas tank, exhaust pipe, and who knows what else would of been damaged. Instead, we suffered little damage with some help from the locals, and ended up loosing our right brake. Driving after that became a real adventure. The feeling of loosing control of the car and my bowels, all at the same time mind you, is quite an interesting one. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was an automatic too! Basically, I had to be in either 1^st or 2^nd gear when going downhill, and while using the hand brake to slow down. It was awesome...or not. Next day we had the mechanic fix the brake, which translate to him disconnecting the right one, so we only had the left one. And ONLY the left one. So while going down hill was just as fun as it was with out any brakes, since we were extra heavy too, it made it even more exciting. YIPPY!!! My friend also did some spear fishing too. He caught 3 fish and an abalony, all of which was pretty tasty, except for the trigger fish he caught, it was mighty bony. Super bony actually, but still tasty. Did some boogey boarding too, which turned out to be pretty intense while swimming against the current and waves crashing on top of you.

There was also an island called Pengiun Island which we checked out and on the walk out there, there was one part of the beach with a heaps of rocks piled up on one another to make small sort of pillar I guess is what you could call it. I made a small one myself which will hopefully be there for a while to come.

After all the excitement, on our return back to the farm, we found out that there was a bush fire going on right next to Ouse. We could see the smoke over the hills and seeing the setting sun through smoke clouds is quite a sight. The sun looks completely red and you look at without straining your eyes. Very cool! The fire is still going on even today, not as bad as it was when we first arrived, but you can still see it over the hills. We are in the safe zone, so there`s nothing to worry about.

And just yesterday was the end of the season barbeque where we were served steak, snags, pavlova, and plenty of beer to keep us content all night long. All free of charge. It was sweet!

Now that the season is over, its pruning time, and that`ll start in about 3-4 days, and until then, me and my mates are going to the West Coast for some R`n`R.

So now, on that note, I bid thee fairwell and if I have uploaded the photos, enjoy them!

PS. Title is extracted from the song An Audience with the Devil by Hilltop Hoods

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Or as some alternative people (read: hippies) like to call it Invasion Day!

Went to a nice party with my friend from Hobart, and met some great people.

Today, I'm just going to eat some breakie, run some errands, and just hang out.

Smell ya guys later!

F@#king Bogans

Being back at the farm is great. Just great!

On my first day my boss set me to work, and now the farm has changed a fair bit. We have a fridge, a shed, a proper table, an A/C office, hot showers, 3 toilets and a forklift with cement under it to drive on! W00T!

After working about a week, I finally got the balls to ask my boss how much I was going to be getting paid, because I was afraid of the answer. He then replies that he hadn't work it out yet. Not the greatest of answers for me.

There are another three German girls camping by the river with me and the others, and man are they annoying. Whenever they speak, it sounds like they are complaining. Always asking me to cook for them. I just don't get it. At all. But, all I have to do is hang out with the other people, because they just seem to stick to themselves. You know, to practice their IngriSh and all that. I will not say anything else about them.

My warrior friend from last year and I had dinner up with the boss the other day, and we talked shop, and that's when I got to hear how much I'll be getting paid, and it's more than what I was getting paid in Sweden. And some of you know how much I was getting paid there, so I'm pretty happy right now :D However, on that note, there's a lot of French Canadians this year, and they are some wicked pickers, so the season can be a shorter one. We shall see.

Now about the title. We had a worker on the farm who is a hard worker and a great guy, when he's sober at least. The day I saw his son, I didn't get a good feeling about him, just got the feeling of trouble. It's a long story, but here's a point-by-point list of what happened:

• Some of us workers were sitting there enjoying the music and just talking, drinking, and eating.
• D&B (worker and son) rock up in their car, pissed off their faces, and cranks up their music over ours. Already a bit of buzz kill.
• He and his son are talking with people, and it seemed normal.
• Me and a few others ditch because the music they were playing was crap and just really loud.
• We hang out at their camp site, and then others start coming back to their tents.
• D&B drive over to the campsite with the music blaring.
• D jumps out of car with B still in it. I walk up to him to turn off the music cause it's annoying. I end up turning off his car for him.
• Inform him that what he's doing is not cool and that people will complain to the boss if he doesn't leave.
• He leaves, and does a burn out to give us a nice gift of dust as a going away present. Awesome.
• Comes back later and now all the workers are around our camp and just talking shit about him, in French though. I tell them not to fight him and let me do all the talking.
• He gets aggressive and I have to stand in front of him, with 10 people behind me ready to crack some Bogan skull.
• He then drives off and stops shortly and walks back to us.
• His son crushes a beer can he's been drinking, hands it to someone and looks at me and says "Well, Chris, I have free hands now." Me: "WHAT?!" "I have free hands now." I turn to face him straight on with harsh voice "Are you threatening me?! Are you serious?!" "Nah, mate, now I can roll a ciggie".
• He also commented on how I was a visitor, and him a local. Basically, borderline racist comment coming.
• D starts raising his voice and I calm everyone down with the help of one more.
• D&B drive off, and try to find something too eat or drink in the fridge. Don't know if they find anything.
• We drive up to the bosses house, leaving two people at the gate.
• Make a police complaint, and guaranteed the guy is fired.

Happy days in Ouse.

Now what? Keep on trucking, and hopefully he's not going to come and try to finish off some business. We're about 30 people down there. He doesn't really stand a chance simply put.

Other than that, it's hot as hell, I love it, the river is still great, people are good, and I'm pretty happy. And tired. Really tired.

Ok guys, talk to you later!

Twenty-10

It is here, the New Year has finally come. New habits to follow? Meh, we'll see. Any New Year resolutions? Besides keep on being awesome, nah, can't really think of any.

I have a fair bit to update you guys on, my Christmas on the Overland...and New Year. Soooo...maybe not that many topics, but yeah. I'll just get on with it, eh?

Christmas on the Overland Track

A few days before the hike, I found out that I was starting a day earlier than originally planned, which made logistics a bit iffy. Stubbo was having a house party out at his mom's place (which was super chill and great all around), so getting from there back to Hobart was going to be a bit of an issue and making the bus on time too, but some of his friends had to be back home to pick up their kid so I got home in time and made it to the bus to Launceston: the tripped started now.

I was feeling pretty confident in all my preparations, however, I saw this hike as being an experimental one, mainly because I have never done a hike this big on my own, only when I was in the army. So sorting out food was the biggest problem. I refused to buy dehydrated food just to see if I can make it with "normal" food, and I did. Extremely well, so well in fact that I had heaps of food left over, probably 3-4 days worth of food, depending on how you would ration it out. Yes, it was heavy. Very heavy.

Any who, upon arriving in Launceston, I made my way to the hostel I was going to stay at, and man it was weird staying at a backpackers again. Since my return to Oz, and my last few months here as well, I never went to a backpackers, so leaving my stuff out for strangers was again, something I had to get used to. You just have to trust people. The backpackers was really nice and quiet and had a good standard to it too. Meet a few people there who were going to do the Overland, and quite a few had never done a hike like this before, which in my ears, was absolutely ludicrous and pretty ballsy. To decide to just jump into such a long hike without too much prior experience is something I have to give homage to. One of those people just happened to be my room mate at the hostel, and we decided to start on the same day and depending on how it went, we would maybe hike the whole way.

Next morning we jump on the bus heading to Cradle Mountain at 08.00 in the morning. So, I was expecting to start the hike around 10ish, and how wrong I was, because it made a massive detour to Devonport and then to Cradle Mtn. And before we left Launceston, I felt I really needed a pair of sunglasses, so I came up with an idea to get a pair for free: ask for a pair. At the bus station, I told them I had lost a pair and told them they were black, and it worked! They're not a brand name, but they work and look semi decent :D Ended up starting at around 12.30, and it was the hardest bit too! A lot of uphill climbing, and oh yeah, on the first 100 m, we saw a snake. That set it all in stone that snakes were to be taken seriously in the national park. We saw another one a few hours later too.

First day was just amazing weather, absolutely perfect! Oh, there was a Japanese girl who joined our group too, so we started off with 3 people. It became the C-Ai-A tour! Christofer - Ai - Andy tour! We climbed up Cradle Mountain which was pretty exhausting, and pretty awesome too! A lot of big boulders to climb and conquer, quite the mission, but super fun!

Once we got back down, we started making our way to the first hut, and man, I was feeling really bad from the cold I had just come over. It was reaching the point where I was considering turning back to make sure it wouldn't get any worse. I decided to make it to the first hut, and see how I feel in the morning.

And while we were hiking to the hut, it felt like were in a photograph! The scenery was indescribable with the sunsetting too, it made it all really magical.

The first person to greet us is a couple staying there taking care of the hut, and it's a super friendly guy wearing a Santa hat, with Christmas lights running around the frame of the hut they're staying in. It was pretty cool!

Setup my tent and start making my first meal: spaghetti and salami with some pizza sauce and garlic. It was yum! And to clean out the bowl a bit more, I heated up water in the bowl with the remaining pasta sauce, added some garlic and pepper, a chicken stock cube, and what do you have? Garlic chicken tomato soup! I gave that to the Japanese girl cause she was still a bit hungry and cold. After that little feast, I felt like a new man! Went to bed shortly afterwards and had a one of the worst nightmares ever. Oddly enough, everyday on the hike, I had a nightmare. I'm not going to talk about them, because I found them very very disturbing (and if you know me, then you know I have no real boundaries in my vulgarities).

Something I forgot to mention, on most of the camp sites, the camping spots were on platforms with wires to hold your tent down, it was pretty convenient and comfortable too.

Second day was going to be a pretty easy hike, however the weather wasn't the greatest. Didn't really see anything all too amazing. It was just a bit chilly with some slight rain. And this is were Ai decided to keep on going leaving our trio to become a duo, because she had miscalculated the amount of time she was going to be on the track.

Third day was the real killer. It was a long 16km in amazing weather. Nice and balmy. Scenery was spectacular too, just unreal. Once we got to the hut, we decided to add another 8km to the hike by climbing the mountain by the hut because the next day was meant to be a wet one. Getting to the base of the mountain was super wet and muddy. Saw another snake and got a photo of it too. The two Germans I was doing this bit were pretty insistent on getting a photo of the snake and felt that they were borderline harassing the snake trying to get their perfect shot. It was a pretty steep hike up the mountain and when we got close the summit, we were greeted by a policeman and paramedic. Someone died about 30-40 minutes prior. We then had to walk around the body through the bush, and when we got back on the track, we met some other hikers and the guide to the man who died. She had given him CPR, which made her a bit shook up. For obvious reasons. He was 59 years old and in good health. Don't really know what to say anymore, except it was a pretty big buzz kill. And when we got to the top, I couldn't really enjoy the view with what we saw and being complete exhausted. The other people I was there with didn't bring any torches with them either, so we couldn't walk all the way to the end (the peak was sort of a plateau) and had to turn back before it got too dark, because the markers for the track were hard to see and the track was pretty technical. Newbs.

From the top, we could see helicopters flying around picking up the wife of the recently deceased, and transporting the body too. Pretty awkward.

Make our way down and have a feed and go to bed with a nice surprise on my door step: a jar of crunchy peanut butter as a Christmas present from one of the hikers. Yum!

Next morning was Christmas Eve, and it was raining. People were deciding to wait for the rain to die down, but I decided to just go for it. Popped on my rain gear, and started pushing through it. The start of the hike was through the forest, which made it not as wet and windy. However, once I got up to the exposed bit, I my temperature dropped pretty quick. After standing around for no even 5 minutes, I had to get a move. I was getting pretty close to start freezing, which would of been really bad at that point, but just started hiking again, and then got my temperature back up.

Once I got into the forest again, I found a rock and took a small break, where I was having a really calm, peaceful moment, and started to think about my friends and family and felt pretty good. It was like I was in moment of Zen. 10km later, I reached the hut (Kia Ora Hut) which was nice and toasty full of people who had started a bit earlier than me. Clothes hanging everywhere, like the alley ways of Naples in Italy. Funny. One of the girls there started drawing Christmas pictures and using the condensation on the windows as glue to put them on the window, added a bit of spirit to the cabin.

And my Christmas dinner was nothing exciting, except for dessert: chocolate dunked in the peanut butter. It was a bush version of Reese's Pieces, yuma-dum-dum!

I decided to crash in the cabin that night cause it was a warm and because all my gear was completely wet. What a mistake. A guy next to me was snoring like no other. And on top of that, had an awesome nightmare. Yay.

Next day was going to be long one, decided to hike all the way to Narcussus Hut (final hut) because the chaffing I had going on was pretty horrible. Like, really horrible. I was running out of skin basically. Checked out three waterfalls, a really nice hut which was setup just last year, and on my last few kilometers, I had a young German walking with me, who was serious unprepared and had hardly any packing. I then just gunned it, cause my feet were killing me and I wanted to make some proper dinner, so apparently I pulled off the last bit in 40 minutes, it was about 5km I think, and I totally destroyed the kid. He couldn't believe I was walking at the speed I was. It was funny to hear him wine like he did.

Stayed at the hut for two nights, just to enjoy the scenery. On the 2nd day, I went off the track and tried to find Lake Laura, which was probably the dumbest thing I've done in a while. Tassie bush is pretty intense. I got about 500 meters into and then decided to turn around because I told some people at camp to call emergency services if I didn't back at a certain time. I wish I had told them to wait longer, because I didn't find the lake and I'm pretty sure I was close.

I first found the creek was being fed by the lake, and then tried to follow it to the lake, but then it just disappeared into the ground and I didn't really know what to do. On my way back, I tried a different route, which mainly meant walking over all the fallen trees to cover ground a lot quicker. On the last two trees, once I got to the end of it, I realized I was about two meters above the ground. After doing some amateur monkey skills, I got to the ground and kept on moving. I reached Lake St. Clair (way back to the hut) and walked back along the shoreline to my tent. And man, I was just completely pooped.

Oh, I had to cross a river which was pretty nippy to get started on the hike, so once I got back to the crossing point, re-packed my gear into the dry bags and swam across. Cold as shit, but good ole army training taught me how to cope with that shockingly cold water. Breathe slowly and don't stop moving. Once I got back to the other side, a woman who watched me gave me the great news that if anything were to happen to me, she wouldn't come in to get me. And I'm pretty sure she meant it. People can be really great.

Rest of the day was just hanging out and talking to the people there. I also couldn't be bothered to walk the finally bit, so I reserved a spot on the ferry boat and had a nice cruisey ride to the bus.

Lake St. Clair had a visitors center where I got a book called Road Kill Recipes, sadly it's only for satire purposes. Funny recipes. Also ended up getting a ride back to Hobart instead of having to wait ages for the bus. Got back to Hobart and felt super good.

I'm not very proud of how I wrote this, it's pretty simple and what not, but I'm pretty exhausted and have some more stuff to write, so here's a quick conclusion of the Overland Track: Do it. Just do it. 10/10, except for the underwear department, need to find something to help against my chaffing.

Before Falls

Before the Falls Festival ate some great food at the Taste Tasmania Food and Fine Festival, and then Stubbo's friends decided to make Milky Joes (watch the Nightmare of Milky Joe from the Mighty Boosh to understand this). Basically, people made of coconuts on bamboo sticks. Funny as hell! Also texted the radio station and got our names mention, and the hostesses felt we shouldn't do such creepy things on our free time. Greatness!

Falls Festival

This was my first several day Music event, it was for two nights, and it was freaking awesome! I only knew of three bands playing there (Moby, Hilltop Hoods, and Sarah Blasko), and the rest was a surprise. And it was a great surprise!

Festival was a lot of fun! Was hanging out with Stubbo and some people from the Overland Track, which was really cool.

Also did something called 10 minute Disco which entails going into a shipping container, and then the DJ just plays all of this random dance music and you just go ape shit inside. The DJ had this funky wig which resembled the center character of this picture, he was also in some scary old grandpa type loose fitting underwear. Also, there was a dude wearing Mexican wrestling mask. And another one wear giant star outfit made of foam and people kept of pushing him around and making him crouch surf. It was funny as hell to watch and experience.

The band before the main act, The Midnight Juggernauts, played an awesome set, and had the best weather for it. There was a lightning storm going on all around us, with rain, and their music is the one you want to play when the world is coming to an end. It wasn't like, I hate my life, it needs to end. No, it's...just awesome. And watching lighting crawl along the bottom side of cloud while intense music is being played. Holy hell! I don't want to forget that, it was just incredible!

The count down act was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and oh yeah, they know how to rock! Just surreal, all of it.

Festival gets a 5/5 rating for sure. Full points! And for the backdrop of the main stage, you could see the ocean. The venue was incredible, and very well organized. And also got to see the good side of humanity too. I took a nap during the day, and when I woke up, the group next to saw me, and started making sure that I was alright, seeing if I needed anything. Cause that day, it was easily 35 degrees. An absolute scorcher of a day.

Ok, my fingers are bleeding now. I'll leave you with some photos to enjoy. In a summary, every since I got back to Oz, it's been fucking awesome in every possible way. I truly love my life some times, and the past few days have been pure love for it.

Here are some photos.

Sydney to Melbourne - via thumb

I wake up at 07.30 and go to grab my clothes from the laundromat around the corner. I know I've already missed my intended train because of this. I had meant to pick up the clothes the day before, but jet lag threw me into a small coma which in turn made me miss my dinner plans with some friends - not cool. Watched a movie with them instead and had a small chat, better than nothing, eh?

Pack my bags, have some breakie, and charge out the door with my hostess/friend from Sydney. We say good-bye/see'ya later by her bus stop and I start my small march over to the train station. Destination: Dapto. After two trains, 2 hours and 20 minutes of travel, I finally arrive. Next goal, find the recommended hitch-hiking spot which I found here: Hitchwiki. Zoom in on the map and you can see exactly where they recommended.

After about say 10 minutes, my adventure begins! A professional prawner picks me up and drops me off 10km down the road, where he feels I'll have a better chance of getting picked up. He also recommended I start panning for gold in TAS when I'm on the farm.

From this point on, the longest I have to wait is about 10 minutes. Great day! 5 rides later, I get dropped off at Ulladulla. My last ride was heading all the way to Melbourne, but I was getting some funny vibes from him, so I jumped boat in Ulladulla because i) the funny vibes ii) because two of the other rides recommended it. Walk over to the visitors center and see what information I can get about the area. They said it's a down with great surrounding beauty, and a very quiet in general too. Perfect is what I thought! They let me leave my bags there while I was out exploring the town, which took about 10 minutes (but did it in about 1 hour). It's very small. I then decide to have a beer at the local pub, the Marlin Hotel, where upon I meet an ex-Pro surfer, now professional painter. He bought me a beer and said that I could crash at his place, something I was somewhat expecting from the small town mentality. However, the woman at the info center had recommended a place for me to crash by the beach instead, so I was wondering what to do. So I decided to let things roll and see where it leads me.

After some more beer and talking, it was time for me to go and grab my kit. When I return, I buy the guy a beer and keep on talking and meet some more of the locals. It was awesome man! And something I had never seen before too, they set out 2-3 big plates of small "nibbles" composed of salami, cheeses, hams, crackers, olives, and small onions out for the customers, and once all that was gone, out came the brownies and other yummy delights! It was so great tasting and awesome too see a pub do something like that. Anyway, back to my pub hosts. After some more talking and, I saw this on his friends mainly, that they were all a bunch of piss heads (read: alcoholics) and druggies. I was threatened by one of the older ones when I patted his shoulder.

"Oy! Don't touch me or I'll knock your fucking teeth out!"

Yeah...I said I was sorry and planned on keeping my hands to myself for the remainder of the time. The surf dude disappears and returns with a big smile, saying that he's scored some drugs. Oh, did I forget to mention that this same dude claimed he no longer needed drugs because it almost killed him. Hmm...food for thought I reckon. He then goes home, totally forgetting his invitation he had made before hand, which I was some what relieved by. And something else which was really cool about this pub is that they had a bus to take you home or to the pub! For Free! So no drink drivers with that kind of service! I reckon it should be encourage globally. And yes, I can see problems with it to, but the idea is great non-the-less!

I tell some of the guys left behind that I planned on sleeping on the beach, but non of them were all supportive of the idea (I never mentioned which beach I was thinking). They all felt I should either check into the caravan park or into the pub for a mere 20 bucks. Which is pretty decent, but I wasn't to keen on the idea of paying for accommodation when I had been lugging a bloody tent with me all the way from Sweden. Before it got completely dark, I jump on the bus and before I get to tell it where to take me, some of my new found friends decided to jump on the bus as well because it was time for them to go home. They all insist on me staying at the caravan park, so I get driven there against my will. I tell them all that I'll see them in the morning and pretend to start heading into the park. The second the van disappeared, I leg it to the Bombie. It took maybe 15 minutes to walk there, teetering on tipsy and drunk. And once I get there, it was empty, not a soul to be seen! By the time I get there, I felt pretty sober. So I pitch my tent, and start prepping my dinner. The good old rice, tuna and garlic mix that I was making during my last trip too! Memories came flooding back :D At this point, something scared me half to death! I see some silhouettes coming down the hill from which I came and start walking towards me. They were just some locals teens coming out for a mid night dip. Didn't really say anything to them, they were harmless.

I wake up in the middle of the night and THEN I was drunk. Very drunk, very strange.

Wake up again, this time there's light, a very soft light. The sound of the crashing waves is soothing and the air is salty and cool. I was in heaven.

I crawl out of my tent and then I remembered why I love the nature and travelling. That moment in time is something I can't explain. Actually, it was like coming back home from a long travel. It was a sense of joy and glee, I can compare it to when I saw my friends back in Sweden again.

After eating some dry Weet-bix, going for a dip in the ocean, standing on the edge of the reef, feeling the water pass through my legs at calf height, I was forced to leave in order to catch a ride out of there to my next destination, which would hopefully be Eden.

It was a long day. A lot of waiting compared to the previous day, and a lot of forcing myself to keep on going and not crawling into the bush to setup camp. And boy was it worth it. I met the owner of EchoTree.com.au which was a real trip. A very mellow man, very simple. He invited me to his home for lunch and to show me how to make didgeridoos. I have never seen up close or experienced such a low class of living before, upon seeing that, it was even more reenforcement of me knowing that I have a good life. Stuff was everywhere, trash, food, dishes, everything. The son there, to clean his knife of some weird tasting roast nut loaf, just swopped the knife in the air throwing the loose bits on the floor. And the way he talked to his dad and vice versa was definitely only things I've read in books and seen in movies. Yeah, I felt like I should say something to him privately, but who am I to say anything. After hearing some of his past, I concluded that he never really lived in a real family, so I guess he doesn't know any better.

Apparently, he lived in the bush with Aboriginals in Queensland for like 4 years, hunting everyday, catching his food, and everything. I found it pretty amazing to say the least. Also checked out his workshop and he explained a bit of how to do it all, which was pretty interesting. He also explained how to actually play the didg too, in a way that made perfect sense and I've been trying the technique a bit too and it's a bit tricky, but, obviously, doable.

Once I felt I had out stayed my welcome, I jumped back on the road, and then the most random ride ever came. Long story short: Two alternative Aussie chicks pick me up in an old Land Rover which was seen just about every corner of Australia, and take me to the town where they were going to meet their friends. A few minutes after arriving to the town, their friends invite me to a party out in the bush. I was a bit reluctant, but decided it would be one hell of an adventure, and it would be something I would regret if I turned it down. And I'm guessing you know what I did, right? Of course I said yes!

It was an amazing party, full of great people. I became known as the Hitchhiker, and when I presented myself as a hitchhiker, one person didn't believe me until I convinced them otherwise. It was someone's birthday party, and they had setup a 6 deck turn table bench, and all these lights, a projector, a drum set, and the works man! I've never seen a setup like that for such a small party (we were only about 30 people). And a mock band jumped on stage presenting themselves as the Packages, from, wait for it: Sweden! What are the odds of that, eh? Really! Utter craziness! People were offering me beer all the time, it was great, although I refused to get completely lost cause I still didn't really know the people there, although they seemed pretty harmless. In retrospect, I think I was in shock that I was in that situation in the first place.

The next day I go to the local watering hole which is a small collection of water where the locals went to cool off. And when I got there, I knew I was as far off the beaten track as anyone could get. I knew I was alive.

After a nice dip, and a chat with the people who drove me there, it was time to head back and half way, my original hosts picked me up to drop me off back from where they picked me up. They were awesome, packed all my gear into the car and everything. The warmth of people here is just overwhelming sometimes. Ok, granted, my kit was right next to the car, but the fact that they drove out to the watering hole to pick me up with my kit already in place, made me smile :D

I'm now about 100 meters from where they picked me up from, which, by my standards, is progress :P Slow, but progress non-the-less. After about 10-15minutes, a family picks me up and drives me out to Eden where I check out the local whale museum which had been recommended to me by another ride. It was pretty interesting to read what's happened in that area. For example, how there was a semi symbiotic relationship between the local whalers and killer whales. The killer whales would round up the hump backed whales or other ones, and herd them towards the whalers, where they then killed and collected what they wanted, and in return, left the carcass out at sea for the killer whales to eat (they favour the tongue and lips apparently).

Once it was about 12.20, I felt it was time to start making some more progress, and I was pretty lucky with this ride. It was a group of backpackers heading towards Melbourne with the same time frame as me, score! The group was composed of two Dutch, one English, and one Italian. A very cheery bunch! Oh, by the way, all of them were girls, which was pretty cool. But the English one was probably the more interesting ones, since we had some good deep and meaningfuls. She was 32 years old, studying and practicing alternative medicine like healing stones and what not. She was a very spiritual person and had some interesting things to say and an interesting background. She had some troubles a few years back, but finally got back on track and is kicking some serious ass now compared to before.

After some driving we decide to crash at Paradise Beach, which wasn't too much of a paradise, but it was really nice non-the-less. Once we had setup our tents, we went to talk to our neighbouring backpackers from Belgium, who had started a nice big camp fire to keep us warm and the mossi's away. A great group of 4 people who'll be working on the farm down here in Tassie (yup, gave'em the a tips as to where to call). We'll see what crazy adventures I'll have with them, eh?

In morning, after a great nights sleep, I woke up and took a small stroll along the beach, which, without any big surprise, was just amazing. Took a dip and did some body surfing in the waves which was a blast. Caught one or two really good waves, and then I got some good sun too. Maybe too much. Burned my back a little bit, but not too bad which was a relief.

Once we had packed our gear down, we made our final stretch towards Melbourne, where I was almost pissing myself of fright when we got into town. The Dutch girls were driving pretty bad at that point (not saying it had anything to do with them being girls...or maybe I am :P), mainly because it was such high traffic, they didn't know where they were, and I don't think they had a lot of big city, left-handed driving experience, which added together can cause some issues. I know it did for me, so I can't judge them.

Got dropped off at Franklin St, which is downtown and then had to find my way out to my host's house which was in one of the greater suburbs of Melbourne, and that was a real pain to reach, but I made it.

Next day go for a stroll through Melbourne with another set of eyes. Let me explain.

The first time I was in Melbourne I was with Ms. D to visit my dad, and on my 3rd day in Oz, she dumped my monkey ass, in Melbourne. Seeing as how I couldn't stay in the country, I left back to NZ to lick my wounds. I then came back to Melbourne about 7 months later, and there was still a bitter taste in my mouth. But this time around, I saw what Melbourne really has to offer, other than bad memories, and grew a liking to it. Met some of the local CSer's there and said that all my travelling was due to me being traded as a male prostitute from birth and that my English was as good as it is due to copious amounts of porn. I then told them the truth, and they found it all pretty funny.

My host was pretty fun to talk to, hearing how she saw her travelling and how it affected her children, along with her experiences in countries I had never been to. And talking about her childrens upbringing, and mine, was, well, confusing. I'm reading Third Culture Kid (TCK) at the moment, and it is driving me up the bloody wall. I'm getting more and more confused as to what sort of person I am, or better yet, which category of TCK I fall into, and so far, there doesn't seem to be one. I really don't fit in anywhere it feels like, which I accepted during high school. I thought the book would give me answers, but just brings out frustration and confusion in me. FUBAR.

Anyway! My third day there, I had to fly out at 08.15 , and from where I lived, caused a bit of problem. I had a taxi come and pick me up to drive me to the bus terminal, but the taxi driver was trying to convince me to pay the extra 10-15 dollars and he could take me all the way to the airport. I never said yes, just tried to agree on a fixed price, because it was going to get steep. But, I repeat, I NEVER agreed to him taking me to the airport. All of a sudden I see that we're driving to the airport. I ask him what he was doing and he said he was driving me to the airport. I told him that I never agreed to him driving me, which got him a bit upset, and I was pretty keen on giving him an ear full, but since the meter was a low as it was, relative to where we were, I thought it would be just as expensive to take a taxi all the way. We keep on going. He stops the meter at 80 dollars, yes I think to myself. Doable price. Not the greatest, but doable.

When I pay the fair, and I get the receipt, it was for 94 dollars! Why? 4 bucks for the toll road, and then tax on top of that with the 80 bucks. I wanted to throw the douche nossel over the hand rails to his death. Dirty fucking lying son of whore! I shit you not. First off, he presumes that I wanted him to take me to the airport, and then neglects to tell me the other expenses on top of the fair. Another reason why I can really hate people. And I mean hate. Well, I hope he gets what's coming to him, like getting robbed or flies off the road.

Am I over reacting, most probably, but I seriously can't take it when people "forget" to tell you vital information. Can I blame myself? Sure, because it's super common over the entire globe that you pay more than what it says on the taxi meter, because some ball draining idiot decides not to tell you the extra fees involved. Bah! Yeah, I'm working myself up, and so I'm not going to talk about it anymore.

While we're taxing in the plane, I crash and wake up not too long after take off, seeing Melbourne from the skies above and clear blue sea in front of it. Brought back memories from when I was a kid and saw that same sight of the land going into the see, thinking that every body of land was literally floating in the ocean, like an iceberg, but made of dirt.

And at the airport my Tassie friend is there to pick me up and drive me back to his place, where I am right now, writting this blog for you all. However, before I started writting this, he took me to where he works and got to taste a few very fine whiskeys and gin, and after that I went to my favourite bakery in Hobart, the BakeHouse, open 24/7. Filled with amazing pies and yummy delights.

All that I have left to do now, while I'm here in Hobart is to prep for my hike up in the mountains, which I'm pretty stoked about!

I also noticed someting, I have ALOT of green with me: green sleeping bag, green swim shorts, green serong, green shoes, green t-shirt, green shorts, green socks, green underwear, green dish washing liquid, green shirt, green belt, green jumper, green mug, green bracelet, green bag, and green rain pants. Funny thing is, blue is my favourite colour.

One sad thing happened too, very sad actually. After 10 long years of being in my possession, after some serious abuse, my Oakley's, which had been given to me from my parents for getting good grades, split in two the other day. The were in my backpack, like usual, and then when I leaned on my bag, they snapped. Why wasn't I wearing them, because I have a theory that people wouldn't want to pick up a hitchhiker whose hiding his/her eyes (othe people have confirmed this theory), so instead of always taking them off when a car passes, I just left them in my bag. Hopefully my insurance will cover it, and if not, well, I need some sunnies. The sun is starting to affect my eye sight too I've noticed. Oh well.

Ok, that's all I have to say for now and I leave you now with these links:

My hitchhiking route.
Some photos.
And some videos 1 2 3.

E N J O Y !

Round 2 - FIGHT!

I’m back. Where you ask? Oz. It almost felt like coming back home, but just a different home.

The flight was good, but nothing too special. Just about the exact same movies were on the menu as when I flew back to Sweden, so I got to re-watch a few movies a few more times. Yay. I guess, the best leg of the flight was from Beijing to Sydney, mainly cause I had someone to talk to, which made it all that more bearable. They guy who sat next to me from Stockholm to Sydney didn’t speak a whole lot of English, however he did study in Stockholm.

Now what? Going to leave Sydney on Friday via hitchhiking down to Melbourne, and then jump the Tasman Sea over to Tasmania, and then prep for my hike through the mountains.

Hmmm…I thought I had a few things to say, but I obviously don’t. Currently a bit lost in the whole jet lag thing, so bah.

Until…when…later. Take it easy and I’ll talk to you guys later!

I did it, I can't believe I did it!

For my trip to Oz, I've been doing a bit of reading up, experimenting, research, and watching a few videos on YouTube as to how to decend ropes (absail) and also climbing up the them. Well, last night, I did it!

I went over to Karlberg where there's a cliff face about 11 meters high where I was testing this stuff out. Was this stupid? Oh yes it was! I originally wanted to try some of the things out at an indoor climbing hall, but that didn't work out all too great since I need a green card (climbing license) to setup an anchor up top. I asked if they could set it up for me, but no go, which was really lame. So I decided to teach myself instead - as usual. Taught myself to ride a bike, ski, fix paintball guns, etc. Might as well add climbing up ropes and absailing using different techniques to the list as well.

Anyway, my friend Ruffio came by to be my spotter during my shenanegans, which was quite a relief. I was mainly worried about the ropes up at the top, like someone would think it's a great idea to cut them off while I'm half way, which would suck a lot. I told Ruffio this too, and he felt I had lost a bit of faith in humanity. Well, I lost it a long time ago, even more so apon reading the news of a 17 year old boy killing a 16 year old girl because she said something he didn't like. Oh, and a there was a couple where the defakto (man) thought it would be a great idea to tie his "better half" down and put objects into her private orifices. Did I mention both of these happened here in Sweden? No? They did, within two weeks. So yeah, a fruit cake walking by cutting my ropes wouldn't surprise me at all.

Back to the story. Before I left my flat, I emptied my camera of photos, so Ruffio could record the whole thing. Since I was to hyped and nervous, I forgot my camera at home. Bummer. He used my phone instead, and the results are crap. Whatever.

I setup a 3 point redundent anchor system (ie, the rope was connected at three different locations for maximum safety), and I also had a safety line tied on in case while I was climbing over the rails I slipped, I wouldn't plummet to my death. My first decent I used a climbing harness my uncle gave me which he had won a long time ago and a figure 8 unit as a brake; basically I was using all the "correct" equipment on the first go to see that I still had the technique down. Well, I did!

Okay, so I have repelled before, this wasn't my first time. Maybe my, I don't know, 5th or 6th time doing it. So I know how to go down it, I just wasn't too sure how to setup the anchor and what not.

I get to the bottom, and then it was time to get back up! I used two prussik knots: one as a "step", the other as a dynamic anchor. This is where I learned it: Climbing Tools: Self Rescue: Two Prussiks. And who said YouTube was bad? No one as far as I've heard actually.

Climbing back up went pretty smoothly, but it wore my arm down a bit. But then I got a technique where I don't have to wrap around the rope like I was doing at first. Man, it was pretty awesome! Now that is something I have never done before, but I did it successfully!

I then tried it all again, this time with an imporvised harness and a knot instead of the figure 8 brake piece. And it went just as well.

All in all: it was awesome and pretty happy I took the "risks" I took.

Now I just have to practice rope retrievel.