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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Living from a van...

Five days on the great ocean road provided some great photo opportunities, and as I've received criticism for my lack of pictures from australia, and a particular request from parents wishing to see what I look like these days, I've put this page together. Follow the link for a pictorial perusal of the southern coast of Oz, featuring cameo appearances by; parts of me.



Thursday, September 16, 2004

Australia Part I - The pictures lied!!

The catchphrase on the Australian Tourist Board site says "Australia, A Different Light" - and I agree, the light is different. So is the temperature, rainfall and windchill. Somebody needs to have a word with that tourist board. It's brass monkey's down here. 9c is an average day, with as much rainfall as the grey spring gloom of a Cork skyline. Moan moan moan, but in fairness, this is a blatant case of false advertising.

Anyhoo, rising each morning to brave the "different" environment, I have spent the last 10 days packing boxes and designing webpages in a North Melbourne industrial park. This Saturday I set off in a van with a fellow Celt, of the Cornish variety, for Adelaide. We will be taking the Great Ocean Road, which will be nice. I hear there's a few places to stand on a cliff and have the wind cut through the one jumper you brought to the land of "Red Earth under a white-hot sun scorching ... warm evening air breezing, steak on a barbeque sizzling...". Cynical? Bitter? Noooooooo, not I. Well, maybe bitterly cold...

Melbourne does have the "largest market in the southern hemisphere" though, and the people are all certifiable, so it's been fun. I will continue with my quest for a 'barbie' on which to throw some shrimp...

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Bali - Sunsets with Dubs.

I'll keep this short, I doubt many people want to hear about 30 days of beach and surf. Having met Maeve and Brid in a smog-choked Jakarta, we took a thirty hour bus to Bali. What can I say, it's a lovely little island, and although we only left Kuta twice, we still got a good feel for the culture.

The majority of our time was spent wrestling with eight foot fibreglass boards in large, punishing surf. Although we don't have any
photographic evidence, we did pick up enough injuries to bear witness to our experiences.

Bali is a thriving little tourist centre with a remarkably laid back population. They work at their own pace, and are as happy to sit down and chat about your hometown as they are to sell you anything in their possesion. Despite being continually hounded to buy buy buy, we spent an incredibly relaxing four weeks on the island. One whole month in Indonesia and all I saw was Bali: I'd say I've been disowned by the authentic backpacker's association, but judging by Maeve's response to my travelling stories, that's probably a good thing.

So ends the South East Asian leg of my journey, and with lighter pockets and a heavier heart, I leave for the Antipodes: countries where you shout 'Taxi!' at cars, and where you have to wait until you're within ten metres of a shop before you know how much their goods cost...


It was nice, but I'm ready for a little western culture again.

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