Week 1 - "up it"!

On Monday we started our first week of torture, oh, I mean work. We all went to a place called Menindee which is about 3hr 45 min away from Mildura. Didn’t actually get there till about 2.00pm as we had another unscheduled lye in. Well what can you do when the boss is still catching his zzz’s. Menindee was pretty small and you aint getting any bread after 3pm and the town is practically closed after 7pm!

So you wanna know what it is im doing exactly, gallivanting around oz, working my butt off wearing the most scruffy, torn, muddy clothes and having sun lotion dripping from my migraine'd forehead? Well, that’s a good question. A question I have often asked myself when I suddenly (and I mean suddenly) found myself working 11 hour days, swallowing 10 varieties of fly, taking a leak in a bush (in the open) and beginning to resemble a victim of domestic violence, due to the many scrams, cuts and bruises my body has started to collect.

It’s not all that bad really especially as I have Lucy and Simon for moral support and the gang “testosterone alert” bunch of lads from Europe and Oz are suffering with us. After a long days slog we all indulge in our therapy session of mutual complaining. We did have a freak weather day on Tuesday when the temperature reached a skin melting 44 degrees! It got so bad I lost all dignity and resorted to dropping ice cubes down my pants. Much to the amusement of Lucy. Factor 50 liberally rubbed onto every patch of bare skin was still not enough to fend off that mega sun day! Especially when we were constructing vines and working with the most inorganic tools you could ask for. Drills, nuts, bolts, wooden posts, fatal lengths of wire, (got cut in the face by one random piece flying through the air) Simon almost got garroted so that was a lucky escape. Not what I was expecting when I decided to try a bit of fruit picking down under. As I later realised, I appear to have got my seasons mixed up and have arrived about 4 months too early.

Well we made it through the week and I now have a nice little list of vocational and survival techniques to add to my arsenal of skills. I am currently able to demonstrate tractor driving (instantly felt like a farmer), vine building, dirt blowing, kitchen cleaning (know what you’re thinking, it was a bloody stinking kitchen which had not seen a mop or sponge for at least the last 2 decades), frog detection, spider killing, fly eating and the art of eating your 2 minute noodles off your chest as you’re too wrecked to eat.

The weekend started once we got back which was about 9pm Friday night. A quick shower and antiseptic application and we were ready to hit Mildura “Lock up your sons we shouted” even Simon! ("watch it", dimmers- editor). Spent Saturday chilling and recovering from Friday and Sunday we did a bit of wine tasting. All events were leading unto my 30th birthday, which was Monday. Had a nice day off and spent it chilling with some more wine and lovely food and sun and bowling and I wont go on as I wouldn’t want to rub it in for the folks back home.

Simon and Lucy also organised a really cool treasure hunt for me at home. So after some clue reading and prezzie spotting I can say my first week has been really cool. I’m loving Oz and hopefully it’s loving me!

Australia

Arrived at 3am on Thursday after a mammouth journey. So, after a taxi, 2 planes, 1 train, 1 coach, a car and an 18 hour well deserved sleep, we are here. Down under, but not upside down!

We are staying with Lucy and Rob in their lovely house in Mildura, which is a small town about 6 hours from Melbourne in the west of Australia. The scenery on route was really cool. Blue skies, round fluffy clouds (which look like they'd been velcroed on). Your eyes are filled with tones of yellow and gold, hues of green with a flash of violet from a isolated blossom tree and rolling bits of bush. Some of the trees look truly mad, with their mangled branchs and scorched white trunks. The roads are long and not always flat! 4x4's are a wise choice here. The houses are like something out of neighbours and I keep thinking I'm in a holiday village. Its just so bright and dreamy and relaxed and there's icecream and donuts and hotdogs on every corner. Lucy, Rob (and ellie the dog's place) is about 20 minutes from the centre and is surrouned by horses, cows and birds. So a little better on my waistband!

We met some of their friends and Robs brother and family on Saturday night and had our first aussie barbi! Minus the shrimp though.

Everyone is really friendly and helpful and it appears to be a natural trait rather than put on. There's one thing that I love about the aussie lifestyle and that's the convenience of having my clothes dry within about 15 minutes! The temperature is averaging 35-40 degrees per day and you have no choice but to get used to the routine of sun lotion, sweat, dust, squinting, flies and plenty of water.

Sunday, once we'd all eventually risen from our alcohol induced slumber and finally got Rob's boat out of the shed (which took about 2 hours) as we were scuppered by the need for a fork lift and a spanner! We went down to Murray river and met up with Vince and Jordi ( Rob's mates) and attempted to water ski.

BLOODY BRILLIANT !

Spent our last night having a farewell chinese with the guys at our hotel. Felt I needed a little more time here to explore the surrounding area and appreciate the culture a bit more. However we only scratched the service yet again but can at least say we had a pleasant stay. Nice to recharge before our long haul to Australia. We're gonna miss the evenings in watching star wars and being waited on hand and foot.

Days 5 & 6

Ventured down to the pool. Not very busy as its not peak season. The skies are a feast for any 'twitchers' eye. Birds of prey hover and circle the little parrots and every so often a large white and grey seagal looking bird, gentley goes past, unhurried and relaxed. Our ears are filled with all sorts of sounds from splashing and laughter to crow cries, chirps and squeaks from the canope roof tops. There are hardle any hornets or flies though. I only have 1 mosquito bite, so far. Everyday seems to get hotter and I have to remind myself its November! Have been thinking about the cold and dark mornings back home and the shops that are probably filling with xmas decorations, toy ads and the sound of slade blasting out of every shop speaker. Sri Lanka has non of that. No reminder at all that a festive season is on the way. Suits me fine!

By around 5 the pool area is surrounded by bats! Massive wing span and very furry faces. Theres also a lot of crows darting about and sometimes they take a drink from the pool. Doesn't instill confidence in me then, with regards to the lake right next door! Took another walk and this time we cracked it. We found our destination no problem. Think the locals are getting used to that whiter than white (and now a bit pink) couple of westies, walking through their streets in the middle of the boiling hot day.

Days - 3 & 4

Saturday we attempted a walk to the Cinneman Grand, the hotel our friend mark is staying at for two weeks. After more alarming looks from the doorman we were given loose directions by foot. We passed locals selling spanners, limes and an aray of other junk from makeshift stalls, cows pulling carts, lots of locals staring at us, questions of our destination from army guys carrying guns and endless calls from tuck tuck drivers. Well it didn't take long before we realised we were lost, 1-0 to the tuck tucks.

The locals are either hindu or buddist and most have a smile for you. Some are interested in where we are from and want to know about why we are here and what we think of their country. Its really nice chatting but I couldn't help thinking (based on our experience so far) that they may want a tip just for talking to us! There does appear to be a tourist tarrif going on which is a little sad and unfair. The temple we visited on the first day was very nice. We had to remove our shoes and quietly observe the priest praying and worshiping the she god. They offer bowls made of banana leaves filled with lots of bananas, to the local poor people. They also make neck chains made of jasmin flowers. Very pretty. The streets here are pretty dirty and shanty like, but there are pockets of industry and growth which can only continue to bring more money into the country. People seem generally happy if not always moving. The roads are busy and I'm surprised there are not deaths on every road, everyday, as the traffic lights are totally ignored and zebra crossings are a joke.

On Sunday we had lunch with Irangas parents and family in their house. A really nice, out of the way property surrounded with palm trees and gardens. They served an authentic Sri Lankan meal which was delicious! We met Irangas family and got to see how Sri Lankans live.

Sri Lanka - days 1 & 2

Staying at the Trans Asia Hotel. Soooo nice to have carpet between my toes again! Its a 5 star hotel and simple luxury for us after our hosteling adventures. Lots of palm trees, dust, smog and curious Sri Lankans. Its averaging 28-33 degrees everyday but as its quite polluted here the heat is more of a worry than the sun. Met up with our friends Lee and Iranga who just got married. Friends we used to work with are also here on holiday so more people to get drunk with!

Spent the first day sleeping. Second day, ventured down to laundrey to get my stuff sorted for oz. Wish I hadn't when the guy at the counter proceeded to empty my bag and sort through my pink panther thongs on the front desk!

That afternoon we decided to go for a stroll. No sooner had we left the hotel (i must add here, no-one walks in Sri Lanka especially not foriegners, so the hotel staff thought we were mad when we asked them for directions to the shops and bank) we were approached by a lovely local who said he worked at our hotel and was on his way to a hindu ceremony that we should not miss. So we willingly got into a tuck tuck (a three wheel taxi with motorbike controls, no seat belts and no doors) and ended up on a very scenic route to this ceremony. Well long story short, he didn't work for the hotel and he wanted paying for his time. We were done up like a couple of curried kippers! Much to the amusement of our friends and Sri Lankan allies. Simon and I are recovering slowly and have vowed not to fall into any asian antics again! Not easy though, as soon as you leave the hotel or any western refuge you're hounded by the tuck tuck brigade. There are some really nice locals though. The hotel and shop staff can't help you enough and I spoke to really nice girl in the street who was more than pleased to meet a couple of lost lemons from the UK.

37 thousand feet up!

This has gotta be the most weird entry on my blog I have written so far. I am currently on the 1st of our flights to Sri Lanka via Dubai. Emirates is officially the best airline I have ever flown with. If the cool comfy seats, personal tv screen (with no less than 140 movies to choose from), tidy massive meal and smooth ride (touch wood) weren't enough, you even get free, yes free, booze! They have also got a forward and downward facing camera on the plane which you can access and via your tv. Crazy! Lovely stary night effect on the cealing too which is a nice touch. Currently watching transformers (Optimus Prime rocks)! I should really begin where I left off which was yesterday just disembarking the ferry. We arrived in the town of patras (and I mean in the town as the ferry was so close I could have ordered my starbucks from the deck)! Anyway we got the shitest train ever to athens, not actually knowing if we have gotton on the correct train. Stayed 1 night and then we got our flight.

Dubai airport very nice, very big and very Arabian.

Athens was nice

"A ferry nice morning"

Last nights sleep was ok if not a little painful and dizzy. Banged my poor head a couple of times and we entered some rough sea at some point too. Someone else in my dorm must have suffered too, by the smell of vomit in the ladies, erhh! By morning the sea was calm and the sky was a beautiful blue. Perfect start to the day. In the distance white fluffy clouds were dancing around the tops of enormous rocky mountains, and as we got closer to port the town of Patras welcomed us. Very nice place, lots of people and bars and shops. Looks like a touristy place for the summer. The train station was literally a stones throw from the dock. So small infact I was sure (if not secretely hopeing) Thomas the tank engine would come chugging round the corner.

Superfast Ferries

Whayhey!! We're on board. A new mode of transport to enjoy or endure depending on how you look at it. I'm blogging in 'real time' at the mo, as Simon has lent me his phone-computer-internet-toaster and probably personal satalite, gizmo and I can eat my nuts and drink my beer and talk to Simon about how expensive wine is and watch Italy move slowly away and do this while the ferry tanoy (a man who sounds frightingly like someone from the titanic) announces the abandon ship procedure. Just call me the multi-task queen. Simon has just gone to get some chocolate and I'm glad, as we have been fighting over the last nuts! We are the only ones in non-smoking however a smoker has just encroached on our clean air. Gotta be an Italian! We just saw a guy leave the staff room behind the bar with his life jacket on? I know I'm tired but I've only had 1 beer. I did intend on just having a cuppa (which I did have on the first round) as the prices are a bit steap, however the free nuts swung it. Plus I just heard my first Australian in Bari so another topic for us to gestate over!

Bari - and then there were 2

Dave has left for Milan to catch his flight home. Simon and I have spent a night in Bari in order to catch the 'superfast ferry' to Patras in Greece. Hopefully it will live upto its name as I don't think our tolerant souls can take much more crap!

I better explain.

We arrived in Bari after our 6 hour train journey from Rome. No buffet car or trolley service and a cramped cabin with a not too convincing, transvestite sitting opposite us. That gave us course to smile at least. Anyway got here and made our way to the 'Bari Murat' b&b, which was only 2 minutes away. Great, get in there and get some grub and relax, (id only had 1 hour kip the night before as my dorm was crawling and I mean literally crawling, with pissed up aussie's who didn't think twice about having sex in the next bunk). Umm where was I? Ahh yes sorry, been one of those days. Yes relax and shower. Well no, didn't happen. No one in, no anwer at the door and no answer on the phone. Great now what? 3.30pm and we did not wanna be hanging around. Simon had already decided that it was a vampire town as there wasn't a soul to be seen and most shops were closed. To cut a long story short, we found a hotel, paid 120 euros and went for a burger. "Bloody rip off country". Its all I can say at the moment. Don't mind me just venting some frustration at the unwelcoming, unhelpful, rude, swindling, maniac drivers of Italy. We have both had each other to moan at about the constant stares of confusion and sniggers we've been getting from the locals.

Day 2 and we found ourselves walking probably every street in Bari as we checked out about 10am and couldn't check onto the ferry till 8pm. Nice, bright sunny day but terribly windy. It did get rather cold towards the end of the day and I had to keep looking down to check my toes were still attached to my feet! The day wasn't a total waste of time, we did have a lovely latte in a small coffee shop that only cost us 2 euro's and was at least 4 inch's tall. I'm not nit picking, just sick of drinking coffee the size of a thimble! Otherwise it was Mcdonalds again, however that could have been better, as they kept mistaking 'milk' for 'milkshake'. "Yes I'd like some milkshake with my tea please". Idiots!

Right that's enough bad mouthing the italians. Just gonna end by saying "Beautiful country, shame about the people".

Me and Sister Beard enjoying some holy wine at the same Halloween party

One Welsh nutter at the Yellow Hostel Bar on Halloween

Our last day in Rome

We all said our goodbyes last night over another couple of bottles of red. A subdued fairwell but that may have been due to the ever increasing tiredness that is slowly creeping through systems. No doubt it will soon find its way to our legs and we will be forced to stop this ridiculous pace. Until then its onwards and southwards to Bari. Simon and I will lodge there for the night and then onto the ferry to Patras in Greece. So we leave behind the smog, bustling streets, tramps licking salt from their palms, aggressive motorists and the constant sound of indians shouting "brolley, brolley, brolley" on every street corner, (rainy days only of course)!

Rome

Days 1-3

Got the train from venice at 12.04am and after some chair and limb manovering we all managed to get some kip on the 7 hour journey. We were pretty tired when we arrived but we are all used to that by now and did not give in! With no time to waste we made our way to the colliseum. Had no choice to be honest, as we got in around 7.20am and couldn't check in till 1.30pm anyway. Spent a good few hours checking out the ruins and fending off Maximus Marillious who wanted payment for a " bellisimo" photo. The colliseum was really cool and as I walked around the ruins of the ancient city I did feel quite taken aback by the beauty and size of the roman empire. The colliseum wasn't a big as I'd imagined, but that may have been because I was recalling the scenes from the movie 'Gladiator' and we all how these things can get altered for effect. Having said that the movie did in some way help me fill in the gaps between the ancient stone beneath my feet and my imagination. Rome is packed with history and I'm glad we were able to at least, scratch the service and get a glimpse of probably one of the most significant cities in the world.

After our history lesson, early evening was upon us and unfortunately so was the weather. It turned quite nasty, the Roman skies released a thunderous tourant of rain and lightening. I quite like this kind of weather but not when I'm trying to take photos! Anyway this cascade lasted for about 3 days. However luckily for us we had a halloween party to go to (obviously we couldn't refuse, it wouldn't have been polite). The hostel had organised it. Met some nice peeps (mostly aussies) and got well and truly hammered! So much so that Dave still can't remember a large portion of the evening. (Best keep it that way, I thought) ha ha! So, I enjoyed a 60p bottle of red which I bought in a local shop and was allowed to drink in the bar (very cool) and the boys? Probably too much larger (I lost count after the 5th pitcher)!

For the next 2 days we got wet.

Day 4 - We woke to the lovely blue sky and the bright sunny orb that we had been wishing for.

This day began with a test in patience on my part, as I waited in a never ending, disorganised queue at the post office. As Simon and I are off to Athens and Sri Lanka soon I decided to return some items to the UK. Over an hour later this task was complete. We then set out for the Vatican. I'd been looking forward to this, however when we arrived I judged the queue to be at least an hour maybe more, and as I had already endured the post office I could take no more. We collectively decided to pass on that and content ourselves with rome-ing Rome instead. We went visited the catacombs a room low in the ground decorated with human skeletons and bones of all sizes. I think they were monks bones but couldn't be sure as everything was written in Italian. Bloody inconsiderate aye! No pics, as not allowed and I wouldn't have taken any anyway as the whole thing looked quite pointless and grotesque. The one english sentence we found said 'what you are we used to be' 'what we are you will be'. What, sorry, erh? Yes we know we're all toast one day you don't need to rub it in.

We also finished this evening in the compulsory manner by opening a bottle of red! Dave finished it further by finally cooking the super noodles he'd been carrying since Prague!

Day 5 - our last day together.
A large part of our experience in Rome has centred around the very close and annoyingly well stocked train station. We have discovered as we reach the end of our european journey, that stations tend to offer your average backpacker a wide variety of things ranging from Mcdonalds coffee (arguebly the best and cheapest coffee you could hope for in Italy). There's also stamps, water, post office and not forgetting the unmistakable and interesting smells that linger in the air, on the perimetre. But when you've smelt one tramp, you've smelt them all. We did feel that we'd seen far too much of that station and began to do our best to avoid it. Apart from when we got the train to Napoli for the day. The train was delayed an hour, so when I say a day in Napoli, I mean the afternoon. We then proceeded to meander through the worst and scummiest part of the city. We had the misfortune to stumble across this destitute end of Napoli as we hadn't quite read the map correctly. After 2 hours of walking our hearts were still hopeful of the sights we had been promised in the guide books and from our fellow travellers, who had pointed us in this particular direction. Well, we found the bay in the end and it was really pretty. Dave mentioned it reminded him of Aberystwith and Simon had said before that it was supposed to look like Swansea bay? Or maybe the Gower of Italy? I forget now, still recovering from lack of sleep and stupid amounts of red wine.

Rome