It’s been a hectic few weeks. Emma’s parents, Ronnie and Eleanor were over and they kick started us into doing the tourist thing again. Ronnie and I went to Telstra Dome to see Melbourne and Central Coast in the football. Weather wise, it was one of the worst days since we’ve been here. Cold, windy and raining, Ronnie couldn’t believe he was in Australia as this weather had Northern Ireland written all over it. Once we got into the stadium it was fine as they had the roof closed to keep the elements out. Melbourne won 2-1 after going a goal down.
The next day we hired a car and did the Great Ocean Road again. We did it from the west in the van when we were travelling to Melbourne from Adelaide and weren’t that impressed. This time we came from the east and it was spectacular. We stopped off at Bells Beach along the way and almost got blown away by the wind. The weather was awful again and at one stage there was a wall of water and hail stones coming down and we thought we might have to turn back but we persevered and by the time we got to Lorne it was sunny. We went as far as the twelve apostles and got out and had a look around. It’s a fantastic sight and I’m glad we came back as the last time we just drove past in an effort to get to Melbourne as early as possible.
We had the hired car on the Sunday as well so we took a drive down to Phillip Island. They hold the motorbike grand prix down there, something I have no interest in. The island itself is home to penguins and seals as well as some nice beaches. We were going to hang about for the penguin parade but it was getting late and they weren’t due back from whatever they do all day in the ocean til 8.30pm by 4 o clock we had seen a lot of what the island had to offer and didn’t want to hang about for another 4 hours.
We took Ronnie and Eleanor to a few of our favourite restaurants on Chapel St. Gurkhas the Nepalese place and Mamacas, the Mediterranean place. They didn’t let us down, good food and good value but we went down to Acland St. another night and we aren’t as familiar with the eateries down there and ended up in a place called Greasy Joes. The same says it all. The food was fine though even if the portions were small and the waiter who served us had a sleeveless shirt on with tattoos all over his arms. I don’t think Eleanor had eaten in a place like that before, we kept telling her it was a St. Kilda institution.
Their visit was all to brief and the 8 days flew by (They had been in Australia for a about a month altogether), next thing we were waving them off on the bus to the airport. It was great to see them and took the edge of the homesickness.
Since then we have tried to do as much sightseeing as possible in our last few weeks.
We went up the Eureka Sky deck, one of the tallest buildings in the world. It has fantastic views of the city and suburbs. We also went to Victoria market for a look around and Donal took us to Pin Oak Court in Vermont AKA Ramsay St in Neighbours. You can’t come to Melbourne without going to see Ramsey St. I wouldn’t recommend doing the tour as it’s $60 each but if you can get someone to take you it’s definitely worth a trip. Donal has now started his own Neighbours tour, his unique selling point is that he blasts out the Wolfe Tones on the journey there. After that he also took us down to Brighton Beach and to Lygon St. in the Italian area of Carlton for a lovely Italian meal* (*this is not part of the Neighbours tour)
Last weekend I finally got to see Tasmanian Devils and I didn’t even have to go to Tasmania although it probably would have been a shorter journey to Tasmania as it took me over 3 hours to get to Healsville Sanctuary near Lilydale by tram, train and bus. It was an awful day, we were in the middle of 40 hours of incessant rain (yet still there is a drought here!) but I went anyway. I had to be there 1pm as there is a daily talk about the devils that I wanted to hear. I got there about 12.30 and raced through the park in the rain not sure if I was even going to see anything in the rain. When I got there the park keeper had already begun his talk in this enclosure with a big window that looked outside at another enclosed wooded area where they live. I couldn’t see any of them about but quickly realised that the crowd of people in the corner were onto something. There were 2 smaller windows with nests in them and in there were a baby and its mother both sleeping. The mother was a lot bigger than I thought and the baby was about the size that I expected them all to be. It was great to finally get to see them even though it wasn’t in the wild. Who knows if I’ll ever get to see them again as there numbers have halved over the last decade, the main reason for this is Devil Facial Tumour Disease is wiping them out.
I hung about watching them twitch while they slept for a while as people came and went. Some people thought I worked there so I indulged them with what I could remember from the park keeper’s talk. I walked back through the park trying to take pictures of the animals in the park (mostly indigenous animals: kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, dingos, koalas etc) but they were all sheltering from the rain and it was hard to get decent pics. I did get to see some birds of prey up close as they were brought into the reptile house. One was a wedge tail Eagle, similar to the ones we saw on our road trip that we almost hit as they dined on the road kill. They are so big they struggled to get up off the road as we drove towards them. This particular one was used in Wolf Blass wine adverts.
We’ve seen a few stars of Australian telly recently. Bridget from Neighbours was on the tram the other night coming back from the moonlit cinema and the guy who once played Darren in Neighbours now he plays someone else crossed the road in front of me and headed into the park with a footie. I did a double take and he gave me a look like “yeah it’s me, big deal”. When we went to the Homeless World Cup we saw the guy who played Carl Williams, a famous gangland killer, in UnderBelly. I think his name is Guyton Grantley. I nudged Emma and said “isn’t that….” I didn’t even finish what I was going to say when he said “G’day mate” and walked past us. Later as we left Fed Square we saw him again and he caught Emma staring at him and waved at her. Disgraced. I’ve also discovered that they guy who wrote the screenplay for the film Flatliners lives down the street and oddly sometimes works in the shop across the street from our building so I’ll be stalking him between now and when we leave on Monday.
Also at the Homeless World Cup I went and had a word with one of the Irish boys in between games. It was weird because your first instinct when you meet someone from home is to ask them where they are from but this guy was homeless so I didn’t know what to say to him. Thankfully he was a cheeky Dub (I think by the sounds of his accent) so he had plenty of chat and he started slagging me about my 1989 Liverpool replica shirt. Any time I annoy Emma now she threatens that I’ll be eligible for the Homeless World Cup next year if I don’t shut up. While we were there Ireland stuffed Holland 11-2 not bad for 7 minutes each way. Afghanistan won the whole thing. I can’t think of much worse than being homeless in Afghanistan, so fair play to those boys.
This is my last day at work. I've really enjoyed working with Victoria Police, the people here are great craic and I've made a few friends so that makes it even harder to leave. The other contractors I started with have all gone home to their countries for Crimbo. Although a couple of them got the road. Rebecca one of the Chinese girls was driving all the permanent staff mad as she would ask a question about some process then she would argue with the person giving her the advice that they were actually wrong. This didn't go down well and eventually she asked to leave. Old Jim from Geelong also got the heave ho, I'm not sure if it was because when he spoke to you he picked his nose and rubbed it into his cheek but I'm sure it didn't help. Emma's job with the TAC ends today also. She really loves working there as well as she's made a lot off friends and they're all good craic.
Melbourne is a fantastic place despite the weather and we've really enjoyed working and living here. It was given the title as the world’s most liveable city and we would agree that it’s a great place to live. We've spent more time here than anywhere else in Australia and we have nothing but great memories to take with us. We fly to Sydney on Monday.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Ireland, Ireland in excelcius deo
Last weekend we headed to the MCG to see the second test of the International Rules series. We watched the the first test in perth on the telly the week before. it was a really close game that Ireland managed to win by one point. The series would be won by an overall aggregate score from the two games. The game was on halloween which isn't a big deal over here. I don't think one silo got raided for tyres but a few people did dress up. We headed up to the G after work and got given 2 free tickets as we were going in through the gates which saved us $50. It was looking like rain so we took shelter in the 4th level behind the goals were most of the 42,000 crowd were. We managed to stay dry but the wind cut right through us. The gane itself was very exciting and I missed the first quarter along queueing for beer for Emma. I think Australia were in the lead but Ireland took control in the next two quarters and led by about 20 points. Benny Coulter was unbelievable and we were going daft shouting his name from the stands. There was this aussie guy in front of us on his own who found himself surrounded by Irish when the game started. Along with us were Donal and his girlfriend Karen, his cousin Mary and her husband Sean and some of their friends and Ronan Galloghly, Ferg Wright and his Meath mate from the hostel. This poor old aussie guy didn't know what hit him when Ireland scored. I had no doubt the aussies would come back in the fourth quarter and they did. They got within a few points but then Benny battered one into their net with his fist and that knocked the stuffing out of them. Great nights craic and thsoe two games were better than any of the aussie rules games I've watched this season. Although I wouldn't say that to any aussies over here as they would take great offence.
We had the day off on Tuesday for the Melbourne Cup which wasn't great for us as we don't get paid for holidays but it was nice to get a lie in in the middle of the week. we met Donal and his crew down on Greville St in a bar called College Lawn. All the talk before hand was of an international raider winning and Aidan o Brien and Dermot Weld from Ireland had two of the favourites in Septimus and Profound Beauty. I backed the latter. The other favourite was an english horse called Mad Rush and a couple of New Zealand horses were fancied as well. The race was a classic. Aidan O Briens 3 horses went ahead together and were 6 lengths clear of the field for the majority of the race then when they came round the final bend the field swallowed them up. As so often in big races a horse nobody fancied came from nowhere and one by a nostril from a late challenge. The whole bar went quiet because nobody knew who won it turned out to be Viewed a 40/1 odd shot and he beat Bauer both aussie horses and the 3 O brien horses who took off and tried to dominate the field finished last. The winner was trained by Bart Cummings who is a well known Aussie trainer and that was his twelfth victory, not bad for a man of 81. Afterwards he lit on the hype surrounding the international horses and how they would be too good for the aussies. the next morning on breakfast news the host of it lit on O Brien and his total disrespect for how races are run over here. Apparently O Brien left a very angry man burt he'll be back. My horse came 5th and Emma had Cest La Guerre who came in 3rd. That won her $20 in a sweep.
The Rugby League world cup is on as well. Australia thrashed England last weekend at Telstra Dome. The week before I went to watch the soccer there. Melbourne Victory were playing Sydney. There's a big rivalry between the two cities going back to when Melbourne was capital of Australia and Sydney complained so much that they had to give it to Canberra which is situated between the two cities. Telstra Dome is a great venue. State of the art. It holds 55,000, has a retractable roof for when it rains (and it does rain here), shops, bars and restaurants and a great view from every seat. There was about 32,000 at the game and the atmosphere was good. The Melbourne vans gather behind each goal and sing to each other while a little pocket of sydney fans made noise in one of the corners. It reminded me of watching crowds at european football on telly as there was one guy with a megaphone starting all the songs and then the others join in. The standard of football wasn't great. it's be no better than Irish league but there were a few names i recognised from English football - Aloisi, Muscat, Bobby Petta. I'm gonna go to another game in a couple of weeks.
Went to Stevie Wonder a couple of weeks back. Phenomenal show. He played for 2 and a half hours non stop with a great band behind him, drummer, 2 percussionists, 2 guitarists, bass player, keyboards, saxomophone, trumpet and 4 backing singers. He played a few hits in the first half and a four tops number in memory of their lead singer who died recently, there was a lot of jamming and songs I didn't know, a lot of jazz, blues and latin stuff but he through in the likes of master blaster, higher ground and lately which was particularly poignant. The last hour he just played hit after hit after hit after hit without stopping. Sir duke, I wish, for once in my life, isn't she lovely, I just called to say I love you, you are the sunshine of my life, signed sealed delivered, yester me yester you, part time lover, my cherie amour, superstition, as. He did bang on about obama a bit but musicians and politics seem to go hand in hand these days. Still he's a legend and he can do what he wants.
The weather has been all over the place of late. Usually it builds up during the week monday 23, Tuesday 25, wednesday 26 and by the weekend its about 30 then it can drop back to 20 but the last 2 weekends it has been cold and raining. Rain as bad as at home, i'm not joking. The only thing is it might be like that for a day or two and then it's fine again. They are actually depserate for rain here as the Murray River is running dry but it only seems to rain in certain areas, the city and St.Kilda it seems to me. Emma was down in Ballarat for a conference on Friday and she said it was terribly cold down there. It's about an hour out of the city. We shouldn't really complain but were spoilt in Darwin and Perth. you wouldn't come to Melbourne in winter or sprng for the weather. Still having a great time though.
We had the day off on Tuesday for the Melbourne Cup which wasn't great for us as we don't get paid for holidays but it was nice to get a lie in in the middle of the week. we met Donal and his crew down on Greville St in a bar called College Lawn. All the talk before hand was of an international raider winning and Aidan o Brien and Dermot Weld from Ireland had two of the favourites in Septimus and Profound Beauty. I backed the latter. The other favourite was an english horse called Mad Rush and a couple of New Zealand horses were fancied as well. The race was a classic. Aidan O Briens 3 horses went ahead together and were 6 lengths clear of the field for the majority of the race then when they came round the final bend the field swallowed them up. As so often in big races a horse nobody fancied came from nowhere and one by a nostril from a late challenge. The whole bar went quiet because nobody knew who won it turned out to be Viewed a 40/1 odd shot and he beat Bauer both aussie horses and the 3 O brien horses who took off and tried to dominate the field finished last. The winner was trained by Bart Cummings who is a well known Aussie trainer and that was his twelfth victory, not bad for a man of 81. Afterwards he lit on the hype surrounding the international horses and how they would be too good for the aussies. the next morning on breakfast news the host of it lit on O Brien and his total disrespect for how races are run over here. Apparently O Brien left a very angry man burt he'll be back. My horse came 5th and Emma had Cest La Guerre who came in 3rd. That won her $20 in a sweep.
The Rugby League world cup is on as well. Australia thrashed England last weekend at Telstra Dome. The week before I went to watch the soccer there. Melbourne Victory were playing Sydney. There's a big rivalry between the two cities going back to when Melbourne was capital of Australia and Sydney complained so much that they had to give it to Canberra which is situated between the two cities. Telstra Dome is a great venue. State of the art. It holds 55,000, has a retractable roof for when it rains (and it does rain here), shops, bars and restaurants and a great view from every seat. There was about 32,000 at the game and the atmosphere was good. The Melbourne vans gather behind each goal and sing to each other while a little pocket of sydney fans made noise in one of the corners. It reminded me of watching crowds at european football on telly as there was one guy with a megaphone starting all the songs and then the others join in. The standard of football wasn't great. it's be no better than Irish league but there were a few names i recognised from English football - Aloisi, Muscat, Bobby Petta. I'm gonna go to another game in a couple of weeks.
Went to Stevie Wonder a couple of weeks back. Phenomenal show. He played for 2 and a half hours non stop with a great band behind him, drummer, 2 percussionists, 2 guitarists, bass player, keyboards, saxomophone, trumpet and 4 backing singers. He played a few hits in the first half and a four tops number in memory of their lead singer who died recently, there was a lot of jamming and songs I didn't know, a lot of jazz, blues and latin stuff but he through in the likes of master blaster, higher ground and lately which was particularly poignant. The last hour he just played hit after hit after hit after hit without stopping. Sir duke, I wish, for once in my life, isn't she lovely, I just called to say I love you, you are the sunshine of my life, signed sealed delivered, yester me yester you, part time lover, my cherie amour, superstition, as. He did bang on about obama a bit but musicians and politics seem to go hand in hand these days. Still he's a legend and he can do what he wants.
The weather has been all over the place of late. Usually it builds up during the week monday 23, Tuesday 25, wednesday 26 and by the weekend its about 30 then it can drop back to 20 but the last 2 weekends it has been cold and raining. Rain as bad as at home, i'm not joking. The only thing is it might be like that for a day or two and then it's fine again. They are actually depserate for rain here as the Murray River is running dry but it only seems to rain in certain areas, the city and St.Kilda it seems to me. Emma was down in Ballarat for a conference on Friday and she said it was terribly cold down there. It's about an hour out of the city. We shouldn't really complain but were spoilt in Darwin and Perth. you wouldn't come to Melbourne in winter or sprng for the weather. Still having a great time though.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Spring time in Melbourne
The guy who lives down the hall looks like John Malkovich.
The football season is over and the cricket has begun. Fremantle didn't even make the finals so i started to go for Geelong mostly because when we were travelling they seemed to be the only team on telly and they were the 2007 champions. Me and Gerald went to the MCG to see them play St. Kilda in the finals series. it was very one sided and although the MCG is amazing and there was a crowd of 75,000 there the atmosphere was pretty flat. Geelong only lost one game all season and as expected they got to the Grand Final where they met Hawthorn. Donal McGoldrick is a mate of mine who is sort of from Newry. His da was a bank manager and the family ended up in Newry. i know his brothers from university in Coleraine and when Donal moved to Leeds to study, I invited myself over to stay with him. He's been out here for 6 years. He got caught up in the Bali bomb in 2002 on his way to Australia. Him and his brother Garrett were in the bar across from the Sari club and were luckily only grazed in the explosion that killed more than 80 people. Donal gave an interview to the Daily Mirror afterwards and his famous quote was that they were in this bar drinking with some Belgians before they went to the Sari Club and "...only them belgians were drinking so slowly..." they would have been in it. When Donal was in Leeds he trained as a nurse and, typical Newry, a few stories started to filter back into the town about Donal walking into one of the hospitals, full of injured people and offering his services, working round the clock attending to the injured. I asked him about this and he reminded me that he's a psychiatric nurse and couldn't put on a plaster.
Anyway, he knows a lot of people out here and we were invited round to a Grand Final party at his friends Ben and Laura. It was a great days craic with men, wome and children piled into their big spacious living room of their beautiful house watching the "footie". Now I've watched a full season of this game I feel qualified to say it's an alright game not as good as Gaelic and nowhere near as good as soccer. hawthorn upset the odds and beat geelong so thats maybe why I have the hump with it and we played nintendo wii all evening. it was better after the people with the children left because they were just too good. Also Ben and Laura have foxtel which is like sky at home and I got to watch Liverpool and Everton which was a bonus.
Last weekend we went to the horse racing. it was Guineas day at caulfield and the beginning of the spring carnival leading up to the melbourne cup on 4th November. it's a public holiday over here. Gotta love a state that gives you a day off for horse racing. if you don't know Australia is divided into seven states and each one has it's own government so really they are all like separate countries....with the same prime minister. you think thats confusing, you should see how they work out the finals series in the AFL. The horse racing is a big deal in Victoria and a lot of people get dolled up for the occasion so I treated myself to a new suit and Emma got her slap on, I took the racing pages out of the paper in the library at work and picked my horses for the day. We got off to a bad start as we didn't get there in time for the first race but the horse i was gonna back won. I had all my horses written down in a notebook and pointed out that although i didn't put the bet on I had it written down so morally I won. That was the highlight of my tipping as I didn't have one winner all day. This gay guy who lives near Ben and Laura had 3 winners including one at 60/1. he was just picking horses by names or the colour of the jockeys gear while i'm sitting studying form. Great days craic though.
We managed to sell the van as well. we got a few hundred dollars for it which was good considering it wasn't even going. We're gonna fly to Sydney on 22nd December and we're staying in Manly for 2 weeks and will take in the Harbour Bridge on New Years Eve which should be spectacular. Manly is supposed to be lovely, it has a beach so thats good enough for us. We also have a wedding to go to while we're in Sydney. Maura Magee is a girl from Courtney Hill in Newry who I know from An Ghaeltacht when we were at school. She lives out here now is getting married just after crimbo and has invited us to her wedding. We're really looking forward to it. After Sydney we have a week in Queensland on Airlie beach. it's on the Whitsunday Coast and is close to the Great Barrier Reef. It's gonna be the wet season when we go up there in January and there is a good chance it could rain but we thought we'd risk it anyway. Then we fly home on 13th Janauary from Sydney via Hong Kong and Zurich in a 29 hour flight which i'm not looking forward to at all. I can't sleep on planes. Emma could sleep on a clothesline.
hard to believe we've been out here 9 months. It will be good to get home and see everybody, go to Friar Tucks for a chicken burgers and super chips and watch football at a reasonable hour. We went to a recruitment function a few weeks ago for Emmas work. There was a recruitment company who have an office in Ireland and they were recruiting people to work in Ireland. They gave us all a goodies bag and in it we were delighted to discover a packet of tayto cheese and onion each. They were only free state tayto, free stayto, but they were lovely. They don't make crisps like that over here.
So we're gonna be working flat out til we leave in december. My work is going well. I started with about 7 other people Steve is a chinese guy who sounds like he learnt English from an Apple Mac voice program, a girl from Peru called Patricia who always agressively asks me "when ju go home?" she doesn't mean it, it's just her way. Manasi is from India and she loves food and Will Ferrell films, there are two chinese girls called Maggie and Rebecca who are always whispering, i tell them this is how rumours start and then there is Jim who is from Geelong. It's good craic, I enjoy it. The Aussies who work there full time have got me eating vegemite (bovril) and lammingtons (chocolate swiss roll with coconut on top).
Emma is away with ones from work this weekend and I'm away to play golf in Albert park tomorrow with Donal and Ben. it's supposed to be 29 degrees. On sunday night when Emma comes back we're going to see Stevie Wonder. it doesn't get much better than that.
The football season is over and the cricket has begun. Fremantle didn't even make the finals so i started to go for Geelong mostly because when we were travelling they seemed to be the only team on telly and they were the 2007 champions. Me and Gerald went to the MCG to see them play St. Kilda in the finals series. it was very one sided and although the MCG is amazing and there was a crowd of 75,000 there the atmosphere was pretty flat. Geelong only lost one game all season and as expected they got to the Grand Final where they met Hawthorn. Donal McGoldrick is a mate of mine who is sort of from Newry. His da was a bank manager and the family ended up in Newry. i know his brothers from university in Coleraine and when Donal moved to Leeds to study, I invited myself over to stay with him. He's been out here for 6 years. He got caught up in the Bali bomb in 2002 on his way to Australia. Him and his brother Garrett were in the bar across from the Sari club and were luckily only grazed in the explosion that killed more than 80 people. Donal gave an interview to the Daily Mirror afterwards and his famous quote was that they were in this bar drinking with some Belgians before they went to the Sari Club and "...only them belgians were drinking so slowly..." they would have been in it. When Donal was in Leeds he trained as a nurse and, typical Newry, a few stories started to filter back into the town about Donal walking into one of the hospitals, full of injured people and offering his services, working round the clock attending to the injured. I asked him about this and he reminded me that he's a psychiatric nurse and couldn't put on a plaster.
Anyway, he knows a lot of people out here and we were invited round to a Grand Final party at his friends Ben and Laura. It was a great days craic with men, wome and children piled into their big spacious living room of their beautiful house watching the "footie". Now I've watched a full season of this game I feel qualified to say it's an alright game not as good as Gaelic and nowhere near as good as soccer. hawthorn upset the odds and beat geelong so thats maybe why I have the hump with it and we played nintendo wii all evening. it was better after the people with the children left because they were just too good. Also Ben and Laura have foxtel which is like sky at home and I got to watch Liverpool and Everton which was a bonus.
Last weekend we went to the horse racing. it was Guineas day at caulfield and the beginning of the spring carnival leading up to the melbourne cup on 4th November. it's a public holiday over here. Gotta love a state that gives you a day off for horse racing. if you don't know Australia is divided into seven states and each one has it's own government so really they are all like separate countries....with the same prime minister. you think thats confusing, you should see how they work out the finals series in the AFL. The horse racing is a big deal in Victoria and a lot of people get dolled up for the occasion so I treated myself to a new suit and Emma got her slap on, I took the racing pages out of the paper in the library at work and picked my horses for the day. We got off to a bad start as we didn't get there in time for the first race but the horse i was gonna back won. I had all my horses written down in a notebook and pointed out that although i didn't put the bet on I had it written down so morally I won. That was the highlight of my tipping as I didn't have one winner all day. This gay guy who lives near Ben and Laura had 3 winners including one at 60/1. he was just picking horses by names or the colour of the jockeys gear while i'm sitting studying form. Great days craic though.
We managed to sell the van as well. we got a few hundred dollars for it which was good considering it wasn't even going. We're gonna fly to Sydney on 22nd December and we're staying in Manly for 2 weeks and will take in the Harbour Bridge on New Years Eve which should be spectacular. Manly is supposed to be lovely, it has a beach so thats good enough for us. We also have a wedding to go to while we're in Sydney. Maura Magee is a girl from Courtney Hill in Newry who I know from An Ghaeltacht when we were at school. She lives out here now is getting married just after crimbo and has invited us to her wedding. We're really looking forward to it. After Sydney we have a week in Queensland on Airlie beach. it's on the Whitsunday Coast and is close to the Great Barrier Reef. It's gonna be the wet season when we go up there in January and there is a good chance it could rain but we thought we'd risk it anyway. Then we fly home on 13th Janauary from Sydney via Hong Kong and Zurich in a 29 hour flight which i'm not looking forward to at all. I can't sleep on planes. Emma could sleep on a clothesline.
hard to believe we've been out here 9 months. It will be good to get home and see everybody, go to Friar Tucks for a chicken burgers and super chips and watch football at a reasonable hour. We went to a recruitment function a few weeks ago for Emmas work. There was a recruitment company who have an office in Ireland and they were recruiting people to work in Ireland. They gave us all a goodies bag and in it we were delighted to discover a packet of tayto cheese and onion each. They were only free state tayto, free stayto, but they were lovely. They don't make crisps like that over here.
So we're gonna be working flat out til we leave in december. My work is going well. I started with about 7 other people Steve is a chinese guy who sounds like he learnt English from an Apple Mac voice program, a girl from Peru called Patricia who always agressively asks me "when ju go home?" she doesn't mean it, it's just her way. Manasi is from India and she loves food and Will Ferrell films, there are two chinese girls called Maggie and Rebecca who are always whispering, i tell them this is how rumours start and then there is Jim who is from Geelong. It's good craic, I enjoy it. The Aussies who work there full time have got me eating vegemite (bovril) and lammingtons (chocolate swiss roll with coconut on top).
Emma is away with ones from work this weekend and I'm away to play golf in Albert park tomorrow with Donal and Ben. it's supposed to be 29 degrees. On sunday night when Emma comes back we're going to see Stevie Wonder. it doesn't get much better than that.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Doppelgangers, Olympics, "I" for India "A" for Alpha, Tramspotting.
We've joined a library up in Balaclava (thats what its really called) which is round the corner from us. It's handy for books and also free internet. It's a big Jewish area Balaclava. We were doing the shopping in Coles up here a couple of weeks ago (Coles and Woolworths or Safeway as it is in Victoria are the two big main grocery stores in Australia). As it is a Jewish area Coles have a kosher food section beside the checkouts. I was having a bit of a look at the kosher selction as i've never seen it before when I hear a familiar tune being whistled, I turn round and this hard looking nut is staring at me while whistling the German national anthem.
The amount of people I've seen over here who look like people at home or famous people is frightening. In my first job in Perth there was a guy who was the double of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, a girl on the tram looked like Emmas cousin Mark and a guy who was the spitting image of Timmy McParland...oh wait that was Timmy McParland. Also when I was at ECU there were a couple of guys there who looked like Doozer Keenan with a beard and without a beard. In Darwin a barmaid in this place we discovered that done free nibbles at happy hour every day was a ringer for Paula McDonald and oddly my boss in Defence Housing looked like Krusty the Clown from the Simpsons when he done a Reggie Perrin and became Rory B. Bellows. Recently I was working in South Melbourne with a guy called Gerald from London who is Paul McCourts (who used to be in the band Sugar Island) doppelganger. I'm going to the AFL with him tomorrow to see Geelong and St.Kilda at the MCG.
The Olympics were crazy over here. You think the Brits are sickening during major sporting events, they've got nothing on the Aussies. Every morning on the news they would interview the families of the latest medal winner and then they would change the overall medals table to per capita and this would inevitably mean Australia would come out on top because there are only 20 million people live here compared to the 2 billion in China. Most of their medals were won in the pool and if there was an election now Stephanie Rice would be Prime Minister after she won 4 golds i think it was. her ex-boyfriend Eamon Sullivan broke the world record in qualifying but only ended up with a silver and he has been the butt of a lot of jokes since. After the swimming the jubilation slowly started to disappear as the aussie weren't that strong on the track. They did win the pole vault with some guy who looked like the lead singer out of the Frames and a wee girl called Sally McLellan, not to be confused with the bar in the pogues song, won silver in the 110 metre hurdles and then said "shit" in her interview straight afterwards on national TV. If you get a chance to see that interview it's hilarious.
One of the most annoying things I've found has been trying to get people to understand me particularly when they ask me to spell my name. Kieran is a popular name over here but my name is spelt differently. I tell them this is how its supposed to be spelt as it's the irish spelling. I dread having to register with agencies or give my name over the phone because the way we say "i" sounds like the way they say "a". So if I'm spelling my name "CIA.." they're writing "CAE.." I have to spell it out in CB language "C for Charlie, I for India, A for Alpha....breaker, breaker rubber ducky"I think once the whole time I've been here someone got the spelling of my name right first time. I tried to order a chai tea in Darwin, the barman had to get another barman to translate "oh Choi..." swear to God you'd think we spoke a different language.
I have to get a tram to work every morning because we're about 20 minutes outside the city centre. I actually have to get a couple of trams, one into the city and another down to the end of Flinders St. Anyway you can buy a daily pass for $6.50 or get a weekly one for $28. We started off buying them and then nobody was checking them so we didn't bother. You can also buy a 2 hour one on the train for $3.50 so i'd been getting the tram and just having $3.50 in my pocket and sit or stand near the machine and if the inspector got on I'd jump up and buy a ticket. never had to do it. never saw an inspector. Emma had a few close calls and phoned me one morning as she went dwon the road ahead of me to tell me they were checking at Flinders St. The other day in work I was still starvin after my lunch and I only had the emergency money on me so I decided i'd spend the money on chocolate and crisps and take my chances on the tram. Theres a free one goes from outside work every hour and I usally get it up to Federation Square and then get one of about 5 different trams back to ours. I was late getting out of work and missed the free one and then decided to walk through the town and call into specsavers to see if my new glasses were ready. The glasses weren't ready and I ended up walking right over to Fedeartion Square. There was a number 16 sitting at the top of the platform and if I had've walked a bit quicker I would've got it but i turned round and saw a 67 coming and decided to get that and then suddenly had a feeling it was gonna be a mistake. I got on the tram with no money and sat down at a window seat with a person beside and two people across from me. In retrospect I was pure complacent. The tram left Fed. Square. I'm reading trainspotting at the minute, I took it out of my bag and read two lines and I hear "Tickets please" and I just thought "ah Jesus". This Asian woman inspector checks the tickets of the ones beside me and says to me "Can I see your ticket?" I tried to make a joke "Do you have to pay for this? I thought it was free" She smiled and her face quickly became serious again. "You don't have a ticket?" she says "No" says I "Whats your name and address, i'm going to have to report you". She hands me a piece of paper and before i know it I'm writing down a false name and address and looking at the exits to see if I can to a runner but there are too many people around me and this inspector has now been joined bu two male inspectors who smelt blood. "This is your name and address?" she asks "It is" I says. it isn't. "Do you have any I.D. to confirm this?" she wants to know "I haven't" I lie. She looks me up and down, I'm wearing a shirt and trousers and I look like I've just come out of work. "have you just come from work?" she says "No, eh interview" I'm wracking my brains for some sort of excuse and another part of me is saying your making this worse for yourself give it up. "You have no I.D.? you were at an interview have you got a resume?" I'm completely trapped. "No i printed if off the computer in the interview, look if you let me go back to where I'm stayin I can get some I.D. and bring it back to you" she's not buying this. "No have you got a phone number of someone who can varify your name and address?" she hands me back the paper and I write down a fake number and suddenly I'm aware that i'm the main attraction on a packed tram. She tries the number and it goes to soembodys answer machine. what a stroke of luck! "OK, I'm going to have to arrest you, we have to get off the tram at the next stop". So we get off the tram at the next stop and the two male inspectors get off too. I look to do a runner but it's a really busy road. One of the male inspectors tells me to stand beside him and then shouts at me again to stand beside him, he knows i'm sizin up a runner. "Have you any I.D. on you, in your bag, can you check?" No I have nothing I tell them again. "Right we're gonna have to call the police and it's gonna be a whole big thing" so i'm resigned to being arrested and the othe male inspector says "Whats that round your neck?" Screwed. My work I.D. is around my neck. I take the I.D. off and give it to the woman. Different name. She takes a second to realise I've been lying. "What is this Vic. Pol?" she asks. "It's the Police, Victoria Police". She laughs as she starts writing her report. Then the male inspector says "Have you anything with your address on it?" I opened my bag and took out an old payslip with my St.Kilda address on it. "I'm gonna leave this to the discretion of this lady" says the male inspector and he starts checking other tickets at the tramstop. he seemed happy enough that he had exposed me. The woman writes me out a ticket so I can get the tram home with no money and if I get busted again I can show it to the inspector and tells me i'm facing a fine of $300. The she asks is there anything I want to say so I go "look I'm very sorry I lied to you, I'm over her on holiday, I'm only herre for a few weeks, I cant afford to pay a big fine as i'm saving money for a ticket home" She looks at me and says "And would you lose your job?" and I thought "sounds good I'll say that anyway" "Yes I would lose my job". Amazingly she had started making up excuses for me. "Ok, i'll let you off but I'll put your name on the database and if you show up again you'll be reported" I couldn't believe my luck and started walking away from them. She says "You don't have to walk back to St.Kilda you can use that pass I gave you to take a tram" I was like "You're alright, I'll walk" then I walked over to Chapel St. and bought a weekly metcard for the tram.
It must have been the police I.D, not that they thought i was a copper or anything because I told her what I did there but after that the proceedings took a different turn, the two male inspectors were less aggressive and I think one of them actually told her to let me off.
The amount of people I've seen over here who look like people at home or famous people is frightening. In my first job in Perth there was a guy who was the double of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, a girl on the tram looked like Emmas cousin Mark and a guy who was the spitting image of Timmy McParland...oh wait that was Timmy McParland. Also when I was at ECU there were a couple of guys there who looked like Doozer Keenan with a beard and without a beard. In Darwin a barmaid in this place we discovered that done free nibbles at happy hour every day was a ringer for Paula McDonald and oddly my boss in Defence Housing looked like Krusty the Clown from the Simpsons when he done a Reggie Perrin and became Rory B. Bellows. Recently I was working in South Melbourne with a guy called Gerald from London who is Paul McCourts (who used to be in the band Sugar Island) doppelganger. I'm going to the AFL with him tomorrow to see Geelong and St.Kilda at the MCG.
The Olympics were crazy over here. You think the Brits are sickening during major sporting events, they've got nothing on the Aussies. Every morning on the news they would interview the families of the latest medal winner and then they would change the overall medals table to per capita and this would inevitably mean Australia would come out on top because there are only 20 million people live here compared to the 2 billion in China. Most of their medals were won in the pool and if there was an election now Stephanie Rice would be Prime Minister after she won 4 golds i think it was. her ex-boyfriend Eamon Sullivan broke the world record in qualifying but only ended up with a silver and he has been the butt of a lot of jokes since. After the swimming the jubilation slowly started to disappear as the aussie weren't that strong on the track. They did win the pole vault with some guy who looked like the lead singer out of the Frames and a wee girl called Sally McLellan, not to be confused with the bar in the pogues song, won silver in the 110 metre hurdles and then said "shit" in her interview straight afterwards on national TV. If you get a chance to see that interview it's hilarious.
One of the most annoying things I've found has been trying to get people to understand me particularly when they ask me to spell my name. Kieran is a popular name over here but my name is spelt differently. I tell them this is how its supposed to be spelt as it's the irish spelling. I dread having to register with agencies or give my name over the phone because the way we say "i" sounds like the way they say "a". So if I'm spelling my name "CIA.." they're writing "CAE.." I have to spell it out in CB language "C for Charlie, I for India, A for Alpha....breaker, breaker rubber ducky"I think once the whole time I've been here someone got the spelling of my name right first time. I tried to order a chai tea in Darwin, the barman had to get another barman to translate "oh Choi..." swear to God you'd think we spoke a different language.
I have to get a tram to work every morning because we're about 20 minutes outside the city centre. I actually have to get a couple of trams, one into the city and another down to the end of Flinders St. Anyway you can buy a daily pass for $6.50 or get a weekly one for $28. We started off buying them and then nobody was checking them so we didn't bother. You can also buy a 2 hour one on the train for $3.50 so i'd been getting the tram and just having $3.50 in my pocket and sit or stand near the machine and if the inspector got on I'd jump up and buy a ticket. never had to do it. never saw an inspector. Emma had a few close calls and phoned me one morning as she went dwon the road ahead of me to tell me they were checking at Flinders St. The other day in work I was still starvin after my lunch and I only had the emergency money on me so I decided i'd spend the money on chocolate and crisps and take my chances on the tram. Theres a free one goes from outside work every hour and I usally get it up to Federation Square and then get one of about 5 different trams back to ours. I was late getting out of work and missed the free one and then decided to walk through the town and call into specsavers to see if my new glasses were ready. The glasses weren't ready and I ended up walking right over to Fedeartion Square. There was a number 16 sitting at the top of the platform and if I had've walked a bit quicker I would've got it but i turned round and saw a 67 coming and decided to get that and then suddenly had a feeling it was gonna be a mistake. I got on the tram with no money and sat down at a window seat with a person beside and two people across from me. In retrospect I was pure complacent. The tram left Fed. Square. I'm reading trainspotting at the minute, I took it out of my bag and read two lines and I hear "Tickets please" and I just thought "ah Jesus". This Asian woman inspector checks the tickets of the ones beside me and says to me "Can I see your ticket?" I tried to make a joke "Do you have to pay for this? I thought it was free" She smiled and her face quickly became serious again. "You don't have a ticket?" she says "No" says I "Whats your name and address, i'm going to have to report you". She hands me a piece of paper and before i know it I'm writing down a false name and address and looking at the exits to see if I can to a runner but there are too many people around me and this inspector has now been joined bu two male inspectors who smelt blood. "This is your name and address?" she asks "It is" I says. it isn't. "Do you have any I.D. to confirm this?" she wants to know "I haven't" I lie. She looks me up and down, I'm wearing a shirt and trousers and I look like I've just come out of work. "have you just come from work?" she says "No, eh interview" I'm wracking my brains for some sort of excuse and another part of me is saying your making this worse for yourself give it up. "You have no I.D.? you were at an interview have you got a resume?" I'm completely trapped. "No i printed if off the computer in the interview, look if you let me go back to where I'm stayin I can get some I.D. and bring it back to you" she's not buying this. "No have you got a phone number of someone who can varify your name and address?" she hands me back the paper and I write down a fake number and suddenly I'm aware that i'm the main attraction on a packed tram. She tries the number and it goes to soembodys answer machine. what a stroke of luck! "OK, I'm going to have to arrest you, we have to get off the tram at the next stop". So we get off the tram at the next stop and the two male inspectors get off too. I look to do a runner but it's a really busy road. One of the male inspectors tells me to stand beside him and then shouts at me again to stand beside him, he knows i'm sizin up a runner. "Have you any I.D. on you, in your bag, can you check?" No I have nothing I tell them again. "Right we're gonna have to call the police and it's gonna be a whole big thing" so i'm resigned to being arrested and the othe male inspector says "Whats that round your neck?" Screwed. My work I.D. is around my neck. I take the I.D. off and give it to the woman. Different name. She takes a second to realise I've been lying. "What is this Vic. Pol?" she asks. "It's the Police, Victoria Police". She laughs as she starts writing her report. Then the male inspector says "Have you anything with your address on it?" I opened my bag and took out an old payslip with my St.Kilda address on it. "I'm gonna leave this to the discretion of this lady" says the male inspector and he starts checking other tickets at the tramstop. he seemed happy enough that he had exposed me. The woman writes me out a ticket so I can get the tram home with no money and if I get busted again I can show it to the inspector and tells me i'm facing a fine of $300. The she asks is there anything I want to say so I go "look I'm very sorry I lied to you, I'm over her on holiday, I'm only herre for a few weeks, I cant afford to pay a big fine as i'm saving money for a ticket home" She looks at me and says "And would you lose your job?" and I thought "sounds good I'll say that anyway" "Yes I would lose my job". Amazingly she had started making up excuses for me. "Ok, i'll let you off but I'll put your name on the database and if you show up again you'll be reported" I couldn't believe my luck and started walking away from them. She says "You don't have to walk back to St.Kilda you can use that pass I gave you to take a tram" I was like "You're alright, I'll walk" then I walked over to Chapel St. and bought a weekly metcard for the tram.
It must have been the police I.D, not that they thought i was a copper or anything because I told her what I did there but after that the proceedings took a different turn, the two male inspectors were less aggressive and I think one of them actually told her to let me off.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Melbourne Identity
We've been in Melbourne for just over a month now. After we spent a couple of days resting after the travels with Dylans brother Ronan in St. Albans we started house hunting. we saw a couple of places in the St. Kilda area. The first place was owned by an Austrian guy called Frank who wanted us to share the smallest aprtment you've ever seen with two people we didn't know. We told him we wouldn't be going down that road again. We saw another couple of one bedroom furnished places also in St.Kilda but we would have had to pay a months rent and a months deposit (bond) up front. We didn't mind that but the places weren't great. We went to see another place on brighton Road that wasn't furnished but it was beautiful, really spacious and recently done up and we seriously considered taking it, in fact we made the guy an offer but having slept on it we realised we'd probably made a mistake because furnishing this place would have been expensive. Thankfully the guy wanted a longer lease so we dodged a bullet there. While we were waiting for him to ring us back we saw a place on Gumtree website in St. Kilda that had no deposit and no bills. i phoned the guy and he agreed to let us see it. Of course the bloody van wouldn't go so we had to find our way there via trains and trams. It wasn't that difficult to get there and when we arrived we saw another couple hovering down the street. Emma knew that they were here to see the same place and when it started to rain we congregated under the porch at the front of the building we discovered that they were the competition. They were a couple from Cork who had been here for 4 months and had been sharing with friends in a very small apartment. When the guy showed up to show us around the girl from the couple rushed ahead of the rest of us to see the place first. When we saw the apartment we all wanted it, not that it was the best place i've ever seen but after 2 and a half months living in a van it was a palace. The guy who was leasing it didn't want to choose between us so he suggested we flip a coin and just before we were gonna do this I asked a question "so can we move in straight away?" and he said "yes you can move in now if you want" the other couple suddenly looked forlorn and said "oh we can't move in for 2 weeks or we won't get our bond back from the other place" I immediately said "we'll take now" and that was it. The couple from Cork skulked out the door and we had an apartment. No bond, no bills, one weeks notice when we want to leave, leave the rent money on the kitchen table every week and some guy comes in and collects it (we thought this very odd in the first place but they let out a number of apartments in the building and it other people we've spoken to said it's fine and it has been so far) great location between chapel st. and fitzroy st. on the edge of St.kilda.
Next thing to do was to try and get jobs. we went through the process of registering with agencies again and we both started off getting a few jobs here and there for a day or 2. I worked up in Collingwood for a few days in the best office i've ever seen. It's a converted loft all open planned with a huge kitchen area, dining area, pool table and real coffee machine. They love their coffee in melbourne. All the Starbucks are closing in the city because they tried to introduce coffee culture but it was already here! I've got into drinking coffee a bit. A mate of mine from home Donal McGoldrick has been over here for 6 years and we've met for coffee a few times. It's winter here and it's pretty cold with the wind coming up from the anarctic but people still sit outside all wrapped up in coats and scarves. We had to buy ourselves winter coats because when we first got here we were froze. It doesn't take you long to get used to the heat especially after we'd had almost 6 months of it so it was a bit of a shock when we got here to find that it may be 12 -15 degrees but with the wind it feels like it's minus sometimes. We were warned though if one more person says to me "four seasons in a day".....
After a couple weeks working in a variety of places I got a 3 month contract doing payroll for Victoria Police. Emma has a 2 month contract with TAC. i think they are like a state insurance company who provide medical care and rehab if you've been in a car accident and she is recruiting staff to provide rehab or something like that. Anyway it's great to not have to worry about where we'll be working for a while so now with the apartment and jobs we've got a bit of time to explore Melbourne.
The city centre is really cool. It's on a block format like in the states and it has all these cool side streets and alleyways full of shops, pubs and restaurants. We walked down by Southgate last night after work and the few of the city is amazing from down there. The trams and trains can take you to just about anywhere you need to go. The are losing a clean fortune on them trams because nobody pays for them and there is very rarely inspectors to check tickets. Chapel St. is right beside us so we've spent a good bit of time down there checking out restaurants and bars. we went to a Nepalese place a couple of weeks ago, the food was delicious. There is a cinema at the end of the street called the astor. it's really old fashioned and when we went to see "There will be blood" a couple of weeks ago they had an intermission. There's a gym across the road from it that I've joined as well. It's in an old church thats been done up. Inside it reminds me of gym tech when it was on Hill St. in Newry. I've started boxing training as well. It's more like circuit training but it's a good work out.
Melbourne is really multicultural. There are loads of Greeks, Chinese, Balkans, Italians, Indians, Israelis,Vietnamese and of course Irish here. All boiled together the city and the suburbs have a really good vibe and we look forward to sampling as much of it as possible.
Next thing to do was to try and get jobs. we went through the process of registering with agencies again and we both started off getting a few jobs here and there for a day or 2. I worked up in Collingwood for a few days in the best office i've ever seen. It's a converted loft all open planned with a huge kitchen area, dining area, pool table and real coffee machine. They love their coffee in melbourne. All the Starbucks are closing in the city because they tried to introduce coffee culture but it was already here! I've got into drinking coffee a bit. A mate of mine from home Donal McGoldrick has been over here for 6 years and we've met for coffee a few times. It's winter here and it's pretty cold with the wind coming up from the anarctic but people still sit outside all wrapped up in coats and scarves. We had to buy ourselves winter coats because when we first got here we were froze. It doesn't take you long to get used to the heat especially after we'd had almost 6 months of it so it was a bit of a shock when we got here to find that it may be 12 -15 degrees but with the wind it feels like it's minus sometimes. We were warned though if one more person says to me "four seasons in a day".....
After a couple weeks working in a variety of places I got a 3 month contract doing payroll for Victoria Police. Emma has a 2 month contract with TAC. i think they are like a state insurance company who provide medical care and rehab if you've been in a car accident and she is recruiting staff to provide rehab or something like that. Anyway it's great to not have to worry about where we'll be working for a while so now with the apartment and jobs we've got a bit of time to explore Melbourne.
The city centre is really cool. It's on a block format like in the states and it has all these cool side streets and alleyways full of shops, pubs and restaurants. We walked down by Southgate last night after work and the few of the city is amazing from down there. The trams and trains can take you to just about anywhere you need to go. The are losing a clean fortune on them trams because nobody pays for them and there is very rarely inspectors to check tickets. Chapel St. is right beside us so we've spent a good bit of time down there checking out restaurants and bars. we went to a Nepalese place a couple of weeks ago, the food was delicious. There is a cinema at the end of the street called the astor. it's really old fashioned and when we went to see "There will be blood" a couple of weeks ago they had an intermission. There's a gym across the road from it that I've joined as well. It's in an old church thats been done up. Inside it reminds me of gym tech when it was on Hill St. in Newry. I've started boxing training as well. It's more like circuit training but it's a good work out.
Melbourne is really multicultural. There are loads of Greeks, Chinese, Balkans, Italians, Indians, Israelis,Vietnamese and of course Irish here. All boiled together the city and the suburbs have a really good vibe and we look forward to sampling as much of it as possible.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
On the road: Darwin to Melbourne
We left Darwin belatedly on Monday 30th June. We'd had a late night previously watching the GAA into the wee hours. We were the only 2 watching the Armagh Down game in the bar and although it wasn't a great game the result was excellent. We also went to see Lars and the real girl in the deckchair cinema earlier in the evening. If you get a chance to see this we'd highly recommend it. Oh and on the saturday I went out on a fishing charter and a halfdays fishing. It was good craic I caught a few Red Snapper, some Spanish Flag and a Rock Cod. There were 10 of us on the boat and we just went about 6kms out from the harbour. I was fishing next to a guy from Queensland called Rusty. he has worked on loads of fishing charters and has caught Marlin that weighed over a tonne. I told him about the time I caught a 12lb pike in the Newry Canal a few years ago. I think he was impressed.
So we had to get a couple of new tyres for the front of the van before we left and this delayed our departure until after midday. Alice Springs was the next "big" place we'd pass through but it's 1500kms from Darwin. We generally have tried to do about 500kms a day when travelling. Just after we left Darwin the radio packed up. This was a sign of things to come with the van. Our first stop was Mataranka. We arrived just before sunset and got down for a dip in the hot springs before dark. Previously we had to get to places before dark so we wouldn't have to cook with head torches on. That was a bit stressful. We eventually bought ourselves a tradesmans light that clips onto the side of the van and we hire a powered site so it didn't matter what time we got in at. Our first night out of Darwin was a cold one. The temperature only 500kms south was 10 degrees colder. When we left Darwin it was 30-32 during the day and 15-18 at night so we just had a sheet round us. As we moved further south the duvet was re-introduced, Emma had bed socks and big heavy PJ's and a hot water bottle and I slept in a track suit. I came out of the showers at the camp site and a wild pig confronted me. We've seen a lot of wild animals on this trip but I wasn't expecting this. Rather than try and go past it I just took a short cut through the caravans.
The next morning the van wouldn't start either. Its always been a problem staring her on cold mornings. We hadn't really had a problem because it had been so warm since we left Perth and travelled North but as soon as we started heading south the problems began. I got one of the site groundsmen to give me a tow and I managed to jump start her in second. Once she starts there will be no problems, the problem is getting her started. So we were off and running and we headed for Tennant Creek, another 500kms down the road. We got there late because of the delay getting the van started and it was dark when we were driving round looking for the camp site. There were a lot of aboriginals hanging about the town but this was nothing compared to what we would experience in Alice Springs.
Tennant Creek was even colder at night that Mataranka. We couldn't even sit outside after dinner so were in bed about 7.30pm. The next morning we got up and made breakfast, showered, checked the van for oil and water and we were on our way........to reception to ask if someone could give us a tow so we could jump start the van. Eventually someone arrived and we we got going again around 11 or so. We only got 60kms down the road when i noticed the temperature gauge was very high and suddenly there was a bang from the engine (located under the passsenger bench seat) and the battery light came on. I pulled over and had a look at the engine. The steam was rising out of it and the radiator over flow bottle was gone. I headed back up the road to look for the bottle and found it about half a km away. It was still very warm during the day and the sun was beating down. I stuck the bottle back in and put some water in it and we decided to head back to Tennant Creek to have it checked out as we were still 500kms from Alice Springs. On the way back it conked out again and the bottle flew off. Now, I know absolutely nothing about cars, at least I knew nothing until we bought this one. I asked the mechanic in Perth when we got her serviced before we left what I need to check. He told me to check the oil and top up the water in the overflow bottle and I done this religiously everyday before we travelled anywhere. Emma thought that we might need to actually put water in the radiator itself but i was like "no, the mechanic told me just to do this and thats what i've been doing, it's obviously some other problem". We had signed up to the RAC road assitance before we left and this turned out to be the best purchase we made for this trip. Even better that the stove top toaster. We went to phone the RAC but we had no signal so we discussed what we would do. Would one of us go into town and one of us stay with the van? It's at times like this you start to think about films like Wolf Creek and what happened to Peter Falconio. Luckily there was some traffic on the road and in the back of the RAC book there is a relay form on which you fill out your details, location where you've broken down and you give it to a passing motorist and then when they get within range of a signal or they get to a roadhouse then they can contact the RAC on your behalf. I stopped a car with a caravan and this German couple said they would do it of course, they offered us water but we had plenty. They took off up the road and we hoped they would deliver the message. We sat for an hour in the van in the hot sun. we couldn't get out of the van because of all the flies. we kept drinking water and eventually Emma very reluctantly had to go to the toilet in the bush. We started to doubt whether the Germans, renowned for their efficiency would actually deliver the message when a tow truck drove past us turned around and pulled up in front of the van. it was nearly 3.30pm at this stage. The tow truck guy had a look at the engine, i told him about the bottle and he said "have you put any water in the radiator?" I hung my head in shame. The radiator was completely empty it took about 5 litres to fill it, even water from the hot water bottle was used. We drove back to Tennant Creek and started out again the next day.
I think the van actually started itself that day and we drove to Alice Springs via the Devils Marbles. When we got to Alice Springs we were almost out of petrol. They have this unleaded stuff called opal unleaded. It was developed because the aboriginals were sniffing the petrol and it was killing their brain cells. I'd heard it had messed up engines so I asked the attendant before I put any petrol in the van and she said it was exactly like unleaded without the smell.
20 minutes after putting opal unleaded in the van, I couldn't take my foot of the accelerator or it would conk out.
I was trying to slow down at roundabouts and the van would conk out. At junctions and traffic lights I'd take my foot off the gas to apply the break and the van conked out. I could restart her again each time but something was badly wrong. Add to this that we couldn't find a camp site because it was a public holiday and we were not happy campers. After we conked out for the 53rd time outside the 5th campsite. we decided to phone the RAC again. They sent out a tow truck and the guy had a look at the engine. I told him about the opal unleaded and he laughed like he'd heard that a few times before and he confirmed that it did mess up engines, particularly in older vehicles. He told us we'd need to get her to a mechanic but it was already 7pm and the next day, Friday, was a bank holiday. Fortunately he knew someone who opened saturdays. We phoned the RAC and told them our predicament and they told us that under our cover we could be put up in a hotel for up to 5 days while our van got fixed. Hurray! we checked in the diplomat motel for 2 blissful days. I took the van to the mechanic on the saturday after it completely conked out at roundabout and I had to call the RAC again to come and tow me this time. The mechanic had a look at the van and it needed a new fuel pump and the carby rebuilt. It ended up not being ready until Tuesday so we maximised our hotel allowance in Alice Springs and it gave us time to sample life in the middle of Australia.
Alice Springs is Abo-mania. It's like Dawn of the Dead. Droves of Aboriginals walking about like zombies day and night. Unbelievable. Like Darwin, a lot of them seem to just live on the streets and outside K Mart. On the saturday afternoon I had the misfortune of glimpsing an aboriginal woman taking a piss standing up practically outside a very busy shop entrance. Awful.
Alice is a fairly small town but it has a fair few shops in it and a couple of shopping precincts so Emma was able to stock up on her winter wear. She bought a pair of those ugg boots and she has hardly had them off her since she got them. There is a bar called Bojangles and it's really cool. It's like a saloon in the wild west with cowboy paraphernalia all over the walls and monkey nut shells on the ground. You can get handfuls of mokey nuts from inside a coffin just inside the door. Emma put her shells in the ashtray and got told off for not throwing them on the floor! We also treated ourselves to steaks in the overlander steakhouse one night.
We hadn't intended to stay more than 2 days in Alice Springs and if the van had have been going we might not even have stayed that long. Eventually on Tuesday we left Alice and headed for Ayers Rock, another 500km round trip off the main road. From about 140kms out we could see a big red plateau in the distance which i thought must be Ayers Rock but Emma thought it wasn't it. And it wasn't. 100kms later we saw the real thing and also another group of rocks called the olgas that from our perspective looked like Homer Simpson lying down. We spent a night at the Ayers Rock resort camp site and the temperature got down to 1 degree. The next morning of course the van wouldn't start and we phoned the RAC again. The tow truck would take an hour or so to get to us and give us a jump start. 5 minutes after we phoned them I tried the van again and it started. we cancelled the tow truck and headed the final 20kms to Ayers Rock. It is a spectacular site. You can climb it but the aboriginal people don't want you to but there were loads of people climbing it. We walked around it instead. It's nearly 10kms and you can't take photos for much of the way round either. it cost $25 and we had to walk round it to get our moneys worth.
At this stage were completely fed up of camping in the cold. We'd had 60 days in the van and we were at the end of our tether. We'd met a couple in in their late 50's in Broome and they were from Adelaide. They told us if we ever come through there to give them a call and they would put us up for the night. We were a bit embarrassed texting them but they were delighted that we'd contacted them and told us they'd put us up. This spurred us on and helped us deal with the cold night we spent in Coober Pedy, an opal mining town where a lot of people live underground because of the extreme weather. It's also were Mad Max was filmed. I was waiting in the van for Emma outside the supermarket just before we left the next morning. I heard something behind me, turned round to see this big ,black, old, aboriginal womans face with her mouth open and 3 rotten teeth pressed up against the window. when she tried to open the door I had to get out and to stop her. She was obviously very drunk and took a minute see me and then she said "Take me to the hospital". I told her to get away from the van.
We arrived in Adelaide on the Saturday and stayed with Monica and Kym (a man with a woman name) for 2 nights. On the staurdy night we went up to a house of friends of theirs and they made us pizzas ands we watched the aussie rules. Its' clear that if Western Australia and the East Coast hate each other, South Australians hate everybody. We travelled down to Victors Harbour and walked around Granite Island then headed back to the city for an indian. We tried to leave at reasonable time on monday but we couldn't get the van started and had to get the RAC out again to jump start us and again on Tuesday. That was the best $116 we ever spent. The problem seems to be the automatic choke on these L300 vans. Once she starts she'll go all day but the problem is getting her started.
We decided to take the scenic route into melbourne along the Great Ocean Road but because we didn't get going til late we didn't have time to do it all because it got dark. What we did see of it was great if you like driving up and down steep windy roads through forests with mere glimpses of ocean periodically. Apparently the part between Anglesea and Apollo Bay is the best but we came from the other direction. What should have been a relatively short journey of 455kms ended up taking us longer than any other day. We arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday night and we've been staying with Dylans bother Ronan in St. Albans. We've been down in St.KIlda looking for an appartment for ourselves and we will hopefully hear something today then we can start to look for jobs. The plan is to stay here for 3-4 months.
The road trip is over. From Perth to Melbourne via Darwin. It could be the equivalent of driving from San Diego to Florida via Detroit. It took us 2 and a half months though we had 5 weeks in Darwin, 7 days in Broome, 5 days in Alice Springs, 2 days in Coral Bay, Adelaide and Tennant Creek. We travelled over 12,000kms through Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria. We couldn't see it all but we got to see almost everything we wanted to. Campsites ranged from $5 to $42 per night but most were around $30 per night. Petrol ranged from $1.45 in Perth to $2.10 a litre in the Northern Territory. We had 64 nights in the van, 7 nights in hotels, 2 nights with friends and a van that was still going yesterday but might not go today.
So we had to get a couple of new tyres for the front of the van before we left and this delayed our departure until after midday. Alice Springs was the next "big" place we'd pass through but it's 1500kms from Darwin. We generally have tried to do about 500kms a day when travelling. Just after we left Darwin the radio packed up. This was a sign of things to come with the van. Our first stop was Mataranka. We arrived just before sunset and got down for a dip in the hot springs before dark. Previously we had to get to places before dark so we wouldn't have to cook with head torches on. That was a bit stressful. We eventually bought ourselves a tradesmans light that clips onto the side of the van and we hire a powered site so it didn't matter what time we got in at. Our first night out of Darwin was a cold one. The temperature only 500kms south was 10 degrees colder. When we left Darwin it was 30-32 during the day and 15-18 at night so we just had a sheet round us. As we moved further south the duvet was re-introduced, Emma had bed socks and big heavy PJ's and a hot water bottle and I slept in a track suit. I came out of the showers at the camp site and a wild pig confronted me. We've seen a lot of wild animals on this trip but I wasn't expecting this. Rather than try and go past it I just took a short cut through the caravans.
The next morning the van wouldn't start either. Its always been a problem staring her on cold mornings. We hadn't really had a problem because it had been so warm since we left Perth and travelled North but as soon as we started heading south the problems began. I got one of the site groundsmen to give me a tow and I managed to jump start her in second. Once she starts there will be no problems, the problem is getting her started. So we were off and running and we headed for Tennant Creek, another 500kms down the road. We got there late because of the delay getting the van started and it was dark when we were driving round looking for the camp site. There were a lot of aboriginals hanging about the town but this was nothing compared to what we would experience in Alice Springs.
Tennant Creek was even colder at night that Mataranka. We couldn't even sit outside after dinner so were in bed about 7.30pm. The next morning we got up and made breakfast, showered, checked the van for oil and water and we were on our way........to reception to ask if someone could give us a tow so we could jump start the van. Eventually someone arrived and we we got going again around 11 or so. We only got 60kms down the road when i noticed the temperature gauge was very high and suddenly there was a bang from the engine (located under the passsenger bench seat) and the battery light came on. I pulled over and had a look at the engine. The steam was rising out of it and the radiator over flow bottle was gone. I headed back up the road to look for the bottle and found it about half a km away. It was still very warm during the day and the sun was beating down. I stuck the bottle back in and put some water in it and we decided to head back to Tennant Creek to have it checked out as we were still 500kms from Alice Springs. On the way back it conked out again and the bottle flew off. Now, I know absolutely nothing about cars, at least I knew nothing until we bought this one. I asked the mechanic in Perth when we got her serviced before we left what I need to check. He told me to check the oil and top up the water in the overflow bottle and I done this religiously everyday before we travelled anywhere. Emma thought that we might need to actually put water in the radiator itself but i was like "no, the mechanic told me just to do this and thats what i've been doing, it's obviously some other problem". We had signed up to the RAC road assitance before we left and this turned out to be the best purchase we made for this trip. Even better that the stove top toaster. We went to phone the RAC but we had no signal so we discussed what we would do. Would one of us go into town and one of us stay with the van? It's at times like this you start to think about films like Wolf Creek and what happened to Peter Falconio. Luckily there was some traffic on the road and in the back of the RAC book there is a relay form on which you fill out your details, location where you've broken down and you give it to a passing motorist and then when they get within range of a signal or they get to a roadhouse then they can contact the RAC on your behalf. I stopped a car with a caravan and this German couple said they would do it of course, they offered us water but we had plenty. They took off up the road and we hoped they would deliver the message. We sat for an hour in the van in the hot sun. we couldn't get out of the van because of all the flies. we kept drinking water and eventually Emma very reluctantly had to go to the toilet in the bush. We started to doubt whether the Germans, renowned for their efficiency would actually deliver the message when a tow truck drove past us turned around and pulled up in front of the van. it was nearly 3.30pm at this stage. The tow truck guy had a look at the engine, i told him about the bottle and he said "have you put any water in the radiator?" I hung my head in shame. The radiator was completely empty it took about 5 litres to fill it, even water from the hot water bottle was used. We drove back to Tennant Creek and started out again the next day.
I think the van actually started itself that day and we drove to Alice Springs via the Devils Marbles. When we got to Alice Springs we were almost out of petrol. They have this unleaded stuff called opal unleaded. It was developed because the aboriginals were sniffing the petrol and it was killing their brain cells. I'd heard it had messed up engines so I asked the attendant before I put any petrol in the van and she said it was exactly like unleaded without the smell.
20 minutes after putting opal unleaded in the van, I couldn't take my foot of the accelerator or it would conk out.
I was trying to slow down at roundabouts and the van would conk out. At junctions and traffic lights I'd take my foot off the gas to apply the break and the van conked out. I could restart her again each time but something was badly wrong. Add to this that we couldn't find a camp site because it was a public holiday and we were not happy campers. After we conked out for the 53rd time outside the 5th campsite. we decided to phone the RAC again. They sent out a tow truck and the guy had a look at the engine. I told him about the opal unleaded and he laughed like he'd heard that a few times before and he confirmed that it did mess up engines, particularly in older vehicles. He told us we'd need to get her to a mechanic but it was already 7pm and the next day, Friday, was a bank holiday. Fortunately he knew someone who opened saturdays. We phoned the RAC and told them our predicament and they told us that under our cover we could be put up in a hotel for up to 5 days while our van got fixed. Hurray! we checked in the diplomat motel for 2 blissful days. I took the van to the mechanic on the saturday after it completely conked out at roundabout and I had to call the RAC again to come and tow me this time. The mechanic had a look at the van and it needed a new fuel pump and the carby rebuilt. It ended up not being ready until Tuesday so we maximised our hotel allowance in Alice Springs and it gave us time to sample life in the middle of Australia.
Alice Springs is Abo-mania. It's like Dawn of the Dead. Droves of Aboriginals walking about like zombies day and night. Unbelievable. Like Darwin, a lot of them seem to just live on the streets and outside K Mart. On the saturday afternoon I had the misfortune of glimpsing an aboriginal woman taking a piss standing up practically outside a very busy shop entrance. Awful.
Alice is a fairly small town but it has a fair few shops in it and a couple of shopping precincts so Emma was able to stock up on her winter wear. She bought a pair of those ugg boots and she has hardly had them off her since she got them. There is a bar called Bojangles and it's really cool. It's like a saloon in the wild west with cowboy paraphernalia all over the walls and monkey nut shells on the ground. You can get handfuls of mokey nuts from inside a coffin just inside the door. Emma put her shells in the ashtray and got told off for not throwing them on the floor! We also treated ourselves to steaks in the overlander steakhouse one night.
We hadn't intended to stay more than 2 days in Alice Springs and if the van had have been going we might not even have stayed that long. Eventually on Tuesday we left Alice and headed for Ayers Rock, another 500km round trip off the main road. From about 140kms out we could see a big red plateau in the distance which i thought must be Ayers Rock but Emma thought it wasn't it. And it wasn't. 100kms later we saw the real thing and also another group of rocks called the olgas that from our perspective looked like Homer Simpson lying down. We spent a night at the Ayers Rock resort camp site and the temperature got down to 1 degree. The next morning of course the van wouldn't start and we phoned the RAC again. The tow truck would take an hour or so to get to us and give us a jump start. 5 minutes after we phoned them I tried the van again and it started. we cancelled the tow truck and headed the final 20kms to Ayers Rock. It is a spectacular site. You can climb it but the aboriginal people don't want you to but there were loads of people climbing it. We walked around it instead. It's nearly 10kms and you can't take photos for much of the way round either. it cost $25 and we had to walk round it to get our moneys worth.
At this stage were completely fed up of camping in the cold. We'd had 60 days in the van and we were at the end of our tether. We'd met a couple in in their late 50's in Broome and they were from Adelaide. They told us if we ever come through there to give them a call and they would put us up for the night. We were a bit embarrassed texting them but they were delighted that we'd contacted them and told us they'd put us up. This spurred us on and helped us deal with the cold night we spent in Coober Pedy, an opal mining town where a lot of people live underground because of the extreme weather. It's also were Mad Max was filmed. I was waiting in the van for Emma outside the supermarket just before we left the next morning. I heard something behind me, turned round to see this big ,black, old, aboriginal womans face with her mouth open and 3 rotten teeth pressed up against the window. when she tried to open the door I had to get out and to stop her. She was obviously very drunk and took a minute see me and then she said "Take me to the hospital". I told her to get away from the van.
We arrived in Adelaide on the Saturday and stayed with Monica and Kym (a man with a woman name) for 2 nights. On the staurdy night we went up to a house of friends of theirs and they made us pizzas ands we watched the aussie rules. Its' clear that if Western Australia and the East Coast hate each other, South Australians hate everybody. We travelled down to Victors Harbour and walked around Granite Island then headed back to the city for an indian. We tried to leave at reasonable time on monday but we couldn't get the van started and had to get the RAC out again to jump start us and again on Tuesday. That was the best $116 we ever spent. The problem seems to be the automatic choke on these L300 vans. Once she starts she'll go all day but the problem is getting her started.
We decided to take the scenic route into melbourne along the Great Ocean Road but because we didn't get going til late we didn't have time to do it all because it got dark. What we did see of it was great if you like driving up and down steep windy roads through forests with mere glimpses of ocean periodically. Apparently the part between Anglesea and Apollo Bay is the best but we came from the other direction. What should have been a relatively short journey of 455kms ended up taking us longer than any other day. We arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday night and we've been staying with Dylans bother Ronan in St. Albans. We've been down in St.KIlda looking for an appartment for ourselves and we will hopefully hear something today then we can start to look for jobs. The plan is to stay here for 3-4 months.
The road trip is over. From Perth to Melbourne via Darwin. It could be the equivalent of driving from San Diego to Florida via Detroit. It took us 2 and a half months though we had 5 weeks in Darwin, 7 days in Broome, 5 days in Alice Springs, 2 days in Coral Bay, Adelaide and Tennant Creek. We travelled over 12,000kms through Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria. We couldn't see it all but we got to see almost everything we wanted to. Campsites ranged from $5 to $42 per night but most were around $30 per night. Petrol ranged from $1.45 in Perth to $2.10 a litre in the Northern Territory. We had 64 nights in the van, 7 nights in hotels, 2 nights with friends and a van that was still going yesterday but might not go today.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
On the road: Broome to Darwin
We ended up staying in Broome for 7 nights and we spent a lot of time doing nothing other than going to the beach. I got in a bit of body boarding. The waves were nothing special but it was a good way to say adieu to the Indian ocean. There was one day we couldn't go in because there was a shark. We hung about Broome for the Staircase to the moon that happens 3 times a month. We headed down to the mangrove hotel to get the best view of the orange moon rising over the mudflats and creating an illusion of steps to the moon. It was pretty cool, there was a guy playing the didjeridoo as the moon rose but it was difficult to get a good picture of it, although we did try. We also went to the famous sun outdoor cinema and caught the film about Bob Dylan called i'm not there. I enjoyed it but Emma wasn't too keen. We had dinner in a couple of places as well, one was an Italian Cafe and they made the best pizzas we've ever tasted.
Broome was cool and all. It allowed us to recharge the batteries but its very small. After all that outback we expected something a bit bigger. There is a place on the coast called Gauntheme Point that was absolutely beautiful. it has huge flat top rock formations overlooking the ocean which looked even more blue than usual.
The day after the moon we hit the road again. We didn't get going till the afternoon because it takes so long to back the van and stock up on groceries for the next part. We got to Fitzroy Crossing just after dark and had a bit of trouble finding accommodation. Fitzroy Crossing has little more than a petrol station in it and this also seems to be where all the aboriginals live as there were dozens of them hanging about there. The camp site we stayed in was described as an oasis and it proved to be just that.
The next day we were planning on staying at Halls Creek but after Fitzroy Crossing we decided to bomb onto Kununurra, the next big town. We stopped off in Halls Creek for petrol. It was midday and the place was full of aboriginals sitting drinking in the shade or coming out of liquor stores with crates of beer. They don't bother you or anything (apparently they get $1000 a fortnight benefits and also a royalties cheque from the national parks) but a lot of them don't seem to live anywhere. A lot of them hang about the roadside and apparently they sleep there as well. The locals call them "Long Grassers". They remind me a bit of the gypsies at home (although we can't talk living in caravan sites). Not many people have any time for most of them but the common line seems to be that they don't do themselves any favours. There are plenty of aboriginals working and raising families in a way we recognize as civilised. In Timber Creek I saw an aboriginal girl breast feeding her baby while smoking at the same time (the mother not the baby) .
Once we got past Halls Creek we drove through the Kimberley which has the most breathtaking scenery. After a thousand kms of vast nothingness the next 1000 were absolutely beautiful. Eagles circled the air above these huge red/orange plateaus that the roads wound around. Kununurra was the next big town and we spent one night there and stocked up again before heading to Katherine via Newry Station just over the border in the Northern Territory. I think it was a horse ranch. In katherine, we had one night in a sub standard caravan park and then we found a nice one with access to the hot springs ( a pool created by water from under the ground, crystal clear and warm like a bath) we also headed to Nitmiluk National Park and took a boat trip up the Katherine gorge. Dilly says it's like Jurassic park and I can't do any better than that.
We arrived in Darwin 2 weeks ago and after a slow start we got ourselves jobs. i contacted some production houses here and had an interview with an editing company. I thought it went well and the guy said he'd defo ring me on friday or monday ( 2 weeks ago) but I never heard from him. Then we were out having lunch one day they guy from the place came in andd said he hadn't forgotten about me and he'd give me a ring so i gave him a ring just to remind him again and he said he'd phone me back in 10 minutes but that was last wednesday. I'm working for the Defence Housing Australia. They sort out housing for the military and their families. It's only for a couple of weeks but it's the best money i've been on since I got here. Accommodation for us has been a lot more difficult to find. We're still in the van and it's difficult working and having nothing to go back to and relax but it's so warm up here it's nice sitting out in the evening. The plan at the moment is to head for melbourne down the middle of the country via alice springs and ayers rock .
Dah-win is a nice place, small only 70,000 people, full of irish but it's the biggest place we've been to in a month and we're enjoying city life again. It's a bit of a pain having to go through the whole process of testing and registration with agencies but thats what we have to do to get work. There are loads of people in the same boat as us working and living in caravan parks. It's difficult to get short term accommodation here which is amazing considering the amount of backpackers. It's still great though we can't swim in the water because of the crocs and jellyfish but we've done a lot of beaches since we've been here so we're in no rush to go swimming in the sea.
We ended up checking into a hotel for anight to get out of the van. God I've missed TV. There was a movie channel but the selection wasn't great and we watched snakes on a plane, big mommas house and gone in 60 seconds none of which I'd watch ordinarily but when you've been without tv you'll watch anything. The Greek Glenti festival was on in the esplanade near where we were staying so we treated ourselves to food from it. It was great to get a break from cooking.
We went to Litchfield park on sunday and swam in the Florence falls plunge pool. There were fish biting my toes, I thought they were piranhas and had to get out. We also went to tolmer and wangi falls but you couldn't swim in them because of crocs. on the saturday we checked out the museum and there is an exhibition about the 1974 cyclone that almost destroyed the city completely. Its a big military town that found prominence during the second world war 2 when the allies used it to take on the Japanese and consequently Darwin took a hammering in air raids. There is a road called Bombing Road and one of the arcaes is called air raid arcade. At the moment there are international air force war games going on and the noise from fighter jets is staggering. Food is excellent here (as it is in every place we've visited in Australia) we went to a restaurant call char, it's the best in the territory and last night we went to the jetty rrestaurant for all you can eat buffet. I had 4 courses before dessert and finished off with some fruit. I got my moneys worth. Mindil beach markets have every type of food you can imagine. There is another national park called kakadu that we're not gonna get to see because we'd need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I might get some fishing in over the weekend. There are loads of tours. We're gonna hang about until monday and see if we can get to watch the Armagh and Down game somewhere. Come on Armagh!
Broome was cool and all. It allowed us to recharge the batteries but its very small. After all that outback we expected something a bit bigger. There is a place on the coast called Gauntheme Point that was absolutely beautiful. it has huge flat top rock formations overlooking the ocean which looked even more blue than usual.
The day after the moon we hit the road again. We didn't get going till the afternoon because it takes so long to back the van and stock up on groceries for the next part. We got to Fitzroy Crossing just after dark and had a bit of trouble finding accommodation. Fitzroy Crossing has little more than a petrol station in it and this also seems to be where all the aboriginals live as there were dozens of them hanging about there. The camp site we stayed in was described as an oasis and it proved to be just that.
The next day we were planning on staying at Halls Creek but after Fitzroy Crossing we decided to bomb onto Kununurra, the next big town. We stopped off in Halls Creek for petrol. It was midday and the place was full of aboriginals sitting drinking in the shade or coming out of liquor stores with crates of beer. They don't bother you or anything (apparently they get $1000 a fortnight benefits and also a royalties cheque from the national parks) but a lot of them don't seem to live anywhere. A lot of them hang about the roadside and apparently they sleep there as well. The locals call them "Long Grassers". They remind me a bit of the gypsies at home (although we can't talk living in caravan sites). Not many people have any time for most of them but the common line seems to be that they don't do themselves any favours. There are plenty of aboriginals working and raising families in a way we recognize as civilised. In Timber Creek I saw an aboriginal girl breast feeding her baby while smoking at the same time (the mother not the baby) .
Once we got past Halls Creek we drove through the Kimberley which has the most breathtaking scenery. After a thousand kms of vast nothingness the next 1000 were absolutely beautiful. Eagles circled the air above these huge red/orange plateaus that the roads wound around. Kununurra was the next big town and we spent one night there and stocked up again before heading to Katherine via Newry Station just over the border in the Northern Territory. I think it was a horse ranch. In katherine, we had one night in a sub standard caravan park and then we found a nice one with access to the hot springs ( a pool created by water from under the ground, crystal clear and warm like a bath) we also headed to Nitmiluk National Park and took a boat trip up the Katherine gorge. Dilly says it's like Jurassic park and I can't do any better than that.
We arrived in Darwin 2 weeks ago and after a slow start we got ourselves jobs. i contacted some production houses here and had an interview with an editing company. I thought it went well and the guy said he'd defo ring me on friday or monday ( 2 weeks ago) but I never heard from him. Then we were out having lunch one day they guy from the place came in andd said he hadn't forgotten about me and he'd give me a ring so i gave him a ring just to remind him again and he said he'd phone me back in 10 minutes but that was last wednesday. I'm working for the Defence Housing Australia. They sort out housing for the military and their families. It's only for a couple of weeks but it's the best money i've been on since I got here. Accommodation for us has been a lot more difficult to find. We're still in the van and it's difficult working and having nothing to go back to and relax but it's so warm up here it's nice sitting out in the evening. The plan at the moment is to head for melbourne down the middle of the country via alice springs and ayers rock .
Dah-win is a nice place, small only 70,000 people, full of irish but it's the biggest place we've been to in a month and we're enjoying city life again. It's a bit of a pain having to go through the whole process of testing and registration with agencies but thats what we have to do to get work. There are loads of people in the same boat as us working and living in caravan parks. It's difficult to get short term accommodation here which is amazing considering the amount of backpackers. It's still great though we can't swim in the water because of the crocs and jellyfish but we've done a lot of beaches since we've been here so we're in no rush to go swimming in the sea.
We ended up checking into a hotel for anight to get out of the van. God I've missed TV. There was a movie channel but the selection wasn't great and we watched snakes on a plane, big mommas house and gone in 60 seconds none of which I'd watch ordinarily but when you've been without tv you'll watch anything. The Greek Glenti festival was on in the esplanade near where we were staying so we treated ourselves to food from it. It was great to get a break from cooking.
We went to Litchfield park on sunday and swam in the Florence falls plunge pool. There were fish biting my toes, I thought they were piranhas and had to get out. We also went to tolmer and wangi falls but you couldn't swim in them because of crocs. on the saturday we checked out the museum and there is an exhibition about the 1974 cyclone that almost destroyed the city completely. Its a big military town that found prominence during the second world war 2 when the allies used it to take on the Japanese and consequently Darwin took a hammering in air raids. There is a road called Bombing Road and one of the arcaes is called air raid arcade. At the moment there are international air force war games going on and the noise from fighter jets is staggering. Food is excellent here (as it is in every place we've visited in Australia) we went to a restaurant call char, it's the best in the territory and last night we went to the jetty rrestaurant for all you can eat buffet. I had 4 courses before dessert and finished off with some fruit. I got my moneys worth. Mindil beach markets have every type of food you can imagine. There is another national park called kakadu that we're not gonna get to see because we'd need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. I might get some fishing in over the weekend. There are loads of tours. We're gonna hang about until monday and see if we can get to watch the Armagh and Down game somewhere. Come on Armagh!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
