Like a Sunday Morning

Having been offered a 10-day tour reduced from $1400 to $995, I thought long and hard about it, and realised that they must be desperate for people ! So I waited until the day before and phoned up with a counter offer of $895 which they accepted quite quickly. Almost too quickly. Damn, should of aimed lower still !

But for me, it's the haggle of the centuary, and it means I am getting my butt into action, departing tomorrow sometime around 7am (bleurgh) and getting into the Aussie outback, where I will be camping under the stars in swags (not wussy tents for us) and hiking around a lot with my camera !

So will be offline for a couple of weeks - not sure what kind of interent services I might see in the outback...

It's quiet... too quiet...

My first two days in Adeliade have mainly involved finding my travelling feet and resisting lattes, boost juices and tasty snacks - such luxuries are not permitted on the backpacker budget. My other money saver has been trying to organise a road trip up to Uluru, which so far has yeilded no response... It seems it's low season, many of the hostels are near-empty and people are mainly headed to Sydney or settled with work.

So it may be that I have to opt for a tour bus package - not a terrible option as all companies are price cutting at the moment to fill seats, but somehow the adventure is not quite as great on a pre-organised tour, the road trip "fun" just isn't quite there. But the fear inspiring sales tactics of the companies are quite good - after all the Australian outback is full of posionous evil and bad mobile phone coverage, so what if I broke down or got bitten on my own out there ! Ah, at the end of the day, lazyness may win out and get me to sign me up for the tour option :)

Forward march

In three hours I will get on board my coach to Adelaide. The last few days have been full of final, final, no really honestly final goodbyes, which has been all a bit emotional to tell the truth. It was only as I left London that I started to appritiate what I was leaving behind, and I think the same is starting to happen with Melbourne. If I didn't have plans to move on and see home again, I think I could of qutie happily stayed a long time in Melbourne; like Vancouver it was one of those vibrant yet pleasant cities you could spend a long time in and never get bored of.

But I must head on - lots of Australia to see, and plenty of people I want to meet up with back home before xmas. Plus of course, xmas dinner, surely one of the best reasons to return home of all! Last few days have therefore been spent on Tax (tedious forms), Visas (tedious waiting) and posting stuff home (tedious forms). Oh, and I managed to fit in a very enjoyable session snowboarding and a few nice days in the country too ;) I am once again back to just a backpack and a small day bag, although not much room for expansion this time, probably due to the addition of my manual camera kit and some extra clothes !

Oh, Melbourne photo album is now complete, lots more evenings out uploaded with workmates and non-workmates on there. Camera is clear and internet access is no longer free - back on the road again !

Marines, we are LEAVING!

As I type this, only one hour of employment remains with Sensis, and still plenty to get finshed ! Leaving drinks were last night at the basement cafe, a friendly little bar in the center of town run by a very enthusiastic French guy called Sylvestre & his charming wife Elizabeth. I can't remeber the last time I went to a bar and wanted it so much to be my local !

There was drinking of 6% Corsican beer, cocktails, french music, dancing and complementary champagne opened using Ye olde sabre trick (if anyone knows the actual name for this, I wanna know...). Today at work was of course long and painful, but it's all over now and time to go snowboarding for 3 days on Mount Hotham! Very excited about that...

Just a little longer - but leaving soon !

I pondered the whats and the whys, and I've decided to extend my time in Melbourne a little bit longer - but only by two weeks. This gives me time to wrap up work, tax and travel stuff, and get ready for another few months of backpacker living (no more lattes for a while, anyway...) At the end of the day, Melbourne is very nice, and I've got some great friends over here now - but I'm not really putting roots down here, and as such life has felt a bit too static. I can't gather possessions (such as cooking ingrediants to learn to cook better, cocktail stuff for mixing of fine beverages, or a kick-ass PC for the playing of Doom3 !)

So I am hitting the road again August 20th, and probably travelling into Novemeber at the very least. As I have booked a snowboarding holiday the day after xmas, I am looking at being home for quite a bit beforehand, but won't really have time to get a decent job, so some major budgeting may be required ! Prehaps it's time to hit Thailand / cheap East Asian areas...

Anyhow, plans change, and I'll try and avoid making every post nothing more than a "returning home date update" from now on ! Esp. as I might have some adventures and things to report on again. Recent happenings have been some heavy partying and general rock and roll behaviour - and the discovery that the day after always hurts more than it did last time ! All worth it though, Melbourne really never sleeps - we went out to a club around 2:30am the other night, no cover, and walked right in. Can't often do that back at home...

Final news is new Melbourne pictures are on the website - these are some real old pictures (pre-Tasmania) that I found lying around on my PC of a few backpacker parties and social dos, including the infamous Saint Kilda lawn bowling session (that I won along with my elite partner, Rob). Mainly of interest to fellow Pink house people, I reckon, but feel free to have a look see.

Wrapping up or staying put ?

Life in Melbourne suffered a large shakeup recently, with my house/work/drinking mate Hardy heading off back to Europe today. This means I am now sleeping on friends floors, moving each weekend to avoid over-staying my welcome ! I am also now working in a brand spanking new futuristic office building in the middle of the city, so spending lots more cash on smoothies and coffee.

But when will this life of city decadance end ? The current termination date for my contract is set for the 5th August, just over 2 weeks away. Plan is then to travel for a couple of months around Oz and head home, possibly with a stop over in Japan or even Taiwan.

So does this finally answer the enternal question of my return date ? Erm... well... it kinda does... but then I met this girl... but I want to travel... Hmmm, let's just say "watch this space" :)