As I was waiting outside the hostel for the shuttle to go, I gave Richie a call to say come down and say goodbye. I figured that he would be sleeping and would take a while to answer his phone. Instead, after a couple of rings he picks up and there is a lot of music in the background. He was still out on the town with his mates.

We all knew it was going to be a fairly good night as it was Australia Day (the day when Aussies celebrate all things Australian: Phar Lap, Pavlova, Crowded House, Russell Crowe, etc) but I passed on it in favour of at least a little sleep before having to come home. Richie said on the phone that he was watching the time because he did want to say goodbye but somehow the time ran away on him and he wasn’t able to make it back in time. Hahahaha!

Waiting in the airport was fairly boring, I had a coffee at Starbucks and read some of my book. I did a wee bit of duty free shopping and slowly made my way through immigration picking up a banana on the way to the gate. We got away from the airport a little early and the flight back to NZ is a little quicker than to Aus because of the winds or some such so hopefully I’ll be back into Dunedin Airport at around 2pm.

I’ve already had a wee kip to pass the time, then I thought I would bring out the trusty ol’ lappy and pre-write my next post. The trip over has been great fun and writing this blog has been quite rewarding. I would say it has been received a lot better than I expected it to, with the comments, etc, so I’m very happy with that. If only I was able to get some photos online for you all. I’ll see if Richie won’t email a couple over to me to put online.

Sydney was great fun and far exceeded my expectations, so much so, I think it is my favorite city in Australia. I think I had expected it to just be a big Auckland, expecting Melbourne to be my favorite because of all the good things I’d heard. But, Melbourne seems like a bigger Chch only with more trams and taller buildings, and Sydney seems like a world city that is just charging forward. Of course, these observations are just based on a week long trip to Oz but I think I’d now be more inclined to visit Sydney before Melbourne.

It will be interesting going back to Dunedin after a week in 3 million plus cities with 25′C temperatures day and night. It will be great to finally see Sarah again. A whole 7 days without her, I feel like I’ve lost a leg or something. And on that note I will now put my computer away and try for another wee sleep, the plane is noticeably not full today as well.

I brought them out and showed him, they didn’t really sell anything like it so the guy said ‘Nice.’. He then asked how much I’d paid for them, “$500 or something?”. No I replied, they were $100. Then he said that they looked really expensive so I was feeling really good about my purchase.

Today I went to wear them and they were far tighter than I remembered. I looked into the sole and saw a 10, arhhhhhh! Then I thought how on earth could this have happened. The guy noticed the pair had a slight scuff on them and went out the back to get me a new pair. So I thought, he must have forgotten that I was wearing the 11 and not the 10.

I ring Russell up who was still in Melbourne and was with me when I bought the shoes. I explained the situation to him and asked if he passed the store again if he could call in and explain it to them seeing as I was now 1000 KMs away and would soon be 3000KMs away. Russell said the box, which was still in Melbourne with him, said 11 on it. So somehow someone somewhere has managed to put size 10s in an 11 box. I wish I took the boots with a scuff now.

I’ll let you know how I get on with the store, otherwise, anyone want a cool pair of size 10 shoes for $100?

The beach at St Kilda was busy with all the city dwellers trying to cool off in the heat. We contemplated taking our togs but then decided against it – we should have taken them in the end, it was way way way too hot.

We had lunch out there and this is where I met the Melbourne fly. Bloody hell, they just wouldn’t leave you alone. I spent the whole time doing the Aussie wave just to keep the buggers off my face. They were so persistant, I’ve never seen anything like it. They know you are going to give them an obligatory wave of your hand so they just fly back. You have to give atleast 4 to get them off you. Arhhhhhh! They haven’t been like that at all in Sydney. They seem to go straight for your eyes, mouth, nose or ears. It has severly put me off Melbourne.

After lunch we took the tram back into the city where we had a go at mini ten bin bowling. It is kinda of a cross between ten-pin bowling and lawn bowls but a lot more enjoyable (than lawn bowls).

Then we took off deeper into the city with the sweltering heat in search of some air-conditioned paradise. We wound up at the Queen Victoria center (I think) which is a cool shopping center. One shop I went into, called y.d., I found a cool looking top that was marked down from $90 to $20. I quite liked it so I thought I would try it on. I decided to buy it and went up to the counter.

The lady was treating me nicely, I thought maybe that was just the type of person she was. Anyway, as I go to pay for it, she asks me “Where do I know you from?”. Well, I don’t really know so I just say she must be thinking of someone else. Then for some unknown reason she asks me if I’m a celebrity. Now, I find this really amusing, almost flattering and I politely say no, I’m not a celebrity.

Not content with that, she looks at Russ and Phil (who must be my minders or something) and asks them if I’m a celebrity. They laugh their asses off and reassure her I’m telling the truth. Still not content, she asks if she can see my ID. So I show her my NZ drivers license, she obviously didn’t notice it was a NZ one and doesn’t recognise name. Still not content she asks if she know me from work or something a little less exciting than a celebrity. So I say “Only if you’re from the deep south of the South Island of New Zealand”, which with her thick Aussie accent she obviously isn’t. At this point she is ready to concede defeat but she still isn’t sure and continues to look at me until I leave.

At first I thought it was some silly sales ploy but all three of us walked out of there with the distinct impression that she actually thought I was a celeb or some such. Even then, does a celeb walk into a shop and quite literally by the cheapest most discounted top in the whole shop? Her constant “Are you a celebrity? Are you? Are you sure? Is he? He is, isn’t he?” made us laugh and then made us think who the heck I might look like. Anyone know? I think I look like Tom Cruise, just like JR (Sarah’s dad), LOL

Anyway, we all got some shopping done and then took off back to the place we were staying on an non air-con bus (big mistake) during rush hour. By the time we got home, we had to leave again. Me to the airport to fly back to Sydney. Russ and Phil to go to the quarter final of the Aussie Open between Federer and Agassi. I don’t know who won though…

Catching the flight back was a bit of a mission and I must have checked in last or second to last but I made it so that’s all good. I had been told a lot of good things about Melbourne and in general it lived up to it, BUT, no one had told me about the flies…

Tomorrow is Australia Day which means it will be absolute chaos if we try to go anywhere. The beach will be absolutely packed I am told. Tomorrow is also my last day so there are some last minute things I need to do before I come home. Hopefully some of the shops will be open

Bye people, see ya in the next exciting installment.

Once I got into Melbourne I quickly caught up with Russell and Philip. Russell had flown in a few days prior while Phil had only arrived shortly before myself. We caught the shuttle into the city and then took a train to the suburb Russell’s cousin lives, who is very generously putting us up for a couple of days.

We quickly got changed into shorts for the impending heat, 29′C today, and then took off back into the city, this time taking a bus. Melbourne is a fantastic city, so diverse! We made our way from Lygon St to Federation Square where we hoped to catch some tennis (Australian Open) on the big screen TV they had.

Unfortunately it wasn’t on yet so we made our way back into the city for some lunch. One of the first things you notice in Melbourne are the trams. What a great way to get around the city in, we haven’t been for a ride just yet but hopefully tomorrow we will. Melbourne’s tram network was built by George Duncan who had just previously set up the Dunedin trams in the early 1880s.

We went to the Casino building and played some ten pin bowling. Russ and Phil both decisively beat me, but who’s counting

We came back to Federation Square and watched Aussie Lleyton Hewitt steal a match from the Spanish Rafael Nadal. As you could imagine this brought much delight to the local crowd. From there we continued to explore the city until near dark. We then decided to take the train home and here I am posting this article.

It has been a long warm day and tomorrow is set to be even warmer at 35′C. My laptop is really heating me up so I really need to put it down. Will hopefully write a more timely post tomorrow, thanks for the continued interest

Cheers for now.

After that we got ready and headed down to the bar in the hostel. Dragging Richie to the beach meant the bar opened up an hour and a half behind schedule. It was the busiest I had seen the bar, I’m sure it was because of Richie’s 21st and not because of the $2 beer

Things went really well, I met even more of Richie’s friends and had a good run on the pool table. With the help of a Welshman, we managed to beat a couple of Dutch backpackers successively.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Richie managed to get his wee hands on some guest passes to Home, a nightclub in Darling Harbour. While Richie had 30 of them, even more than that wanted to go. Even I was asked by a couple of people if I had any tickets.

One young lady with a thick European accent (I couldn’t spot where it came from initially) asked me if I had any tickets. I must have seem like a right drongo because I looked up to see if I could point out Richie to her. I didn’t see him so I was blank for a few seconds before I said she needed to ask someone else.

She then asked me “Have you ever kissed a Dutchy?”. I assumed with her accent that I had misheard her. She then repeated herself; “Have you ever kissed a Dutchy?”. Then I clicked and pulled up my left hand simultaneously pointing at the ring on my finger and sayin “I’m married”. This was quite amusing to me but this poor girl was mortified and couldn’t back off fast enough. Funnily enough, no one asked me for tickets after that.

Yuk, someone is smoking some ‘electric puha’ nearby.

Anyway, the night progressed, we managed to convince Richie to close the bar early and head into town. The Vietnamese taxi driver was great fun, letting us choose and turn up the music while he asked a load of questions about NZ.

We got to Darling Harbour sometime between midnight and 1am and what a great sight it was. The harbour, the buildings, the lights, the monorail, the people, the atmosphere, it was ll excellent. We found our way to the entrance to the night club, Home.

There was four of us in the taxi, Richie, myself, and two Pommies. Richie was the only one the bouncer would let through. He sent the two pommies away because they were too casual and then told me to come back in 20 minutes when I sobered up(?!). Coming from sleepy old (in comparison) Dunedin it was quite a shock of sorts being turned away from a club.

So I was counting down my minutes, I have no idea what gave the bounce the impression I was too drunk. I just think he didn’t like the look of me… 11 minutes had gone (yes, I was actually counting the individual minutes) and the bouncers changed guard. So we tried once more (Richie had already gone through), the pommies got turned away once more but I made it to the next step with some random stranger.

“Where have you come from?” he askes us. I say “Bondi!” and the other guy stares off into space. The other guy was shown the door, while I made it to the next stage; the metal detector. Having never been scanned before, before going into a club it was another surprise. Everything in my pockets set it off. My cellphone, my key, some change, etc.

Once I made it past that stage, then it was the stamp. They stamped something onto my arm, instead of just a plain old ink stamp, it was something that would only glow under fluorescent light, cool!

I finally make it into the club and WOW, it was huge. Richie quickly found me and showed me through it all. There were several floors, several DJs, several bars, and Richie was annoyed because he couldn’t show me a particular level that was closed…

It was great fun, the music was fantastic and although there were hundreds upon hundreds of people in there, you could still move around with relative ease. The drinks were very expensive but it didn’t stop anyone ordering them. The view across Darling Harbour from the club was fantastic.

After dancing and drinking with Richie and his mates for several hours (I must have burnt several hundred calories) I had had enough. Everyone else was still going strong so I made a quiet retreat and found a taxi and headed home. I remember going through some tunnel which was kind of interesting, it must have been under the city itself.

I had to get the taxi driver to pull over for me so I could have a wee spit on the side of the road. The guy, an elderly Asian man, got out and got me a drink of water and something to wipe my mouth with out of his boot, bless him.

I finally make it back to the backpackers and pulled out my key card to see that I had managed to split it in half somehow! I was still feeling pretty bad, now about 5am, so I decided I wouldn’t go into my room just yet incase I needed to get up again and woke up all my roommates in the process.

So I lie down outside the door, about an hour and a half later, Mark, one of my roommates comes home. Laughs at me on the floor in the fetal position, picks me up and throws me in bed. I remember trying to go to the bathroom before that and some guy wouldn’t let me in. I thought at the time that he must be doing something dodgy so I just left him to it. I find out the next day from Mark that I was trying to get into someone elses room and not the bathroom, whoops

Anyway, most of us in our room had been out all night so we were looking very sorry the next day. We all finally woke and got up at 5pm. We’d managed to sleep the day away completely!!! And amazingly, some of them have already started again for tonight. I know this Kiwi won’t be able to do anything like that tonight…

The weather today is rather crappy, it was raining this morning and has been overcast all day – atleast we didn’t sleep through a sunny day. The temperature is also much much lower but still t-shirt weather. The beach was almost empty however.

Thanks for all your interest guys, I appreciate all the comments. I’m sorry (Mum and Deb) that I didn’t get something up earlier. I really appreciate that you’ve checked a dozen times already today and I’ll try to be a bit more timely next time

Bye for now, I’m off to Melbourne tomorrow morning so I’m really looking forward to that.

The beach here at Bondi is rather interesting, it looks gorgeous but can get very very crowded – so much so it gets difficult to find a place just to put your towel down. It makes you realise how much you take for granted coming from NZ. I can remember several times swimming on the beach and only having to share it with another group several hundred metres away. In contrast it is packed like sardines here…

There are some other interesting differences. Richie helped point out that motorists here don’t slow for or try to avoid pedestrians at all. They instead just use their horn. We witnessed a little old lady crossing the road with her walking stick. A car tooted their horn at her and *then* braked, screeching to a halt inches from her… Be warned.

As most of you will know, its Richies birthday today. He’ll wake up shortly before dinner probably and then it is cheap drinks in the bar here (last night was Mexican night…) They are definately taking care of him here and hopefully I’ll be able to upload a photo soon of the present they made for him. These internet computers have had their capabilities severly reduced. Almost all you can do is use a web browser.

It’s going to be a VERY long night. Richie managed to get his dirty little hands on about 30 guest passes to Home, a night club in Sydney. Apparently its the largest club in the Southern Hemisphere and notoriously hard to get into (if you’re a male…). I’ll let you know how we get on.

There is a fast food frachise here I’d never seen before. One of my Aussie favorites is Red Rooster (which is meant to be make it to NZ in 2005). This one is called Oporto and was first started here in Bondi. It is fast food with a Portugese twist. Its delicious and a refreshing change to McD’s and BK. I’ve heard there are Oporto’s in Chch and Auckland so if you get a chance, try it…

And on that note, I’m off to get some lunch, I wonder what I’ll get

We went to the largest mall I think I’ve seen, ever. Westfield in Bondi Junction is HUGE and dwarfs Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast, I think.

Ok, running out of time. Only 1 min 29 sec left. Will hurry this post through. I was quite surprised to see the jump in comments, thanks for your interest guys. Will work on putting some photos up in the very near future. Ok, only 33 secs to go. Bye.

We must have been offloaded at the really quiet end of Sydney International. There weren’t many people around at all. From off the plane to outside the terminal, only 10 mins. Weird, but not unwelcome.

And then, as I had predicted, as soon as I got on terra firma in Sydney, it started blowing, then it started raining, then it started releasing flashes of lightning… I knew it was going to pack in as soon as I got here. But it is much warmer… much much warmer.

Seeing Richie again was cool. Unfortunately he’s working at the moment. He tells me that its normally fairly quiet on this shift but it has been very busy with stream after stream of people coming in.

Hopefully, we’re off for a feed and a beer shortly…

It should be really interesting. Our family used to live in Sydney when I was much much younger. The place did leave an impression on me though (I still support the Sharkies) and I’d love to go back to our old suburb and just see it again…

The trip over has given me enough motivation to finally create this blog and gives me a good reason to test it out. One of the things I would love to do is keep an online journal on my travels when I leave for the big OE later this year. I’d love to be able to keep a log of my thought and sights, etc as I go – which also allows for the whanau and friends to see what you’re up to.

I’m hoping to visit Melbourne for a couple of days as well, while I’m in Aussie, to catch up with a couple of friends who are starting their OE. It should be really good, I’m hoping to scope the place out a little bit, Sarah and I might head there in 12 months time.

Things have worked out really well with, well, work. Having Andy just start with me means I’ve actually got someone to answer the phones and keep things running ‘business as usual’ while I’m away. Any small business owner or sole trader will tell you how hard it can be to firstly, leave your business for more than a few hours, and secondly, to keep it running while you’re away. I think I’m lucky I can do both.

This trip will also be the first time I’ve been more than a few days away from my wife since we got married. I think its going to be really weird not being with her. The last time we were apart for more than a day, I got some wicked food poisoning and was in bed for about a week. Hopefully the same doesn’t happen again.