FIGJAM'S Epic Adventure

Good Ol' Cold London!

2009-12-13T04:17:00.000-08:00

7-12-09

1826 (local time)

Woo Hoo! Home time for me ladies and gentlemen! I'm currently sitting on the plane from Athens to Singapore about 5 hours in and to be honest... pretty bored! Firstly ill tell you about my time in London!

Very, Very firstly! I must say thanks to Lozza and her house mates for letting me crashing in their house for 4 nights! You’re all legends!!!

Right, so I spent the first 2 days just doing some more touristy stuff that I have wanted to do on my arrival to London. Which were the 2 museums, ‘The National History Museum’ and ‘The British Museum’ and ‘WOW’ they were amazing. The first day was just entirely spent in the National History Museum I spent a majority of time hanging out with the dinosaurs then I moved on to ‘the human body’ and how babies are born etc. Parents, if you want your son or daughters to learn about the human body, buy them a direct flight to London and force them into the National History Museum. I learnt so much... it was actually amazing...

After this I went to the Animal part of the Museum, and saw the actual size of a blue whale and numerous other huge animals, it was awesome.

From here I went to another part that explained what the earth is made of etc! It was a bit boring, but by this time it was about 5pm, pitch black outside and I was ready to go home. So I got on the underground and eventually made it back to the flat.

Unfortunately nobody was home, so I had to waste 2 hours in the cold until someone came home with the key to open up the house. But eventually they did and I got warm!

The Next Day! I had a few more things to do, I knew I had to visit the British Museum but it is actually so big that it would take you over 2 days to visit apparently! So I jumped on their website where they had a plan on how the visit the most important things in 1 hour! So I stuck to that plan, and it actually took me 2 and a bit hours to visit it all, some of it was pretty average whilst other stuff was awesome like the Samurai Warrior armour! So after visiting the British Museum I knew I wanted to be back at the National History Museum because there was a lecture with a space astronaut happening and I thought it would be pretty cool to go see that.

So I caught the tube towards the History Museum and waited for the lecture to start... Well wasn’t I in for a shock... because this lecture was way above my educational level, no joke there were people in the lecture asking questions to the astronaut regarding to things about quantum physics! I obviously tried tuning in, but eventually was lost!

Not to worry though, once the lecture finished, I knew I also had to visit what I thought was the ANZ branch in London, so I caught a train to the middle of nowhere to visit a building that wasn’t even a branch, just a building so really it was a waste of time!

Not to worry though. I headed back home and took it easy! I was kind of preparing myself for tomorrow (Saturday) as I needed to get all my bags prepared for my flight to Greece!

I wasn’t planning on going out that night, because I had to be up at 5.30am in he morning because I had a taxi picking me up at 6.30am to take me to the airport.

But, there was a house party going on that a couple of the housemates were going to with free booze! So to be honest, I was never going to decline that offer! Because number 1, house party’s are the best sort of party’s and. Number 2, Free Booze! Happy Days!

The theme for the party was 60’s, I had no clothes that resembled this but it didn’t stop me, I was on a mission. I wanted to catch the last bus home that leaves at the bus station outside the house at midnight, but as the night went on, I totally lost track of the time, so instead of catching the bus I just did a all nighter, which to be honest I think it was the smartest idea!

Don't really remember the rest of the night, but it was great!

This brings me to eventually catching my flight to Athens. I knew my bag was around 23 kilos but every other Easy Jet Flight that I took I never got charged with excess baggage, but this time she wanted to charge me 30pounds because I was 3 kilos over weight... this wasn’t on in my book, so I packed my day pack full to the brim of clothes to ensure that I didn’t get stung to high... on my second attempt to weigh in, I was still over 2 kilos overweight but I used a bit of sweet talking with the lady at the desk, and instead of stinging me 20 pounds I got it down to 10 so it wasn’t too bad at the end of the day!

My arrival to Athens was quite good, it brought back some good memories I checked into my old hostel and spoke for hours with the old receptionist at the hostel, they gave me a bit of discount on my fees so I was a happy chappy!

I woke in the morning and my plan was to get a souvlaki at the first place I went to when I arrived to Athens on the 3^rd of April, kind of symbolic!

I definitely wasn’t in the mood for a souvlaki but I forced it down, now I stink of garlic!

It was sad to leave Athens, but I am excited to getting back home... my only probably now is, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO FOR 14 HOURS IN SINGAPORE?

I arrive at Singapore around about 5.55am and fly out at 9ishpm! I'm going to have to leave the airport to avoid going crazy! See how that goes again! Last time I remember Singapore it was so bloody hot and sweaty, I don't want to get like that again!

Anyway, until then guys!

THE JAM IS NEARLY HOME!

The foyer of the National History Museum

Cool Dino Bones!

The Big T-Bomb! T-REX

T-Rex Rep!

Actually Scary!

How Babies Are Born!

The Size of the Blue Whale!

Whats meant to be a Brush Tail Possum!

The Good ol 3 Toed Sloth1

Cute Little Animal!

Outside the British Museum!

The stone they used to Decipher the Egyptian Hieroglyphics

The Game of UN!

Actual Samurai Armor!

NEXT ONE SOON!

Edinbrugh in 2 Days!

2009-12-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

4/12/09

2000 (local time)

The travel to Edinburgh went successful... finally!

I arrived into the freezing cold Edinburgh by 3pm and I've realised that in the U.K the sun goes down at around 4.30pm so it was already get dark and of course cold! Awesome!

Isabelle picked my up and took me back to her place. She is my Edinburgh couch surfing host. She lives with 4 or 5 other people who are... different, to say the least.

Most of the people she lives with are, I’m not going to say hippies, but lets say, ‘they care about the environment and world politics more than the average person’ Meaning, they don't put the heater on because it creates Co2 gasses that are ruining our environment, most of the housemates (apart from Isabelle) are Vegan. Meaning, not only do they not eat meat, but they also don't eat eggs, drink milk, eat cheese, basically they don't eat any product that comes from an animal.

No matter who you are, thats an amazing feat! Imagine travelling and being not able to eat any type of meat product! Truly an effort!

So, after Isabelle cooked up a meat free curry which I quickly devoured she dragged me into the freezing town of Edinburgh so she could show me around. It just so happened, that on the day I arrived it was St. Andrew’s day who is the patron saint of Scotland. So there were huge celebrations going on in town and also an epic firework show that was starting at 7pm!

So we wandered around town and found the best view point for the celebrations, and watched the fireworks! They were quite pretty actually! Got some good photos!

After this, Isabelle dragged me to the German celebrations that were also going on in town and inspired me to try some ‘mulled wine’. In my travels I have made sure I tried most foods and drinks that were offered to me, and this is no exception.

So I ordered my mulled wine, and took my first sip! Not Good! All of a sudden memories started flooding back from when I was younger and had my first proper alcoholic experience on red wine from a goon bag!

After 5-10 minutes of un-enjoyment I finally polished off the wine using the technique of not even letting it hit my tongue, straight to the back of the throat for that liquid!

Eventually I started to freeze so we headed back home, where after a few hours of chat with her housemates we all retired back to our rooms, where I got in my sleeping bag and tried falling asleep!

On my not-so-trusty alarm clock it tells me the temperature and too be honest I have never seen it go below 12degrees, even when I was freezing in Gallipoli, anyway the read out on the alarm clock said it was 12degrees in Isabelle’s room which I believe it was AT LEAST -12! SO COLD!

I was freezing in my sleeping bag, I think I would have needed a -10 to keep warm!

It took me ages to wake, but when I did I had a warmish shower and had some brekkie! And contemplated my move about what I was going to do today.

At the bus station I had picked up some pamphlets about a free tour that goes on, on the hours between 11 and 1! So I had obviously missed the 11 o clock one! So I packed some lunch and made my way to the meeting point for the 1 o clock tour.

On arrival the tour already had 6 people and I made it 7, but the free tour guides said ‘unless the tour has 8 people, it wasn’t cost effective for them to run it’. So, what this means is, if there wasn’t 8 people the free tour wasn’t cost effective to run!

The obvious answer for me was ‘well mate we will just throw an extra pound in to keep you happy’ I didn’t say that, but instead I walked off and did my own walking tour.

I walked up to the castle, I then walked past the school where J.K Rowling got her idea for Hogwarts and then I went to a museum and walked home again. All in all, I was away for about 6 hours until my I-Pod packed it in and decided to turn off because it was out of battery! My I-Pod doesn’t last long in the cold!

When I got home, no one was there so I did a bit of an internet session until people got home!

I had decided that I couldn’t hack the cold any more and bought a bus ticket from Edinburgh back to London for 14 pound ($30 AUD) unfortunately it was a killer 10hour journey but we shall see how I go!

That was my Edinburgh experience... COLD!

See you in LONDON!

Some of the fireworks for St. Andrews Day!

Beautiful Buildings In Edinburgh!

The Edinburgh Castle!

The Edinburgh Castle... Again!

The building in the background is the School where J.K Rowling got her idea for Hogwarts in Harry Potter!

END!

Pretty Keen for Aberdeen!

2009-12-03T04:46:00.001-08:00

30/11/09

2024 (local time)

Aberdeen... Crikey, a big weekend!

Didn’t see much of Aberdeen in the day, but saw the insides to a few pubs at night time though. It was a messy night from Day 1.

I was picked up at the train station by my couch surfer in Aberdeen called Matt!...

Right, firstly ill tell you about my epic train journey! So I thought I booked a train for the 27^th for 1427... well I didn’t realise that the train station was a bit further away than I thought, so unfortunately I missed that train by not much more than 10 seconds, but not too worry the next one was in about 40 minutes, but my problem is that I will probably have to try and convince the conductor to let me on this train even though I didn’t really have the correct ticket... But I was quietly confident!

So! The next train pulled up, I explained to the conductor what happened and with a smile on her face she let me on board! So I took a seat and got out my laptop so I could watch some windsurfing movies, she asked to see my ticket, so I happily handed it over, she was then alarmed by the fact that I had bought the ticket for the completely incorrect day. I thought I bought a ticket for the 27^th, but infact so how I bought a ticket for the 28^th!

And it wasn’t until I was on the train and heading to Aberdeen until we noticed it! The main worry for the conductor was that it was going to be difficult for me to get out of the train station as you need to flash your ticket to get out!

I wasn’t too fussed though, I knew I was going to make up some rubbish story and blag my way out of there.

So I arrived at the train station, made up a rubbish story and made it out of the airport, called up Matt (my couch surfer in Aberdeen) who picked me up in his Blue Van and took me to his apartment in the ‘rougher’ part of Aberdeen!

Now from here on in, I was handed beer after beer until we went out on the town.

Now, I was in a slightly reckless mood so I walked off on the boys and ended up doing my own thing... Now I'm not exactly sure what went down but this is my recollection of what happened on Friday night...

So I abandon the boys to look for a bit of fun for the night. I ended up walking the streets for a bit until I saw a queue of people waiting to get into the club. So I started to line up, but then realised that I will probably have to pay to get in, I asked the guy next to me how much it would cost, according to him it would cost around about 6-8 Pounds ($12-$14AUD).. Now I have a bit of a problem with this, as I don't enjoy spending money to enter a club if I'm going to spend money on drinks... So I said to the guy next to me, “mate do ya reckon you could sneak me in?” So we both gave it a red hot shot, but I failed miserably, and I was caught by the bouncer... after trying to explain my case to him, he had no sympathy for me and said that I was going to have to pay...

So I thought to myself ‘This joke isn’t over yet!’ So I lined up in another queue and started to get chatty with a girl, when it was her turn to pay, she paid for herself and then took me by the arm and we walked in super casual! I WAS IN! But its not over yet!

After walking around the place for about 10 minutes I realised that this club is terrible... underage people and terrible music... You have got to be joking! People actually pay to enter this rubbish! Not to worry, I went up to he bar to get a drink and again there were rows of people waiting so I leant over the bar and poured myself a drink... I got away with it the first time, but when I went back for seconds, the bar tender spotted me... so I legged it and hid hanging out with some other guys who bought some shots... eventually the bouncer spotted me and said “Right mate, its time for you to leave” I replied “that’s fair enough pal, I've been stealing drinks all night” He laughed, so I took a photo of him, quite amusing actually.

For the next few days it involved us doing nothing, apart from chatting, keeping warm and knocking back some beers...

On the Saturday night, I crashed on Matt’s (my couch surfers) sister comfy floor, the funny thing was that I had the spare key that Matt’s housemate (Chris) normally has... so when Chris arrived back to his home in Aberdeen, he couldn’t get home, so he tried to brake in without causing to much damage... Instead he ended up ripping half the frame off his window and then breaking the window... so he didn’t really succeed in breaking in successfully!

But, all in all the weekend was a success I had fun, the boys had fun, I didn’t really see much of Aberdeen but what I did see was O.K... it wasn’t great but in reality it was just a nice city with nice buildings that was close to the pretty beach!

Next Stop! Edinburgh!

Be Prepared!

The Bouncer That Kicked Me Out!

The beautiful river that runs into the Ocean!

Artistic Shot!

The wonders of 'Self-Timer' on my camera!

Pre-Session!

THE END!

The Loch Ness Monster Is A Jerk...

2009-12-01T03:09:00.001-08:00

26/11/09

1751 (local time)

Well my trip to visit the Loch Ness monster failed today...

I thought I had everything planned, I had sent the Loch Ness numerous emails letting him know what time and where I was going, so I booked my bus and headed out... As soon as I hopped off the bus, it started raining! Pretty standard for me and this country...

So I took some photos and waited around for the monster but still no avail.

I would have happily have gone home then but the next bus wasn’t until 6 and I arrived there at about 3.30pm so I had about 2.5 hours to wait for the next bus... So I set up a plan for myself... I was going to drink at every pub I walked past until my bus arrived in the closest town Drumnadrochit.

So the first one I started at was a nice little pub, where it was run by a family business. I was speaking to the girl there who wants to work in the pub for the rest of her life... weird, so I slammed down my drink and started walking to find my new pub of choice.

So I went down a little side street and waited in the pub for a while to be served... no one was around so I thought I may as well serve myself. So I walked behind the bar and poured myself a nice beer of Carlsberg... actually it wasn’t the best beer I've poured to much head...

Eventually the lady came out and I paid the woman, pretty much as soon as I got onto the main road I spotted a bus, flagged it down and was heading back home to Inverness!

It was a... strange day! But interesting!

The Loch... but no Monster!

A nice house in the country side!

The first pub...

The Second Pub, where i poured my own beer!

That's the second pub... terrible photo!

The End!

Doing Bel-Fast!

2009-11-26T05:46:00.000-08:00

25/11/09

1752 (local time)

Ill start this next blog where I left off... I was hung over, tired and just sick of sitting on a bus for 10 hours... But when I finally made it to Belfast it was a relief. I had hooked up a couch surfing host in Belfast called Killian, so this was my first destination. On arrival I dumped my bags, and was then told that himself and another couch surfer at the time were heading out to a salsa night and I was invited to come along... to be honest I would have loved to have just chilled out for a while, but I thought why not... So off we went, to salsa it up.

I was starving, so I got some lovely fish and chips and then headed into the pub. I really wasn’t in the mood for ripping it up on the salsa floor I was more in the mood for a chat, I ended up just chatting to a whole bunch of people and then we headed home. Even though I slept on the floor that night, it was still a good nights sleep. The next day we woke fairly early because one of the main couch surfing hosts in Belfast was taking a bunch of couch surfers on a walking tour of all the murals of Belfast.

Even though it was bucketing down with rain, and I was absolutely freezing to death because it was blowing a gale and everyone umbrellas were getting blown to bits it was extremely interesting and I'm glad that I did it.

That night I was planning on heading to a preppie club but instead I was taken to the girl that did the walking tour, as she was having a get together so that they could go to a funk night that was just down the road at the local pub.

On arrival was I little bit drunk a I had smashed all my beers and then was onto someone else’s cider, when we got there, no one was there so I sat at the bar drinking. By 11.30 there was still no body around so went exploring down stairs and listened to a rock band play for 20 minutes until I then headed back upstarts again to the funk night. When I got back upstairs the place had filled up and was starting to get good.

I was getting a bit sick of hanging with the local guys, so instead I started chatting to some girls, the night went on, beers were drunk, shots were had until eventually the funk band ended... I was still up for a party and so were a few others. One of the girls that I had been dancing with was heading too an Art Gallery where there were some live bands playing, I was in for that, so we all jumped in a cab, left half the dudes I was with back at the place and headed to the closest illegal bottle o. I was smashed already, but I was sure that I needed more beers, so we got some more drinks and headed to the art gallery. I had mixed feelings about this idea, but on my way up to the stairs they were playing a Ramones track, so I cracked open another beer and waited for the band to start up.

When they did I was rocking out, giving the band members drinks and telling them that Fosters was the shittest drink in history. So the singer pulled me out on stage and announced that I was Australian and everyone cheered, and then proceeded to dedicate a song to me! I was stoked!

Anyway, the rest of the night was history, my last photo was taken at 5.52am so it was a pretty late night.

The next morning, I went out to brunch with the girls from last night who were super cool and I ended up hanging out with one of them named Becky, for most of my time in Belfast. Who is an absolute legend of a chick! We had some good chat and funny times! ANYWAY!

That day I took really easy as I was nursing another hang over.

The next day it was again time to do something touristy (gah I'm so sick of it) so myself and an Australian girl called Wendy who was also couch surfing in the same house took a trip out to the Giant’s Causeway. It was really quite nice looking at all the beautiful scenery, but too be honest, I'm pretty sick and tired of doing all the touristy stuff that you ‘have to do’ whist in a city.

That night, went to a nice little pub with Becky where we listened to some awesome music and I ended up being given one of the DJ’s cd’s!

The next day I really wanted to head too Derry to look at some more murals and to get a bit more of an idea about the Catholics and the Protestants or the people fighting for a Republic and the peopled wanting Ireland to be a part of the United Kingdom .

Well, I saw some amazing murals and realised that the people in Derry were very angry with everything that has happened over the past 100 years but more importantly what occurred on the day of Bloody Sunday!

Wendy and I went to a museum that painted a pretty horrific picture about what occurred on that day... I'm glad I did it though, because otherwise I would have not known anything about it.

It was a really good day apart for the rain, as I came away with a lot more knowledge that I went there with.

Unfortunately this was my last day in the beautiful town of Belfast as the next day (today 25^th) I was enduring a 10 hour slog of travelling from Belfast to Stranraer via Ferry and then from Stranraer to Iverness via several busses, so I can look for the Loch Ness.

That’s it for me!

But thanks to everyone that made my time in Ireland, The Republic and Northern Ireland a fantastic time!

Belfast Murals

The biggest Mural for the Protestants!

The International Murals!

My favorite Mural!

Some amazing stencil graffiti!

More amazing Graffiti! "Singing Songs of Freedom"

The big fence on the right goes around the most of the city, separating to two party's!
Also note the fence on the back yard of the house! This stops people throwing bottles at the house to hurt people!

Some more Mural's on the Protestants side!

A Memorial...

Night Out In Belfast!

Karina and Becky!

My French friend...

After 1 beer too many!

We got ridiculous!

The band that dedicated a song too me!

All the girls! Sarah, Becky and Karina!

GREAT NIGHT!

Derry Mural's

Clearly a Protestant area!
Free Derry!

Amazing Murals!

More Murals!

A British Soldier smashing his way into a house!

Another one of my favorite murals!

Inside the 'Free Derry' Museum!

An amazing picture, taken on the day of Bloody Sunday!

THE END!

Getting Smashed In Galway!

2009-11-26T05:26:00.000-08:00

21/11/09

2000 (local time)

When I was in Cork, I asked Eoghen if he knew anyone in Galway that I could crash on their couch... fortunately he knew of a few dudes, so on arrival to Galway at least I had a place to stay... well I thought so anyway. What I didn’t realise is, that I was going to be staying in the local University owned flats. There were going to be some good party’s so I hoped. So when I got off the bus, it was pouring with rain, so heavy and I had no wet weather gear, so walking to the place was totally out of the question, busses had stopped a long time ago, so my only option was to fork out 9 Euro for a taxi to take me to the location.

When I finally arrived, I was greeted at the front door by two young girls, who were obviously a little unsure about what was happening and who I was but I was able to explain to them that I was planning to sleep on their couch, because I know Craig... Unfortunately Craig wasn’t home at the moment because he was coming home from Dublin from a University excursion, but not too worry, so I watch T.V with Craig’s house mates and tried convincing them that Home and Away wasn’t actually filmed in Australia and instead was filmed in California, America and they were American actors trying to put on an Aussie accent. Quite amusing for me really...

Eventually Craig arrived home, and after a couple of hours of chat, everyone went too bed whilst I slept on the couch. It wasn’t the best sleep that I've ever had, but I'm not complaining.

The next day, I had a bit of a sleep in and eventually got my act together and headed into town to check it all out, after wandering around for a while I went to a bus station and bought a ticket too Spiddle, which is a little down that is set next to the coast.

As soon as I had hopped on the bus, the skys opened up and it just poured down with rain... So obviously on arrival to Spiddle it was still raining so I thought, what would an Irishman do in this situation... Go To The Pub! So I found a nice little place that was close to the water, and sat in the pub drinking beers and listening to music for 2 hours until my bus picked me up. When the bus did arrived, I was a little bit drunk, which was good because I had a lovely sleep on the trip home.

That night, a few of the other boys in the house were planning a bit of a night so I was all geared up to do that... but in reality it all came down to how Ireland performed against French in the qualifying rounds of the world cup.

A week before, the French played Ireland in Ireland and won 1-0 to the French, so now it was Irelands turn to play the French in France.

So going into the game, the French had a 1-0 lead on the Irish, but that changed in the 36^th minute where the legend known as Robby Keene slotted a perfect goal! The score was tied at 1-1.

There were plenty of scoring opportunities from both sides in the second half, but no goals were scored so it went to overtime.

I'm not too sure about what has been heard in Aus about this game, but what happened in overtime was truly a disappointing time in Soccer, the captain of French deliberately handed the ball onto his foot as he passed it too his team mate who scored the winning goal for the French. There was a massive uproar from the Irish team trying to convince the Ref that he handed the ball, but the Ref wanted nothing of it.

This event put a massive downer on the night, so we didn’t end up going out, I wasn’t too fussed as I was fairly tired.

The next day was an early start as I was heading out west again to a little town called Clifden where most of the people spoke Irish as opposed to English. I was here for 2.5 hours with no idea what to do, so I put my head phones in and just walked around the entire day, looking at all the different church’s and cathedrals, I then walked down to the local sailing club, that didn’t exist anymore and before I knew my time was up and I was heading back to Galway for Craig’s 20^th birthday... it was going to be a big one.

Before I left, I bought a muffin and some pink candles for his birthday for a bit of a laugh, I was prepared.

On arrival, I stopped at the local super market and bought 4 litres of beers and some mince and spaghetti... Cooked a really nice meal for myself and then was straight away on the beers. It wasn’t long, until we were at one of the boys houses playing “Kings” which is a harsh drinking game... photos explain the story for the rest of the night really. All I know is that I got to bed by about 4ish and had to be up so I could catch the horrendously long bus to Belfast the next day.

I eventually woke, got all my stuff together and started the walk into town Belfast was my next destination. YOU BEAUTY!

Clifden

The City Centre of Clifden

Another city shot!

A nice cathedral on top of the hill

Watch out cars are sometimes inclined to fall in!

The local pub!

The Messy Night In Galway

We got heaps of balloons and put them in Craig's room!

Fargos (Argos) about to Spew!

FARGUS SPEWING!

OLD MATE SPEWING EWWWW!

A smashed Craig with two polish birds i was chattin too!

I got Craig a kiss!

Craig passing out in his room!

THE END!

Rippin In Cork!

2009-11-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

16/11/09

1214 (local time)

“What’s the Craic?!” I have had a fantastic past 3 days! I've pretty much been doing something everyday!

I arrived in Cork via the train at Midnight, I was then meant to meet Eoghan at the bus station, so I stated walking with my bags, and all of a sudden the skys just opened up, and it was a torrential downpour! I hadn’t seen rain like that in many months, so it was good and exciting for the first 2 minutes, then I realised that I couldn’t walk to the bus station when it was this wet. So instead I gave Eoghan another rbell, to ask him if he could pick me up at St. Patricks Cathedral.

Once Eoghan and his brother picked me up, they took me too one of his mates houses, where we sat around, chatted about surfing and drank cider.

Once it got too, late Cian (Eoghan’s Brother) drove us home, where we all crashed out pretty early, because tomorrow we were going to go surfing!!!

I was fast asleep when I am woken up by Eoghan early in the morning, we slammed down some breakfast, loaded the surfboards onto the roof of the VW Golf and headed off to the coast. The first place we stopped at was huge, but it was too big to get out... the waves always look as if they were closing out! So we headed off to the next beach. On our way there, as we went down this hill, we were confronted with a bit of an issue, 30 blokes on big hourses blocked our way... I was quickly told be the boys that they were doing a hunt? So we drove past them very slowly not to scare the horses. What I did realise about all of them was that they all were drinking whiskey... I suppose to try and keep warm.

So we plugged into the GPS where we needed to go... unfortunately the GPS took us down some backward route but we eventually made it too the beach, and it was freezing! Eoghan was the first to man up and put on his wet wetsuit, I followed behind him, we grabbed the surfboards and headed down to the beach.

I had no idea how cold it was going to be, but I did know that the only way that I would keep warm was too keep paddling. Luckily Eoghan lent me a 6/5 mm Wetsuit and some super thick boots. The rest of the boys were wearing similar to me, but they had hoods on!

So I pretty much just ran into the water, jumped over the first big breaker and paddled like mad out the back.

I didn’t realise how big the waves were until I got out there. The faces on them were about 12 foot. I don't call myself a surfer at all... I think I have only been out half a dozen times with EB in waves that are only about 6 foot... But I couldn’t wimp out now! So I paddled around for a while until the current dragged me into the impact zone. A huge set was coming, I saw Eoghan drop in on one of them, and go straight over the falls! The wave was roaring, so I just duck dived under it and swam to the bottom, I went too late and was just churned and rinsed! I was under what felt like for ages! I was just bouncing around all over the place. When I finally came up for air, I looked around and saw another massive wave headed my way, so I took a huge breath and went under again... When I came up I got on my board and paddled to sure, there was no way, I wanted to take another beating like that again.

So I made it back, had a bit of a rest on shore and headed out again. Unfortunately it was the same deal, the waves were way too big, there was no way I was going to be able to catch any of them.

But I paddled out again, and once again got caught on the inside and was once again slammed... so same deal, had a rest on shore an headed back out.

When I finally made it out, I was hanging out with Rat (one of Eoghan’s mates) when I asked where Eoghan was, we looked to shore and saw Eoghan’s board in 2 pieces. So Rat and I hang out in the water trying to catch waves unfortunately the sea went all mushy!

So myself and Rat stumbled out of the water because of the shore break was so intense, on the way back up to the car I brushed past a ‘nettle tree’ I yelped in agony, I said to Rat that I brushed part that bush... he quickly explained to me that I need to get to a hospital ASAP!

I believed them, so I tried to hurry up and get back to the car... after 5 minutes of trying to get out of my wetsuit they all burst out laughing... it was obviously a joke that I didn’t realise, well 3 days in its still itching!

We eventually got back on the road obviously so tired after our surf, but as we were driving home we realised that there were an awful lot of puddles around, and a lot of people... So the boys and I drove around for 30 minutes going ‘puddling’. So we found the most amazing puddle, that nearly took up the entire road. The road was fantastic, long and straight, so the people couldn’t escape. So we drove along this road for a while until we found a family. As we drove past we gave them a friendly wave, then ducked up a drive way, quickly reversed, and silently followed them toward the puddle. When they got close enough, Eoghan jumped on the accelerator and sped towards them and the puddle, the man saw what was happening and looked at us with only fear in his eyes. We hit the puddle at top speed and sent a barrel of water heading their direction. They were drenched, we were in hysterics and now karma doesn’t like us too much...

When we got home, we unpacked the car and crashed out! We fell asleep for about an hour, and when we woke, it was beer o clock! So we met up with one of Eoghan’s mate called Dave had some beers and headed off into town.

We had an awesome night, with some funny stories that we told to each other the next day!

One of the reasons why I like Cork, is that I’d walk down the street and say “G’day” to a couple of girls, they would then surround me asking if I was Australian, I would then obviously say “yes” and then get numerous girls hugging and kissing me... Doesn’t get much better to be honest!

The next day was recovery day, but not for the Cian, Eoghan and Steve Show! We were planning on sneaking into the Blarney Castle. So we grabbed some gum boots and headed off.

We walked through forests and fields and eventually came to the Blarney Castle, we snuck under the barbed wire and got in.

The castle itself was beautiful, a lovely medieval castle, on entrance to the castle you have to walk up a long spiralling stair case, when we made it to the top the view was amazing, the colour of the trees were nothing less than stunning! So many beautiful colours.

After looking at all the beautiful colours it was our time to kiss the Blarney Stone, so you hang you sit down and hang onto some metal bars and lean back whilst hoping that you wernt going to fall to your death, you had to kiss a damp, moist rock... I'm hoping the reason why it was wet was because of the climate and not because hundreds of people a day slobber all over the rock... great place for swine flu.

That night we had a quite one, just a few beers and juggling balls... yep, I can now juggle (Christmas present anyone?)

By the 18^th, it was time for me to leave... So I booked my place on the bus and just waited out the time. It wasn’t until Tony (father) came home and told Eoghan that he should take me to a little town 20 minutes south of Cork called Kinsale!

So we topped the car up with petrol, loaded one of the two dogs in the car and headed off. When we arrived, I put on some Gumboots and we started trecking off to find the old castle. It was fun being in the proper country side again. After 1.5 to 2 hours of walking around, it was beer o’ clock.

I knew I had to be on the bus at Cork Airport by 5.30pm and if I missed that needed to be at the Cork Bus Station in town by 6.

When we downed the beers, it was about 5pm, but Eoghan assured me that it would only take 10 minutes to get too the airport, but when I plugged it into the GPS it said our estimated time of arrival was 5.32pm and this GPS is never wrong.

So we had a mission on our hands... our job was to try and beat the GPS so we raced along the road, and when we hit the airport, I pretty much stood in front a bus to flag it down, he informed us that we had missed the bus, but if we are quick we would probably be able to catch it in town... Luckily we got to town a lot quicker than expected and we got into town 10 minutes before the bus was to leave. So we said our good byes and I thanked him for being such a legend and that anytime that he is in Melbourne that he is free to crash.

My next destination was the student party town of Galway. Be Prepared!

Ripping Dublin To Shreads!

2009-11-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

13/11/09

2100 (local time)

Happy Friday the 13^th SCARRY!!

How’s the Crac! Well my first Ireland experience was... interesting. To be honest I didn’t really enjoy it that much... I just didn’t quite feel it! For this leg of the journey I stayed with a lovely family. The Murry’s were fantastic food every night, felt as if I were home! It really was a nice experience.

So I arrived in Dublin via ferry that took 8 hours! Met some people on the ferry a 21year old from Canada, 2 Americans and 1 crazy Welsh man! So the Welsh bloke got quite drunk and then just started abusing people and acting like an absolute looney.

But not too worry, I met him in the City where he bought me my first Guinness Pint, it tasted amazing, after he left... I was planning on getting on the bus so I could drop off my house at Anna’s house. Instead she was coming into town for a couple of beers with a friend. So after almost passing out in the pub from fatigue I got a phone call to meet her. So I woke myself up and ventured outside into the cold, windy and rainy Dublin. I eventually found them, and Anna took me too a nice little pub down an ally. We had a few beers, and then it was my round, so I sighed to myself and trudged down the steps convicing myself that the round of 3 beers wont be more than 10 Euros ($20AUD). I ordered my drinks to the bar man,

“2 pints of Guinness, and a glass of Carlsberg, thanks mate!”

“No worries pal, that will be 15 Euro”

“15 Euros! Crikey... not cheap” I muttered under my breath

After we polished the most expensive beers I have ever bought we jumped onto the bus and headed home. After dodging the ‘trick steps’ (trick steps are the tiles of concrete on the paths that havn’t been layed well so they move, and when you step on them you generally get water all over your shoes, socks and Jeans.) we made it too Anna’s house and pretty much crashed out.

I woke the next day to an empty house, so I took it easy and had a nice breakfast, did some emails and then packed some lunch and headed out.

The first thing on my list to do, was visit a tourist office so I could get an idea of directions. Which I did, then I headed towards Dublin Castle and Chester Beatty Library/Museum. I pretty much walked past the Dublin Castle on entrance to the Chester Beatty Library, which had a lot of articles and information on the different religions around the world. I wasn’t that interested about it, so I just cruised around and then headed to Dublin Castle... which doesn’t really even exist... photos will show this.

After here, I wandered into City Hall which I came, I saw, I left. I turned left out of City Hall and headed too Dublinia. Which is another fairly cheesy museum on the Vikings in Dublin. It was interesting, but too be honest, I think it was more aimed at... Children, so it was definitely on my level.

On Exit to Dublinia I saw a cute Italian girl that was looking at a map, obviously a bit lost. So being the gentleman that I am, I thought I should lend a hand. She was looking for St. Patricks Church. I wanted to visit it also, so I took her down there, on entrance to the Church, I quickly realised that you had to pay... So we exchanged emails, and said our goodbyes! When I'm in Italy ill have a place to stay!

My next task was too visit Kilmainham Gaol, which according to the guy in the tourist office, you could either catch the 75, 79 or 79a bus, but since buses are quite expensive, I asked him how far it was from here, to which he replied 2 kilometres away. 2 km’s, no worries about a 15 minute walk, no worries, so off I went...

45 MINUTES LATER, almost dark I arrived at the Gaol, which I only assumed was going to be closed. Anyway, on arrival I was told that the last tour was just about. to start! AWESOME! I planned it perfectly. So I paid my money and hurried on.

The Gaol or Jail was amazing, really big, and it is exactly what you imagine when you think of a Jail. The tour guide showed us the place where they used to privately hang the prisoners, the difference between the East and West/New and Old wings. It was really fascinating, and what made it that little bit more interesting was that some of the convicts that were in this jail were in fact sent to Australia.

On finishing of the tour, I again put on my several layers and headed on my epic walk back to the bus station so I could head back to the Murry’s house.

When I finally got to bed, I was pooped a decent sleep in was in order.

The next day I woke at 1030 and the plan was to visit the Guinness Storehouse... does life get much better? Have a nice sleep in and visit a brewery, HAPPY DAYS!

I finally got into town and visited the storehouse. It was a great self guided tour, where you walk around and look, feel and taste the different aspects of the beer. But obviously the best part of the tour was the Guinness at the end! You had a choice of either pouring your own beer or getting one poured for you, obviously I opted to pour my own, and ill tell you what, I did a bloody good job of it! CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS!

As most of you know, after a few beers I do get quite a bit chatty, so I spent most of the rest of the time there just chatting to people. Good Times! When I had had enough I walked back outside to what I thought was going to be a nice walk to the oldest pub in Dublin (and maybe Ireland?) and instead I was confronted with what was the most amount of rain I had seen in over 8 months. I finally made it too the pub, where I sat down and bought a 6 Euro ($12AUD) Irish Coffee made by the marvellous Geraldine. I even asked her for instructions about how to make it... and this is what she wrote, word for word!

· Whiskey

· 2 Spoons of Sugar

· Cream (well shaken)

· Don't get spray can cream (its fuckin shit)

So there ya go, next time ya round at mine, ill make you some Irish Coffee, it really warmed me up.

After the pub, I then walked back to the bus station, in which I missed my bus stop to get off, but luckily the bus driver helped me get back to the right spot!

I had a quick dinner then Trish (mother) drove me to the train station to where I am now! HEADING TO CORK!

I have hooked up a Couch Surfer/Host over there that surfs and has travelled around Australia, so tomorrow, he is planning on heading to the coast for a surf... I'm gonna freeze to death!!!

Till then lad!

Steve

My First Pint of Guinness!

A nice view of the cathedral!

That tower is all thats left of the Dublin Castle... rubbish ey?

St. Patrick Cathedral

Looks Familiar? Kilmainham Gaol!

The Guinness Experience!

Gotta make sure you pour onto a specific part of the Glass!

Happy Days!

How beautiful!

I even got a certificate! (its now in the back of my bad, incase i forget)

My wonderful Irish Coffee!

LIVERPOOL!

2009-11-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

11/11/09

1100 (local time)

“Alright Mate” is a constant phrase I have been getting since I have been in Liverpool. I've had a really good 3 nights! My plan around the U.K is to try to couch surf as much as possible, thus reducing the amount of money I am spending on accomidation.

So it all started off with nearly missing a bus in London because of a main tube station being down... Reminds me of connex to be honest!

So I arrived at the bus station at 7.58 in the morning, I was supposed to print off my E-Ticket but because Lozza doesn’t have a printer and pure lazyness on my behalf, I was unable to do it... So like I said I arrived at the bus station with no ticket, so I was honest to the bus driver.

“Gday mate, mate I have a problem, I have bought a ticket for this bus, but I was unable to print it”

“Where is it?”

“ahh, its on my USB stick, here I can show you...”

“Did you really buy a ticket” As he eyed me up and down

“Yeh mate, swear to God... it was like 8 pounds or something”

“Hop on then” he said!

Phew, that was a close one! So we headed off on the most luxurious bus I've been on! It was a treat! The only problem was, that it was about 30 degrees on the bus, I think they are trying to get a taste of what Australia is like at the moment!

So after several stops, I arrived in Liverpool at about 1.30pm, where I walked to the Bomb Out Church also known as St. Luke’s Church where I met Olivia from Couch Surfer that was kind enough to host me for my time in Liverpool.

We wandered around the town for a few hours, where I eventually got sick of carrying around my bags, so we headed back to her house, where we chatted about music, travels and other stuff whilst drinking tea... How English!

When her housemates started coming home, I put up the idea to start drinking! Well, a few beers and ciders later, we thought it was a top idea to get some Vodka! Then the game of Kings started... we polished off the Vodka and headed into town.

When we arrived, our plan was to head to a bar but on entrance, Olivia met one of her friends, who dragged us to some art persons house, were we listened to some bands.

On the way there we stopped at the Off License or ‘Offy’ aka Bottle-O to pick up some more Vodka, called Devils Vodka, in which I referred to it as Satan’s Drink... It tasted awful!

After spending a few hours listening to these bands in a really arty-farty house we headed off to Bumpers at 3 am in the morning.

When we arrived, they let me and Sam in (one of Olivia’s housemates) but because Olivia and Bill rocked up too late they would let us in.

So Sam and I made the wait outside for at least 45 minutes before we headed outside again and waited for a taxi.

I wasn’t in the mood for getting cold waiting for a taxi, so instead I sang/chanted with some of the locals there... good fun!

We ended up getting a taxi home, and pretty much passed out on the couch!

The next morning... as you can imagine we did nothing. But I felt alot better than the guys I was staying with, so I fixed a bike so I could take it for a ride and do all the touristy things. So the day turned to night very quickly... we all wrote that day off as ‘recovery day’

So I got up early the next day, got on my bike and headed into town, I stopped off at a beautiful cathedral walked around took some photos. I then met another Couch Surfer that is staying at the house that is doing a 2 week travel from Spain. We both wanted to go to the Liverpool Footy Club stadium, and because I had a bike, I couldn’t catch the bus. So instead, Antonio caught the bus and I tried to follow the bus to the station... it was a battle, but I kept up with the bus most of the time... Antonio wanted to do a tour of the Stadium, but I am not that big a fan of soccer, so I just had a quick look around and instead I road to the Everton Soccer Club, and I spoke to the security guard who let me see the ground that Timmy Cahil runs on!

It was awesome seeing a proper soccer ground, I could only imagine how it would look with thousands of people in the stands.

It was a pretty cool experience, it was so bloody cold, but because I was riding and exercising I was keeping warm! Happy Days!

When I finally arrived home, I chilled out for a bit, bought my tickets that will take me too Dublin.

When Antonio got home, we all cooked up some Carbonara had a couple of beers and then went into town, so we could meet up with another Couch Surfer that’s in the area.

Antonio and I hadn’t been to the Cavern yet, which is apparently where the Beatles played their first gig. So Sandra (the other couch surfer) took us to the Cavern for a couple of beers and to watch a bloke play cover bands.

After a few beers here, we went to another club, where there are some awesome live acts playing where we had some more beers and danced, until it got to about 11pm, where Sandra needed to go home, so Antonio attempted to walk her home, but instead we got distracted and went to another pub... but this wasn’t any ordinary pub... WE FOUND A BARRY!

So we spent 40 minutes playing Barry with the locals, whilst we counted down the minutes before the last bus!

It was a great way to spend my last night in Liverpool, and ill hopefully be going back!

Next Up! DUBLIN!

Peace Steve"We Shall Remember Them"

This type of Graffiti is all over the place in Liverpool...

Standing at the home ground of Everton Footy Club!

Nuff Said!

Just outside of the Cavern, the first place the Beatles Played!

Yes, We found a BARRY in Liverpool!

The Motherland! Abbey Road, Lords, St. Clement Danes

2009-11-07T13:24:00.001-08:00

7/11/09

1458 (local time)

Well I have made it too the mother land! And Crikey its expensive! Like really really expensive! But I think I'm doing alright!

BEFORE I START! I have realised that not all but most people are pretty depressed and upset with their lives, SO! My plan whilst I'm here in the U.K is too smile at as many people as I can, and then see how many smiles I get back! So in this blog, I have had 15 people smile at me in 2 days! AWESOME!

I'm getting looked after really well by Laura Slater (photographer from Vass) and her house mates Tom and George, they are all legend!

I have been here for 3 nights, well really 4 but I slept my first night in Luton airport, which was actually quite a nice sleep.

It was the first time for me, where I got into my sleeping bag whilst in the airport, used my bag as a pillow and fallen asleep properly, and then when I was woken up by the lady over the radio saying “Please don't leave your bags in an open space” etc. I looked at my watch and realised it was 7am, in which I was still pretty comfortable that I went BACK to sleep again... I had a good dream too! HAPPY DAYS!

OK so once I got my arse into gear I made my way to Lozza’s house... she wrote down some amazing directions in which I didn’t follow and made my own way there.

The next day I was going to do a little bit of the touristy stuff, so I headed off to St. John’s Wood which is an underground station in which I got off and now had 2 options. I could go straight to Abbey Road studio where the Beatles were recorded, or I could go left on my way to Lord’s Cricket Ground! So I thought I should start off with Abbey road as I listened to the Beatles on the train trip in. I wandered to the actual Abbey Road, took my standard photos, then I thought, I'm here, at Abbey Road studios I may as well go inside and see how far I can actually get. Well I got to the receptionist and said

“G’day mate, well so this is it ey”

To his reply of “we don't do any tours for the public”

“Oh thats ok mate, I'm just here for a bit of a chat” I said

He replied “well you can have a chat to the security guard”

So I took the hint and went outside to console my losses.

Again, took a few more photos and found my way to Lords Cricket Ground, ‘the home of cricket’ It was closed when I went there but the security guard was a bit of a legend so he let me see the ground under one condition, as long as I wont hop on the ground. I told him not to worry and headed off. It was a pretty surreal experience having no one in the stands.

After walking around the ground I then went to the worlds oldest sports museum, paid my 4pounds ($8AUD) and set off. It was awesome, reading about how cricket first started. I finished walking around the bottom floors then I made my way to the almighty top floor!

I started walking around, and in front of me was a small object in a glass container... on closer inspection it was “THE ASHES” I knew it was small, but seeing it in real life... was unbelievable, it was just a pity that Australia wasn’t holding it. Pretty awesome site, after I saw this I saw the trophy I walked around the corner and saw the trophy that the cricketers hold once they win... this is the one that should be in Australia.

After wandering around the museum for a while I got a phone call from Lionel who is one of the blokes that I sailed with when I was in Dahab. He wanted to catch up for a few beers at 4 so I made it too the pub and ill be honest the rest is history... English beers are big and strong!

The next day 6/11/09 it was a... late start up, feeling quite hung over I made it out of bed, we woke up Lizzy and Lionel and Lizzy who I might add, is an absolute legend cook me an amazing egg and bacon breakfast... it was definitely well needed!

Once I got my life back together, I jumped back on the tube and got off at Chering Cross station turned left then left again at the station, walked 10-15 minutes rocking out to tunes on my I-pod. The aim of the trip was to visit St. Clement Danes Church. The reason why I'm visiting this church is and where families and friends can pay their respects too all the WWII RAF pilots who lost their lives in the war. Fortunately my Grandfather that fought in the war is still alive and kicking, he was able to tell me what squadron he was in.

The squadron number is 180 and on the floor of the church there are tiles dedicated to all the squadrons in the war. Both my grandparents have visited this church 50 so years ago, so it was quite a weird feeling to be standing in the same place as my grandfather and grandmother were. It will be interesting to compare the photos to see if the church has changed over the years.

After spending a good hour and a half in the church there was still some light left, so I put on my head phones again and headed off to the National (Art) Gallery, now most of you know that I know NOTHING about art, but it was good just to wonder around look at the cute girls and the paintings!

I breezed through here, and got hungry so I headed back home and had a quiet one and organised my trip to Liverpool! GET EXCITED!

That’s it from me!

Till next time ill be in Liverpool!

Lozza's House!

Abbey Road Studios!

The Zebra Crossing!

Lords Cricket Ground

The Ash's Urn!

Cheating Poms!

St Clement Danes

Squadron 180

The beautiful church!

St. Clement Danes from the outside!

The National Gallery!

THATS ALL FOLKS!

Egypt - Nuwebia, Dahab, Blue Hole, Sinai, HALLOWEEN!

2009-11-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

3/11/09

1934 (local time)

Ahh, what an epic week and a bit! I've been flat out... partying and swimming that I haven’t been bothered to type up a blog! So instead I’ll let you know what has happened over the past week.

I'm writing this on the plane from Sharm El Sheik to London Luton which is meant to be quite special occasion as this is the first time Easyjet has flown from Sharm to Luton! I'm excited! Anyway, here’s the story!

It started off on my arrival to Nuwebia, Egypt. On the 26^th of October it was only a last minute decision to go to. So I hopped off the ferry from Aqaba, Jordan. Caught a taxi for 15 Egyptian Pound (LE) ($3AUD) to Soft Beach Nuwebia.

I had no idea where or what I was going to be confronted with on arrival. But I was impressed! I got the cheapest room/hut for 30LE ($6AUD) INCLUDING BREKKY! STOKED! When I was shown the hut, I just laughed. It’s basically a door leading into a tiny space where there is a bit of foam on the ground as a bed, and a shredded mozzie net over the bed hanging from the roof. It was sick!

When I arrived it was about 4pm. So I pumped out a massive internet session that ended with a swim in the dark in the refreshing Gulf of Aqaba. Super happy.

I was only planning to stay here for maybe 2 nights. But I got an email from an American bloke that I met in Huma, Syria, saying that he was going to be coming to Dahab, I informed him that he should make his way to Nuwebia to relax.

The next day (the 27^th) I was just planning on... Guess what! RELAXING! So I spent about 2.5 hours sunbaking and listening to music, whilst every now and again going for a cheeky swim.

Marc eventually arrived late that afternoon, where we had some dinner and together watched the greatest movie alive “POINT BREAK” featuring a young Keane Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Epic night! We went to bed at midnight because tomorrow was going to be a full day of relaxing, can’t wait!

So I woke at about 9ish the next morning (28^th), and was set for another day of lying in the sun listening to music again! Fantastic!

The next day we had a bit of travelling on our hands, we were headed to the almighty place known as Dahab!

We caught the early bus to Dahab on the 29^th which was good, we had planned it well. We were going to arrive to Dahab on a Thursday, have several swims, relax and prepare ourselves for a big night on Friday (30^th) and especially the 31^st which was Halloween.

So we found a hostel/hotel called Red Sea Relax aka Dahab Dorms that is super cheap (30LE) including a buffet breakfast, swimming pool, relativity cheap beers and being very close to the beach and a reef! Not only was this hostel just amazing, I honestly believe that the hostel was only filled with pretty fit females! I dunno about Marc but I was pretty impressed!

So Friday came along and we met up with my bearded friend Preston from America we got some half litre Sakara beers and we were sorted for the night. We were drinking on the balcony of our sick hotel with Preston, Marc and of course a few birdies!

We headed off to Funny Mummy’s for a cheap feed, everyone was impressed mostly because of the water spray bottles supplied by the crew of Funny Mummy’s that you used to spray all the rogue cats that try to steal your food. Always good fun to have some target practice on rogue cats, but unfortunately our fun was ruined by a European woman that had a go at me for squirting a cat. This was the same woman that put her plate on the floor so that 8 or 9 cats could have a feast! Stupid Woman! Never mind, we then paid the bill and made our way onto the bar of choice... RUSH BAR!

I may have written about Rush Bar before, amazing place with a swimming pool inside the bar! Can’t go wrong apart for the absolute wanker from Finland (I believe) that was the door man for that night.

Last time I was there, we all got in for free, but this time he was going to make us pay... now not only is this absolutely ridiculous because we are in Egypt and no one should pay a cover charge but also there was hardly anyone in the bar anyway. So got into an argument with the bloke on the door, I’d had a few beers but I was quite composed and tried to talk our way in there... unfortunately it didn’t happen in our favour so we headed home that night and continued to drink on our balcony whilst listening to music!

We went to sleep around 4am, and Preston and I planned to go for a Run in the morning at 7am! This didn’t happen!

The next day for October the 31^st aka Halloween! That day we had booked a trip to the Blue Hole in Dahab which is a famous dive site where many divers have died trying to explore the 100+ hole! Obviously I don't have my Open Water Diving Certificate so instead Marc and I went snorkelling instead. We had Marc’s underwater camera so we were taking some amazing shots! We were both doing some free diving and seeing how far we could go! We were getting quite deep! I wanted to go deeper but my head felt as if it was going to explode... I'm not all that good at equalising!

We stayed at the Blue Hole for hours before we packed our stuff up and drove back to Dahab to prepare ourselves for a massive night of drinking and dancing! DAHAB BE WARNED!

We started on the beers early say around 5pm. me and Preston were both in our costumes by 6. Preston was going to go as ‘The Dude’ from The Big Lebowski. But unfortunately he was unable to find a bath robe, so instead he went as Forrest Gump, complete in little red shorts, white t-shirt, hat and sunnies. I went as an AFL Footy Player dressed up in full Hawthorn kit from Hawks Socks to Hawks Jumper, I was completely kitted out! To make myself look even better, I even got my AFL footy pumped up for the occasion! Marc was the only one that wasn’t dressed up, so in a desperate attempt he left us at 7.00 and came back at 7.20, completely naked apart from a box that he had cut up and was now wearing it around his waist. WE WERE THE WOLF PACK! Dahab had never seen anything like this before. After several beers and a bottle of cheap Egyptian Vodka we were set to rock and roll!

Preston and I ran through the main street of Dahab kicking, bouncing and passing the football to restaurant owners and random passerbies! We were in very good form!

Ok, so from here on in, the rest of the night is a bit of a blur, I can only put together the rest of the night using photos off my camera and other peoples so here goes!

So before we had even left the hostel, we already had causality at 11.07pm, Sarah from the U.K had passed out on one of the sun beds! POOR FORM!

Ok so we left our hotel at 11.16pm and headed to Mojitos bar where there was a Halloween party kicking off there.

By 11.32pm the party was really kicking off, and by looking at the photos we were already getting our photo taken by a random... I might was well just add, that apart from 2 other people that didn’t even last too long, we were the only 3 dressed up for Halloween!

By 11.48pm I had traded my football for a crazy hat... that apparently according to local sources is from October Fest!

By 12.43am, there were local’s break dancing! Which I do remember trying to join in on!

By 1.01am Preston was feeling the burn!

By 1.05am, I had my football back, and I met a girl who I gave the hat too, I think she was from Australia also!

By 1.06am, Preston had fallen in love!

By 1.19am, the hat got passed onto Michelle from Byron, Australia!

By 1.27am, The Aussie girl had left Preston and instead wanted to feel what was under the box!

By 1.29am, Preston and Marc had a moment!

By 2.24am, Preston had lost his hat and sunglasses, in what we believe were caused by a break dancing incident! Preston then had a moment with some of the local Egyptians!

By 3.08am, the box had been ripped off Marc... no one really knows what happened between 2.24 and 3.08am...

1.20pm the next day November the 1^st, Marc and I indulged in a kilo of spaghetti bolognaise...

As we all sat around the table we tried to put together what happened that night! Preston lost his Hat and Sunglasses and Marc woke up with a XL Lime Green Men’s Buttoned shirt tied around his waist...

It was an awesome night!

When we walked down the street, severely hung over we were getting smile and nods from random’s who we must have partied with that night... We Rocked Dahab!

That day we had a plan, we were going to book ourselves into a trek up Mount Sinai!

Mount Sinai is a 2285m mountain that rises up out of the desert, the reason why Mount Sinai is of so much importance is that it is to be believed that Moses received the 10 Commandments from God at the summit!

The standard tour is leave at 11pm that night, drive for 2 hours to the bottom of the mountain and trek for 3 hours up the mountain where you can watch a beautiful sunrise, and have a nice walk down the mountain looking at all the beautiful rock formations and feel blessed by God? That you have walked n the footsteps of Moses!

OK! Now this is what really happened!

We left our hotel at around 11.20pm, but it wasn’t until much later that we were on the way to Mount Sinai. We arrived and were greeted by gusty ice cold winds. I was expecting temperatures similar to what it was like in Dahab so I was wearing my Halloween Costume again, the Hawks get up. As soon as I got off the bus, I was putting extra pants and t-shirts and jumpers on... it was bloody cold!

We waited and farted around for a while, whilst we waited for our un-needed tour guide to show up! Once he did, we didn’t start walking until 2am.

So the sun doesn’t rise until 5.30 – 6.00 does it? And the walk is supposed to take 3 hours... right! Which means that we should be getting up at the top by around about 5am.

Well for us athletes, the trek only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes, it would have taken us less, but we were dodging elderly tourists and camels that couldn’t walk straight. So we were up the top by 3.45 – 4.00... meaning that we had to wait almost 2 hours until the sun rises.

We made it up the top of the Mountain and I can’t remember the last time I was that cold. The air temperature would have been around 10 degrees but the wind chill made it feel as low as negative 5 degrees.

Marc and I had brought our sleeping bags, unfortunately Preston didn’t have one, and he also walked up in shorts and I had to convince him to bring a jacket. He was frozen, his wild beard wasn’t keeping him warm.

What made it even colder was that the trek up the mountain had made us all sweaty, so you had to ditch some warm (but sweaty) clothes and instead only sleep in a singlet and a jumper... we were freezing.

As soon as I hit the top, I was wrapped up in my sleeping bag trying to stop myself from shivering so violently, all the boys were the same. Luckily there were local Egyptians up there selling warm camel blankets, we bargained 3 for 10LE (Usually 1 for 20LE) which we laid across ourselves, we were all still freezing, so we proceeded to... spoon one another to keep warm.

During the night, I was sat on by a Spanish woman... and it wasn’t a usual ‘ill just have a rest’ sit down. She pretty much took all her weight off and placed it on my head, neck and shoulders, I was so tired and cold I let out a groan, to which she replied over a dozen times “Sorry Senyior” in an Spanish accent. She must have actually been convinced that we were a pack of rocks or even a bench.

We woke 5.30am, 30minutes too early an almost sunrise, which I was too cold that I physically couldn’t reach into my pocket to get my camera out. I stood for less than a minute with the thick camel blanket wrapped around me until I could no longer withstand the ice cold wind, so I went back to where we were sleeping, where I took on the upright foetal position, where the rest of the boys joined me to form somewhat of a barrier against the cold.

30 so minutes later (5.50am) we saw a beautiful but painful sunrise. Normally in that type of moment I would really enjoy getting a nice photo, but in this circumstance I was just pointing and shooting and just hoping some photos came out alright.

After the sun had completely risen, we went back to the wall again to regain the foetal position to try our best to warm up.

Once the sun had completely risen, and the crowd had moved on, we packed our bag and continued on our trek back down the mountain. It was starting to warm up ever so slightly but I still couldn’t feel my toes or feet and my legs were having spasms on every step. We made it into a coffee hut, where the shear body heat of everyone being in there warmed up the room. We sat here for a while and ate some cold stale cheese and bread sandwiches that we had made.

When we walked back outside, it was starting to warm up again by the time we were starting to trek down the mountain I were starting to regain blood to my feet and toes.

Instead of walking back down the ‘camel path’ we thought we should take the more direct path. Called the Steps of Repentance which is 3750 steps of pure knee jolting hell. The steps were laid by a monk as a form of penance.

By the time we gotten on solid ground I was so relieved, and so were my knees and legs. We were on the bottom by 8.15am. Where we wandered quickly around the monastery, before taking a seat in the cafe trying to warm up again... After finishing some biscuits we then did the proper walk around the monastery. Honestly there really isn’t all that much to look at. I did wander into a room where there were other rooms leading off this filled with human bones and skulls from all the previous monks! Pretty awesome, put a smile on my face.

We then walked into the actual St. Katherine’s Monastery, where there is the ‘Burning Bush’ where I think that was where Moses spoke to God... But really... lets be dead set down the line honest here... Apparently Moses lived to the age of 132. Where the general age of people dying at that time was around 30... so you be the judge... personally I don't take it too heart as much as others do.

After we finished up, we met everyone at the bus, and we were back on the road by 10.30am, I slept the whole way. I remember listening to 2 Sublime songs then I was out like a light. We arrived back in Dahab by 12.30pm. Where Marc passed out on a sun lounge, Preston went home for a bit and I stayed awake chatting to girls telling them how we had to trek through 6ft of snow to get to the top of the Mountain and to sleep we cut open a dying camel and slept inside. J

That night we had a nice seafood dinner, I said my goodbyes to Marc and Preston as they were heading over to Cairo on the overnight bus. My plan was to have a few beers that night and head over to the Hilton hotel where there was a party kicking. But after 2 beers I was wiped, and with no hostel to sleep in as they were all full, I had a bit of a problem on my hands.

So I went back to my old hostel, dragged a sun bed so I wouldn’t be seen by the workers, jumped in my sleeping bag and had a free night sleep.

I was woken at 7am by flies buzzing on my face and the heat of the Egyptian sun, so I waited around, and then had a free buffet breakfast by pretending that I was staying in the hostel. The rest of the day was spent shopping and swimming, until I had to jump on the bus to Sharm so I could catch a flight to London, where I will spend the night sleeping in the airport and then in the morning somehow find my way to Laura aka Lozza’s house where I will spend a few nights!

So until then!

A tired and worn out Fig! Signing out at 2234 (local time)

PS: 3 hours of typing and over 3,000 words, and still 3 hours left of flying... just noticed there are a lot of 3’s in that sentence! BYE!

Nuwebia

What a life... Hows work?

My little shack!

The main street of Nuwebia... looks packed ey?

Another shot of the main street!

Funny Mummys

The gang eating at Funny Mummys!

The Blue Hole

How nice is that view, pity i cant take photos! Wonky horizon!

How amazing is that view!

Best dive spot in the world!

ROCK ON DUDE!

Best dive spot in the world!

Halloween Party *CAUTION*

7.27pm Looking good!

7.51pm Shirt is off, making final adjustments

11.03pm Sarah is our first Causality

11.04pm THE WOLF PACK

11.11pm Starting to get ready for the party!

11.16pm Had a few beers+vodka, the walk to the Club

11.32pm Effects of Alcohol have struck!

12.48am Lost the footy, but got a hat!

12.49am Found the footy!

12.53am Break dancing!

1.01am Preston looking like he's in top form!

1.05am Got the footy and the hat!

1.06am Preston falling in love!

1.19am Found the hat, girls going strong!

1.27am Aussie girl finding out what is under the box!

1.29am the boys having a 'moment'

2.25am Preston has lost his hat!

2.24am Preston having another 'moment'

3.08am this what was left of the box!

1.2opm (next day) Hang Over Cure!

Mount Sinai Near Death Experience

Mad Dog!

The (proper) wolf pack!

Actually freezing to death!

It may look fun... but i couldn't feel any part of my body!

The Sunrise... too cold to enjoy.

Hanging out with one of my mates!

What are YOU doing on the screen!

All the dead monks!

The burning bush where Moses apparently spoke to God!

The End

JERASH! Gladiators, Dust Storms and Jordianian Girls!

2009-11-01T00:42:00.000-07:00

24/10/09

2000 (local time)

Today was a bit of a big day for most of us, but in the early morning Simo and myself had to take the car back. We all knew that this was going to a task that neither of us wanted to do, but of course it had to be done. So we had breakfast, got our stuff together and headed off. We half expected there to be another bird market, or if not a bird market something else that would be completely ridiculous. Lucky for us there was no one around, so we casually drove the car out and down to the end of the street. Just as we were about to jump onto the highway, we start hearing a rumbling sound at the rear of the car. This sound was too familiar to me, something that I had experience in the not too distant future in Lebanon... a flat tyre! We couldn’t believe it. We tried getting off the high way, but there were no turn offs, we finally found one, that took us onto another major road that then took us to another major road, it wasn’t until 3 or 4 turns that we actually found a place to pull over.

So it was about 8.50am by the time we were able to pull over, and the car was meant to be back by 9am. So we did the ultra quick tyre change over that even the formula one guys would have been proud of.

We were back on the road trying to find out where we were so that I could guide Simo and the car back to Budget Car rentals. We finally found it, and were back at the hostel by around 9.30am.

We threw our day packs together and took off on the mini bus to Jerash.

We paid our entrance fees and wandered around Jerash for a couple of hours, Rob and I bought our ticket to watch the Roman show that included how the Romans fought, Gladiator battles and Horse and Cart races.

What is Jerash Steve? Well, be prepared for the answer! (Skip this bit if you don't really care) Jerash is one of the best examples in the middle east of a Roman city. In its heyday Jerash has a population of around about 15,000 to 20,000 people. Although it wasn’t the most interesting set of ruins that I have visited in my travels having good company and some good jokes made this quite a fun and good walk. What made it quite eerie is that there is a dust storm that is predicted to hit the city of Jerash that day. We could all see it coming from the local city, and it made the back ground of our photos look amazing. Some of the highlights of the day was Hadrian’s Arch that you had to walk through as you entered the city. Hadrian’s Arch was made to honour the emperor Hadrian that visited the town 129AD, when it was built it was double the size that it is today. The scaffolding surrounding the area ruins the city. (see what I did there... Ruins the Ruins).

It was time for lunch so we went to the local buffet for lunch where we got a very cheap all you can eat buffet for only 4JD ($6AUD). Rob and I smashed the food down very quickly because we had a show that we had paid to go watch!

There were only 2 shows a day, and this was the last one, so if we missed it, its all over red rover.

The show starts off with 40 Roman Legionnaires who parade around the arena showing the crowd a range of battle formations and military drills such as the Tortoise etc. Once they walk off, 3 sets of Gladiators run into the arena dressed in full Gladiator outfit, with Swords, Tritons and spears... yep the full get up!

The fight each other, and then the crowd is given the option whether we want the gladiator to let live his victim or kill him, although it was corny it was quite entertaining and fun to watch! The pictures and videos will tell the story.

Once this had finished, it was getting late so we made an attempt to get home, which ended up being quite difficult as all the busses were full, so a few of us jumped into a car and got a lift back to the city while the other half were able to get the bus!

It was a fantastic day, but we were all stuffed! For dinner Rob and I ate leftovers of our amazing meal from the night before!

My job for the next few days was to organise me trip back to Egypt and then to the UK! Cant wait!

I have booked my flight from Sharm El Sheik to London Luton for the 3^rd of November, hopefully ill be catching up with some people over in the UK! Until then!

Peace guys!

The Jam!

Hadrian's Arch...

Just chatting to some local Jordanian girls! The jam still has it!

We met some Thailand tourists who were legends!!! We posed!

So i took on their pose! as i stood on some ruins!

The group!

The dust storm came over the ruins!

And overtook the city! Looks eerie ey?!

Rob and i then watched the Roman Act!

The gladiators came out to fight to the death!

The crowd decided his fate... we took his life! HOW AWESOME IS THE BLOOD!

After the Gladiators, we had the chariot race!

ACTION SHOT!