Storming the Castle.

My week in Newcastle, NSW is soon to come to a close. I depart tomorrow on the train to Tamworth. A week was a good amount of time to spend here. I found plenty to do and enjoyed the quiet town. Saved some money and took it easy after Sydney.

I spent a day on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley, getting slanted on free wine and liqueur samples all day long. It was a terribly beautiful day and we got cheese samples too! That was my favorite part. I do love me some cheese. I also did beer tasting, and counted each stop.

I spent a day at a wildlife reserve. Hiking walking trails and visiting the wildlife exhibits with koalas and kangaroos and all kinds of local birds. The forests are filled with parrots which is kinda cool. The koalas were feeding and you could pretty much reach out and touch them.

A couple days I got to kick it at the beach. I watched the kite surfers for a long time and today I played volleyball with some Canadians from my dorm. We have been watching lots of movies in the hostel as the nightlife is pretty low key and I am trying to save my money for more adventurous things. We have watched some classics. Cliffhanger. Reservoir Dogs. Ransom. Cocktail. Who doesn't love Cocktail. We have also been drinking boxed wine. Classy's the name of the game kids.

I made it a point to take the bus out of town too so I could see the surrounding area and get a locals point of view. It's pretty suburban. Everything so far seems a perfect blend of England and the U.S. The influences from both cultures seem pretty 50/50. It's kinda cool though.

A little side story:
I was going up to my room to bed the other night and heard loud panting from the room next door. It's a private room and I think I don't need to explain what was going on in their. I smiled and continued to bed. So in the morning the couple checked out. My buddy was cleaning their room and said when he walked in, a pair of pigeons flew out the open window. When he looked down at the floor he saw that they had laid an egg in the corner of the room! Is that a sign or what? That chick's so knocked up and she doesn't even know it yet.

There is an old army fort here that used to protect the harbour. Fort Scratchly. I wandered around there before it started pouring rain. It was cool to see. They are turning it into a museum and opening up the buildings soon. There is also an area down by the beach that had some wicked graffiti. I am a big fan of this stuff and you might see lots of pictures of it. Deal.

Everyone I meet has the same damn Lonely Planet Australia book. It makes me want to throw mine away. Instead I am laughing at it and have started taking pictures of everyones.

Wish me luck as I head to the bush tomorrow. I might even get some camping in soon. Which would be nice since I just bought this expensive new tent. And I am shaving the stache tomorrow. I had to let things grow out a bit. Adios for now and check out my Newcastle pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/andersn8/NewcastleNSW


-"She’d love to get at me any way she could. That’s why she’s been flirting with G.O.B. She’s trying to prove that she’s closer to my children than I am, but the joke’s on her, because she doesn’t know how little I care for G.O.B."

-"I think that makes the joke on G.O.B."

PICTURES.

So I finally found a computer that would let me use Picassa. This is how I will be posting my pictures hopefully from now on (since not everyone has sold their soul to Mark Zuckerberg).

http://picasaweb.google.com/andersn8

I'm in Newcastle now and it is a lot quieter than Sydney, but I like that. I am ready to lay by the beach for a while and not spend so much money.

Adios

Adios Sydney

So I am down to my final hours in Sydney. I leave on the train this morning to head north to Newcastle. Then after a few days there I will be going inland to the country music capital of Oz. Then after that I will be doing a week of Jackaroo school, which is basically just cowboy training to help get a job in the outback. I can't wait. We will be running cattle and learning how to lasso and it's pretty much perfect for me.

I have loved Sydney and found it to be a great starting out point for me. It is just the beginning to my trip though and I really look forward to what I will encounter next. Anxious for the outdoors and some real adventures and trying new things. I am keeping a list of new things that I haven't done before.

The first notable one had to be the infomercial that I was in for a lovely(cheap) little kitchen product called the Reseal and Save! "I want one just for my RV. We go on RV trips on the weekends and this would be perfect!" I think it is airing in Australia and South Africa? It was 4 hrs of work and it paid well too. Plus it was hilarious. The thing kept not working and we had to reshoot the demonstrations. It was shot in a shopping mall out in the suburbs and it's exactly how you are picturing it.

The government taxes things like crazy here so random stuff is really expensive. I got a small bottle of 7UP and it was $3.50. I then bought a glass of beer and it was $3. Then a bottle of water was $3. But a meal only costs $6. I don't get it.

Saturday night was my last(and sort of first) really big night out. The sun was coming up when we left the club and absinthe is legal here. Nuff said.

Some final thoughts from Sydney:
-Most people are German, Asian, French.
-Germans love fanny packs. Gay.
-Germans can get away with it cause most of them are completely attractive.
-I've learned more French than I have Aussie slang.
-People are drunk everywhere at night. And out of control drunk at that.
-Most people have very little respect for the U.S. Obama is helping though, everyone loves him.
-Australians abbreviate everything they can.
-Meat pies are the greatest things ever.
-You're my third least favorite child.

OBAMA, and mustaches of course

Well after 21 days in Sydney, and at least as many meat pies, I will be setting sail north. I will be in Sydney until Monday Nov 10. At that point I have a ticket for the first leg of my train journey. Only 2 hrs north, but it's cool. I bought a pass to Cairns and can do as many hop-off/hop-ons as I like. So I am going to try to see as much as I can.

Today is the first nice(hot) day in a while. I think I will dominate the beach. I am checking out of my hostel today and moving to a hotel downtown. It will be a nice change of pace for my last weekend and it's cheaper! I will be closer to all the action too. I feel like I finally have a light grip on the nightlife here. People are drunk by 10pm, people are slanted by midnight, and people are absolutely out of their f'ing minds by 2am. Then the bars stay open for another 8 hrs. Makes sense right? Not really, but it's a sight to see non the less. The streets are like High St, Oxford at bar close, but on an acid trip. Pandemonium is the word that comes to mind. It's fun.

I watched the election with a bunch of foreigners yesterday and answered all their questions which I was surprised I even knew the answers to. Hello Obama. I think it will be a great change for us and the rest of the world. 'Nuf said.

Now that the Melbourne Cup is over with its photo finish, let Movember begin! This is a month long celebration of all things mustache. Everyone is encouraged to grow one, even capable women, to raise awareness for mens cancers. I've got a nice 2 day stubble. I will take a picture when it comes into full bloom. Get excited kids.

That's all I got. Time to hit Bondi.

Saddle up yur horses

I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween weekend. Saw some great costumes on the book of Face. Turns out the rest of the world doesn't exactly appreciate this holiday for what it's worth. I did find a good party though on Saturday night and met a cool group of people. Quite a few people were dressed up too, but mostly just fake blood on themselves. Nothing close to the Weho Carnival.

On the other hand today is the Melbourne Cup, their equivalent to our Kentucky Derby. Except they get work off and it's pretty much a national holiday. Parades, big hats, tons of drinking and all that. I plan on getting involved any way I can. Especially the drinking. Then tomorrow is the election, which I will be watching. They have been covering it like crazy on tv here. It will be an epic couple of days no matter what happens.

I think I have walked to every corner of this city by now. Still working out my plans to leave. The camper van isn't happening so I might go old school and take a train journey. I am heading to the country music capitol of Oz and cowboy land. Tamworth. Like Nashville but much smaller. Obviously I am excited about this. Sorry nobody else is. Get over it.

Hope you are all doing well. Don't hesitate to email me. It would be great hearing from people. Especially you.

-Hey, Mom. Remember we had that conversation about trying to cut back on things that aren't necessities?

-Like it was yesterday.

-It was this morning.