Friday, November 14, 2003
We were up earlyish the next day
Well about 10ish - and considering we hadnt got to bed till 4.30 or so it meant lack of sleep was an issue
Nicole was working in the hospital in the afternoon so we had to be back before 1
Max and I sat around all day watching rugby
Monday morning I had agreed to go down to the beach with Nicole in the morning - a 9 o'clock start which was probably a mistake - but Mereweather beach was nice
That afternoon i spent catching up with sleep and then Matthew and I went and grabbed a couple of DVDs -the 25th Hour and the Matrix 2
My notes havent been particularly good for the last 3 weeks
Im going to summarise a certain amount of what has happened
Ive spent most of it catching up with my blog, sorting out various things such as getting a mobile, a bank account, and sorting out shit with the Student Loans company who are being arseholes and my bank - who have been good - but my Debit card got ripped off - and used in China
Basically I dont have a card I can use in an ATM which is a pain in the arse but staying here has made it less of an issue
Anyway - most of the days have been taken up with this sort of thing - and going down to the beach with Nicole and Jenny - who is pregnant and wants to walk for the exercise - shes just been induced yesterday actually so good luck! And also with Matt who has Mondays and Tuesdays off since he works weekends - so we have been down for beers in the afternoon a few times.
On the second Tuesday i was here we went down to see the Melbourne Cup as well - everybody had a couple of bets on it (Max was backing half the field) but unfortunatley nobody won a thing - In fact one of the horses I backed (Mamool ridden by Frankie Dettori) seemed to be going backwards from halfway and finished last...
Ive watched a lot of DVDs and films on TV as well - Donnie Darko, Adaptation, Phone Booth, Identity as well as St Elmos Fire and Waynes World (party on)
In the evenings we have hung out - been to the cinema a couple of times - to see Kill Bill and Intolerable Cruelty - both very good (im tempted to do a film review section but cant be arsed)
Other than that Nicole took me down to the Blackbutt Reserve just down the road from the house where there are Koalas, tropical birds, Kangaroos and Emus
So i have seen the native wildlife - the other night we actually had a possum in the back yard as well
we gave it an apple.
Anyway I digress - The Koalas were apparently extremely active - normally they just sit around stoned on Eucalyptus - but these were scratching and moving and all sorts
Didnt get much of a view of the Kangaroos - they were too far from the fence - Ive seen their effects though cos Matthew's car has a dent in the front caused by him driving into one on the way home...
The weekends have been busier as well - the first Friday we went out for dinner and drinks with Steve and Bronwen which was cool and then on the Saturday we had a barbie with a few folks round to watch the Australia v Ireland match
Jenny (who is Irish although married to an Aussie Rory) and I were the only two people cheering for the Irish and they came very close to an upset
Great barbeque as well - massive spread (bit more than the hot dogs and burgers i expected)
That Sunday as well we went down to Sydney because they had tickets for the New Zealand v Wales game
Unfortunatley I did not have a ticket for this game so after hanging out at Sarahs again they all went off to the game and I went to meet James who is staying at a hostel in Kings Cross -we went to a pub to watch the match which was fantastic and I met the others back in North Sydney before driving back - Max had to work the following morning..
Last Friday we went down to the local pub the Blackbutt for a few drinks - and saw a pretty awful covers band..
The lead singer/guitarist looked like the guy out of Nickelback - except fat and about 25 years older, he sang like the guy out of Green Day (i.e. limited range) and saw himself as something of a guitar god - adding lengthy guitar solos to everything they played
This was fine when they were playing something I knew - such as Hotel California, the Beatles or even the Police's "gibberish classic" Da Do Do Do (or whatever its called)
but when they were playing Aussie songs they were awful
What I really couldnt fathom was when they played not one but two Huey Lewis songs - and neither of them was The Power of Love (I only knew it was Huey Lewis because he said so but please..)
The biggest reaction was when they played the intro to Enter Sandman - but didnt play it because apparently they werent allowed to play Metallica for some reason...
So other than that watching rugby and sunbathing in the back yard has taken up most of my time
Oh yeah Max and I went down to the "Foreshore" the other day to a pub recommended by Muz called the Brewery - pretty nice place but very windy down by the harbour
Lots of idiots posing by their mostly very ordinary looking cars as well
Well about 10ish - and considering we hadnt got to bed till 4.30 or so it meant lack of sleep was an issue
Nicole was working in the hospital in the afternoon so we had to be back before 1
Max and I sat around all day watching rugby
Monday morning I had agreed to go down to the beach with Nicole in the morning - a 9 o'clock start which was probably a mistake - but Mereweather beach was nice
That afternoon i spent catching up with sleep and then Matthew and I went and grabbed a couple of DVDs -the 25th Hour and the Matrix 2
My notes havent been particularly good for the last 3 weeks
Im going to summarise a certain amount of what has happened
Ive spent most of it catching up with my blog, sorting out various things such as getting a mobile, a bank account, and sorting out shit with the Student Loans company who are being arseholes and my bank - who have been good - but my Debit card got ripped off - and used in China
Basically I dont have a card I can use in an ATM which is a pain in the arse but staying here has made it less of an issue
Anyway - most of the days have been taken up with this sort of thing - and going down to the beach with Nicole and Jenny - who is pregnant and wants to walk for the exercise - shes just been induced yesterday actually so good luck! And also with Matt who has Mondays and Tuesdays off since he works weekends - so we have been down for beers in the afternoon a few times.
On the second Tuesday i was here we went down to see the Melbourne Cup as well - everybody had a couple of bets on it (Max was backing half the field) but unfortunatley nobody won a thing - In fact one of the horses I backed (Mamool ridden by Frankie Dettori) seemed to be going backwards from halfway and finished last...
Ive watched a lot of DVDs and films on TV as well - Donnie Darko, Adaptation, Phone Booth, Identity as well as St Elmos Fire and Waynes World (party on)
In the evenings we have hung out - been to the cinema a couple of times - to see Kill Bill and Intolerable Cruelty - both very good (im tempted to do a film review section but cant be arsed)
Other than that Nicole took me down to the Blackbutt Reserve just down the road from the house where there are Koalas, tropical birds, Kangaroos and Emus
So i have seen the native wildlife - the other night we actually had a possum in the back yard as well
we gave it an apple.
Anyway I digress - The Koalas were apparently extremely active - normally they just sit around stoned on Eucalyptus - but these were scratching and moving and all sorts
Didnt get much of a view of the Kangaroos - they were too far from the fence - Ive seen their effects though cos Matthew's car has a dent in the front caused by him driving into one on the way home...
The weekends have been busier as well - the first Friday we went out for dinner and drinks with Steve and Bronwen which was cool and then on the Saturday we had a barbie with a few folks round to watch the Australia v Ireland match
Jenny (who is Irish although married to an Aussie Rory) and I were the only two people cheering for the Irish and they came very close to an upset
Great barbeque as well - massive spread (bit more than the hot dogs and burgers i expected)
That Sunday as well we went down to Sydney because they had tickets for the New Zealand v Wales game
Unfortunatley I did not have a ticket for this game so after hanging out at Sarahs again they all went off to the game and I went to meet James who is staying at a hostel in Kings Cross -we went to a pub to watch the match which was fantastic and I met the others back in North Sydney before driving back - Max had to work the following morning..
Last Friday we went down to the local pub the Blackbutt for a few drinks - and saw a pretty awful covers band..
The lead singer/guitarist looked like the guy out of Nickelback - except fat and about 25 years older, he sang like the guy out of Green Day (i.e. limited range) and saw himself as something of a guitar god - adding lengthy guitar solos to everything they played
This was fine when they were playing something I knew - such as Hotel California, the Beatles or even the Police's "gibberish classic" Da Do Do Do (or whatever its called)
but when they were playing Aussie songs they were awful
What I really couldnt fathom was when they played not one but two Huey Lewis songs - and neither of them was The Power of Love (I only knew it was Huey Lewis because he said so but please..)
The biggest reaction was when they played the intro to Enter Sandman - but didnt play it because apparently they werent allowed to play Metallica for some reason...
So other than that watching rugby and sunbathing in the back yard has taken up most of my time
Oh yeah Max and I went down to the "Foreshore" the other day to a pub recommended by Muz called the Brewery - pretty nice place but very windy down by the harbour
Lots of idiots posing by their mostly very ordinary looking cars as well
Australia!
After an uneventful flight I arrived in Sydney at 6.30AM (having lost several hours and not grabbing too much sleep)
I was met by Max and Nicole which was nice and meant i didnt have to worry about sorting anything out.
They drove me round the empty streets of Sydney - It was the early hours of Saturday morning but I was still struck by how deserted it appeared - quite a contrast to KL where the traffic appears to run 24 hours
After seeing the opera house and driving across the harbour bridge we headed towards Max's Mum's house - she lives on the outskirts of Sydney and there had been a bit of a party the night before - so various family members were milling about -
I had a shower, a cup of tea (proper tea at last...) and some toast - all of which was extremely welcome
After that - and feeling slightly more human - we headed down to Fox studios where there were various things going on - a little market thing and a few shops
Nicole went to look around the antique fair while Max and I went for a beer and caught up
We then met up with Max's sister Victoria and went to have some Pizza
The weather was dissapointing - I was actually cold after the heat in Asia - the hailstorm in the afternoon here which caused all sorts of damage (the size of cricket balls apparently) gives you an idea although it cleared up in the evening - i was pretty chilly
After food i was beginning to feel the lack of sleep over the past few days catch up on me - we drove over to Geoff and Sarahs in north Sydney (another one of Max's sisters)
I fell asleep and had a kip for an hour or so while the others watched Australia put 140 points past namibia in the rugby - we were off to watch the France v Scotland match that evening so I had to get up - had a couple of beers before heading out on the train down to the stadium
It turned out we had a spare ticket in the end - Max and I had freebies that Matthew - (Max and Nicoles housemate) had aquired off his dad but the rest of Max's family were sat elsewhere and they had one ticket over
During the day we had tried to sell (and then give away) the extra ticket to various friends but it turned out that no one else could make it
We werent particularly worried as it was a sell out match and we assumed getting rid of the extra ticket for at least face value would be no trouble
Max and I were stood outside the ground until 5 minutes before kick off trying to get rid of the ticket - there were lots of people trying to do the same thing but no touts about trying to buy them and the only people interested all seemed to be in groups of 3 (and Japanese) we tried to convince some of these groups to buy our ticket and then get others seperatley but no they all wanted to sit together dammit - we even tried offering one guy at an extremely discounted rate and Max even offered to ring Geoff to buy him a beer - but no go
So we couldnt sell the bloody thing - where are the dodgy scousers when you need them?
Anyway
The match was uninspiring - Scotland got hammered and looked awful (Max's Mum is scottish so that didnt go down too well) but the stadium was impressive and the atmosphere was good - although the Mexican wave is always a bad sign
We got the train back to north Sydney and met up with the rest of the clan there for more drinks and finally went back to Sarahs and spent the night there
Nicole had gone out seperatley with Kylie (who i know from London also) and some other friends - we were supposed to meet up afterwards but it didnt happen
by the time we got back Nicole was in bed hammered
After an uneventful flight I arrived in Sydney at 6.30AM (having lost several hours and not grabbing too much sleep)
I was met by Max and Nicole which was nice and meant i didnt have to worry about sorting anything out.
They drove me round the empty streets of Sydney - It was the early hours of Saturday morning but I was still struck by how deserted it appeared - quite a contrast to KL where the traffic appears to run 24 hours
After seeing the opera house and driving across the harbour bridge we headed towards Max's Mum's house - she lives on the outskirts of Sydney and there had been a bit of a party the night before - so various family members were milling about -
I had a shower, a cup of tea (proper tea at last...) and some toast - all of which was extremely welcome
After that - and feeling slightly more human - we headed down to Fox studios where there were various things going on - a little market thing and a few shops
Nicole went to look around the antique fair while Max and I went for a beer and caught up
We then met up with Max's sister Victoria and went to have some Pizza
The weather was dissapointing - I was actually cold after the heat in Asia - the hailstorm in the afternoon here which caused all sorts of damage (the size of cricket balls apparently) gives you an idea although it cleared up in the evening - i was pretty chilly
After food i was beginning to feel the lack of sleep over the past few days catch up on me - we drove over to Geoff and Sarahs in north Sydney (another one of Max's sisters)
I fell asleep and had a kip for an hour or so while the others watched Australia put 140 points past namibia in the rugby - we were off to watch the France v Scotland match that evening so I had to get up - had a couple of beers before heading out on the train down to the stadium
It turned out we had a spare ticket in the end - Max and I had freebies that Matthew - (Max and Nicoles housemate) had aquired off his dad but the rest of Max's family were sat elsewhere and they had one ticket over
During the day we had tried to sell (and then give away) the extra ticket to various friends but it turned out that no one else could make it
We werent particularly worried as it was a sell out match and we assumed getting rid of the extra ticket for at least face value would be no trouble
Max and I were stood outside the ground until 5 minutes before kick off trying to get rid of the ticket - there were lots of people trying to do the same thing but no touts about trying to buy them and the only people interested all seemed to be in groups of 3 (and Japanese) we tried to convince some of these groups to buy our ticket and then get others seperatley but no they all wanted to sit together dammit - we even tried offering one guy at an extremely discounted rate and Max even offered to ring Geoff to buy him a beer - but no go
So we couldnt sell the bloody thing - where are the dodgy scousers when you need them?
Anyway
The match was uninspiring - Scotland got hammered and looked awful (Max's Mum is scottish so that didnt go down too well) but the stadium was impressive and the atmosphere was good - although the Mexican wave is always a bad sign
We got the train back to north Sydney and met up with the rest of the clan there for more drinks and finally went back to Sarahs and spent the night there
Nicole had gone out seperatley with Kylie (who i know from London also) and some other friends - we were supposed to meet up afterwards but it didnt happen
by the time we got back Nicole was in bed hammered
