Saturday 25th - I was up at 6am to get the bus to Bunbury for The Revolution Tour. I got a phonecall from Darren about 6.40 asking if i could meet him at the visitor centre where i was getting the bus from. He hadn't slept at all. He asked for his Aussie mobile number and told me his general plans for the rest of his time here. Mental how things turn out. We were talking for like 2 hours after a week of not talking then this happens. So he went off to book himself into the hostel for a couple of nights. Got on the bus but the driver was a total prick.
"What's the name?"
"What name do you want? My name or the name it was booked under?" Since it was booked under Steve's name.
"THE name!"
"It was booked under Whyte, my name is Mackay!"
"Just give me the name!"
Idiot. The bus journey itself was alright though...all 6hrs and 30mins of it. I found the hostel easy enough but the office wasnt open til 4pm so i had a couple of hours to kill. I went up to "Boulter's Heights" lookout point. I noticed how close i was to the coastline so i took a wander down and walked most of "Back Beach" as far as i know. On the way back into town i saw a better lookout so i scoped that out too. That killed the couple of hours i needed to i booked into the hostel, dumped my bags and asked for directions to The Rev Tour. So I went to the bus station to check the times of buses that went down that way and the last one was at 5.10, which gave me 30 mintues to grab some munch. Sound. Anyways, i made it onto the bus which took me pretty much to the front gate of the place but i fucking left my ticket on the bus! Rough, rough times. Fucking idiot. So i had to buy another one at the door. Eugh. The show itself was pretty damn good but the crowd were shit and not up for anything. Plus, i couldnt afford to get fucked :( They delivered on the bikes, babes and bands though so altogether is was worth it. Afterwards i went to the shopping centre opposite the field to try and order a taxi but all the lines were busy. So i hung about for 30 minutes before these 2 guys came out of the garage and started talking to me because they thought i was upset! They said they were heading to "the forum" which i knew was like about 3km away from my hostel so after they insisted on me coming i joined them in what i hoped was the right direction... Their names were Nick and Corey, and they were total legends. Had some of the best banter I've ever heard from Aussie's, and a lot of other folk too. Nick was way more fucked than Corey so he decided he needed more beer "for this mission." We took a little detour to his mate "Jonesy's" house but he wasn't in. So Nick decided to go by himself to the nearest bottleshop whilst Corey told me that the neighbourhood we were in was really rough and the sooner we got out of there the better : | He was on the phone to his gf and her parents just happened to be driving past us in the next 5 minutes so we rushed to the end of the road and called Nick to come back. So i managed to get a lift right to the front door of my hostel from Corey's gf's parents! Absolute legends. So thank you Corey, Nick, Frank and his wife. I headed to my room (4 bed mixed dorm, cheapest they had) and met Mitchell and "Chick" apparently... They were watching a movie so i decided to go socialise. Started talking to this guy from Northern Ireland called Ross, he was good craic. Gave me a couple of beers, introduced me to a couple of folk, wasnt an idiot, funny guy. Then there was the constipated Indian guy Riaz, his German gf, the Japanese girls (one of whom came into my room and tried to get it on with the guy in the bunk below me-he was having none of it haha), a Korean girl who started screaming when didnt know how to say certain things in english, Hayley the Cornish girl, Bubbles (cause he looked like Bubbles from Finding Nemo) and some guy from NZ. Sat up with them for a while then headed to bed about 1.45.
Sunday 26th - Got up at 9. Amazing sleep, first proper mattress i've slept on in like 5 weeks! I checked out by quarter past but i had a nasty feeling that daylight savings had kicked in...so that i would be an hour ahead. I had to check since my bus was at 11.30 and there was no way i was missing that. So yeah, the clocks had been put forward an hour so it was now 10.30 instead of 9.30. Made no odds though since the bus station was close to the hostel, so i grabbed a subway and had a wander. The bus was fine, minus the old people in front smelling like burnt hair, and i just chilled when i got home. All in all, the trip was definitely worth it. Bunbury is a pretty cool place, doesnt look like there's much to do though. I would definitely recommend a trip there though.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
The past 6 weeks, in a nutshell
There's not much point putting down all the boring stuff that we've been doing since the last proper entry because, to be honest, we havent been up to much. Wandering about town, watching films, playing the xbox etc. I'll put down all the important/interesting things though - at least they are to me :P The first sunday we were here (at Steve's house) I was up late watching tv after Dar & Steve had gone to sleep when Becca and her mate Alfie came in from the pub. We got talking and i mentioned wanting to work on a strawberry farm & it turns out Alfie works for a company that supplies local farms with feed, fertilizer etc. So he said he would talk to one of the local farmers for us and get a phone number - good times. That thursday Alfie gave me a lift up to the farm to get things rolling. Darren stayed behind because he was planning on going home...for a couple of reasons, not really going to go into them. The farm seemed alright, it was just getting out there that would be a problem. The day after i bought an Aussie mobile and spent half the fucking night trying to register it online & just gave up in the end. Ended up returning it the following tuesday and getting a decent one that worked. The same night there was a carry-on after our carry out, mainly between Steve and Becca, but again I wont go into details.
So between the strawb farmer owner being on holiday, reading the whole of the Narnia chronicles and playing the xbox time has been flying by with nothing much happening really. However me, Steve and Dar went out one night without having any dinner and we all ended up blacking out by the end of the night...with Darren managing to puke all over our room...and on some of my clothes - rough :S Then there was Gemma's (Steve and Becca's younger sister) "BBQ" the next day, which was actually held inside thanks to the arse awful weather. Good craic though, met a lot of their family, had a laugh.
Then there was the whole strawberry farm debacle. We had finally managed to score a job on the farm, so we started at 8am on monday the 13th. The taxi cost us $20 to get there, mental. We got there and were told to "talk to Joe" who got us straight into the work, didnt even ask us for working visa's, tax numbers etc. The work itself was alright, but it was back-breaking. So after our 15-minute lunch break i asked this Joe guy what the pay was like; $1-$3 a fucking tray! Complete slave labour! We were expecting like a basic wage plus more money for the amount we pick but no. Plus the assholes "in charge" were stealing our baskets and giving them to the pretty girls in an attempt to impress them or something. The place was full of window lickers anyway. So we just walked out. BIG mistake. I was wearing wellies and ended up with 4 blisters on my feet thanks to the 2 hour walk back to town.
That friday (17th) my feet had recovered enough for me and Dar to go up to the lookout tower on Mount Melville. The weather was brilliant, almost too hot but not quite. And the view from up there was awesome. We were planning on heading up Mount Clarence too but Dar's foot was fucked so we got a carry out and headed home. That night, after a few beers, me and Dar fell out again. Which started a week long silence (almost exactly) between the 2 of us. But I'm jumping ahead a bit.
So on saturday me and Steve headed round to his dad's house for a few brews and a chat. Well good craic. But of course i hadnt had any dinner so by the time we left i was fucked. The beer wasnt the best either so that didnt help. Spewed hardstyle when i got back to Steve's. Meanwhile it was Jack's mate's Hen Night and she stopped by to drop her bags and for some reason we were persuaded to go into town with them. We ended up going to Nsomniax, officially voted the worst nightclub in Australia. At least now i can say i've been there :P It was pretty pish, and far too small...although there's hardly a lot of folk here in Albany. Pretty cool night altogether though.
Anyways, I'd been thinking for like a week or so before me or Dar fell out about how i would get to the east coast to see Sydney, Melbourne etc and the most feasible way seemed to be by air. But Darren's not too keen on flying...so i didnt want to leave him behind. But with the carry on on friday night i decided that i would fly out so i've been planning the trip since. The general plan is to work for 4 weeks, up til the 22nd Nov then fly out from Perth to Melbourne and travel round the east coast for the remaining 4 weeks that im here. And I'd also decided to go to Bunbury on the 25th by myself for the Revolution Tour since Steve didnt want to leave Darren behind, which was cool with me. That doesnt sound genuine...but I really was cool with it haha.
So yeah, up til friday just past (the 24th) me and Darren had barely said a word to each other. That night Nic, a guy from Steve's work, came round and invited me round to his via McD's and the Bowling Alley...which we left before we'd even had a game of pool or anything since he spilt his drink. We were halfway through watching a film round at his when Dar text me saying he had just been "slightly slashed" by a couple of aborignals...aboriginese? Anyway, I headed back to Steve's and walked in to see Dar with his face covered in blood and not in the best mood, as you can imagine. So ended the week long silence but it wasn't to last. Steve and Jack were out on a night out and Becca was working. Over the next 2-3 hours Steve and Darren fell out (via phonecalls and texts) which ended in Darren packing his bags and leaving completely. Notice a pattern here? 2 weeks in a row...
I'm pretty sure I've missed stuff out...can't be that important if i have though :P
So between the strawb farmer owner being on holiday, reading the whole of the Narnia chronicles and playing the xbox time has been flying by with nothing much happening really. However me, Steve and Dar went out one night without having any dinner and we all ended up blacking out by the end of the night...with Darren managing to puke all over our room...and on some of my clothes - rough :S Then there was Gemma's (Steve and Becca's younger sister) "BBQ" the next day, which was actually held inside thanks to the arse awful weather. Good craic though, met a lot of their family, had a laugh.
Then there was the whole strawberry farm debacle. We had finally managed to score a job on the farm, so we started at 8am on monday the 13th. The taxi cost us $20 to get there, mental. We got there and were told to "talk to Joe" who got us straight into the work, didnt even ask us for working visa's, tax numbers etc. The work itself was alright, but it was back-breaking. So after our 15-minute lunch break i asked this Joe guy what the pay was like; $1-$3 a fucking tray! Complete slave labour! We were expecting like a basic wage plus more money for the amount we pick but no. Plus the assholes "in charge" were stealing our baskets and giving them to the pretty girls in an attempt to impress them or something. The place was full of window lickers anyway. So we just walked out. BIG mistake. I was wearing wellies and ended up with 4 blisters on my feet thanks to the 2 hour walk back to town.
That friday (17th) my feet had recovered enough for me and Dar to go up to the lookout tower on Mount Melville. The weather was brilliant, almost too hot but not quite. And the view from up there was awesome. We were planning on heading up Mount Clarence too but Dar's foot was fucked so we got a carry out and headed home. That night, after a few beers, me and Dar fell out again. Which started a week long silence (almost exactly) between the 2 of us. But I'm jumping ahead a bit.
So on saturday me and Steve headed round to his dad's house for a few brews and a chat. Well good craic. But of course i hadnt had any dinner so by the time we left i was fucked. The beer wasnt the best either so that didnt help. Spewed hardstyle when i got back to Steve's. Meanwhile it was Jack's mate's Hen Night and she stopped by to drop her bags and for some reason we were persuaded to go into town with them. We ended up going to Nsomniax, officially voted the worst nightclub in Australia. At least now i can say i've been there :P It was pretty pish, and far too small...although there's hardly a lot of folk here in Albany. Pretty cool night altogether though.
Anyways, I'd been thinking for like a week or so before me or Dar fell out about how i would get to the east coast to see Sydney, Melbourne etc and the most feasible way seemed to be by air. But Darren's not too keen on flying...so i didnt want to leave him behind. But with the carry on on friday night i decided that i would fly out so i've been planning the trip since. The general plan is to work for 4 weeks, up til the 22nd Nov then fly out from Perth to Melbourne and travel round the east coast for the remaining 4 weeks that im here. And I'd also decided to go to Bunbury on the 25th by myself for the Revolution Tour since Steve didnt want to leave Darren behind, which was cool with me. That doesnt sound genuine...but I really was cool with it haha.
So yeah, up til friday just past (the 24th) me and Darren had barely said a word to each other. That night Nic, a guy from Steve's work, came round and invited me round to his via McD's and the Bowling Alley...which we left before we'd even had a game of pool or anything since he spilt his drink. We were halfway through watching a film round at his when Dar text me saying he had just been "slightly slashed" by a couple of aborignals...aboriginese? Anyway, I headed back to Steve's and walked in to see Dar with his face covered in blood and not in the best mood, as you can imagine. So ended the week long silence but it wasn't to last. Steve and Jack were out on a night out and Becca was working. Over the next 2-3 hours Steve and Darren fell out (via phonecalls and texts) which ended in Darren packing his bags and leaving completely. Notice a pattern here? 2 weeks in a row...
I'm pretty sure I've missed stuff out...can't be that important if i have though :P
Monday, October 20, 2008
More of Albany...
Sunday - Went for a wander until 11am when Becca started work so I could get properly introduced etc...had a couple. We had planned to head to hers that night but she was working the next day. And then she wasnt sure if we could stay at theirs until she'd spoken Steve - bad times. So we booked 2 more nights at the hostel until wednesday morning. Ended up renting some movies from the front desk at the hostel.
Monday - Another slow day; wandered, went to the supermarket, rented some movies, played more cards...
Tuesday - Had to meet Becca at 2pm outside the townhouse & went shopping with her. Becca said Steve thinks Darren AND me being there it'll be too many people - terrible times. So many thoughts went rushing through my head; where im going to stay, where im going to work to get money, will i get money? We got a taxi back to hers and Steve had returned from his holiday in Scotland. Almost instantly he said it was cool for us both to stay - absolute legend. Thank fuck. Had a few brewskies. Jack (a girl Steve works with) came round and was total good craic. The 2 of them (Steve and Jack) are the nicest/coolest people I've met over here. Steve had to crash cause he had work and Becca was pissed so Jack offered us a lift home. We got dropped off at the 24 hour garage, grabbed some munch and headed back to the hostel.
Wednesday - Checked out & headed for Steve's work to get a set of keys. It was pissing it down, typical. We got there and got the keys, despite Dar getting hit by a car on the way there :S We headed out after we'd dropped our bags and each got an inflatable bed and sleeping bag. We just chilled that nigth, watched some tv. Little did we know how cold it was going to be, i thought i was going to die - it reminded me of how cold it was at night at T in the Park.
Monday - Another slow day; wandered, went to the supermarket, rented some movies, played more cards...
Tuesday - Had to meet Becca at 2pm outside the townhouse & went shopping with her. Becca said Steve thinks Darren AND me being there it'll be too many people - terrible times. So many thoughts went rushing through my head; where im going to stay, where im going to work to get money, will i get money? We got a taxi back to hers and Steve had returned from his holiday in Scotland. Almost instantly he said it was cool for us both to stay - absolute legend. Thank fuck. Had a few brewskies. Jack (a girl Steve works with) came round and was total good craic. The 2 of them (Steve and Jack) are the nicest/coolest people I've met over here. Steve had to crash cause he had work and Becca was pissed so Jack offered us a lift home. We got dropped off at the 24 hour garage, grabbed some munch and headed back to the hostel.
Wednesday - Checked out & headed for Steve's work to get a set of keys. It was pissing it down, typical. We got there and got the keys, despite Dar getting hit by a car on the way there :S We headed out after we'd dropped our bags and each got an inflatable bed and sleeping bag. We just chilled that nigth, watched some tv. Little did we know how cold it was going to be, i thought i was going to die - it reminded me of how cold it was at night at T in the Park.
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