a few interesting places, limited work and coming home.....

After Brisbane i went down to a place called Maroochydore which is one hour north of Brisbane on the sunshine coast. I spent 2 weeks there doing work on a ginger, pineapple and strawberry farm but the work was too on-off and my money was getting lower and lower. The strawberry work was not great, it was planting and we had to work in amongst the sprinklers so you got soaked!!!!

I made quite a poor error of judgement when working on the pineapple farm one day, it was very hot and in the afternoon i decided, like most, to take my shirt off while working, as you can imagine my back got roasted for 3-4 hours and i ended up with severe sunburn for 4/5 days where it was difficult to move my back much or even put on a shirt. although after constant cold showers and applying 'after sun' it got better.

I had little money left and alot of people there, like me, where very low on money and i decided to go to Kuala Lumpur for 3 days before heading home. KL was fantastic, i do prefer southern asia and i did the batu caves, templer park and chinatown, etc........ i did get played once where i spent 7-8 pounds on some 'peace' beads but that happens sometimes, lol

I had a few problems with flights but eventually got back to England the other day and its nice to be home. A shame to cut it a little short but i had a great 5 months and saw/did some great things.

This blog was pretty good and if i travel again i will do something similar, anyway, thanks to everyone reading it and that is that.

Goodbye................................ :)

brisbane

hi all, hope your all good

i flew from wellington - sydney - brisbane on staurday and spent the first 2 days exploring the 'river city' and going through the malls and seeing the entertainers, etc.........
i went over to surfers paradise on the gold coast monday which was a beautiful place and then on tuesday i did the xxxx tour which was pretty good and included 4 free beers (including one that was only available at the brewery, one of the first they did)

today i went to australia zoo for the day 'home of the crocodile hunter' which was really good, now i need to look for some work.

catch you all later

the napier test

ive been in napier almost a week and its a fairly quiet place, however it was a very good test and we came away with the win when at one stage we were 4-3.

the presentation was good with vaughan and the team coming up to all the english fans at the end to sing some of the songs with them (rule brittania, etc........) and collingwood gave his batting gloves away.

i get the coach to wellington tomorrow and then fly to sydney on saturday morning and from sydney - brisbane on saturday evening where i will be for 4-5 days before moving up the east coast and seeing what queensland has to offer.

into rotorua

well the test went well, a good win on the morning of day 5. on tuesday i got the 8hr coach from wellington to rotorua, the place is known for lots of geothermal activity in new zealand. it has been nicknamed 'sulpher city' because of the rotten egg smell which is not very nice when you're walking around the town. i went on a tour this morning to Wai-o-tapu - http://www.geyserland.co.nz/index.htm which had the boiling mud pools, geyser, craters, etc........ that lasted about 3-4 hours and was very good to see, one of the best places i have been to so far. anyway, its thursday night here so i'm about to go to bed, i've got the coach to napier tommorrow which takes around 3 hours (a little longer then i thought) and the test starts on saturday.

happy easter to everyone and good luck to emily with the parade, it should be a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

day 2 at the test

day 2 was fantastic for england, we could of got more then 342 but its a pretty decent total in all, ambrose got his 100 which was good but the bowling from anderson was fantastic, given the new ball he took 3 early wickets and 5 in total. (i have to admit i thought broad would do the damage and anderson would'nt be much of a factor.......although i was'nt the only one who thought that, was i paul????? lol)
if we can get 250-300 then i think it will be to much for them but theres still a long way to go so we'll see.
i had a chat to a kiwi fan in the afternoon who was pretty kool, he was interested in seeing england in the future.
i was standing with the barmy army through most of the day and its a fantastic atmosphere, they really get going in the last session (we even got a wave and smile from sidebottom when his song was sung, lol)
its a good ground as well, 70% english and loads of flags, you can go onto the ground and near the wicket at lunch, it has a good feel to it, like a county ground but a little nicer, alot of people but not packed and a nice backdrop with the rolling hills)

roll on day 3........................

wellington

ive been in new zealand for about a week and its a lovely place. wellington is more like a coastal town then a city (think whitby/york) with the harbour and rolling hills/mountains. ive been to Te Papa museum, wellington zoo, upper hutt village, etc.................
i went to day 1 of the 2nd test today, it was going well until the collapse but a fantastic unbroken stand between ambrose and collingwood has put us in a good position, hopefully ambrose will get his 100 in the morning, he was quite attacking and looks to be very promising. the barmy army was quite loud in the afternoon and i was close to them so that was pretty kool, in the morning i was sitting right in front of the players wives which i did'nt realise until they started chatting (there was pietersons, bells, sidebottom and a few others there) and i heard them talking about there evening plans and pietersons wife was saying he gives her a special signal when he comes out to bat (which he did). i also got handed a free barmy army programme from the leader (the bloke who always see's england, st. george vest, top hat, flag and long blond hair).
i also saw the nets yesterday which was interesting.
there was a small problem at the wellington hostel where i booked 2 weeks accom. in three blocks on the internet (6/6/2) but did'nt realise there was a 6 night max stay, the receptionist said i had 'worked the system' like it was some great devious plan but they said its ok for this time. i have found somewhere in napier to stay at last for a decent price.

i also sent a package home which should arrive sometime towards the end of next week.

the rest of the time ive just been on the internet - here's 3 good things to look up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXcIEcA0m_Q - remember this scene kev? classic!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5esB_hqusg - fantastic song!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHrkJCzf8C4 - lets get back to this next year!!!

talk 2 u all soon

barmera, renmark and the farm.......

i was in barmera for a few days, nice lake (bonney) and small town, not too much there, the manager was quite helpful in trying to find work and i moved to a town 1/2 hour away called renmark. i was there for 1 day when i was told that someone dropped out of his job and they needed someone for 2-3 weeks to work, the only problem was it was about 35 k's away so i would need to stay there as i did not have transport, i needed the money so i just took it. the next morning the manager drove me to the farm and we rolled up about 7am, it was in the middle of nowhere, right in the outback and surrounded by 1000's of acres of farm that grew armonds, citrus, oranges, etc....... - we drove to the top of a hill where i met the farm owner, had a chat for a few mins then he looks over at his tree's and shouts 'FLAMING GALLAH'S!!!' and pulls out a shotgun and starts firing into the tree's, the manager wished me luck, lol - he said that he might have a daughter staying here that i could meet, i told him i was'nt interested while her dad had that shotgun on him!! lol

anyway, i started work that day and did 16 days straight, around 10 a day and blew armonds, walk up and down the rows of armond tree's with a big blower that shots air out quickly and move then into the middle of the path for the machine to collect, it was pretty tedious but paid well and i collected just over $2000 at the end of it (with 300 more to come when i leave australia (in tax) - very basic accomm. in a big shed and the toilet/shower block was a short walk away, not convenient late at night!!!!! i saw a emu and kangaroo in the fields though which was good!!!

i got back to renmark on the saturday morning, made a few phone calls and headed to the hostel where the manager said i could stay until the coach arrives and he will give me a lift to the stop, i was sitting down to watch tv when 2 japenese girls came out and started chatting to me (there english was good, a little broken but much better then my japenese!!! lol - i asked them if they wanted to go out for a drink and we spent a few hours just drinking and talking which was really good, they said they had never had strongbow but really liked it (they asked me to write it down so they could order it in the future!! lol) we took a few pics, i shot a small vid on the camera and we exchanged e-mail ad's ( i just received an e-mail from them actually saying that we could maybe meet up in may somewhere which would be good) - it was really nice as they were 2 of the nicest ppl you could meet, always smiling and laughing and had a really good heart, when they knew i was travelling to sydney and got back to the hostel they said can i wait there for 10 mins before i leave to say goodbye as they wanted to do a quick shop, then they came back with a bag of food for the journey!!!! they also taught me some japenese

hello - Konnichiwa
thank-you - Arigato
good-bye - Sayonara
cute - Kawaii
Terumi and Nayumi from Osaka and Tokyo

the journey to sydney was 19 hours!!!! very long but at last i arrived, sydney central was full so i booked in too a place nearby for 1 night then to central for 1 night as they are pretty good and have laundry and internet

i saw india win the ODI at the SCG - the first time i saw Tendulkar he gets a century!!!! alot of indian fans and a very good atmosphere!!!!!!

just got into wellington last night, went out for a quick bite to eat then had a sleep until almost midday - hada walk around and a meal at mcdonalds (double cheeseburger, large fries and a large coke (in case you were wondering!!!) lol

wellington is a beautiful place, quite small but on a harbour and had big hills and mountains surrounding it, i will explore alot more in the next few days, i will probably be taking the lord of rings tour early next week

talk to you all soon

g