[tripdiary] out fishing.

spent the weekend south of sydney with mel doing some fishing. had an early start to the day when we woke at 4 to drive down to royal national park to catch the sunrise before continuing down to bateman's bay (where krystal from bb06 is from!). stayed out in this really nice holiday park just 10 mins away in nelligen. the setting of the place was nice, with the 'luxury villa' just metres from the creek. too bad the fishing aint fantastic there else it would have been the destination i reckon. :P more fishing on sunday followed on our way to moruya where there were lots and lots of baby breams and leatherjackets that i initially mistook for pufferfishes. :S after we got bored we just continued driving south before reaching tuross heads where we turned back. by now we were only a couple of hours from the victorian border. hmmm... tempting. :P

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it was real nice doin it all with mel, it just seemed like we were back when we were younger and always trying to get out of grandma's place. running around catching fish and relaxing at our secret hideout. all the things that are now lost in time. but a life that i could fit into without problems again i reckon. i tink i like fishing a lil bit more now, and should really utilise my rod n reel a lil more... lol. :)

[tripdiary] i survived!

the mountains that is.. :)

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after a disappointing first day where the fog blocked out everything, i ventured out with ppl i met at the hostel for a walk to the falls. according to the local guides, when fog envelopes the mtns and rain sets in the good thing is that the waterfalls in the area are at their best! andl and myself suited up and took a long walk to the far end of town and started down into the valley, taking in muddy steps and beautiful sights, the occasional glimpse of blue skies peeking through the fog. it was definitely luck on our side as the weather got better as we venture further. :P

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the day ended with a mad and scary (especially on tired legs) climb up the giant stairway to echo point! where we were rewarded with the first clear view of the three sisters! :) back in the hostel we dried off and we had a lil international party to celebrate xmas in july as they do here. pizza and beer. cards and crazy ppl rounded it up well. ;)

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day three saw the best weather as the worst of it headed inland over to the great dividing range. the newly discovered open top red bus with nat, the skyway, sinful hot choc, scenic world and a long ride back to civilisation filled the day. i didnt wanna leave but time was working against me! ohwells.. :)

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"it was surreal walking along the streets in katoomba

when fog sets in after sunset,

when one feels so very alone in this world,

but also so alive."

update.

misty up in the blue mountains

[tripdiary] misty mountains.

i am now 'stuck' in the blue mtns. foggy all round and with nothing much else to do. but its beautiful in its own strange way and i shall stay till tml as planned. any colder and i'd be getting a white xmas.. heh :)

merry xmas in july from down under!!!

[tripdiary] halfway.

even on the go i cant escape the pull of reality and of the uncertain immediate future. managed to get some important stuff sorted out and hopefully before i move off again i will be able to sort out all that i need to. life is hard. but i will not deny it also is wonderful. :)

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just got back from a short trip to canberra with mel and his colleagues hiro and patrick. even tho there was absolutely nothing of particular interest to me there, i had fun. spending much of fri afternoon doing dealer calls all the way to the capital. eating krispy kremes. chasing the sun. running from the rain. i spose that's the fun bit when one works in marketing. but so far i believe it isnt something that is for me. i just dont like to sell stuff too much (i think..). but i really have to get it sorted out soon. and why would i be thinking about such things while travelling? because this trip is as much about understanding myself and learning about life as it is about fun.

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hmm... i think staying put for too long has made me lazy. damn. time to go! :P

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"life is bigger than what we realise it to be,

with more pain, anger and suffering,

but also more hope, faith, love,

so the key is to make every breath count,

and just keep pushing on. "

[tripdiary] loss for words.

after almost three weeks of moving about, i'll be staying put for abit in sydney. one has to get one's bearings even when travelling and tho this stop is longer than planned for it gives good time to recover and also to sort out the second half of all this. :) sydney is such a diverse place too, so i will be pushing myself to make the 1hr trips into the city to do just that, take it all in. thankfully mel is here and i can bunk at his place for now, saving the poor me some money for later! :P but if anyone wants to contribute... i definitely wont say no! ;)

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gold coast - the four days spent there was (almost) perfect. alot of sun and just cool enough to enjoy both dreamworld and movie world! its been 12 years since i've been to a major theme park and its safe to say for now that i wont need to hurry off to the next theme park i see! the tower of terror and the giant drop was thoroughly exciting enough for us to do them twice, also worth visiting would be the claw and wipeout. for rollercoaster rides that cannot be skipped i would have to say the superman's escape and lethal weapon ride in movieworld. the 4d shrek show was also quite good. as was the scooby doo ride! cept for the crowds due to the school hols alls good. :P with the kid in me satisfied and worn out by then, horse riding was to be next and the setting of the ride was beautiful. we even stopped for tea and damper(bush bread) along a stream halfway thru. at night there was the beach markets at surfers, good fun too.

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tassie - the land under down under, also known as van diemen's land. the closest i'll be getting to nz for now and all i can say is that if it werent winter i would have gone for a multi day hike here for sure. it is that beautiful, and most importantly relatively untouched compared to elsewhere in aust. but it wont last too long i spose. :S the weather here was good too, especially when we all expected gloomy and wet weather, so we were surprised to find mostly sunny days and just a 'lil' rain. :P loved the cradle mtns and i do hope to do the overland trek someday. so much to see and do here, not forgetting the eerie port arthur ghost tour and a sobering visit to the port arthur memorial. i do think i will be back. :)

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i am getting lost in this experience and i already know i will miss it all. ok time to get off my lazy ass and head into the city! wheeeeee!!! ;)

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"may we who come to this place

cherish life for the sake of those who died,

cherish compassion for the sake of those who gave aid,

and cherish peace for the sake of those in pain."

in memory of those

who died in port arthur, tasmania,

on 28th apr 1996.

[tripdiary] i rant.

"as i travel i learn more about how diverse the world actually is. how different people can be. and more of how i function as an individual. i also find out more about what interests me. and what not. it can be tiring. but from what i see so far. at the end of the day it most definitely is worth it. the ups and down of life goes on. somewhere. somehow." - somewhere in hobart, tassie.

update.

sydney sunday brunch.

daytripping ard and to lunch at manly.

on the road.

all's good so far. gold coast has been great. hope tassie's weather will hold! laters. ;)

update.

the indian pacific from perth to sydney.

[tripdiary] the indianpacific spans the land.

phew! i'm finally in sydney after a loooong ride on ''the mighty indian pacific''. heh. so that was the ride i've been waiting and planning so much and so long for and it didnt disappoint. was down with a bad bout of flu the day before the ride which was probably caused by all the rushing around whilst settling stuff in perth.

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day one - on the train was terrible. feverish and with a nose that was runny..bad bad combi. struggled between getting more rest and wanting to stay up for the changing scenery and soon i had to admit defeat and pop a panadol or two. sleeping in the upright position wad hard, but i was lucky to have the adjacent seat empty too. the carriage was pretty packed i reckon (oh how wrong was i... it was to be considered relatively empty!). time wore on and soon it was 6 hours into the ride and dinnertime. the meal of viet curry with rice and veg didnt stay down well tho. sigh. got to know adrian(irish) and ben(tasmanian). friendly and interesting characters. :P reached kalgoorlie abit before 11pm and headed to the pub for some beer with lads i met on the train. moved on to another when the first closed after one drink tho. heh. this second one had erm... more interesting bar staff. so if you're at the exchange hotel in kalgoorlie, buy a jug! :)

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day two - by now we were crossing the nullarbor aka 'the treeless plains' i tink. a hot shower early in the morning did a lil good cos i felt a little better after. wells maybe its just becaused i'm more rested now too. nothing much to see thru the windows so a couple of us just hung ard in the lounge car. stopover at some isolated town named cook that had a population of 4! there wasnt much to see and soon we were off again. passed time playing 'rummey' with merrick(english?), pete(english?), adrian and ben in the afternoon. met jess(mackers!) and leka(brazilian). had a much better dinner of 'some beef mushroom thingy'. lol. officially on south australian time now.

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day three - arrived in adelaide in the wee hours of the morning to bleak skies full of grey clouds. a couple of us did a mad rush from keswick station into the city to grab brekkie and some groceries for the last leg of our journey. we also said our goodbyes to merrick and pete in adelaide. sigh. officially met laura(english), gayle(english) and simon(perthite) tho. the train leaving adelaide was quite packed (seriously!) but by now it was bearable cos we had our little refuge in the lounge car, where time just flew by! stopped over at broken hill late afternoon and we sortof walked from 'one end' of the town to 'the other end'. it was that small, but big compared to other towns/ outback cities. leaving it also meant that it was the last bumpy night on this train journey. dinner on the train and a final movie session in the lounge car with everyone. booo! :s

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day four - last stop, central station in sydney. my first impression was that it was such an oldish city. complex transport network and all too big. collected all our luggage and headed off for one last coffee/pint before we went our separate ways. i sure hope we meet again, hopefully sometime and somewhere in our future travels. :(

wells. at least it was fun while it lasted. for that, i am grateful. till i find time to properly sort stuff out... go here! till next time.. ;)