Sydney, OZ

I haven't written much during my time here in Sydney, and that's been true for my personal journal as well as on here. Also, my camera's broke. Sydney's become a vacation from recording this journey, it would seem, and I spoke with Jannie just recently of when a trip becomes normal, do you reach your fill of what you can take in, what you can process? Perhaps, more likely is me being lazy as usual. However, there is something said to letting moments and scenes remain fixed solely in memory to evolve and distort however one's memory matures with age.

I've had some queries of what I've been up to here in Sydney though and in short, I've fallen into another Black Hole Hostel, the Globe, in the centre of King's Cross, just across the road from Showgirls, whose sign lights up the Blue Room evenings. But the back porch is peaceful, a breack from the hubbub bubbling up from the street. I sit there now, with Danish conversation lilting in the background, and wrappers from Danish hotdogs littering the table (all in all, an altogether better Danish morning than the more familiar the pastry avenue, though I do love a good cheese Danish...). I've had my fill of Sydney over the past four weeks, and the thought of warm beaches to the North is proving irresistable. Enter Jannie. I met Jannie 3 days ago, she's 26 and from Copenhagen and over the course of a conversation we agreed head North in Vaciendo together.

Last night, while sipping cider in the Blue Room, Nadja was pointed to our table, and introduced herself as a 19 year old Bavarian looking for a lift North (like all introductions on the road we got her name later, which was promptly forgotton twice). Introductions all around, more cider sipped, at times syphoned, the road out of Sydney was definitely looking sweet and bright.

"Oh, Magoo, you've done it again," Heaven or Hell may follow but it looked for a good time.

Our plans bubbled over, and before long I found Vaciendo filled, a half dozen people had joined the Bob Tour. Malte from Hamburg was quietly game for the road, and James bounded through the Blue Room saying he and Nicky were two for the road. James is from Essex, 17 and has the eagerness, energy and attention span of...I'm having trouble with this one, but imagine a ping pong ball that likes to cuddle. Nicky is his gal from home that just arrived last week (I'm seriously worried about her luggage right now, she's 16). His older brother, Danny was okay and enthusiastic about James heading North with us (he's also the one who pointed Nadja in our direction), so our crew was complete (I do have a Welshie alternate, of course)

So, that's the group: Jannie, Nadja, Malte, James, Nicky and myself. No one's got too much of a deadline, everyone's free to hop off whenever, Vaciendo's got new tires and brakes and I like to drive slow. Plans are being formulated, fresh water springs and horses, waves and wineries, and a stop off at a small pub near Bellingen to catch up with Simon whom I met a few weeks ago. And Nimbin, perhaps...well, we'll see. Jannie's got a vast music collection, Malte a MP3 player, and I've got the P-funk on tape finally, so we're golden for the Road. It's gonna be a fun ride North, that's all I know.

Sydney, OZ

And the weekend draws near once again. Not sure of my plans this weekend, try to see a bit of the Sydney night life is the plan. Spent the last day worrying that I might have to leave OZ after 90 days, but the woman at Immigration laid my fears to rest and assured me that I'd be able to extend my visa with no worries. So, that's that.

I'm starting to think of heading out of Sydney, though there a few loose ends I need to wrap up before shoving off. My camera is on the fritz again, oye, and I need to get the new brakes onto Vaciendo. That, and touch base with a few friends.

Sydney, OZ

I am still in Sydney. I just got back into town after going out to the Blue Mountains for a night with Nigel, a Pomey guy I met in Sydney. It was beautiful and we found a deserted hostel and ended up getting great rooms on the cheap. I've pretty much been spending the past few weeks floating around Sydney, staying with Val, or in King's Cross or out on the beaches. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here before pushing up the coast, but we'll see. I don't have any more time to write so I'll try and post again soon.

Sydney, OZ

Well, it's been a while since I was last in Sydney, those six hours I spent in the airport on Christmas Day. I arrived in late Sunday night, and crashed at my friend Val's place. The weather has finally started getting warmer, to my relief. I've been cruising around town each day, checking out different sections of the city. I'm currently in Coogee Bay, where I hung out last night and found that there are a shit load (no other way to express this) of American students here. I saw more Yanks in one hour than I've seen in the past 2 months here. Met a few girls from the Boston area while chilling on the beach and then ran into another person from Sherborn!

That's the third person I've met travelling from Sherborn now, and the second on this trip (the first was back in Fiji, right before Christmas). Sherborn's a town of 3000, for those of you who don't know my hometown, so running into any is really weird, but 2 in a year is totally random.

I finally tracked down Scotty who I hadn't talked to yet here in OZ. He's finished with his shifts at the hospital and I plan to meet up with him in a few hours. Not too much else to report right now, I have no idea how long I plan to stay in Sydney before continuing up the coast, as always, I'm playing it day by day.