Agnes Water, OZ Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody. We went out into the bush last night, to an all night rave, and it was a rockin' event. Between 8 and 12 DJ's showed up from various other states here in OZ, and we went well past sun up. What a night. Things went off. One girl ended up punching out her boyfriend (apparently he slapped her fist, but damn did she kick the shit out of him). Sam went to her first outdoor rave, and had a ball. Stef fluctuated between agro drunkeness and some very happy giddiness. All in all, it was great.

This morning I got back to the hostel at 6ish, and the swell finally arrived. For five weeks there's been no surf to speak of, but this morning it began pumping. I went out for two hours and started the New Year by surfing. It was good, I'm out of shape, but I did stand and make some turns. I even rode out a wave till it collapsed and I got caught in the whitewash. It was good.

So, I'm back at the hostel now, been up around 27 hours now, and still feeling chipper. So, I hope that everyone's New Year's go as well as mine did.

Happy Chanukah from Agnes Water, OZ

It was a Great Christmas. I've posted some of the photos of the ensuing madness since I wrapped up my last posting and began spreading petals. I misunderstood that one, by the way, Greg wanted the flower petals for the tables, not the walkways, I was a little daunted by the amount of petals I thought he wanted me to pluck. Luckily, he sorted me out and the deforestation was averted.

The meal, the drink, and the gravy were fantastic. The mood was electric. Everyone was on an absolute high. There was a hell of a comedown after, and it was a bitch, but the afternoon on the terrace was simply a thing of beauty.

Gifts were exchanged. With the help of Binky, I was able to give out 20 personalized (wrote their names on them with liquid paper) lighters to the longer term residents here. I have a totally unfair reputation as a lighter thief here. Totally undeserved! Greg gave me the Christmas Pimpin' hat, and I gave him white cotton gloves to check the cleanliness of the hostel. The girls hate me now.

Boxing Day. I still don't know what it was. But I awoke a year from when I first awoke here in Australia, a year ago at Phil and Judy's in Hobart. Wow, it just hit me that a year has passed from that day. This year's was different than last's. The gang wanted to drink beer. I firmly refused to have any part in daytime beer drinking unless it was done in a sensible, enjoyable, and somewhat American way: a bucket of ice, fresh cut limes and a lot of Corona. We bought three cases, many limes and 20 kilos of ice. It was a really, really nice day.

The evening was less fun. Maybe it was cultral differences, maybe it was the beer, maybe it was something else, but I may have lost one of my friendships, I really don't know.

Moving right along.

Things are slowly relaxing back to normal here in the hostel. Yesterday, Sam and I had a sober day, which turned out to be for the best anyway. A party was planned and somehow it all went to hell. I feel a bit responsible, I take one day off from the concierge desk and the place goes to hell.

I think all this general chaos maybe the post Christmas letdown hitting Cool Bananas. For a few days it was a very special place, there were no new faces each morning, no one pushing off, we closed down and had a family Christmas, Cool Banana's style, and it was simply a joyful occasion.

I'm growing into my new Pimp Daddy hat. My current plan is to start a wake up service here in the hostel. There is a 6.30am bus out of here and rather than being woken by alarm, here at Cool Banana's we will have a personal wake up by one of the girls here in the hostel. Either Julia for a nice sweet wake up, Lauren when you need a bitch to get you out of bed, Emilia if you want someone to make sure you haven't left your socks or passport or Sam if you want it topless.

So, that's about it for now, time to take 'er easy, chill out and relax.

And plan New Year's.

Merry Christmas from Agnes Water

Merry Christmas everybody. This year's a bit different from last year's Christmas already. Last night, I donned my Christmas outfit, red thong, sunnys and my South American Cool Bananas Holiday Hat (it looks pimpin'). Had a bit of whisky too.

This morning, I've just poured myself my Christmas Naked Cappochino. Let the day begin! I am the concierge to today's festivities and after finishing here, I have to go spread some flower petals on the walkways. Merry Christmas everyone back home, I hope that y'all are snug in your homes as Christmas Eve waxes on.

Agnes Water, OZ

Visa application....APPROVED!!!! Yeah, that's right, I can now stay in OZ till the 14th of April, 2006.

This past weekend saw me returning to my position of Activities Director and we had another party at Paul's. Friday, I went over to the Op Shop to see if we could get them to open for us specially on Saturday afternoon. While there, Kiki and I stumbled into the motherlode of music. I bought about 25 tapes for $4, including 11 tapes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. I will post the full list later, but I also got albums by: Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Pretenders, and the soundtrack to 9 1/2 weeks. Good Haul!!

Saturday we went out. I know that I've posted a lot about the parties here, but they continue to be excellent. This was the smallest one that we've had, but it was the best dance party that we've had. When the midnight shuttle headed back to the hostel, only two people boarded (Sonja went as well, but she was carried aboard).

Christmas is getting close, and more people are coming back into town. Arnaud and Felix just showed up, and Cat will be back tomorrow. Jen the Scot also arrived back this morning.

Stef headed to Fraser this week, so for the past two days, for the first time, I am without Stef here. This also makes me the longest resident of the hostel. I thought that this would be strange, not having Stef around for the morning constitutionals, but half a dozen teenage girls seem to fill the void nicely. Funny that.

Agnes Water, OZ

Yep, still here. Doesn't look like I'll make out of here before Christmas. Life goes on here. I'm slowly working into my current life as concierge here at Cool Banana's. The last couple of days, I've arrived for the Meet and Greet riding on one of the choppers. This means that I can lounge in the upper terrace till my phone goes off. Then, like Batman (I could be Batman), I hop on the chopper, don Danni's WWI leather flying hat and roar off around the block to come cruising up to the bus.

"Welcome to Cool Banana's. My name is Bob, I'm the concierge here."

Last night, saw a truly international mix. We've got most of the Nordic countries here: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, some Swiss from the Italian part, and a whole boatload of Israelis. There's also two girls in the hostel who've lived nearby two of my previous abodes. One lives on Westendstrassen in Munchen, and another lived two blocks from me in Central Sq. Cambridge. Small world.

Emilia and Lauren are back in town after a month gone. The hostel is beginning to fill for Christmas. Rumor has it that there are already 25 people here for Christmas, which is about half the hostel.

I'm now on a bridging visa as I try to get my visa sorted out. Turns out that the application that I sent out was on an old application. It changed about two weeks after I picked it up. I've got a copy of the new form, which I'm filling out now, and plan to fax in later today. Divi, the immigration officer who has been working on my application has been wonderfully helpful thus far, and I hope that this bodes well. At any rate, that's how things stand today.

Agnes Water, OZ

Two Saturday nights that didn't end before Sunrise now. It's 2 in the afternoon and I haven't slept in. . . 30 hours. Drove on the morning free tour a few hours ago, had the entire troop carrier singing "Jingle Bells," as I bounced my way up the washed out track. Fun!

Last night, we went out to the pub where a band from Brisbane was playing. That is a huge deal here. They rocked. Greg and I stormed the dance floor as the openning chords of "Enter Sandman" blared out. By the night's end, I was a soaked, sweaty mess.

After the bar closed, we wandered/staggered back to the hostel, I stopped off at the bakery for a sausage roll (the back door is open at night, and the baker's are flexible on pricing). Several people were still up, so we carried on, drinking, carousing and watching Stef's van bounce on its springs. I eventually retired to my own van with Sam, the resident porn here at Cool Banana's. I don't like the term "Fuck Buddy" but we're having fun, and it's pretty laid back, no real restrictions.

I got to do some work in a travel agent capacity this week as I became Kiki's travel advisor. After several phone calls to Qantas, we sorted things out perfectly, and while Kiki had some doubts in my skills at one point, she hugged me in joy when I finally told her what'd been arranged and at what price. I am the man.

So, I continue cleaning the van, and getting ready for my trip up to Airlie.

Agnes Water, OZ

Moving right along. The days after Thanksgiving saw a breaking up of our little clan here in the hostel. As, I think I said, there were 14 people who were living in the hostel at the meal, that's an incredible number if you think about it.

The Welshies were among the first to leave as I remember it, Harry and Gwen, only a slight gimp and limp as she wobbled out the door.

Jenny and Cat did get sucked into the hostel for an unexpected night as their OZ Experience left town without them, but that ended up working out for the best, one less night in Hervey.

Sarah got good and stuck and didn't manage to leave till this past Monday, and boy did she cut loose before she went. I will always remember her saying over coffee one morning, "But, I don't want to be a good girl."

I spent a good part of the last week doing Meet and Greet here in the morning, for the people getting off the bus. "Welcome to Cool Banana's. I'm Bob, check in is on the left, please deposit your bags on the floor. . . We're walking, we're walking, we're stopping. On the left in the kitchen. On your right is a Bavarian." The uniform for this is of course, bathrobe, elvis' and a cup of cappocino. I don't think that anyone should find this shocking.

During this time, I also had a requested encore performance as Cleaning Maid. I also was asked to help out on the free tour as Rod had to go to Bundaburg for the day. I had four wardrobe changes that day. Meet in greet in the robe, cowboy hat and vest for the 4x4 tour, and the hot pants and bikini top for the rooms. Elvis' on the whole time, of course. One girl commented as I swept her floor, "This is the weirdest hostel that I've ever been in." Heh heh heh. I might add at this point, that Greg has burned a copy of my Parliament CD and it's on regularly in the evening.

Last weekend was the fifth party that I've organized here. We went back to the beach. Things got a bit chaotic for me, but we got it swinging. It was an odd one for me, as most of the people on the beach were new people whom I didn't know. It rained as it did the last time we were on the beach, Steph, Kiki, Carl and I pushed through the torrential rains and drank till light. I ended up in the hostel at 9ish, still drinking and running about in an army helmet and my robe. We decided that maybe I shouldn't do the meet and greet that morning. I crashed by 11, and then crashed completely.

Welcome to moody, quiet Bob. Some of you know my less sunny side, and it's always a shock for people who've never seen it before. I went into a four day funk, which I finally pulled out of last night. Maybe it was the new moon, I think it was simply a build up of a lot of things. At any rate, I'm feeling better and finally have started perking up again.

Sonja's also back in town, who left shortly after I arrived here, just before Halloween, so over a month ago. Geesh, I've been here too long. I have retired from doing parties for the time being and am getting ready to head up to Airlie finally. I'm also waiting to hear about my visa extension, as my visa runs out in... yep, four days. No worries though, immigration says that I will get a bridging visa in any event, even if I'm denied, so if I am I've got time to leave, not... four days. So, that's where things stand, I just got back from Binky's where his house is finally going up.

Agnes Water, OZ

Okay, I haven't posted for a bit, as I've been trying to write about Thanksgiving. It's going slowly. Below, is an email that I sent out to some of my friends and family. I think it gives a fair account of one of the best Thanksgivings that I've had to date.


Hey! I'm working on writing up how my Thanksgiving went, but I just wanted to tell y'all I had a wonderful one for my second consecutive Thanksgiving abroad. We had 25 people seated around a table at a friend of ours' house here in Agnes Water, Oz. It was a mixture of people who lived here and people living in the hostel. The really nice part of this town is that there is only one family here, everyone else moved here. Everyone started living here the same way, either in a tent or at a hostel. It makes for a friendly atmosphere. Anyway, the meal was incredible, Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, candied yams, cranberry sauce, bread, salad and of course, stuffing. Desert was pumpkin and apple pies with cream and ice cream.

The tables were moved indoors because of the threat of rain. They were arranged in a long T, like at a castle banquet. I got the bottom of the T, the head or ass end, depending on your outlook. Andy, what do you think? It was great. There were 4 Americans, and most of the rest were having their first American style Thanksgiving meal, the best that we've got. And they loved it. After the meal, we differed from the norm of afternoon walk or football and invited the rest of the hostel over and swung the party into 4th gear. The rain finally came, we moved indoors and carried on carousing. I retired to my van which I'd driven over and ended up starting a very pleasant 4 day romance with an English girl named Cat.

People came up to me the entire evening and thanked me for organizing it, but I had to thank them in turn, for giving me a small taste of all that I miss from home, my friends and family. All right, and Tex Mex, but mostly y'all.

Anyway, I hope y'all had equally good Thanksgivings. Perhaps not an Australian one, I'd be surprised, but I hope that it was a good meal among friends and family. So now, as Christmas season tears loose, and the cold weather starts to bite, I wish y'all warm thoughts from the tropics of Australia (well, 200k south, give me a little arttistic license).

Bob

I'm gonna wrap this entry up now and start working on the next one, ie events since Thanksgiving, as life here does go on, with the ebb and flow of people moving through Agnes Water.