Dec 2006

So with five more days in this beautiful country and memories to last a life time i celebrated new years a whole 15 hours ahead of you lot back home. Brock. tom. kelly , brit and i started our day at 10 am making our way to the city to get set up for the fireworks which werent till 9 pm and 12 that night. the reason we left so early is beacuse of the histaria that ensued with the 1.2 milliom projected people flooding the city. known as the second largest new years celebration behind rio de janero and the second major city in the world to celebrate the new year(behind aukland by an hour) we were sure to not be disspaointed. and trust me dissapointed we werent. we made our way to a place known as the domain along wiht 25 thousand other attendees. the pictures that you may have seen in the mornigns news paper of sydney fireworks were most likely taken from the domain which over looks the harbour with the sydney opera house and harbour bridge being perfect back drops for the fireworks display that included 800 thousand peices of pure beauty. after the 9 oclock "family display" brit and i made our way to the city with bigger and better things planned and later met up wiht the crew. the energy in a city with 1.2 million poeple crowding the streets is nothing to be missed. though i have said before i am disgusted by big cities it was still a sight to behold. after meeting some ozzies from sydney , they took us on a while run through secret alley ways and bushes to get a prime location to view the best fireoworks show i have seen in my entire life. i was standing on a fence over looking the water with an insane crowd of people shoulder to shoulder below me which just added to the insanity. a first in my life was getting my new years kiss over a phone which was cool thing but not somehting id say " dude youv got to try it" (sorry lyce your a much better kisser in person haha)after that we ran the streets for hours on end and i got a phone call into the scures family (best mate) back home which made my night even better. one thing i would say "dude youv got to try this" is to be riding a train home and watching the sun rise. what a beautiful experience and a great way to start a new refreshing year. my plan is to fly into aukland n.z. on the fifth and stay around for a few days before alyce my co worker from in airlie flys in on the tenth and we move on the tour another country to add to the passport. i hope evreyones new years celebrations were half as good as mine because if they were you had fun. and i hope everyone has stayed safe and has a great start to another amazing year. on another quick note. please do yourself a favor and read the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. a great way to help you veiw life differently and learn to live life in the moment and to the fullest. a must read.

cheers,
one happy camper

down here in sydney at the moent for new yeas. i am absolutely hating it. i thank god that my folks didnt raise me in the atmosphere of a big city. i wish i was still back up in airlie where i an feel the comfort of home and some other perks enjoy the phots they are just randoms from recent times

beer pong xmas party

cricket,

train station

kel and brit

nutritional value- 0%
fun value 444%

manly beach

xmas

brock and toms effort at picking up or being picked up

and a nice sunset to finish off. have a great new years!!!!

so we had a great xmas here in hot australia with the temp being around 100 on the 25th. the day was started off with alyce jesse and i opeing presents and getting ready for the big party in cannonvale the town over. jesse is a real cool canadian who ahs been bumming at the apartment while hes in towna and we have all goten along real well. on xmas eve the three of us went for a really nice dinner at a restaraunt called capers on the beach. the most expensive meal thus far on my trip but by far one of the more memorable ones. the party we went to on xmas day was unlike most x mas parties back at home. you would have thought it was a frat house with continual debauchary. jesse and i introduced beer pong to this great country and it caught on like fire. i am currently in sydney after a sad departure last night from airlie my home for the past two months and home to some amazing memories and life long friends. i was greeted at the airport by amy one of my mates from airlie and we had a big night on the town last night. here are some pics (more to come),enjoy and hope everyones holidays were as festive and exciting as they are down under!!!

christmas eve dinner

present time

alyce

here is our xmas tree(street baracade) in memory of driveway maintnance

roomies

jesse

alyce

party time

so xmas is rapidly approaching and i hope all the last minute preperations are going well back in the states. it is such a different pace around here for the holidays that i havent witnessed before. i have been back out on the boat the past few days and have missed a few christmas parties but it seems like xmas eve and day are the big deal around here and there are already plans for about 5 diffferent house parties the day before the day of and the day after (boxing day).pter pans had its xmas party on one of the island resorts named day dream. it was jsutthe 5 of us that went over and had a great day of mini golf and swim up bars. i jsut recently made the plan to stay here for xmas and i will fly down to sydney to meet the "family" for new years. they actually made a surprise appearnce on the way down form cairns right before i went on the baot.and super stoked to egt back up wiht brock down there and here all about new zealand which i fly to on the 5ht of jan. i am gutted i wont be with them for christmas but it will be a great new years eve as sydney is said to have one of the worlds biggest celebrations. also happy hanukka to all my jewish mates back at home!! here are some pics from around town and boat.

xmas party on day dream
mermaid loving on daydream

roomates

alyce and i

the family

a lil taste of peter pans

this is where i work

lunch break

limbo on the boat an interesting mix

Sorry for the absence of blogs lately. it has been typical life in airlie and i have done another boat trip since i last blogged. i am going on another baot today. the boat is called anaconda 3 and is a 3 night trip to the outer reef and is a diving boat. its weird but i havent even felt like i am travelling lately. i have seettled down in the apartment and jsut got two new roomates yesterday whom are girls so that could be interesting, dont know how they will be able to put up with my mess which has had the landlord already threaten to kick me out haha. besides the baot life on land has been usual, just parties and other social functions especially because of x mas coming up.also the group has been back in town but they left a couple days ago for cairns and we will all meet again shortly. its nice living in a town like this. a very local feel and going into different establishments and knowing most of the staff or patrons is a great feeling. also we have had an odd celebrity encounter recently with johnny knocksville from jackass etc.., we have had great tiems with him because he is actually travelling by himself and staying in a hostel oddly enough. i will soon give you all a picture tour of the town but that will be after this boat trip. heres some pics from the other night at magnums backpacker hostel in the infamous room 75

(johnny knocksville)
insane wrestling match. guess i could say ig ot my ass kicked by johnny knocksville. you should have seen the room afterwards