Tokyo!

Its almost hard to believe I am in Japan! So surreal, so cool. Such a weird feeling touching down and knowing that meant I was in Japan. Japanese key boards are a bit annoying... hopefully I will get more used to them. Had to ask some one where the underscore key is... a vital part of logging into my emails.

I havent figured out how to do apostophies yet. I also cant figure out how to log into flickr, its not letting me for some reason. The computer is in a box, so I cant access the usb thing to upload photos either. Bummer. Intrepid brochure said that quite a few places I will be staying have free internet, so hopefully they will be more user friendly.

Think I need to reunite myself with the ways of walking in crowds. I think its a bit different to Melbourne.. more purposeful walking, less slow floundering around, which is what I was doing, probably to the annoyance of anyone walking near me. I feel pretty white here. I feel like Im fitting in height wise though. There are fully grown men significantly shorter than me! So weird.

I feel like a bit of a spaz not knowing a lot of Japanese... just kinda looking at people and smiling with an "I have no idea what youre saying" look on my face. I also point at things I want to purchase, working out pretty good so far. I did only get in to the motel at like 6pm though. Just been wandering around Ueno, where Im staying. Ive seen a lot of things Id really like to buy, I have no room in my bag though. Id really like to buy some crazy shoes. I think Ill have to stick to real small things though.

I was reading an info booklet Intrepid gave me today and Im a bit screwed in a few ways:
- bowing your nose in public, especially at the table, is considered bad manners. If you need to blow your nose hide in a corver and do it quietly. (this is not me at all, I like to do it at the table, and I like to blast that snot straight to hell in a loud way).
- burping is also considered bad manners (I guess it kinda is in Australia too, I havent let that stop, but I guess I should make more of an effort not to do it).
- its considered good manners to empty your rice bowl down to the last grain (I have trouble getting those little last fuckers of rice down the bottom.. my chop stick skilzz are not mad hot yet).

Anywho.. gonna sus out this weird bath thing on the top floor of motel. Open from 5pm to 10am.. sounds slightly dodgy. I meet with my tour group tomorrow evening just before dinner. Hopefully they are not arseholes.

Auckland

It was a bit of a teary exit... mum, dad and I saying good bye at the point of no return... bit of group hug action.. quite emotional. Guy who asked for my passport tried to make a joke about me making him cry, it didn't help though.

Feeling heaps better about things today. Had a really wicked day on my one and only day in New Zealand. Went on this awesome harbour cruise, met this cool German girl and have been hanging out with her all day. Went to Devenport, sussed out the supermarket (you can buy booze there! It's heaps cheaper than in Australia too!).

anyway... running out of internet time.... real friggin good day, went up sky tower, triesd some nz beer....

I posted photos on flickr... will post again when i get net....

Bye!

I was only 16....?!

Went to the movies to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with mum today. The dude serving us said two adult tickets, then quickly changed his mind and said one child one adult.. and gave us one child's ticket and an adult ticket (he didn't look any older than 16 himself). I really wanted to ask him how old you had to be to classify as a child. I can't imagine it being any older than 16. It wasn't worth the 4 dollar saving though. Fucking Jesus!


I'm not sure I'll ever look my age.

Fam and relaxin’

Went to Narrabeen on the weekend to visit rels before I leave, and for relaxing. My grandparents on mums side, my Aunt and two cousins, my mum and my little brother Ben and his girlfriend were all there. It was really excellent, great to see fam and great to hang out on the beach. Went into Taronga Zoo in Sydney on Saturday with Ben, Van and mum. Bit of an adventure as none of us were particularly familiar with Sydney’s public transport system.

The zoo was expensive, but by god it was worth it. It’s a lot more green and lush than Melbourne zoo and the views were spectacular. It was on this slope that kind of opened up to Sydney Harbour with a great view of the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the city. Sometimes I get a sad feeling when I’m in zoo’s. Caged animals aren’t my favourite things, but I guess I’d never get the opportunity to see such a range of awesome animals so close up other wise, plus they’re being fed and looked after (I hope).





My fave animal was this star tortoise. It had this really cool almost spiked shell, it was super cute. The meerkats were almost really entertaining to watch, scurrying around, digging holes, or just lazing about. Went on the Skyline Gondola thing, it was pretty ace. Ben sneakily got mum on video talking about her experience of flying in a helicopter over the bungle bungles and having a big vom. I’m real tempted to put it up on the net, not sure she’d be real happy though. We caught the ferry to Circular Quay, then another ferry to Manly, then a bus back to Narrabeen. It was a hell good day topped of by a yummy chinese dinner at the RSL.



Another highlight of the weekend was getting to hang out with Ben on a boogie board in the ocean. Brought back a lot of good childhood memories. Ben's boogie board was far superior to mine, but it was sweet as none the less. We swapped boards at one stage and I landed myself with two boogie boards strapped to my wrists, unable to reach the sand with my feet. Big waves came and it was real scary, but the stupidity of the situation just sent me into a laughing fit. Laughing/crying in such a silly situation was not real good, but we worked through it.

For more photos click here.

Peaches and Cream

Went to Rockarama Peaches and Cream festival yesterday. It's a weekend rock festival in Cobram that is apparently the longest running festival in Australia. Didn't seem like it to me. There were a lot of holes in the organisation. It was hard to find out information about it on the website and there were no directions or program on the internet. When we got to Cobram there was no signage to indicate where the festival was, all we knew was that it was at Thompson's Beach.... not real helpful. We found it eventually and set up camp. Went down to sus out the festival to see if it was worth going in and hanging out and having beers in there, or whether we should go to shops and get some booze and snacks. The security dudes were real pricks... said that there were no pass outs, once we went into the festival we wouldn't be able to come out again. There were no programs, so we had no idea what time the bands we wanted to hear were. There were no toilets in the camping area, but if we went into the festival, technically, we wouldn't have been allowed back in again if we went out. CUNTS! I did manage to go in for a sneaky wee though, the security dude that took me in told me not to tell anyone he let me use the toilets, and was waiting for me once I got out to escort me to the exit. Jesus H. These people need to chill out. Surely it's illegal to provide camping without toilet facilities. Oh well.



Ended up buying booze at shops and chilling out till about 7. The festival set up had so much potential. Main stage was right on the sand next to river. All the festival needed was people. There was hardly anyone there. I felt a bit embarrassed for the bands. It would have been so hard to rock out to such a minimal audience. Ended up being a pretty reasonable night. Mammal and Cog, the headlining bands were pretty good. Mammal had this awesome stage presence. Real energy. Main singer dude was awesome. Jumping all over the shop, ripping off his shirt. Jumped off the stage mid song, jumped the barrier, ran over to the river, jumped in, splashed around and came back to the stage to finish the song. It was awesome. What a legend.



All up, the good things outweighed the bad. I was annoyed at myself for feeling sleepy before the good bands started. I'm not sure how to fix this problem. Don't have a huge night of drinking before a festival is prob a good start. Oh well.

MEGA CATCH UP POST

Haven’t had internet access or time for a while, but here is what I’ve been doing.

DOWN TO BUSINESS:

The last week of school was pretty damn intense. Packing up the whole classroom, trying to entertain a group of excited children while at the same time trying to pack up and clean up my apartment. It was pretty bat shit crazy. Hot damn I’m good at accumulating shit. Who knows if I need half of it, or even a tenth of it. Oh well, it’s packed and sorted now. It just didn’t stop though. Not only did I have to pack up all my shit, but I had to sort it as well: Things I wouldn’t need for the next year or more, things I would need to take to Woodford folk Festival, things I would need in Brisbane, and then things I would need while in Wagga, and things I would need to take over seas. Yuck. Once I was cleaned packed and sorted there was the drive to Wagga and the drop off of shit I wouldn’t need at the farm, more unpacking and moving. Prob stayed for 24 hours in Wagga. All this included was a brief hello to Mum and preparing for my trip to QLD. Drove to Dubbo from there, stayed the night, then early the next day it was onwards to Burpengary, home of uncle Ken.



Yes…. Burpengary. So silly.

XMAS:

The last few Christmases have began with a hung over feeling and a sense of not giving a shit. This one was slightly different though as there was a four year old and an eight year old girl waking up excitedly at 5:30am and running about opening gifts. It was actually really nice.



WOODFORD:

Woodford Folk Festival is an intense 6 day hippy/folk festival. It is a festival like no other. It shits all over every other weekend or day festival I’ve been to. The length of the festival allowed for a much more relaxed atmosphere and crowd. Several of the bands had multiple gigs, so you weren’t too worried about missing a band you wanted to see. Everything about this festival was awesome, there was a huge variety of acts, shows, shops, facilities and people. There were fireworks, burlesque, magic, freak show, and shit being set on fire. There were masses of stalls with food and goods. The only downfall perhaps would be the weather. Fuck. So hot on some days. Had to spend the day lying on a hill in the shade doing nothing on one occasion.





HIPPY MAN FRIEND:

I’m relatively fresh out of a long term relationship. I’ve always been skeptical about there being benefits in getting into anything beyond a festival pash, especially since I’m going over seas real soon. There just seems no point. Woodford lead me to the realization that I need to be more open to different possibilities. There can be benefits from what first appears to be short term closeness. I miss my hippy man friend and I’m surprised at how much fun and comfort was shared between us.

FLEET FOXES:

Holy wowzer. What a gig. Such sweet homely voices and harmonies. I managed to piss a girl off by sitting on a railing to get some height. But shit, it was worth being able to actually see what the musicians were doing at a gig. I figured it was my turn. Plus she was a rude bitch who shoved me.

http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes



Check out my flickr page for accompanying photos.