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Hi all!
This part of my blog is going to be done slightly differently for a number of reasons, the main one being that I actually ended up 'living' in Brisbane rather than just travelling through it. So here we go;
23/11/2011 - 15/1/2012:
So as I said throughout this period of time I found myself living in Brisbane rather than travelling through it. In order for me to survive I ended up doing some 'volunteering' work on a local Taekwondo centre. Many days were spent 'volunteering' really hard and then drinking fairly hard. Many a night time meal was missed in exchange for a cheeky jug or two in the hostel bar.
A lot of Thursday nights were spent in Victory, a bar not too far from the hostel, where drinks were $3 each on a Thursday night. Most of those nights were messy but I actually got bored there twice after an hour and ended up jogging home as I couldn't be arsed to walk. As can be imagined there was also a lot horrific hangovers, especially on Fridays.
A few other 'volunteering' projects were also undertaken; I helped a very rich man who had gone bankrupt move house and also a wine company move office. The rich man was a bit of a nutter and his house was a tip, nonetheless he was a fairly nice guy and bought me dinner. He also showed us the stars out in Warwick - probably the best night sky I have ever seen in my life. The Kiwi who owned the wine company gave me free booze which destroyed me and I had to be put to bed.
Any days off, which were rare, were spent drinking. My favourite was a Sunday session with the boys as Sunday was cheap booze and food day.
I ate extremely well; steak, lots of egg and tuna salads but treated myself to the weekly $5 dominoes. Lots of meals were skipped but it was so hot that you weren't all that hungry most of the time and due to beer being full of so many nutrients I survived.
Believe it or not I had the odd early night (at the start) when life was just too much to cope with (ha ha) or we were still that hungover!
I almost got a job as assistant bar manager at the hostel but luckily it didn't work out as in hindsight I was better off doing what I was doing.
The weather was pretty amazing the whole time, it rained a few times but generally it was bloody hot and when I was outside I tanned.
After the first week or so I settled in to being a long termer at the hostel and met some great people who I will never forget. It really is like having family around you to replace friends and family back home.
I did also meet some rather odd people around though, like everywhere they exist. One of the craziest was a nutter who started on me in an Irish bar for trying to get a drink. He was a big and scary looking guy but anyone with "pure evil" tattooed across their hands can't be that hard and must be a bit of a tosser to be honest.
The bar held theme nights most days; quiz, mini olympics, killer pool, karaoke, poker etc. I participated in all of them (bar karaoke of course) and after a while began hosting them in exchange for a bar tab. This was perfect for me! Being paid to be loud and drink - ideal. I was steaming on one of the poker days though and messed that up and they always turned me down on the microphone (to be fair I didn't really need it anyway) but all in all these nights went well and I loved it!
On the weekend of 16th December me, Liam and Benoit went to Surfers Paradise which was an hour or so away on the train. We had two very messy nights spent in the clubs. During the day we got rid of the hangovers by swimming in the most powerful sea I have ever seen. If we swam out about 20 meters you would end up 100 meters down the beach about drowning with lifeguards screaming at you to get out. The sea was defiantly my favouirte thing about Surfers. All in all Surfers was good but it's the kind of place a lot of people go to just for trouble as we saw by the countless fights. Nonetheless it was a hilarious weekend I will never forget.
One of the worst things about becoming a long termer in a hostel are the goodbyes, when other people leave and when you leave. It is never easy and you miss people even if you have only known them for a short period of time. I found this out on several occasions and it is never that easy to deal with but you just have to "man up" and get on with it!
I met a few nice girls over the last few months (and also the odd one or two who weren't so nice). There was one however who I spent a lot of time with and grew rather found of. She was good fun and different and defiantly a bad influence on me, I won't mention names but you know who you are!
On the 22nd December I packed my bags to leave Brisbane for good, I headed for Byron bay with Andy (a night manager from the hostel) and with a hangover from my leaving drinks the night before. The goodbyes were hard but I pulled myself through by getting straight back on it. Me and Andy had a crazy few days partying before he had to go back for work. I spent Christmas in Byron Bay with a friend I had met in Brisbane, Selma, we had a good day and decent Xmas dinner but it wasn't the same as Xmas at home. It was still good fun as we were very drunk on Xmas eve and Xmas day but as I said not the same. On Xmas day we nipped down to the beach to see everyone enjoying the sun, sea and sand and getting the BBQ's on and I wrote a message in the sand for all back home.
Boxing day was pretty incredible, I walked to the lighthouse with a guy I had met in Surfers, Yanni, and on the way I saw the boys from Brisbane so I agreed to meet them later on for a beach party. What a beach party it was! An all day session from about 2pm until 2am of goon, music, swimming, dancing etc IT WAS AWESOME! When night fell we lit a fire and danced around it until I could dance no more.
After almost a week of partying in Byron Bay my body and mind were starting to feel the effects. As I could not find a place to stay in Sydney I decided to return to Brisbane to be with my friends for new years eve and of course participate in some much needed 'volunteering'. I tried to surprise everyone at the hostel by just showing up but it didn't really work as gossip spreads round that place fast. It was fantastic to see everyone and I was glad to be 'home' in Brisbane.
Just like that I was back into my Brisbane routine and New Years Eve 2011 was upon us. It was a great night and we watched the fireworks over the Brisbane river from our hostel, it was a pretty perfect setting for a deserved new years kiss.
On new years day I rang home for only the 2nd time since I had been away. I thought it was a good idea at the time but looking back on it I was clearly still drunk and shouldn't have done it as I rang half my phonebook. After I was upset as I had not spoke to people in so long so me, Charlie ad Chow decided to get drunk, and that we did. I was put to be for 6pm after some apparently heroic antics - I have no idea!
I awoke feeling fresh as a daisy the day after and it was a good job as me, Lyzette, Charlie and Chow went to Summerfieldayze, a festival in Surfers Paradise. We got straight on the lash and had an amazing day. The highlights were defiantly Grandmaster Flash and Snoop Dogg. We left early and missed Pendulum (gutted) to make sure we didn't miss the last train. We missed the last train anyway and therefore got a $200 taxi ride back to Brisbane. None of us cared as the taxi driver thumped the days tunes the whole way back. Expensive but what a day!
I had a bit of a come down after this weekend but decided to carry on as I had been regardless. I fell back into my routine and hostel life lead the way. We went down to the BBQ's in South Bank on a Saturday and got very drunk and played silly games. On the way back we did our own bridge climb which was awesome but something I will need to apologise to the mother for - Sorry!
Before I knew it we were approaching mid January and another close friend was leaving. I didn't enjoy their leaving do and didn't want to drink but it's rude not to send someone off in a proper way. The goodbye was horrible, as expected, but I fell back into the Brisbane routine.
A few days later I finished my volunteering as the project was coming to an end and had a very chilled out weekend watching films and having a few drinks. Me and Bella went out for dinner which I won in a charity raffle the night before. I had a low key leaving do of a few jugs in the bar with some good friends.
I had a few beers on the Sunday before saying goodbye to everyone and boarding my overnight Greyhound to Sydney.
So that's what I have been up to for the last few months guys! Now I am back to proper travelling and am looking forward to seeing Alex and Cara in New Zealand on the 24th. I hope you guys are all well! I only have about 2 ½ months now before I am home so I will see you all very soon!
Take care and lots of love,
Aaron X
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