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Bahram's World Tour 2006
Well, here I am in Australia and the last 6 weeks have been mental. I arrived in Sydney feeling crap, had the flu from New Zealand, so pretty much stayed in bed for the first few days trying to recover.
All was well after a few days and I was up and about drinking and sightseeing as travellers do. Met some American dudes, Chris and Jesse from New York and they were not the typical Yanks you come across. Chris was over as part of his uni course as he won a 6 month grant to come over, why you may ask? He proposed to his lecturer that he will go to Australia to discover the Aboriginal culture and write a musical about it as part of his drama program. In 3 months he has discovered that Sydney has a good drinking culture, so his research and studies are going well.
I experienced for the first time a Japanese Kareoke bar. Now whats the difference between normal Kareoke and a Japanese Kareoke bar I hear you ask? Well, you rent a room with you and your friends, with the all the kareoke equipment and an album full of songs, and you sing amongst your friends. I must admit I felt quite seedy in this underground bar but it turned out to be a great night, with the Yanks and a Swedish couple we had met. I sang a tribute to my American friends by singing the classic Frank Sinatra song, New York New York, happy days.
I met up with some of my Australian friends also who I had met on my travels in Mexico. Allana, thanks for taking me out in Newtown, was a hip little place. Also met up with Mel at Darling harbour which was very cool, drinking the day away.
Taking a tour of the Sydney Opera house and getting to see all 5 theatres inside, I know I thought there was just one also, but 5! It is actually not white as it appears but a creamy colour, can't remember why, sorry. Got to see a play in the Opera house about Andrew Hicks, who was an Australian held captive in Guantanimo bay for 5 years. Was very arty farty for me, no acting, just dancing, actions and naked people flying around, $30 well spent.
Staying in Kings Cross, a bit of a seedy place, but had great nightlife and walking through the botanical gardens to get to the city centre was a joy every time, as got to view the Opera House and Harbour bridge each and every time.
On to Melbourne after spending a week in Sydney and stayed with Mr Roger Pond, a friend I had met, again during my travels in Mexico. Thanks again Roj for letting me stay with you and taking me out for the footie and what not, really appreciated it. First night there and I went to the Neighbours trivia night out. What great fun, yet so cheesy. Held in this huge 'Traditional English pub' as they said, with classic Neighbours clips being played on a huge projector screen in the background, brought back lots of memories of Brad and Beth, Charlene, Analeese and even Miss Mangle, haha! The trivia quiz was abandoned half way through when everyone in the place was so hammered and a few of the cast had gone round everyone chatting away and having pictures taken with them. I think I freaked out Paul Robinson a bit, when in a drunken state I was telling him how his was my idol and he got all the fit women and that I wanted to be just like him when I grew up whilst gripping his hand rather tightly, think I was held back by my new friend Anna as was getting a bit clingy. Nonetheless, holding a sign up in the picture saying "I love Paul Robinson' was maybe a little strange, but I DO OK, SO ACCEPT IT! Then for a treat, Carl Kennedy's band came on stage and being called the'Waiting room' I thought that was genius, however seeing him come out in a bomber jacket was rather disppointing, need a leather jacket touch. Me being the wierdo that I am had to get right at the front, with all the ladies of course and that is when I dropped my camera in sheer excitement, I couldn't take being so close to such a huge superstar. What a cheesy night, but must admit one of the best night of my travels.
Having a few more nights out in Melbourne and I really enjoyed my time here, especially the Ausie rules game I was taken to at the Melbourne cricket ground. Rojer being a member of the MCG was able to take me to the best seats in the house, awesome! What a game it was, the Western Bulldogs a Melbourne based team playing the top team in the league Adelaide. Being 30 points down with a quarter left to play and they pull it back to win, wohoooo! It's a bit confusing to understand but luckily Roj was there to guide me through it, otherwise I would have been completely lost.
Back up to Sydney just for the day and then on to Byron bay which is a very cool hippie surfers town. Met a group of Irish guys in my room and drinking the night away playing poker and then off out to cheeky monkeys, the only club in town, which was good fun, dancing on the tables. Note; be careful when getting off tables when drunk, may possibly crack ones head open.
The following day to Nimbin and this place has even more hippies with stoners and mong heads everywhere. Took Jim's bus tour with the Irish guys, and what a fun day, from what I can remember anyway. I will leave this part to your imagination.
Up to Surfers paradise, and to be honest, not sure why it is called paradise because it is far from it, with skyscrapers surrounding the beach which wasn't even that great itself. Wish I spent more time in Byron bay. Visiting Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, this was about a week before he was tragically killed. I was of course hoping to see him but he was busy filming in south east asia at the time. Having the chance to hold a Kuala was brilliant, and for those that are interested they are not bears, so those people who call them Kuala bears are wrong! Although, I remember the lady passing me the Kuala and looking down to where my hands were placed to hold and his big testacles being plumped right into my palms, mmm nice, sweaty Kuala balls smell on my hands. Watching a croc show in the big 5,000 arena they have built in the zoo, which I think is where Steve Irwins funeral is to be held on Tuesday.
Brisbane was next, didn't really get upto much here but it was a cool little city with a man made beach and a lot of nightlife going on. I was more preparing myself for the next couple of weeks as I had booked a jeep tour of Fraser island and a sailing trip to the Whitsundays and I knew this was going to be a mad couple of weeks, it turned out to be more mad than I thought.
Travelling to Hervey bay where we depart from to get to Fraser island, the largest sand island in the world which ironically is mostly consisted of rocks and trees, confused? Yea, so am i! Bumping into a couple of scousers I had met in Surfers, Pipe and Toner. Getting all our s*** sorted, and signing our lives away with the hiring of the 4x4's and being lured into paying money for this, that and the other, we were finally on our way the next day. A good mix of people, 18 of us in 2 jeeps, a group of Irish lads, some brits and people from Chile, Brazil and Holland, god that dutch girl didn't smile once throughout the 3 days, face like a wet fish.
Driving on the beach and I was hooning around a bit, going very fast and trying to get used to the conditions but just tyring to keep up with the Irish boys who were bombing it down the beach but just as I was going slow over a creek, we get a flat tyre, oh crap! This lead to us losing $20 off our $60 bond which we each had left with the tour company when taking the jeeps back, $180 for a tyre seemed pretty extreme but s*** happens.
Visiting a ship wreck on the beach and as we were walking up to it, I see a fighter jet flying no more than 20ft above our heads, I saw it coming from a way off, when I turned to Pipe to say 'look at that', he literally shat his pants and ducked for cover, as did everyone else, the noise that followed was deafening, a true kodak moment!
The weather was a bit s*** over the 3 days, overcast for the most part of 2 days and raining on the second day. First night, playing drinking games outside by the beach, Pipe and Toner introducing their dice game which is lethal. The Irish boys lighting their farts in the middle of the circle and everyone singing football chants, happy days. Toner and I were the last ones standing, or slouching should I say, watching the lightning storm out at sea which was pretty cool. A few of us cleared up the mess left by our drunken antics and we thought we had done a good job, as we were told not to leave rubbish out as dingos will come round and cause some havoc. The next morning being woken up by the park ranger was so funny. Felt like a school kid again being told off by the teacher, as the park ranger told us off for the mess we had left with crows everywhere eating our leftovers, was strange as we honestly thought we had cleared up quite well the night before, how a drunken mind can fool you. The site of Toner coming out of his tent and declaring to everyone 'Guys, I found my flip flops' was hilarious as the park ranger didn't seem very impressed.
Second night and we had to camp out in our jeeps for some drinkage as it was pissing it down all night, pretty low key affair after drinking a lot of Goon. Goon came to be part of our drinking culture. A box of 5 litre wine for $12 which is about a fiver. The trick is to take the bag out of the box, and to 'Slap the goon' before taking a swig of it, you can see a demonstration of this by Toner in one of my pictures.
Back to Hervey bay and was glad to be back on dry land and going out to Morocco's a club next to the hostel, where Big Dave got off with a Gilf, you dirty boy, although I hear he had some trouble getting her upstairs via the stairlift.
If I thought Fraser Island was fun, it was nothing compared to the Whitsundays. Taking the overnight bus up to Airlie beach, arriving in the morning and setting sail that afternoon. The weather still hadn't cleared up much and was overcast. Just so happened that Pipe, Toner, Big Dave, Pete, Little Big Dave and Kirk who I went to Fraser Island with were booked on the same boat as me.
Getting the beers out as soon as we set foot on the boat and this set the scene for the next three days, I wasn't sober for 3 days. Getting to the resort where we were staying and not letting the rain get to us, we jumped right in the pool and chilled in the spa. Meeting a couple of French canadian's, Genevieve and Adreanne and a lovely wee scottish girl, Jen. A crazy canadian who looked a lot like my mate Liam from back home was asked the simple question of whether he had found his key after losing it on the boat earlier. His reply, 'Yea man, I am Canadian born and bred, f*** yea'. Ok, wierdo, no more beers for you! Drinking games in the evening and dancing on tables, shots left right and centre and Toner, poor old Toner. After heading back, he was so drunk, he fell off his top bunk, splitting his chin open, legend. He was up and about the next day singing and being the life and soul of the party once again.
Waking up feeling very rough and then back on the boat, the rough water led to Pipe first of all puking overboard and I soon followed suit. Going to Whitehaven beach, playing some beach footy, where me and Pipe marshalled the game, Brazilian flair everywhere, 5-4 victory. Back to the resort and more chilling by the pool with the weather improving slowly. Drinking games again in the evening, waddling around with a 50cent piece stuck up your arse, long story. Having belly shots off Jamie, one of the crew members, she so kindly spilt mine on her stomach, so I had to lick mine up, yum. Twatting the lemon and snorting the salt made it go down even better.
Back on the beers at 9am the next day, living the dream. Snorkoling on the great barrier was very hard work, being half cut, few of the guys seeing a small shark, I was pretty much out of the water as soon as I heard that. Our final day, typically was glorious with the sun beating down as we lied on the boat, drinking our beers, as we sailed back to Airlie beach.
Having a wee nap when we got back to the hostel and waking up to the news that Steve Irwin had died snorkoling in the great barrier reef was a bit surreal. Toasting to a great man in the evening was the least we could do. This is where the presentation for the victorious footy champs took place, a half pint of beer, what better trophy could you have, maybe a full pint I guess.
The following days, just chilling by the lagoon in Airlie beach and saying goodbye to our lady friends, Genevieve, Adreanne and Jen and also to our Welsh friends, Little Big Dave and Kirk, it was all coming to an end.
Pipe, Toner, Big Dave, Pete and I made headway up to Cairns where we just chilled out and partied for a couple more nights before I headed out to Alice Springs and my 3 day safari of Uluru.
What a spectacle seeing the sunset and sunrise over Ayers rock, the colours you see are unbelievable, from red to orange, to even purple and green. Now just chilling out in Alice Springs before I make my way to Darwin and travelling around the west coast round to Perth for the next 3 weeks before going to Singapore and South East Asia. Hopefulyl meet up with you girls, Paula, Lexi and Kay along with Pickers in Thailand, that would a great way to go out on my travels.
T-minus 3 months and counting, unreal. It's all going by so quickly I hardly have time to take everything in.
For now, Adios amigos and see you again soon
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