Posh Backpackers On Wheels

Lao Lao

entertainers — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:30:00 GMT

Eventually arrived in Don Det (4000 islands in South of Laos). With no electricity on the island, apart from 3 hours in the evening, we chilled in the hammocks of our huts by the river, and got creative with a little jamming session. Daddy Science (Dan) and his 3 ho's! Had dinner and some drinks and lots of craic before we headed back to the hut, and the two nannies decided to sleep in the hammocks outside. And what a sleep it was while Kate and Dan sweated like dogs inside the huts, we fell asleep out in the cool Laos air to the sweet sound of massive crickets. Thanks to the hammock Grace even got rid of her Kankles that had been swollen for the last 3 weeks after arriving in South East Asia. It's all about the Elevation!!

Next day our destination was Vientiane. Got an overnight bus where there was a massive Quadruple bed layed out at the back of the bus for Daddy Science and his 3 ho's. We couldn't sit still with the excitement. Being a personal trainer in Canada, Daddy Science thought he'd try to get the 3 ho's into shape. So there we were at the back of the bus with our legs up in the air doing abs exercises and all the locals just laughing at us. Arrived in Vientiane the next morning and chilled at a resturant. The three ho's borrowed a guitar and were jamming for a few hours and singing 'Knocking on heaven's door' with rusty voices much to the amusement of passers by. Got on yet another bus to Vang Vieng, a town famous for backpackers for its TUBING. We checked in to 'Nam Song Garden Guesthouse' run by Norwegian man Arne (father of friend of MT's) and the following day we went tubing with Daddy Science. Hired out a tube each (old tire tubes) and sat on our tube down the Nam Song River to be pulled into different bars along the riverside, music pumping and bars packed with young backpackers. The music was flying as were the buckets. We finally gave in and drank our first MOJITO bucket (and boy did we get addicted...)and some shots of free Lao Lao. With a bit of Dutch curage we jumped off the 10-15m high swings into the water, and danced our socks off to 'Do Tam' by Job 2 Do - our new favourite tune!!!

The next day the two Nialls (Kerry boys) arrived, and the 4 of us started the 'Sakura Cup' - pool tournament, which went on for 5 nights. After too many White Russians and Mojitos (each team trying to get the other team more drunk) the jelly arms weren't able for the Sakura Cup, so we went off to Bucket Bar for more buckets. Day 3 we got on our tubes again, and MT, Grace & the two Nialls headed for the river, and had round 2 of more buckets, wings and this time MUDFIGHTS. We didn't feel a year older than all the 19-20 year olds - our wrinkles covered in mud sure did help! The nannies were the queens of the mudfights. That night we met up with our lovely new Vang Vieng family - Tom, Mike, Kate (British), Flo (German), Trevor (Irish) and Matt (Aussie) for some drinks, pool and beer bongs... Made our own entertainment with creative dance moves and a 3m long straw that we used to sneak into randomers buckets from behind their back in an attempt to get a few free sips of alcohol. Grace also decided to get behind the bar to DJ for a bit, until she discovered our favourite tune was not in the collection and lost interest. In need of a bit of detox we spent the rest of the week visiting caves, lagoons and local villages, often returning to the guesthouse as drowned rats - Oh how we love the rainy season!!

As most of our new family members were starting to leave Vang Vieng we decided to spend a few days rafting and kayaking... but we were informed there were no rapids anymore, so it put a stop to that idea and we decided to follow Tom and Mike to Luang Prabang.

In Luang Prabang we also met up with MT's study pal Maarten, Sofi, Wit and Romi, from Belgium, so againg we had a nice little gang. We all headed off to the waterfall which was just wonderful. Spent the day there swimming, jamming and jumping off cliffs into the water. After a hard days relaxing it was time for dinner and drinks at a bbq restaurant. As everything in Laos shuts at 11.30 at the latest, the 4 of us (MT, Grace, Tom and Mike) headed for the Bowling Ally as it's the only place open after 12. Full of backpackers, but not somewhere you'd be heading to if you're sober - which the nannies obviously were. Our final day in Luang Prabang we did a cooking class with Tom and Mike. Pad Thai, Tom Yam soup, Curry and a Fish dish were on the menu, and once again we excelled in the kitchen! Maybe the kitchen is where we belong after all. Come and get us HUNGRY BOYS!!!!

Did some speed shopping in the night markets, practicing our terrible haggling skills before catching the bus back to Vang Vieng with our new family. ONE MORE DAY OF TUBING BABY!!! The 9 of us got on the river the next day - another session 'in the Tubing'! More swings, mud and buckets of fun! That night we met Paul and Jesus, two British guys, who'd run out of money and been stuck in Vang Vieng for 2 weeks, eating only sticky rice and leftovers at restaurants. So we invited them for a beer, and they joined the crew...and so we were 11. We left the next day and headed for Bangkok.

All Bussed Out - Part Deux

entertainers — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:25:00 GMT

After two full days of traveling we finally arrived in Siem Reap in Cambodia. The roads from Thailand into Cambodia are basically dirtroads full of pot holes, so it was a slow journey, though not as bad as we'd been imagining. We were informed by our busdriver that the roads will not be improved because the Thai Airlines are paying the Cambodian government NOT to fix them, so that more tourists will fly from Thailand to Cambodia, though this also makes transportation for locals very complicated.

Coming from Thailand, Cambodia was more different than we'd expected. It reminded us of being back in South America the way we were welcomed to new places by friendly, smiley people. Also a lot less commercial and not as geared for backpackers as Thailand, though the level of English was very good. Food was just as delicious, especially the krickets we munched on on our bus journeys ;)

The first day in Siem Reap two local guys from the guesthouse took us on a tour to see the famous temples including Ankor Wat. They were absolutely amazing, though after every temple, the guys were like "waoo, so fast!", and said they'd never seen anyone go through the temples soo fast. They were stunning, all templed out we went to the lake in the afternoon together with our new friend and host 'Naked' (we later found out his real name is Veejeet), where we chilled in Hammocks eating roast chicken and drinking cold beers.

Then the two Nannies went off to see a traditional danceshow and filled their tummys with a delicious buffet. Back at the guesthouse the party was in full swing, they were downing Johnny Walker Black Label, and eating dog meat for dinner (which soon was splashed all over the ground when one of them got sick). We jumped on the back of Sighs' bike and headed off to the club, our first experience of a Cambodian nightclub. The Cambodian lovesongs were blaring and boys and girls singing along, but there wasn't much love in the air. "Stay one more day baby! Just one more day!" Naked begged, but we decided it was time to move on...

Back on the road again the following morning, we decided to skip Phnom Penh due to lack of time, so made our way up towards the border of Laos. Landed in Kratie that evening, wrecked from the travels, to be met by 6 local guys each trying to pursuade us to go to their guesthouse. We were surrounded by NON STOP YAPPING and couldn't hear ourselves think, so we both held up our hands and said "Stop it! Stop! Just stop talking." They paused for a second, laughed, and continued yapping. So we just went eenie, meenie miny mo, and followed one of them to a guesthouse. Later, relaxing with a fresh fruit shake (our new addiction) and planning a boattrip to see the dolphins the next day we got chatting to a Dutch couple. They soo kindly informed us that we would not be able the visa for Laos on the border, at all the other borders you can, just not the one we'd chosen, so we'd have no other choice but to backtrack to Phnom Phen to get our visas. So instead of Dolphin watching, we were back on the busses the following morning.

Arrived in Phnom Phen and went straight to the embassy and the visas were done in an hour. Then we went to Okay guesthouse where we met a great group of people and had a night out on the town. The next morning we were back on the bus AGAIN to return to Kratie, but this time accompanied by our new friends a Brit and a Canadian answering to the names Kate and Dan. Everyone being soo exhausted from the travels and the night before, we were all concked out snoring taking up double seats for most of the bus journey. Back in Kratie, the four of us were determined to go further to the next town, we'd been all hyped up for a pick up truck to take us there as there were no busses. But unfortunately, noone in the town were up for taking bribes, including a lovely man in a UN pick up truck. So we chilled out in the lovely town of Kratie, not another backpacker to be seen, and watched the world go by. The next day we were heading for Laos - finally. Back on the busses, oh how we love our busses. Stopped off in Stung Treng for a meal, and then the girls got all excited when they heard there was a market. Returned an hour later with new hats and sexy size 0 knickers that we were determined to squeeze into. We then hopped on the bus again and made our way to Don Det - 4000 islands in Laos.

The excitement was high over finally being in Laos, so stay tuned for the adventures of Daddy science, his ho's and lots of tubing in the rivers of Vang Vieng!

RTE correspondents in Thailand

entertainers — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:14:00 GMT

Finally the Posh Backpackers were on the road again! Yipppeeeee!!! Arrived in the middle of the night in Bangkok, yet again we were winging it. We had got instructions from 'Noodles' to go stay in Khosan road, we arrived to madness and insanity. The street was full of drunk backpackers ad 'Ladyboys' (as they's soo politely named the Thai transvestites) - AND the two combined - some guys were up for a big surprise in the hotel room. Eventually found somewhere to stay, then went for a stroll thrgough the madness, and to be approached by two young British guys who asked us to come for a drink. 2 minutes inside the bar and the AGE conversation came up... "WHAT?? You're 26??? What made you decide to travel later on in life?" After that they suddenly 'had to be somewhere' and the two old nannys were left sitting on their own and decided it was time for bed... Teenagers really aren't for us!!

Our second day in Bangkok we did some touristy things, went to the Tiger Temples and Floating Markets, and some late night shopping in MBK (Shopping centre). Really enjoyed Bangkok - the food was just delicious and people soo soo friendly. And we loved our Tuk-Tuk adventures around the city. They're all SAME SAME but DIFFERENT!

The day after we got an overnight train - off on our adventure for some chillout time on the islands. First Island was Phi Phi - met 3 English girls - they were 'Sex and The City' ALL the way. Funny at first but high maintenance. Phi Phi was beautiful but very touristic. Went on a boattrip around to Monkey Beach, Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' was filmed), went snorkling and kayaking, what an amazing day!! Watched Thai boxing in the Reggae bar at night, very entertaining! The backpackers treated themselves to a bit of a waxing session and purchased a couple of sexy knickers while they were at it - they were more like NANNY panties to be honest! So away with the Nannies to Ao Nang the next day.

Went for dinner and met Rocket (50 year old redneck Aussie who'd fallen for 'Chicken' a prostitute in Bangkok "Kust because i Paid for her doesn't mean it didn't mean anything"), and a South African hippie couple Caroline and David. We spent the night screaming with laughter. The following day it was time for more adventures. Hired motorbikes (Scooters) and off we went to explore the inland. Rocket on one bike, the two Nannies on the other and Mann - our local tourguide leading the way. What a fab day. Went to the Hot Springs and a Tiger Cave - oh how we love our tigers and monks - raooooorrrrr!!! On our way back we stopped for petrol and MT managed somehow to lock the keys under the seat - we sat on the bike ready to leave, then "Shit the keys!!"... Looked like we'd have to stay the night at the petrol station. But E.T. (aka MT) to the rescue! MT managed to slide her rubber fingers into the box and get the keys. Wooohooo - on the road again. Later we did a bit of shipping, and our bargaining skills had just about improved, we'd managed to bargain our shopping down to 750BHT and were happy with that result. Grace at the back of the shop trying on a dress asked the lady in the shop for the TIME. A couple of minutes later she came back and said "It's 9.40". MT nodded and said thanks, next thing Grace roaring from the back of the shop "920!!!!!!!!!!!!!" thinking we were still bargaining. MT going "Grace, shut up Grace, she's telling us the time..." and the 3 of us erupted with laughter.

Next destination - Ko Samui to prepare for the fullmoon party. By chance we met two English girls at breakfast that we'd met on the train from Bangkok, Lily and Hana. All excited to see eachother again we planned our trip to Ko Pangang together for the fullmoon, and an hour later we were off on the boat. On Ko Pangang we had falaffels for lunch and mojitos for dessert, while the rest of the backpackers were downing their buckets (They sell these buckets with a bottle of vodka,whickey or whatever, and a can of coke, you mix it in the bucket and drink with a straw...). Later in we went down to the beach which was PACKED with young backpackers and dance/trance music blaring from every pub on the beach. The two Nannies lost the others, we were more interested in the amazing fireshows by the locals, and sat for hours watching and slowly sipping our beers. Grace at one point said "MT do you ming if I have a little nap?" And as the transe was pumping around us and amazing fireshow in front, Grace went off to dreamland for half an hour. After her 40 winks she woke up refreshed and the backpackers were full of ideas. We were going to make a documentary about the drunken backpackers and their buckets at the fullmoon party. We told everyone we were from RTE (Irish tv channel). FILM COMING SOON ON YOUTUBE!! STAY TUNED!!!

Our experience of the fullmoon was somewhat different, but we had the most fun and met some really great people! To try to get away from the trance madness and decided to check out the mushroom bar up on the hill. Nice and chilled, but we decided we needed all our concentration for the documentary for RTE so we skipped the magic mushroom shakes. Then found a reggae bar and got chatting to the bartenders, continuing our documentary. All of a sudden the sun was rising and the party calming down. The beach was full of lifeless bodies spread around in deep alcoholic sleep. We walked along the beach with a beer - decided we derserved it after our busy night. Chilling on the beach we witnessed the FUNNIEST fight ever between a bunch of pissed guys who were flying up in the air like ragdolls, throwing punches with jelly arms and us Nannies laughing our asses off sitting comfortably in our seats. Free entertainment!! We'd had a fun night but one fullmoon party is more than enough.

Our last night in Thailand we went to a local buffet restaurant where we cooked everything ourselves, lovely atmosphere, people and jaaaayzuz are we good in the kitchen!! YUMMMMMMMM!!

Stay tuned for more from CAMBODIA!!

xxx

Leaving Oz

entertainers — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:01:00 GMT

LEAVING OZ
It was time to say our farewell with Oz. Had a wild leaving party for The Goochenator the week before we left. Our last week MT received sad news that Fr Billy (granduncle) passed away, so emotions were running high and it was a very sad time to be so far away from family and friends. Our last weekend was calm and we had some social drinks with our friends - the people that had touched our lives whilst living in Australia. Decided to have our last lunch in Quay Bar the day we were leaving, and of course got carried away in conversations, and were rushing around like headless chickens when we thought we'd miss our flight. But as always the Posh Backpackers made it just in time. Are now in Thailand and will update soon, stay tuned!!

The Backpackers On Yet Another Tour

entertainers — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 05:12:00 GMT

It was time to see more of Australia, but first we had to have a going away party.... we were going to be away for a whole week after all...

We dollied ourselves up and headed off on yet another session, with a big dance off planned. Had a few cheap drinks in crystals practising our dance mooves and continued on to the bright lights of Sydney city. We started in the Coronation on our new poison of vodka and cranberry. Continued on to The Brooklyn ready for a night of dancing. We had our two South Kerry boys on toe, Paddy and Noodles (Noddy) and we were out to live the dream. To pump ourselves up for the dancefloor and to get into the spirit of things had a few posh cocktails. We danced the night away and went back to Crystals a few hours before our flight that morning. We snored our heads off for an hour and then Crystal spent the next hour trying to wake us. Eventually the two backpackers arose Grace screaming "MT I CAN'T BELIEVE IT...WE'RE 26 AND WE WET THE BED"..... but Crystal informed us "I was spashing water on you for ages trying to wake you"... And us classy things didn't feel a thing.

Rushed to the airport in a taxi, still a little "dizzy", and just in made it in time for check in. To wake ourselves up we thought we needed a coffee, two lattes and a chocolate muffin. Got to the customs and they said "STOP.... you can't bring the muffin through...you'll have to put it on the belt". We went through the scan, all excited waiting for our muffin to come through the machine. The security guy watching the screen nearly pissed himself laughing when he saw the muffin on the monitor, while MT, Grace and the rest of the security guards were weak laughing too. We decided not to consume the muffin thinking it was full of x-rays.

Passed out on the flight and woke up in Cairns. Hired a car which was to be our cama (bed) and restaurant for the next week. Spent the first couple of days exploring Cairns -The Crystal Cascades, beautiful beaches and Cairns city. Booked a daytrip to go to the Great Barrier reef, which turned out to be the highlight of our week. The boat was full of young backpackers and had the most amazing day snorkling, singing, eating and drinking. Wrapped up in our Brazilian wraps, the lead singer of the band on the boat kept referring to us as the BRAZILIAN BRIDES.... much to the annoyance of a true Brazilian stud sitting next to us. Sure we were delighted.

Drove down to Mission Beach, taking use of the public bbq's along the beaches. Final stop was Airlie Beach. Lounging around for the day by the lagoon we came across a tattoo and piercing parlour. We were like "should we go in for a look"... And we came out of there with a big dragon tattoo each on our left breast. We decided it was time for an image change.

Next day we headed off on a daytrip to the Whitsunday Islands... Booked the cheapest trip thinking it would be another backpacker trip, only to get there seeing geriatric after geriatric boarding the boat. But we decided to have fun with it and made some new friends... Asked if we wanted to wear stinger suits, we didn't want to hide our new tattoos and said "no bikinis will do us" we wanted to show off our new body art.

On our last night bbqing down on the beach we met two Ozzie sailors. While they were practising the wheel of goon, we were being more sophisticated with a bottle of vino. Sang danced and laughed the night away.

Returned to Sydney with only $30 between us. Couldn't get a lift from the airport so we hopped into a taxi, and we were straight out to the taxi driver and said this is what we have, how far can you bring us? he said because you're so honest I will get you home to Strathfield. 3 kilometres away from Strathfield he must have though to himself "feck this" and he booted us out of the car, and we had to walk home with our luggage laughing all the way at what had happened.

Oh yeah by the way, MT got an ear piercing and Grace a belly ring.... We'll save the dragon tattoos for the next trip!!!

Hasta Luego!
xxx

Rocking in Sydney

entertainers — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:43:00 GMT

The excitment leading up to the Birthday girl's Mystery Tour!! Bebo and Facebook were being stalked to see if there were any clues as to where we were going!! but being the mighty organizer that Grace is, Mt had to wait till the day. Birthday Morning: We arose with the lark before anyone else was up, to spend a bit of quality time together........... The Birthday breakfast was tidy due to an empty fridge, but the presents made up for the lack of food!!! To start with Mt got posters with Pictures from our travels, The 2nd was a fantale (chocolate toffee sweet robbed from grace's work) and then Grace asked Mt to get a galss from the cupboard where the main gift was waiting for her, Inside the birthday card were two tickets to go and see Matchbox 20 Baby!!!!! All excited we jumped around in circles in the kitchen and woke the whole house......... Chilled out with beers by the pool, getting excited for the evening ahead!!!! one of the boyzz rocked into the house after being away working all week and made an announcement "What time are we going to the Casino" Grace having had a pain with two weeks, bursting to tell her only secret from Mt, was left speechless for once........... The birthday cake was produced, Mt blew out her candles and we all bundled into taxi's and headed for the Casino in Star City............

we started the session on the 17th floor of the Casino in the Oh soooo posh Astral Bar, We were boozing out in the balcony over-looking the Beautiful view that Sydney has to offer..... Lost a few of the guys walking through the Casino and most of them were the South Kerry crew!!!! Mt and Grace kept the few cents they had and posed for photographers...... The photo shoot ended before it got started, Security were onto us!!! Mt crying out "but it's my Birthday" and Grace saying "Let her pose if she wants to" We eventually made our way to Paddy Maguires on the first floor of the Casino and took up a few high stools. The Entertainment was flying with the Goochenator singing his Rooster song, a man walking by eating chicken on a stick told him to 'Shut up or I'll throw this chicken in your face" Everybody erupted laughing.......... Decided it was time to move on. We made our way to the Courthouse 24 hour bar!! Drank the night away!!!

The following weekend, We had a visit from Pato (a friend from Cahersiveen). We all had a funfilled weekend of laughter, chats about the good auld days and a visit or two to the pub!!!!

We had finally found a way to cope with our different shifts during the week... The two ships in the night hardly saw eachother during the week apart from one lunch in the Park which turned out to be a rather unusual one!!! while waiting for Grace, Mt gave $2 to a homeless guy!! A couple of minutes later he returned with a little bouquet of flowers picked from the park, when Grace arrived she got one too because we were "equally beautiful" Three more of his friends joined us for lunch. They had a liquid lunch and we had a home-made sandwich lunch, Bob asked "do ye like to dance" and gave Grace his number..... To be continued............... James and Kitty - Grace is bringing home a Bob............ he he he he!!!

Our new routine is Mt arriving home from work at 3am, Grace pausing her dreams for half an hour, so we can catch up on the days gossip and laugh ourselves to sleep!!! Mt is now working at a celebrity haunt...... Busy breaking glasses on a quiet Tuesday night, Keanu Reeves rocked into Quay Bar for a drink!!! the celebrities continue to come and go in our lives. Struggling to breathe she served the star her best pour of Coopers Pale Ale. She ran into the kitchen to call her partner in crime "Grace guess who the fuck is in Quay Bar........... Keanu Reeves Baby. See Ya!" She made sure to bring home a souvenier for Grace, the glass with Keanu's DNA on it!!!!

The week kept getting better... Friday came around and we were getting all excited and in the mood for Matchbox 20!!! We dollied ourselves up and headed for the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The Concert started with Thirsty Rev, they looked like midgets on stage, We were no longer among the A-VIP crew, we were rowing with the rest of the slaves and couldn’t have been any higher up, but the sound was amazing and it sure was a fantastic gig!! Leaving the Entertainment Centre on a high, lighting on Vodka, we were ready for action down in Darling Harbour, Seduced by Latin Rhythems, our first stop was a salsa bar, Yeaaaahhhhh!!! We were back in South America, It didn’t take long before we were approached, in the form of two latin teenagers, METAL MOUTH AND MOTOR MOUTH. Their hormones were high, so we salsa’d our way down to Cargo bar minus the teenagers. Danced the night away and finished it off with a FAT vegetarian Subway Roll!!!

Bored out of our brains on Sunday, we decided to be creative and make a suggestion box. As the suggestions were being pulled out there was a lot of “Sleepy” and “Naked” suggestions by the lads: “Naked Sunday (females only)”, “Tell Grace and Mt to Fuck off”!!,
“Sleeping on the train going to Bondi” While we were looking for culture: “Busking”,
“Free Concerts” and
“Newtown”
So we decided on Newtown. The others unimpressed, stayed put and dreamed of “Sexy Time” Our first meeting in Newtown was a South American Gallery, owned by the most friendly Equadorian Artist. He took us around his Gallery, but unfortunately our wallets couldn’t stretch to buy any of the colourful artwork, just as we were leaving, he called us back, gave us both a warm hug and said “everybody loves you girls” We’ll definitely call again to Multicultural Newtown!!

The Squatters!!!

entertainers — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:58:00 GMT

It did'nt take us long to get settled in our beautiful humble abode, we said we're in here now, we're not leaving and after 3 weeks all the gang in the house "INVITED" us to stay, with ten and a half Irish in the house, there's never a dry weekend!!!

Mt and Grace being entrenpreneurs back home............... hopped from job to job like little kangaroo's, could not settle and did'nt like being told what to do!!! We faked our C.V.'s deciding that bar work would be fun..... we lasted half a training day in jackson's on George, Like we're here for a good time not a long time and who wants to work in a 24 hour bar only weekends!!!

Next Job: Schenker: Depression City Boring Boring Boring!!! but at least we got to work together and enjoy the FREE latte's and cappuccino's

Next Job: Quay Bar and Admin for the Dean

Grace's day consists of 5 hours on bebo and facebook and at the end of the day having soar fingers from all the typing and at the end of the day stealing sweeties for MT

Mt's day consists of Breaking glasses and tripping over customers and answering questions like "Dont ye have coffee machines in Ireland and coctails"?. Over-pouring wine much to the managers disgust, but keep rocking on MT..................

Sorry we've been so slow up-dating the blogbut we've been very emotional the last couple of weeks, cause of all the different shifts we're on. After living in eachothers pockets for the last 4 1/2 months "Literally". Jayzus this is a test to our relationship!!! he he he he....

So used to having Sugardaddy's to take care of us we wondered when the next one would turn up and as sure as God he turned up in the form of "The Goochenator" After getting the foot in the door and 3 weeks later we were still in his room, while he had the couch. We allowed him to stay in the room every now and then on the condition he does'nt snore too loudly, as amazing as his voice is, his snoring leaves alot to be desired.......

Paddy's Day: The Strathfield family had an early night the night before Paddy's to prepare for the day ahead, everyone was tucked up in their beds by 11.00pm. Arose fresh and ready and after a family breakfast we started on the face and nail paints. All the girls with green finger nails and toe nails and the boyzzz with their drinking hand only painted...... Headed for the city ready for war!!! watched a few minutes of the Parade and headed for the pub, Grace and Mt painted more nails and faces of random strangers and met plenty of admirers along the way. Mt and Grace left the family (who were in tears) to go off with 5 handsome Ozzies to a Rugby match, enjoyed somemore beers and Rugger Buggers chasing an oval ball in hotpants. Finished off the celebrations with more beers, Riverdance and lotsa the Music Man in Hero's bar and the Mercantile...........

Easter: Since our families back home did'nt send us an easter egg, we took matters into our own hands and organized Kris Kringle. All the family pulled names from a hat and bought eachother easter eggs. The eggs were placed under the Christmas Tree thats still up in the sittingroom.

Good Friday: We went to Manly to meet up with our amazing friend Skippy and other friends and had a beautiful diner with some Red wine over-looking the beach aaaaahhhh bliss......

Easter Saturday: Decided to have a sensible night out at the Bowling Alley with the famil, divided ourselves into two teams, the single ones and the couple's, our team being named "nobody wants us" and the couples being named "somebody wants us"...... Guess which one the entertainers were on!! But of course the singles have more fun and we became the champions in the bowling alley that night!!! our moto that night was "normally we're crap, but sometimes we just get lucky" Our sensible night ended up being a wild one back at the house, the music by DJ Smut and Riverdance by Grace and The Goochenator, Oh what a show!!! Michael Flately and Jean Butler eat your heart out......

Easter Sunday: started with a beautiful home-cooked roast beef diner with the family and then some drinks at the Opera bar with Skippy, Ciara and Dan with his rusty rope and continued onto a barbie/coctail party, where the Mo-Gee-Toe's were back in action yum yum!!!

Bye for now and we'll try to keep up the entertainment, which we're sure we will..............

Iron Maiden vs. Irish Maidens

entertainers — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:06:00 GMT

And so it was faith...our celebrity lifestyle was to continue...

How lucky were we, to arrive into Sydney a day before Iron Maiden and their crew. And even luckier that MT's brother Frankie was part of that crew...

Friday, our first day in Sydney, we rocked around the city like tourists, and Friday night we rocked around The Orient (bar) like VIP's with the Crew and band in toe. That night was amazzzzzzzzing, but little did we know there was soo much more to come! Saturday we woke up in our 5 star hotel like queens... When Frankie left for work...We got to work...

We knew this 5 star treatment wouldn't last, we were thinking of the weeks ahead!

Saturday evening we headed for Acer Arena. They were bringing us to the concert!!!!!! The night before we were advised by the crew to wear something black "You don't want to stick out at an Iron Maiden concert!"... So we decided 'Yes we do', so we put on our brightest dressy tops and headed for the Arena. A few stares, but nothing the backpackers couldn't handle, and then when we received the big FAT A-VIP passes we definitely stood out with those babies wrapped around our necks! Wandering around backstage, frontstage, soundbox...anywhere we wanted, served cold beers by Kevin (aka Sleepy), and having the time of our lives.

After the concert we headed back to the hotel in the crews' bus and headed for the rooftop balcony for another A-VIP rooftop aftershow party. Not realising we were standing next to Bruce Harris, he looked soo different without his flag... And the main manager saying "Are you with us girls?"...and MT replying "Who are you?"...he just laughed and laughed. The vino was flying and we loved living the high life.

Round 3: Sunday night meeting up with the crew was a must, the final hurray!! While we were in the bar drinking our vino, Frankie and Martin were busy trying to sort out jobs in the bar for us. Afterwards MT and Grace took to the floor and their Riverdance began... The crew and Ozzies were very impressed, and Sam christened us 'THE IRISH MAIDENS'! Who knows, we might join the next world tour as crew entertainment.

Onto the next bar to finish off the night, and of course not forgetting to give our most outrageous rendition of "THE MUSIC MAN" for all the crew, musicians and anyone who would listen. Away back to the hotel then after for the final 5 star slumber...

The next morning we sadly waved our new family away to Brisbane. Rushed around like headless chickens trying to find somewhere to print our CV's...shiiiiiiiiiiiiit we had job interviews....REALITY BITES!!

We're now starting work in the 'Ship Inn' bar where it all started on Saturday night, so let the Riverdance continue! Stay tuned, plenty more to come...

Hanging with celebrities in Kiwi land

entertainers — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:39:00 GMT

Boooohooooohooooo we were soo sad to leave South America... Landed in Auckland to be greeted by the grumpiest biaaaaatch on a complete powertrip telling us how suspicious we looked! And how South America was so known for its "alcohol...ehm, uhm I mean drugs". Biiiiiaaaatch! Eventually they let the two suspicious posh backpackers through and our beautiful 'quarter of a limo' (and later to be named 'the onion box') was waiting for us. It was to be our transport and cama (bed) for the next 12 days... We headed off on our roadtrip, sure it was like driving along the coast of Norway and Mountain Stage. Roadkill ---> 2 rabbits...

A week later, tired of 'Mountain Stage' we headed for Sumner beach in Christchurch. One fine evening, just before Cama time, we sat out on the beach and whipped open a bottle of wine... And boy do we get good ideas after the vino! A local geriatric walking his dog passed by and started chatting telling us we really did have the life. Chatting away we grew very fond of the auld geriatric... and he invited us to join him and two possom hunter friends for some drinks down at the local pub. So an hour later we joined them and had the most fun and laughter. In the end they drove our car up from the beach and we stayed in his treehouse over from the house, accommodation all to ourselves with a beautiful view of the beach. The following day we arrived down for our eggs and toast, and were chatting away to the hunters for hours, and watching film crew after film crew arriving to the house to interview Robin Judkins (the auld geriatric), turns out he is a big celebrity in New Zealand organizing big events, coast to coast and iron man. He told us to stay again the next night, and to come and go as we pleased. The house - full of art, millions of dollars of art in EVERY room, and we told him we were going to steal it all and drive it away in our 'onion box'... next thing he hands us a spare key to the house and said "girls now you can have your own independence, come and go freely!" Lucky or what, eh!?!?

The hunters headed off to the mountains that day and Robin was like "Right girls, I'm bringing you out for dinner and drinks"...Fine by us! The following day we decorated our onion box for the arrival of the newlyweds Majella and Mark. Picked them up at the airport with a 'just married' poster on the back and cans of coke tied down with a string to the exhaust, and balloons flying around in the car. After filling them in on the story and our new sugar daddy they were invited to stay too - in the honeymoon suite... Mark, more or less believing us telling the story because he said we were mental enough to do it. Majella was taking the piss saying "Oh yeah, is Robin your little bird is he?".... Taking no notice we drove on laughing, and brought them to the castle. They too ended up staying for two nights. Had a beautiful posh dinner that night, cooked by the two posh heads, and headed for some vino at Wakefields, the local pub. Upset that we hadn't seen any haka performance, we decided to make up our own, so the 'komati' was flying, MT and Grace taking it very seriously rehearsing it into the early hours in the kitchen... We woke up the auld geriatric at 3 in the morning with what we thought was the 'silent haka'... We were whispering the words, but stamping our feet so the whole house was shaking. Away to the cama we went and snored ourselves into the next day...

The five of us headed off to the internationals registering day, and MT and Grace got the job to register the athletes... There we were sitting at the table meeting and greeting the internationals, while Majella and Mark were sunning themselves by the lake. At the round-up Robin gathered all the athletes and the sponsors, with two news channels filming him. Next thing he asks us join them, happy out we stood listening and then Robin said "And finally there are two very special girls I'd like you all to meet, they're Irish catholics, I picked them up on Sumner beach 3 days ago, and they have been staying at my house ever since..." MT and Grace looking at eachother in shock and burstout laughing...then he continued "last night they drank 3 bottles of wine and were roaring the haka in my kitchen, waking me up at 3 in the morning....So girls come here now and we'll do the haka for everyone here" We were bent over laughing and laughing, Robin was delighted after, saying it was great for his reputation, and MT replied "It's not good for ours...". So you've probably all seen us on the news doing the haka...??

Afterwards the fab four headed for the beach chilling. Went to our local for dinner and vino again that night, and met two New Zealand rugby players, All Blacks!

So now we only hang with the crem de la crem... Don't forget to leave your comments, and stay tuned for the posh backpackers on tour with Iron Maiden...

Chilling in Chile

entertainers — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 04:48:00 GMT

While chilling in Chile, our hearts were still in Mendoza... We escaped the Gringo Trail and headed for Pichilemu for some surf and detox. Our days consisted of slideshows, sunbathing and surfing..aaaah bliss. But the surf wasn't up to much, all geared up we headed for the waves the first day. We spent the first hour paddling around laying flat on our boards, no waves to be seen. So we decided we'd head for the shore with our flask and mate cups. Looking the part of two professional surfers with our wetsuits on and the boards laying flat beside us, lots of passers by were looking at us and smiling, and we thinking how cool we were "jeez we must look like such professionals"...

After a while this hot surfer came up to us and asked us if we were going surfing... we were like "naah, no waves today". Then he goes "Are you renting those boards?". "we are" we said proudly, and he replied "Well you might want to turn them around, the sun is melting the wax!" We nearly died laughing, and replied that we don't have that problem in Ireland or Norway.

Pining after our gauchos, we had enough of surfing in Chile, so we decided to head back to Mendoza for 24 hours...The rest is PRIVATE! Haaaa-haaa!!!

Stay tuned for MAD stories from New Zealand! Now we have to get a job here in Sydney!!!!!!!!!!!