Crikey! Jamie's gone down under!

Byron Bay, Surf Camp, Sydney, Melbourne and Home

jtmoughton — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:22:00 GMT

As probably all of you are aware, I am back home now, so this will be my last post.

After Noosa, I went to Byron Bay, which was a nice relaxing place to spend 4 days. Most nights I was out drinking, as is customary in Byron, but during the days there is not much to do except go to the beach and walk up to the lighthouse, which was actually a pretty nice walk. All in all, I had fun in Byron, making some good friends, and going to the world renowned Cheeky Monkeys bar, although it wasn't as good as it had been made out to be :S There was also a bushtucker walk with a guy called Cockatoo Paul, due to the pet cockatoo on his shoulder, and he taught us about some of the basic survival techniques using traditional Australian plants, as well as how to throw a traditional Aboriginal spear.

Next was Spot X Surf Camp, which I only spent a day at to get an improver surf lesson, and boy did it help. The instructor just did a tweak of the technique I was already using, and I was up on almost every wave I went for! Great stuff, and the food provided was fantastic too. It was a shame I didn't get to spend longer there really, the reason being because I had to go to Sydney for a flight to Melbourne.

In Melbourne, I stayed with family and friends, seeing them for one last time before I went home, and I was there for a total of a week, before having to fly back to Sydney for my flight home. It was a really good way to spend my last week in Oz, and I hope I get to see the family again at some point.

Only a couple more nights were spent in Sydney, before an early start off to the airport for my flight home. The first flight was pretty good, especially as I was put up in a very nice South Korean hotel room overnight by the airline, with 3 meals, all as part of the ticket price!! How good is that?! The next day and I was back on a plane, and I couldn't wait to get home. The flight wasn't too bad at all, but when we landed I just couldn't wait to get off and see my family again. Needless to say, my bag came off the belt pretty much last before I could go and give the family a huge hug.

I loved being in Australia, I had the time of my life, I really did, but boy am I glad to be home. I was ready. Travelling alone can get lonely sometimes, because despite being forced to make new friends, they are only around for a week tops. It's been 7 months, which is a good whack, but it was time for me to come back, because there really is no place like home :)

Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island

jtmoughton — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:18:00 GMT

Hi everyone, how are you?

Rainbow Beach was my next stop, where I spent 2 nights before going off to Fraser Island. The hostel was pretty chilled, they had a free pool table which we made much use of! I met some of my group for the Fraser tour the night I got there, then met all the rest at the safety briefing the next day.

The first night started with a walk organised by the hostel up to a big sandblow, which had pretty spectacular views. We took a few boomerangs up there and had a go with them, and also watched the sunset, then went back to the hostel and played some pool.

The next day I just spent chilling again, playing more pool, and then going to the safety briefing for Fraser. I met the rest of the group, 28 strong, in the briefing and found out who was in my car. We did the paperwork and then went back to relaxing, ultimately ending up in the bar again!

Up early next morning, and after packing the cars we got the ferry over to Fraser. We first headed to Lake Mackenzie, a big freshwater lake in the middle of the forest with white sandy beaches. Most people went swimming and played around, and afterwards we got some lunch. Once we had finished lunch, it was off to the campsite to set up. There wasn't much else to do, so everyone got the goon out. I can't stand the stuff, so I was on beer, and then we pulled out the cards and got going on the drinking games!

It was up early next morning, which wasn't a popular choice, but we went off to Eli Creek. It's a little freshwater creek that runs down to the ocean, and you can go swimming down it, which most people did. It's a nice little place, but it got cold when you got out into the wind.

Next stop was the Maheno wreck, a shipwreck that been washed up on the beach for 70 odd years, and we got a good few photos, before heading up to Champagne Pools these are saltwater pools in the rocks just above the sea, and when high tide comes they get filled in that way. We went swimming, but the weather took a turn, and all our stuff got soaked in the shower. We weren't there too long as a result, but by the time we were back at the cars, it was nice and sunny again.

A spot of lunch, and then to Indian Head, where we climbed up to the top of the cliffs and looked out for any sea life down below. It also gave a good view of the beach, and we got some good photos, before going back to the campsite and getting dinner. And then drinking again. Of course :P. The moon was out in full that night, and it was really beuatiful to watch the moonlight on the waves crashing onto the beach.

Again up early for the final day, most of us with goonovers, and off to Lake Wabby, which was a longer walk than expected from the car. It took a good 20 minutes to get there, and it had another big sandblow up the top. We spent a couple of hours recovering and swimming, before going back to the cars and going off for some lunch. After that, it was back to the ferry and return the cars. We all couldn't wait for a shower, so once we had checked in again, we were all over them. And tehn down to the bar for dinner and a night out!

It was karaoke night, and we had an awesome time, but this morning my voice was unrecognisable after I had thrashed out about 7 songs last night! I've been drinking for about 5 nights now, so I'm thinking it's time to give my liver a break :)

I'm in Noosa now, caught the bus down, and I'll be spending a couple of nights here relaxing. It's a really nice hostel, well furnished and great facilities, so it should be good!

Hope everyone is well, see you soon! xxx

Whitsundays and Agnes Water

jtmoughton — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:07:00 GMT

The sailing trip to the Whitsundays was great fun. We had a group of about 20 people from various countries, and despite everyone being a little reserved at first, we all got on brilliantly. It was only 2 nights and 2 days, but we all had awesome fun.

Having motored to our anchor point into the night, and some fairly heavy drinking too, the first stop was the next day at Whitehaven Beach, world famous for it 99.98% pure silica sand. It was so white, and eventually the sun came out to properly accentuate it. We stayed on the beach for a few hours, kicking a ball and throwing some frisbees, some of the girls sunbathing and walking around. Our crew member, Binkie, was a great laugh all trip through, coming out with hilarious things, and he had told us that the sand was great to use as an exfoliator, as well as cleaning jewellery. I had no jewellery to speak of, but it did work exceptionally well with my skin!

After Whitehaven, we had some lunch and moved on to do some snorkelling. It was good fun, and we had Binkie throw bread into the water to attract fish, something which the girls didn't appreciate when he threw it at their heads and the fish swarmed around them. It was pretty cool to see all the coral and the different fish that were there, especially a big blue fish called a humpheaded maori wrasse who we could touch when he came close.

We had another night of even heavier drinking, resulting in a guitar being pulled out by an Israeli guy and a group sing along. It was good fun, but the next morning everyone was a bit slow for the snorkelling session! There wasn't much different about this session, so I came in a bit earlier, having been one of the first ones out. We eventually headed on home, a few people (me included) trying to find somewhere to sleep out of the cold wind. The sea was pretty rough though, so the boat was rocking like crazy, but we eventually got to the marina and unloaded. After saying goodbye to the crew, we headed off to do various things, like check into hostels, go and sit by the lagoon and sunbathe, and then get ready for the evening. The done thing in Airlie Beach is to go for a night out with the people on your boat when you get back, organised but the boat companies, and we all went out to this bar and had a great night. The drinks were extremely cheap as well, so we made sure to take advantage of it!

The next morning, I had to get my early bus down to Agnes Water/1770, the first place where Captain Cook landed in Queensland. I checked into my hostel and spent the evening with some guys from my room, and then got an early night. The next morning, I booked onto the Scooteroo tour, which is the main attraction in Agnes Water, and in the Top 5 on the East Coast. You basically go to the centre with about 40 other people and get dressed up like bikers, in flame leather jackets, helmets, and fake tattoos. You then drive round for a few hours in a big biker pack on these 50cc mopeds that are styled like American Choppers, and tour Agnes Water and 1770. It's a right laugh, and so much fun, and it made me really look forward to getting a bike of my own.

After that, I came back to the hostel and got some dinner, before watching a film in the TV area. I then headed out to the only pub in town with a couple of the girls from the boat trip and a few guys who were from the hostel. It was fairly interesting, with a local 30th birthday ending in a big, cakey mess, and a pool game that resulted in an 8 ball comeback for my team. After the pub shut, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed, and here I am now the day after updating you. I have one more day here before going to Fraser Island, which promises to be a good trip. If the surf is good enough, I may go surfing for a bit, but it doesn't look promising. So until next time, goodbye!

Great Ocean Road and Adelaide

jtmoughton — Sun, 8 May 2011 11:22:00 GMT

Hey everyone,

I was finally able to get travelling again, and it was so much fun. I didn't realise how much I actually missed it. I'm a lot happier now I'm on the road again.

I spent a week on the Great Ocean Road, built for the Anzacs in the world wars, with a couple of guys I met via Gumtree on the internet. We hired a campervan and set off on a proper little road trip! Adam, the Englishman, and I were driving, but Valentin, the Frenchman, didn't have his licence so we ferried him around. We got down to Torquay on the first night, near the beach where the RipCurl Pro surf competition is held, and went to a few of the lookouts around there. The weather really held out for us on the first 3 days, it was beautiful, and it made driving all the more fun. Sunnys on, good music blaring, and a great driving road - it was fantastic. We were all feeling awesome.

When it came to sleeping though, we really didn't want to pay for caravan parks every night, so we had to find places to park up where we thought we wouldn't be discovered and fined $125 :S it was fairly interesting, trying to decide between different spots, but we went the whole week without being fined, so it was a success! Evenings were pretty much spent drinking beer and playing poker, there not being a lot else to do in a van, but we did have a good time with it. The second day, we had to push start the van, cos we had left the lights on for too long. Rookie error, but once it was going, I went and did my surfing. The waves were pretty decent and I got on 1 or 2, but generally, I didn't do too well, normally nose-diving off the front when it dipped in the water :S I'm going to put it down to being out of practice! At least I can finally say I've surfed in Australia! I did pay the price though, cos for the next few nights, my arm just ached when I was sleeping, not the best at all, so I think I might have overdone it a bit. The next 2 days we spent finishing the GOR, going along the coast to Warrnambool where it finishes, stopping on the way to see the different sights. We saw all sorts of rock formations, waterfalls, really impressive things, and learnt a bit about the history of the road too. Some people do day trips to the GOR, but it's just nowhere near enough time to see it properly, that's why we went for a week.

After Warrnambool, it was the long stretch to Adelaide. We headed up to the Grampian mountains, and the weather along the way was not great. We stayed in a national park campsite (these are free) and did some driving to different waterfalls and lookouts. This was the scary part. The twisty turny roads were good fun on the GOR, but up in the mountains, one slight misjudgement and you're over the edge to a firey death. There weren't even metal barriers on the sides! We did see a lot of kangaroos in the mountains, which seemed to absolutely fascinate Val, who was a bit naive when it came to camping. He hadn't been since he was 8, so we had to kind of help him along with some of the basics. We did a day of really long driving, splitting it between the 2 of us, about 500kms to a place called Victor Harbour where we spent the last night. We found this road to the edge of a small cliff, and it had a turning circle there, and there was anyone for miles, so we figured that was the place to stay. We set up the stove and got the pasta ready to cook just outside the back of the van, before lighting the stove.

AND WE ALMOST DIED. The stove wasn't lighting properly, but when it did, it spurted a jet of flame all around for about a foot in length. It scared the hell out of us cos we thought it was going to explode, and after 3 seconds of trying to get in to turn the gas off, we had to leg it. Adam was about to close the van (parked right next to the stove) door, but I'd beaten him to it and had jumped in the drivers seat, and took off like a bat out of hell! The keys had been left in the ignition luckily, and I figured, if this is going to explode, the van will go with it! It left a fairly long trail of pots, pans, cutlery and food on the ground up the hill where I had driven, and I jumped out and hid behind the van, closely followed by the other 2! The flame eventually disappeared,and we thought it had gone into the bottle, so we braced ourselves for an explosion - but it never came. We eventually decided to approach the gas stove, arms over our eyes just in case, and turned off the gas. After tightening up the valve (which had been the problem), it was good to go again, but it had scared the hell out of us and we couldn't stop babbling, and all the nervous laughter afterwards! Ask me to tell you the story in person, because it's a lot funnier that way, and you'll get a fair bit more detail than on here!

We got dinner done, and were reading our books for a bit before the stars came out, and Adam and I jumped onto the roof and lay looking at them for a bit. Val didn't fancy it, he was too cold, and he missed a couple of shooting stars as a result. The next morning, we woke up and were faced with a rainbow. We could actually see both ends of it! I didn't think it was possible, but I saw boths ends of the rainbow and got really excited! Unforunately, there were no pots of gold. I hate to ruin it for you all, but that part is made up :(

After a little breakfast, we went into town, played some mini-golf and went to Granite Island, a small island with a causeway to Victor Harbour. We had to get going a little after lunch to get the van to Adelaide on time. Once in Adelaide, we returned the van and the other 2 booked into a hostel, before going to get a drink.

I was picked up by Lisa, a friend of my Aunt's, who I stayed with for the last 3 days. After saying goodbye to the guys, we went back and I got a much needed shower at Lisa's place. I had a great few days there with Lisa, Martin and their four boys, I was treated extremely well and got on well with everyone. They're fantastic people, and I really enjoyed staying with them. Whilst I was there, I was allowed to borrow their Alfa Romeo and go and see some of Adelaide, so I went into town and went to the Aviation Museum, spending a good while there. At other times, Lisa and Josh, eldest son age 19, took me to a lookout on Mount Lofty to see an overview of the city, but unfortunately the cloud was too low and we couldn't see anything! I also went to a film with Josh, and saw one of Ben's (second oldest) basketball matches. The whole 3 days gave me a little bit of an idea of what it would be like to have brothers, so that was pretty cool.

On Saturday morning, I had to get a really early flight to Mackay, and Lisa kindly drove me to the airport at 5.30am. I said thank you and goodbye, and went to get my plane. Once at the other end of the airport, I had a 5 1/2 hour wait for my bus, which I spent reading in the arrivals lounge, and got the bus to Airlie Beach. I checked into my hostel for the night, and I am now waiting for a couple of hours before I go on a sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands which are supposed to be amazing. I'll let you know how it goes on the next post.

Hope everyone is well, please update me with any of your news from home!

The Joys of Unemployment, and the Even Bigger Joy of Resuming My Travels

jtmoughton — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:21:00 GMT

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long since I last posted, over a month now, I know, but there hasn't been much to tell. That's what I will try to recap here.

Basically, I lost my job 2 weeks after I last posted. It wasn't working out, and I really should have left the day after I last wrote one of these entries, but I carried on, having convinced myself that it would get better. It didn't. So I gradually got unhappier and less optomistic until I was fired. Oh well. I wasn't keen on the job in the first place, so it's no biggie.

However, this threw me into unemployment, which I'm sure most people reading this have experienced at some point or other, and will know that it is one of the most demoralising things in the world. Countless CVs sent off, often with no reply, a couple of rejections saying the same, generic "on this occasion, other candidates had qualities more suited to the specification of the company", and the fact that I couldn't even claim dole money because I'm not a citizen. Fantastic. So with dwindling money supplies, I gripped to the hope that something would eventually come along. Which it didn't. So after 3 weeks of looking, I was finally able to Skype the whole family with Mum back from Scotland, and see what they thought I should do. And the best option was staring me right in the face, but I seemed to have refused to accept it until this wake up call, when Mum basically told me to get travelling again, borrow the money I needed to enjoy myself properly again. Even if I did get a job in a call centre or somewhere, that's not what I came out here to do, so I am borrowing money and going travelling again! I have been stuck in a rut here, not that there haven't been ANY good times, but I was just generally happier on the road. So I'm off, but more about that a bit later.

During my time in Melbourne, I have been able to do some pretty cool things, like go to the Australian Grand Prix! It was awesome by the way, in case anyone still hasn't heard. The noise was deafening, and the speed they go past is incredible, but the day was great fun. I went with my male housemates, and we had a whale of a time, drinking beer all day, and at the end we got to walk on the track they had just been racing on. So good. The variety of shows and races that was on was fantastic, well worth the money, and I strongly advise everyone to go to a GP at least once. I'll be going again, that's for sure!

We've had good nights out as well, and a couple of weeks ago we got given free tickets by an old housemate to go and see the Melbourne rugby league team, who kicked arse with a 38-0 thrashing against Parramatta.

Anyway, my future plans. I have spent the last week and a bit trying to find people to go travelling with me along the Great Ocean Road, and have found 2 guys, an Englishman and a Frenchie, who I will be renting a campervan with for a week. It promises to be a decent road trip, with many opportunites to do my first proper surfing in Australia (finally! It's only been 6 months!). After I get to Adelaide, I am staying with my Aunt's friends for a few days before flying to Queensland again and finishing off the East Coast, which I had to cut short due to the floods, before going over to Western Australia for the final part of my trip. I intend to be home a bit earlier than expected, hopefully sometime in mid-june (cos I'm missing you all a lot, as much fun as it is out here!) I leave on Wednesday, so I'm spending the next couple of days with my Australian cousins, before heading out and getting back on the road.

I have also started exercising again this week. It's been 6 months since I've done any routine exercise, and I am horrendously unfit now, so I bought an iPod armband off eBay and have started running. Those who know me well know that I absolutely hate running, but I have actually started to get into it. It's so much better if you run outside, not on a treadmill. You feel like you're actually getting somewhere and the time goes quicker. I probably overdid it on my first run, indicated by the fact that I felt as though I would have a heart attack at every second of the run, and the intense aching for 3 days afterwards, but after the second run, I felt a lot better, and will continue to build on that.

That's it from me for now, you are all caught up with me. Don't forget to keep me updated from home, see you later!!

Selling Children

jtmoughton — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:52:00 GMT

I started my job about 2 weeks ago, with a day in training. For those that don't know, I am currently working for a charity trying to persuade people to sponsor children in 3rd world countries. For my first proper day, I was partnered with a guy called Dan who has been with the company for 2 months now, and according to him it was one of the best first days he's seen, which I was pretty pleased with. I have been improving more and more with each day that goes by, which I am really glad about, however in the 2 weeks I've been working now, I have only made one sponsor. This was last Tuesday, and it was within the first half hour which was really good! Today, I was put with Emma, another fairly new employee, and although we had a really good day today, pitching about 15-20 people each, we didn't get a sponsor, just because everyone seemed to be unemployed, underage, emigrating etc. basically just ineligible! It was quite frustrating! I'm pretty pleased to still be here though, as many people have been fired on their first or second day! The turnover of people is pretty rapid, but the bosses are very particular about the type of people they employ.

You do meet a lot of crazies in this job though. There was a guy at one site who walked up and down the shopping centre the WHOLE day just muttering to himself. I've also had someone ridiculously racist saying that it's not worth helping the blacks as they will just grow up and kill you. Another one was a demented woman who was with a normal looking guy who turned out to be just a crazy as her saying she was a 211 year old pixie. It really is bizarre, those are just 3 of the many examples I could give!

The hardest part of the job is staying positive. You get rejected a huge amount of times in a day, and it can be hard to keep upbeat. Stopping people is also difficult, but if you get over any fear or nervousness, then it's fine. The worst that can happen is for someone to say "No" or "f*** off".

That's work at least. It's 100% commission and bonus, so I haven't made any real money yet, but hopefully it will pick up next week. I only need about 1 "yes" every day, and that gets me around $500, enough to live and a bit more. It's a really small numbers game, but it still is tough to get the "yes". As for personal and social life, I had a fairly quiet weekend last weekend, recovering from my first week in work. A few of us from the house spent Sunday on the beach, which was pretty cool, and it was a really nice sunny day. This week it has been even longer and more knackering, and although the days seem to go by fairly quickly, I still get really shattered at the end. I am going into work tomorrow, as Monday is a public holiday, but I get to go in a bit later, 9 o clock as it's a Saturday. It's also Antonia's (another housemate) leaving do on Saturday night, so we will be going out for that, and I'm hoping that Future Music festival (line-up featuring Mark Ronson, Chemical Brothers, Kesha, MGMT, Dizzee Rascal and many other AWESOME artists) will have half price tickets as we get closer to the festival day on Sunday. If they get cut, then I will definitely buy one! I also have rugby to watch this weekend, at stupid o clock in the morning, but it will happen!

On another note, just in case anyone is wondering after they see the news, Australia may or may not be affected by the Japan earthquake, they keep changing their minds, but if it is hit bby a tsunami, I will not be affected at all! I'm right at the south of Australia, and the tsunami will hit the north if it hits at all! So nobody worry! The end of the world in 2012 is looking more and more likely recently, isn't it, what with all the disasters! Anyway, I'm gonna get some dinner, so see you all later, hope you're all well, byeeeee! xxxxxxx

More Job Hunting and an Interesting Night

jtmoughton — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:26:00 GMT

For the last 2 weeks, I've spent most of my time on the couch looking for jobs online. I have been out and about looking for jobs elsewhere, but to no avail. I haven't done very much, but I have caught up on my TV online!! I went for a friendly game of football (much needed exercise!) last week, and was absolutely knackered afterwards, aching for a good couple of days after that. Just been kind of, existing, over the last 14 days.

Yesterday, however, we spent the night in as a house, and got fairly drunk fairly cheaply! It was a good night, meeting prospective housemates, and having a laugh the night before Kate's (a housemate) birthday. Ended up going to bed at 1am, and then got woken up by Dan's (my roommate) phone going at 5.30am, his friend having forgotten the time difference. Great start to the day.

It was Kate's birthday today, and decorations had been put up overnight. It was quite a scene, with streamers and balloons and party poppers everywhere. And because the balloons had been blown up at night using cold air, when they heated up in the day, there were regular bangs of the exploding balloons. We just got used to it. At 8pm though, we started our night out, and headed into town to celebrate Kate's 30th. I came home at 1am, just not really feeling it anymore, and sat down to watch the rugby online. Then there was an infernal banging, and Etienne, who had come home shortly before me, was crashing about in the bathroom, taking a shower, completely HAMMERED. I knocked on the door, and was answered by a stark naked Etienne standing in the shower, slurring to his heart's content, saying that he was fine. By this time, Virginie had woken up and was demanding to know what was going on. It was a mess. I told him to dry off and go to bed, and he did that, with a couple more appearances before disappearing for good.

Only 20 mins after that, all the girls came home, and they had had a time of it. Elizabetta aka Italiano (a small, fiery italian girl, with suspected links to the sicilian mafia) had got into a fight outside the club we'd been at, and Antonia and Gemma had had to step in and defend her. Apparently, the riot police had turned up in full gear and had threatened to deport Elizabetta as a result of her violent actions, kicking people, biting bouncers, allsorts. It was a hell of a story, I couldn't believe all this had happened in the hour since I'd left. I spent another hour hearing all about it and trying to calm tempers, and eventually the girls all went to bed.

So I'm sitting here now, just about to watch the England vs. France rugby match at 4am, and thank god I have managed to get some peace!! I didn't mind being talked at through the Italy/Wales match, but if they'd tried to talk to me through this one, I would not have been happy! It's about to kick off, so I'll see you all later. Let me know what's new with you all! Bye!! xxxxxxxxxxx

My First Weekend in My New House

jtmoughton — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:01:00 GMT

I moved in on the Thursday, and Dom, whose place I'm taking in the house, took me round the area a bit for some lunch etc. We were sitting outside a particular pub, when Libby and Jess, the girls from Perth who I keep running into, sat down at our table all of a sudden! We stayed in the pub talking to them for about an hour, before we went different ways for lunch, arranging to meet up for dinner. Dom and I carried on walking round, then headed back to the house for a bit. Dom had to head out pretty soon after, and at 5 o clock I went to meet up with the girls for dinner.

Just as I was getting to their hostel, I heard my name being called, looked round, and there were the 3 Canadians from the first week in Oz, Ronny, Benny and George. It was crazy to see them here, such a small world, and after catching up with them a bit, the girls and I headed out for dinner, to a place called "Lentil As Anything". Now Angela and Chris, you would have LOVED this place. It was a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, where you paid what you thought the meal was worth. This stemmed from when artists would go for ages without selling a painting, and they would eat for free at this place, then when they sold a painting, they would pay more to make it up. The food was actually REALLY good, I had no idea vegan food could taste so good. We went back to their hostel pub, and had a quick drink before Libby had to catch a flight back to Perth to get her tonsils out, and I went home.

The next day, I spent the day with Jess, walking round St Kilda handing out CVs. We had lunch again at the vegan place (seriously, the food was that good) and carried on handing out CVs. Later on, Jess had to go back cos she was having dinner with a friend, and I went back to the house and spent the evening watching films with my housemates.

Saturday, nothing much happened, until the evening. Well, my new roommate moved in, an Irish guy called Dan. The house was going out to say bye to Dom and Chad (the one Dan replaced) that night, and I joined them. I had arranged to meet Mitch, Bec and Neal later on as well, but they weren't coming into town for a while, so I spent some time with the house. But when they did come in, I went to meet them. Another of Mitch's friends was there, Matt, and we went to a club his friend was DJing at. It cost me $20 to get in!! I couldn't believe it! I had $60 dollars for the night, and it cost me $20 to get in!! So Matt bought me drinks at that club to make up for it.

We moved on to another club, in the city, and whilst queueing up for it, Matt, Neal and I got refused for being OVERdressed!! Unbelieveable! Never have I been refused for being overdressed! Apparently wearing a shirt was too smart for an alternative/middle (wtf is middle?) club, so we got bounced! Mitch and Bec had just got in though, so they got a refund and came out to join us.

Onto another bar, where a wedding aprty had ended up, and the groom had lucked out on his bride! One of the geekiest guys I've seen, big glasses and everything, had managed to score a pretty hot wife. After that bar though, we went to the casino, (this at about 2.30am) and spent a while there. 3 hours to be exact. We stayed at a blackjack table, and I had to watch a while to figure out how to bet (it's so different to just playing with your friends, it's weird) before I sat down and started up. Mitch and Bec went home pretty quickly, decided to call it a night, whilst the 3 of us stayed at the table. We all won money by the end, me starting with $20 and finishing with $100, enough to cover my night and some, so I was pretty happy!! So at 5.30am, we got a KFC breakfast, and jumped in a cab back home cos the trams hadn't started running again.

I got into bed around 6.30, and woke up at 10.30 to start the new day. It's not my fault, I just can't sleep very long in the mornings!! I stayed in until the afternoon, when I went out with a few housemates to the St Kilda Festival that was on. All the live music was free, but the carnival section was so expensive. There was a stunt biking demonstration, with a team of 3 doing these crazy jumps and backflips off a ramp and landing on a lorry which had a ramp down the back!! It was so cool, absolutely awesome stunts. I did go back for a bit, to get some dinner, and then later on I went back out for the last couple of acts on the main stage. I met up with Jess and a friend of hers and we went to see Muscles, the final artist. It was such a good gig, the crowd atmosphere was insane. Listen to him if you can, its great stuff. After that though, we went our separate ways, saying bye to Jess and her friend as they were going back to WA in the next couple of days to go back to uni. I'll meet up with them when I go over to WA later in the year.

I just went back home and watched another film with my housemates before bed. Today I amr esuming my search for a job. I need to find one soon, as the money will only last another couple of weeks!! Hope you are all well back home, love to everyone!! xxxxx

Living In The 'Burbs

jtmoughton — Wed, 9 Feb 2011 20:21:00 GMT

The sharehouses I saw on Monday night were awful. About 30/40 people between 8 or 9 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Not good. Too much like hostel living for me. So that was a no go.

I ended up moving in with Karen and family on Tuesday, which is out in the eastern suburbs. Went to watch Mitch play basketball that night, and the team thrashed the opposition 81-19. I think I'm the good luck charm, cos they've played 2 matches since and whipped the other teams. Didn't do too much on Wednesday, had a look at another couple of places on the net and had a look round, nothing really going. Thursday was the same, but in the evening I went for dinner with Linda and Mario and met Linda's 2 sons.

On Friday, I found a job opening in the local shopping centre, Knox, and sent my CV in, and then ended up going to Knox with Mitch and his girlfriend Bec in the afternoon, where I bought a pair of trainers and found another job opening in the shoe store, which looked promising. So on Saturday, I gave the shoe store my CV, and kind of halted my house-hunt there, waiting for replies. The next few days I spent doing not very much, just watching films, which was a mistake, because I got very bored whilst everyone was at work. We went out on Saturday night, Mitch, Bec, Neal and I, into Melbourne and had a good time, but I was shocked by the $80 cab ride home!!

On Tuesday night, I got the nudge that I needed from Steve, talking about how the suburbs weren't the place for a gap year traveller, and that I was wasting my time here. He was right. I'd settled in way too much and lost focus, so today, I spent the day looking for places to live, with lots of Bec's help and company (it was good to finally have someone around during the day!)and she drove me into the city to have a look round a couple of places on her way home.

The first place was a bit messy on the outside, there had been a bit of flood damage, but once we got in it wasn't too bad. The stairs needed a bit of a hoover, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad. The second however, was pretty awful. The second you stepped in the house, there was an TERRIBLE smell, it just hit you like a wave, and we couldn't wait to high tail it outta there! So as soon as we were gone, I phoned up the first place and said "Yes please!", and I'm now moving in tomorrow! It's a 4 bedroom place, with 2 in a room, and a brilliant location right in the middle of the apparently infamous Chapel St, where there should be plenty of jobs, and it's a better environment for me to be in. So this time tomorrow, I will be in my first houseshare!! Catch you later guys xxxxxxxx

Yarroweyah, Australia Day, and Back to Melbourne

jtmoughton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:11:00 GMT

On Tuesday, I got up fairly early to get a train/coach up to Norma and Frank's, which was a 3 and a half hour journey, during which time I managed to finish the book I've been reading. Got in to Yarroweyah around 1.30, and spent the rest of the day talking to Norma and Frank and watching the tennis, before their daughter Marlo (my second cousin) came over to dinner with her 2 kids, Jess, 19, and Kade, 14, (who happens to have the same birthday as me!!). We had a good dinner, just chatting. Anthony, Marlo's husband, came over after he finished work, and then a bit later they all had to go home.

The next day was Australia Day, one of their public holidays, and it started off going for a 25km bike ride with Frank, during which time I managed to ride his $2000 racing bike into a fence, just after he told me how much it cost! Twisted the wheel, but luckily no other damage, and a twisted wheel is easy to fix, so it was all good. After that, Marlo, took me up to the river where Dylan, a friend of theirs who co-owns a boat with Anthony, was on the water with his kids doing knee-boarding and ring riding behind the boat. I got started on the ring first, coming off a few times, then they set me up with knee-boarding, like wakeboarding but on your knees. The first few times, just came straight off, much to the amusement of the spectators, but after that, I actually started getting up, which I was really pleased with. It is such good fun when you can do it, but its so tough on your forearms! I was told that they would ache for the next couple of days, and by god were they right! Couldn't lift anything up properly at all.

After kneeboarding though, we went back to Dylan's house, where we started up a BBQ and got a few beers in by the pool. It was good fun, and I ended up spending the whole afternoon/evening there, and got yet ANOTHER BBQ in the evening! First time I've ever had 2 in one day! I had a good time and ended up spending the night at Marlo's house.

The next morning, Jess came round for a cuppa (she hadn't made it to the BBQ's the day before) during which time my forearm cramped up leaving my index finger in a hook shape that I couldn't move for a while, and then she had to go back to work at the petrol station that they own. Marlo drove me back to Norma and Frank's where I had a shower and packed my stuff up, and then watched some more tennis before I had to leave to get the bus back to the station and then back to Melbourne. Waiting for the bus was the worst part, the flies are just unbearable! They just don't leave you alone!!

Not much to say about Thursday night, or Friday and Saturday, just spent the days either in Melbourne looking for places to live, or back at the flat watching TV. I did go to see a place on Saturday night though, but it was a bit far out, took ages to get there, and it was also pretty dingy. Had a lovely brown and yellow colour scheme! Gave that one a miss.

Sunday, however, was a different story. It was supposed to get up to 40 degrees today. Got the trams over to Laura's house, where we drove down to Keenan's place in Rye, about an hour's drive away. After we got there, (and with Bobbie not hungover this time!) we went out to the beach with his jetski, which happens to have the same size engine as my car, and we spent the 40 degree day at the beach being towed around on a rubber ring behind the jetski! It was pretty awesome, and I even got to try wakeboarding behind it a bit later on. Didn't manage to get up though, it was so frustrating. It's so difficult to do, and I spent ages trying, but eventually packed it in. We headed back to Keenan's where we had a BBQ for dinner, and also played a bit of garden cricket with his son. We stayed the night at Keenan's, and I slept on a mattress on the living room floor, getting bitten to death by mosquitoes! Did manage to watch the last few games of the tennis, which we'd been watching on and off (same with the cricket), and unfortunately saw Murray lose it in straight sets, on top of England losing the cricket miserably, as well as losing the series! Not a good night for British sport!

Got up early this morning, and drove into work with Laura, where I can use a computer for free!(Instead of having to pay $1 for every 15mins at an internet cafe). So I spent the morning doing more house-hunting, and as a result I'm due to go and see a couple of sharehouses in St Kilda this evening, so hopefully something comes good from those! See you all later xxx

Family in/around Melbourne

jtmoughton — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:20:00 GMT

Headed down to Lang Lang on the train on Thursday evening to go and visit the cousins that live down there. Spent the evening with Dougie and Adie (for those who don't know names, I'm sorry, I'm using them for the benefit of family that know who I'm on about) catching up on stuff and just generally chatting and planning the next couple of days. Not really a lot to tell you about Thursday.

The next day was a bit more pro-active. Had a bit of a lazy morning, but after a bit of lunch, I headed over to Meaghan's and spent a while talking to her and the kids about all sorts. Dougie swung by a bit later on, and we headed into Koo Wee Rup to get a load of meat from the butchers he works at for a BBQ that evening. Went back to Lang Lang and spent a while catching up on emails and facebook etc. before going over to Brooke's for a BBQ, where I halved my age and jumped in the pool, having a whale of a time with the kids, including Brooke's boyfriend's (Matt) son Riley. Got out to eat, then went straight back in, and ended up staying til 1am with a few of Brooke and Matt's friends just having a good laugh. Meaghan's family and Dougie and Adie had gone home already cos it was getting late and cold.

The next day, Dougie and I headed over to Andrew and Dee's as they hadn't made it to the BBQ. Turns out Andrew had dropped a 70kg sleeper on his ankle at work and literally couldn't walk. It was good to catch up with them, and Dee's family came over too, so it was nice to meet them. We lost track of time, and got called back to Dougie's as I was due to be picked up from there by Matt and Brooke in order to go to the cricket at the MCG. It was just an interstate T20 game, Victoria vs. NSW, and Victoria lost pretty heavily. It was a good night out though, and it was great to actually go to the MCG for cricket! Matt has spent the last few years running pubs, so has a few contacts that might be able to get me a job, so he's taking my phone number and I'm just hoping now!

On Sunday, I was supposed to be going jetskiing with Laura and her friends, but one (Bobbie) was too hungover to do ANYTHING (seriously, she was still throwing up at 5pm) so Laura picked me up at lunchtime, we headed out to lunch, then went to the beach at St Kilda with Boobie and another friend Keenan. I've been promised jetskiing next Sunday though!! Just chilled out there for a bit and then went back to Laura's place. It's a really nice place, and one of her flatmates is really techy, so we had some fun on the Xbox Kinect system (I tell you, it's so energetic!) before going back to Bobbie's for dinner (she was feeling a bit better now) to watch a film. We ended up watching "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", a great film, watch it if you can. Slept on her couch for the night and then we drove in to work on Monday morning.

Spent the morning at Steve, Karen and Laura's office, looking for houses and jobs etc. and in the afternoon, Steve and Karen took me out to lunch to the Dandenong mountain range. Mum - drove past a restaurant Karen said you might remember, the Cuckoo. After lunch we had a walk into Sherbrooke Forest, and then went to Sky High Lookout for afternoon tea. We went back to the office for a bit afterwards (where I am now) and I will be having dinner with all the Camms and possibly Linda if she makes it. Heading to Norma and Franks tomorrow, so will keep you posted from there. xxx

Yvette - Caroline doesn't have internet at her house, she's never there to use it! I will hopefully have found a place by next Saturday (when I think I need to move out by), but if not I can possibly crash at Laura's or Steve and Karen's for a few days whilst I find somewhere. I'm trying to arrange a few viewings of possible places for Friday, but no-ones got back to me yet. Caroline's is pretty much a base to work from, yeah! xxx

Allan - Yeah, there have been some great nights out! I am doing a lot of clubbing, it's good fun :) It is good to chill with friends and family now, but I will be back working soon cos the money won't last that long! I'll try and sort out a postcard once I get settled somewhere, just keeping reminding me! ;)

Maggie, Airlie, Melbourne

jtmoughton — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:52:00 GMT

Been a while since I could get internet access, so settle in for a long(ish) one!

And just so everyone knows who's been asking my parents, I am absolutely safe and unaffected by the floods in Australia, except that they have changed my plans a bit, but otherwise I'm fine. Thank you for your concern though.

So, turns out we were too young to hire a car on Maggie, so I spent the day by the pool chatting to people from my room and the 2 Aussies I was telling you about earlier. Also ended up helping an English guy (who works at the dive centre) with his stress and rescue dive training in the pool, which was good fun, pretending I was drowning, getting saved, and also getting to bash him around a bit to make it realistic!! Only drawbacks were that I got a rash from the dive gear (hadn't used a stinger suit this time as it was only the pool) and I spent 2 hours in there with no suncream on, got out and lounged around in the sun for another hour or so, still no suncream, and got severely burnt shoulders and chest. I'm still peeling now, and its nowhere near finished!! It was absolutely stupid, and I've learnt my lesson, but it just hadn't occurred to me. Stayed out of the sun the next few days, with t-shirt and shade coming into play. I will NOT be doing that again!

The next day, we went for our fun dives out on the reef, and it was pretty cool (except putting the gear onto my very burnt shoulders - SO PAINFUL). Ears weren't too bad this time. All the others managed to see a turtle, twice! But I managed to miss it both times, just my luck, eh! That night, it was boozy bingo night at the bar, which was actually the best night there. Had a table of the people in my room, and we definitely managed to clean up on the free drinks prizes! Was a great night, with many a funny story attached, but it won't be the same unless I tell them in person, so I'll save it. I will tell you that for certain reasons, I did end up dancing with my shorts round my ankles for about 30 seconds, and it was well documented with photos. Enjoy that image!

Wednesday consisted of going for a dive medical, despite already having done the dive course, but in order to be certified, I had to get it done. There was a lot of waiting around, but eventually it got done! Headed back to the hostel, but got soooo bored! They have nothing to do there, no TV room or anything, and due to my burn, I had to stay in the shade. Ended up playing quite a few rounds of pool with the dive crew, who could get the key to the tables and play for free, so that passed some time. There was nothing special on that evening, just sat drinking and chatting with some room mates, and then went to bed.

Was up early next morning, had to get my stuff together, check out and go get the ferry in order to get my bus down to Airlie Beach. Slept a bit on the trip, and was reunited with an Ozintro friend, and then got into Airlie. This is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, where all the sailing tours go from. I didn't do one, but I will do when I come back up to Airlie in a few months. As part of the bus we were on, there was free beer that night at one of the bars, got 4 jugs between 5 of us, which was unexpected! But had a good time with the people from the bus. The problem with Airlie is that there isn't much to do if you're not doing a sailing tour, and the only reason I was there was to kill time before my flight in 3 days time. So I got pretty bored. Mostly spent my time reading really. Just as well I have a 1100 page book.

On the third night though, I went out with a few people from my room, and the German girls from Maggie that I'd run into. It's weird how you keep running into people, we also saw the 2 Aussie girls from Mission Beach later that night, and the Irish couple I'd met on Maggie. It was a good night, and ended at 3 in the morning.

Next morning though, had to wake up to check out and get the bus down to Mackay airport to fly to Melbourne. Guess who was there? The Aussie girls, and the Canadian girls from the bus to Mission Beach! So we all went down on the greyhound, to get to the airport 5 hours early for our flights (only bus time available). So we'd been at the airport for about 2 hours, chatting away, passing the time, talking to some firemen from Brisbane who had been up helping witht he floods and were no going back down to help out their own area, when all of a sudden, a tannoy came over saying that the plane we were supposed to be getting down to Melbourne had been delayed - BY 7 HOURS. Great. So while the Aussies flew to Brisbane in a few hours, I would still be stuck here for another 7 hours. Once the Aussies had gone, I was sitting with the Canadians, also going to Melbourne, and ended up taking out my sleeping bag and kipping down on the floor of the airport for 2 hours. Not the most comfortable, but I've slept in worse places - mainly toilet floors.

Eventually though, we got down to Melbourne, and from there I went to Caroline's (mums friend) work to pick up her house keys. She's kindly agreed to put me up for a week or 2. Got the tram down to Port Melbourne, and walked the 5 minutes to her flat. Turned the corner and had to double check I had the right address. She lives in such an awesome building, it is so nice from the outside. And even nicer on the inside. I walked into her flat and just went "wow". It is so clean and well furnished in there, it makes such a nice change to hostel life. Had a shower and tried putting a DVD on, but felt myself falling asleep, having had only 2 hours the previous night, so took myself off to bed.

After buying and cooking my dinner, I settled down to the TV, until Caroline came back from being out to dinner, and I went to bed again. Slept for a full 10 hours as well, which is unheard of for me!

Had a very lazy day yesterday, just watched TV all day, and had another good sleep last night. I'm being a bit more productive today and have come into the city to do this and sort out trains and stuff, as I will be heading out to visit cousins in the next 2 weeks (Mum and Dad - heading to Koo Wee Rup tomorrow, coming back Saturday with Brooke and family to go to the MCG to see one of the T20 games hopefully! Will sort out going to Norma and Frank today, and Karen too).

So that's me for now, sorry it's been a while. Let me know what you are all up to back home, please! xxxxxx

Allan - I had England painted on my face, I've ended up just telling people I'm English when I first meet them, it matches my accent. There wasn't much banter, the night was actually pretty awful, they didn't organise it properly. I am offically a certified Open Water Diver, and as a result I'm allowed to dive to 18m. I did get a proper card and stuff, but the photo is TERRIBLE. Athens 04 is a good game too, it's a suitable replacement! Hahaha, really? How do you know? Or was it just how he sounded? The germans spoke very good English actually, and yeah, it's incredible how many places I've been offered to visit and stay with people, eg. Canada, Germany, Western Australia, Holland, all sorts! Cheers for the comments mate, I wish more people would do the same :) hope alls good with you, and yes, I am still loving it! ;) xx

Maggie Island

jtmoughton — Sun, 9 Jan 2011 17:31:00 GMT

I've been on Maggie (Magnetic Island) now for 2 nights, and I wish I'd missed out Mission Beach. I did absolutely nothing special except sit and watch cricket all day in the only air con room, the TV room. Great result for England, but I wish I hadn't spent $46 for it. Especially given that I was in a 10-share that had no aircon - was absolutely steaming all night long!

So now I'm on Maggie, and I've finished my scuba diving course. Only took 2 days, instead of the 4 that I thought it would, and I'm now just chilling out for the next couple of days. Spent the first night at the pub chatting to people from the bus down to Mission, and also with people from my bus to Maggie. It was a pretty good night, got to catch up with everyone from the first bus. Last night, again, at the bar, where Bar Olympics was being played, so a lot of people got their flags painted on their faces, me included, and joined in. Except that there wasn't much to join in with. The first game, limbo, lasted all of 5 minutes, and I was first in line, and straight away went out :( bad times, didn't do England as proud as the cricket team unfortunately. The second and final game of the night was an hour or so later, and it was musical chairs. I didn't do very well in that either.

Inbetween the "Olympics", I was spending the night chatting to a couple of girls I'd met in Mission. One of them called Jess, an Aussie, is 6'2"!! Same height as me! Couldn't believe it! Libby, the other, is from England originally and emigrated to Oz 4 years ago and goes to uni here. She turned traitor last night, deciding to go green and gold not red and white, so there was a fair bit of abuse from me. There was the most spectacular lightning show on though, this electrical storm in the distance was just incredible to watch, and we spent quite a while transfixed by that. Managed to get some video before my camera died, so I'll try to get it on facebook or something.

Today was just more dive stuff. There's a fair bit of theory to do, but a couple of dives in the afternoon, so it wasn't all 'head in book' stuff. I did actually get homework last night as well! Wasn't expecting that, but I was true to form (and WELL practised in this art) and did it this morning just before class began! In fact, I didn't even get it finished, but it was all cool! The reef out here is alright, but nowhere near as good as the Great Barrier Reef was when we came out here in August. It's a good place to do the course though, the cheapest by far because you just walk into the sea from the beach, no getting on a boat. It does hurt my ears though, diving, takes me quite a while to actually get down, but once I'm down it's fine.

Tomorrow I'm going to rent a car with the 2 German girls from the dive course and have a drive round the island. It's supposed to be really good, with wild koalas sitting in trees. The scenery from the resort is amazing anyway, massive horizon views of the other islands around, so it bodes well for the rest of the island.

After Maggie though, instead of heading down the coast some more, I'm going to Airlie Beach, the next bus stop down, and getting a plane down to Melbourne. The floods have really got in the way, so I've decided to give them a miss and come back in a couple of months when the floodwaters have receded. The bus won't run any further than Airlie Beach anyway, so I'm kind of forced to go elsewhere. I'll hopefully be staying with family and friends in Melbourne for a bit, at least until I can get a job and a place of my own, and for those down in and around Melbourne reading this, I'll be coming to visit you soon! That's about it from me, so until the next post, bye!! xxx

Maddy - I am having fun! The fruit picking was hard, yes, but I'm so glad I did it. It's all part of the experience, hey! I heard about the dancing, I'm kind of glad I didn't have to witness it to be honest :P It is awesome here, but study hard for your exams and then you'll get your time. Good luck with it all, I hope you get the results your hoping for. Head down for just a bit longer, and then you can have the time of your life!! xxx

Allan - The jungle surfing was pretty cool, you're right. Unfortunately, there aren't many Aussies around, but when I do find a few, I take every opportunity to make an Ashes related joke and rub it in! I'm having a great time mate, it's so cruisy here, I love it! What's new with you?

On The Road Again

jtmoughton — Wed, 5 Jan 2011 15:01:00 GMT

Hey everyone, hope you had a fantastic New Years, I know I did! We spent the night in Gilligan's in Cairns, all 11 of the people who had come down from the lodge, and had a great time. Spent New Years Day with a bit of a headache mind, but still managed to do stuff. After kicking around the hostel, trying to wake up, a few of us headed to Cairns lagoon, the outdoor public pool, where we got a nice big McDonald's for breakfast, just what a hangover needs! After that, someone bought a beachball, and we spent a good 4-5 hours in the lagoon just mucking around, until everyone was told to get out the pool. This was because of a storm on the way, and lightning and people in water don't mix very well.

We headed back to the hostel, where the general opinion was to go and see a movie, so whilst a couple of the girls went to see Little Fockers, all the boys went sci-fi and saw Tron. Good choice. It's such a good film, if you go to the cinema, make sure you watch it!! Absolutely awesome, I'm telling you!

After that, we headed back out to Gilligans for the night, and had yet another late one, going on until it closed, and went back to the rooms. When we woke up, it was time for one of the cars to go back to the lodge, but it left so quickly I didn't have time to say my goodbyes! Had to resort to texting and calling. The rest of us walked to Gilligans and waited for Johnny to bring the other car round, which took the best part of a couple of hours, due to him sleeping off the night. But when it finally came, I said my goodbyes to the rest of them and they drove off, with a questionnably sober driver! Wasn't able to check in to Gilligans for ages though, so just rested up on one of the couches unitl 2pm.

When I finally did check in, I got talking to a couple of English guys in my room who had just been in Melbourne for the cricket, and we decided to go and get dinner after a bit of a nap. It turned out to be a 3 hour nap though, which I desperately needed after the night before! So off we went for dinner and a few drinks, before I headed to bed for my early start to Cape Tribulation the next morning.

Got picked up at 7.15am for Cape Trib, and we had a great tour guide named Fraser, who took us to a wildlife park where we saw some koalas, crocodiles, and got to feed kangaroos and wallabies. Afterwards, we went up to a place called Mossman Gorge, and had a bit of a tour round some surrounding rainforest before going for a swim in the river, which we all needed due to the heat and humidity. Had a couple of swimming challenges set against the current, which was pretty strong, and then went off to Cape Trib itself, where I got settled into my room in a lodge. Had to grab some food from the supermarket first, which was bloody expensive, and then went for some dinner with the other 3 who were staying overnight. Managed to get a free pizza which was a stroke of luck, so that was me set for 2 meals!

In the morning, I went jungle surifng, which was a series of ziplines stretched across the trees in the Daintree Rainforest, and had some fantastic views, and some interesting experiences, most notably licking an ants backside. Yes you heard me right, I have in fact licked an ant's arse. Turns out, the green tree ants that you get in the tropics have pure ascorbic acid (vitamin c) in their bums, and it kind of tasted like lime. Something I never thought I'd do anyway!!

Spent the rest of the day in the lodge watching the cricket until the bus came and picked me up at 4pm to take me back to Cairns. Once back in Cairns, I went for my free meal, and then had to start doing some research about how the floods would affect my trip, and so plans have changed pretty drastically. Turns out I would miss half of my bus pass, which I'm not going to do, so the plan now is to fly out to Melbourne from the Whitsunday Islands in about a week and a halfs time, and then come back up when the waters cleared and restart.

Another early start this morning, was due to be at the pick up point for my bus down the coast at 7am, so what did I do? Woke up at 6:53. I had 7 minutes to throw on clothes, grab my stuff, check out and get to the bus point, which I managed to do with a minute to spare, and I have no idea how!! Sod's law, the bus was late, so I had some time to change the shirt I had been wearing yesterday and freshen myself up a little bit, before getting on the bus and heading down the coast, met some canadians and some other english people on there, and we had a pretty good time, stopping at a place called Babinda gorge, which was a beautiful river and rocks (I had to brush my teeth in the toilet beforehand though), and then moved on. The guide was pretty good, giving us some interesting facts, and we stopped off at a crocodile farm for a while, where we got to hold a baby croc, a carpet python and a black cockatoo before going to watch the crocs get fed. They were monstrous, and I've got some crazy footage of the keeper feeding them, its just insane! They were all over 4m long, one even reaching close to 5m!! Unbelieveable animals! We also got to feed more kangaroos, and pat a dingo (tame obviously, and on a lead) and then see some cassowaries (the most dangerous birds in the world, look them up) before getting back on the bus and heading to Mission Beach. I was the only one getting off at MB, the rest were going to Magnetic Island, and I'm now sitting in the hostel, about to go and cool off in the pool and lie in the sun!! I'll leave you with that thought to drive you crazy with jealousy, and I'll post next from Maggie where I'm going to in 2 days to do scuba diving. See you later! xxxxx

The Lead Up to Christmas

jtmoughton — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:53:00 GMT

Ok, so it's been a long time since I last posted, sorry about that, I've been very busy! So settle down and make a cup of tea, this could be a long one!

Turns out I was picking pumpkins, not watermelons, but they are essentially the same. And Elodie, the way you go about picking them is from the ground, with vines growing out the tops of them, and you cut the vines, pick up the pumpkin and throw it from person to person along the line until the person nearest the tractor trailer puts them in big container bins. I only got an hour and a halfs work from that, due to rain setting in, but it was good, cos we got the rest of the day off. A few of us went to a nearby lake, Lake Eacham, and the driver (an aussie, Nathan) knew about a pretty cool part of the lake. He took us 5 minutes up a path, and then down through the trees a bit to the lakeside, where there were 2 trees that we could jump from into the lake. The small one was about 7 metres high, the big one about 15 metres, and we went to the big one first. It was pretty damn scary, climbing out onto the branch over the bank, and the worst thing was that I was directly above the bank when I had to start the jump, so I could see all the branches and stuff in the water below me. I was first off, and it took 20 minutes just to have the courage to jump, I was so scared!! Nathan promised that the water was deep enough, but because I could see the bank, it just didn't seem true! Eventually, I took the plunge and jumped, and it was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done! But once I got in the water, I came to the surface wooping so much, absolutely pumped full of adrenaline! We also did the smaller tree, but it was nothing compared to the big one, which looked even bigger from below than it did from the tree.

The next day, I was back at the good farm, just Yuvi (another Australian) and I this time, and we were cutting down dragonfruit plants (kind of like a long thin cactus growing up a pole) with a massive machete, which funnily enough, really appealed to me! We had to go back the next day too, planting cuttings of another variety of dragonfruit in the place of the ones we'd cut down. It was good to get more work from them, but after those 2 days, there was nothing more. Yuvi and I had a day off the next day, and we went back to the lake with some other people, jumping out the trees again (this time I was the only one who did the big one).

On the Friday however, we were rostered to a new farm, another mango farm, picking by hand this time, that was an hours drive from the lodge, and with a 6.30am start, that meant waking up at 4am. An absolute killer. Only we turned up at 6.00, to find that work had been postponed to 9am, but we hadn't been told. We couldn't believe it. When we eventually did, start, it was a very long and hard day, half an hour for lunch, and no breaks, finishing at 6.30. We did get small breaks when the water in the machines had to be changed, so it did even out a bit, but it was still a long hard day. We got back to the lodge at close to 8pm, which didn't really give us time to do very much before going to bed for max. 6 hours sleep. When we got back though, Laura and Helen, our friends from Sydney, had arrived at the lodge, and I spent a long time that evening catching up with them. It was so good to see them again, and they were pleased to see us as well, and we spent the night jsut drinking and talking about what we'd been doing for the last month and a half. The next morning, we woke up again, and on getting to work we found yet ANOTHER 3 hour delay because the chain of communications had broken down. We were so annoyed, but we dutifully did our work and went home again, this time in a hire car that was provided by the farm. It was a big 8-seater 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser, 4.5 litre engine, and I volunteered to drive it for the next 3 days to get people to and from work. It is without doubt the biggest thing I've ever driven, and I had such a hard time parking it! It was so wide, but I eventually got used to it.

Whilst driving to and from work every day, I was almost hitting about 3 wallabies every journey, because they kept jumping in front of the car just as it went past. They are really stupid animals in that way, and one even had a staring contest with me in the middle of the road, making me slow down almost to a stop, before jumping out the way. Dead wallabies are a regular occurence on the roads, in some places there were 5 in a 200m stretch.

We spent 5 days at that farm in total before stopping on the 22nd for christmas, absolutely knackered and grateful for the rest, and on christmas eve, Jonny (a Geordie at the lodge) and I went to the butchers and the off licence to stock up on meat and beer for the christmas period. I bought, a 300g rump steak, 3 big pork and rosemary sausages, and 4 prok ribs for my food, more than a kilo of meat, and put it in the fridge ready for christmas. On christmas eve, most of the people left at the hostel, the ones who hadn't gone to Cairns, spent until about 3am jsut drinking, playing games, Jonny pulled out his guitar and we had some songs, generally just having a really good night together in the absence of our normal friends and family, and it was a lot better than I had expected.

On christmas morning, a few people who had hired a car and w3ere soending the day away from the lodge had a spare seat which they offered me, and we all spent the day driving to a couple of different waterfalls in the country. Due to the ridiculously heavy rain here at the moment, a lot of rivers were in flood, and a few roads were closed because the ford was completetly flooded. We went down the closed road to see the flood at one particular place, and the water was raging across the road. It only like about 20cm of water, but the road must have dipped away sharply, because the depth indicator at the bootom of the dip was showing 1.2m deep! We coouldn't believe it, but we took some pictures and headed to the falls. The waterfalls were all in flood as well, and the quantity of water was incredible, not to mention the noise!

After the falls, we headed back to Lake Eacham, (my third time, the others' first) and I showed them the trees we could jump out of. I decided not to do the big tree this time, and in the late afternoon we headed back to the lodge, where I got the barbecue going and cooked all my meat. It was such a good meal, just meat and beer, and we had another night like christmas eve. It was a good night, but obviously it was no match for being at home. I skyped my family at 1 in the morning, 3pm back home, and spoke to my cousins and grandparents that were round at the time, which was really nice and probably made christmas for me. All in all, christmas was a much better time than I thought it would be.

Boxing day was a very boring day, no-one did very much, and I just spent the day watching the cricket, and watching England destroy Australia (come on!!!), but on the 27th, I was back to working on the mango farm. I was given the keys to the lodge minibus to drive everyone to work, and JOnny and I shared the driving. It was another long day, 6.30-6.00, and I have started to develop mango rash, heat rash, sweat rash and all sorts on my neck, stomach and legs, so I have taken the day off today and will probably take the day off tomorrow. I am currently watching the cricket again, and also booking some things for when I leave here, but just relaxing and recuperating. I am absolutely kanckered, and I'm so glad I'm leaving the lodge soon, as I can't take much more of this.

Which leads me on to my plans for the future. I know, what I've said here is completely different to what I've said before about my plans, but things have changed so many times now that I've lost count. However, I can DEFINITELY say now that I WILL be leaving the lodge on the 31st December, to spend new years eve in Cairns, and from there I will be travelling down the East Coast with the money I've saved, doing various things like the rainforest trip to Cape Tribualtion (booked to start on the 3rd January) and the scuba diving at Magnetic Island and lots of other things which I will let you know about when I've done them, but the main point is, I will no longer be working on farms, yay! I will start to REALLY enjoy myself again, which I am looking forward to, this time travelling on my own as Trevor, Shaun, Helen and Laura are all staying at the lodge, and I should be in Melbourne by about mid-February to see the family I have out here, and probably get a job in Melbourne for a couple of months.

So you are now fully caught up on the last couple of weeks! Sorry for such a long blog, I really will try to keep updating you all regularly. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, I'm so jealous, and have a very happy new year, I wish I was there to enjoy it with you!!

Joe - I'm the 6'2" martial artist. And I don't know what the will willies are, let alone if i'm going to be affected. Im in Tolga, Queensland, maybe you can let me know if I will be affected.

Sheena - You'd love skydiving, you really would! I wish I'd been at Maddy's to see the dancing, I really do, but I'm glad she had a good time. Have a great new years! xxx

El - Don't worry about the comments, you've had a very good reason! Hope uni is going well and not too stressful. I'm so jealous of you, I want to be home to go to the crown so so badly! I'm missing everyone so much! And I haven't seen Claire in ages, how is she? I'm going red and tanned, red on the neck, tanned everywhere else. There are no pics, I haven't used the camera the whole time I've been at the lodge, but once I start travelling again, I will be sure to bring it out of storage :) As for Zack, I'm so jealous of skiing, that's where I want to be now! The lack of snow has made christmas feel really alien, it just hasn't been christmas if you know what I mean, and skiing would absolutely make up for it! As for the stories, you WILL hear all about them, but they aren't as juicy as you seem to think they might be - yet, haha! Have a great new year with everyone, and have a drink for me when you're there! xxxxxxx

Tolga

jtmoughton — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:35:00 GMT

Still here in Tolga, doing my fruit picking. I managed to get away from the series of grumpy farmers and have a day off in Atherton, where Gareth (a kiwi who is here as well) and I spent the day just relaxing away from the hostel. There's not much to do at the hostel, so the day was spent gambling on the horses and dogs! We never put major bets on, only a dollar here and there, and after a few good wins and a few losses, and a lucky 7 dollar win on a poker machine in a pub, I was only 3 dollars down for the day, which I didn't mind, because I had a good time.

The next day, I was working again, this time packing potatoes in the shed (so I was out of the sun) for a good farm that don't treat you like dirt, and I've spent the last 5 days there. To give you an idea of what I was doing, I was sorting potatoes for the most part, taking the bigger potatoes out of the small channel, and if you've ever seen Men In Black 2, imagine the alien in the post office sorting the mail, and I was pretty much like that!! Arms flailing around all day long! It's boring stuff, but the fact that the farmers are nice people made it bearable. I finished up there today, but they want me and another guy back on Wednesday to start picking some dragonfruit, which is pretty cool.

On Saturday night, the 3 of us went to the pub with a few girls from the hostel, and almost got in a fight! It was pretty funny, this Aussie who was no more than 20 was really drunk and was dancing with one of the girls, who then started dancing with us as well, and the guy seemed to think that made her a slut! So he started mouthing off to her, and when the boys stepped in, it was clear he wanted a fight, but Trevor went over to the barman, and got the guy thrown out. He hung around for a bit staring at us through the window, but ended up getting bored and going away. It was quite funny, cos the guy was about 5'8" and fairly slender, and his cousin, a bit older and a bit stockier was even shorter, and they were looking for a fight with a 6' glaswegian, a 6'2" martial artist, and a 6'4" kickboxer! Who the hell did he think was going to win that one?!

I've been rostered on for watermelon picking tomorrow, which is apparently quite hard work, and not many hours, but I'm quite pleased with that cos I wouldn't have minded a day off anyway. Then I'm back to the good farm ( I forgot to mention, the farmers wife made us lasagne and pie for lunch today, completely free, and delicious as well!) for at least a day, possibly more.

We're leaving the hostel on Christmas Eve, spending christmas day in Cairns, and then going to Cape Tribulation (rainforest) on the 27th and on to Magnetic Island for new year, where there is a thing called a full moon party which should be good fun! Hopefully meeting up with Helen and Laura (girls from our Ozintro group) for new year as well, so it will be good to see them. They are having a pretty miserable time of it at the moment though, they've got work fruit picking as well, but the farmer is a bit of a pervert and they don't really have much choice about where to go. Helen even wants to go home as a result, which is a shame, but hopefully they'll pick up a bit when among friends.

I'll sign off now, but keep letting me know what you're up to, some of you haven't even posted once!! You know who you are! I want to hear from you! Byeee! xxx

Still Fruit Picking.................

jtmoughton — Sun, 5 Dec 2010 19:42:00 GMT

So, the trip has taken a downturn, as I have run very low on money and have been forced to turn to fruit picking. And it sucks. If you can ever avoid it, do, because the farmers are all @#%$&!>" ?<@%$#)!?"@s - in other words, not very nice people!! I've been working mangoes for the last 6 days straight for 9-10 1/2 hours each day, excluding breaks (and I'm due to work at least another 3 more) and the farmers have both had double standards, basically leaving you screwed between a rock and a hard place. They threaten to fire you at every opportunity, and they always shout, never try to ask people to do something different, but just shout at you thinking that it will get results. It doesn't. We jsut drop their mangoes on purpose, ha! The 5 o'clock starts are killing me though, I'm in bed at 9 every night (or try to be) and the hours are just incredibly long, in 37/38 degree heat for most of the day. I've never done anything like it, and it is so hard! I'm just gritting my teeth and thinking of the money to get me through it.

I'm hoping to be here for no longer than 3-4 weeks total, so I've only got another 2/3 weeks left. Christmas will be pretty bad this year, the lodge is miles out, but by New Year I should be at Magnetic Island where they have a full moon party on I think, so that will be fun! A lot more fun than christmas will be, but there we go.

That's pretty much it for now, nothing has really changed and nothing really will for a couple of weeks, but I will keep you posted every week or so. Hope the snow isn't too troublesome for you all, I've seen pictures of Scotland and they have 1ft on the ground. Don't know if it's as bad as that down south though. Leave me comments to let me know how you all are, bye! xxx

Fruit Picking in the Arse End of Nowhere

jtmoughton — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:29:00 GMT

So we made it to the fruit picking hostel, and its not too bad. Bit expensive, but they do find work for you and transport you there, so its alright. All the shops had closed by the time we had checked in, and the nearest supermarket is the next town over, 4km away and there are no buses or taxis so you have to walk. We ended up just catching the takeaway shop before it closed and bought some bread and crisps for breakfast and lunch the next day.

On the first day, I was up at 4.30am to get the bus at 5.10, having had 1 hour's sleep because the guy on top of me snored like a freight train. It was UNBELIEVEABLE how loud this guy is! But I got my 2 slices of bread for breakfast, and we headed out to pick lychees, which is some of the most boring work you could ever do. 6.5 hours of just picking lychees over and over! Then lunch, then 3.5 hours of destemming them. If you buy a lychee product, the chances are that I picked it!! Managed to get back to the hostel for about 6.15, and a dutch guy called Steve and I started the walk to the supermarket. In the middle of a tropical thunderstorm. In the dark, on a road with no pavement and trying to hitch a lift. In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea, but we really needed food! We had absolutely none! A guy picked us up about half a kilometre out. and we spent the next minute or so lying down in the back of a ute with the umbrella over us keeping the rain off.

We got our food and headed to the check out, where we LOUDLY started talking about how we had to walk back and how we weren't looking forward to it, and surprise surprise, the woman in front offered us a lift! We were so pleased, we REALLY didn't want to walk back with all our shopping. Once we got back, we started cooking dinner, and its not the best place to try and cook, but we managed alright. Went and got a hot shower after that, we really needed it, and then jsut chilled out for abit before going to bed at 10ish. Steve is a plasterer back home so he gave me some ear plugs which really helped with the snorer!

I got up this morning at 5am, only to find that my work was postponed due to the weather, so I thought I'd come and let you all know that its not all fun and games out here! Its been great up til now, but this is where it starts to get a bit boring. Necessary, but boring. Anyway, got to work soon, so I hope the cold and the snow is not too much for you all! Over and out! xxx

Dad - I have been keeping up with sport, I didn't get a chance to watch the 5th day, but i saw the 4th and that was good! Good result though, brilliant stand by Cook and Trott! Not too great by England in the rugby, but there we go. I haven't had any bragging rights, I haven't been around a lot of Australians, you don't really get them in backpacker hostels. But good news from Wasps, its finally starting to pick up! Hope all is good with you.

Joe - Just answered you're first question! But also mangoes as well at some point. Didn't see any dingoes, but we did hear some when camping. No sharks yet, but there's still time. I will be going to Fraser Island at some point, but I don't think provoking a dingo is the best idea really! How is work going, alright? Good to hear from you, hope you're enjoying the snow!

SKYDIVING!!!

jtmoughton — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:30:00 GMT

AHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, SKYDIVING IS AMAZING!!!! Went for a little skydive on saturday morning, and oh my god, the rush is unreal!! It's like nothing I've ever felt before, just incredible. Jumped from 14,000ft (sorry mum, i'm not helping any stress and worry issues!) and had a minute of freefall reaching 120mph!! The feeling is great, if you get the chance to go skydiving, absolutely do it, no hesitation. Was able to take control of the parachute as well, so it was brilliant. Didn't get any photos or DVD though, it cost an absolute bomb and I'm running a little low on pennies right now....

And on the subject of money, I'm heading off to do some fruit picking for a month or so in about 3 hours. Had to pack everything up last night (mainly as our room was completely uprooted and moved cos there was a bedbug problem - shaun's arm is an absolute mess!) but it was helpful cos we didn't have to do it this morning. Just sitting around watching the cricket now, killing time.

That's about all that's new with me, so I hope you're all enjoying the snow! xxx

Andy - I haven't been able to do any surfing yet, just haven't really had time! I will though, I definitely will, there's a place called Spot X which is supposed to be incredible, so I'll check it out next year. That weekend sounds bloody cold! Fun, but bloody cold! France sounds like fun, have a great time when it comes round. I may even be able to join you, if I'm back, cos my surfing will definitely have got better when I do come back! Good to hear from you, hope you're all well.

Yvette - Of course I'm sending it home! That sounds like a plan, show everyone at christmas. Mum will brick it I think, tell her to look out for my little message on the video! Make the most of the snow, it's coming early this year by the sounds of it. Have yourself some fun when it gets thick though, and have some fun for me too! Missing you too, hope school's going OK ;) xxx

Mum and Dad - Sorry about the car!!! I didn't have a clue about all of that repair stuff that neded doing. It seems I sold you a dud... Hope work's going well for you both, miss you! xxx

Adventure Stuff in Cairns

jtmoughton — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:10:00 GMT

Things have really picked up!! On Wednesday, we went whitewater rafting, which was really good fun. Went over some crazy rapids and jumped off a big rock into the water. Was great fun. Fell out once though when we went over one of the last rapids, but had such a good time otherwise. Only downside is that I now have a buoyancy aid burnt into my back and shoulders from when the sun came out in the afternoon after lunch and I hadn't put on any suncream. Taking a shower bloody hurts!!

On Thursday, Trevor and Shaun went off for a snorkelling trip to the reef, but I stayed behind and got a long lie in because I already did it on holiday in August. Will be doing a scuba course at some point too, so it's all good. Spent the day doing practical stuff, like my laundry, cos I had completely run out of clean drawers! So I went to wash them, I put the clothes and the powder and the moeny in and started it. Only to then realise I had just put everything in the dryer. DUH.

Managed to find some work for the 3 of us, we'll be fruit picking about 1 1/2 hours outside Cairns for about a month, which is desperately needed as the money has started to run low, and we start on Monday. We went out to a sports bar in the evening to watch the ManU vs. Rangers match ( to which I already knew the score, but Trevor, a Rangers fan, had managed to avoid so far). Needless to say he was a teeny weeny itsy bitsy bit annoyed at the outcome!!

And today, I have just done one of the most exhilarating things of my life!! Jumped off a 50m bungee tower - twice! It was absolutely incredible, I managed to get a water touch, so my head and shoulders were submerged in the pool below right at the bottom of the jump. I loved it so much that I went again, this time for a running jump off the roof! I got a DVD, and I'm sending it home, so those of you who want to see it, you'll need to go and see mum and dad :) The roof jump harness REALLY hurt my sunburn though!

I was due to be skydiving from 14,000ft (60 second freefall) this afternoon, but the weather has been so rainy and cloudy that they had to call it off :( Have to try again tomorrow, but I suppose spreading the adrenaline out is probably a good thing!

So that's what I've been up to recently! Only a couple of people seem to be commenting, so please can the rest of you keep me updated with what's new with you and what's going on back home!! Thank you! xxx