Look out world

Gallery: Greece

scottie — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:04:00 GMT

Greece(Pireaus, Mykonos, Athens)

scottie — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:03:00 GMT

Coming Soon!

Gallery: Long Weekend in Zurich

scottie — Fri, 5 May 2006 23:22:00 GMT

Gallery: Easter in Barcelona

scottie — Fri, 5 May 2006 23:18:00 GMT

Long weekend in Zurich

scottie — Fri, 5 May 2006 23:16:00 GMT

After having health day at work and being told I was really healthy for someone who eats shit food and drinks too much I headed off to Zurich where I was greeted by the Prawn at the airport. Basically went back to his house, had a few beers then went to Act Bar??? and had a few vodka red bulls. These were the biggest vodkas I have ever seen and would clearly be illegal in Australia, so we had 2 for good measure and went to a few other pubs before calling it a night.

Friday and we did the Zurich tour in about 30 minutes(there isnt too much to see) where prawn spilt about a litre of mustard over himself eating a breadroll. We had good intentions of hiring mounatin bikes and heading up the mountain for lunch at Tamaras(vince's mrs) restaurant but the weather turned bad. We still went up for some cheese fondue with bread, pineapple a beer and some not so nice home made shnapps, but caught the train instead. That night we met up with a few of vinces ex pat mates, and dominated a few bars trying to convince girls to come along with us. But anyone who knows us well enough knows we all went home alone.

Next day plainger arrived and we expected bad things to happen. And they did. We caught the train to luzern for the night where we found a nice bar for a few pizzas and long island ice teas. We went to a few more pubs and late night club where the most embarassing thing happened. I finally worked up the courage to go and talk to this girl sitting all by herself and as I approached her I fell straight on head. Looking back i saw a step which I hadnt seen earlier and made a bee line out of there trying not to make eye contact with anyone. The crazy swiss people all started doing some dance like the nutbush or something. Me and plainger managed to ruin that song for a lot of people with our white man dancing coordination. Then it was off to bed. I woke up battered and bruised as there was quite a bit of street rumbling and friendly banter between three of us, I assume I came off worst.

Sunday we were going to go paragliding and it was all booked but we died in the arse. We ended up going up mt titlis where there was still heaps of snow, me and plainger just barrelled each other in the snow but vince was too scared in case his shoulder came out. Then we headed back to Zurich where we just had a few drinks and went home.Flew out on the Monday feeling very ordinary.

Next stop, Greece with Sneddon and Napper.

Easter in Barcelona

scottie — Fri, 5 May 2006 23:12:00 GMT

After departing an hour late it turned out alright, because after we had boarded it was quite a fun trip. It wasnt free alcohol but everyone was doing the best with most people buying plenty.

We(Me and Keato) arrived in barcelona put our bags in the room and then hit the pubs. In the first pub the chick behind the bar was the most drugged up freak you had ever been served a drink off, but she was free pouring spirits so i think we were drinking triples. Long story short, we went to a few night clubs and I cant really remember the rest.

The next day we went down to the water font and walked up to the beach, it was pretty busy as the temp was about 21(which was awesome coming from london) and we just recovered around the beach for the day. Saw some amazing spanish girls and decided to give up IT and become a jean fitter in Spain. That night we pretty much hit the pubs/clubs again, later that night I was walking up the main street(Las Ramblas) when I realised that the friendly girls you can speak to on the streets had stolen my phone and it has never been seen again.

Saturday, and Keato wanted to watch Chelsea play so we went to an irish pub and watched the game, there was a pommy bucks party there singing and going crazy which made the afternoon quite fun. We met a couple of young girls and went out for dinner. Probably had what I am claiming to be the nicest meal I have had. It was tapas and Paella with a healthy dose of red wine. Again pubs and clubs before I managed to get home with all my posessions.

Sunday severe hangovers had set in so we just cruised the beaches again. Didnt really do much in the day or even in the evening for that matter. Went to a different restaurant for a paella and some sangria. Had a reasonably early night.Last day we thought we better do some touristy things so we jumped on the city tour bus and started cruising around the city. Everyone kept telling me before I left to go see Gaudi's buildings. We did and it was good to look at, but I am not a very good tourist and dont really get into these things too much. Next stop was Nou Camp(where barcelona play soccer). Unfortunately it shut an hour earlier because of the public holdiay and we couldnt get in. Then onto the olympic site(i think from '92 but not sure). It wasnt that impressive, the sydney olympic village was heaps better.

Then had one last beer and flew home.

Next Stop Zurich with Prawn and Plainger

Gallery: Millenium Stadium

scottie — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 05:25:00 GMT

Millenium Stadium

scottie — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 05:14:00 GMT

In Cardiff I went on a tour of Millenium Stadium. It was my own perosnal tour as no one else had booked on the 1pm tour with me. This was pretty good because the guy didnt have to just read from a script, he could actually tell me things and I could ask lots of questions about the stadium. First he ran me through the history of when Cardiff Arms park was first built then onto how it was torn down and Millenium Stadium was then built.

Next we walk through some corridors that lead into the away team change rooms. They were massive. About 3 times the size of the lords change rooms. There was a big painting of a dragon and eagle, this was there to scare away the demons of the away change rooms as the first 11 soccer games at the stadium the team in the away rooms lost. The day after an artist brought s ome crazy dragon and eagle into the change room the the away team won, he then painted the painting.

I saw the area where they are interviewed after games before walking the tunnel out onto the stadium. They have some fake crowd nosie but it was still pine tingling walking out into the stadium with the roof shut and all that noise. They were re-laying the grass, so it was good to see how that is done. Every square of turf is number so when it is removed it goes back in the exact same place. The have also played cricket, motor cross and had an indoor wind surfing event in the stadium.

Then I climbed the stairs and we went into the corporate areas. Each room has curtains that have to be shut as there is still a rule that you cannot consume alcohol in front of a football(soccer) game. You can leave the curtains when the rugby is on.

Then I sat in the chair that the queen sat on in her one visit there. They have this board in front of the chairs so that people in the closer seats cant turn around and see up her dress. I suggest that this is more for their protection than the queens.

Gallery: Australia Day 2006 (Dublin)

scottie — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 05:08:00 GMT

Australia Day 2006 (Dublin)

Bristol/Cardiff/Dublin

scottie — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 04:49:00 GMT

Well it was decided that Plainger, Napper, Prawn and myself would meet in Dublin for Australia Day.

I decided that I would make my way to Cardiff then meet the others in Dublin. First stop was Bristol. Got out of bed pretty early and arrived in Bristol about 11am. Checked into the hostel but couldnt go to my room yet as it hadnt been cleaned. I decided to tour the city. The city is pretty small so the tour finished about 12:30pm and lucky for me I was staying on the waterfront next to about 6 pubs/clubs and a sports bar. I nestled into the sports bar for a few hours then checked into my room. There was a spanish guy(Francecso) in there and we went out for the night to the clubs along the waterfront. I dont have any photos of this night but lets just say we got drunk and met some of the locals. Next day I had planned to do a day trip to bath but ended up doing pretty much the same as Bristol wasnt big enough to bother doing anything else.

Then onto Cardiff where it was a slightly more cultural experience. I visted Cardiff castle which was pretty boring but then I went to Millenium stadium and had my own personal tour as no one else had booked onto the 1pm tour with me. It was cool to check out the change rooms and then walk out the tunnel to the fake crowd screaming. I had a few beers in the local pubs both nights but ended up being pretty quiet, which was good as dublin was next and I wasnt exactly sure what awaited me. Cardiff could definitely be a place to head for a weekend of drinking with the boys. More details can be found at http://journals.worldnomads.com/scottie/post/581.aspx

Now 6 days in a Dublin. 6 Days is a long time. The others werent turning up for 2 days so i thought i would do my cultural activities ealry. I managed to go through the guiness factory and have a guiness 7 stories up overlooking Dublin. It was pretty cool to walk through and check out how guiness is made. I spent the first 2 nights just wandering the streets and having a few beers in the temple bar area awaiting the arrival of the Australia Day party. Then the morning arrived, it was Australia Day and I didnt have anything planned. I managed to find a place called the Woolshed which was to be our place of festivities when Napper and Plainger arrived(Vince went soft and wasnt coming until the Saturday). We spent the day at the woolshed drinking fosters and wearing stupid straw hats. There was a wet t-shirt contest, but this wasnt really like the ones in the movies, but hey, it was better than nothing. We then headed out a local club and hanging with the local irish people. Cant remember much else. Next morning we had the full irsish breakfast with a glass of wine each, and it was game on from there. We walked through the whiskey factory and completed the tour with a tasting tray of 5 whiskeys, followed by a pub and a tasting tray of 9 beers. We never looked back that day and ended up becoming members of a casino and putting plenty of money into the irish economy. Then saturday morning came and it was more of the same however replace 3 glasses of wine for breakfast with 3 bottles of champagne. Prawn turned up and we went to the guiness factory so those who hadnt done it could go through. The line up was too long so we caught the dodgiest horse and cart back into town, where we egged by kids about 12 years old. The eggs would have missed but prawn managed to leap high into the air breaking the egg over all of us. The night turned out to more drinking and partying with several pubs and clubs involved. Poor old plainger got left behind on one of the moves so decided to head back to the hostel. Only problem being he had no idea where to go, so rang Vicotria(his girlfriend) back in london for directions. 1.5 hours later plainger made it home. Sunday and all the boys went home and I had one more night of drinking guiness with the locals before heading back to london on the monday.

Overall it was an awesome trip and dublin was one of the best trips away I have had. Dubliners were quite friendly and we all enjoyed the craic!

Next stop AA.

Lords - The home of cricket

scottie — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:03:00 GMT

Just got back from the home of cricket. Lords!!!

It was pretty cool, especially going into the away team change rooms and seeing the boards with the players who have made centuries 5 fa's and 10 for the match. But Warnie wasnt up there. We then all sat on the chairs and got told whose seat we sat in, luckily for me i was sitting in steve waughs favourite seat, not sure who has it now.

We walked out of the change room and down through the long room just as a player would if he was going into bat, it would be awesome as a player to walk through the drunken old blokes before entering the field and even better if you could come back with a century under your belt.

Walked around the ground and there is a massive slope, over 2 metres, no wonder Mcgrath can get the ball to move away so much.

Then went into the media centre, it is pretty awesome and we saw the commentary boxes where richie and the boys do there job from.

Also went through the museum and saw the ashes(the real ones). The leader commented how all the aussies had to come this far to see the ashes because we lost. My comment was that we have held the ashes for the last 19 years in row and they had still never reached australia. But apparently they are coming later this year and will be at every test match when the poms visit.

Gallery: Lords

scottie — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:20:00 GMT

The tour of Lords

Gallery: Africa

scottie — Sat, 7 Jan 2006 01:47:00 GMT

Africa tour 2005

The African Safari

scottie — Mon, 2 Jan 2006 02:20:00 GMT

Basically I spent a few nights in Joburg which wasnt as dodgy as i expected but i didnt really get out into the city.

I then flew up to vic falls where i met with our tour group. The other guys had already been touring for 40 days before I arrived so i was the new boy. I went white water rafting on the zambezi and come rapid 8(Double Trouble) i thought i was going to die. The boat flipped and i came up underneath the boat. Finally got out but i was knackered. Then come rapid 18(The Muncher) I was in again and this time got stuck in a whirlpool, in my head i honestly thought I was gone before some little dude in a kayak rescued me. But I made it. Also went rhino trekking and on a booze cruise which turned pretty ugly as you could pretty much pour your own spirits and we only had 2.5 hours. Lets just say I got my moneys worth.

Then after missing his flight vince turned up and the tour headed to botswana where we caught mokoros(canoes) out into the bush for a night. In the morning about 5 of us and 2 leaders went game walking, we came to a lion trail and tracked it on foot we were about 50 to a hundered metres from a pride of 4 lions. If the charged us i assume we were dead. A few nights in Botswana before heading to Namibia for 12 days where we stayed in national parks and saw, elephants, lions, leopard, rhions, a dead buffalo to bring up the big five. Also saw hippos, lions, zebra, giraffes, wilderbeasts and shit loads of other things and birds. We went to a place called Swakopmund where we went Quad Biking, Sand Boarding and Sky Diving. They forgot to film my sky dive the first time so i got to do another free. Woohoo!

Then into South Africa where we camped a few days in Orange river where we spent Christmas. On Christams day we went out into 2 viallages were we handed out presents. The kids were so happy just to get the simplest of gifts even the adults just wanted to get a one beer to tie them over for the day. We then moved down to Cape Town where the we had a game meal of springbok, gemsbok, crocodile and ostrich. Climbed Table mountain which is the mountain you see in the background when watching the cricket. Then the tour ended but the whole group stayed on for new years eve. We all got tickets to the Castle of Good Hope. It was a massive party in a castle where we had a good time and got home about 5am.

And now it is the 2nd and I am flying to the UK where I will be catching up with a few people and plainger is going to take me under his wing for a few nights. I am scared too!