Where to begin!? I am in Perth right now having just met up with Briony for the first time since she left Bundaberg about 5 months ago. I have finished working and have saved enough money to travel now so let me fill you all in on my happenings since my last blog nearly 6 months ago (hard to believe it has been that long).
November and December passed with little note. Christmas was fantastic. Had a brilliant lunch out and some drinks on the beach. We got really lucky with the weather as it rained for about a week before and after Christmas day, but not on Christmas itself. We had a game of football between all the lads in the hostel: France vs. Rest of the World. France think it finished [FR 7 - 6 RotW] and Rest of the World think it finished [FR 6 - 7 RotW]. This caused arguments-a-plenty and towards the end of the game was rather vicious. All was forgotten after as we sat on the beach and into the night drank the many eskies of beer we brought along. New Years was excellent also. Had a party in the hostel involving drinking games that originated practically all over the world. This led to no-one knowing the rules of any game and proceeded to just drink a lot anyway.
January took its course and created possibly the best room friendship the hostel has ever known. Room 9: Ian, Andy, Bernie, Matt, Mark and Krystiana. I don't think we really left the room throughout most of January and I don't think one group has ever had so many inside jokes! Late January I got bored of my "Jenga stacking" job and worked on a mango and lychee farm for a short while. Soon enough a permanent job came about and at the start of February I was working on a sweet potato farm for the nicest farmers you could ever meet. The work, though difficult, was very rewarding and at points very fun! Occasionally they would give us a post-work beer or pie, while talking about football and the hostel.
I worked a lot from this time until the end of April when I eventually left Bundy. Pedro, Carole and Mick took me and Andy out for dinner a couple of weeks before we left, which was really nice of them and they even through a little party on the last day of work. It was a little sad to leave them and disappointing that I hadn't tried to get on that farm earlier on. Having seen everyone I had made friends with in the hostel come and go it was a very strange experience for me to leave also. Matt and Mark had left a week before us, Krystiana a few weeks before that and Bernie a day after Me and Andy. The group had finally been split up. Saying goodbye to everyone at 3:30am with no sleep whatsoever was a very odd experience. Like it was happening to someone else. Even on the bus it still felt like I wasn't actually leaving Bundy.
The bus was taking us to Harvey Bay where we embarked on a 3 day trip to the infamous Fraser Island. We had a fantastic time at Fraser and got to see the best attraction there- Lake McKenzie, the day before it was due to be closed until September. McKenzie is a huge freshwater lake surrounded by the finest, whitest sand in the world. The water is so blue and the whole scene was beautiful. Driving around the island was fantastic fun. I had driven a lot of big 4x4's around Bundy and the farms, but this was completely different. I was a bit disappointed we didn't get stuck in the sand though. Everyone who had been told us you get stuck a lot and that's half the fun! Driving along the beach was cool as well. The east coast of Fraser is just one huge beach that is used as a highway to get to all the attractions on Fraser Island. We stayed at an Aboriginal owned camping ground and had some drinks with a few other groups doing a similar trip. The second day we visited Indian Heads, the highest viewpoint overlooking the sea at Fraser. We caught glimpses of fish, stingrays, jellyfish and just as we were about to leave we spotted a school of about 7 dolphins! The third day we walked over some sand dunes to another lake not quite as exciting as Lake McKenzie but still very nice.
We stayed a night in Harvey Bay before going to Brisbane where we met up with Josh and Paul. It was brilliant to see them and a stark reminder of just how long I have been away from home for. I hadn't seen Paul since the day before I left home a year ago March and Josh a year ago January!! We had an excellent time in Brisbane and visited a couple of art galleries, a Chinese festival, a man-made beach next to the river, and went on a couple of nights out with the boys. It was a really good few days out and a great way to get out of a working mentality and into a traveling mind frame. On Sunday evening we flew to Perth and met up with Briony yesterday. Looking forward to a few days chilling out in Perth (it really is chilly over here, but that could just be because I am used to the heat of the east coast now). We fly to Bali on Thursday and I shall keep all my avid readers continually updated on everything I am doing and seeing. Sorry I have kept you waiting so long, but I haven't had too much to chat about in 8 months of living in Bundy!
Wish me luck!
x
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