A small essay

So, I can’t remember where I left off with my blog and I’m feeling very tired and a little special this morning! The plan is to work backwards from last night, and hopefully I’ll go back far enough to discover where I ended my stories last time!!

Ok, some new developments happened as I’ve been writing this; Thomas has been kicked out of the hostel. He hasn’t been paying his rent and was on a final warning – not allowed to drink and he drunk last night so out he goes. Thankfully he has some work and another place to stay so it’s not the end of the world but the place will definitely be quieter without him.

The 3^rd floor crew are currently sat outside having finished a box of goon,  a bottle of whiskey and half a bottle of vodka this morning, and it’s only half 10!!! They decided the hangover would be too big, so just kept refilling the tank from last night.

Last night was Stuart and Tarzan’s joint birthday party. Stuart turned 24, Tarzan 19 and a massive celebration occurred. I had to clean the hostel in the morning; I make the beds, sweep the floors and tidy the kitchens for free accommodation…there are worse jobs in the world! So I cleaned in the morning, headed to the Plaza for a small bit of retail therapy before returning to the 3^rd floor.

The entire 3^rd floor had been drinking since they finished lychee picking so by the time I got back, roughly 1pm, they were all drunk as skunks. It was a normal night of sitting on the balcony, drinking, smoking and socialising before everyone seemed to pair off. It started with Tarzan kissing the Canadian girl in the pool, and lead to Bianca and Stu hooking up, as well and Tommo and Laura. The rest of us felt a bit left out, so everyone retreated to somewhere quiet!

Jess and I were amped to go out to Fridays, the local club, so even if everyone else was too busy hooking up we would go out. We got ready, then Kenton another Canadian staying in my room and a few others all decided to come out too. There was a good band playing downstairs, some interesting people to talk to and a good bit of dancing. Eventually, we got bored downstairs and decided to pay the extra to head upstairs. It was mental up there, and really good music.

The previous couple of days haven’t been much to write about. I caught an ear infection which means staying out of the sea, the hostel pool and of course the cable lake. It’s so frustrating, one thing gets better and another comes along! I think my body is fully against me trying to wakeboard at all while I’m travelling!!!

The hostel organised a trip to the cable on Thursday. I went along for moral support, along with Simon (a surfing Pomm with dreads – lovely, lovely guy who’s going to teach me to surf when my ear is better), Sangu (a Thai nutter whose applying for permanent residency), Tom (Mancunian security), Danny (football hooligan British security!), Ali (Danny’s girlfriend) and Emily (some random from the 2^nd floor). I helped them all to stand up and attempt a few laps of the cable of the wakeboards before they all got too tired. It was a lot of fun bossing security around :)

I can’t believe I forgot about Burns Night and Australia Day!! I’ll start with Burns night because that was pretty funny. The police ended up coming over because of noise complaints from the neighbours! We all sat around outside, reading poems by Robert Burns as is tradition on Burns night. There were prizes for the best read in a Scottish accent, and I actually came 2^nd – shows you how bad the foreigners do accents :) We were in a very patriotic mood and each nationality ended up standing up on a makeshift stage and singing our own national anthems – the Brits were the loudest for sure!! The Germans were shocking as they had to look up their lyrics online – letting their country down in a bad way!

The following day was Australia Day. The entire country goes mental, drinking, dressing up in their flags and national colours. The local beach had the “Havianas Thong Challenge” which is a big surf race on inflatable flip-flops! Very funny to watch but the locals were getting a little aggro towards us backpackers so we left. I got a phone call from Matt, seeing if I wanted to meet up with him. He picked me up from the hostel, we went to the pub had a few drinks and snuggled on the sofa there which was perfect. We then went for a nice walk along the beach and had a Maccas meal!! Perfect end to Australia day :)

I think that’s about it for now…I’m sure there will be more as and when I remember – the days seem to blur into one at the minute but I think that catches you up with my news for now.

Oh wait, no it doesn’t. I forgot about one very crazy day! The day Matt took me base jumping. Dear lordy, I have never been so nervous in my entire life. Now, I didn’t actually jump just to clarify! We drove to the Glasshouse Mountains in Beerwah and climbed up Mount Beerwah. I climbed halfway up before realising that thongs weren’t appropriate shoes to be wearing so I slid back down and chilled out in the picnic area while Matt continued to climb. I got a phone call from the top, telling me even though it was windy he was going to jump anyways. This was the first time he would have jumped this particular spot, so it added to the nerves. The landing area was the picnic area, a small break in the trees and he had to aim for this!!

I hear a massive crack, look up and his parachute has opened. Soon, I’m hearing “fuck, fuck, trees, trees” and he’s messed up the landing coming in too low and too fast. I think that I’m going to have to pick him up and drive him to Nambour hospital with at least a broken leg!! Running to the spot where I see he landed, I see Matt standing there, massive smile on his face packing up his parachute. Not a scratch! He had grabbed a branch and managed to surf it down through the trees, and landed safely. Luckiest man alive!!

By this point, he needs a beer, and I definitely need some food as I hadn’t eaten all day! We get in the van and drive to Ettamogah pub, where we get some pies and some drinks. I felt like such a tourist but had a massive rush from the relief of knowing that Matt wasn’t hurt – it’s difficult to describe but it almost feels like you’ve jumped yourself!! We then drove the beach, chilled out there for a while before I headed back to the hostel.

Okay, I’ve officially written an essay so thanks for sticking with it if you’ve got this far!! Fancy dress party is in full swing now so I best go get a hoola skirt to match my tiger ears!! Catch you later peoples.

Peace and love

xx

Mooloolaba

Well guys, you'll be pleased to know I'm outta the van!!!
I'm now staying in Mooloolaba Backpackers (it's so much fun to say :) ) which is totally different to the hostel I was in in Maroochydore. For a start, the people are so much friendlier, it's a bit more of a party hostel and it's just a little bit nuts! Suits me perfect, ey :)
I have a 4 bed dorm here, with key card access so it's nice and safe. The only issue is, my ex Thomas is on the same floor in the opposite room. We all socialise together, we got a balcony and tv room - it's reminiscent of  a uni flat space actually. So there is no escaping him. This is fine now, but at first it was hell awkward because he wouldnt speak to me, and just blanked me. He came into my room, drunk as, and tried to kiss me. I pushed him away and told him that we could be friends or avoid each other, we're now friends(ish)!!
The others are awesome. there's a lot of Brits here - Bianca, Stuart, Jason, Tommo are all British, then we have Kelso, Laura and Thomas from New Zealand. It's good fun, although they do seem to be addicted to goon! We're within walking distance to the club called Friday's, and also Maccas, which is very dangerous :)
We seem to party most nights, the other night Thomas came home from work drunk as a skunk and proceeded to pass out in the Norweigan girls room. Between the three of us, we managed to drag him out into the common room area, where he proceeded to throw up! He then stood up and staggered down the corridor to outside his room, where he collapsed in a heap and slept. After making sure he wasn't going to choke on his own sick, we left him there which is where he slept from 6pm to the following morning. It did mean i had to climb over him to get into my room tho!!!
Another bit of good news this week is the fact that I am back wakeboarding :) Yes my fitness is something to be desired, and I may be a bit rusty....but it's all good :) Love being abck on the water!! Unfortunately we also had some bad news this week, Bianca's uncle back home died. She was devastated as they were very close, and her family couldn't afford to fly her back for the funeral. Instead we will do something out here for her - Evan is cooking her her favourite food as well for comfort!
I'm sure you've seen on the news about the flooding in Brisbane. The Sunshine Coast is relatively unaffected in comparison. There is a massive effort going in to help everyone in Brisbane get back on their feet. A few girls from the hostel went down to help clean up yesterday, and a few blokes from the cable also went down to lend a hand. One of teh cable boys was saying that they were helping a mate out with his house, when they saw a 70 year old lady standing in her house with a garden hose, trying to clean up the mud. He said it was such a sad sight, so the 14 blokes left their friends house and helped this lady out. There's so many stories of good will and generosity coming out of the flooding, I just hope everything gets sorted for everyone effected. Now Melbourne and Victoria in general are being affected, and the sunshine coast is in a warning area for a cyclone later on in the month...fingers crossed this weather sorts itself out soon ey!!!!
Thats a little snapshot of my news, best be off as BFG and Pirate are coming over for a pool party this arvo and I need to get some stuff ready :)
Peace and love xxx

The rain came down and the floods came up!

Well, what to say since I last posted?! I've moved out of Maroochydore backpackers for the time being...although I will need to pop back and get the post at some point!!
After a day at the hostel, plans were made to go out on Saturday night. I was designated driver and the plan was to go round all the surf clubs in the local area - a pub crawl with surf clubs if you will. About 10 mins before we're set to go, I get a phone call from my friends asking me to come out with them. Now, I hadn't seen them in a while, and I'd been a bit annoyed at the hostel staff earlier in the day (I'll get to this in a minute) so I ditched and went with my friends instead. I received a phonecall from one of the girls at the hostel, basically saying that I was a "bitch" and not to come back - charming!!
Previously that day, I had been told that I must wear long sleeve tops and long trousers around the hostel because of the bites on my legs. Not sure if many of you know, but they look a bit rank!! They got infected with impetigo, which went a while ago, and now I just have a few scabs and scars. Agreed, not the most attractive looking things, but perfectly harmless to anyone. The girls in my room asked to move because they didnt want to contract this "deadly, skin eating, contaigious infection" and there had apparently been other complaints. Now, I'm sorry but that is other people's problem...I hadn't complained about the people playing music in the room until 2am or lobbing their stuff everywhere or using my stuff without asking or invading my space etcetc. I thought it was bloody ignorant and inconsiderate, and highly pissed me off!!! The hostel staff then said that basically,i had to follow their rules or leave - which I thought was unfair seeing as it wasn't anything I could control and it's nothing that can affect anyone else. I could understand if it was contaigious but it's not!!!!!
Anyways, I'd been put in a bad mood by this, wanted to be cheered up by my friends...so off I went! I came back later that evening, about 11pm, and snuggled on the sofa watching a film. Ended up chatting to Matt, who is from Woollengong (or however you spell it, all the places out here have wierd names) just outside Sydney, and who has travelled a fair bit. We got on really well, and ended up spending the night in his van...NO not like that!!! Just sat up chatting out of the way of hostel staff!!!
Anyways, we end up spending the next day together just driving around. We headed up to the Glasshouse mountains, took a walk through the lookout path up there, got soaked by the rain, headed to the cable, chilled there for a bit then ended up buying some steak for dinner. Sounds so silly, but it was amazing!! I then got a phonecall from Shay, who invited us over for movie night :) So off we went to Bli Bli to watch Inception, again, with a few of my friends. It was a good night, and we ended up sleeping in BliBli in the van!
I rescued all my stuff from the hostel the next morning, as severe flood warnings were being broadcast over the radio. Packed all my bags into the back of the van and off we drove :) The water just chucked it down, I think we drove to Caloundra and then headed to Mount Coolum where we spent the night on top of the hill to avoid being swept away by heavy flood waters. The majority of the roads in the area were closed - all the roads to the hostel were flooded so you were flooded in or out of it! Was very glad I'd rescued all my things earlier in the day. The floods were incredible...I haven't seen many of the pictures from the news but by the phonecalls I've received from home, it must look pretty bad!
I reckon we were lucky and escaped the worst of it, but still radio broadcasts were sent out not to drink too much water incase the treatment plants became contaminated and to stay away from flood waters because they may contain brown snakes etc etc. It's crazy! The  cable, and work, have both been closed from flooding so there hasn't been that much to do except chill out in the van!
What else has happened?! Oh yeah, Matt got ill and was sick for 2 days so I had to nurse him back to health....that was interesting! And the night before we met, he'd been stabbed by these black guys...but that's another story for a time when yous all at home aint going to worry!!! (Nothing to worry about I promise!)
Living in a van is an awesome experience. It's nice having everything there, just behind you :) It's a bit difficult to drive, there is no power steering so you really have to lug it round corners!! The worst part has to be needing the toilet in the middle of the night. Public loos close between 12 and 5am out here, so if you need a wee then you best get used to going behind a tree!! We've parked on Mooloolaba beach the past few nights, and there aint nowhere to go that's private so I'm pretty sure a fair few truckies have seen me squatting :s Oh well, it's all part of the experience, ey!!
Public showers are another interesting point of van living! The beach showers are amazing, but they don't have hot water, so although you have a private cubicle you have to make do with freezing water! Backpackers can't be choosers tho :) The best part has to be just saying "I feel like going there tonight, lets park on the beach, cook a barbie and sleep to the sound of the waves underneath the stars". It's pretty cool :)
That's it for now, flood waters are receeding and the sun is finally shining so I'm off to make the most of it!!
Peace and love
xxx

Happy New Year

First of all, happy new year :) 2011 is finally upon us, where the hell did 2010 disappear to?! Here's a little catch up of my news since Christmas!
I have finally, officially finished at Integral Energy door knocking! The sense of relief is amazing - no more getting doors slammed in your face 20x a day! My last day was infact New Years Eve. We had a timelimit of finishing at 3pm, or if we made 2 sales we were eligable for pick ups! The team met at 8.30am at the office for breakfast, which we bought in the supermarket and ate on Dicky Beach - pretty typically Australian (although we had croissants and donuts...not exactly healthy!). After getting our work uniform covered in sand we proceded to head to field. I was so happy because I was the first one in our team to make 2 sales (within 2 hours no less) so was picked up and chatted with Moomoo (team/channell manager) in the van.

Moo and me decided to make mad plans about heading to Gold Coast for the evening with a bunch of people in the minivan. However, I had to work my new job at 5.30 until half 9 that evening, so it would be tight as to whether we could make it to the Gold Coast in time. As it turned out, Moo and his French friends went to Surfers, and I worked.
I now work as a kitchen hand in a bar/restaurant called Habits in Cotton Tree.  It's right opposite the beach and in a really nice location - only about a  15minute walk from the hostel too. The job is pretty boring, just washing up and weighing out 175g of risotto etc etc. It's alright tho, and the pay is good so I cannot complain!
Back to New Years! We arrived back in Maroochydore at 3pm and headed straight for the Duporth Tavern (local pub) to play pool. The group chillled there until it was time for me to go to work. I worked hard that evening, with inccredibly painful legs, and then walked back to the hostel because the silly free holiday buses went on strike!!
Arriving back at the hostel, I met Avril (who was back from Sydney), Judy and Joe (who work at the hostel and are from Scotland), a Floridian couple and 2 New Zealanders + one of their underage girlfriends. They had all been drinking since midday so were already pretty smashed. I was delegated designated driver, so all the drunkards piled into the YHA minivan and I drove us down to the plaza where we descended upon the English bar there. It's called the Pig and Whistle, and was throwing an Irish themed New Years party. It was pretty funny and we stayed there until about 1am.
At that point, we decided we had to head to the beach to fully make it an Australian new years eve!! So back in the minivan we went. After stopping twice for drunk people to hurl, we made it to Maroochydore beach. Here we bumped into a lady who was carrying poi (the fire things which you swirl around your head and stuff)/ She gave us a demonstration and then let us have a go. It was very entertaining, but much harder than it looks! Mind you that could be the fact that I'd been up since 6am, and it was about 2am by this point!! New Years Day, guess what?! I slept!!!
On the 2nd, I headed to Shay's house for breakfast :) Dan (shay's boyfriend) and Tom (one of the boys from work) were also there. Shay's dog, Tiny, had managed to escape from the garden and break into the house the previous day. She had trashed everything so between the 4 of us we cleaned the house and carpets before breakfast. Then we had to do the mind-challenging task of putting up an electric fence for Tiny! Ensuing was a lot of swearing from the boys!!!
Finally the fence was up, and needed to be tested. Tom willingly volunteers for $20! Out comes the video camera and, oh, it was the funniest thing! It was a 1000v fence and Tom touches it and leaps and scratches around, a little bit like a monkey. So funny, makes me laugh every time I think about it!! We decided the fence worked then :)
The plan was to head to cable, so we all headed to Ski n Surf for a few hours, but the queue was too big for it to be worth wakeboarding so I headed to Chamber's Island. It's an island in the middle of maroochy river, very near to the hostel. I met Beau and Jesse there, who had been drinking for a while. We entertained ourselves for a few hours, and then Beau's friend Jaimie turned up. She's only 14 and decided to bring some of her friends. So there were 3 older people hanging around with a large group of 14 and 15 year olds! It felt very strange!!! We lit a fire on the beach and just relaxed around there!
Yesterday, we headed to the beach. Shay, Dan, Pixie and her boyfriend Mark, Tom, Jesse, Moomoo, Manny, BFG and Shay's housemate Sheena with her boyfriend were all there. We had a go at surfing in flat water, as well as bodyboarding and sunbathing! It was really pleasant just to have a chilled out day. We all then headed back to Moos apartment for a BBQ and movie night. I ended up staying there last night with Jesse and BFG.
Back to work today, and that pretty much sums it up!!!
Just a quick note: the floods aren't affecting us here. It's up near Rockhampton and Bundaburg (about a 4hr drive north of where I'm staying).
Peace and love
xx