Today it rained

Its been shit hot and sticky and nasty in Melbourne for the last few days last night was really sticky, and this morning it cracked. A thunderstorm came to wash the scum from the streets. It was so nice I just sat there for the last 4 hours, sitting, just sitting looking at the lightning and terential rain. One of the most relaxing things I've ever done. This a photo of our little deck looking out at our tree in the little back garden. And Anne marie just ruining the photo (only messing) , thats one of my current flatmates. I'll but up photos of the rest of the crew in flat 8 when I get a chance, so look out sally frank and Babs. Shane TV is going to get ya.

F-ing Lamb

Last sunday night I was in work and for my dinner I decide to have the roast lamb since its Sunday it sounds great, but by the time I get to eat it its 9.30. So its tough as nails. Enough excuses, what happened next is that I got a peice of lamb caught in Epiclutus or something like that, thats somewhere in your Osephagus (aren't big words fun), thats your food pipe for people who didn't listen in junior cert biology. So this peice of shit was stuck there in my troat and I couldn't eat or drink anything without spitting it back up. So after 3 hours of it not going away I decided to go to the hospital. Brian and cathy decide they'll come with me, for the company, but only after a few pints in work. So after a couple of pints we head out, but then we decide to stop of and roll a wee spliff before we go to the hospital. There was a bit of very boring hanging around the waiting room, listen to a crazy Lebo wagon of a woman, until I got to see the cute little american doctor. This about 9 hours after I attempted to have my dinner. I had a few injections and X-rays and what not. Then me brian and cathy start playing with the Oxygen, stealing KY jelly, checking each others blood presure, usual stuff you do if your let loose in a hospital examination room. They asked me if I needed morphine, and then they figured out I only had a peice of lamb caught in my throat, that would of been nice but theres no way I could have driven home after that. This the the little band they give you to show you've been in hospital,

The great ocean road

The next big road we had in Frank the Falcon, was down South west of Melbourne towards the great ocean road and Torquay. The great ocean road was built by convicts and returned soldiers after WW1 to just marvel the tourists. Something like the Pan Pacific Highway in California, (Thats for Dave). It a pretty impressive road, much like the road to Bundoran but a shit load more impressive. It starts down at Surf coast before changing into shipwreck coast, (more shipwrecks along heres than anywhere else in the world). So the first stop on the trip was Torquay, a Mecca for surfers everywhere, home to the Ripcurl, Billabong, Quicksilver etc. headquaters. Cheap surfing stuff everywhere, and everybody surfs. Theres 6 year olds around here that would but you to shame. So underneath is Torqauy beach itself. Bean Cathy & Laura are just warming up about to jump into the deep. Fantastic place for anyone to surf, beach breaks, reef breaks, beginers to Pros its got it all.

Next beach on the stop of was Bells Beach, home of the surfing world championships the Rip Curl Pros. This is the biggest surfing comp of the year and its on in a few weeks, so I'll be around for that, and Torqauy is going to be rocking for a week two in March. I feel I must jump in Frank agian and head on down and pertend I'm a surfer for a few nights. So its a pretty nice beach and if any body rembers Point Break, that classic peice of film making staring the wooden Keanu Reeves and the legendary Patrick Swayze this is the place where Patrick famously went into the water and Keanu comes running down the beach and screams from the shore as patrick catches catches a king wave and gets completely dumped on never to resuface again. (but he did in Donnie Darko). Anyway you can actually see the point break in the photo. Its breaking on the very left of the photo.This beach was a bit meaty for our mediocore surfing ability. I was a bit to scared to jump in with a body board anyway. Bean and Cathy jumped in but got smashed about and rip apart until the finally gave up hope and called it a day. The rips were so strong that day that even the locals were staying away, so round of applause to a valiant effort by Bean & Cathy.


Now I don't know how many of ye are going to remember this show but I used to love it as a kid. The theme tune went like
"have you ever,
ever felt like this
when strange things happen
are you going round the twist.

Going round the twwwwiissssttt"

A classic show where something nuts with ghosts or withches happened each week, and I got a photo of the light house where the show was shot.

I hope this stirs a few memorys for a few of ye.

And now onward to the Great Ocean Road, which it is a couple of hundred kilometers of some of the most impressive scenery in the country. Its kinda hard to discribe, but what they done is for 100K's they dug into solid stone cliff faces just so that a couple couple of tourist could be a little impressed. Thats a lot of rock (sligo-galway). it might seem like a lot of effort for a strecht of road but I think it was worth it, its pretty timeless. So enough of my bullshit heres a few photos.







These are taken along the surf coast, it should give a little example of the kinda work that when into building this road and the miles of quality surf all the way along. The whole way theres just this beautiful scenery coupled with the sound of a wave crashing once a minute.

I'll finsh this log tomorrow I gotta run to work... outty

OK I'm back a week later to finish this, Lazy I know. So next up is shipwreck coast, lots of cliffs in sea stacks, the most famous sea stacks are the 12 apostles. Can anyone quess how many sea stacks there are, eh, anyone. Is it 12,
uh uh
Our survey says NO, theres only ten, 2 fell down
You can't see all of them here, but you get the impression.

Heres a cave named after an Irish man, I forget his name its probably McGinty or something, but on his way from the Emerald Ilse his boat got shipwreck out at sea and he washed up just beside this cave. Then he spotted a young maiden stranded on the rocks, so he went to save her which he did. And the aussies thought this was great a young couple Irish finding love out of utter tragedy. But no, the stinking bitch burn him big style, she said fuck you loser and hopped on a boat back home to her mammy. (maybe she brought her football too).

And this is a road sign...
Thats right its a road sign, a little bit of symbolilsation on everything that is an aussie holiday, open road, bush and kangaroos.

Work

So after a long saturday night at the office, I'm pretty hammered and soaked through from water fight we had. A cumpulsory finish to any saturday night is a big water fight. I came out on top of this one not completely saturated but still pretty hammered. Anyway I'm not sure but I think this sign is a bit wrong, because 7 miles away there aint no Sligo.

Do Not Trust this Man

This is the fucker that Invited us into his house for the night, gave us all free beer and a place to pitch our tent, then robbed money out of my wallet, Sneaky fucking bullshiting prick.

Philip Island

For the first big road trip out of the city we jumped into Frank, my Ford Falcon, and went on down south to Philip Island. The place thats famous for havin a load of Penguins. Anyway enough of this Penguin crap, this was the first surfing trip since I got to Oz. Here I am pretending I'm about to go in with a really big board, I really just farted about on a body board, but that was still a lot of fun. This is Shelly Beach, named after Michelle of course . I nice little beach for farting about on a board, except for all the reef under the water. And theres a stretch water just past this beach called shark alley by the locals because this is where all the sharks move into the shore to feed on the seals. But its all good since nobody was decapatated this time. And I love these signs that the put up warning you that going in the water is idiotic and still theres people jumping in all the time, including us.




















And heres me, Dennis and Bean giving a nice gay boy pose. Of course I'm tryin to stick my finger up Beans ass, but he's into it so once again its all good. Theres some protected species living on the Island behind us, more seals as far as I remember.

Staff party

So for all our hard work over the christmas holidays, the good people at PJ's decided it would be a really good idea to stick all of us on a bus with a shit load beer and bring us to a vineyard. I don't if they could organise a piss up in a brewery but they sure could organise a piss up in a vineyard. So of we set out off the city to the sticks, or the Yarra Valley, stopping off at the Moet & Chandon Vineyard for a few glasses of the nicest piss in Melbourne.















After cruising round the country in our little bus, locked, surnburnt and scaring school children we had a surprise stop at the home of Neighbours, Ramsey street. Surprisingly its just a normal public street in the Melbourne Suburbs that anyone is allowed to drive up and take photo of. Normal people still live in the houses, they just allow the crew to shoot a few scenes whenever they need to.
While we were there we had to do a little receation of a bit of domestic. I called cahill "a flamin Galla" and he called my mum a dingo, then I had to deck him one, and Cathy got a bit dramatic.

After this the night got a bit messy and I can't remember to much except that I got sick in work for the first time ever the next morning, I looked in the mirror and thought I was being attacked by zombies. Snasty