26th May 2002: Sydney

Hi all,

It's been many kilometres and almost as many months since my last little newsletter from the front line.

So get a cuppa and make yourself comfortable, or just press delete now!

Stopped working when my Mum came out to visit Em and I, and we took off to Queensland for a visit to Fraser Island - one great big huge island with jungle, beautiful lakes, and a 70 mile beach. Said goodbye to Mum and sis in Brissie just before going to watch Jamiroquai and Groove Armada in concert, then down to the fantastic Byron Bay. Loved it!

After a brief but expensive stop in Sydney, I headed off to Melbourne in a campervan with 5 others of assorted nationalities. This was a fab trip - we camped out every night, went swimming in the sea at least twice a day, and got pissed every night. The first morning I was woken up by a kangaroo sniffing at my face! That was a new one on me...

Met up with my sister and my Dad in Melbourne and we went to the Australian Grand Prix, which was incredible! Very noisy, lots of petrolheads, and the atmosphere was amazing. The next day we got a hire car and drove around melbourne to visit some wineries, and then across to the mclaren vale near adelaide, where I got a job in a winery. No, not picking grapes, but making wine. Well, pumping it about the place anyway. The job was full-on, 12-hour shifts, night and day, but it was a great crew, we had a good time, and I saved up a good bit of greenback.

So then I hooked up with Crispy, a mate from way back, and we had ourselves a little roadtrip up through the red centre with a couple of english girls in a Ford Falcon with some camping gear in the back. The girl who owned the car was something of a character. We were all subjected to her meaningless ramblings in a nasal Norfolk accent, on a prodigious range of topics - her car, her dogs, her friends, along with huge numbers of pointless anecdotes. We managed to avoid being bored to tears in the car as Crispy was dj-ing in the front - luckily he had brought his minidisc supply, or we could have risked being subjected to a non-stop torrent of either Stef's drivel, or Bryan Adams and Savage Garden, for 4000km. A narrow escape!

It was a great trip though - sleeping under the stars, playing chicken with emus (ask Crispy), climbing Ayer's Rock, Kings Canyon, not to mention the backwater towns and their associated bizarre characters...

The Northern Territory is fantastic, but it's extremely large, and the scenery is all pretty much the same, which makes for some very tedious driving. In their effort to combat the boredom associated with these long journeys and encourage more people to visit the Northern Territory, the NT government decided to liven things up by doing away with speed limits on the highways! We were both looking forward to cranking out the miles as soon as we crossed the border, but no, Stef decided that it wasn't big or clever and so we were to stick to a far more sensible 110 km/h. Typical. In a place where you can legally emulate your favourite Formula 1 driver, we were going at a speed which wouldn't even get us a podium finish in a milk-float race.

We ditched the girls at the earliest possible opportunity. This was in Katherine, with its spectacular gorge. Then we hired a Mitsubushi.... and floored it! Yes, I can report that driving at 225 km/h is big AND clever AND lots of fun. We even passed police cars with impunity, waving and smiling!

When we got to tropical Darwin the main event was a trip to Kakadu. This place was real Crocodile Dundee country. Aboriginal cave paintings, jumping crocs, secluded (and hopefully croc-free)swimming holes and waterfalls. Our guide was a native, and he really knew his stuff. We even ate kangaroo tail (tastes like chicken, of course).

Next stop Cairns, for a live-aboard dive course on the barrier reef. Did a couple of night dives, chased sharks, saw turtles, lionfish, giant clams, masses of reef fish, beautiful coral, wow! Plus I am now a certified advanced open water diver. Time was getting pretty tight at this stage, so went straight to Airlie Beach for a trip to the Whitsunday Islands, a spectacular archipelago of picturesque islands. We were on a boat that won the Sydney - Hobart race in 1984, and I was doing a sailing course, so it was all pretty exhilarating stuff. Then it was a mammoth bus ride back to Sydney, and a few days to post stuff home and try and sort out my tax (aaaaaargh!!).

I have now finally left oz, just a few days before my visa was to expire and the men from immigration came to hunt me down.

Until next time

Matt