roadtrip update 1

day 1: footscray - philip island - cape patterson - inverlock
the blowhole at the nobbies was interesting. mini-golf was enormous fun. walked along the beach at cape patterson: the first of many beaches we will walk on this trip (i still maintain that victorian beaches are far too cold for swimming without a wetsuit). at inverlock there was flash flooding and fallen trees were everywhere. the campsite was muddy and full and crawling with staring children. the power went out and we had cold beers in the sweltering heat of twilight at the local pub. talked ourselves out of camping and stayed at a motel instead. the bed felt incredibly soft.

day 2: inverlock - agnes falls - sale - loch sport - emu bight
drove to sale in the morning, stopping by agnes falls on the way. it was a big drop but not much water cascading over the rocks. considering we had thunderstorms the night before, it was a real poor show and hammered home the drought to us. the place was swarming with flies so we hit the road again. had a simple lunch of roast rolls at sale then cruised along ninety mile beach with our arms hanging out the windows. golden and paradise beaches were ordinary, so we kept going. decided to camp in the national park at loch sport: we had the whole place to ourselves. the walking trails were magnificent. barbequed with bread tongs. swam with the swans in the glorious sunset. i felt happy and peaceful.

day 3: emu bight - bairnsdale - lakes entrance - bemm river - mallacoota
massive four-and-half hour hike in the morning before hitting the road again. fulfilled our childhood dreams by doing archery - it was so much fun! lunched at a chinese restaurant at bairnsdale and replenished our supplies (beers and tins of tuna). perved at the ice cream girls at lakes entrance. did a rainforest walk at bemm river before finally pitching our tent at mallacoota.

day 4: mallacoota - eden - merimbula - bega - canberra
a decent walk around mallacoota then headed north towards new south wales. we barely made it to eden before we ran out of petrol. visited the killer whale museum because we were in town anyway, then drove to merimbula for lunch. we weren't really in the mood for another beach town so we headed inland to bega (where the cheese is made). the cheese factory was nice but we were in a driving mood so we decided to keep going to canberra. the road was excellent driving and the scenery was gorgeous.

day 5: canberra
canberra is a strangely city. it felt empty and sterile. but there were colour and people hidden in little pockets of suburbia. we visited old parliament house and the national portrait gallery, and swung by the national archives (unfortunately the display room was being renovated). saw apocalypto that night: three and a half stars out of five.

day 6: (still) canberra
parliament house was quiet because it was not in session. but the copy of magna carta they had on display was pretty cool, as were the portraits. i felt the national gallery was pretty ordinary: the one in melbourne is far superior. the national film and sound archives was an interesting way to spend an hour.

day 7: canberra - goulburn - katoomba
our inner nerds were satisfied by a visit to the deep space communications centre. we spent a good hour gawking at radiotelescopes and drooling over samples of astronaut food. we spent another few hours at the australian war memorial staring at bombers and howitzers and tanks. visited yet another maccas at goulburn before meandering into the blue mountains. after searching in vain (driving around randomly) for an hour for a camping ground, we bunked at the yha in katooma: it was great! cahill's lookout was pretty awesome.

day 8: katoomba - wentworth falls - newcastle - taree - wingham - coffs harbour
a big day. katoomba falls was crap. the three sisters were okay, but the giant staircase was a killer. we only got halfway down (we were running a tight schedule) but still the way backup was painful. we had brekkie at wentworth falls lakes, then did a walk to fletchers lookout. wentworth falls was the best waterfall we've seen so far this trip. lunch at newcastle and arvo tea at taree. wingham was a detour: we realised it was a bit of a dead end so turned back instead. finally made it to coffs harbour at half past nine. the only place still cooking was maccas. *sigh* motored a massive 600km today.

day 9: coffs harbour - victoria reserves - lennox heads - byron bay - surfers paradise
walked around victoria reserves for free (they wanted seven dollars for parking! who carries around that much change? not us). at lennox heads, we turned down a couple of hang gliding nuts' offer of fifteen-minutes tandem flights (they wanted a hundred bucks each) and drove by byron bay and on to surfers paradise. we set up camp and hit the magnificent waves. drank ourselves silly afterwards. it was another bloody warm night...

day 10: surfers paradise - brisbane
we squeezed in another swim before driving back to brissie for lunch. bought a handful of cd's for the trip back, then gal flew south and i headed home. finally tasted mum's cooking again after a nine month hiatus - yum!

the end of the beginning!

i finished my last admission as an intern at 6:37pm and trudged home. called doris who said she would pick us up. got home, had a durry and played some wii bowling. the intern get-together was a blast. the new 'terns seem alright. perhaps not as fun-loving as we are, but i suppose they will come out of their shells with time. all of us, the class of 2006, made our ways to the elbow and partied on until past 3am. kate had a bit of a breakdown and so i had to sit up with her until she nodded off. going to work this morning was a real killer. thank god i only had a half day.

so it's done. a haircut and im a new man. time to chill for a bit at last!

summer days

a great night out with a bunch of young, attractive, fun-loving people. what else could be better?! it's good to be alive in ballarat summer. leo and i went to maso and jonesy's housewarming. after much lighthearted chit chat (something i usually abhor but was in the mood for last night), we adjorned to my house for some wii golf action with jonno; before heading back out to peter lalor for some kareoke action. it was seriously good fun. to top it all off, we stumbled along to the hot dog van, and sat on the kerb eating greasy, fatty food, all drunkenly, deliriously full of warm and fuzziness. rock!

it's so ironic when your mate is interested in the same chick you are. what do you do? it's messy enough just with two people in the picture. fuck it.

departures

finally got my very own crumpler bag. dropped ang off at the airport. monopoly and poker at jim and pete's. watched fireworks on a bridge. sang along to mrs robinson at the top of our lungs with our heads out the window.

the gang will be split up soon. jim is going back to brisbane. pete back to adelaide. i'll remain in ballarat and gal in footscray. on the other hand, those wayward children of group a will come home to victoria, with xiu back from townsville and lou from brisbane. can't wait to crash at xiang and lou's and get fed *guffaws*

so many things to do before the end of internship. but i just want to close my eyes to it all...