JJ's Big Journey

Greenie hits town

2006-10-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

The last 3 nights my friend Greenie came to Rome. He flew down for the weekend as he is working in FRance. It was so good to hang out with a mate again and just talk crap. We went out on the town the first night out where we met a whole heap of other people, and some people from our old hostel and partied on.

We lost greenie at one stage only to find him on a dnacefloor having a serious dance off with another very serious guy, trying to outdo each others complicated moves and thrusts!!! it was so so funny.

the next day with mega headaches we did some sight seeing of the ruins and colluseam. Then we went out for dinner, splash out and ate some great Roman food.

The next day we happened to wander into St Peters square and there were heaps of people there. We were like whats going on? Then suddenly from a nearby window the POPE APPEARED!!! HAHA it was amazing I couldnt believe it there he was!!! He gave a speech and sung prayers which gave me chills! I still cant believe it now! we explored the Bassilica and saw all the old tombs including St Peters himself. Wow.

That night Greenie payed for both Vic and I to go on a pub crawl. We went with all these crazy american girls who were our room mates. It was quite funny as Greenie was the only boy in our Dorm and he snored real bad.

It was yet another crazy night full of dancing, very funny people, and much drunkeness. Then we had to get up at 7am the next morning to make it to the Vatican mueseam and the Sistine chapel as it was closing early. We were not pretty sights to say the least. but as soon as we got in there i forgot how i was feeling. It was breathtaking. Not just the Sistine chapel, although that was amazing but the whole place. So much detail on every wall, ceiling, every surface. It was truly one of the greatest places Ive ever seen. I was gobsmacked.

I was so happy once i walked out of the chapel, thats been a life long dream. just another that i seemed to forfilled on this trip. i couldnt stop smiling the rest of the day.

Old Rome

2006-10-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

we stayed at a great hostel with great people for four nights after Gloucos. We spent the days trying to dodge death on the crazy roads and visiting the many many amazing sights of rome. There are so many ruins still in really good nick from the ancient times its unreal. It looks like a movie set. I never ever imagined it to look the way it does. There are also lots and lots of cats which live amongst the ruins. Cool.

It makes my head spin all the stuff that has happened right where i am standing. so did all the red wine i was drinking phew. we also were eating a stupid amount of gelati, i counted i have tried 16 flavours now! piggy pig pig but soooo good omg!!!

home in rome

2006-10-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

well i have tried and tried to put some pics up for yall but its just not working so youll have to put up with my words.

we arrived in Rome and had our second Italian SERVAs stay with a 25 year old guy called Glouco. We stayed at his house in his cool cool room for 2 nights. We were extremely happy to find that his mates played in a band and we jammed on the first night we were there. They even had the same drumkit as mine icluding the cymbals. Panda and Roberto we both great on the guitar and it was just so good to play for a few hours and feel music pumping through my veins again!

ever since that night rome has felt like home. we went and jammed with them again later on in the week when we were staying at a hostel, good times. Glouco was also a fantastic cook, its weird he said all Italian men cook, and most really well!! Very different to my friends who are male thats for sure.

Florence

2006-10-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

florence is like a city you see on the medievil movies. it is very very pretty and of course the centre of the renaisance (i know i havent spelt that right). i was in awe of the amazing discoveries and movements that had happened right in this town.

the firsat two nights we stayed with SERVAs. an italian teacher much to Vics delight. she showed us how to cook REAL italian pasta, which is simple and FANTASTIC and we have been cooking it lots since then.

i must say, i was moved by the statue of david. i dont know what i was expecting. the statue symbolises the think of the renaisance movement. the beauty is the closest thing to god, gods most beautiful creation is man, and so lots of artforms are in the form of humans. that is a very brief description, but statue of David just about sums it up. it is PERFECT in a way you cant see in the pictures. it fully looks like he is about to breath or move. it is amazing. even vic was in awe, and she isnt into art that much.

i also went to the ufizzi gallery which was great and had a wonderful exhibition of davinchi and all his inventions.

we ate so much gelati as well

venice oh boy

2006-10-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

wow, wow, wow

somewhere i have always wanted to go, venice. its truly amazing, a visual feast. every corner you turn is a painting or a photo. i have never imagined anything like this in my life! a city on water, no cars, a lot of the doors just open up onto the water where you step into your boat! buskers playing guitar and opera singing can be heard echoing around every corner, making me feel like im on a movie. just no brad pitt.

we spent hours walking around, getting hopelessly lost like everyone said we would and loving it! the gondolas are so romantic looking and we wish we had more money so we could go on one but at 60 euro for half and hour its just a weeny bit out of budget!

we have been staying in a camping ground off the island which has a reastaurant, a bar, a swimming pool, a spa and a club! why dont they make camping grounds like this in australia!

the weather is beautiful sunny autumn days, perfect for cruising around the most beautful city i have ever seen.

one night we crossed a bridge, and it was one of those moments. the lights reflected the water, candles from the near by restaurants set the atoshere. then a whole convoy of gondalas, i think about 12 came sailing down the river. one had a man singing with a piano acordian, it was a magical magical moment! i even got a bit teary (loser).

the next night (our last night) we were out there was a full moon and everything was lit up, passing though little courtyards in the moonlight was wonderful. what a place!

Nice

2006-10-07T04:25:00.000-07:00

After a week of hard work, we had 3 nights in a cheap hotel, where we groomed ourselves silly! it was divine. we walked the beautiful streets with gorgous buildings everywhere, all different colours, had to dodge the dog poo though, why dont they just clean it up. the beacj was so weird but so beautiful. the water is that sapphire blue and the sand is nowhere! its a pebble beach! very strange, and not quite as pleasant to walk accross but lovely to look at.

we had a night on the town on saturday and had a wonderful time meeting lots of people and getting up to no good!

A Hobits Tale

2006-10-07T04:17:00.000-07:00

After staying in Nice a night, we journeyed to Grasse where we were met by a real life hobbit at the station. His name was Pierre and we went to his farm for the week to work with him. We are part of an organisation called WWOOF, willing workers for organic farms, which allows us to go and work on famrs in exchange for meals and accom. For budget travellers like us its a great deal, but we were sorta dreading it after 4 months of no working!

Up and up and up the mountains we went, until we came to a little village perched on the side a of a mountain. We had our own little apartment to stay in. Pierre and his wife lived in a little hobbit house, where everything was small and cute, including them. Pierre laughed alot and said ey eye eye! There were two gorgous puppies, horses, rabbits, sheep with bells on their necks a dog and a cat. As well as beautiful vegetable gardens everywhere. We worked for only 3 or 4 hours a day and had the most delicous meals. it was fantastic.

one day we went for a hike up into the mountains looking for horses. i felt like i was on lord of the rings! pierre even had a little staff. very surreal, snow capped mountains, and black arab horses. i nearlly died at the end of the hike and realised how unfit i was.

we were very sad to leave. we experienced a different life for a week, nearlly opposite to our own. a priceless experience which i will remember forever.

family in france

2006-10-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

after spending another 4 days in our beloved party town of Barcelona (where we indeed partied, met some cool folks and found some kittens in a construction site at 3am one night), we had a long hard day of travelling to meet the parents and the sister in Perigue, near Bordeax, Southwest France. We had to catch 5 different trains. As trains all around the world, none ran on time and we had quite an adventure full of near misses, sleazy weird guys and a nice surprise being put into first class! it was so wonderful to see the family, hear there voices, hug them and TALK. talk about everything that had happened, and felt and not have to worry about where the next meal was coming from or really even think about money. we spent a glorious 5 nights in a house in the countryside. the house was clean, it smelt nice, there were no cockroaches, we were in paradise! our days were full of long walks in the woods, visiting castels, getting annoyed at the french, and of course eating an incredible amount of very naughty foods. we had a rushed goodbye in Bordeax but I felt thouroughly relieved and ready to go on with the journey after a lovely little pep with the fam xxoo

Tarragona

2006-09-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

ok this seems to be the real spain i was searching for. its freakin beautiful here to say the least. we are in an old roman town, over 2000 years old, so walking around these streets is unreal. we stayed with Juan in his funky house 3 nights over 2 weeks. he lives in a place which has the original roman walls, sort of undergound cave feeling. there are also 3 little kittens and a drum kit! we have had lots of fun with him. then for one week we stayed in a bungalow 20 m from the beach. the water is so clear and so blue here it blows my mind. wouldnt you know it while we are in such a nice place i get ssssiiiiiiiiiicccccck, for a whole week, i caught some horrible virus! so vic had to sunbake and swim all by herself while i stayed inside. boo. anyway we are leaving here tomorrow but so glad we came, such a special special place.

Barcelona!!!

2006-09-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

barcelona the city of partying! staying in an apartment with 2 other parties. all good people. 3 pommy lads who proved to be a lot of fun, and 2 pommy girls, one who looked exactly like our friend Jade, and guess what her name was? Jade!!! we spent the days walking around La Ramblas, a street with markets, street performers and shops, sunbaking and swimming at the beaches, and the nights drinking till late playing cards and being rowdy. one night we went on a pub crawl with 50 other people! was lots of fun, 4 bars and a club at the end. lotsa fun, lotsa drinking and lots of crazy talk with everyone else on the crawl (most of which happened to be aussies, there were lots of oi oi ois). vic got friendly with one of the pommy lads that night hee hee. but perhaps the highlight was our expensive dinner! ashwani had given me a large sum of money before i left to buy a fancy meal with, and i chose seafood in spain!!! oh yeah baby, after vegies and rice every freaking night, lobster, calamari, baby squid, salmon and fine wines, went down soooooo well. we thought we were so fancy! barcelona very cool, so cool we might return in a few weeks!!

Beautiful Paris

2006-08-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

The Lourve!

Tristan Vic and I at our local, the Moosehead

The French Diet consisting of wine chesse and French stick - in our hotel room

At the Eifle Tower, amazing!

In the afternoon in a beautiful park

2 weeks in paris was quite an experience! the first week we stayed in a hotel, which was a treat, eating far too much bread and salami and drinking far too much cheap red wine, but having lots of fun! we met an old family friend of vicss, Tristan, who is our age, living in paris for 8 months. that was such a blessing! he proved to be a fantastic tour guide with oodles of info on everything!! not only that but he also took us to his local ´the moose´ where he knew all the people working in the bar and we got really cheap, and often free drinks! osker was tristans mate and he served us very well and we hung out too. the moose became our local for the time we were there not surprisingly!! also at the moose there were buffalo wings, my new favorite food. one night we ate no less than 36 of them!

and no we didnt spend the whole time drinking!!! we checked out the sights. actually, paris is such a beautiful city, on every corner there is something fantastic. beautiful well kept flowery gardens, unlimited statues and fountains. felt like we were walking in a disney movie sometimes! the eiffel tower is beautiful from a distance, its a great reminder of where you are each time you see it (you can see it from nearlly everywhere). am really getting into the history of europe, find it facinating so much stuff has happended down the same streets i am walking. bought myself éuropean history for dummies´!and of course the lourve!!!! so cool, i was loving all the ancient stuff, saw flints estimated to be over 200,000 years old!!! the time thing is blowing my mind. and the mona lisa!!! vic got caught taking a photo hee hee. i just stared and stared at her. such an amazing painting, she seems to smile the longer you look at her.

the last 5 nights we stayed with ahswanis brother in law Satish. we had lots of fun sitting around eating and drinking, and seeing a different cultral view on life. we were sad leaving paris, we had such a good time with all the people there, and in such a beatiful place...but were ready for some sun, and a bit sick of the snobby french!

sunday arvo badminton

2006-08-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

the gang

2006-08-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

brussels babies!

2006-08-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

brussels in belgium

2006-08-14T02:05:00.000-07:00

we wtayed for the week at evas older sister Jeneke's house in brussels. she lives there with her boyfriend Jerome and they run a web design business from home. it was great to talk design and even business aagain, thats scary isnt it! i miss it! eva and tim went off camping and we babysat evas 18 month twin cousins for the week for a bit of cash.they were soooo cute, and soooo easy to look after. and vic changed all the nappies!! we took them on outings, and played around all day, and yes got a bit clucky! spending time with them made me think of the time when i have kids, which i hardly ever do! and also how strange that i used to be like that, and everyone! its a funny thought everyone as babies. at night we would come home and hang out with jeneke and jerome who made us feel very welcome and we all got along really well. i really enjoyed our time with them and will miss it alot i think. eva and tim got back for the weekend which was full of huge brunches, badminton, celebrity heads, beer and wine. we went to a pub which had 2004 different sorts of beer, i was very impress, sampled many!! on the way home though we lost eva and tim and then got lost ourselves and got followed by some guys. very very scary, i just about pooed my pants. but we lost them and found our way home, not a nice experience though! our time in brussels was wonderful, like hanging out with a big group of mates, which i miss, now we venture onto paris alone again, and with fond memories of the friendships in brussels.

holland photos

2006-08-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

holland country

2006-08-14T01:47:00.000-07:00

after amsterdam we went and stayed with evas grandma for a few days in a country town. the house was beautiful and backed onto a little canal where everyone had little boats tied to little jetties. we went on the boat one day and had a picnic in a field amongst old dutch windmills. everybody, and i mean EVERYBODY rides bikes, old and young. they are funny old bikes, sort of girly looking, its funny seeing the big tough teenage guys hooning around on them, not a bmx in sight! we went on a bike ride to the beach where there was a huge free rave party, they were expecting 15000 people. we walked half way there along the beach then stopped for a rest and howled with laughter at the dress sense of these kids! guys in flares with what looked like a little girls pink jumper stretched over their chests, gelled hair all slick and drinking breezers, bit of a contrast to tough australian males. we were kind of put off by these people so we dicided the party might not be so fun! on the way home i got run off the road by two girls who hadnt seen me as they were yelling out to boys and they swerved to avoid me and their bikes locked together!! we ate alot of cheese and i had a good chat to evas gran who had been held prisinor by the nazis for 5 months when she was my age. phew. it was lovely having eva all to ourselves for that week, as on the last day we were at her grandmas tim arrived, an excited young kiwi who flew over to stay with eva for the month to recindle old flames. we all travlled together to brussels....

amsterdam pics

2006-08-14T01:41:00.000-07:00

amsterdam pics

2006-08-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

amsterdam woo

2006-08-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

well well,

amsterdam was such a contrast to london. Eva, my great old buddy from high school met us at the airport, i hadnt seen her in 18 months so there were a few tears! she escorted us to our beautiful, clean, wide bedded, friendly hostel in the heart of the red light district. we hung out all night and i was so happy i wanted to scream. eva was so hyperactive she was scary!!! we had wonderful food and relished in the fruits of amsterdam! i had the best fallafels of my life. over the next three days we hung out, walking around the beautiful street, playing cards, going to a few 'different' museums, including van gough which i loved. the buildings are all so tall and skinny and are a little bit crooked. you would think that a city where prostitution and drugs are legal that there would be a dodgy vibe, not so. some how amsterdam has managed to create a friendly, safe and easy going atmosphere that i cant imagine any country could maintain. however they have, so bravo. amsterdam holds such special memories and a feeling of utter joy, i will never forget. the rollar coaster of emotions while we are travelling are awesome.

GOODBYE HOSTEL!!

2006-07-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

London

2006-07-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

London Thoughts

2006-07-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

ok ok I have realised now that Ode to London town was a bit morbid, and probably shouldnt be renamed 'Ode to Camden Town', as thats what I was really writing about. but heres the situation we were in (the worst of the trip so far)

- stupidly jetlagged, we get to hostel and pay two weeks upfront MISTAKE worst grossest grubbiest hostel ever. cockroaches in the bedrooms and toilets, fiflthy kitchen, no comfortable chill out places, and inconsiderate guests. people did poos in the showers. mega disgusting. so we were stuck there for two weeks

- Camden is a druggie neighbour hood, and not the romantic image i had in my head from university when we studied art movements there. Hence scary and dodgey people everywhere screaming stuff and freaking us out. Cant be out at night without a male.

- the HEATWAVE - so so hot, no airconditioning anywhere, let alone fans so we just couldnt escape the heat. couldnt sleep at night so constantly tired.

- Vic got TONSILITIS, was feverish and sick, had to take her to hospital

- We couldnt find jobs, so had 10 pound a day budget. Things are 3 times expensive over here. If we had jobs we might have been able to see more, as a tube ticket is $13 Australian for the day.

- Homesick - yes when the chips are down, missing home so much clouds over you. all the little things i missed, friends and family and way of life, my drums! australia kicks arse!

SOOOOO as you can see our view of london hasnt been great! but we have also had some really good times too, here they are:

- Sally and Ryan - Ross's (our friend) sister and her boyfriend live in London and welcomed us into there home for dinners, drinks and going out. They looked after us very well and it was lovely to have a break from the hostel going to their place. We are staying at theres now for 2 nights before going to amsterdam

- Going Out - had a superb night out with Sally and Ryan one saturday and went to a Gay Bar where there was Caberet, hilarious.

- Our trips into town, we splashed out and went into the city 2 days. We went to the Tate Gallery, St Pauls Cathedral, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalger Square and the National Gallery. These days were so much fun and if we had stayed in these areas of London we would have had a much better time im sure of it!

- Seeing original artworks by Van Gough, Picasso, Monet, Salvador Dali and Rembrant was particually special for me, even moving!

- Drinking at the Hostel - We met a few cool people at the hostel with some amazing stories and lifestyles, hanging out at the back with cheap wine was good fun and helped us sleep better!

So off to Amsterdam Monday WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!! I really feel like I am stronger from this experience though, it was so hard, but we made it through and learnt alot. Thank god its over. Thanks for reading through another long entry!

london - our escape at sally and ryans

2006-07-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Ode to London the Oppressed

2006-07-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

Elderly stay indoors, theres nitrogen in the air
Fog caused by the heatwave makes the vunerable beware
London fridges cannot cope, so the beer is warm
We swealter in the filth, and prey that we are gone
From this mass of stench, they call London Town
Where everything is monotone and everybody frowns
In a hurry, people scurry, they have to get there FIRST
You better stay out the way to avoid getting hurt
They will strike you, they will curse you, even knock you down
No helping hand, they'll step over you as you writhe on the ground
Beefy men uNdress you with their eyes, unshamefully as you pass
Makes me sick, women afraid to look up, so stare down at the footpath
A crazy junkie, with crazy eyes screams off his head
A chilling whisper in your ear 'Go kill yourself' he said
Oh glory of the mother country! How did Australia sprout from you?
You are the base of our society and taught us everything you knew
But as a child learns from a parent, a lesson they dont purposely give
Look at them and analyse how to, and how NOT to live
Did Australia learn to be great, from the fate of her bitch of a mother?
Or are we not so cramped we can still afford to be civil to one another?
Ode to London the oppessed....
SNAP OUT OF IT PEOPLE

2006-07-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

more ny

2006-07-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

nY week two

2006-07-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

hey groovers,

well 2 nights left in the city that never sleeps! we left fredy and dollys and are now staying at my aunty camilles place. wow iS sometghing that comes to mind when seeing their apartment. very big, like a house, overlooking the hudson with 180 degree views of the water. look over the other side and theres jersey (the poor cousin of NY). Camille and Parker (hubby) have been great, and are also not republicans so very interesting conversations, getting a real insight into this country.

we have done central park (oh my god huge, got hopelessly lost and disorientated did my head in), the plaza hotel (big business!), statue of liberty (not that big) and brooklyn yesterday. brooklyn was a bit of a shock, we somehow missed the nicer parts! its amazing how it takes 2 seconds to cross the river from manhatten but what a world away it is in its state. rubbish everywhere, constant smell of urine, tumbledown dirty blocks of flats stretch across a sad horizon and pretty much only black people and hispanics. the contrast of the two boroughs (or what we saw) was unbelievable. in india i experienced maybe more extreme contrasts between rich and poor, but that was a third world country, this is the richest country in the WORLD. i think back to other places, LA and places along the way and they looked the same. this week i have had really good conversations with camille and parker, sarah my cousin and donny, an african american stock broker we met at a pub, and i have learnt alot about this country. Donny was a really smart guy and we talked to a few hours about black people, their history, the that have sprung issues from the past, and the state of their people today. Then going to Brooklyn just hit home. In this country EVERYTHING is money. In Australia, no matter how poor you are you can still get health care and education and definatley no centrelink if you have trouble finding a job or funding yourself through uni. In US you cant. I could go on forever but basically if you're poor in this country you are screwed, and there are so many poor people, 49 million dont have health care. they keep the rich rich, and the poor poor. and to think this is what Howard is trying to do to Aus makes me sick. We are so incredibly lucky for what we have in Aus, and if anyone tries to take it away from us, I know realise after seeing this country, how important it is to fight for it.

anyway, we have been hanging out in Greenwich village heaps. its a place where in the 60s and 70s was a big hippy hangout where lots of famous mucians hung out too, like hendrix, joplin and clapton. its got a great vibe, slower to the rest of manhatten similar to brunswick st. heaps of bars and live music. we've had the most memorable nights down there, drinking alot, meeting heaps of people. vic is handy because her dreads attract all sorts. also to black people her dreads represent rastas and basically she is on their side! so we have been able to meet heaps of black people (awesome!), we just dont get em in oz unfoutunatley coz the ones we have met have been very funny people!

anyway, some more photos above maybe the last for a while so enjoy my prettys!!!!

ps i cant reply to comments but jobione im loving urs!

new kicks!!!!! whatchyall think?

2006-07-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

july 4th and city by night

2006-07-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

new york new york

2006-07-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

hellooooo from NYC

hard to believe we are here really. new york is everything you expect and more. we are staying with freddy and dolly who live right in the midst of it all. below there is a pic of vic on the couches in the apartment and below that pic is the view from our bedroom window!

the sheer size of this city is amazing, 8 million people inmanhatten alone. thats 8 million in one suberb, sooo many buildings, sooo many people it is a little hard for my small town brain to comprehend when looking out over all the buildings.

we have been shopping shopping! i saved my pennies to shop in NYC. my most prized possesion are my sneakers! see the pics how freakin awesome!

today we went to see the producers on broadway as we got half price tickets, it was unreal! very very funny. last night were the fireworks for 4th july. we watched them from the top of the apartments (35 floors) and had a beautiful view right in the middle, the fireworks were HUGE

weel dinner is ready and dolly has cooked up another fantastic meal! (she is seriously the best cook ever, everything cooked to perfaction!)

New York New York!

2006-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

houston piccy pics pics

2006-06-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

howdy y'all from Huston Texas!

2006-06-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

hi everyone,

well have been a bit slack on the blog so heres a quick update!

after the canyon we spent 3 nights in pheonix where i got pretty sick, which wasnt fun. we were staying in a motel, which was good so i just stayed in bed the whole time watching cable while vic nursed me back to health. on the few occasions we did leave the motel room, it was around 45 degrees outside. the heat hit us with such force it made me want to vomit! so pheonix was kinda sucky.

then after another glorious greyhound busride ride we arrived in Tucson, a funny little place in the middle of the dessert where most of the buildings have rounded corners and gave it a sort of starwars feel. Tucson had a very alternative, left wing atmosphere. We stayed at a friendly little hostel (see pics) where there were lots of other musicians so we had fun. Vic got a tatoo "freedom" on her left foot. We met a wide ange of people and spent most of the time laughing, good fun.

next we had a horrible 21hr greyhound busride to Austin which we somehow survived! Finally we were out of the dessert and into lush, green Texas! Not the texas i imagined! Our hostel was on the river (see pics) which ran through the city. Austin is the music captial of Texas, so many bands playing. 6th st is famous for its hundreds of bars and clubs. We came to see Les Claypool, an awesome bass player. His hands looked like hummingbirds they were moving so fast! It was a brilliant show, not to be forgotten, especially with his band of drums, percussion (including tublar drums), xylophone, sitar and sax. The hostel we stayed at as shocking though, 14 bed dorm, with a pommy who had night terrors and woke us up screaming, AND my vegimite got stolen! Bastards!

Finally we arrived in Houston to my auntys big open welcoming arms! We are staying in there huge house in the suberbs, and it is sooo nice to be in a home again. We are being fed and fed, given money, bought clothes, basically been treated like princesses! The streets look like they do on the movies! We go for walks everyday, everyone waves and says "hi y'all!".

and thats about up to date if you read though all that without giving up, well done! love to you all, hope you like my pics

austin pics

2006-06-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Tucson pics

2006-06-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

grand canyon

2006-06-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

viva las vegas pics

2006-06-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

san diego n Tijuana pics

2006-06-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

venice beach pics

2006-06-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

hollywood!

2006-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

the grand canyon

2006-06-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

last weekend we went to the grand canyon. the first time i saw it my eyes went all funny. i couldnt focus on anything it was sort of like i was looking at a collage in 2D. it takes about a minute for your brain to comprehend what you are looking at becuase it is just so freaking HUGE! the distance and detail you can see is overwhelming, and i have to admit i got a bit teary! i couldnt tear my eyes away from it, i sat and stared and stared and stared. there is a wlaking track along the rim and most of it doesnt have railing, you can literally sit on the edge of a cliff and look out.

we stayed in bright angel lodge, we were sleeping 20 metres from the edge, i kid you not. it was amazing. then we had our helicopter ride! we got a free upgrade to a longer flight becuase someone cancelled. AND we got to sit in the front with the pilot! it was a pure glass front so it was sort of like floating around the canyon in a little bubble. the pilot had misson impossible music playing when we kicked off but then he changed it to Dave Matthews Band and i could hardly believe what i was doing!! when we flew over the edge of the canyon I had the feeling i was jumping off a cliff. the ground goes from 50m below you to 1.5km below ina second and it is scary!

I hiked around the rim with my ipod which was very special time for me. its funny how a big hole in the ground makes you feel all spiritual!!

viva las vegas

2006-06-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

hello all!

well we certainly have been spending waaaaaayy too much over here in our first few weeks, but hey it happens! Europe is now looking like a working holiday! Which is fine really.

Vegas Vegas Vegas! What a strange strange place. Whos idea was it to put it in the middle of the dessert? Everything in vegas is huge, and its extremely overwhelming walking down the strip and entering casino after casino. It seems they all try to out do each other with their themes, and some crazy money has been spent! My favorite was New York New York, where the outside of the hotel/casino looks like new york buildings with a HUGE statue of liberty. and the inside has its own central park complete with a stream, and the cafes and shops look like little buildings from NY downtown. There are even grills in the cobble stone floor with steam coming out of them like in the movies. Its a very strange feeling, its done so well it feels like your outside, but you are inside! The casino across from us had real lions in a den over looking the gaming area, another had sharks.

The other good thing about vegas is the hotels are dirt cheap mid week, in fact the same price as a hostel bed! We stayed right on the strip in the 'tropicana' (you guessed it, a tropical theme!). Our room had a view of the strip, cable TV, a big spa bath,and a king size bed! (mirrors on the ceiling as well hee hee!) Well we felt so glamorous we didnt know what to do with ourselves. The pool was equally as great. It had 3 waterfalls! We spent 5 nights cruising around, spending very little as there is so much to see for free. We had a big night out where we got all dressed up. We went to a few bars, and then went to the gaming area. Yes folks, free drinks anything you want, if you 'appear' to be gambling. Well we had cocktails galore!! vic won $20 and we cashed it straight away. all in all i spent $10 and vic gained $10! what a time for two poor back packers!!

Apart from the gross sleazy old cigar puffing men, and the many fat people stuffing their face with junk food while smoking a cigarette, we had a ball in Vegas and reccomend it to anyone on a budget as long as you go mid week!

san diego...a whales...

2006-06-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

if you have seen anchor man you get it right?!!

well we have spent the last week in sunny san diego at a pretty full on party hostel where we met heaps of people, both cool and annoying!! it was great while we were there beacuse so many accents and backgrounds!

we have been doing stuff everyday because there is just so much to do! we went to San Diego zoo which was a little bit of a let down. its got such a good name but melbourne zoo is sooooo much better. San Diego the enclosures are quite small and i felt sorry for the animals. also the tigers and gorrillas werent there so i was a bit bummed. however there was a huuuuuuge rhino and i watched him for ages, they just look so facinating!

we also went fishing, we hired rods and bucket and everything else you need and spent a sunny afternnoon on the pier. we caught so many fish we were a little exhausted after a while! they were only tiny though so we threw most of them back. i had to kill a few cos they were hooked in the eye and i nearlly cried!! dad would be shaking his head... but proud that i went fishing!! we also saw a dolphin.

yesterday we went to Tijuana. that was a hoot! we were sitting getting lunch when we hear a whistle. next thing vics head is tipped back and about a gallon of tequila is poured down her throat! next thing coughing and spluttering she is launched over this crazy mexicans shoulder and spun around around! the whole resturaunt was laughing. then when the man tried to do it to me he tipped my hcair backwards and i got such a fright i kicked out at the table and spilt all our drinks! everyone was laughing even harder!!

well tomorrow we depart for Las Vegas (ch-ching!) where we are staying in a hotel!!! yes very excited as it costs the same as a 6 bed dorm in San Diego!!!!

so long for now!!

the real venice beach

2006-05-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

woah, sorry guys the last one was very rushed as the internet was soooooo expensive. I am in San Diego now and everything is cheaper than venice beach, a slab of miller beer is 9 bux. yes it is way to easy to drink beer here! anyway I wanted to put a post up about what happened to us last night.

we had heard talk of a drum circle on the beach for 3 hrs during sunset, so we went down to check it out. oh my god. As we approached the group of 300+ ppl my heart beat faster as the drumming got louder. we found ourselves in the middle of sooooo many people in one big drumming party. yes...I couldnt believe it, was surreal I felt like i was in a wonderful dream. There were bongos, jembes, didges, whistles, cowbells, even a full drum setup !! Like my kit! we danced and danced, vic played someones didge, we met lots of crazy people and it was fantastic. something I will remember for the rest of my life.

we spent today travelling, went back into LA which is a disgusting city of filth. got dropped by a bus in a really dodgey spot so we were happy to wave LA goodbye. We arrived in San Diego just now in a great hostel where there is free food. Its fantastic, there is even a supermarket with fruit and vegetables which is a blessing as we have found healthy stuff really hard to come by. In fact I have never been so disgusted with junk food in my life. the advertising it gets is awful, and there are heaps of fat people eating it all the time. We have just bought bocolli and I am so excited!

We are staying on the beach again ina very laid back surfie part of town. We are sharing a female dorm which is great as the last dowm we shared was with two guys. One german one who stared a lot and was quite uncomfortable to be around!!!

Love to everyone, write me a post or an email!!!

yooooooo from VENICE BEACH!

2006-05-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hello 'y'all' from Venice beach!!!!

This place is amazing, not like LA the city of filth! There is a massive beach, and street stalls and steet performers and bongo players and crazy people and really nice people and 99cent pizza everywhere! At sunset there is a huge circle of bongos players on the beach and they all go off! We have been cruising around meeting people everywhere cos everyone is so chill. It is nice and warm and 'typical' calafornia. We met some locals yesterday and now we reckong we are 'all inb=!'. we skated and drank beer with them, goota go times out!! love love love

oh crap

2006-05-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

phew. sitting here in Alex with mother dear. my last night in alex for a very long time! well next entry will be from over the seas (if I can remember my password).

check you on the flipside (that was mum)

So close But So Far Away

2006-03-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well here I am at work on my lunch break and have just discovered how to create a blog, quite by accident. I must say I'm feeling pretty impressed with myself right now! It is around 10 weeks until my journey commences and although its getting close, its still so far away. I mean 10 weeks ago was before christmas and that was ages ago. Thats how I compare the time anyway.

So I probably wont enter anything else (unless something really exciting happens) until just before I go and I'm getting all sentimental and shoit.

Luv MEEEEE