Pros and Cons

Last night my crew and I went out to Scubar and we are chillin drinking checking out this hott girl. She turns around and screams MATT it was Ann this German girl i met in Brisbane, she was a regular in my bar and stayed at my hostel for a while. Ann and her friend Sabrina travelled to Cairns and now back to Sydney. This shit is crazy u meet someone in another state, u think u will never see them again and there they are in my local bar. It's good shit since she got her phone stolen in Cairns and lost everyones numbers. Especially good since tonight we are really going out on the town and now the girls are coming with us.
I just got done watching the footy (Australian Football League) final, it was Geelong vs. St. Kilda (Melbourne.) At the MCG the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere. I went there when i was in Melbourne with Raj. Footy is probably my favorite Aussie sport, it is def. the only one i can sit down and watch a whole game. I am also going to miss meeting so many international people and the friendliness of OZ. In Australia if u walk up to a group of people they will ask ur name and where u are from and usually if u want to join whatever is going on. In the U.S. if u walk up to a group of strangers and ask to join they will tell u to get lost or worse. I am going to miss the beautiful scenery, Toohey's New, the girls, Aussie BBQ, YHA's, kangaroos, Scubar (and the free drinks that go with it,) how oz is so green both with foliage and how all public transport is electric, toilets have two flush levels, outlets turn themselves off, and so on...
There are many things i am missing about home like NFL, real meal portions, driving is going to be great, blunts, making money, quality tv, free laundry, my bed, taco bell, PS3, the free pour, cheaper cigs and drinks. In OZ they have this sin tax it makes a pack of cigs 12 dollars and a 6 pack of beer 14.
It was an unforgettable trip and i wouldn't change anything about it. I thank god for giving me this opportunity and i only wish i would have started traveling at a younger age because now i don't want to stop!

What!

So i left off writing about this dust storm that hit Sydney on the 23rd. It was so dark i could not see the ocean. It didn't seem that big of a deal to me but i guess it was the first dust storm to hit Sydney in 50 years. I was a part of it i should have got a pic, damn goon- too hungover. So i get back to the Railway YHA (my home away from home) and i check back in. I go to my room i am making my bed and the room is empty. This guy walks in that had just checked in himself. So i interduce myself and ask his name and where he is from. He says Misbah from Afghanistan, i am waiting for him to ask me where i am from- he doesn't. I go make some food and go back to the room for a nap (as i said too much goon.) Misbah is in the room and he says i forgot to ask so u are Australian. I say no- he say English? I say no, so he finally says where then. I tell him i am from the U.S.- he just says oh twice. I go see my Canadian friends tell them the story they like it. Then later i am off to the grocery store and Misbah was asking where he can get some eggs. So i take him with me, he tells me he has never been to a grocery store in his life, only markets. Before two days ago he had never left Afghanistan in his life and now he is in Sydney. I think it was a bit of culture shock for him, that would be like us going to Afghanistan. So i ask him what he thinks of Australia he said he doesn't like it but he really likesthe girls. So i said if u like the girls then u should come out with us. It was Oktoberfest (sp?) at Scubar that night so he came with my two French Canadian friends and another French guy. He is Muslim so he doesn't drink but Max one of the French Canadian didn't really understand or couldn't hear over the music and kept on trying to get him to drink. I don't think this guy has ever even been inside a bar. After i drank one and half beers he said ok lets go. I said i might be here a while u can go back if u want, he left and the rest of us partied into the middle of the night. Well i never met anyone from Afghanistan but he's alright just a little sheltered. Oh yeah it being Oktoberfest Quey my Irish friend who works at Scubar was wearing a little German school girl mini skirt and bra it was hilarious- i have pics. I think he likes wearing dresses- strange guy. I can't believe it's almost over i will be home in 4 days. See you soon South FL.

BONDI BEACH

Sunday morning i left Kings Cross and jumped on the subway to go stay on Bondi Beach.  It is only 3 train stops away but so different.  Kings Cross is all about the night life, plus u have to watch your back and wallet.  Then i go to Bondi and it is like a different country, so much more beautiful.  The night life is almost non-existent, bars close around 1am but nobody really stays around the bars that late anyway- everybody drinks on the beach.  It is not dangerous like the Cross everyone is real friendly.  So i went to the YHA to check in and they were fully booked.  So they recommended a few other hostels.  I went to Noha's backpackers and i was real pleased, in fact i was happier with Noah's, it is closer to the beach and more relaxed.  I chilled out for the first night.  Second day i went to the beach and i thought Bondi was so popular since it is Sydney's main beach but it is great probably the nicest southern beach i have been to.  Huge inlet surrounded by cliffs and the street above is lined with restaurants and shops.  Went back to Noah's and took it easy again, still recovering from Kings Cross.  The next day I woke up made some breakfast went to eat it on the roof top overlooking the beach.  While eating these two guys sat at my table and lit up a huge joint.  So i finished breakfast they ask if i smoke so i said yes i wouldn't mind a wake and bake.  The guys were a little older one worked at the hostel a Brazilian guy named jeorge and the other Austrian but i forget his name.  So after that nice breakfast i went back to the beach which is filled with fine Aussie's and internationals, oh yeah it is topless too.  I went back to the hostel after a while and met this guy in my room who just arrived in Australia 2 days ago from Chile.  He had some Pisco and he wanted to drink it that night.  Pisco is liquor made in Chile and Peru.  I have never heard of it but u mix it with coke and it is called Piscola.  The first two were rough but it tasted better and better with each drink.  So we ended up going down to the beach with a big group of people some from my room like the two Irish guys.  I also met a girl from NYC, I think she drank like half the bottle of Pisco.  After it was gone it was on to the goon, we had three boxes.  We drank the 2 white first then we were left with the red one which tasted like shit.  We met this bum he was so wasted, we were chillin on this hill overlooking the beach.  He fell and rolled down the hill with his guitar on his back, it was so funny.  He made it back up and passed out on the sidewalk so this french guy pulled out his guitar and he cracked it in half during his tumble down the hill.  He is not going to be happy when he finds out but he probably won't remember how it happened.  Smoked few more, everyone is so generous in Bondi, i didn't pay for any drinks or bud that night.  The next morning was not good.  I had to check out at 10am but i was so hungover i didn't leave until 11am.  Pisco and Goon makes for a real bad hangover.  So i pack my shit up again (getting real old) and go to catch the bus to go back to Central.  I couldn't believe it, there was a huge dust storm, i could not even see the beach.  All the Asians had medical masks on and everyone was running.  I did not know what was going on and i was so hungover that i did not really care.  I guess it was big news though.  Dust storms happen a lot down under but usually not in Sydney.  But i made it back to Central without inhaling too much dust checked in and went back to sleep.  Funny story about my new room but that is for a different post.

Later

Crazy Kings Cross

So i moved from the stoner hostel in the CBD (downtown) to a place in Kings Cross. I wanted to change it up so i moved to the grimy, rougher part of Sydney. Although it is not the best neighborhood it is action packed and the clubs go until the sun comes up. Sydney is so big i wouldn't be doing it justice to just stay in one area. The main drag, Darlinghurst rd. is lined with bars, brothels, travel agencies, hostels, and huge clubs. Some travel agencies are so close to the brothels it look like they are competing- u can either by a trip or a "date."
So I moved into this real lived in hostel called Bedlahm Backpackers right on Darlinghurst rd. and met my roommates i have one french Canadian, a polish guy (only the second polish guy i met while traveling,) and a french girl. So me and the polish guy, keive end up smoking a fat one, mixed with spin of course, in the fire escape. He liked that my last name is Petroski. Then later the French Canadian and i went out on Fri. night. We went to this sports bar to start where the AFL (footy) semi-finals was on- the only Aussie sport i can get into. Then we went to the World Bar. Where if u order a shot they pour a shaker full into a tea kettle and hand u as many shot glasses as u need. So i met this real hott Aussie chick we drank some tea kettle shots and i asked her if she wanted to go out tomorrow. She handed me her card and said come see me at work and u can have whatever u want. Ends up she works at one of the many brothels. She looked like a normal innocent girl i would have never guessed. So i politely declined and went for a cig. Lost my Canadian friend so went to smoke. I met an Australian guy who down on his luck, living on the street but a real cool guy. Talked to him for a while smoked some more, then eventually went back to the hostel and watched some shitty Australian tv in the lounge before going to bed. I am glad i moved out to Kings Cross for the experience but i think i can only stay here like two more nights max. Then i plan to take it easy for a few nights on Bondi Beach. Then back to the CBD hostel before a night on the plane, and then L.A., Dallas, and finally Naples. I can't believe my trip is actually coming to an end- I have mixed feelings about this- I can already feel the drama from home reaching out to me here but it has been the most relaxing trip of a lifetime, better then i could have even imagined.

SYDNEY!!!

Three days ago i got on a plane at one of the smallest airports i have ever been, in Alice Springs. For a 5 hour flight from the middle of nowhere to the biggest and best city in Australia, Sydney. I am feeling slightly accomplished now that i have traveled practically the whole country. The only places i didn't get to visit is WA (Perth) and Tasmania. Anyway I land in Sydney airport and it was real nice to be somewhere familiar. I knew to go right to the subway and take it to central. Every other place i went it was the first time i had ever been there. I got back to one of the best places i stayed, Sydney Railway YHA. Was checking in and I saw my one of my first friends i made in OZ, Pascal the French Canadian. He was like come with me but i had to check in. So finally i went with him, he now has a bong he packed it up we smoked like the good old days (meaning 4 months ago.) Pascal and his brother Max work for the YHA (easy work for like an hour a day) for free accommodation. So they have been here the whole time but now they got a hooked up room. A tv, x-box 360, and a bong luxuries i haven't seen in a long time. In fact one of the reasons i found Alice so boring is I couldn't even find anything out there. So then i go to my room it is an 8-share, i make my bed then go to take a shower. When i get back it smells like weed in my room, so i talk to the 4 German guys in my room and ask if they smoke, they say yes, so i say u smoke in the room they say yes we have a bong want a try. So of course i say sure- i don't remember any bongs last time i was here. Turns out these Germans are real chill guys hang out with them for a while.
The next day i decide to do some tourist stuff i did not do the last time i was in Sydney. So i get on the free bus take it to Circular Quay which is by Darling Harbour. Get off and walk towards the Darling Harbour Bridge and there it is the famous Sydney Opera H0use. Snap a few pics then walk to the opera house where there was free concert going on- not my kind of music but a lot of people out there. Take some more photos of the sun setting on the city and all the water taxi's. Then walk back to the hostel. Get dressed and go to Scubar the place i got my first drink in OZ. Went with Pascal and their other French roommate who's name i can't remember. Max was working so got some free drinks. Quey (Irish friend) was trying to get us to go Kings Cross but i just wanted to take it easy and i will be there next weekend. So went back to the YHA got some food and smoked again then went to bed.
So good to be back to Sydney and great to see my friends are all still here, most of them anyway. Now i do have a problem i am really trying to see some NFL (especially the lions game) which is hard to catch in FL but i think the casino has the NFL package. Even though i should be staying out of the casino i think this is a legitimate reason to go. If it is on at 1pm on Sun. it should be on at 3am mon. right?
Later

Wow

So Alice Springs is a sort of boring town, there are only two real bars. There are also so many Aboriginals and they stink really bad. I think the Northern Territory has the highest Abo population in OZ. So i'm bored sitting around outside the hostel when i saw a group of guys talking about going to the Town and Country (one of the two bars.) So i asked one are u going to the bar they said yes so i asked if they mind if i tag along. So we are walking to the bar make the normal introductions- name? country? and how long u been in OZ? One Aussie guy can't remember his name, Eric from Scotland, and Louie from France. So we sit down with a Toohey's New and start talking. That's when i asked Eric's story and wow.
He told me he was real sick in Scotland for a while then when he got better he wanted to go on a journey. Sounds kinda like my story right, but this is where the similarities stop. He told me he has traveled from Scotland on a bike, not a motor bike a bicycle. He went through England took the fairy to France then all they way through Europe. To Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, India, (i am sure i am leaving some countries out i was a little drunk) another fairy to Indonesia, Malaysia then to Darwin in the the north of Australia then he rode his bike through the whole desert to the middle and the town of Alice Springs. 16 countries in 18 months. He told me in Pakistan they didn't want to let him in but he had already gotten his visa so they had to let him. Four armed guards followed him in a truck. They wanted to get him out of Pakistan so bad that when he stoped to piss or eat they take his bike and put it in the car and try to give him a ride. He tried explaining he did not want a ride but they didn't understand so he would grab the bike and keep riding. He slept on benches or on the side of the rode. Some places he would meet nice people that would take him in and feed him, he said especially places like Jordan and Hungary. Now for the craziest part him and Louie met in Turkey 8 months back. Louie went home to France then traveled to Australia and some how they ended up meeting in Alice crazy right. So his plans now are to ride to down to Adelaide, Melbourne, then Sydney. Fly to New Zealand bike the country then fly to San Fran. and bike from Cali to New York. This guy is nuts. Then back home at that point he can really say i rode my bike around the world. He was supposed to ride off today but i saw him in by the pool and he said the aussie guy got him too drunk so he is gonna take it easy tonight and leave tomorrow.
This post hasn't really been about me but the point is even in a small boring town it's not always about whats going on it's about the company u have.

Walking the Red Center

So i planed to stay in Alice Springs for a week since i thought it would take a few days to set up my camping trip to Ayres Rock. So first thing i went to some tour companies to see rates and there are only two in the whole town, both 350 for 3 days. Then i met a French guy in my room named Eitcheene, he told me about this other guy who rented a car and was looking for some people to split costs and driving. I knew this would be a lot cheaper and we would have more freedom to stay as long as we wanted and not get up at 5am to get on a slow moving bus. The only catch is that they are leaving the next day. So i said i was down, that is one thing i have learned during my trip is to be more spontaneous, back home i feel like i plan stuff out too much. So the next morning we wake around 8am pack a small bag and put my huge bag in storage at the hostel. Get some breakfast and hit the road. I had no clue Ayers Rock (Uluru is what it is called in Australia) was so far but it was like a 5hr. drive- i would tell u miles but everything is in kilometers. I slept half the way through the outback until we stopped at this small outpost for truckers to get gas. They had a Emu farm so i messed with the huge birds for a little bit. Something else i could not believe they had was a bar, i mean it is rest stop for drivers- only in the outback. So i take a turn at driving- this is the first time i have ever driven on the left side of the road and with the steering wheel on the left. I did ok since it is one long stretch of road but i think if i was driving in the city i would have died. So we finally get to the Outback Pioneer Lodge where we are staying for the night. Then off to the rock. This thing is massive it is more like a mountain then a rock- it's hard to get perspective in a picture. We take the walk around it which was roughly 3 miles (again all in Kilometers) I found it a little boring. I took lots of pics since its Australia's signature landmark (which will be on FB.) One thing that was different is the sand. It's sand like i have never seen, completely bright red. I am going to try and bring some home if i can. It was so hot and the flies are like the size of birds that are not scared of people. So we watched the sunset on Uluru then went back to the small town of Yalaru for dinner and a much needed shower. It was a Friday night so they had a live band which was one guy. The bar was different since it's a dry region meaning the locals, mostly Aboriginal can't buy alcohol. So in order to get a beer u had to show your room key to prove that u didn't live there. Drank a few and called it a night, very tired.
The next day woke up about 9am and did not feel like doing anymore walking but Web and Eitcheene talked me into going to The Olgas. Dome formations about a mile from Uluru. We get there and there are three trails u can do. Easy, intermediate, and hard this already seemed more exciting then walking around a rock like the day before. So first we chose the intermediate walk, The Valley of The Winds. I also wanted this walk since the wind may keep the giant flies away. So the first mile is completely up hill some of it is rock climbing. So we get to the top lookout point and it was amazing. A picture could not even explain the view, so i took a video. Sat there for a while had a small lunch then began to descend. This walk was about 3 miles in and out of the valley's of the domes. So we get to the car crank up the AC and I wanted to go get lunch and chill for a bit, the response i got was fucking American doesn't want to walk anymore. So i said fuck it lets do the hard trail then. It was only a mile into a huge gorge and back but it took a lot of climbing and concentration not to slip on the loose rocks. I don't think they would let people in the U.S. do this without ropes and a guide. We did it and you would not believe what we came to at the end. Water a small stream in the middle of the desert. With lots of plant life and even rock wallabies, reptiles, and birds. The whole 3 days in the desert this was the only time i saw natural water, it was real nice. Relaxed by the stream for a while then back into the red hot Australian sun in the middle of the day. Finally we reach the rental car and by this time my feet are so tore up. We walked a total of 7 miles in two days. This night we (not my idea) decide to save some money and camp under the stars. Thank god this camp site had showers (cold water but still showers.) I get my sleeping bag out for the first time of this whole trip settle in. Smoke the last bit, i brought from when I saw Raj, under the stars. The stars out here are more amazing then i have seen anywhere else. There are no city lights to take away from the brightness.
Next day we pack up and go back to the lodge we stayed at the first night. We went to this BBQ bar. U purchase your cut of meat, be it Croc, Emu, Kangaroo, Beef, or Chicken then u cook it yourself. I got a combination plate had a small portion of each, I think i liked the Emu the best. What an experience the outback was and in the end it cost us 110 dollars each for the car and gas compared to the 350 the tours were charging. On the five hour drive back to Alice Springs we almost hit 5 different kangaroos, we came really close and had to surve not to hit one. They are like deer in North America maybe even more common. Good times glad i met these guys.

The Ghan

So after a night out in Adelaide Pete and I left Marsila behind and boarded The Ghan. The Ghan is the train that goes through the outback from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the center of the continent, then on to Darwin in the Northern Territory. This one is much longer then The Overland it is 24 hours just to Alice Springs. It is still much better then the bus since it has all the things the other train had and more like a game room and Internet. It is the longest train I have ever seen it has 30 cars and two engines. Some of the cars are platinum class, they have their own car to themselves. It's like a studio apartment- kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and even tv. Obviously that is not what my ticket was for since they ran 700 dollars a person. Mine is red class for 270. Real comfy seats, slept like 12 of the 24 hrs. maybe more. We stopped in Port Agusta for one hour- the border town between South Australia and The Northern Territory. I think an hour was pushing it, we only needed like 15 minutes to see the whole town. Pete and I watched two movies- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Wrestler, we also played some chess. But mostly I just watched the scenery speed by. They have so many canola fields these bright yellow plants they use to make canola oil. Went by the biggest river in Australia the Murray, it wasn't that big. Sometimes they would stop in small towns to switch drivers but they would not let me off for a cig. that's a long trip. I talked to this old Aussie guy who said he rode the train in '58 and he liked it better because he could smoke a 50 pack of cigs. We finally arrive the next day in Alice Springs. Get our luggage and walk to the YHA which i should have rode the shuttle since it was much father then i thought and the sun is so much hotter out here. Checked in and started to figure out how to get to Ayers Rock and the other features out here. I thought Alice and Ayers were right next to each other but it is the outback and nothing is close to one another.

The Overland and Adelaide

In an earlier post i wrote that i wanted to go to the red center but i was running out of cash. Well i stayed with Raj in Melbourne and he told me about the train. One of the main reasons i wasn't going to go is it's so far out there and the bus is a horrible way of transportation and a plane is just to expensive. For 49 dollars i rode the train (The Overland) from Melbourne in the state of Victoria to Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It was an 11 hour train ride but the train had a movie room, a bar, a restaurant, and showers on it. So much better then the greyhound. Now Adeliade is not the center it is in the middle on the south coast but it is the jumping off point for Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. On the bus i met this guy named Pete from New Zealand and this girl, Marsila from Columbia. So when we got to Adelaide we checked into the YHA and then went out for some drinks in the CBD since we were only going to be in Adelaide for one night.