Return To Oz

1st-7th Jan 2015

New year and a new adventure. There wasn't much of a leaving party or emotional farewells this time around. I suppose its because I've just shown how easy it is to just casually turn up at home. OK, so the commute is a bit long and a bit expensive but the other side of the world isn't as far away as you might think. Just a day on a plane.

Speaking of. I boarded the plane at 10.30pm on New Years Eve so I just missed out on any new years celebrations. It was all a bit confusing on the plane as the crew had planned a countdown at midnight UK time but we were flying over Holland an hour earlier where it had just turned midnight. Holland has a lot of fireworks! I'm used to seeing all the lights of small towns but it looked as though each and every one was flashing and sparkling. As the message slowly filtered around the plane to 'look out the window' there was a general murmur of 'Happy New Year'.

Come midnight UK time there was an announcement that there was a proposal which was a few rows in front of me. There was champagne for them and a few seats around them and everyone clapped so I'm guessing she said yes. It was all really cheesy etc. By then the moment had passed and people just drifted off to sleep. Not the most exciting of new years.

China

Several hours later I landed in China. I didn't leave the airport so I can't really tick it off my list but I can say I saw it out of the window and that I briefly breathed in the smog!

I'm Back!!!

Another hundred or so hours later I got to Sydney where it was cloudy and very humid. Going from 4-5 degrees to a sticky 30 was quite a shock to the system. I nearly melted getting from the airport to the my hostel.

Remember this?!

I spent the next morning taking a trip down memory lane. I went into the new offices of Ultimate Oz. I didn't recognise anyone though. Then I went across the road into WakeUp back where it all started! I bought a bag Twisties too. I've missed these!

YAY

I spent the rest of the day looking for cars to buy as I had a huge road trip planned that I was keen to get started on.

The next day I met my old legendary Japanese friend Hiro! He is still as much of a legend as ever. He had been working in Sydney for about a month. We went to Bondi Beach for a bit and then went for a drink.

Legend!

Bondi!

With the new Opal card in Sydney, which is a electronic transport card like the Oyster, on Sundays you get unlimited travel all day anywhere on the network for $2.50. That means you could get all the way from Wollongong to Newcastle (a 6 hour train journey) for just $2.50. Bargain! I decided I would take the ferry over to Manly and spend the day there. The boat ride is worth the $2.50 itself.

Circular Quay

That white thing that no one knows about

Coat hanger

Great View

I stayed on the beach for a few hours before the clouds started closing in. There were storms on the way apparently. I went for a walk around North Head where I unexpectedly came across some sort of old army base.

Manly Beach

No need for a door, just make a hole

Storms a' coming

The storms never really materialised which left it very sticky. Again, melting!

I nearly walked into this beast just above my head. Nearly gave me a heart attack!

Scary

Old base

I don't even know what this place is

Yard thing

Selfie stick

I met up with Hiro again the next day and I gave him lots of advice about New Zealand, where he should go and what he should do etc. It made me really miss the place and wonder if I'd made some sort of huge error returning to Oz instead of New Zealand.

I got to test out my Christmas present around the Opera House which was fun. Hiro kept shoving the map I had made him into the shot which was amusing.

MAP!

Ta daa!

Group Selfie

There were a few other people in the city I wanted to meet too. Wannes and Nele returned from up the coast with Nele's sister Alicia. tI was very strange seeing them in a different country and completely different environment. I went to meet them at Sydney Fish Market before going for a walk around Darling Harbour. It was awesome catching up with them and I would be seeing them again very soon.

MEL

I stayed in Darling Harbour that afternoon to meet up with another friend, Mel. One of the original Ultimate Ozzers, from the Adelaide crew and the Sydney road trip! We had barely sat down before we started gossipping about all the other Ultimate Ozzers we had known. We stayed in Darling Harbour for some food before walking into the CBD for a drink.

On the way into the CBD I got roped into some street theatre. Mel said we should stay and watch and I got dragged to the front and made to lie on the floor whilst this guy, who I didn't trust, drove a flaming remote control car over the top of me!

My new best friend!

So here it is! My new mode of transport, new home and my life for the next 12 months, hopefully. Its my first ever car! 330,000kms over the last 22 years so its no spring chicken. Its got a few bumps and scratches and the front left indicator was hanging off untilIi taped it back on but it seems mechanically sound and I hope to god it lasts the duration of the road trip I have planned. It'll be an absolute miracle if it last to the end without either it breaking or me crashing it!

The plan is to drive from Sydney to Cairns via the south, west and north coastlines and the through the middle over the course of the next 12 months.

The first leg is Sydney to Canberra to Melbourne...

Flying Home For Christimas

1st - 31st December

Yep, I'm home. Nobody saw that coming! Before that though I did cause a bit of an incident in Kuala Lumpur airport on the way back!

In that airport they check your ticket and go into another room before you board the plane. That way they can check they have everyone and they don't need to be calling people who are late etc. So I go into this other lounge and I still have an hour to go before we board so I found myself a quite spot and lie down. I thought I'd risk closing me eyes for a few minutes. There are people around me and I've got ages I'm thinking.

Two seconds later I wake up to an empty room! Panic! I run to the door that everyone has gone through and they just about closing the doors. They all seem startled when they see me. "Where were you?" they ask. There's a lot of quick chatting and not all in English before they rush me down the gangway which is pulling away from the plane. I can actually see the plane shrinking away and I'm thinking that's it! I'm screwed! There's more frantic chatting and the guy is hitting buttons on the phone and they keep asking me where I was. I think they might have got in trouble for not checking the room properly or something because there were a lot of worried faces around me.

They reattach the gangway to the plane and I manage to get on. I was sat in row 72 so I had 71 rows of people that's 10 wide all staring at my big red face! I was certainly awake after all that. Not making that mistake again!!!

The really exciting BT Tower

I arrived in London on the 1st and I had a few hours to kill so I put my bag in a storage place and went for a wander. I was hoping to find a landmark or two but I didn't have a map or a phone so the BT tower was the best I could do. I caught the train back to Lancaster and let myself in at Dad's house.

About an hour later Dad arrived home. I threw open the front door and yelled surprise and I think he shat himself. Thought I was a burglar.

Back in Lancaster

It was fun surprising everyone. Sandra was happy to see me and Mum had a complete breakdown! I went around to Marc's and he just seemed confused. Laura screamed a bit when she saw me sat in her living room when she came home from work but not as much as Leanne when she found out. I had to hold the phone at arms length!

Ye old work place

I went to Leeds the first weekend in December so that I could surprise all my friends there before the secret was out. I met up with Rob who was very surprised to see me and together we went to The Original Oak to see some of my old work mates. From there we organised a very last minute get together. I had planned to spend the whole weekend going around and visiting people as they became free but almost everyone came to the pub to see me which was really nice!

Leeds Reunion

I attempted some Christmas shopping in the brand spanking Trinity Shopping Centre which is very flash but it didn't go very well. Jet lag was still an issue and its such an arse to deal with. I didn't help that I was ill in the first week back which made it take longer to get over it.

New Sexy Shopping Centre

It was great catching up with everyone in Leeds. It seemed so normal to be amongst them again as if I'd never been gone at all. Its reassuring really as one of the reasons I came home was that I felt I was losing my connection with them.

Accident!

The same came be said for my friends in Lancaster. After returning from Leeds I went out for tea with Marc, Laura and Laura's boyfriend. Me and Marc went for one more drink after the meal which turned into shots, karaoke and going to Sugerhouse! I didn't mean to go out. It was an accident. Marc's a bad influence!

Baby Byron

There were more reasons to come home too. I've had two nephews born since I was away who I had to meet. I met Byron in the first week who seemed quite comfortable with me which is nice because children are often scared of me for some reason!

Back in the Snow!

My other nephew lived up in Durham so on the second weekend I went over the very snowy hills to my brothers house to meet Harry. I think he was having teething issues the day I met him but the next day he seemed very playful. He'll probably be at school the next time I see him!

Smile!

finally got one together

Mighty Shrimps

I suppose another reason to come home would be the mighty Morecambe FC. I've definitely lost touch with football since I've been gone. Especially the last year so it was great to go back to the Globe Area and watch us win 3-0! It was great catching up with Joel too.

Morecambe front

There wasn't much going on in the third week. Everyone was busy with jobs and stuff so I found myself a little bored and took to re-planning me Australian roadtrip. I did go for a nice walk down Morecambe Prom though.

PICTURE!

I took another trip to Leeds for much pizza, beer and Halo sessions! We all went out for food as a Christmas meal/leaving thing. Once again it was really nice to catch up with everyone. It was just like old times and I had to say goodbye already!

Christmas!!!

The main reason for coming home was obviously, Christmas! I've actually had two great Christmas's away from home but, for good or bad, its not like Christmas at home!

Santa's been!

Erm?

Whether that be inappropriate dinner conversations about questionable wine stoppers or listening to old people complain about the cold when you're sweating you're arse off!

Presents!!

I spent most of the afternoon wrestling with Byron which was a lot of fun. Until he smelled and I handed him back to the parents!

Family photo!

There was still time for more reunions before I went again. I met Stefan in town for a catchup and I saw a few more people at Laura's birthday meal. There was a couple of people at that meal I hadn't seen for years before I even left the country.

More peeps

It was really great being home catching up with everyone, reminding people that I'm alive and telling people what I've been up to for the last 2 years 3 months. It was nice know that whenever, or I suppose IF ever I come home then I'll be able to just carry on like before.

For now, though, I say goodbye to England. I'm about to jump on a plane to Sydney for round 2!

Last night at home!

Many Reunions

29th October - 30th November 2014

Time to leave the mountain and the North Island behind and head back to Franz Josef where Oscar had kindly given me back my old job. I had left Franz Josef fulling intending never to return but circumstances meant it would be ideal to go back at least for a short time.

After getting drenched in Ohakune the day before I left I wasn't impressed when I got soaked again in Wellington after a 9 hour bus journey. This was only made worse I got off the ferry in a very wet Picton and Nelson, the sunniest city in New Zealand where I was to spend the night, was also blighted with torrential rain. This is all before I arrived in Franz Josef, the wettest place on Earth!

Wetness

Mt initial reaction to being back was "Oh god, what have I done!" That soon wore off when I found some old friends. It was certainly weird being back and I had to eat my words as I had sworn I would never be back. There were many people I knew still there and Sarah had also just got back but there were also lots of new people. I moved into the staff house which was a bit strange as I didn't know anyone in there except Antony who does really count. There was Mel and Chris who were both Aussies, Rhiain and Katie, both English, and Dave who was a Kiwi that Sarah knew from Ohau. They were all really nice people so I was soon happy to be sharing a house with them

Scary

My first night back on the bar was Halloween so I did my best to come up with some sort of costume which I think I pulled off. I was a bit lost on the bar but that was because a brand new bar had been fitted over the winer. It looked almost the same as the last one except a bit flashier. Literally! The lights above the bar flashed different colours. It was nice not to have to stick your head in someones genital region everytime you wanted ice! I saw a lot of the locals that night who were all happy to welcome me back but I was quick to tell them it wouldn't be for long.

Can you guess what it is yet?!

I was quite fun to get back into the swing of the bar and hosting the competitions again etc. I was a bit hesitant on the mic the first time as I had completely forgotten how to do it but it all came flooding back in the end. The new staff were really cool so I get the feeling it would have been a pretty awesome summer but I would be leaving at the end of the month. That's if I don't drown in all the rain which as ever at this time of year was unyielding. We had quite a few storms including this one which dumped quite a lot of hail.

Bit of hail

I found this gem stashed away in the staff house which made me laugh a lot. It seems a long time ago since that power cut where Darren, Tara, Carmen and I started putting this together. Carmen had left just a few weeks ago so all the new staff knew her and Tony had been back for a month too and I missed him by just a few days. It would have been awesome to have seen him again.

Franz Josef Monopoly!

There was one day where I saw the mountains. And I literally mean just the one time it was clear enough to see them in the entire month I was there for!

So they ARE still there

I got a bit of a surprise when Vicky turned up, the ex-queen of reception. It was nice catching up with her while she was in town. She even answered a few work questions even though she hadn't worked there for over 6 months! She was doing some business with Mike who was in town inspecting the new bar which he agreed needed some finishing touches to be carried out.

Moon rise

She wasn't the only old friend to turn up in Franz, my best buddies from the mountain Wannes and Nele rocked up in their campervan at the end of my second week. It was great to see them again. It was a bit like two worlds colliding with them being in Franz so it was a little odd.

Wannes and Nele

We walked down the valley to see the glacier which I was shocked to see how much it had melted in just 6 months. Its gone back about 5 metres but what was most shocking was that the whole thing seemed to have dropped about 5 metres. Its melting quickly! On the plus side they've built a better viewing platform so you can actually see the front of the glacier without jumping over the rope.

Kea

Whilst we were stood there we had a visit from a Kea and everyone rushed to take pictures. It was while about 15 people are all crowded around this Kea that Wannes says "Huge glacier over here guys." He got a laugh from everyone but I found especially hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing at this for about 10 minutes!

Time for a hike

The next day I sacrificed a few hours of sleep in the hope that we could climb Alex Knob for an epic view. Unfortunately this was not to be as we could see precisely nothing from the top although it was fun to see a bit of snow again. Just like old times!

Go away clouds!

Snow!

Not so epic view!

It was really early!

Wannes and Nele stayed another day so we went for a walk up to the gorge which was a lot bluer then I remember it. They left the next day so it was another sad farewell but like last time I think we will see each other again. Next time will hopefully be in Australia.

Wouldn't want to swim in it.

Blue meets brown

Action shot

It wasn't long before I had another friend passing through town. Rachel came to visit. I was working quite a bit when she was there so we didn't get to do all that much other than in the bar if there was a quite moment or there was no work to do. There were so many new staff it felt like we were working in the Landing! I don't just mean the ones I didn't know when I arrived there were more new staff. I think about 10 people started in the space of a week. I had to move out of the staff house and into the flat opposite the petrol station (next door to the one I was in last year).

Rach in Franz

Anyway I walked with Rachel to the glacier as well and we had a catch up on the gossip on the people from the mountain.

Look who's here!

I thought that was it for visitors when one day I was milling about my normal business watching the Kiwi Bus check in when in the crowd I spot Rachel who I know from Gatecrasher. We both had no idea we'd be there so it was a complete surprise. Its the third time we have randomly bumped into each other travelling! By the way I'm wearing that because it was 80s night. I wouldn't normally wear something so crazy and yes I'm aware its more 70s!

Group selfie!

That was largely it for my brief time back in Franz Josef. We did get a bit of excitement one night when one of the many storms that passed over got a little nastier than usual. We were in full flow in the bar with the restaurant packed when a flash of lighting knocked out the electricity. It was only off for about 5 seconds before everything came flickering back on but it was enough to excite all the old people in the room with a lot of loud "OHHHH". If that wasn't exciting enough the tills broke as they came back on meaning we had had to write everything down on paper for nearly an hour which was just thrilling. Note the sarcasm!

Jam night in Eighty Eight

Anyway, my leaving do. Well it was more Rhiain's birthday that was turned into a joint thing. I finished work early and joined the others at Eighty Eight where it was jam night. We went for drinks at Monsoon afterwards where Rhi did her ski run. I wasn't allowed one which was a bit disappointing. I think James was worried after what happened last time but that was only because it was a particularly nasty one. Im sure a normal one would have been fine but nevermind. At least the hangover wasn't half as bad as I was expecting.

Blowing away

Time to leave Franz Josef again and this time I'm sure its for good. I know I said this before but this time I'm really sure! The month went by so quickly largely owing to the amount of hours that I did which nearly killed me. Good for saving though. It was great to be back to see so many old faces and make new friends.

Heading north again the bus had its normal stop at Punekaiki rocks which were really blowing this time, it was quite impressive.

Blow hole

Look who it is!

I met up with another old friend in Wellington. I worked with Annice at home so we spent a good couple of hours talking about everyone we used to work with before things escalated quickly. There were shots involved and many a strange dance move as we mocked the people around us. It was an hilarious night!

Annice loves the jager wall

The hangover and lack of sleep made the 11 hour bus journey to Auckland the next day almost unbearable! It didn't help that the bus was nearly an hour late getting in as well making it nearly 12 hours!

I had yet another reunion in Auckland with Beckie who had been living there for most of the year and seems very settled with her boyfriend and a baby on the way. MENTAL. We met up for a drink and a catch up which was nice. It wasn't a big one as I was tired after the last night and they had moved house that day so they were also keen for sleep.

Beckie!!

It was time to say goodbye to New Zealand. I was very sad to be leaving such a fantastic country which over the course of 15 months I have absolutely fallen in love with. I idolised and obsessed over Australia for so long and it didn't disappoint when I was there so it came as quite a surprise when I was asked which I now prefer and I couldn't answer. After thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that at the moment New Zealand nicks it. I have only seen half of Australia, however, I will be seeing the rest of it next year. For now though I'm on my way home!

SURPRISE!!!