When I got back from Australia I split up with my long haried greengrocer. It was an amicable split as we both hadn't exactly been behaving ourselves whilst we had been apart. We are still friends now, but he doesn't have the long hair any more. Unfortunately for him he started going bald and had to shave it off!
I went back to work and back to my life of partying too much. I was enjoying being single a little too much and was sleeping around a bit. I don't think it was intentional one night stands they just kind of happened like that, because I was going for people who didn't want relationships, because neither did I. I met a roofer who was working in town but lived away. He became a regular Thursday night distraction. I only ever saw him Thursday nights/Friday mornings and it suited us both fine. It ended one weekend when he was staying in town the whole weekend and expected me to want to spend the weekend with him. I didn't, me and my ex-boss' daughter had planned to go camping on the Quantocks. He thought it was ridiculous, we rowed and I told him to stick it!
I found a gorgeous little house for sale down by the town docks and started the process of buying it. It wasn't to happen and just before the sale was meant to go through I was made redundant. I was absolutely gutted. I ended up disallusioned and on the dole. I spent the main part of the week at my friends house with her mum and the weekend at my bedsit going out on the town. I was well aware that my friend's brother fancied me, he had a slight stutter and it always became more obvious when he was in my presence. He rode a motorbike and I always thought he looked good in his leathers!
By the end of the summer I thought I ought to sort myself out and enrolled at the local college. I started doing more hours at the pub and started a Access course with the intention of going on to do Occupational Therapy. I was working 6 or 7 nights a week and still going out in town after work at the weekends. I was exhausted but I needed the money from work to live on and was determind not to give my social life. It finally came to a head when, I came from work one night around one o'clock and went straight to bed. I didn't wake up until it was time to go to work again the next day. I had missed college and apparantly my landlord had been knocking on my door several times during the day.
I ended up quitting the college course, I couldn't do both and I needed to work to live. My parents were obviously disappointed and later told me that I should have gone to them for financial help. But I had been determind to do it by myself.
Monday 13 October 2008
1995 Return to Oz Part IV
By New Year we were at Port Macquarie. Again I went out for the night with a lad I met at the campsite. He was also staying there but knew the area well. I was determind to enjoy the night, but not to do as I had previously. We went out but I didn't drink that much and we actually saw in the New Year sat high up on a cliff beneath a light house at Nobby's point! It was beautiful looking out across the sea and then turnng back to watch the fireworks lighting the skt above the town as 1995 came in. Needless to say I was back at the trusty camper by half twelve!
From here we carried on down the coast and back to Sydney. This journey obviously involved far more than I have written about here. We saw many amazing things and places and I couldn't fit it all in here! We were on the road for three weeks, only stopping in a place for more than one night twice. It felt like we had driven right around the world but of course we only actually covered a tiny piece of Australia!
Anyway, we went back to the youth hostel and spent a few more days in Sydney. My father celebrated his 63rd birthday and I took him out for a meal in Sydney. It was Thai and Cantonese, something my father had never tried before. It was lovely and it felt very special to be able to have him all to myself. So around the end of the first week of January we flew home.
From here we carried on down the coast and back to Sydney. This journey obviously involved far more than I have written about here. We saw many amazing things and places and I couldn't fit it all in here! We were on the road for three weeks, only stopping in a place for more than one night twice. It felt like we had driven right around the world but of course we only actually covered a tiny piece of Australia!
Anyway, we went back to the youth hostel and spent a few more days in Sydney. My father celebrated his 63rd birthday and I took him out for a meal in Sydney. It was Thai and Cantonese, something my father had never tried before. It was lovely and it felt very special to be able to have him all to myself. So around the end of the first week of January we flew home.
1994 Return to Oz Part III
Heading away from the coast we saw another side of Australia. It became obviously drier and less green. Seeing kangaroos hopping alongside the road became more common and so did the road kill. Massive road train trucks were a common sight and my father took quite a fancy to them, joking that he was going to buy one and drive across Australia.
We visited an old school friend of one of my father's brothers, who had emigrated many years before. They were farming and really struggling because of the lack of rain. It was shocking to hear that they had had to shoot most of their sheep because they couldn't feed or water them anymore. It was a real eye opener. Totally different from the farming at home.
We were still on the Newel Highway when Christmas came. I had boasted to my friends that I would be lying on the beach having a BBQ, but that's not how it happened!! We found a lovely camp site and parked up for Christmas. We bought cold turkey and salad, some wine and I hung a few pieces of tinsel up in the van. It was different, but what made it really special was that it rained. Any other time I would have been gutted, it wasn't what I had pictured of my Christmas in Australia. And it really was a bit of a freak occurence. It had been four years since this part of Australia had seen rain, and the sight of children playing in the vast puddles which lay on the hard dry earth was more than enough to make you forget that you were hoping for a Christmas that was different from the ones at home! Some of these youngsters hadn't even seen rain. So instead of it being disappointing and miserable, it was a beautiful, special day. The atmosphere on the site was so uplifting and joyful. It was certainly a Christmas I won't forget.
I don't remember now where it was, but somewhere before Brisbane, I did another one of those things I am not proud of. At one of the camp sites I met up with a group of local people my age and with the agreement of my father, went of into town with them. I guess we both agreed I needed some time with younger people!! Anyway off we went to the pub. I had a great night, playing pool and drinking far more than I should have!! Anyway, I didn't go back to the park, I spent the night with one of the local lads. As you can magine my father wasn't happy when I turned up the following day nursing a massive hangover. Of course, now I have my own children I can imagine what must have been going through my father's head. I doubt he slept and must have been painfully worried. Considering we spent so much time together this was one of the only times we fell out, but I really can't blame my father for being angry and we made up pretty quickly.
We headed for Brisbane, a lovely, sensibly layed out town and then hit the coast again, and turned south.
We visited an old school friend of one of my father's brothers, who had emigrated many years before. They were farming and really struggling because of the lack of rain. It was shocking to hear that they had had to shoot most of their sheep because they couldn't feed or water them anymore. It was a real eye opener. Totally different from the farming at home.
We were still on the Newel Highway when Christmas came. I had boasted to my friends that I would be lying on the beach having a BBQ, but that's not how it happened!! We found a lovely camp site and parked up for Christmas. We bought cold turkey and salad, some wine and I hung a few pieces of tinsel up in the van. It was different, but what made it really special was that it rained. Any other time I would have been gutted, it wasn't what I had pictured of my Christmas in Australia. And it really was a bit of a freak occurence. It had been four years since this part of Australia had seen rain, and the sight of children playing in the vast puddles which lay on the hard dry earth was more than enough to make you forget that you were hoping for a Christmas that was different from the ones at home! Some of these youngsters hadn't even seen rain. So instead of it being disappointing and miserable, it was a beautiful, special day. The atmosphere on the site was so uplifting and joyful. It was certainly a Christmas I won't forget.
I don't remember now where it was, but somewhere before Brisbane, I did another one of those things I am not proud of. At one of the camp sites I met up with a group of local people my age and with the agreement of my father, went of into town with them. I guess we both agreed I needed some time with younger people!! Anyway off we went to the pub. I had a great night, playing pool and drinking far more than I should have!! Anyway, I didn't go back to the park, I spent the night with one of the local lads. As you can magine my father wasn't happy when I turned up the following day nursing a massive hangover. Of course, now I have my own children I can imagine what must have been going through my father's head. I doubt he slept and must have been painfully worried. Considering we spent so much time together this was one of the only times we fell out, but I really can't blame my father for being angry and we made up pretty quickly.
We headed for Brisbane, a lovely, sensibly layed out town and then hit the coast again, and turned south.
1994 Return to Oz Part II
The first place we went in our camper was to the Royal National Park. It was badly affected by the bush fires that had pulled me back to Australia. We were there almost a year after the fire and it was truely amazing to see how it was coming back to life. Plants sprouting new green shoots through the blackened earth, and wildlife beginning to reinstate itself. From here we headed on down the coast. I was desperate to take my father to the Blue Mountains, which I had been to the first time I was in Australia. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and was desperate to share it. When we got there it was foggy! I was so disappointed, it was still beautiful but you just couldn't see enough to really appreciate it.
We headed for Canberra and after taking in the views from Black Mountain Lookout headed into the city. Aaaaaah! Beautiful place but what a complete and utter nightmare for the visitor!! For anyone who doesn't know, Canberra is based on circles. Circular roads all linked and getting smaller. It's fine if you know which circle you are on, but we found it ridiclulously confusing and didn't stay long! We found a campsite outside of the city and rested our brains. That night we witnessed an amazing thunderstorm. It was quite a long way off but from our campsite but we had a fantastic view. We sat at the park's benches with a 'tinny' and watched as it rolled and flashed across the horizon.
The next day we moved on down the coast. Heading for Melbourne, we followed the coast road, visiting attractions and stopping off overnight in camp sites wherever suited us. We stayed a night on Phillip Island, which lies just off the coast of South Australia below Melbourne. It is an amazing National Park with nature reserves and rehabilitation centres. We were lucky enough to see the rafts of penguins coming into the beach and heading for their nests. What a way to spend an evening. Before that I had no idea there were penguins somewhere like Australia!
Melbourne was stunning, although it rained. It has an amazing huge undercover market so we spent a lot of time there shopping for souvenirs. The trams were scary! Really nice to see but they made driving very confusing. When you want to turn right, you have to pull over to the left, wait for the trams then take your turn! After a night just outside Melbourne we hit the Newel Highway and headed north.
We headed for Canberra and after taking in the views from Black Mountain Lookout headed into the city. Aaaaaah! Beautiful place but what a complete and utter nightmare for the visitor!! For anyone who doesn't know, Canberra is based on circles. Circular roads all linked and getting smaller. It's fine if you know which circle you are on, but we found it ridiclulously confusing and didn't stay long! We found a campsite outside of the city and rested our brains. That night we witnessed an amazing thunderstorm. It was quite a long way off but from our campsite but we had a fantastic view. We sat at the park's benches with a 'tinny' and watched as it rolled and flashed across the horizon.
The next day we moved on down the coast. Heading for Melbourne, we followed the coast road, visiting attractions and stopping off overnight in camp sites wherever suited us. We stayed a night on Phillip Island, which lies just off the coast of South Australia below Melbourne. It is an amazing National Park with nature reserves and rehabilitation centres. We were lucky enough to see the rafts of penguins coming into the beach and heading for their nests. What a way to spend an evening. Before that I had no idea there were penguins somewhere like Australia!
Melbourne was stunning, although it rained. It has an amazing huge undercover market so we spent a lot of time there shopping for souvenirs. The trams were scary! Really nice to see but they made driving very confusing. When you want to turn right, you have to pull over to the left, wait for the trams then take your turn! After a night just outside Melbourne we hit the Newel Highway and headed north.
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