Happy f**king New Year!

Did it again. After buying a new camera with my new found riches, and a new mic, because mine broke (and some rent) I set about trying to waste as much money as possible, in as little time as possible :P

Nah, its not too bad, but my body is broken now after the last few days.. :) Ive just been exploring around really. went down and saw some dinosaur footprints at Gantheme point, which was cool, chilled out at various beaches, had a few beers..

New years was good though, after a bit of a swim and a beer in the morning (12pm-2), we headed down to Cable Beach with my guitar and some more drinks, and sat and sang away the afternoon, until later around. well, 1130, we tried to get into this club (with a hawian party, and a band for xmas).

Everyone else got in. The bouncer bloke didnt like my tshirt. 'nah mate, you look like a bum'. 'well, its a hawian party, the point is im supposed to be wearing beachware, and that bloke you let in just spat on the wall' 'sorry mate, you arent coming in'

Fine...so I swap tshirts with my friend, and go back around the front, and the bloke says 'you must think I was born yesterday! Go back, and get your tshirt, and tell your mate im going to come inside and drag the c**t out by his hair'

Well, I sort of lost my temper here a bit (you know, "what is your f*** problem f*** calling me a f*** bum F*** you F*** C*** F** S*** F** C***S***F**B**s!), but feck all good it was. May as well have been shouting at the road. I was just about to storm off home in a bad mood, when my mates said 'just break in...look, noone can see you from here'

Well, They had a point. So on the break of new years (5....4....3....2...1...) I was scaling the back fence of this place, and midnight exactly, id broken into the bar, and was left to enjoy the evening. It was pretty good fun. The band were pretty good, and everyone was there. I was really hoping the t**t of a bouncer would have been there at the end of the night for me to go 'ha. screw you!' but no such luck. He'd gone home.

So yes, first time ive ever broken into a club, 1st time ive ever spent new years climbing a fence, and 1st time ive ever spent $40 on a taxi that went 3ks home...

*sings* Im dreaming of Broome for Christmas....

Broome is pretty cool. I like it here...Theres not a massive amount to do, especially over xmas, but its been fun.

Busking picked up. On thursday night I went between the one pub, and the one nightclub, and sat there for a few hours, and came back with $308, which was good. I did have a drunk aboriginie try and steal my guitar though, but luckily defused the situation..Fighting isnt on my list of things to do in Australia, im crap at it. :)

Ive also been saved, and am apparantly a 'born again christian', having been saved by this Crazy lady. An actual quote she used in everyday conversation was "You dont believe any of this rubbish about us evolving from apes do you??" (Ermm..well, okay. I suppose its possible to believe a bolt came from the sky and a fully formed human just appeared if you take Enough drugs, but Im with the consensus of everyone born after 1850 that yes, we did in fact evolve. In fact its pretty obvious really..). Another good one was "Just read the bible. When you get stuff into your head, all this kaka, from every day. You know. How does this work? What is this? Just read the Bible, and remember thats the only thing thats true". Which I suppose is a fair viewpoint, if you just choose to ignore the last 2000 years, and you dont mind the odd contradiction or 600. So yes. That was eventful.

Then we hit Chritmas. Well, Friday we just went down the beach, had a few beers with some friends, which was good. Saturday I had a few drinks in the hostel, and then had a barbeque on Town Beach, which was awesome. Played a bit of guitar..Jacob, a german guy. Good bloke, ended up coming down for the last hour after work, and getting so wasted in an hour, we had to carry him back (a dead weight) to the hostel, then he was drunk for the WHOLE of Christmas just on what hed had that night....Good bloody effort, thats what I say!

Then Christmas was pretty fun as well. We had an all you can eat barbeque in the hostel, and after the meal, they gave us a load of presents. In fact, ill set the scene. You have a bar, and a load of tables, and 2m after the tables, you have a massive swimming pool. So yes, we got Floating pool toys, bubble makers, and the best? A load of water cannons. It was awesome. Everyone just had a massive water fight, which was loads of fun (and cooled us down a bit too!)

Also, Ive managed to sell my car for $3000, which is bloody good. Although it has thrown out ALL of my plans, but never mind! Its good to have a bit of money again, especially because I (unfortunately) need to book my plane ticket home..I dont know. Im kind of sad to see the car go. Maybe ill get another cheap one, and carry on travelling with that...

ROAD TRIP 2 - Karratha and Dampier - Broome

So yes, my trip is nearly over. The 1st part anyways.

My next stop was Karratha, which is a mining town, and ridiculously expensive to stay in. The cheap room at the Motel (there arent any backpackers anymore) was $220 PER NIGHT. And it was a pretty average hotel. So yes, I drove on to Dampier, which is 20ks outside. Still pretty industrial, but its got a nice beach which is out the way, and the campsite was pretty cool. Also cheap and $20 per night...

I busked in Karratha outside of Centro (It was the weekend, so noone had a chance to tell me I couldnt do it, because the centre management wernt in!)

Yeah, I made about $220 per day (2 hours) in the shopping centre, which was good...It also gave me time to explore, so I found these ancient aboriginal Rock carvings down some dirt track. they arent on any maps, or signposted. Purely local knowledge from the lady at the campsite...they were awesome!

Then I ended up stopping over night on 80 mile beach, watching the stars and the turtles try and climb the beach, then its onto Broome. I drove into Port Headland and straight out again. That place looked horrible..

So yes, now im in Broome, at the YHA there...

Theres a really good group of people there. And although its pretty shite for busking now, theres loads of work. Ill probably stick around for a bit longer here. Apart from that theres a pool right next to the bar, so you can have a few beers, and jump in. Some hot women walking around, and loads of real cool people.

Last night we went down to the beach. Well, swam a bit, THEN went down to the beach, had a few beers, and came back. Its getting into the cyclone season though, so gotta keep an eye on when those cat 5s are going to start coming through... :) The last thing I need is an ocean liner being picked up from the dock and landing on my car! :)

Oh, and some bastards stolen my camera again :( F*** sake. Bet that'll make somone a nice xmas present! :)

ROAD TRIP 2 - Exmouth

Then im back in exmouth again. Now, the plan was to do a bit of busking here, because I know the moneys alright for a small town, and that there arent any problems with rangers etc.

Ha, exccept they just changed the rules, so now Im not allowed to busk. I got in a bit on the 1st afternoon, and got about $40 for an hour, which payed for my washing and a nights rent. Then the next day it all goes tits up, as Dave the Nazi Jobsworth is now our friendly local Ranger. So yes. He comes up straight away the next day, and tells me I cant busk.

I explain to him that I have no money whatsover, but if he walks away for an hour id have enough money to get out of here. He says no, he cant do that. Thats against the council code, and its a hundred dollar fine. I ask him what the fine is for sleeping on the street, because ive only got $2.50, and hes not letting me work. Even if I got a permit (which was the wrong type). It was for an actual business, and I would have needed public Liability insurance, and 10 days to apply.

So then he says theres nothing I can do. I tell him that really, if he just showed a bit of compasion, or maybe a touch of christmas spirit, then id be gone in an hour. Nope. Hes having none of it. He even told the police. At this point I mentioned to him that not only has he wasted an hour of his time, hes also wasting police time, when really, all he has to do was walk around the corner and let me play. Idiot. Still, what can you do?

 I go around, there isnt any work. Pretty boned. Actually had to ring up the bank of Mum and Dad and get a sub, because it was the only way of doing it. Not that happy about it, but what can you do? So yes. anyways. I get some money off of them, which is petrol out of there..

It all worked out though, because the next day, some bloke drove by in a jeep and starts beeping and waving. I had no idea who he was, but he was beeping and waving, so I stopped. Turned out he was from the DEC (They run the national parks in WA) and hed seen me play guitar on the beach in Coral Bay, last time I was there. Also, hed seen me busking when I got to Exmouth, and wanted me to play the xmas party.

So yes. I definately took that. Got $100 for it too, which was good. And free beer, and a feed at the BBQ. They were a really really cool bunch of people actually, and told me that If I was back down that way theyd sort me out a few nights free rent at one of the campsites, and free snorkel hire, and a trip up the river...It was really good. So yes, things worked out in the end!

ROAD TRIP 2 - Carnarvon & Coral Bay

By now it was the 9th December, so time is ticking on...Id left myself short of money after visiting denham, so I stopped in Carnarvon. I was going to try and do some work, but. Pah. Sod that.

It is THE s***est town in the world. Full of the worst excuses for human beings in the world. Terrible place. Nowhere to busk either. I managed to get just about enough cash for a tank of petrol, and got out of there as soon as possible...

I mean, there were some cool guys at the hostel, and I saw the Total Eclipse of the moon there, which was good! And it had some pretty good sunsets, but yes. Couldnt wait to leave...

So yes. My next stop in Coral Bay again, which I rock up into with no petrol, and not much hope. It was pretty cool though in the end. I sat down to do a bit of busking, where my mate Max (who I met when I was driving up the coast on my last road trip) walks by and says 'Chris? Hey, How you doing?'. So after busking and making a bit of money for petrol, I go and see him and his mates.

Turns out its one of thier birthdays (A bloke called Martin), and one of the guys said 'sing him a random birthday song! Go on, do it! Then we'll buy you some pizza or something. Well, A fat man never says no to pizza, so I sing this birthday song to him. THEN we end up going down the beach and having a few beers, which is all good...


THEN after that a bunch of Aussies who are over on a fishing holiday come over because they hear the guitar etc, and we all end up getting on it back at thier place, where they have crates of beer etc..I ended up sleeping on thier sofa, and Id love to know how they got on in the end. They were going fishing the next day, and by god they were absolutely plastered when they went to bed (1hr before they wanted to get up! :P)

ROADTRIP 2 Geraldton - Denham (Monkey Mia) - Hutt River Province

After that I drove up to Denham, which is up past Kalbarri. It was a really nice little place actually, and there were some stunning beaches and views on the way back down to the main road.

I mean, It doesnt really translate well when I write it down, but you can check out the photos on my facebook for more of an idea on what was going on. I was only there overnight anyways.

After that I headed out of Australia to the Hutt River Province, where some mental bloke back in 1970 didnt like the fact that the Govt were meddling in his grain quota (It would have reduced itsself from 100'000 tonnes per year to 1000) so he declaired war on Australia.

Because its (a) Australia, and (b) the weekend, and (c) because the Govener to the Queen wrote back to the 'administrator of the Hutt River Provicnce', therefore making it 'legally ratified by the queen', and the place was born. He made himself a Prince later to get out of some legal wranglings.

He was pretty eccentric, but pretty cool!

ROADTRIP 2 Perth - Geraldton

Like I said, I had an impulsive moment, jumped in the car, and fecked off. Probably not the smartest move ive ever had, but it was all mine, so I took it! :)

So yes, my first real stop was Geraldton. I was going to stop off on the way, but it was peeing it down with rain for most of the journey, so I just jumped on the highway and drove straight up. It was pretty sad leaving all my previous victims in Freo, I came to travel, so I was pretty happy to be on the road again!

Geraldton was a really awesome little city. Well, I dont know. The people loved thier music, busking was really good there, and the hostel was pretty damn awesome. The city itsself was probably a little average, and Ive got the feeling its got a bit of drug problem. Mates mates were coming to the hostel, and talking about smoking crack like youd grab a glass of water from the kitchen, so I was never going to spend alot of time there (What was it Scissor sisters wrote. "What once was an emerald city is now a crystal town". Its only a matter of time..), but I would have liked to spend a few more days..

I had a really good time at everyone at the hostel, and Like i say, it would have been nice to build up a bit of cash, but the lady booked out my bed to someone else, so that was it. Onwards and upwards.