Ayers Rock! (via a town called Alice)

Yes. Alice Springs...centre of the universe.

Actually, it seemed a nice enough town. You hear horror stories, but Tennant Creek was much worse in my opinion! We stopped by for a few days, just so I could try a bit of busking, but it wasnt really the time of year for it. I think, after the campsite and food, i only made a spare $30, which sucked!).

Apart from that, we just wondered around, and took a look. There was this old telegraph station open just outside of the place, which was pretty cool to see, although it must have been bloody lonely working there! I was told about a Kangaroo sanctuaray by Debbie Brown back home ,but I couldnt find it. Never mind, so afterwards we carried on to Ayers Rock. Popular belief tells us that its actually in Alice, or at the very least 'just round the corner'.

Nope. Its 5-600 sodding Kilometers away! Took ages to get there...and petrol by that point was hitting uk prices at $2.50 a litre. $120 would just about fill the tank for 450ks. Then when you get to the rock, and are charged $25 to get in and see it, you're initially left thinking. Oh. Its a bloody great rock. Right. Then you go to the campsite there, and get charged $40 per night for parking on what was essentially a gravel car park, with no hot water in the camp kitchen, broken barbeques, and think 'Okay. What a waste of time and bloody money!'

THEN you see the rock at sunset, and everything melts away. It. Was. Stunning. You really have to see it, but to watch it turn from Brown, to Red, to Purple, and then (just after the sun went down) bright bright red for about 30secs or so, was pretty damn awesome...then we went to the bar. After loosing so much money that day on everything else, I figured 'hell. Why not add a few beers to the growing list of outgoings?'.

It was cool, there was a good band on, and we had good fun. I did break Alex, who, after driving round to the rock for sunset, promptly died, and didnt really surface properly for a good 12 hours or so! :P I got him up around 2pm, and did a bit of a walk around the rock. Not the whole lot...I figure once you see one part of a giant bit of stone, youve probably seen it all, and its 16k in circumference. So I drove. Job Done.

I was thinking about climbing, but it was ridiculous. it was a rock face with a iron railing on to pull yourself up. But not a ladder, just a railing and a 75% hill. :) So yes, went back to the car and started driving to Kings Canyon after that...

All the rest areas (roadside free camping places) in NT are really cool, although they did have 20 billion flies, and 100 billion trillion ants underfoot that kept biting you. Very VERY irritating! :) So yes, stopped over night, got to Kings Canyon the next day, which was really really nice. Much Better than Ayers rock...after a 500 climb up some steps carved in the rock, we walked along the top of the canyon back to the carpark. Took in the scenary, and loved every second of it, it was spec-bloody-tacular!

Then after that it was Cooper Pedy

Aye Karrumba! (to Devils Marbles)

Then the next day we went up the coast to this tiny place called Karrumba. Awesome little place...right on the beach, all the aussies went up there for fishing. There were even people who'd driven up from Mildura right at the bottom of Australia, because they heard that it might flood, and they wanted to get all thier fishing gear up there!

It was perfect weather, so me and alex thought we'd try our hand at a spot of fishing. These two Canadian  girls who we were supposed to be picking limes with had given us a fishing rod, so we went out and got a few lures, and tried our hand. I caught more weed than it should be humanly possible to draw in, and an old weight. Not as good eating as it sounds! :) Alex ended up catching something, but because it was a 10lb line on an 8lb rod, it just took the lure and went!

After that we went a bit mental and brought another 30lb line, but we couldnt get the lures out far enough...we never did catch anything after that. Bit of a shame, but never mind. I wont add fisherman to my list of talents! :P At least we had a crate of beer to keep us occupied whilst we caught weed and sunburn eh? :P

We just spent a few days doing that. It sounds pretty boring, but it was a really nice spot, everyone was really really friendly, and well. everyone deserves a rest after a hectic few years trying as hard as possible to do nothing, eh? :P

So yes, that was it. Karrumba. Awesome place!

Then after that it was alot of driving and stopping in rest stops. I did stop in Mt Isa for a bit of busking. There wasnt that many places to do it, but I did get stopped by a load of pissed miners on the saturday night, outside this pub, and managed to get $80-100 for only playing wonderwall. Fecking hate that song, but they were throwing twentys at me...yes! Made a bit outside the shop on the sunday mornng too, and then headed on a very long straight, and uneventful ride to Tennants Creek. The most exciting thing that happened was an oil change on the van that night I think.. :P

Anyways, Tennant Creek, as im sure ive said before on my blog, is a godawful place. Its got a really bad vibe about the place, and the local aborigines have this hungry look about them.. I thought it was just me, but I didnt mention it, and Alex said almost exactly the same words. So we drove through and stopped off at the Devils Marbles that night. They're a set off massive boulders that look like theyre standing on nothing (well, some of them. Youll have to look at the photos to decide for yourself!). It was a really cool campsite, real peaceful, and we had our own pet dingo. What more could you want? :) So yes, had a barbeque, went to bed, and drove the next day to.....

....
....
.........!!!

Limes? Errm. No

Turns out the limes were a bit of a damp squid in the end. (Yeah, yeah, I can almost hear you all saying "no...you just told us they were limes". Shush! :P). Well,  actually the whole hostel... We got there, and there was this hot, but f***ing C-R-A-Z-Y Canadian bird in charge. Amanda. This has no bearing to the story, but I just thought she was worth a mention.. :P).

Anyways, we got there, spent an hour filling out all these terms and conditions on the paperwork. The rent starts off at $150 per week, but keeps going up in $50 increments for every 5 hours per week you work, you have to give one months notice of your leaving, otherwise you lose your $200(!!) bond. That kind of thing...so we're already a bit sus (id just like to add we didnt pay them $200. We told them to sod off, and had to part with $50. Which took 5mins to take, but 2 months to get back!). THEN this woman who owns the hostel charges us $30 EACH to sleep in the campervan outside, without power (though we plugged in anyways!). So we've decided that one day picking limes is all we're going to do in this place.

So we wake up the next morning...its had a bit of rain overnight, and the limes didnt happen at all. Cant pick them because it leaves marks appparantly. Well, the lady who owned the hostel (who was already massively patronising) gave up pretending to be nice as soon as she realised that she couldnt get any more money out of us, and turned into a complete bitch. I could put down the stuff she said, but id be here all week. Suffice to say that shed pissed me off to the point where, If I stood around much longer, id probably just push her over and walk off, and Alex...well, he'd got to that point after the 1st 5mins.

So yes, after much protest ("how can you just f*** off? Its my job to find the farmers work [erm. actually, you run a hostel. its your job to keep us happy and find US work. which involves finding the farmers work]. Your screwing me over! [well, actually, we only came for one day, and that didnt happen, so we're not screwing anyone over] You wont get your bond back! [oh yes I bloody will. thats theft.] Ive offered you another possible job at the end of the week. [Someone wants a day weeding! and if its raining, which its going to do all week, then it wont happen again, will it?] Piss off then, Theres always more backpackers coming through! They wont be so fucking lazy! [whatever. Goodbye.]) we left.

Ended up going through the tablelands (they're a really nice part of Queensland if anyone ever gets a chance to look. Awesome views and some really nice towns), and then across to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was a really good drive, although the road there had been mostly washed away in last years floods, and was almost non-existant at some point. We passed this old tunnell, which was the only remains of the massive gold mining industry in the region in the past, and stopped in this really cool little town called Croydon for a bit.

It had a massive tourist information centre, must have cost billions, with a film in it linked to holograms, and puppets popping up on the side of the tv, and timed lights, for a town of maybe 1000 people, if that, in the middle of nowhere! :P We walked in just to break the drive, and the two people there was almost fighting each other off to come and help us...we must have been the only tourists in there in months! Very interesting place though...they had a population of, I think, close to 100'000 people when the gold was in town, then when it ran out, everyone just put thier houses on the back of horses and carts, and buggered off! youve gotta love the aussies! :P

After that, after driving over a flooded road. The van almost cut out a few times. We went over to Normanton, and slept there for the night. There wasnt that much there really. A giant statue of an 8m crocodile, the largest one ever shot and recorded (its in the Guinness Book of Records), and a plaque to Kris the Crocodile Hunter who shot it it, and a purple pub. That was about it..

Airlie Beach - Caiiiiiirns, and beyond! :)

Right, straight after we got off the sailing boat, got back to the campsite, and did some washing, it started raining, and hasnt finished since ! :P Luckily its so bloody hot and humid up here, its quite welcome really...

The journey has been pretty cool, altough havent been up to a huge amount. The next stop after Airlie Beach was Townsville, where we stopped at this campsite, met a cool couple, Jack and Carly, who had been kicked out of thier nans really nice comfortable house for a week while a Japanese friend visited, and was forced into a cramped hot tent, just as the rains started! :P Poor bastards..

I did a bit of busking that night, made $185, which wasnt too bad I suppose. The best part of the evening was when a random bloke came along, and started playing slide guitar, and singing with me...he was pretty good, so I carried on. Turns out he was the guitarist for Men at Work (You know, that 'land down under song'). He'd seen all the buskers up the street, and thought he'd grab his guitar and come and join us for a bit. So yes. Ill chalk that one up. Ive now Played with Men at work (Well, one of them) and John Butler likes my voice. :)  So yes, do a bit more busking, chat to the other buskers...cool guys, then headed back..

The next day we stopped off in this place called Flying Fish Point, just because we liked the name :P, then it was Cairns! Did a bit of busking, but I needed a license, so that didnt really work. Made a bit of cash though...enough to get me by. I also keep running into some of the people I met on my sailing trip around the Whitsundays, which was pretty good..

Now, ive bitten the bullet, and have put in to do a weeks farmwork, just to try and get a bit of extra cash, as I need to get through the centre, and there arent any towns, so I dont want to rely on busking...

Also, I need to try and make a bit of money, because ALthough im coming home in a month :(...., I really need to get back to NZ where theres actually a job waiting for me, with thier version of Autoglass, as opposed to sunny england, where a bunch of nameless w***ers have messed up the country, so theres no bloody work. Especially for a travelling bum such as myself. So yes, I need to get enough to get me back out here if possible. Certainly not done with this whole travelling thing...its far too much fun! (also, busking is apparantly really really good in NZ, so thats something else to consider..)

But yes, we'll see....Ive got to survive a 6am start, and a day picking bloody Limes first of all! :)

Brisbane - Airlie Beach

After we left Brisbane, we set off for Rainbow Beach. Its only a small town, but its a really really cool spot. If you read some of my earliest blogs on the trip youll read all about it...Not much happened, we just went back to the campsite (I knew where the free one was this time, and didnt have to get chased around for 2 hours by the police [who didnt want people just camping in the carpark next to the beach], which is always good! :P ). We just chilled out, swam in the sea for a bit, drank a few beers, then carried on up the coast the next day...

The next real stop was Airlie beach, but that was 12hours from Rainbow Beach, so we obviously cut the journey in half. We stopped in a roadhouse in Marlsbourough, which was actually quite nice. It had some weird creatures though. They might have been Praying Mantis', but, Well. I dont know. Ive given up on Australian animals. Im not sure most of them are real. Every time I try to describe them, they end up sounding made up.. :) They were long, green, massive wings. Okay, lets try another way. Cross a Lotus with a Cucumber, and then add two massive antenna...see, made up. That clearly doesnt exist. In fact, I trod on it, so theres a distinct posibility that even if it did before, it no longer does.. :P

Then after that, we set off for the easy (ha!) journey to Airlie....Then promptly got stuck in a closed road, where two trucks had basically ran off the road, and crashed. I saw the remains of one of them go past (12 hours later...good bloody job we had tea, and beers in the fridge! :P), and it was knackered. Shredded...So yes. I started the 1st annual Bruce Hwy Festival 2012, by plugging in my guitar to the vans batterys and hammering out a few songs to keep all the truckies entertained...Cool stuff! The Truckies are all mental though..real nice people, but definately a bit tapped.

 Ha, to give you an example, one was so pissed off with Queensland Police, 'he said, C**t! You C**ts are so F**king Backwards, you even f**king walk backwards! C**t!'. (This was the bloke who was missing the leg that youd use for Accelerator and Brake. Bit dodgy... :)). He also had a massive roo bar on the front of his truck. "Wow, thats one hell of a roo bar mate, you hit many with that thing?" I said. "Yeah, Yeah, Couple. Hit a Blaady car the other day too. C**t cut me up. Pushed the sheila 100m down the road" Came the Aussies reply. I just sidled off and hid at that point... :)

Anyways, like I said, a mere 12 hours later, they finally reopened the road (we couldnt go round, because it was 400ks back to where we started, and then 6-700ks on the loop to the next down, THEN another 300ks to Airlie. And we set off. Slept in a real shite rest stop over night again, because it was too dark, the roads are awful, and we were both pretty tired...

Then we got to Airlie. Its awesome here. Were in a real nice campsite just out of town, but ive been doing a bit of busking. Thursday went okay, $150. Friday would have gone amazing. I made $100 in an hour before the clubs kicked everyone out, but then the sodding police came, and told me to move on otherwise theyd arrest me. Bastards. I mean, seriously, get a real job. In fact I might let them if they ask me tonight. It'll look awesome on my criminal Record. Chris Stott-Busking. 20/2/12 :) Also, it might be a quick way home if I do it after my visa runs out...bang. Free ticket home .. :)

Still, im not stopping. Im going to get the $320 I need for a sailing trip round the whitsundays if it kills me! So yes, watch this space...therell be plenty of updates if they have Wifi in Gaol! :)

Brisbane Baby!

Then that was it, we got to Brisbane. The first night was pretty uneventfull. We stopped in this campsite in Sydneys north to plug into the electric and get the battery in the back recharged. It was pretty expensive though, so after doing a bit of busking in this shopping mall in the morning, we drove into the centre, and had a bit of a look around.

Thats where it started getting good, although we didnt know it yet. Its funny how things work out though. By the time we got back to the camper, it was late, we were knackered, and we'd left it too late to book a campsite. We were both pretty tired and grumpy, so we just chose this little park by the river to sleep in. Tiny place, middle of nowhere. Had a bit of dinner, and went to sleep...

Then the next morning, I got up early for a change (possibly the 1st time ever! :P) and was just sitting watching the river, when suddenly I hear this voice go '...chris?'. I look around, and bugger me, If it isnt my old friend Debbie Shotton from England. I met her at the SGP (with her husband, and also my mate, Ben) in 2004, when I broke my leg, Saw them a few more times in and around london, then lost touch with them in 2006, just after my birthday (October).  Bens Brother Jamie (who I met at thier wedding years ago!) is also just around the corner.

So yes, Dumbfounded I reply '...Debbie??'. And yeah, it turns out they had moved to Australia a few years ago, and lived JUST around the corner. If I hadnt got up early I would have missed her and never known, but  she took us in, cooked us a massive fry up for breakfast, offered us a proper shower. It was really good, and one hell of a good suprise!

Ive been staying round thier house the last few days, in thier front garden, doing a bit of busking in the day, and chatting away all night. Yesterday (Saturday) we went round the Markets in the morning, and then went to this English Shop, and then had proper English Fish and Chips, WITH CURRY SAUCE! (you cant get it anywhere over here...its been hard these two years! :P) Then at night, we had a BBQ, copious amounts of beer, and I headed out to go busking, which I did to some extent. I was pretty drunk, and Debbie kept smuggling me out beers from this Nightclub, which I ended up in later, till 4am.

It must have been a good night, because we ended up with a traffic cone, a Golf Cart, a Football, and a newspaper. Sign of a good night! :) Today im broken though. I really needed to go and make some money (its pretty tough over here...specially without a battery to plug into, but just couldnt manage it.

So yes, tommorrow we're heading up to Rainbow Beach...it should be good, although itll be a bloody early morning! (9am. :P)

Watch this space people!

...AND Stotty finally gets the hell out of Sydney! :)

Right, after all of that, there was nothing holding us back, so we packed our bags, and with a trumpety trump trump, made our way to the Circus. Well, actually Newcastle, where we stayed the night (We had to transfer the camper into our names). The campsite there was pretty expensive  but it was right on the beach, so we chilled out on the beach, had a few beers, then went for a walk along this jetty where they had incorporated all these ships that had got wrecked before the breakwater was actually built. It was pretty good stuff!


After that we Drove most of the way to Byron. The weather was Atrocious all the way up, with massive storms. We got most of the way, and pulled over in this really shitty layby place with lorries driving by all night (they are huge things over there, with 3 or 4 trailiers on them, and massive 12+ litre engines, so they sound more like moving foghorns than trucks!

Then we got to Byron Bay, and stayed at this really cool hostel called the Arthouse. Also, even though it was raining right up until we got into Byron Bay, then as soon as we passed the sign, it was clear blue skies. So yes. My Curse (every time I went there it rained) was lifted! :P But yes. it was only $20 a night to park the camper in the carpark, we got to use the full facilities of the hostel, and right across the carpark was the Byron Bay Brewerys Buddah Bar, which serves some damn good beer!

On the first night it was an open Mic night, where I won $30, which was pretty good for 2 songs. Especially as everyone else who played was absolutely awesome! Oh, and I got a free beer. So yes, that was a good night! The next day I went on a free tour with this mental bloke called Cockatoo Paul, who had a pet Cockatoo and did bush tours. It was only an hours walk around the grounds, but I learnt a lot of useful stuff about what plants you can and cant eat, making rope from plants, eating flowers, and Throwing spears (Hee hee!) :)

Then I just chilled out and did a bit of busking, before meeting up with my mate Julian from Freo on the friday night, which was good! We went to the Buddah Bar, and then on to this hotel in town where they also had live music. I was pretty wasted, but had a really good night..

Then Gosbees mates from Sydney caught up with us, and and we met up with them for a BBQ and a few drinks on the monday night, (as well as 3 really hot Kiwi Girls) before setting off to Gold Coast and then Brisbane.

Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise) is a pretty shite place though...its all high rise tower blocks, and. Well, I dont like it at all...stopped there for a few hours, chilled on the beach, tried a bit of busking, got bored, then came over to Brisbane..