2.5 days in Brisbane - Brisbane, Australia
visited Jun 29, 2006
Day 1 was taken up getting Rhys and kieran away. I hadn't seen Rhys in a while, so it was good to catch up. We had Sandy and Celine and the kids over for a barbecue (would you like bleeding, or charcoal?) and otherwise spent the time madly rushing about getting things mum and dad wanted sent up, and making kieran tidy his room. They are joining mum and dad on the boat for 2 months of sailing in PNG, so they needed to leave the place respectable! They finally got away, and I had 1 day to sort myself out to leave. Now it's 2am, and I have to be on a train to the airport at 6. Argh. I had better go! his is the last of the Brisbane 2006 posts. Next post will be from Korea, London, or Copenhagen! I'll have to think of a name for the next itinerary!

South Molle Island - Hamilton Island, Australia
visited Jun 18, 2006
I know I should add these other islands to travel post, but I can't be bothered, so I'm just putting all the whitsunday adventures under hamilton island! Day two of my trip was the last day of the Seawind Rally, so we raced from Stonehaven to South Molle Island. Sailing puts me to sleep, so between that and my severe long term lack of sleep during assignment season, meant I don't remember much of the actual sail. The evening was taken up by the final celebrations for the rally, including the presentations, a seafood buffet, and a rather dreadful cruise-ship style floor show called "flames of polynesia". The next morning my mother decided exploring the tracks in the south molle national park would be a good idea. We did find some nice views, but I think and I did enjoy it, but I'm still glad we didn't climb the major hill! The next days turned out to be less than fine - we snorkelled in the brief moments of sunshine, and did not much when it rained. I read lots of books. It was nice. And the snorkelling was good - in Butterfly Bay we saw a whole herd of Maori Rass - great big gentle fish, each of them about a metre or more long! It was impressive. As was the coral - better than we saw at Keppel in April! We left the Whitsundays to head north, stopping in Gloucester passage (Monte's "resort" which was the most low-key resort I had ever seen!) and Shark Bay (Cape Upstart) where we went swimming at approximately shark feeding time (ok, pretty sill in hindsight, but we didn't see any sharks, so it was all good).

5 minutes on hamilton - Hamilton Island, Australia
visited Jun 16, 2006
Flew in to hamilton to meet my parents. Mum swore she saw elton john getting off the plane, but when she pointed him out (waiting for his luggage with the rest of us plebs) it really wasn't him, although she kept saying it was. Looked nothing like him. There weren't any buses back tot he marina, and everyone else on the plane had a resort bus to collect them, but us grotty yachties divided my luggage between us (I had 15kg of stuff mum and dad asked me to bring up, plus my stuff!) and trudged over the hill to the marina, where the boat was already overstaying the paid time in the marina, so we pretty much leapt aboard and left. A lovely sail to Nara inlet, where we met up with Joy and Chirs on Esprit, had dinner, and crashed. I think it was about 7.30 when I fell asleep! I think I really need this holiday!

Finished! - Brisbane, Australia
visited Jun 16, 2006
It nearly killed me, but I finished all my assignments. And a mere 6 hours or so before my flight north. Now I have two weeks of whitsundays and far north queensland to look forward to! And NO UNI WORK!!!! until next year that is...

The worlds seems to have survived... - Brisbane, Australia
visited Jun 7, 2006
So it's half an hour after the end of the 6/6/06, and we appear to still be here. Admittedly I haven't been out of the house since about 8pm, so it's possible the rest of the world has ceased to exist. Or that the world was sucked into hell, but they couldn't be bothered with australia. Or maybe I just didn't notice. I've had my head down doing assignments. At the end of Pirates, when life returned to something resembling normal, I had 5 to do. I've done 2 of them. I now have exactly a week until I leave for the whitsundays, and I'm halfway through assignment number 3. Will hopefully have it done before bed tomorrow night. That leaves me a whole 6 days to write the other 2 - only 4000 words worth. No problem. Just don't expect any updates between now and then. But then, there will be lots of exciting new updates. I have a wild plan. After my two weeks in the whitsundays, I have three days in Brisbane again, then I fly to Copenhagen (via a night on an airport floor in london) for 5 days of festival, then england for 4 weeks of work, then israel for more festival, then travelling around the middle east with Kate, ending up in Egypt, then flying to Morocco, and travelling up to portugal, then on, still overland, to Edinburgh. From there, I return to london to fly to korea, then on to Japan for 3 months more work (I have to do some occasionally), then back to Aus, via Korea again. I'll give a prize to anyone whocan come up with a decent name for the Itinerary for that trip!

A Pirate! Horror! - Brisbane, Australia
visited May 15, 2006
That's not "A Pirate Horror" either. Pirates of Penzance is shaping up to be very nice, now that we are in a real thatre, and not in some basketball court that happens to have a stage, as we were for the last performances in Scarborough. The Powerhouse Theatre is great, nice lighting, lots of space, excellent dressing rooms. It opens tomorrow night!

Crunch - Brisbane, Australia
visited May 9, 2006
I had my first ever car accident on the riverside expressway on my way to uni today. I was just thinking how the traffic was flowing pretty freely for 4pm on a tuesday afternoon, when, in precisely the milisecond I glanced down at the radio to eject a tape, the traffic stopped flowing. I didn't, at least, not quite fast enough, and managed to push the next car (which must have stopped very suddenly, and was probably very close to the ute in from of it, into said ute. Three car accident! we all managed to drive off the expressway, which was good, but my car had a cracked radiator, or something (as well as all the panel damage and a sticky driver's door) so it had to be towed. It's all covered on comprehensive insurance, with a really low excess, so I'm not overly worried about that. It does leave me carless for the time being,which would be annoying if my brother didn't decide he and his girlfriend could cope with one. He's gallantly offered me his car pretty much for the duration, which is wonderful. Especially as I have to drive to Scarborough three times in the next week, and the powerhouse every day for the week after that. And carry costumes and whatnot. I'm talking of course, of Pirates of Penzance, which opens in scarborough on friday, and then at the powerhouse on Tuesday. It's on for one week only, so email me for $20 tickets! --- end plug ----

A Young, Edgy Rock Opera - Brisbane, Australia
visited May 5, 2006
Rent! See Sean's blog for details: I'll write later. http://lettherebeblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/525600-minutes.html

Tropical Island - Great Keppel Island, Australia
visited May 1, 2006
After a rushed half day in Gladstone, we left at dawn (I'm told - I wasn't awake for it) to get through the Narrows with the tide. This is important, as there is a crossing about halfway through the Narrows that is used to get cattle from the mainland to curtis island. This means it dries out at low tide. completely. So leaving with the tide was important. We made it through ok, and into the open sea for the 4 hour crossing to Keppel. This was the only bit of actual sailing with actual waves that we encountered on the whole trip, and it was actually very calm, really. Enough to send Kate to bed after taking a sea-sickness tablet though! And Ihave to admit that I was having trouble concentrating on anything by the time we got to Keppel. It would have been nicer if we could have had the engines off, but the wind just wasn't with us. That first evening we were anchored at Long Beach, and decided to walk over the island to the resort for a sunset drink, and, after parking the dinghy on the beach, set off on a likely looking walking track. The track led to another beach, then disappeared. Undanted, we pressed on, climbing around the rocks of the next point, to discover.... more rocks. I think we clawed our way around 4 rocky, oystered points and along several beaches before we found the resort. We were just in time for a sunset drink, but as we hadn't brought a torch, there was a suggestion that we should go straight back while it was still a little light. A few inquiries told us that it was actually very easy to get to Long Beach. It was at the other end of the airstrip. So not only did we not have to climb over rocks, but there was an enormous paved road between the resort and the boat. Grrr. We drank our large and decadent cocktails (and mocktails) sitting on a bench overlooking the beach while watching the sun sink down behind Yeppoon on the mainland. It was very pleasant. Then we walked back along the airstrip in the dark (which was a great chance for some amazing star-gazing) and discovered that the beach wasn't at the end of the airstrip. There was a path to it though. A windy, sandy, treacherous footpath through the trees with several forks. I wished I gained a better understanding of the difficulties my blind friends face in getting around, and wished sincerely that I had a white cane. We survived though, and did end up at the beach. Then we just had to wander along it until we tripped over the dinghy (did I mention there wasn't even a moon to help us?) and pointed it towards Cutting Edge's masthead light (just as well Dad thought to put it on before we left!). Our two days on Keppel were lovely. I taught Kate to snorkel. Once she was given some extra flotation (a jet-ski jacket), she even stopped using me to keep herself up, which was nice. Lucky I'm a strong swimmer - and have positive boyancy! It was good to be in the water again - I hadn't snorkelled for about 10 years, which is sad. And really noticeable when I couldn't hold my breath for nearly as long as I used to be able to. I remember free-diving to 17 metres in Tonga once, and this time I was having trouble holding my breath very long at all. Ah well. I'll just have to practice more. When I have the chance...

Kelly - Gladstone, Australia
visited Apr 28, 2006
I managed to find Kelly's husband, Jack, at the marina, and got kelly's mobile number from him. It turns out she was working in Biloela for the day, which is why she hadn't been at home or at her usual work in Tank St. He said they had a doctor's appointment that night (because Kelly is pregnant!) but they could come to the Yacht club afterwards, where my family and assorted friends and I would be having dinner. It was rather weird meeting after 15 years, but very good to be in contact again. After dinner, Kelly and Jack came back to Cutting Edge (my parents' boat) and I showed them some photos that were on my computer of our childhood. It's strange but the collection I have, which consists of whatever Dad has scanned in, only includes about 2 of Kelly, although I recall spending nearly every day with her. She doesn't appear in any of the ones of my birthday parties or anything. Odd. The best one I have posted here. It's sweet! We've now exchanged email addresses, which means there is some chance we will stay in touch a little better now. And I know where she is now. She and Jack have bought a block of land in Benaraby, just near our old primary school, so I can imagine them being there for while to come.

Memory Lane - Benaraby, Australia
visited Apr 28, 2006
After an early start from Biloela, we arrived in Benaraby (via the occasional wrong turn) early enough for me to have a look around my old home town before having to get the car to my parents in Gladstone. We first drove past the old hall where I used to go on the ancient Sunday School bus every week from the age of 3 (my parents no doubt appreciated the quiet sunday mornings!). Apart from shrinking, and the service station next door changing brands, nothing seemed to have changed much. We then drove past my old school, and I was compelled to get out and have a closer look. At first the plan was just to look in the garden bed under the flag pole for the plaque over the time capsule that we planted there during the school's centenery celebrations in 1986. I had to check if it was to be opened this year, but it's not until July 12, 2011. Once I was that far into the school grounds, it seemed to make sense to go up to the office, and we were signed in to have a look around and see what had changed. Not much, though it's all now painted white instead of EdQLD yellow, and there's a new classroom and a new playground. They have 6 classes there now. There were three or four when I was there - about 60 to 80 kids, depending on the year. After the school, I went up to the house I grew up in. It was also still very recognisable, although there have been a few changes. I knocked on the door and was shown around but the current owner, which was nice. When we lived there the walls were all cream (I was 9 before I realised that walls were allowed to be colours other than cream). My room is now painted dark purple with a silver ceiling - colours chosen by the teenage boy who lives there! The woman who showed me around also told me that Kelly had moved back in next door. Her mother had always lived there, of course, but Kelly had left years ago. Kelly was my best friend throughout my childhood. We met when I was 2 (and she was 6!) and, living next door to each other, we more or less grew up together. After I left in 1989, we more or less lost contact, although I remember staying with her for a night in 1991 when we were back in Gladstone on the boat. I hadn't seen her since then, though, or had any contact. From the woman who lives in my old house, I discovered that she was married, and had moved back here with her husband, and that he worked at the marina! I resolved to track her down before we left the next morning.

Jess in Bilo - Biloela, Australia
visited Apr 28, 2006
Kate and I finally set off yesterday, about 14 hours later than planned, to drive to Gladstone, via Biloela, to deliver a car to my uncle, and meet my parents on their boat. The purpose of the Biloela detour was to see my childhood friend Jess, who lives there now. I hadn't see her since 1995. and that was only for a one short evening. We only had time for another rather short evening this time, too, as Kate and I didn't arrive until 8.30 last night. We had had a few adventures. We ran out of petrol. It was very embarrassing, but thankfully not that inconvenient, as we were about 100m from a petrol station at the time. The petrol station was closed, but there was one on the other side of the road, more or less, which was open, and lent us a fuel can. So all in all it was a good place to stop. And considering we had been stressing about it for 70km (ever since discovering the petrol station in Eidsvold was closed), we were very happy to stop there, and not in the middle of nowhere. Meeting up with Jess was seriously trippy, but wonderful to know she's still alive and surviving. Even if she is living in Biloela! Here's a pic of us, just to prove it. And one of us 20 years ago, for good measure.

Ex-traordinary. - Brisbane, Australia
visited Apr 21, 2006
Tonight I had arranged to meet Tony in town for the regular dinner-and-a-movie. Bizarrely, on my way there I ran into Sean and Michael in Pulp Fiction (the bookshop). They were staying in the hotel above the bookshop for the night. Michael gets married tomorrow. Weird. Kate arrives here on Monday! I'm not sleeping well. Grrr.

Hope Harbour - Upper Coomera, Australia
visited Apr 10, 2006
My parents, Kieran and I spent the night on the boat, and spent the morning doing lots of last minute things, and, eventually, having a cooked breakfast together. Sandy and Celine and the kids arrived, and, with surprisingly little last-minute ado, they left around lunchtime. While Sandy and Celine and the kids will be back in two weeks or so, my parents have no intention of returning Brisbane until, probably, late this year - after they've sailed up the Queensland coast and spent the two months their visas allow them in the Trobians, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. I managed to get back to Brisbane in plenty of time for my evening class. Life should be a little less insane now. For the next week or two, at least.

5 minutes in Brisbane - Brisbane, Australia
visited Apr 9, 2006
I stepped off the plane at 4.25pm on monday afternoon (apr 10th, but this needs to be blogged as 9th to keep the order right). As I had no luggage to collect, I was able to be in the car (Kieran picked me up) by 4.29. Kieran teleported me to uni, and I was in class by 4.55. Pretty amazing really. After class, Kieran picked me up again (nice brother) and drove me home where I arrived just in time for a barbecue dinner with my family - my parents' last supper before leaving on their boat. At 10.30pm, all four of us piled into the car (fitting around all the last minute stuff they were taking) and drove down to the boatat sanctury cove, to spend the night and see everyone off on their sailing adventure the next day. So it was more than 5 minutes in Brisbane, but not by much!

Mad Rush - Sydney, Australia
visited Apr 9, 2006
Sydeny was, as always, a mad rush. That city runs so much faster than Brisbane. Whenever I'm down there it just all seems non stop. Now, I know you could say that is because when you only have 5 days in a place, everything is a rush, but when I lived down there last year I was there for months and it never stopped. Still, at least this time Kate and I managed to do everything essential that was on our list, which is a lot better than last time. There was some unexpected excitement. On thursday night, Kate's flatmate's cat got run over, and we all ended up dashing to an all night emergency vet hospital. The cat is still alive, and, once it has recovered from its $3000 leg reconstruction surgery, will no doubt continue to live a long and pampered life. But it did mean our dvd and gelati plan had to be postponed. Friday was spent running a dozen little errands, and pottering about, but saturday was non-stop socializing. We had brunch at the Chocolate Dog in Newtown with Nick and a bunch of people from Brisbane. Obviously. They were down for Nick's 30th birthday, which was also my flimsy excuse. The evening was spent celebrating Nick's birthday over dinner with the same brisbanites, and about 25 sydney people in a very fancy restaurant in Erskinville. Kate and I opted to share a meal (yes, we're cheapskates) and so had a very pleasant morsel of kangaroo each, followed by a small poached pear and molecule of very nice icecream. It was a very fancy restaurant. After dinner the party moved to a funciton room downstairs where we talked and some people danced to the CD compilation Nick had created for the occasion. I bet the pub had never played anything from the Oklahoma soundtrack before! The toughened party people went on to the imperial around midnight, but Kate and I took the going-home-and-crashing option instead, with a slight detour to drive our friends Eric and Peter home, as well as Oddur who was staying with them. Sunday was then a day of rest, except for going out to Victoria Park to meet a whole lot of queeruption type people who play anarchist soccer there on sunday afternoons. We arrived and sat down to talk to Eric and Peter while we watched to work out if there were any rules, and somehow never got around to the playing soccer part. It was fun to watch the others playing though. There were goals, and vague teams, but no boundaries, and it was played on a bit of a hill, so it was all interesting. Sunday night we finally managed the dvd and gelati plan that had been postponed, and Monday was spent in sleeping in, packing and getting to the airport. Sydney was fun. No idea when I'll be back there - no further flights are booked, and I leave Australia in less than 3 months. Might be next year before I get back there. Ah well. Kate is coming up here in a mere 2 weeks, so that's something.

Idyllic Weather, and a New Computer! - Sydney, Australia
visited Apr 6, 2006
I finally have my first ever brand new computer: a very small, white laptop with all the bells and whistles. It's very exciting. It also has a webcam permanently attached, so I can take pictures like this one! Now I just have to work out how to insure it internationally. It's the single most expensive thing I've ever owned, and just owning it has the potential to get stressful. Insurance will help though. It wasn't a mistake, I am indeed in Sydney. Being the jetsetter that I am, I have flown down for the "weekend" (wednesday to monday). The excuse was Nick's 30th birthday, and a relatively free weekend in terms of uni work, but I don't exactly need an excuse to visit Kate. And to get out of that awful Brisbane weather. It was so horribly humid the last 2 days, I was very, very grateful to be leaving. It was only a couple of degrees cooler in Sydney when I arrived, but the difference in humidity made my hair stand on end. Literally. I've had static problems since I got here. Last night Kate and I had cheap indian (indian food, something else I missed while in Turkey. I must do it again soon!) in Newtown on the way home from the airport, and today I have the house to myself while she and her flatmate are at work. I'm sitting in the doorway of her lovely ground floor unit, with an incredibly blue sky, a very cool wind blowing, looking out at a grassy, tree-ey area that I might go and sit in shortly. In the sun, because it is my favourite sort of weather - the sort where you appreciate sitting in the sun! I'd take a photo, but this camera seems to only be designed for indoors, and the outdoor ones just come out all overexposed. More on Sydney adventures later.

Queer Film Festival - Brisbane, Australia
This place was Average visited Apr 4, 2006
I very cleverly organised to go to Sydney during the Brisbane Queer Film Festival. It's a lesson in effective calendar use for me. However, all was not lost, as this year the BQFF is bigger and better than ever, and started on the Tuesday. My flight wasn't until Wednesday, so I was able to go to the opening night! Just as well. I have only missed one year since it started 6 years ago, and that was last year when I was living in Berlin. In fact, the year before that I came home (from Berlin, by coincidence) on the second last day of the festival, and still managed to see 3 films. The opening night film was called "50 ways of saying fabulous", which is a New Zealand film based on the book of the same name by NZ author Graeme Aitken. I had loved the book - we studied it in Quook, the queer book club at UQ, years ago, so was keen to see the film. It was lovely, and will hopefully get a wider release, and when it does I suggest you all go see it. Or catch the second screening at the Powerhouse sometime this weekend (www.brisbanepowerhouse.org for details). After the film there was the required drag show, accompanied by free drinks, nibblies and the most disturbing iceblocks I had ever seen. If anyone ever offers you a paddle pop "bender", say no. Just do. It was nice to be at a queer event in Brisbane again, but it was yet another reminder of how long I have been away (or possibly an indicator how the community has grown in the last few years). I only saw one person I knew! Apart from the people I was with, of course. Oh, and the guy handing out the free beer knew me, though I didn't remember him at all. Apparently he was my dancing partner in HMS Pinafore years ago. That was a rather Brisbane moment.

Pirates! - Gympie, Australia
This place was Poor visited Apr 2, 2006
I didn't go to Gympie by choice. Actually, I didn't go to Gympie at all, but to a camp site about 20km south of it. And why? For Pirates, of course. OK, so it had nothing to do with real pirates, and a lot to do with the Gilbert and Sullivan musical "Pirates of Penzance". I'm in the current Queensland Musical Theatre Company's producation of it, and it was a rehearsal camp. You'll be very glad to hear that we got lots of very good work done, and the whole first act is now blocked and looking good. And there are some very funny bits. Pirates is on at the Brisbane Powerhouse from the 16th to the 21st of May, and at some hall in Scarborough the weekend. Email me to get discounted tickets for only $20! Yes, this was a shameless plug.

midnight musings - Brisbane, Australia
This place was Awful visited Mar 26, 2006
I've been reorganising my blog. You can tell because it suddenly looks like I was last in Bulgaria. I wasn't. I have now uploaded all interesting photos I have for our Helsinki to Istanbul trip. I think. I haven't yet written anything about Hungary or Romania though, but I'll get there eventually. I suggest that if you want to see current posts, you click on the "date visited" link above, as the "date posted" order is misleading. To see past posts, the best way is by going to "trip itineraries" in the side bar to the right here, and pick the one you want. Brisbane's all a bit dull at the moment. It seems I've been away too long. Although I still know people here, I haven't met any new people for many years, and have lost contact with pretty much all my acquaintances. I still have a few good friends here, but they are all used to leading their lives without me, or we are now in different places, or something. Oh, and most of my friends seem to have moved to Sydney or Melbourne, which is also a problem! So, I spend my days doing uni work (or trying to avoid doing uni work) and hanging out at home. It's probably really good for me right? No distractions from my studies? argh!!!