The epic drive!

Hey again, Its been a very long time since ive added to the blog i know and with so much thats happened its difficult to know where to start!also some of the pics are not in order of occurrance as i've not a clue how to navigate this site very well yet but hey,at least ya gettin the pics!
Leaving broome was yet again a sad experience as we had accumulated many great friends there and as always it was difficult to leave but leave we must as to beat the inevitable monsoon and cyclone season now due in the north and to avoid being flooded in by flash floods somewhere in the middle of nowhere without means of escape!
With ernie all set after a freshly serviced engine and enough cash to get us to our next destination off we set on an epic 5000km+ journey to melbourne (south east)!
It was all goin so so well until poor old ernie one day started to cough and splutter a bit,which was a little worrying due to the fact we were at the very least 100km from anywhere and it was at least 40 dgrees centigrade!
The symptoms were as if he'd ran out of fuel and was choking up so ross and i,turning and looking at eachother with similar looks of dismay on our faces feared something very,very bad was about occur!
Luckily for us,after a lot of prayer and grovelling to ernie to push on through the pain barrier and keep running ,he did just that though still coughing and spluttering and sometimes taking us down to about 30km/hr nevertheless he made it to the next stop,kunnanara.Now by this time ernie's running fine and dandy again so being the cowboys that we are we just put the problem down to some dirty fuel from the last gas station,filled up again,and fuelled by pride and determination(idiocy!) to reach our daily target,carried on!Only.....60km down the road and off he goes again and once again feeling like the blood has been drained from my body and the expression from my face the worry set in!now as he wasn't actually breaking down as such, my stubbornness to carry on was immense but after a little ernie cab conference the pride was swallowed and the moment the going was good we did a u-turn and headed back to kunnanara to get ernie some professional help!
This turned out to be a good move as we happened to find a camp/caravan site along side a beautiful lake with lush gardens and green all around (which was a rarity due to the lack of water along most of our journey)
We pulled up literally three metres from and parallel to the lake and set camp there for the night.What an awesome spot,just perfect for sunset.After jumping in and out of ernie in a time superman would've been proud of,donning my shorts and a grin,in i went and what an amazing swim!Much time had passed since i'd had the opportunity to swim in some natural fresh water and it was just what i needed!upon asking ross if it was ok to swim in,he replied that the groundsman had said that we could swim at our own risk!(due to the fact that the site were not insured for the lake but only the grounds!ok i thought,sweet!After vacating the lake i then find the swimming pool only to find the same groundsman having a dip..so i get chatting...and i find out that the lake is infested with fresh water crocodiles!nice!now,not really knowing if he was pulling my leg or not i head for the showers and then back to the lake where i find ross setting up the fishing tackle ready to have a little fish before dark.Shortly after this, a very peculiar shape appeared before us in the water,and then....a very peculiar pair of eyes!Right where i had been swimming there were at least three sets of eyes now peering up at us from the waters edge!nice!haha never thought i'd be able to say i've been swimming with crocodiles!first sharks in the waves in broome and now crocs in kunnanara!hehe

The next day we headed for the nearest mechanics and left ernie with them for a few hours and headed into the town,and upon our return find that the mechanic has replaced the fuel filter and everything should now be A ok!sweet!With a new found beaming smile,off we ride again!Only as far as about another 50km and........you guessed it!the same thing happens!now,by this time,we're sort of used to this little hiccup,and after all,he's an old motor..and all old motors have character...... right!?
So proceed we must and with numerous daily prayers with every ernie fit somehow we make it on to the most northern town of our trip (katherine)before our descent into the great red centre to the south!
Now it's not the greatest idea in the world to attempt the epic drive down through the great red centre of australia with a van as old as ernie,let alone the fact that once every 5-10minutes we think he's going to blow up!But with left with little choice,having the blind faith and the belief that...."yes he's a little unwell....but he'll get us there" We carried on with our fingers crossed!Some days we drove for around 12-15hours non-stop!now considering i only passed my driving test a month before my trip,i now consider myself very much broken in!we must have driven the length of britain at least four times so far!: )
Ernie now pulls a new scare out of his bag of tricks and starts to backfire at random intervals!hmmmm not so much of a problem but when the engine is under the front seats and you can feel the engine popping under your arse this creates a little more apprehension and an even funnier expression as we again do our usual side glance to one another,one eyebrow raised!by this time the whole experience becomes rather comical but as there's nothing we can do about it,why not!though if we didn't laugh about it,we probably would've been crying about it instead! : )
Next stop Alice springs!nice little town this!would've been nice to have a little more time here but once again priorities lie with ernie and the mission ahead!Again,we booked ernie into a local mechanics thinking maybe the fuel tank needs pumping and cleaning and maybe a couple of small parts here and there and we'd be off on our merry way!
Wrong!!!!
On our return to the yard we were confronted with the sad and undeniable reality of ernies illness!
he actually needed about three days work,about 1000-1500 dollars for medical fees,a new carburetta blah blah blah bollocks!not good news!And even worse trying to find the parts for a 1978 campervan! As we didn't have these funds we then were faced with the decison of what to do next and with the mechanics not having much hope for us making it to south australia,it was a tricky one!After paying them 160 dollars for the bad news, not being ones to give up and still having great faith in our beloved companion and home,off we set again and undertook one of the riskiest drives one can endeavor to take!weeeeeeeeeeeeell,whats the worst that could happen!Against most peoples advice we also drove alot under the cover of darkness,partly because we wanted just to get as far as we could per day but mainly because the engine was now starting to get very hot and is was cooler for ernie to drive at night time!Though i must say we had a few near misses with stray cattle crossing the road and an army of kangaroos that tested our reactions to the limit!All good though..... Kill Ratio 0 % which makes me happy,though we did have one idiot roo run into and bounce off the side of the van on one occasion!theres always one hey!
Every now and again during the drive (daytime)we kept getting struck with random,freak winds which really threw the van about and tested whoever was driving at the time!we discovered that these were actually small tornadoes (twisters)crossing the road!now some of them you can see as they pick up dust and things in their path,but other times,they can be moving along the road and to the naked eye,become invisible!most of them actually being once,maybe twice the length of the van so it was crazy how they almost span the van around!haha quite fun really but not so much when caught unaware!: )
Not too much to report on the journey through the centre apart from ernies hiccups and sweltering heat which blasts through the windows like a majorly hot hair drier.A couple of places of interest like,the u.f.o capital of australia which is called "wycliffe well" thats been the host area of countless sightings in the past,and interestingly nearby theres actually a military airbase!coincidence?I think not! Although we spent a night ogling the amazing abundance of stars on a stopover one night we failed to spot any u.f.o's but we were blessed with the scene of countless shooting stars which was an awesome show!...or were they!! : )
Also a place of aboriginal legend called "the devils marbles" which apparently is a geological marvel,as these consist of a giant rounded,red rock boulders that the aboriginals believe were the eggs of the rainbow serpents in local folklore culture!A pretty sight and strangely the only rocks of their statue around!

Another days drive from here and we finally arrive at the south australian border and we all let out a big cheer and have a little sing along!hehe which reminds me of a night previous to this when it was around 2am,we were driving around 40km/ph due to the herds of kangaroos all over the place,feeling a little wired and over tired due to excessive kilometres driven and too much coffee we end up singing songs for ernie at the top of our voices to keep his spirits up!now this may sound crazy to some but its a miraculous thing what a few football chants belted out at 2am will do for your motor!(adding his name and subtracting theteam that is: ) bit random but just sprung into my head!

Anyway,so....next stop Adelaide to see a friend that we met on the footy grand final day whilst working in karratha,west coast whom was working there for 3 weeks away from home and had offered to meet up in his home town when and if we made it there.After spending a rather dodgy night sleeping in a car park next to a dock in a place called port augusta,with boy racers speeding past every 2minutes and drunken youths shouting,puking,and using ernie as an assault course we awoke unscathed and after a coffee and a roadhouse shower we embarked on what has turned out to be our last journey in ernie so far : (

Ok this is taking me forever and im never going to get this posted by xmas,so im going to cut the rest real short!

Basically,our mate (also called damo) offered to look at the van for us and also kindly offered to put us up for a few days!nice bloke is damo and as soon as he would get home from work,he'd be straight into the van pulling the whole thing apart!loves a challenge so he does!Ross and i could only look in bewilderment as we know nothing at all about motors and left him to it!we ended up spending a week or so at damo's house with him and his family and had a great time.He even let us borrow his 4x4 to sightsee around the city with while he was at work during the day!(brave man!) A great city as a whole but the lack of money and the fact that damo had to fly to queensland for work for two weeks meant problems for us as ernie was far from well again and was still waiting for much needed organ donors as his engine was not a well one!

Next step....

We decided to leave our beloved home and companion in damo's capable hands and to fly to our final destination (for now!)which is the most beautifully multicultural and diverse city of melbourne!Here we are staying at a friends house that has again,very kindly offered us a place to stay for a while!If you look back to the pics of bali,at the dreamland beach you'll see a guy with long black curly hair and probably wearing a cowboy hat!that'll be rob!one of the greatest friends we've met so far along the way!We met him in bali on about the 3rd day there and pretty much spent three weeks together and again we had the offer to visit once in australia and so here we are!We now have a room each in robs house rent free and are sharing bills etc and i must say its great fun!barbecues galore and good ol' aussie culture!mind you im missing out on the barbecue culture a bit now as i've turned veggie so a bit gutted but never mind!Think im in just about the worst country in the world to turn vegetarian but it tests the willpower and if i can make it through oz then it'll be no probs anywhere else!Still waiting to hear news about ernies condition but we're keeping hopeful that he'll pull through!let's hope so,we could sure do with the money,or some transport either way's a winner!

Right now im struggling through an ear infection so on antibiotics at the moment and a little worried that i'll not be able to have a beer on xmas day!man that sucks!hopefully it'll be ok by then!we went to a house party at the flashiest house i think in the world the week before last and i decided (after a few sherberts) to do an aerial flip into the pool and landed right on my left ear forcing half the swimming pool into my ear and perforating my ear drum!well thats a first!i had water coming out of my ear for days!Never thought i'd be able to spit water and whistle out of my ear before!haha classic!Anyway,it was actually quite lucky that i was even at the party as the night before i attempted to walk home from the city back to the suburbs!its amazing what a whole day and night on the sauce will do to a man!I must've walked a good 30km that night and by the time i was picked up (very close to the goal i might add!) it was 9 am!i felt like forrest gump,only walking instead of running! "well.....i'll just keeeeep ooooon waaaalkn!" haha three hours sleep n off to the house party for another day of debauchery!And then the next day!The day previous (friday) we'd been out from 12 midday with Robs friends around the city for a xmas party and as most of them are bar/club owners/rich fellas the alcohol was flowing a little too freely!We ate out at a chinese yum char restaurant(spelt wrong probably) and that was a first for ross and i but thoroughly enjoyable cuisine and a great time was had by all and we are now well n truly broken in to the melbourne way of life!what an amazing city!I could live here for certain,the people are amazing,the food,culture,lifestyle and overall feel of the place is of a very laid back,imaginative and accepting nature!The city also has a very continental feel to it!

Well,theres so much more i could say but its taken me two days straight to write this whilst uploading/losing pictures along the way and i think to be honest i've said enough for now.In a few days it be christmas so i wish you all the very happiest festive time and an equallly happy new year! i had tried to post a xmas video message for you all but after spending an hour or two trying to upload it i reluctantly have given up,sorry about that!

( sometimes you get a little bored on the road,and end up taking

pointless but fun photographs such as this one.....doh!: )

anyway, much love as always.

damo xxxx

sunset over the karijini wilderness

one stormy night in broome!

howdy doo!

Hey again brothers n sisters,

Its been a while i know but i do know just how much you all love the extra long emails to read so ive saved it all until now!!not really i'll wrap it all up in a nutshell (as if!;)as im a tad hungover n i've had to strap myself to the chair as not to slide off it due to excessive sweat that seems to be bleeding my poor little withered body dry!worth it though as we painted the local pub red last night and made our mark on this lovely little town where we now reside!there was an open mike night in the local irish pub so ross took his harmonica,me with my djembe drum n the rest is a hazey memory of funky musical delight!playing with an aboriginal band was a great experience as they rocked and ross,as he does did what he does best and sung a few numbers with a little added guitar/harmonica and a good night was had by all!what a warm,vibrant town we now find ourselves in!and being pushed home in a shopping trolley by a random but seriously funny german guy topped the night off!(its been a few years!hey dave!: )oh,then ross being told to leave the backpackers today by the nightwatchman (aka robocop) for dipping in the pool after hours!naughty boy!yes yes,we have arrived!

Ok. not sure where i left off...coral bay maybe?!.....hmmmm...anyway so..ross and i are still on the west coast of australia...still with our faithfull companion,ernie and thankfully still alive and well so its all good!after coral bay we headed north but inland for a bit of a change of scenery to a national park named "karijini" which i must say was spectacular with waterfalls,clear blue rock pools and 100 metre deep gorges that take the breath away!some of the most amazing water i have ever had the pleasure of swimming in and as its all natural rock filtered spring water its great to drink too and if it gets a little cold for you when the sun has passed over the deep gorge you can just stand under the water that cascades out of the rocks appearing from knowwhere that gets heated by the rock as it flows through which is almost like a warm shower which is nice as nice can be i tell thee!man im not explaining this very well but it was cool!: ) basically a back drop of aussie bush,with clear blue sky,deep red rock gorges and ravines with the most unbelievable water!there!i'll try n find some pics to attach!at this point we are still travelling with the cool english couple,before mentioned in the last email!

Seeing my first dingo was great but it didnt hang around to make friends which was a shame but we left a little treat for him anyway!bless him!on packing up camp for the next leg of the journey there was a little shock in store for me as i'd pretty much packed everything in to ernie (chairs,tables,auning etc) already and whilst folding up the last camping chair to pack for some reason i decide to give it a shake and "thud" the biggest,scariest n down right hairiest,not to mention dangerous wolf spider hit the ground and started running around like a loonatic with its four front legs waving in the air and trying literally to jump up into the camper!(ernie:)man it was incensed!then it decided to hide in my shoe which was just great!it took a while to shake the stubborn little critter but eventually we managed to evict him from my shoe and whilst keeping a very close eye on him we managed to pack up and get the hell out of dodge!phew!now,considering we both sleep in ernie and the van is not the biggest accomodation in the world the chances of us having close encounters with the hairy beast were great so lucky for us!: )
Next stop karratha,a small mining town that had been recomended to us for well paid work!half way there we noticed (by pure chance)that one of ernies tyres was a little worse for wear and dangerously close to blowing out so we then stopped overnight in port hedland to get some new tyres then only to find that everywhere was totally booked up for a week so onward once again with a dangerously bulging tyre!all fun and games here!ok so we decide to stick the spare on to get us the remaining 200 or so k's to karratha.sweet!only,not so sweet!about 80k's down the road and booooooooom,screech,my first blowout wooooohooooo yeeehaaaaa the bloody spare had blown out!marvellous!after a little snaking over the road and a very contolled emergency stop : ) we found the entire tread of the tyre had stripped right off and was lying in the middle of the road,but only after taking out the back brake lights along the way!nice!the spare tyre turned out to be worse than the amazingly bulged but still inflated tyre we'd replaced!so,on goes the dodgy tyre once again,and by this time,im thinking of getting a job changing tyres with all the experience i have by this time!gritting our teeth the whole way we made it to our destination of karratha unscathed!

We booked ernie in for 4 new tyres at kmart and ourselves into a campsite and looked for work through an agency and after a week chilling out (i use the term loosely as the weather up here is arrid,dry and bloody hot!and its not even summer yet!) and found work pretty much straight away!my first experience working in this kind of heat (between 33 and 40 degrees!) was a task in itself but i was quite surprised how quickly we got used to it and from jumping into steelie boots,socks,trousers and a shirt from wearing pretty much a single pair of shorts beforehand it took a little getting used to but we acclimatised pretty well!it was ok so long as there was a breeze but if that dropped then man the sweat started to flow bigtime!we were situated right by the sea which was awesome at a gas mining supply base for the offshore rigs in dampier,about 20/30 km from karratha and our job was to wash and regrease the large steel drill casing to send offshore. the money wasn't too bad either ($25 per hour) but considering i was down to a $30 bank balance we had no choice but to work even if it was for $5 per hour!i have to say although at first we were stuck in holiday mode and very reluctant to work im so very glad we did as it was a great experience working here.the guys we worked with were awesome fun (hey murray!looks like rain today!see you on the eastside: )and it was actually a rare feeling when you go to bed of an evening and look forward to going to work in the morning!one of the highlights of my work experience was getting to hand feed a wild kangaroo!well a couple really but they all answered to the same name! (skippy!!: ) thats one thing that i hadn't predicted and they are sweet little things and seem to have a soft spot for a bread roll or two!

Its now coming into cyclone season here so if we are lucky (or unlucky who knows!; )we might just be here to see one you never know,i think it would be an experience hey!the storms have just started to roll in up north and the lightningis a spectacular sight! anyway,our time eventually came to an end in karratha and after some fond farewells (and alot of whiskey) we were once again three (me,ross n ernie) on our merry highway heading north!strange really as every other vehicle was travelling south due to the excessive heat in the north!after an 800km drive we arrived at our next destination which is broome.a beautiful,cool and vibrant little coastal town with a laid back hippy feel and cool people!also 50-60 % humidity!man,now we realise why people are heading south!phew,its hot!and i have to work in it tomorrow!hmmmmm mixing cement hmmmm maybe not!we are staying at a cool backpackers and have met so many great people already!this week i started (after a shameful attempt in bali) to learn to surf and with very positive results im pleased to announce this time!: ) the first day i managed to get up on my board 4 times and the second day i actually managed to stay on my board and rode my first waves which was an absolutely awesome feelin!my crazy french friend saw a shark in the wave as it broke on one occasion (not a big one,but still!) and i can't believe i actually stayed in the water!could i be overcoming my fear of sharks?!i have to say that i enjoyed myself so much out there on my board that i didn't want to get out!sweet! after that i found myself actually wanting to see one!very strange!

One thing i am finding it difficult is having to leave so many great new found friends behind and this is one thing i have to say is a downside to travelling but nevertheless inevitable and something you have to get used to but you end up so close to alot of people its a difficult thing and sad to to move on sometimes.i have made so many great friends over the past few months,everyone has something to share,to teach and to preach and im forever learning more which is awesome!so thankyou y'all!

So,after a weeks work here in broome,depending on the weather,we depart once more on yet more adventures.Dodging kangaroos,emu's and crocodiles we'll drive up through the kimberleys and down through the red centre,past alice springs,adelaide and along the great ocean road to our next destination...melbourne!there we have accomodation with a good friend we met along the way in bali and will work there for 2/3 months and spend our very first christmas in the sun!lets hope the weather is kind for us!the journey all in all will be approximately 5000+km so wish us luck! : )

Apologies once again for the long email but lack of computer access is my measly but feasable and very real excuse!honest!: )
hope you're all happy,healthy and loving life!(and still awake after this email!)

love,love and love
damo xx ; )
p.s. pics are from karijini national park

more australia pics

grease monkeys!


surfs up!


skippy and i!


rossco and i!aka sweat dogs!

australia pics

somewhere somewhere!: )


somewhere nowhere!


somewhere dangerous ; /

pics

one of many beautifully carved statues at the temple we visted (forgotten the name!idiot!)


part of the ancient temple now erroded and at high tide engulfed by the crashing balinean waves


kuta beach,bali

gday!

gday from australia mateys!well,its time for yet another re-cap on events!
well, i must say that the bali experience was indeed a scream!tried surfing just after my last email and i was shocking to say the least!hehe never mind,i found out afterward that a small board and small waves don't go to well together (they could've told me that before hand! : ) and i was in the water for all of ten minutes and upon wiping out (tumbling like a pair of pants in a washing machine) i surfaced to find.........nothing!my board was floating off about twenty metres away!only ten minutes into it and i had already snapped the safety cord that was attached to my leg! nice!well that was the end of my first day surfing as i had then to walk all the way back to the hire shop(getting my javanese friend along the way to fix the broken cord as i would've been charged for it even though it had been cut before hand!) and then into my pool for a swim instead!oh well,maybe i'll learn in australia who knows!might just stick to snow boarding hey!
anyway,on the whole,my experience in bali was a beautiful one surrounded with many beautiful people with great hearts and minds and i leave behind great new found friends and whom i like to call family!along with visiting numerous amazing landscapes and culturous areas such as temples, tiered rice paddys,active volcanoes,hot springs and some of the most intimately stunning beaches in the world i leave with a great smile and a warm heart for the land i leave behind and even warmer for the people who have taught me a great deal! indonesia.......i will return!!

you'll have to excuse me as i have so many stories and so much to write but little time and money so those who are interested can meet me upon my return for a night/week of photos,ranting and raving!

next stop perth,australia!
which is where i now sit emailing you!we have been here about four days so far but got here with big plans to find work and get on a bit of a money saving mission and then once the bank balance was on a high we would then plan our next move!
but............we flew from bali about 12.15am to darwin,northern territory,australia,then onto alice springs,central australia and then finally onto perth,south western australia and i dont have a clue why the tour operators sent us all that way because its only about 3-4 hours from bali to perth!! thanks sta travel!anyway so..11 hours later we arrive in perth,totally wired from jet lag but ready to face the westernised civilisation with a spring in our steps!(this i think was due to the cheap nike air max i had bought in bali but we were bouncing nonetheless!: ) on arrival to our very first backpackers hostel "billabong" we were handed our keys and pretty much ran to our room for shelter!man,don't get me wrong,it's all good but when you go from a little thatched wooden hut on the beach wearing nothin but an old rotten pair of shorts to being fully clothed with socks,shoes n a wooly hat its a bit of a shock!(i know!!!shoes n socks!whats that all about!hehe also the weather was bloody freezing(cracked lips,shivers and everything!:) and just the whole thing in general must have given me what i believe to be the biggest culture shock i've ever experience thus far!now ,i've been to some of the most far out cities in the world ie;phnom penh and bangkok to name a couple of the craziest and i fly to a clean,tidy and very nice cosmopolitan city and i'm diving for cover!whats thats all about!give me sunshine a pair of shorts and no bloody shoes any day!hehe
well,i am now in a place called carnarvon upon the mid to north west coast of australia and have picked the email up where i left off! so excuse my email for being a little random in both order and content as so much has happened and i have both little time and space to explain all!
ok,brief damo brief....... ok basically the culture shock bit us both on the arse rather badly and i ended up sitting in the city centre with my head in my hands for many many different reasons emalgamated into one big mess in my mind!we had to get out of metropolis!before this we met up with a good friend from back home whom many of you back home will know as the infamous nickos "how you doin" kelly (gday bro!well done on getting the job and the other thing!;)and had a great night out on the town and he also showed us around the place which was cool and great to see a friendly face i can tell ya!: )anyway,the hostel was great but somehow felt like living in the ymca(you'll know what i mean if you've done this!) anyway we were spending way too much money staying in the hostel and ended up scanning the notice board for jobs and such things!
not really,although we did apply for a job on the railway site painting the new railway sleepers as it was fantastic money but they needed people more permanent!shame: ) it was actually the camper vans for sale that caught our eyes and one inparticular!ok im ranting again..sorry....
basically we put our money together and bought him!his name is ernie and already we have an incredible bond between us!hehe he is just a year older than ross and i so we get on well and love the same music,places etc so we all get on great!: ) he is a nissan e20 2litre beast and is a thirsty boy so its costing us a fair bit of cash for fuel etc but he's worth it!the mans got character!the starter motor gives us a little trouble from time to time but so long as we ask ernie nicely and give him a little stroke he starts first time after!(ive included a couple of pics and the document that first caught our eye on the notice board so no need to explain too much about him!)hahaaaaa its like being in a herbie movie with a twist!hehe anyway so ,we set off up the west coast heading north with a full tank of fuel,and a full gerry can for good measure,a map or two and the whole wide vast limitless expanse to explore with a loose plan to head to the northern territory (darwin,kakadu etc) then south,down the centre of oz fighting fierce 50 degree heat via uluru(ayres rock)and the now famous wolfe creek! to adelaide.then onto melbourne to stay with a great new friend that we met in bali to stay with him for a while and then hopefully off up the east coast!now so far weve clocked around about 1000km so far already and its at least another 3000+km to darwin so that gives you some sort of idea of the mission that we have undertaken!and thats sticking to the main highways the whole way!(which we're not!)mainly due to seeing sights and sometimes due to a few wrong turns here n there : ) all part of it hey!dodging wild kangaroos,ferrol goats,emu's and anteaters etc bounding across the road takes concentration but im glad to say that we haven't yet had any such collision which would surely immobilise dear old ernie with the exception of one unlucky bat we've so far not contributed to the endless array of road kill on the roadside thus far!
the people here are very laid back and that suits me just perfect!very friendly and always glad to help you out of a fix and that makes me feel a great sense of calm out here in the wilderness and the fact that no matter who it is or what they are driving every motor that passes you on the highway will give you a wave of some kind which is awesome!from a raised finger of aknowledgement to a full on frantic wave all are welcomed with a big wave and a bigger smile!here and now it is very very hot but still quite dry heat and the further north we travel the more tropical and humid it will become!i'm already back to my good ol' pair of shorts and bare feet and im loving it!although i don my new runners for a jog in the evening around sunset! right now we are travelling with a nice couple from england who have a vw camper so weve been travelling convoy for the last few days so if you see a yellow bus in the pics then thats ernies new lady friend!bert!now you must know bert and ernie from sesame st?well there you go!hehe
oh and while i remember,i have a new mobile number so once again feel free to send me a message here and there should you want to contact me for any reason be it good,bad or ugly!: )hopefully good hey!
it be +61 (0) 410362392
many camp sites here are free which is cool and many of them are slap bang on the coast which is even better!a few nights ago we made camp on a clifftop site with the most incredible views but the pics of that are still in the camera and i'll post you them in due course!meanwhile ate long last i've found a computer which allows me to send many pics so prepare for alot mare after this email!
ok,i'll spare you any more dribble,it's just that email cafes here on the west are few and far between so i have to write way too much to keep updated so for this once again i apologise!
much love to one and all please be safe and very very happy!
love damo x ; )

more bali pics

billions of shells compacted over thousands of years left by the falling sea level and now quarried and cut into bricks to aid the local builders


morning!!! as good a place as any for a place to lay our heads for the night!


more pinnacles


somewhere in the middle of nowhere!lovely beach ; )

bali pics

beach jamming!and apparently as a friend just emailed,the owner of the bar is wondering where we are now as he made a lot more profit while we were there!haha brilliant!


our awesome bali brew (well some of us!) rocking up to the aptly named beach "dreamland"


my friend ed the duck!: )at the temple,just a nice pic so there you go!

hey again!

hello again my little lovelies!
i had to get to a computer and write again as so much is going on that i want to share that if i don't write it now it'll end up like last time and me forgetting everything so heres a little re-cap!please don't be angry if you have sent mail and i haven't replied as it's very expensive here for internet and the computers here run on thin air and are not very fast so i have to write this pretty quick!now i left you in kuala lumpor in malaysia and headed to the airport with my trusty companion rossco in a very smooth,efficent and economical natural gas powered taxi,which was cool and a first for me i must say and an experience in itself!we rocked up to the airport terminal jumped out with less time than we thought to spare to check in and with the taxi driver not having enough change,it all began here!with rossco having to run around the terminal lookin for change to pay the driver this is where it all went a bit downhill! : /
so,we payed the taxi and started to look for the required airline desk but upon asking people still having no luck!(this is the funny part!bit gross but funny and all part of the story so i have to share it!) on pushing the trolley piled with our stuff yours truly had a sudden strong urge to pass wind!upon doing so (you guessed it!)whoops the unthinkable happened,right there in the middle of a strange airport terminal and with little time to spare i immediately gave ross the look of horror and say sternly "rossco,can you see a toilet dude?"repeated about 5 times in 3 seconds!instantly he knew what had happened and luckily enough we found one in quick time,although walkng like a penguin was a bit embarassing so i faked a limp to cover it up,although the security looked at me a bit strange!hehe now i'd thought id gotten away scott free after the mass of different curries i'd eaten in the deli the night before!not the case it seemed!man,the luckiest thing was,for some unbeknown reason i'd decided,for the first time in what must be at least four months to wear underwear and that is the only thing that trluy saved this from being a truly world class nightmare!
anyway,haha all sorted,shorts in tact we journey on and find ourselves to be in the wrong bloody terminal and with only 30 minutes until the boarding gate closes and the next terminal being 2o minutes away panic stations kicked in!ok now,into the lift onto the ground floor of the airport to look for a bus to the terminal,(stand 49)where do we arrive at?stand no 1!!we couldn't even see stand 49 it was so far away and the time was ticking on!seeing a random guy in a people carrier we ask him for help and on saying that he said 40 ringit!on saying that,i replied 30 ringit!(weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll theres always time to haggle even when you have a plane to catch and on agreeing we set off!also catching a glimpse of the f1 race circuit on the way!(and we only missed the world superbikes by a couple of weeks too!damn!)ok,now we rock up to the terminal with minutes to spare and the desk we want the furthest from us!running through the airport backpacks and guitars etc!a little confused on the lay out i literally ran straight through x-ray security section and stood at the check in desk!phew!unbeknown to me ross had stopped to put his bag through the machine and then thought sod it and followed me!i didn't see them guv!honest!now how can you miss two shabby looking travellin bums with two massive bags,two guitars and a didgeridoo running right past you i wonder?who knows but we weren't pulled up for it luckily and just made it to check in so all good here then!upon checking in we were told(forgetting its a low cost airline and the maximum baggage allowance is less!)that we had to pay excess!man this just gets worse!extremely luckily i had some ringit left and payed it off!
ok now through to departures and everything scanned(this time!)hoping theres nothing sharp or owt in our luggage the security then decide to take my didgeridoo and tell me something bad about not taking it on the plane!now,by this time,sweat dripping fromn every pore i just tell them to keep the bloody thing(not in so many words as you know im not like that : ) and be done with it,but eventually all was delt with,we finally ate some breakfast and got on the flight!pheeeeeeeeeeeew!thank god for that!about a 3-4 hr flight to bali and on the way as the sun was setting over the horizon of clouds we saw the most magnificent view!there were what seemed to be mountain tops poking up through the clouds in the distance and on mulling this over i thought that it must be the volcanoes in java which for me was the only explanation and on asking the captain he then came on the tannoy and clarified our thoughts to be true and a few minutes after we actually saw an active volcanoe with smoke drifting hundreds of miles!now with this skyscape over the clouds at sunset it was a truly awesome spectacle i can tell thee!what a cool laid back airline too!it was more like a school bus with everyone walikn around and having a laugh!even on descent people were still walking around and the hostesses were so friendly and happy!why can't all flights be like that!?
anyway,on arriving to bali i felt an instant warming to the people who were warm and inviting and the place had great energy to it!we went straight to the closest and busiest resort of kuta,but a little up the road at legian and got ourselves a room for 10us dollars a night with swimming pool etc.now we'd been told about this place(being like the aussie ibiza n all) and it all true infact i thought id got on the wrong plane n ended up in spain!so the life we left behind was a far cry from this place so we decided to book a 8 hour trip to the gilli islands in lombok to chill out and get back to the life of a little hut on the beach and cheapness!after walking around shaking our heads for a couple of hours feeling sorry for ourselves : ) we headed back to the hotel but a short distance away we encountered a little drum shop with some local guys sitting outside offering for us to join them.now this can be a little intimidating at times but in these situations you have to go with your instinct and intuition and they seemed a good bunch(pretty much like everyone here to be honest!so we joined them and they fed us full of the local moonshine called arak (i think but dont quote me on that!)now these guys were sooooo genuine (again,like everone here it seems!)we had a great time with them and ended up spending time with them every day since!i have bought myself a large african djembe drum (nan,its in the post,sorry,had to send it home as its too big to carry so it'll be with you in 2 months!sorry!love ya : )
the waves here are the biggest ive seen and the other day i decided to test the power of them,dodging surfers here and there.they must have been a good 10feet these waves and when they break,they break hard!great fun!i wanted to test the power of the tube crashing and after getting used to them and diving under and out a few times i let one break right over me and for a split second it was an amazing moment being in the tube of a massive 10ft wave.
and then it broke..............bang!it tossed me around like a ragdoll and i felt the immense power that they have and have great respect for surfers that catch even bigger waves!needless to say i didnt need to do that again as once was enough!but very fun!
ok so we booked tickets to the gilli islands,and were supposed to be picked up from our hotel at
6am the next morning and looked forward to it but somebody mentioned about hotels in lombok not being safe and many rooms being robbed!ok we thought,the islands are ok!then a few more people mentioned about lombok,even one of these local guys if from there and doesnt go there!ok we thought.we go back to the hotel to get some sleep before we head to the islands and on remembering to pay our bill,the guy behind the desk says! "aaah,you go to gilli!?be careful,bungalow not safe!" now,this sort of thing usually doesnt worry us but we now start getting paranoid and (before we booked the tickets we had nothing to stay for,by this time though we now have many great local friends,one drum teacher teaching me javanese,balinese and african drum rythums good place for me to learn to surf and lots of other great reasons,and the fact that you cant surf on the islands!) after all,why go to a place that you been warned about thefts when you wont want to leave the hut!we'd have just been paranoid the whole time!plus the possibilty of getting your drink spiked with mushrooms also!which i must say,wouldn't be all that much of a bad thing! : ) anyway so in the end ross just flipped a coin and we went with that!luckily it was heads and hence we are still here!
im being taught some drum rythums and have a contact now to ship drums by the container load back to england so if anyone wants on let me know!at first this place was really expensive with eating in restaurants etc but after learning a minute segment of the language to order food etc i can now eat fish n rice etc(my favourite called nasi boukous which is yellow rice with chilli and fish wrapped in banana leaf!mmmmm)and only 3000 rupees(about 17p!excellent so all in all im now happy here as we are being pro-active and productive and its all good!weve even been offered the chance to fly to java to stay with friends families etc which is great!above all in bali for me the people are some of the most genuine,trusting,happy and hospitable that ive ever ever met and for now im very happy and feel that i have just made fiendships that will last forever!
today im going to hire a board and teach myself to surf!10ft waves here i come wooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhooooooooooooooooo
you all take care and thanks for reading thus far if you have!: )
much love to you all!
dimson xx : )

New home

all i can send im afraid as i must offski the the airport!better than nothing and if i can send more i will!
take care
damo xx


frisbee action,had rin beach


hard at work with my tool kit at the ready!i made us both a bracelet each with ebony wood jade stone and bone but its not looking like you'll get to see them as the computer is too slow!oh well :)


guitar action in my little house,chaloklum


awesome view of the next couple of bays round from had rin...had juan and had thien


a lone jungle trek i made attempting to get to the next bay which you can see!a wrong turn led me to this amazing viewpoint on which i perched my little behind and had a little dooby...needless to say,i didn't make it any further!lucky that i brought my poncho!: )