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
Friday, 15 September 2006
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 ; )
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!
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