byron bay

we got to byron bay ok.. this place is just as good as when i left it last. its a bustling beach town with hippie/hipster attitude. you can get the cool jewelry, eat at swank cafes, and play guitar with the hippies on the street. its a unique place, no doubt.

we have been beaching it for the majority of the time. managed to sleep outside last night as we dont have a hostel. that actually proved to be very relaxing and got a great sleep.

bryan and i are thinking about buying a real cheap car and just driving for the rest of our stay here. we saw one for sale the other day for $400. if we can sleep in the thing and drive at our own pace we are happy. right now with it being tourist season we are getting nailed with surcharges to book stuff and we couldnt be bothered with all that.

so, more details on the car endeavor to come. im pretty excited though. if we get one, the plan would be to make it up to the reef, then over through the outback to ayers rock and then down to south australia, some melbourne action and back in through sydney. this would probably take 3 weeks.

hmmmmm...

other than that, nothing huge planned for NYE tonight. drinking and beaching, sleeping outside-- thats all in the cards it seems.

next stop is without a doubt, with or without a car, brisbane. i didnt spend much time their last time around so i look forward to that.

check out bryan's blog as well.. i think he has posted on it. bryansack.blogspot.com

russell crowe out.

26:48:48

it was a long day or so of flying but we are finally here-- 26 hours, 48 minutes and 48 seconds from taking off in chicago. dont worry i timed it.

in full aussie fashion, they showed cinderella man on one of the flights over. the film ofcourse stars (the man) russell mf'ing crowe. that movie only affirmed the fact that crowe is a force to be reckoned with.

the flight from chicago to san fran was severely delayed and we damn near missed our flight out to sydney, but they kindly held the plane for us. so that was a good start.

the dinner was salty, i guess thats the best word to describe-- but i was real happy just to have something hot. the bagel diet from earlier in the day just didnt quite cut it. we had the exit row seat which paid dividends on the long haul of 14.5 hours to sydney.

we finally landed and damo was there to pick us up along with a friend of his-- great to see him.

so get this. we went straight to my old house in sydney.. oh the glory days. its still there thank god. i coudlnt tell if the neighbors were or not. from there, i couldnt help but stop by the palace (favorite bar in the entire world at this point) and holy crap that place got a facelift. new paint job (from yellow to white) and a different floor plan. they took the pool tables out of the ground floor area where we used to get coopers. oh well, im over it.

shortly following that, the walk to coogee beach (about 100 feet away frlom the palace) brought back memories.. everything was still in the same place. it felt just like it did two years ago when i would be running to the bus stop, but would always run by the beach for a "casual glance." oh, good times. the beach was bustling.

we stopped by coogee yeeros for wedges and sweet chili. i went to the bottle shop for a toohey's old (beer) and that about did it for me. sitting on the beach was fantastic.

at this point, it is looking like we are going to hit the road tomorrow and head up the coast to byron bay for new years. should be nice.. we have no accomodation whatsoever, so that will certainly present a fun time. updates sure to come.

ready to rock and roll

trip starts in a few days... kind of weird. as stupid as it sounds, i dont think the whole excitement has kicked in yet. i think once i get there i will be good to go. it seems like right now there is just too much crap to run around and do before leaving. tentative plan is:

27 december: fly to sydney
january: australia
february to mid march: southeast asia (thailand, cambodia, vietnam, laos)
march: china
april to early may: all across russia and some of eastern europe (hungary, croatia, turkey)
rest of may and june: africa (kenya, tanzania, zimbabwe, south africa)
21 june: home

now, lets see how much that changes. any input on happenings in any of those general areas, give me a shout.

my packing list contains of about 4 t shirts, 3 long sleeve shirts, a pair of jeans and khakis, 2 pairs of shorts, sandals, sneakers, a beanie, some underwear, 2 pairs of socks and a fleece jacket.

now, i have some other things in the way of an ipod, camera, toiletries, etc-- but you get the point.

bryan and i fly out on united from detroit on tuesday, 27 december. theres a whole hodge-podge of connections, but we get to sydney on the 29, at which point a few of my friends from prior time spent in australia are picking us up at the airport.

at this point, im thinking i can have a cold beer consumed by 9 am sitting on coogee beach. i wanna say that right around that time the whole "being on vacation for 6 months" mentality will kick in.