We arrived at Sydney airport and I was greeted with a hug by Nathan (there may have been a butt-grab also). He was good enough to come to the airport and escort us into town which was super mean. The room in the Novotel overlooked Darling Harbour and was simply superb. That first night sent us heading to the casino to spend up some cash. I had purchased a few bottles of booze going through duty free so that eased the night into proceedings. Before we went to the casino however, we took a short stroll around Darling Harbour itself and found ourselves in a bar buying cheap $10 cocktails. The toffee apple was the best by far.
Nathan won up large at the casino on that first night and we celebrated with more drinks. We left the night a few dollars up over when we started.
The next day we drove out to Bondi and checked out the ..... surf. There was a surfing comp on at the time and Kelly Slater was there. Didnt watch him surf as we had more pressing matters at hand. We drove back the long way (around the coast) to get into Sydney central again. From there we took a water taxi from Darling Harbour to the Opera House and spent our time strolling the harbour. We got back to the hotel just as it was about to piss down and set into some more drinks. Like idiots we decided to head back to the casino and things went slightly pear shaped so we decided to get the hell outta there before we lost heaps. The next day was spent just chilling out. Went to the nautical museum to go through the submarine and destroyer located in Darling Harbour (and now I have just realsied that I still owe Nath $20 for the entrance fee - shit, sorry man. Will sort it out somehow in the future)
We flew into Melbourne in the afternoon and had dinner at a funky restaurant called Groove Train. The next few days were spent relaxing in Apollo Bay and attacking internet sites looking for UK work. We drove to Melbourne again for the weekend and played some serious Wii at Renee's bro's (Luke) place (Wii Resort = Gold). Luke and I played a round of golf the next day which went pretty dismally I must say. We then drowned our sorrows with beers and more Wii. That night Renee was catching up with all her girl mates and I was dragged into it. I was the only guy amongst 5 girls. Who knew that much chocolate could be consumed in one night.
Met up with Renee's Dad for the first time the next day and we all went to the Bavarian Beer Gardens before finishing off the night with dinner in Fed Square. The beer gardens were a huge open ground with heaps of tables and live bands (like a mini Blues, Brews and BBQ's - so Im told).
A few days later we jumped on a plane and headed to Malaysia. City = Kuala Lumpur. First time for me in this city so it was fairly exciting. Due to the relative youth of the city, it was lacking in historical structures that could knock your socks off. The Petronas Towers were nice though and we went up and walked along the central connection bridge. Shops in Malaysia are all located in malls. Try to find a shop in the street and you cant, then you see a huge building and that is where they all are. I figure it is to provide a cooler air conditioned space to do the shopping in because the temperature was around the 37 degree mark with about 1000% humidity. The second day we did a few tours, one through the city to see all the landmarks and the other at night to a dinner and a show finished off with the Chinese markets. The dinner was buffet style and awesome and the dancing sucked. The chinese markets were just like any other asian country - cheap ripoffs of clothes and shoes etc. I brought a polo shirt and discovered that Renee and I had only a few bucks to get us through the next day.
So that next day we went to the largest mall in Malaysia, and this thing was huge - all 13 storeys of it. Yes, you read right - 13 storeys!!! We went straight for the indoor themepark complete with rollercoaster that puts Rainbows End to shame. After nearly throwing up on some ride we decided to go for a quick game of bowling. We were on lane 29 of about 80.
That night we shared a cup of 2 min noodles as that was all we could afford.
The flight to London was fine, and I met up with my mate Kevin who has put us up in a room above his pub and he even cooked us a roast dinner last night. Solid stuff. So, right now, I am about to head into the city and start sorting my life out. I wont be updating this blog as much as I used to but stay tuned as I may make updates around every 3 weeks or so.
