Getting on it until I vomit, then when I vomit, I'm going to get back on it.

I really like hip-hop music. Eminem, Dre and Nas are the Rembrandts and Da Vinci's of their generation, the music they make their masterpieces. Phil (I'll talk more about Phil in a bit) would probably disagree with that sentiment after the two weeks he was in Sydney. There is a lot of hip hop music on the woodduck (really cool hostel in Sydney) playlist. So by the end of Phil's stay he had listened to the entire back catalogue of every rap song ever recorded. Twice.

Phil is Greg's mate from back in Manchester. He is mental. In a good way. Most of what he done I can't actually write in this blog, his favourite sayings were 'You're the salt of the earth you are' and 'you're my f***ing hero you are'. They lost all meaning he said them that much. He spent his last night in Sydney burning holes in the rooftop with a can of aerosol and lighter. The time he was here I must have drank my own body weight in goon and beer. To quote a film 'I feel like the ghost of a complete stranger'.

I'm back in Cairns now, I flew up with Greg a couple of days ago. And tonight I'm probably going to get on it until I vomit and when I vomit I'm going to get back on it. Being back in the tropics means it's the return of Bug Wars. The ceasefire is over. So far the bugs seem to be winning after being covered in bites as soon as we stepped foot off the plane. And a bed bug was found in Karen's bed. Full of blood. Probably hers. The hostel we're staying at is called Asylum. At least I think it's a hostel and not an *actual* asylum. We're all referred to as inmates. (Did you see what they did there?)

Also I've got into this farmville thing on facebook, my brother posted the best comment ever 'so, one day you go to the other side of the world to witness the wonders; the next you've got a farm on facebook... '

Anyways got to go I need to stock up on insect repellant and bite cream. War is hell.

Going back to the dark side

Johnny Rotten once asked the question "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" I asked myself the same question a week ago. The only difference was Johnny Rotten was playing a concert in America and I was in a tomato field in Bowen. And he was the lead singer of The Sex Pistols and I'm a backpacker. 

After arriving in Cairns we all tried to find jobs with varying degrees of success (Karen found a job eventually, me and Jon didn't). So myself and Jon travelled to Bowen on the promise of fruit picking work which we were told paid quite well. It didn't. We were also told we would have 2-3 weeks work which would then lead onto more work. 2-3 weeks work turned into 2-3 days work, that then turned into one days work. So after working a 12 hour day picking tomatoes we decided to hot foot it to Brisbane. Also, Bowen is famous for being  the place where they filmed 'Australia' (the film with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in). Oh yeah, Bowen also does an awesome lamb & gravy roll and chips.

Brisbane is quite a nice city to look at but with not an awful lot to do I decided to go back to Sydney. Staying true to form I decided to quit my job before I even had a first day. I doubt I'll do a full weeks work all the time I'm in Australia. Or ever again. To quote mate Greg said "you've come back to the dark side", and it feels like it. I've done nothing but drink for the last three days and jesus, I feel rough. And, yes, I am going back out tonight (teapot shots and World Bar, awesome). But as fun as Sydney is, I'm flying back upto Cairns next Wednesday. Yes, I know, I might as well have stayed in Cairns, but where's the fun in that?

So I've travelled up the East Coast in a campervan, down it in a Greyhound bus and up it again in a plane. Pretty much all the travel styles covered. (I ain't bloody walking it). And I've enjoyed every minute of it. Well, apart from the tomatoes.

Anyway, I must go, I hear the goon and BBQ calling...