Life Without Toast - Sibling Rivalry

What is with the bloodywell mobile phone signal on this side of the country, I am still on "the mainland" and yet I have no bars. It's official West Is Best, I even had signal on Rottnest Island but not in Mission Beach, I mean I know it's in the sticks as far as the East Coast goes but seriously, that's just taking the piss. Also I am going to be on Islands till next feckin Tuesday (also on a boat sailing about the Whitsundays and hopefully doing another scuba duba dive) so I doubt that I will have any signal then. It's just annoying, I am travelling alone, sometimes you want to touch base with the outside world. Fook SAKE!!

Posted by Babs at 12AM | 0 comments

Oops, I kinda forgot about this, so it's gona be long or compacted! (heehee who am I kidding!)

Perth was amazing, it is my favourite place in the world now, I officially heart W.A. We went to Rottnest Island, or Rotto, it was 30 degrees of brilliant sunshine, we cycled 28.5 kms in about an hour and a half, we renamed a beach "Wasp Creek" - there were lots of wasps, I hate them, I ran about like a spa trying to avoid them, it was funny! We looked like dorks on our shite bikes and helmets - mushroom heads on tour to the max! We slept very well that night. I went to Kings Park and the Botanical Gardens, it was beautiful, there was a wedding there which I thought was pretty cool - it wasn't me getting wed don't worry!! Botanical Gardens were pretty cool as well! We went to an Irish Bar, drank pints and had fish n chips! Then I went to Whiteman Park (in a Ute!!!) and saw loads of animals and got to feed kangaroos and baba koalas and it was sweet, then had some fish n chips while watching the sun go down over the harbour in Freo! Bliss! We did laundry, I bought lots of shorts on sale in City Beach, my new fave shop, we went to Cottesloe Beach - where Heath Ledgers ashes are, I swam in the ocean which was brillo pads, then I got bitten 58 times by fucking sand flies, ow! Itch Fest 3000. We went to Scarborough Beach, also groovatron! I went to a Celtic V Rangers match, that was scary! Went to Penguin Island, got attacked by the killer seagulls, the fucking chumps had laid their eggs all where we were walking, on the walkways, assholes swooping down at us, I panicked big time, Marian said it was the most girly she had ever seen me, at least I had an excuse, picture the film The Birds, only about 10 times worse and in real life. eek! On my last day we chilled out on Bathers Beach, packed my stuff, ate all of my remaining food and went fishing down at the harbour, A US Naval Ship thang - I think maybe an Aircraft Carrier as there were planes etc all over it and what looked like a runway at the end?? - was docked in the harbour, giant sailors, I think they were all on steroids, they told us there was a McD's on board, healthy eh? I got really sad when I got to the airport. Perth was the first place that I felt the feeling of "home" since I left. Sob!

 

Got to Melbourne for my four hour visit, killed myself getting from the bis station to the apartment to transfer stuff. My mate drove me back to the airport literally 4 hours later (also in a Ute - coolio!) flew to Alice Springs, it was hot and a desert!

The next day I went on my tour to Kings Canyon, The Olgas and Uluru, it was cool and also VERY hot, sweaty betty, yum tastic. Apparently my outfit made me look like Teri Irwin, I don't know if that was a compliment or not. I met a Royal Flying Doctor on the tour - really!!! He said he had an Aboriginal Ointment for my Sand Fly bites, I would have rubbed shite on my skin at that stage, so the next day I met him at the supermarket and when I put it on my skin it was instant relief, the bites are now gone, happy days! The day tour was really cool and I am really glad that I saw everything. It was the longest most boring bus journey I have ever been on though, 5 hours of nothing but desert! Wild huh?

Then I flew back to Melbourne, where it was really cold, brrrrrrr! Did all my washing which was super exciting and hung out with my mates that live there, got some sushi, got some Boost Juice (your 5 a day in a cup - or something like that!) relaxed and walked about wearing socks for the first time in a long time - I don't really wear socks at home even in the winter, I dunno I just hate them, and boots, I think it's that my feet feel trapped or something! Also I wore a scarf, it was weird. Did some other inane stuff liek upload photos and that sort of jazz.

I flew to Cairns last Thursday, I really liked it, it was nice and warm and I met some really nice people. my hostel was ok, it had a pool and was clean and quiet enough, I like my sleep, quiet is great! I went to Peter Pans travel agents the next day and booked my way down the East Coast which was a good thang, my travel agent gave me a load of discounts and pretended that I had VIP and YHA cards which was cool, go on the Jordan, or Jordy as I have renamed him, then Carolien that I was hanging about with told me that he had been looking down my top, if my non cleavage got me a discount I am very proud of my 34B's, yahooo!! Saturday I went to the Rainforest and swam in rock pools and volcanic lakes, saw and took pics of some cool things, giant spiders etc. My fear of open water is getting better and better, I am still afraid to jump in though, I don't know if I will ever get over that! We had a yum lunch in this little tea rooms, proper home made stuff Mammy style, Mango sponge, it was like my little Mama's apple sponge only with mangoes, both equally delish! On Sunday I did my Great Barrier Reef deep sea dive which was the most amazing thing I have ever done and seen, it was like being in a dream. I got to do my supervised dive with just me and my instructor cause one of the 5 people dropped out at the last minute and then the other three couldn't equalise their ears - when you hold your nose and blow - it's too dangerous to go any deeper when you can't do that so it was just me and him, yay! He said I was really good and calm for a first time diver, most people run out of air from breathing too fast after 15 or 20 minutes, I lasted 35, most PADI qualified divers only last 40 minutes, so I was well chuffed to hear that. I saw loads of cool stuff, giant sea turtles, giant clams, the most amazing coral and colourful fish and loads of clown fish (Nemos). I heart The Great Barrier Reef yeeehaw!

Yesterday I was supposed to do a skydive on Mission Beach, but the weather was shit so I didn't get to do it, Queensland is a bitch, the hostel I am staying in here is cool, only at Mission Beach there is no phone signal, booooo!! Today I did White Water Rafting on the Tully River, it was cool and scary and I was too scared to jump off a big rock into the water and everyone else did it, I started to hyperventilate and was crying but most people were really cool with it and all "well done for even climbing up there" cause they knew that I was plopping it even thinking about it, but then one asshole guy started on me telling me I was a wuss. I really hate that. Everyone told him he was an asshole. I started to smile again after that! My boat was the only one where no one fell out by accident (only when we wanted to get thrown out) my instructor Zoe was really cool and all in all it was a great day, I am wrecked now though and have to get up super early to get a Greyhound to Townsville to go to Magnetic Island, which should be cool enough, lets just hope I wake up, my whole body hurts!

Oh and I almost forgot, my most amazing Ozzie Feat has been not caving in to the goon and 2 minute noodle diet, yahoo! I am drinking moderatly and only real wine or beer and I wouldn't eat a two minute noodle in a fit, say no to beige foods - unless of course it's bread. Mmm lovely bread!

xx

Posted by Babs at 8AM | 2 comments

Posted by Babs at 5AM | 8 comments

(with apologies to Adrian)

I took a few "action" photos of George and just had to set them to music. I think I picked the right track. I like 8-second videos.

Posted by Matt at 6PM | 4 comments

Posted by Matt at 9AM | 2 comments

...is mad out of it on the narcotics.

Posted by Matt at 8PM | 3 comments

I have a few routes I can take to work. The most boring, and probably slowest one is from Shankill to Dun Laoghaire through Ballybrack. There’s traffic lights and boring bits of really straight roads with 50km/h speed limits. I almost never take that route.

The other one, which is quite nice, is straight over Killiney Hill on the Killiney Hill road and Dalkey Avenue, through Dalkey and onto Ulverton Road. I take that one mostly. It’s not a bad drive, and probably the quickest route. But there’s some horrible speed bumps. And there’s been road works on it for the past two weeks.

The best route, which is FUCKING AWESOME, is this one (you may have to scroll a bit):

I’ve driven this one a few times in the past week. It has magnificent views, hairpins, switchbacks, narrow, twisty bits with walls on both sides, blind corners nice straights, and the road surface is almost entirely perfect (which is rare for Ireland).

Continue reading "It's Like It Was A Rendez-Vous (only not)" »

Posted by Matt at 8PM | 4 comments

Walked to Skybus terminal in Melbourne during the busy time ie: lots of drunken people walking into me and my belongings, got there in the nick of time, listened to Nick Cave (not just cause he's Australian) on the way to the airport. Tiger Airways terminal looks like a truck container, scary, was overweight for my baggage allowance due to toiletries, note: don't buy supersized shampoo and conditioner, it may cost you $33 to bring them to Perth, I put stuff into my hand baggage bag, thank fook! Only 800g over now no moolah for the money grabbing bastards!
Got on plane after sitting with a load of total skangers in the terminal / back of the truck container, sitting in the very front seat 1B, yahoo, leg room ahoy, not that I needed it what with me having rather short legs but anyway it was cool.
Put on iPod random shuffle, some loser sits beside me and starts telling me how he paid $50 extra to get the emergency exit seat, I laughed and told him they just offered it to me, he is not impressed, this is the beginning of an eventful plane journey. He keeps talking to me even though I am asleep, the dude on my left is laughing, I think / hope out of pity. Then there is a storm, turbulence ahoy, I think I am going to die at least 10 times, then I see the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in real life, lightening inside a massive black cloud right beside the plane and I am not scared, it's amazing, an explosion every ten seconds inside a cloud, it was like something out of a film, something man made but it was totally natural. I loved it!!
Then the dude on my left starts talking to me, thank fook I say this will make the loser leave me alone, but oh no that doesn't happen, the loser keeps talking and interrupting the conversation, I want to kill him, oh he ate a family sized packet of Doritos and also a family sized packet of home brand jelly babies and drank 2L of water and never went to the toilet within the entire journey, weird I think. The loser dude starts going on about how unsafe flying is, loser!! Then he starts talking to me like I have never traveled anywhere in my life, this is coming from him who has never been anywhere in Australia apart from Melbourne and Perth, someone who has no passport, I want to to the Oz thing and tell him to "get fucked" but I don't, he is giant and also quite scary. Then we get off the plane.

I walk to the baggage carousel, the loser follows me and says he will bring me for Chinese food, ew!! Help me I think, then the dude from the left of me on the plane saves my life (I think) yahooooo!! The loser fecks off.

I meet my friend in Perth Central Train Station, we are accosted by some drunk Aboriginal men,  I am shocked, I haven't experienced fear like this in my life, there was about 50 of them and about 20 cops, and me and my friend who are both fairly small with giant bags, help! We are called white cunts, lovely!

Eventually we get into the train station and on our way to Freemantle, 40 mins on a train, I am sick of transport at this stage. I eat some Vienna roll and drink copious amounts of tea and water, flying makes me super thirsty!! Sleepytime!

It's Saturday and we loll about the hostel for the day, out in the back in the sun, everyone is wearing jeans and hoodys, I am in shorts and tshirts, I don't think I am used to the weather yet, though people who know me will know I don't wear much even in an Irish winter so night time in Perth is like the tropics for me! We get ready to go out, I am the first one ready as usual, even before the boys, I don't understand what takes people so long when they get ready for a night out, have shower, get dressed, brush hair, make up optional, ready no? Obviously not, it was all plucking eyebrows and all sorts. Hilarious!!

Three of us are Irish, two Scottish and 2 English, a nice mix, we wait in the train station for 40 mins, the boys are chucking "Goon" down their necks like there's no tomorrow, apparently this stuff makes your gums bleed, makes you vom blood and gives you the trots, not really my cup o cha but each to themselves!!  We go to an Irish bar, pints are only $5.50 yahooo (In Melbourne it was up to $10 for a drink) I stick to the low carb Pure Blond, apparently a "flashpacker" drink as in Boost Juice (like Zumo or whatever and also tomatoes on the vine!!). I think I am just being healthy. The dude from the plane and his Oz mates come to the pub, we make a party yah (as one of the Germans said before we went out heehee!!).

I get taken to a rocker bar called Amplifier by the dude from the plane, we walk past a queue of about 700 people and I get lifted over the velvet rope by this beast of a bouncer, whats happening is one of the plane dudes mates bands plays in this place the whole time so we are getting in for free yay!!! Giant Stamp on arm and free booze yum yum!! How sad when there is free drink that my limit nowadays is about 5 bottles and that's a good night when I can fit that much in, I am happily swaying about with a hat on that I have no idea where it came from, dancing in my flip flops, taking 20 mins to queue for the toilet, I hate that!!

Then we go to a party, I am on the H20 as I am full to the brim of beer (yeah 5 bottles I am a lightweight or a cheap date depending on who's talking about me!! They all love us because we are Irish and they all have Irish Parents and the most bizarro accents in the world because of it. We talk pigeon Irish for their amusement it's actually quite funny!! We fall asleep on the couch in the house where there is a party, then the plane dude drops us back to the hostel the next day stopping of to show us some kangaroos, my first sighting, I was mildly disappointed, they were teeny but only cause they are city ones and not the ones in the bush.

We go for Fish and Chips in Freo that night, yum yum is all I am saying, fresh off the boat that day and with proper home made tartar sauce, that cured my hangover, not drinking beer again, my belly is not able for it at all, only red wine from now on and no goon (ever!!).

On Monday we go to the Aquarium, this takes three modes of transport to get to, well two but two trains and a bus to get there and the same back but it was worth it, sharks and they were giant, all the dangerous fish, moon jelly fish that look like aliens, manta rays that I got to touch and I got to touch starfish and it was the most bizarre feeling ever. We got to learn all about the dangerous fish which will be handy when I get to the barrier reef and then home for beans on toast.

I have devised a new hostel diet, weet-bix (yes weet bix not weetabix) for brekki, a boost juice for lunch and soup or salad for dinner, its the only way as cooking is driving me mental, there are two many people and not enough pots or pans and all the knives are blunt as fook and I like them sharper than sharp.

Tuesday we went to the Maritime Museum in Freo, my skirt blew up lots which was just delightful and we had icecream from Baskin Robbins on the beach, lovely.

Today it is raining and I am wearing shorts and everyone keeps asking me am I not cold, what is with that, it's not cold, it's just raining, I don't like to sweat, ever!

Posted by Babs at 3AM | 4 comments

I'm heading over to London this Friday for the weekend, mainly to visit my Good Mate Adrian of sevitzdotcom fame, and also to experience some of the sights and flavours of Londinium I may not have seen before.

So if you're in London (permanently or just by coincidence) this weekend, let me know and we'll like totally hook up. Adrian has lots of stuff planned, and has even created a Facebook event to help organise things, which are set so far to include drinking in a nice pub (probably in or near Wandsworth), drinking (and sushi) in a fancy pub/lounge, going to the Ian Fleming exhibition in the Imperial War Museum, and dinner in Ian and Nat's. If you don't know Ian and Nat, you really should. They're lovely people.

There's plenty of time for other stuff too, so if you want to meet up for a drink or a sambo give me a shout, I'll do my best be there.

If you want to join us, go to Facebook and let us know you'll be there. Looking forward to seeing you.

_{[photo courtesy Richard Moross]}

Posted by Matt at 1PM | 8 comments

What do you think, better than or not as good as the Phil Collins one with the Gorilla?

Posted by Matt at 8AM | 2 comments

As per Babs request on the previous post, here’s the photo of her when she was all cute and ickle.

AWWLOOKITDELIDDLEBABBY!

Posted by Matt at 6PM | 1 comments

Inspired by ZeFrank, here's a photo of me when I was only ickle. I think (and so does me Mam) that I'm about one and a half in this photo, and teething, hence the red (or slightly darker grey) cheeks.

I also think there's a definite resemblance between me and my niece Isobel, who's currently roughly about the same age as me in this photo. Have a look and tell me if you agree.

Oh, and if anyone else wants to continue the thread/meme/thingy, please find an old photo of yourself, blog it, and tell me about it in the comments.

Posted by Matt at 10PM | 5 comments