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October 8th 1999: touchdown. and the hours of sleep i seem to have been able to deny my body in the ever turbulent career of sleep deprivation. Excuse typos. i cant be doing with slow ttyping and spelling correction when i am so far abnd paying for access, a feature of the internet i had previuosly overlooked!! I am in a large backpacker pub and restuarant hotelly joint thing in Coogie beach, 40 mins from sydney. Outside the turqouise swill laps the chunnelled sand fragments under egbony sky.Yep. Its nighttime HERE. The flight seemed to slip by real fast, a massive thunderstorm over delhi, amazing looking down on lightning as it fires onto the populous below, fortunartekly i was uinformed that lightning does not go up!! Bangkok was amazing, sweltery and humid to the extreme, but with the reliable smoogy clouds and haze to wring out the sweat without sunburn. We had tours organised for us, but struck out on our own whenever possible to see the real bangkok. This involved sacrificng the charms of the sandman and navigating a chaotic thai traffuc system to get our own bus. They zoom arround like lunatics on motorbikes, no helmets and wearing flip flops, kiddies balanced like eggs on steel handlebars as they weave around the buses. Also prevalent ar 'tuk tuks' three wheeler two srtroke engine people carriers that have been condemmed and removed in all other countries...naturally we were most eager to ride these pollutant spewfesters (imagine the chase scene in Octopussy in delhi, thats a tut tut) so one night ten of us crammed into two tut tuts (they seat 2 each) and sped down the back alleys of bangkok in the darkness with an eager thai driver. Bartering was as insane as the prices. A bit of negotiation, bluff 'forget it thens ' and fake walking aways can see the prices tumble up to 95%!! The bus we took carried us an hour and a half out of the city to a hug e market (chatuchuk) with 1,500 stalkls of delicious but toxicly spicy thai noodles (20p/ 30c) one pund fake designer t shirts and electrical wonders. Puppys in cages, budgies, squirrels and roosters cocking a doodle at each others plumes. My watch on a string was swiftly replaced by a glowing lotus one for about 3 quid. Just like my watch string strap, the time here was fragile and fraying. We rushed around the grand palace, where hundreds of thais give offerings of lotus flowers and candles to the force of a small green wise idol with pointy ears, not yoda, but the emerald buddah. By the way that fat dude isnt actually buddah, he is chocolate chip buddah, his deciple. I think i may have misheard the name though!!
The sex streets of pat pong were as imagined, but all seemingly normal, merged with the fake disney video stalls. Doors open we could see top less ploe swingers with tassles on various peaks, and outside the staff tried to erntice us in qwith cheap beer and no cover charge...likely to be because there were no covers to charge for. We were told of all the amazing activities that were performed on the 2nd floor, many involve pressure, ping pong balls and razor blades. Fill in the gaps. Of course, we also played "spot the lady-boy" in the live music bar we went to. On the way home from seeing some traditional thai dancing (yes, there were tourist traps too, but ewe fot to see the costumesz) we spotted three large elephnats just stood on the side walk window shopping, as all elephants do, selecting childrens garments with their trunksa and placing them back after. My final images of thailand were the huge palm trees, beside shanty houses and a maze of powewrlines and cables seemingly holdint the city together as thery run into the horizon..the very horizon we pierced en-route to australia.... So been here two days now, went into the city for the first time today, even went flat hunting, but it was a small and not greatly pleasnat place. I am hopefully going to share with four very nice and attractive young ladies (who i am currently in a hostel dorm with) on the bunac programme. Shame the flat wasnt better, it was a 3 minute walk from the opera house!! The sea at coogee bay is amazing, so much sand and salt that you just float in it with zero effort. There was a thin glamourous sacred ibis, delicately poised on the treash can and rummaging for food debris for the seagulls. Everyone here is so happy and chilled, yes, thewre are as many british as aussies it seems, but it is so laid back and colourful. Cooler today, but open sandlas and shorts are definately the clothes of choice as we go well into the spring.. Tomorrow we are walking over the clifftops to bondi beach and shall hopefully check out some more apprtments, so then we wont have to try and find a spare room for the millenniu. Bar work then is tempoting, a thousnad ozzie doillars for one night seems incredibly possible from what we have been hearing!! Anyway, i have some ozzie beer to consume. coopers i believe. like hoegarden, strong and cloudy. I shant be swimming though, its a bit nippy in the water tonight!! catch you on the keys, though i am further than ever these taps feel the same to me as they did in london, but the keys are shinier!

October 20th
doormouse in the cathedral Growing weary of the thrilling dual options in sydney hostels of A: lying on the top bunk staring at fluorescent ceiling lights full of dead moths while listening to a walkman for persional space or B: joining the zombies in the common room for a commercial riddled hour long version of neighbours, i decided it was time to find an adventure. I rolled out of the hostel and dashed off down to the sydney opera house to see it in its harbour lit neon and skyscraper fringed glory. As i approached it began to rain particularly heavily (yes, i'm sad to report it rains in oz) The rain fell onto street lamps that shone upwards, and looked like a thousand orange mosquitoes just chaoticly planning their next move...most llikely the route leading to my open hostel window. I walked around the large domes of the opera house, each covered in small swimming pool like tiles, just glued on with flour and water it seemed. One of the doors was open on the right hand dome, so i slipped in, to somewhere i probably wasnt supposed to, and found myself in a large wooden room, the muted sound of italian warbles in the background. I was behind the main stage, and there was no one to be seen. I could see a live feedback from inside on a monitor, and saw balloons, moons and baboons running and falling on the stage like moscow state circus clowns. Wandering around the side of the wooden casing which shelled the stage yolk, i found a red velvet carpet  upon a small staircase, which i climbed. I was behind the four VIP viewing boxes, it got darker and warmer as i climbed the stairs, my heart in my throat as my pulse raced to muffled soprano and silent footsteps. I reached out and tried the doors to the boxes, but alas, all were locked. My visions of gently perching on the edge of the box and looking down on the action below ere dashed, doubly so when i reached the bottom of the stairs and heard an italian usher calling out to me "hey, what are you doing?". Sprung. Itold him id never been to the opera and cheekily asked if i could peek in, but he denied me. He did tell me that this particular opera sucked and i shouldnt see it anyway as it would put me off!! Off into the rain i went down oxford street, where i met a girl from sweden and one from perth who werre standing outside a lively bar. Inside was a kareoke contest in full swing, being introduced by a drag queen. We all agreed to go in, had a beer and before we knew where we were we were singing the beatles 'help' off key on the stage. Sadly we were all boo'd off stage and the queen rang the bell for our exit, where we giggled and skulked in the shadows instead. Certainly an eventful evening, proving that you can spin something fromnothing. I returned to the hostel happier, and lay in wait for the opera mosquitos to catch up with me. ********************************
October 25 I couldn't believe what i saw in the botanical gardens today. I was strolling through the trees, having passed cockateals and ibis doing bird stuff in the grass, when i looked up to see what i thought were birds nests swaying in the tree tops. Suddenly one of them moved and it was then i realised they were actually giant bats!! Dozens of these 'flying foxes' were hanging upside down in the trees. They werent exactly sleeping either. In broad daylight they chattered, fly from tree to tree, the sunlights shining through their fleshy brown wings, and squabbled. Everyonce in awhile one would turn itself the right way up to poop down on the ground below. Dodging is well advised. Later that evening i went back to the gardens, around dusk, to watch them all leave and fly into the city. I lay on my back on the grass obeserving their descent onto the (un?)suspecting city, where they spend the evening orbiting high rise towers and antanae, undoubtedly chasing moths and a good time in the illuminous spring haze. When i finally arose from my ebony grass wrap and tried to leave the park, i discovered to my amusement that i had actually been locked in!! I wandered around for a while looking for another exit, the statues staring at me in the moonlight, bullfrogs and crickets debating the rublican debate under the grey fronds of night palms. The gates all had padlocks on, and i saw a sign which read "remaining in the park after it closes is trespassing , and trespassers will be prosecuted". Not wanting to be deported after only 2 weeks, i scaled the giddy heights of the iron front gate, dodging the spears on the top as i decended, anbd ran off down Elizabeth street before the park wardens set their dogs on me!!
November 3rd
....so i did it. i left the city. Dont get me wrong, it wasnt like London, the walls didnt breathe filth, the buses didnt clip your ear as you walk, it was just that i felt like i was missing out, coming all this way to live in a world of grey, especially when australia has so much colour. So i packed up my things,left the people i was staying with, and moved back to Coogee beach. I was going to stay with four girls in the hostel room they share. I turned up at their place on monday morning,miles from the beach, my home on my back in the shell of rucksack, and checked in. Then i saw the room. Do you know that rectangle of card that carries new shoes? Well that is the Sydney olympic stadium in comparison. The profit hungry greek owner had put a bunk bed in, with a double on the lower bunk, and above the top bunk, about two hand spans above, he had built a second floor, and packed two matresses onto it!! Needless to say i was not happy with theprospect of banging my head and inhaling varnished wood up my nostrils all night, so i became desperate for an alternative...oh, to cap it all, he had the cheek to ask for the highest hostel rates in Coogee! Luckily i hadnt paid yet, so ducked out 'to the bank' and frantically scanned for the next best option.By pure chance i noticed a white piece of paper,flappig in the breeze on the edge of a gaudy orange hatted glass phone box. 'flat share in coogee- $65'. All the tear off phone no's were stillthere, so it was obviously fresh. I called,and made an appointment to view for later in the day. The flat was on vicar st, but after an hour of searching i could not find it anywhere, and began to think i had misheard the canadian accent...eventually i tracked it down..it was the very street the phone box was on in the first place, and i had dopily missed it. (Kate+ emma (raymond)- its right behind the coogee bay hotel, the road before the westpak bank)flat 1, 19 vicar street, coggee, NSW 2035 tel: 96647295 To cut and already long story shorter, i took down the signs so no one else could call, and took the place. Its damn tough trying to find anywhere here, and as this one was so cheap (about 26 quid (no pound sign on oz keys...gggrr!) ) and a stones throw from coogee beach, i took it. I moved in yesterday after spending two nights at another hostel. I am sharing with two canadain guys (in my room, but one sleeps in the lounge as he snores) , a cockney, two irish girls with permanent hangovers and a kiwi (with non smelly feet thank god). yes, it is a scummy flat, and i feel like a student all over again, but figure its worth it as i get to spend all day on the beach (ouch, sunburnt back) and stroll on the shore by starlight before bed. Sadly the oven doesnt work, so i had to cook my crushed pizza in a sandwich toaster last night...but we wont talk about that. The beach is currently a little bit dicey. There was a big sign up between the flags yesterday saying 'caution: blue bottles. i looked around for some big swarm of smelly flies, but instead found jellyfish! The shore line is littered with baby bluebottles, with inflatable butts. Apparently the wind blew them inland, and they sit, tenticles spread eagle, and dry out in the sun. They arent very deadly,just sting like a bee. I am staying well away, but have to report i look over my shoulder when i swim! Needless to say, email is more scarce/expensive in coogee, so i have to go in to town and kings cross (think soho or amsterdam sleeze!). ********************************
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