oi everyone.

   man its been a while since probably a lot of you have heard from me.  i have kept myself really really busy and loads of stuff has been going on around me the last little while.   as you probably know i have left cairns, i quit the pizza place.... 1 month earlier than i said i was going too, boss wasn't too too pleased, im a backpacker what do you expect from me.  finished the old ultimate party selling ticket job, i really miss that job though cause everyone there was total family and working there you really get taken care of when it comes to going out, cheap drinks, no waiting in lines, no cover, cheap deals on travel bookings, the whole lot. i won an oz experience bus pass on my first pub crawl worth 400 bucks and then i bought a Fraser island safari package for half price off a girl who won it on another pub crawl and didn't want it cause i had already went... good shit.

   Fraser island, one of the best experiences you'll have of your life.   the largest sand island in the world, which i heard lately might be added to the wonders of the world list!  scenario... take 10 strangers and cram them in a Toyota trooper 4X4 and send them off on an island for 3 days 2 nights with a couple tents, two tanks of gas, some food, a map and some booze to keep warm...haha.      your all in the 4x4 and once you get off the barge taking you to the island your on your own... we had no idea where to go, where we were and what to do, so what better way to figure it out than to explore.  we drove everywhere, we had an awesome group of people, 9 guys and one girl, which made it easy to get shit going in the mornings we didn't have to wait that long to get ready, girls you know what im talking about.   we checked out lake Mackenzie the first day with sand so fine you can polish your jewelry with it and a lake so blue and fresh you though you were on the great barrier reef, without the salt.   sand dunes galore everywhere and one lake called lake wabby was at the end of a huge sand dune which you could run down, you know where you just let your legs fall your running so fast down the dune and plunge into a cool fresh water lake at the bottom... awww so much fun.    we checked out a lookout called indian head where you could see all up and down the east coast of the island and forever out into the pacific ocean.    you get to drive along the beach at 80k/h, which we didn't abide to, but still a rush cruising down the beach looking out into the ocean and cool salt water breeze rushing through your window, man i wont forget this trip ever and i plan to come back one day and i hope this paragraph is convincing enough for someone else to come with me.  everyone in my group was a legend and couldn't have asked for a better crew.... thanks guys....

    later on i ended up in Brisbane where i got to meet up with my suga mamma from back home and a few more crazy bc girls, i wont say where exactly in bc for their own sake.   its really good to see people from back home and talk about all the cool stuff you've done over here and gives you a good reason to go out and have some fun.   it was good to catch up with you girls ill see you soon when i get home.  i got to meet some other cool bc people in Brisbane as well.. .my parents.  came all the way over here to come check out the international rotary convention and probably to see me too.    too bad for them they couldn't get into the convention because you had to buy the whole 4 day pass and showing up on the second last day of the convention they wouldn't let them in for one day, that's no way to treat a Rotarian... is it!?!?!  i traveled with my lovely parents down to the gold coast and through lismore in a fancy camper van.  it was good to catch up with all my mates down the coast and show my parents around what used to be my home, man i wish you were there with me Travis, i caught up with dale, jay, mattie, jessica, rob from city beach which says hi, and our good old good looking boss... lisa...haha.   haha i went by the good old broadwater park building and ignorant guy is still strolling the streets outside that place...haha... "there is only one bridge connecting the states with Canada right....."  ... dumbass.   when we went through lismore Travis, i didn't stop once to dump any money in that community and gave it the finger one time for both of us and kept driving....haha.

   so after driving down inland and freezing our buns off in the campervan at night, my parents and I had a look through Canberra, which is a beautiful city, lovely architecture, if anyone cares??   we also drove through jindabyne, my new home town as of tomorrow, and saw some snow .. can you believe that.   we stopped instantly and i got to throw a long awaited snowball... woo hoo i love this stuff.   we drove through the greatest back country road, 78km.... approx 2 hours, windy as shit, and headed to wodonga, the home town of local Williams lake ozzie.. grrrrrrrrr i forgot his name.  my dad went to a rotary meeting there which he just loved, i dont know what kind of kick he gets out of it but whatever makes him happy right??  we got to take a tour through the local cop shop because one of the Rotarians at the meeting was a sergeant in charge or something, pretty cool to get an inside look.

  the next day we headed up to leeton so i could finally catch up with the leeton boys, which actually figured i was never going to show up, do i ever back down on my word... geez guys you gotta give me more credit than that....haha.   this is when i said goodbye to my parents, and thanked them for a wonderful time together, no im not sucking up you guys rock.   i had a blast of a weekend catching up with these crazy guys whom i had met up in surfers paradise where we had a crazy time as well, you boys are a bad influence.  we went and bet on some horse races in the local picnic races, which i am down 5 bucks in total because of... stupid horses.    i got to watch local rugby league and ozzi rules footie against some rival teams near by.. good stuff.  the rugby league they play here is a lot more continuous than compared to the rugby we played at home and doesn't stop for scrums as often.  lots of good hits and loud mouth locals booin the other side, that's what you get when you go into a town of  6000, they're all crazy....haha.  thanks again guys for the catch up and hope to see you soon in jindy as well as in Canada.

   now i am in Canberra again awaiting to catch my bus to cooma, where there was a recorded -7 degrees Celsius the other day overnight.... brrrrrrr.   i got so used to the sun over here im freezing my balls off, its not good.   i hope i get used to it or else im going back up to cairns where i can see some sun!   i will be arriving in jindabyne on wed morn and moving in to our new place, my dad will post my address on the website if anyone wants to mail me a scarf or some hoodies or wool socks or anything warm.....thank you.   i hope the summer at home is treating everyone good and enjoy those fresh water lakes we take for granted, they don't have many of those here, people use rivers to go wakeboarding and skiing on and the lakes which are left are barely there.   we live in a beautiful country at home and you guys better enjoy it, and for those of you up north you better enjoy the sun im missing out on, and for those of you overseas keep enjoying your awesome travels, and for those of you down south you better come visit me up in the snow........................

cheers

   -oLiver