lets party like we have no jobs

I'm Free!

Sunday's shift came and went. And now, I have a clean schedule.

Bazz, Kierin and Mick, all finished on Sunday as well, so I have a feeling we may be going to the bar a few times this week.

I really enjoyed my time at 'The Shed'. I learned a lot from working on the other side of the bar, and met some amazing people. It was an experience I may not have ever went for at home, and I now have a different respect for it. I spent four months working there, but I'm glad I did it.

What's next?

Well, on the 11th of August I am going to climb into a van. I met Stef in person for the first time last week and it looks like we will be able to get along. We are going to take a 3 week road trip up the coast from Perth to Darwin. I believe she has found a French guy to join the expedition as well. I'm exited to get out of Perth and see some of the country. It should be very relaxing, and the weather on the way is supposed to be very nice. But, until then, I'm going to get my Perth Party on.

what can i gettya?

Margaret River

The trip was a success.

They picked me up at the hostel at around 12:30pm.

I loaded my stuff in the van, and hopped in the back seat next to Bazz.

"You want a beer?"

Apparently, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, have no laws about open bottles in vehicles. You can drink as much as you want in a vehicle as long as your not the driver. If you get caught, all they do is breathalyze the driver to make sure he wasn't consuming anything, and then you are free to go.

The first part of the drive was good times. We were all giddy to get there and party.

We had to take quite a few stops on the way because we were drinking the beers like it was a Friday night. The first stop was to pick up more drinks, and camping supplies. Mostly drinks.

We stopped in Brumbley to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. We took some pictures, then hopped back in the van and continued on.When we got into the area of Margaret River all we needed to do was find a beach to camp on. We went into a gas station and asked them where the nearest beach was, and bingo, 10 minutes later we were on our way down some stairs to a beach. By this time it was already pitch black, and Bazz had fallen down twice, the second of which split open his knee.

We began collecting fire wood, and Bazz climbed in the van for bed.

We had ourselves a nice little fire, in the sand, 10 meters from the ocean. We drank, and chilled, and for the first time since I've been in Oz, I saw the Southern Cross. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the group of stars that are located on the Australian flag. Once we began getting a little sleepy, we decided we best climb into the van, because we were getting picked up for the wine tour at 10:30am. We turned on Kierin's laptop and began watching 'Snatch'. After the battery died, we got in our sleeping bags and tried to sleep.

Well, the van was not big enough for all of us. Emma and Mick had the front seats, Bazz had the back seat, Kierin had the back floor, and me and Jen tried to sleep on the middle seat. We all swapped spots, switched around, but still I couldn't find a place where my legs could fit. After 2 leg cramps, I had had it. Me and Mick grabbed the tent and began setting it up in the cold ocean wind. It was freezing out. Not Australia freezing, like Canada freezing.

We got it up pretty fast, and climbed in. One of the worst sleeps ever. It was so cold.

We packed up in the morning and found a camp site for $5 a person. We set up our stuff, then waited for the bus to pick us up. We hopped on and met Salvino, the driver, and tour guide.

There was 14 of us on the tour. First stop, WaterGate Winery.

We were taught how to drink wine.

We tried 3 whites, and 3 reds. After the tasting, we went out back and saw the orchards, and landscape. I saw my first real life kangaroo. They're were four of them hanging out in the orchard.

We visited five winery's in all, and tasted 40 different wines. We also went cheese tasting, to a chocolate factory, and a brewery. One of the winery's was home to the second largest flag in the southern hemisphere. As you would guess, it was pretty damn big.One of the highlights was during lunchtime. When we were almost done our meal Salvano brought out 'his friend Henry'. Henry was a grub. A big grub. He needed 2 volunteers. Immediately my hand rose. He cut little Henry in half, and handed the upper body to me, and the other half to one of the girls.

Tasted sort of nutty, like really light peanut butter. The texture wasn't the coolest though, and his head was very crunchy. But, it was something I may not get to experience again, so I was very happy I did it.

When we got back from the tour, we grabbed some subs, 2 bottles of Canadian Club, and headed back to the campsite to start it up. We still had about 7 litres of goon, half a bottle of CC and 16 beers left as well. While we were out picking up the drinks, I had also purchased some ping pong balls, and some plastic cups. So we just sat in a circle with out cups in our laps, and played a game very similar to beer pong. We started to deteriorate fast. We had many laughs, and shared what might be one of our last big parties together.

In the morning we woke up to pouring rain. We quickly packed up the van and headed back Perth. When we got back we hung out at Emma's for a few hours then got a ride back into the city at around 4pm. I was at Mustang's, jug in hand, at around 8pm.

life is good.

hittin' the road

I handed in my 2 weeks notice at work.My last shift is next Sunday, the 27th. After that, my plan is to find someone to drive me up the west coast for a few weeks, before returning back to Perth, and most likely, my old job. I'm not sure how soon I'll leave, but I certainly wouldn't mind a weekend in Perth before the trip because I haven't been able to go out on a Friday or Saturday night in almost 4 months. Imagine that. Are you even able to?

This Monday morning, me and my posse are renting a ten person transport van, and driving down to Margaret River for a few nights. The current posse is as follows;

Bazz Lightening, Kieran, Mick Jager, and Paul. (Bazz, Kieran, and Mick all handed in their 2 weeks notice as well, so we all finish on the 27th.)

It's Paul's second week, but he's already found a warm spot with us. Emma and Sam are also coming along, and we have room for more if others decide to.

The day we arrive, we start a wine tour at 11:30am. I'm not sure what it's all about, but I know we get to try 43 different wines. Uh Oh.

We plan to camp, but we have no time to set up tents before the tour, and I'm not sure if we will be able to set up tents after 6 hours of wine touring. I guess we will just have to wait and see. The next day will be all about sight seeing and so on, followed by what some people might call a bloodbath.

Unfortunately, while this trip is going on, a few very close friends of mine will be departing. On Wednesday, Matt flies to Cairns, so I will not be seeing him again until I return home.

On Monday, Nelson flies to Sydney, then back to South America. Once he's gone, I'm the longest serving back-packer at The Shed. We've had some good times during these 4 months of work. Lots of high-fives, and "Como Esta?" upon every sighting.

Finally, Liam, whom I shared many great times with when he was a manager at The Shed, is flying to Sydney, and then back home to Ireland.they sure will be.

Nocturnal Bawl

Matching outfits : $160 each.

Ticket to the ball : $50 each.

Money for drinks: $100 each.

Having one of the best nights your life, and looking damn good in the process;

Well, I guess $310......

The ball was amazing, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.
Our barbershop trio was called "The Frankies." Which consisted of; Mike Frankie, Drew Frankie, and Steve Frankie. We would have been a quartet, but Matt had to work in the morning. First we went to Rosie O'Gradys to meet up with some people from my work. Afterwards, we left them, and went to Mustang to meet up with people from Drew's work.Everything went great. The live shows they had on stage were absolutely amazing. Some of the best dancers I've ever seen in person. One of the shows featured a dozen of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen in one place at the same time. By the end of the routine, they had nothing but high heels on. Deadly. The venue itself was like nothing I've ever seen before, I think there was about four stories, each one looking over the stage.

The only complaints were that there was some sort of fire alarm or something which forced the thousands of us to evacuate MetroCity for about 45 minutes. The other, it was supposed to end at 6am, but it got shut down at 5am instead.

Drew had to start work at 9am. Ouch.







The Frankies.

sunday sesh

I got off work on Sunday, and went back to the hostel. Jim, the manager, had been waiting. I ran up stairs and grabbed my guitar. We had agreed that he would give me one nights accommodation. I had told him on Tuesday, that the sound equipment they had was pretty bad, so he went out and bought new sound gear. Two P.A speakers, and 2 mics. I played, and played and played. I even threw one of my own songs in the mix. I played for 2 hours. Didn't repeat any songs, and my longest stoppage in play was for about 20 seconds.

When I finished Jim came up and said, "You definitely earned 2 nights can i get you a Canadian Club?" Drew scored a free drink as well, even though it was Junker who had been contacting me when I was at work.

Anyway, tonight is the 'Nocturnal Ball'. A huge party for everyone in the bar industry. Costed us a mean $50 for a ticket. We are dragging Mickey the Rat along with us as well. The theme is 'Yesteryear'. I had initially found some clothes in the garbage that were old lost and found stuff. A yellow sport coat, and white collared shirt with blue and red stripes, and a dope hat. While I was at work yesterday, Drew and Mike went out and bought matching outfits, so I changed my mind and we are going out to get me the same stuff, and put the final touches on them. Party On!

Oh Canada

I was ejected from the "Old Swan Barracks Bar" before 10pm.

Lets backtrack.

We started drinking a bottle of Canadian Club at 5pm. Me, Drew, Junker, Nic, and Mickey the Rat had a few drinks, and dressed up Nic and Mike, who are both Kiwi's in Canadian gear. The plan was to be waiting outside the bar downstairs at 6pm for it to open, but we were a few minutes late. I talked the manager into giving me a $20 bar tab, in exchange I would play an hour set at the bar. At around 7pm, we had quite a nice crew out. Most of my friends from work, two of which are Canadian, a Canadian guy I met at work, and invited out to make the numbers bigger, and other friends from the hostel. Most people wore whatever red stuff they had, even if they weren't Canadian.

At 7:30, they shut off the jukebox, and I pulled out the guitar. I had quite a few drinks under my belt, which helps me go for the high notes, rather than backing off. I think I did pretty good. (I've been invited to play on Sunday nights, during the 'Sunday Session' they have at the hostel now.) At 8:30pm, 'Quiz Night' began. Make a team of five people. Hmmm, Team Canada? Me, Drew, Matt, Jen, and Corey. I had already been told to stop singing the Canadian Anthem by the Barman. He was being a real jerk about it too. The questions were hard. One of the questions was about some polish dude, so I answered it with 'Alex Zaleski'. Wrong. We participated for about an hour and half when we figured it was about time to leave. Before we left, I thought it would be a good idea to belt out the anthem one more time.

As they were removing me from the premises, I didn't miss a beat. I kept belting out the tune, and finished just as I exited the doors.

Next stop was 'Mustang'. Lots of pictures, and more jugs of beer. More Canadians as well which was nice. Everyone was having a great time, and I was enjoying one of the best nights out I've had in a long time, and all of my best friends around were out. Matt had got the following day off work, so we got a rare night of drinks. It was salsa night at Mustang, and I've always wanted to get on the floor, but always back down because most of the people that do it have been doing it for a long time, and take lessons. Last night didn't even phase me. I was spinning, and twisting pretending I knew what I was doing.

When Mustang closed, we hopped in some cabs and ripped out to Hip-E Club. $5 Jim Beam and cokes. I spent 95% of my time there on the dance floor waving my flag around. There was even more Canadians here. We all just jumped around the dance floor, and swayed arm in arm. We didn't even know each other, but we knew we were all Canadian, and on the other side of the world. I probably posed for more than 100 photos. Hip-E Club closed at around 3:45am. Me, Paddy(Irish guy in our room), Jen, and Emma(both from work), jumped in a cab in search of food. The only thing I had eaten all day was a few hand fulls of corn flakes, and some crisps. The only place open was "Fast Eddy's". The burger costed me $17.95.

This morning, Me, Nic, Matt, Drew and Mike layed in the room for hours. Hungover laughing is one of my favourite activities because you've still have a bit of juice in the tank from the night before. It's 6:10pm, and Mike is still in bed.

It was one of the funnest Canada Day's I've ever had. It meant a lot more being somewhere outside of the country. Rather than partying where everyone is Canadian, you go find the Canadians, and your instantly family. I don't remember anyones names, but we had some great times, and the pictures prove it.

Bargained for the tie at Savation Army. $2 off. BooYaa!