10:13 p.m. - 2003-07-25
This is the life
Sun 21st July �03
I�ve escaped K*risk*indl! I had to wait all day for them to come yesterday. I spent my last hours at K*risk*indl listening to one of the fundamentalist Christians telling me about the predictions of a Yank called Tex Marrs coming true. She freaked me out. She actually said the words �Rock and Roll is the music of the devil.� I�m not kidding. She looks like she could be one of those shape-shifting lizard people that David Icke wrote that book about. Ever noticed how Condoleeza Rice looks very lizard-like? Anyway, I left Alexandra with her and got the hell out of Dodge.
I�m in a town called Gloucester (population 2500). I got a lift out of Sydney with Rick and Neal in a dodgy Commodore. The headlights were fucked; we were driving in near darkness, in the rain too. If it wasn�t for my duct tape that I almost threw out, we wouldn�t have been able to temporarily fix them.
We eventually found the giant shed that was The B*arring*ton O*utdoor A*dventure C*entre. (http://www.boac.com.au) that we had been looking for. As we walked up the steps we could hear loud dance music blaring out of a decent sound system. I was so excited to hear the sound of youth and the devil. This sounded promising� We were greeted by B*rian; an eccentric 39 year old. The shed was absolutely huge, with a high ceiling and hammocks everywhere, two log burners and a pet dingo called Ernie. A quieter bloke called N*ick was mulling arounfd in the background, he showed me his collection of guitars and I noticed lots of photos of naked women on his bedroom walls, that he�d obviously photographed himself. Within an hour of arriving we were smoking weed. To say I was happy would be an understatement. Things were taking a turn for the better. I hadn�t smoked for two months.
Tue 22nd July �03
Made space cakes today. These guys have so much fuckin� weed! Brian works in the coffee business too, servicing coffee machines. There are two really good machines here, so everyday we have excellent coffee. He is really anal about his coffee. I never make it; it�s far too complicated. He tries to have four-drug-days everyday. He says he normally consumes caffeine, tobacco, cannabis and alcohol everyday. I call it his four-drug-daze. He rarely becomes dazed though, he actually needs to smoke weed all the time to calm him down, he�s so hyper. I don�t know how Nick lives with him, as he�s just the opposite. He used to be a paratrooper and never smoked before he moved in with Brian. He�s very laid back and calm. He�s a bit of a lightweight and I told him so. I think he may start smoking more now I�m here.
We all went for a mountain bike ride late yesterday afternoon, something I promised myself I would never do again after my nightmare experience in Wanaka. Yet again, I found myself cycling in the dark, this time it was scary for another reason: I was hurtling down the side of a mountain at top speed with no lights. It was fucking dangerous, all kinds of obstacles that could potentially injure or blind me. I narrowly escaped hitting rocks, logs and getting twatted or decapitated by branches from above. I wanted to cry and walk down, but Nick was very strict and wouldn�t let me off that easily. Ernie was having fun and chasing us all the way. It seemed to take forever to get to the bottom where Brian was waiting for us in the their Army Truck. Never again. It gets really cold here in the evenings. Gloucester is situated in an old volcanic crater 100 metres below sea level, so it gets really hot during the day and the temperature plummets at night.
2003-07-25 - 10:13 p.m.
Nick took us out Kayaking two days ago. I went under within a minute of hitting the water. All in all I went under three times. I just couldn�t follow Nick�s instructions and kept crashing into the bank. It was only grade 3 rapids at the most, but I got scared.
Rick and Neal have left and are continuing up the coast. I decided to stay on after we we went bush walking yesterday in the B*arring*ton T*ops National Park and Nick gave me a camera. I got some great shots. It�s so beautiful out there, really wild. Not a lot of people know about it. Nick took us to a big waterfall and took some photos of the three of us. So, last night Nick and I were in the darkroom (his bathroom) printing our negatives and I had an overwhelming desire to stay. I�d only been there five days and felt there was so much to discover, including Nick. I wanted to do more photography for a start and then of course there was the Gloucester Snowfest at the weekend. I couldn�t miss that.
I was lucky because the centre was closed for the winter and Nick and Brian had some spare time. I told Rick and Neal I wanted to stay and I don�t think they were surprised.
Brian is out of town at the moment, so it's just Nick and me. Today we went on a drive to some strange small towns and went to some pubs. We saw some real characters. Nick wants to go camping in B*arring*ton N*ational Park and look for the Y*owie (the hairy man that is a bit of a legend round here, like the Yetty), apparently there have been loads of sightings.
Hopefully he won't hit on me, if he does, I'll kick him in the balls.
I think I've landed on my feet because I'm not doing much work and getting fed food, drink and weed, not to mention the free adventure trips. I think I'll stay until I can get a lift with Nick and Brian to Brisbane in a couple of weeks time.
