Rainbow Road (Smoke)
Trip Start
Feb 26, 2004
1
30
84
Trip End
Nov 16, 2006
Sydney,
Australia
Saturday, April 2, 2005
FACT: On Sunday, 3rd of April, I leave Sydney.
FACT: The Da Vinci Code is the wankiest book I've ever read.
At last, I'm leaving Sydney tomorrow. I do feel a bit relieved to be leaving. The kind of relief one feels when a stubborn turd finally disappears down the shitter at a crowded party.
Have been temping again in an office for the last few weeks to get a bit of cash together before I left. I was starting work at 7:00am so had to get up while it was still dark...kind of like being at home. It was so early even the escalators at Railway Square hadn't started running yet.
It didn't help that it was 2 bus rides away (in Matraville - The Suburb of The Damned), down by Botany Bay...but the location did allow me to see where Captain Cook first landed. If it had been anything like it is today I assume he would of turned round and gone somewhere less hideous.
It was the worst office atmosphere I have ever experienced. Someone described it as a 'sweatshop', but I found it more like a classroom with a shitty teacher who talks down to you.
One of the doors to the office was reserved for managers only, meaning all us low-lifes had to walk the long way round to get in to the same room. We had to put our hands up to ask questions, talking was frowned upon, and we weren't allowed to have our mobile phones on ("Don't even put them on silent because I have excellent hearing." - a typical nonsensical statement I'd expect from a teacher.)
Of course it had it's good points, as offices always do, and she was about 5'3", was very very cool and I'm pretty gutted to be saying goodbye to her.
I think I mentioned before my disappointment that I would be missing Ben Folds playing a concert in Dublin. Keeping with my usual good luck, it turns out that he is also touring Australia. So, the plan is to become a groupie (stalker?) and catch his shows in Sydney, Melbourne and then Adelaide.
As I near the end of my time in Oz, it will also allow me to say goodbye to a few people and tie up a few loose friends.
Mike has been sponsored in his job so will be staying in Sydney, in the same house, for a while. So, yes, I will be traveling on my lonesome from this point on. I'm quite looking forward to it. Some of the coolest people I have met on this trip have been the ones traveling by themselves, and although I am at no risk of becoming 'cool', hopefully it will be good for me.
I'll be back in Sydney to fly out of Oz, but for the moment it's goodbye. I know I've given Sydney a VERY hard time, but I do have to admit there are some areas which I really like, and I have had a brilliant time, most of the time. There's been some really good partying here.
I will look back on my time here fondly, but I still think most of Sydney should be condemned. It's like one of those movies set in the future where everywhere is totally screwed up, and there's loads of cockroaches, and freaks wandering the streets, and loads of people are shooting up some drug you've never even heard of.
Goodbye, Sydney.
It's gooodbye to all my housemates, and goodbye to the house itself, which I loved. It was consistently fun for a while there, but has gotten increasingly boring the last month as the good housemates started to leave. Won't be too sorry to say goodbye to our tosser landlord or the bogan housemate who scares me and wakes me up by singing at the top of his voice, or hocking up a massive loogie and spitting in the shower while he's in there with his girlfriend (which may have contributed to her getting it on with the bi-sexual girl who used to live out the back...although the bogan doesn't know about it...it's all terribly complicated...)
Goodbye to Al who is presently flapping his seagull wings and soaring over to Perth to catch up with his Swedish love interest (also terribly complicated), although we have plans to meet up again in New Zealand, and Scandinavia (one day).
It's goodbye to some really great Sydneyites I've met since I've been here.
It's goodbye to all the lads and girls from back home, who I will of course see on my way back through Sydney, and in New Zealand, and probably most other places.
And of course the person who deserves a special mention...goodbye to Mike (current G.P. and Match Race champion). The guy I left home with over a year ago and have been traveling with since. The guy who I have been sharing a room with almost every night for almost 400 nights (except for the really good nights). He has contributed to or been solely responsible for some of the classic moments of this trip so far, and although I doubt he would admit it I know he's loved having me around.
I see him as 'the other guy' to my Che Guevara ("The Dingo Diaries"?), watching my plane take off, and still standing there decades later. [We won't linger on the fact that he saw me as John Steinbeck's dog, Charley, to his John Steinbeck.]
It has been fun, but we are both looking forward to a change. Recently, when people asked if we were going to continue traveling together the general response has been laughter followed by a definitive 'No'. I can't wait to get rid of him, but I'm looking forward to seeing him again too. Yann Martel and Ben Folds can sum it up better then I ever could:
"Richard Parker, it's over. We have survived. Can you believe it? I owe you more gratitude than I can express. I couldn't have done it without you. I would like to say it formally: Richard Parker, thank you. Thank you for saving my life.
And now go where you must. Watch out for man. He is not your friend. But I hope you will remember me as a friend.
What is that hiss? Ah, our boat has touched sand.
"So farewell, Richard Parker, farewell."
"Kiss my ass goodbye."
