Cricket and other weird things...

First update for a little while, it's been pretty much life as normal over here recently. Mainly I've been trying to save up a bit of cash for February, which unfortunately will be my last month in Oz. It'll be some way to bow out though, on the agenda so far is a trip to 3 different countries, a good mate from home coming to visit, and potentially a 4 day adventure in Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach. Then it's a return to the homeland in mid March, Amsterdam and America in the near future.

Yeah so basically January's been a quiet old month so far, alot of people are still skint from Christmas, and backpackers aren't really the wealthiest of groups to begin with. There has been the odd wee story worthy of a mention though. 
JingleLad has landed himself a job in the bar downstairs, which sorts him out with free accommodation. It does mean BorrusiaSaan and myself are denied the pleasure of his rancid morning scent, but we'll pull through. 
So he's now in the staff room, a palace adorned with ridiculous luxuries such as a cupboard, open space to move about in, and fairy lights to brighten up the place. BorrusiaSaan and I are remain on the front line, or cell 35 as it's known. 
The venture into the staff room did give us an opportunity to meet a few new people though, and worm our way into another social circle. Theres a few 8+/10 girls in said circle, but as I'll explain our patter is still floating about the 2 mark. When trying to chat up a girl from England, JingleLad's opening line consisted of:

"So eh... di yi go to Tesco's at home?"

I fared little better with this charmer when talking to a girl from Finland:

"Aye.... So what's Finland like?"  

They were suitably unimpressed, and our chances with them (sober) are about as likely as a Mr J.Fritzel receiving a Father's Day gift. 

The bar downstairs has the odd event as well to try pull in the Brisbane steamboats. They were trying to do a dead celebrity party (no idea why), but it was quite the coup for them securing Amy Winehouse as the special guest. They should just stick to what they're good at, arranging jelly fights between girls. They generally do that on Sunday's and it's a bit weird to think that while alot of people back home are sitting in church, we're placing bets on which semi-naked girl will manage to win a jelly fight. Ying and yang.

Been thrust into the Aussie lifestyle as well in a way I'd never thought possible. I was more than happy to give surfing a go, and even Aussie Rules, but never for a second did I think I'd be representing Australia in a grudge game of cricket against some very serious Indians. The 'game' was held in such regard that it began at 9am on a Sunday morning! Aye... I know. The Aussie boys I was with told me I'd recognise when the Indians approach, as a fleet of taxis would turn up and they'd pile out all corners. Not only that, but shortly after arriving two Indian guys started properly boxing and going for it allegedly over who was opening the batting? Insane.
The game itself went on for a good 6 hours under the Brisbane sunshine. Later I discovered wearing a singlet (Australian for vest) was not the best idea. Upon removing said vest, it looked like I was still wearing one albeit a very white one in comparison to the super sunburn on my arms/neck. Theres really no way to say it other than I looked like a complete fanny. 
My performance as a cricketer was pretty much as expected, gash. I was out after one bowl from this Indian speed demon, and I wouldn't have hit the ball if I was using a table for a bat. Easily the worst player there, and I felt about as capable as Timmy from South Park doing the 100m dash. The only salvation was I did catch a wicket and get one of the Indians out, basically like scoring a goal in a real sport. (T if your reading this, get it up you!)

Some of the guys from the hostel went on a night out last Saturday, and clearly have too much money. BorrusiaSaan was with them, and said one of them just ran into a shop and purchased the biggest blackest d.... available in the shop. Just what you need when your trying to get into a club. 
Suspiciously, it ended up back at our hostel. I imagine it was a rare treat for the people getting up to head to work on Sunday morning, sitting down to eat your cereal opposite the Brisbane Beast. T (a bouncer from my work, genuine good guy despite maintaining cricket is a sport) and I headed out for a bit of a session on Sunday night, which got a bit messy drinks wise. I thought I had a quiet one and went to bed when I got home, but I'm told otherwise. Allegedly upon my return I was running about the hostel with the aforementioned oblong rubber object smacking people round the head. I'm nothing if not a charmer. 

And that's about all that's been going on so far in 2012. February should be a really decent month so well looking forward to that. Catch ya in a bit, hope it's freezing back home! 

2012

If you refer back to the start of this blog, you'll notice a certain little disclaimer I included regarding how I may unfortunately not be able to include ALL details of events in Australia. In this blog entry I will have to utilise said disclaimer. The events of the evening of 24th December 2011 will have to remain part of an eternal bond between JingleLad, BorrusiaSaan, myself, and 90% of people who were in our hostel. There's a few other people who are also aware of events, but revealing their occupation would give the game away. It was not your normal Christmas Eve however, we'll leave it at that.

Christmas itself was predictably weird, waking up in the sunshine. Our day was spent down at the lagoons which are man-made beaches in Brisbane. Usual patter, sunglasses on and scouting begins. Kept it quiet as well and laid off the drink for a change, but all in all a nice relaxing day. Nae turkey though.

Hogmannay was a better affair. Infact, it was brilliant and easily one of the best ones I've had. We went down to south bank, massive carry-oot and planked ourselves down to watch the fireworks. We were kilted up as well, so the odd person came up to us to chat about home. One Australian girl came up and was ripping us for wearing skirts, but that  is to be expected from those the midwife dropped. 
After that we went on a wee adventure, and headed back to the city centre. We were walking through the main street of Brisbane when JingleLad decided to give the pipes a blast. Boomtown! Within about 30 seconds we had literally at least 40 people of all nationalities dancing about like maniacs. People in suits, homeless minks, terrified asian tourists, steamin backpackers and confused locals were birling away to JingleLad's pipes. I decided in that moment I knew how to highland dance, and was skipping about in the middle while the group surrounded me applauding, and a few gullible fools asked me for lessons. It was unreal, we weren't even busking but people were giving us money, bottles of wine, and half a sandwich from 7-11. 

Things are slowly adjusting back to normal now after the festive period though, and we're sinking back into the backpackers thought process. This was highlighted the other day, while I did the trusty smell test on a pair of boxers. Success, and the boxers graduated from round 1 and made in into the more perilous arena of round 2. When underwear starts making it to round 4 though, it's always worth a double check to ensure your sense of smell is still functioning. That, or throw it at someone and gauge from their reaction just how bad the garment smells.
Also realised yesterday that despite being in Australia for about 2 months now, I've still not unpacked my bag. That is ridiculous like. I've basically just been wearing the same 5 tshirts with varying pairs of shorts, to create the image of cleanliness. That or buying stuff from Target, and I wonder why I'm skint. 

Just a small update the now, happy new year everyone!