Merry Christmas From Downunder!

Christmas in Sydney, no snow or pinetrees, just dirt, dust and Santa. Wishing everyone back home and around the world a big merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Stay tuned to the blog over the next year where we hope to complete the rest of this amazing experience. There is a small back log of posts to be put up at the moment. We'll have them up as soon as we clear the backlog of Tooheys Extra Dry in the fridge. Enjoy the festive period all!

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Christmas In Sydney

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last month or so. There's been plenty to talk about with numerous pictures to put up so I wont dilly dally.

We arrived in Sydney after a pleasant flight with Qantas from Singapore. Hopped in a taxi to our new home in Ashfield, which is situated south west of central Sydney. Only a short 15 minutes by train into the CBD, which is an added bonus. Ashfield is a mainly Asian populated town which on the whole, isn't a bad thing. There's everything we need here from a big mall to numerous ...

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New Years In Sydney

For New Years eve we didn't have a main plan of action. We headed up to Circular Quay in early afternoon to meet the lads who were just off work. Around the city that night there was many pre-ticket events which were on the whole too expensive. From $200 boat rides around the harbour to $150 for the night in the classy Ozzie bar called the Argyle around the "Rocks" area.

We heard that there was a great free view point of the Opera House and the Sydney Bridge from "The Domain" area, just east of the main bay. When ...

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Australia Day

"Australia Day, January 26, is the biggest day of celebration in the country and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories" as quoted from the website. We certainly celebrated it in good old Irish style, some more than others.

The day itself was warm and sunny. A few of the lads headed in early to catch some of the days shows and to wet the lips early. The rest of the gang stocked up on goon and arrived in late afternoon to enjoy the live music festival in Hyde Park. We all settled down there for ...

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Cricket @ the SCG ( Sydney Cricket Ground )

Now, i know for most people back home, the mention of the word cricket posts a picture in the head of boring! Well, its not as exciting as field sports, but it is however a great day out on the p**s , and if the sun shines, which it generally does in Australia, then it's an even better day out.

We went to the 3mobile Test series of Australia Vs India in early January, and had a great day. For those of you who don't know much about cricket, test matches usually last 5 days, and we went on Day ...

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Sydney FC Vs Melbourne Victory

January 20th 2008
We went to this game just to really see what the standard was, and as i suspected, not very good at all! At one stage in the warm up i couldn't believe what i was looking at, the touch was shocking. But we were getting a good laugh out of it. Lets face it, it's just not the same as watching Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo tearing teams apart in the premiership although little Juninho was playing, but he just isn't the same boy anymore.

Best thing about all the games in Australia is that u can get ...

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NSW Waratahs Vs Hurricanes

Back to the Sydney Football stadium, with myself, Ray, Jon, Dec and our first day out with Dara O'Boyle and Ciaran Murtagh. This time it was Rugby Union in the Super 14's to watch the 'Tahs' against the Hurricanes. To be honest, rugby union isn't that popular here in Sydney, its all about the Rugby league here, which they are absolutely mad for and it dominates the TV and the papers, the same way Aussie Rules is the main sport in Victoria (Melbourne).

The game itself is a bit different from the game at home in Europe, where as its ...

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Kings Of Leon & Incubus Gigs

It's always great to see your favourite bands in action abroad, especially when their great live.

Back in January a good group of us went to see the Kings of Leon in the Hordern Pavilion. The Pav is just situated beside the SCG and SFS. It's a really good setup having plenty of bars and restaurants to accommodate the music and sports events. The gig itself was amazing, I'm probably being a little bias since I'm really into the Kings after seeing them perform for the first time at Oxegen last year.

Then in late February myself, Jonny and Paddy ...

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Royal Rendezvous Between Queen Victoria & QE2 In Sydney Harbour

Thousands of "Sydneysiders" turned out to view the much-anticipated, historic meeting of two of the world's most glamorous ocean liners in Sydney Harbour in February -- Cunard Line's new Queen Victoria and legendary QE2 -- as they met during their respective World Cruises.

The historic Royal Rendezvous marked the only time that the two ocean liners will ever meet in Sydney as this is QE2's 29th and final visit to the city, arriving 30 years to the day since her 1978 maiden visit to Sydney.

On the day Dave, Matty, Mum and myself tripped up to the Harbour to enjoy ...

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Breaking News "Dubsdownunder In Major Split"

Just to fill everyone in on the news. This week Dec headed off to Perth to meet up with Joey, who travelled with us around Asia. Mainly seeking new surroundings and the guarantee of well paid labour work. Dec made the right choice and from what I hear Perth is a really nice city. The 3 C's beware, lol.

I myself head up north to Queensland on Monday to start the somewhat dreaded fruit picking. For three months labour work either picking or packing you are gifted a second year visa. That's the main reason along with going out experiencing ...

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Mum Down Under

Mum arrived mid March after spending a couple of days in Hong Kong visiting friends. She had no real plan for the next five weeks in Sydney but was open to any suggestions we could come up with. I don't think she realised just how much she would enjoy the whole experience.

Using Sydney as her main hub, Mum got to see and do of what Australia could offer. It's helped allot that I wasn't working at the time. I could trip around the city and see all the attractions the rest of the lads in the house didn't have ...

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Blue Mountains with Mrs. Keane

With Ray in no state to be trekking around for the day after one too many out on the sauce the night before, it was left to myself, Jonny and Matty to travel to the Blue mountains with Anne on a glorious summers day in Sydney. The forecast for the weekend was rain when we looked during the week, but after the day we had, these weather people here in Australia should be sacked!

The blue mountains is about an hour and a half train trip west of central Sydney with nice views all the way up. There are many ...

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Playground Weekender Madness

Apologises for the well overdue post on this great 3 day camping music festival in March, which for all of us was a definite highlight of the whole Sydney stay.

Flying in from Melbourne after a short stay with Mum, Dec and myself grabbed all our gear and the 12 man tent and headed for the bus from central in the city. The rest of the lads followed us to the festival after they finished their gruelling 8 hour shift of pushing pencils around the office. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

The hour and a ...

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Swans sizzle as they thrash Port

Picture this. The SCG with 25,000 red Swans fans, the perfect balmy afternoon and a great game full of goals and action. I don't think our first experience of the classic Aussie Rules game could disappoint at all.

Being my last (was supposed to be my last) weekend in Sydney a group of five headed out to the SCG to watch the Swans play their opening home game of the season in late March. The game itself turned out to be a training match for the Swans as they thrashed the Port 146 - 78, a huge margin in AFL.

...

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Paddys Weekend in Sydney

Hey all!! Sorry for the delay in these photo's. I actually thought that we had done this already but obviously not! OK well not gonna explain to you all when paddy's day is so just to let you know that we had a cracking weekend where we obviously made the best of it by starting early on the Friday, continuing all day Saturday, the the parade and the party in Hyde park on Sunday before finishing off (after a full day in work with a hangover) on Monday night which was actually Paddy's day.

I'll keep the post short so ...

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Squeezing In A Bit More In Oz

I hate starting off posts with cliches but here it goes, time flies when your having fun. Fruit picking is all but done and dusted and it's time to start packing the backpack again. The last three months have certainly been a massive highlight of the trip so far, so be expecting a couple of in depth posts during the next week.

The biggest thing I've learned from travelling so far is to be flexible. The current plan came from a host of others which showed great promise but never really materialised. My main idea was to get the full ...

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Life In Cellblock

Where to begin?

Stepping off the train at Bundaberg Station on the 9th of April I did dwell for a moment what exactly I’d be letting myself in for. The thought of ending up on some slave camp farm or not enjoying the working hostel life did cross my mind on the five hour journey from Brisbane. On the plus side for me it was a clean slate from four months in Sydney and a chance to meet tonnes of new people.

Equipped with the trusty backpack, laptop and guitar I walked around to the Cellblock which was just off ...

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People Of Cellblock

This is mainly a picture post. Thought it would be nice to dedicate a little space on the blog to all the folk who made Cellblock a brilliant place to stay for the three months.

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Tomatoes Not For The Faint Hearted

My first experience of fruit picking was in fact tomato wiring. The basic tying wire around stakes to keep the plant upright. Simple enough job, but when you throw in a hangover and 30 degrees heat it's a different matter. Added to that my lunch for the day consisted of one bottle of water and a bag of crisps for the ten hour day.

The grueling day finished and I had made just $50. Mainly due to the wires being very low (called the first wire), Allot of bending over required and I worked with a Norwegian guy call Jan-Erik. ...

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Fraser Island - A Bit Of A Washout

In one way or another we were all a bit sad leaving Bundaberg. Our three months were complete, so it was time to move on.

The big trip was now in full swing with the first port of call being Fraser Island. Booking through Aussie Trax we organised a two day one night trip to the Island in a Landcruiser for the five of us working out at $177 each. Pretty good value.

We arrived early in Hervey Bay and picked up the keys. For some reason we were given an automatic Landrover. We drove the short distance to the ...

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Adelaide - Kangaroos & Koalas

Before going to Adelaide it was a quick pit-stop for two days in Brisbane. It was good to catch up and see college buddy Del who has been working away for the past three months for a design based engineering company. This is something I hope to do next year all going well. The laptop and other bits and bobs were dropped off for convenience.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Adelaide. I met few people who had been to the South Australian state or even Adelaide city. There was little to see coming in on bus from the ...

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Adelaide 2 Alice / Groovy Grape Style

Any flights in or out of Alice Springs are usually very expensive. This is due to Alice being in the middle of Australia and completely isolated from any other town or city. With this in mind we booked a two day bus tour with a stop over in Coober Pedy with Groovy Grape Tours. For $195 we covered the 1600km by mini bus crossing over from South Australia into the Northern Territory.

The thought of sitting on a bus for two days didn't sound that appealing, but I really enjoyed it. With a really laid back guide called ...

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Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta & Uluru

This place was really something special. We did the three day "Rock Tour" with Mulgas. $275 gave us a guided tour of three uniquely different places. Namely Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta and Ayers Rock or "Uluru".

Each site is steeped in ancient aboriginal history which adds to their spectacular nature.

Each day we arrived at a new venue in the massive national park and by night we setup camp outback style and slept in our cosy swags around the orange campfire.

The biggest highlight of the tour was of course Uluru. We got the chance to see the sun set ...

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Darwin

We rented the very popular "Wicker Camper" called "Too Much Coffee Man" for our journey from Alice Springs to Darwin. Just short of 1600km, the trip was definitely a memorable one. All of us shared the mainly boring drive up north. The outback rarely changes from straight tarmac roads with the red sand surroundings. Occasionally we would come across some road kill Skippy's which if we hit would cause fairly serious damage to our 14 year old Toyota campervan.

Along the way we stopped at Catherine Gorge, Kakadu and Leichfield national parks. Kakadu by size is close to ...

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Cairns

Text To Follow

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The Last bits from Syders with Butch & Emz, Girls in tow!

With the two boys headed off in different directions, Ray to the fruit farm & Dec to Perth in Western Australia, the people hanging around Syders for the last few months varied. Near the end of April, the big lad arrived. Butch had travelled down the coast from late March with lads from home, Ste & Tommy, and obviously had a great time with those boys. So he headed to the pad in Sydney as the boys had left for home after their Holidays.

After that, we had even more visitors, and it was great craic. The woman ;), Emz ...

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Cairns with the girls & lads

Is it just me that liked Cairns? Ive heard a lot of people over the last while complaining about Cairns, but in fairness, i actually liked it a lot. Fair enough, its not wild or anything but 25 - 30 degrees & sunshine was a big difference from the cold winter in Syders, a nice little holiday town id defo recommend to anyone. The dubsdownunder train re-united in Cairns on the last weekend of July, Ray coming with his squeeze Diane from travelling around Alice springs, Darwin and so on.........with Dec arriving from Perth to meet up with the girls ...

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Australia Comes To An End, For Now Adleast

Sorry for the lateness in the last post covering Sydney, Australia and indeed 2009. The time has been well spent reminiscing the memories of another great year traveling in the amazing expansive country known to backpackers as Oz. I thought it was only right to finish in the city where I first landed from Singapore back in December 2007 amidst my round the world trip. After a total of 20 months living, traveling (by allot of means possible) and working across Australia's mainland, I think I can happily say I've seen it all. Well most that is. From swimming with ...

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Perth Beer Fest

My first weekend in Perth turned out to be pretty eventful on my return to Australia. On the Friday afternoon Becky, James and myself got the train into town and met all the Cellblock crew (people from my fruit picking days last winter in Bundaberg) in the famous Shed bar in the Northbridge. Just a few quiet drinks and catching up, it was nice to see the old pals from last year.

Saturday we had our first proper night out in the Library in Northbridge again, meeting up again with a few people from Cellblock. After a good night of ...

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Perth Update

Been in Perth a little over a month now. Stayed with Becky and James (who I met fruit picking last year) in Wembley for three weeks, which I really appreciated. I hope I wasn't too much of a burden, but I think they enjoyed me staying and my ever improving cooking skills. It gave me the chance to get my bearings and set the wheels in motion for finding a new place to live and seek a job in the city.

I moved in with an Ozzie named Tim in the Leederville area after viewing a handful of places. I'm ...

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Fremantle - South Perth

A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon is down at Fremantle, home to Western Australia's largest port. We got the train down the south line only taking 30mins from the city. Every weekend there is a massive indoor market and performances to occupy the thirsty crowds. We saw a few good street performers throughout the day entertaining the kids and throwing in the odd adult humor to keep smiles on the dials and hands clapping.

The markets are really impressive with a massive range of just about anything you could think of. Mainly organic and homemade items are found ...

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Getting Some More Aussie Sports Under The Belt

It was Sunday 1st February when we headed across to East Perth, home of the famous Waca cricket ground. Blessed with great weather, which has been pretty much the case since I've been in Australia, the oval pitch looked a great sight for the days events. The sold out game was in high demand due to the Australia team rarely making it over to Western Australia, preferring the more populated East.

Australia came into this game off the back of a defeat to South Africa, so there was massive expectation to regain form and end the summer on a high. ...

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A Poker Night For Keith Coneboy

This was a special night for everyone taking part. The event was a huge success with a great turn out. The poker night came about for one of my good friends I met in Bundaberg fruit picking, Keith Coneboy. Keith (25) was diagnosed with a life threatening form of leukemia just a few months ago and is currently going through extensive treatment back home in Liverpool. A number of friends from Bundaberg had been with Keith in Perth when he received the bad news. Everyone was truly shocked.

When I first arrived in Perth I met up with all the ...

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Perth Update

Nearly three months in Perth now and I'm really settled and could see myself staying here for the majority of my year. The pipe dream of getting a good engineering job hasn't worked out, but it's the same situation everywhere so I'm not getting down beat about it. There is engineering jobs that would suit and that I'm qualified for, but employees can pretty much ask for anything in terms of experience and skills. I also think being non Australian is another barrier in applying for jobs over here. The government is really pushing "Keep it Australian" and "Buy Australian" ...

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The Nike+ Challenge - Most Km's In A Month

Always up for a bit of competition I duly accepted the challenge from my bother Jonny to complete the most km's over a month. Both of us using the new Nike+ technology makes it easier to keep track of the distance, time and calories burned on every run.

This year I have set myself the goal to complete a marathon. Everything is on track. I'm training every week and complete 30km-40km. Running in Perth during the summer is difficult with temperature in the late evening still reaching 30 degree. It has cooled down recently which makes long distance more achievable. ...

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Decision Made - Time To Move On

Over the last few weeks in Perth I have thought long and hard about what exactly to do for the rest of the year. There were a number of options on the table including packing the bags and going home or go travelling again. I'm glad I choose the later. Coming over to Australia the second time round didn't live up to my expectations. Getting a good engineering job over here at the moment is just not feasible unless you have serious experience under the belt. After three months applying and getting little response, morale and optimism fades, fast.

I ...

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BoldBear WaLLz

Boldbear is a soon to be released web design company. Co founded by my brother Jonny and college friends Brian and Joe it's an exciting venture. The lads have put allot of work into their new customer friendly web page editor, which is a major corner stone of the Boldbear web design. This easy to use editor allows the customer to update their website independently without requiring outside maintenance. I use an early version of this to update my blog.

Just to keep my creative juices flowing I have started to design some Boldbear inspired Wallpaper, which might end up ...

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Finished Well In The Perth Half Marathon

On Sunday I completed my first competitive Half Marathon. Over ten years has passed since my last race in Holland where I nearly cried trying to finish a 10km. I didn't think I could do the distance. Things were definitely different this time around. The last five months of training and lifestyle changes (cutting down on the bad and unhealthy) really helped.

There was a couple of butterflies Sunday morning and the odd feeling of getting up at 6am, but once I reached the B.W.S. centre the nerves had gone. A good warm up followed and I couldn't wait to ...

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Perth In Picture

Perth is not know for iconic buildings or landmarks, but the city's skyline is unique and boasts some nice features. This collection revolves around the main CBD with the two large skyscrapers taking central stage, namely St. Georges Bank and West Bank with Perth's three main beaches thrown in for good measure, Scarborough, City and Cottesloe Beach. Most of these pictures were taken in the middle of winter with the skies still deep blue and the sun warm. Picture perfect panoramic Perth!

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My First Marathon - Perth 2009

My first marathon in Perth Australia July ‘09. I don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than completing the flat 42km asphalt course. Adrenaline mixed with a little euphoria is certainly a recipe to leave a smile on your face. It definitely did for me that day.

The day was picture perfect. A high of 20 degrees was just optimum for the long distance event, which meandered scenically around the Swan River. Starting in the city the course headed south towards Fremantle and looped back to the start in Burswood. The city skyline is a beautiful sight along with the somewhat ...

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West Coast Roadtrip - 1.0

Looking back maybe a diary would have been the best way to keep up and remember all the events of the roadtrip. Hindsight is a wonderful thing alright. To make it a little easier I’m breaking down the trip in two sections as there’s allot to get through and nearly a thousand pictures. First part is Perth to Carnarvon, the second Exmouth to Broome.

The roadtrip idea came about pretty much after staying too long in Perth. I spent the best part of six months there and needed and a change. After the marathon was finished I was lucky to ...

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West Coast Roadtrip - 1.1

I think everybody was glad to reach Exmouth. Home to the Ninagloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park there was allot on offer for us to do. The first night we stayed in town at an expensive overflow caravan park. Arriving late in new towns is always a problem when seeking accommodation for the night, but we were glad to just put the heads down. In the morning we were greeted by a local park ranger who arranged accommodation for us at the Yardie Creek Campsite inside the National Park. We only realised later how lucky we were getting ...

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West Coast Roadtrip - 1.2

Getting back onto the North West Coastal HWY we travelled west and turned off on the Nanutarra Munjina Road towards Tom Price. Tom Price is the largest town outside Karijini and is used by tourists as a base to set off from. Exmouth to Karijini in one day was too hard of a journey, so we took our time and camped rough in the outback on the first night getting there. Getting into Tom Price early the next morning was good to pickup supplies and get advice about seeing the best of what Karijini had to offer. Karijini National Park ...

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Simone Beccaro - Roadtrip Photography

This post is dedicated to a good buddy of mine who traveled on the Roadtrip and spent the best part of two months with me in Broome. Simone took thousands of pictures along the way from Perth to Broome. I picked out a few to showcase his talent with the Digital SLR. Enjoy!

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Broome Broome Baby!

Like writing all posts it's hard to quiet capture the experience and relive it in words, pictures and videos. My four months in Broome were a definite case in point. Broome was a place where I met amazing people, lived like Ray Mears (bushcraft wizard), worked at a breathtaking location and partied most nights away with stubby in hand (usually Amsterdam).

Over the the four months in Broome I spent the majority of my time in a tent (the last two weeks I upgraded to a bed in an air conditioned hostel). Starting off in a blue two man tent ...

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OMG 26!

26! Even saying that age gives me the he be gee bees. The years are melting away fast. People have told me this year travelling that between the age of 25-30 the years go in an instant. One minute your 25, you blink and boom your 30. Gonna have to make sure that doesn't happen or adleast not that quickly.

Compared to last years birthday in Los Angelas when I was on my todd this past October 13th was a hundred times better. The sole reason was down to Lauren who went the whole nine yards and more to make ...

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