Fostralia (mate) – March 21st - ????

My only concerns here were:

· Hadn’t been able to get hold of Neil / Troods during the previous week and;
· How much chew would I get at immigration (Nathan – you did get me a teensy bit worried ya bugger! – They let me straight through… is this UK?)

The only problem, as it turned out, was that the taxi driver I ended up with could hardly speak Englese and also didn’t know where the f*ck anywhere was…

‘Scuse me, you know where is?’
‘In Newtown mate, just off Kingstreet’
‘Where Newtown?’
Thinking furiously ‘Oh great – the one driver who hasn’t ever done the knowledge…’
‘You know mate, Sydney….’ I waved my arm expansively out of the window whilst nodding like a rat on E…

Anyway, luckily, he could read a map, so my potential disaster was merely a raised blood pressure for the cab ride – as expected, he couldn’t drive either, but hey!

Got to Neil and Trood’s about 10 minutes before they were off to work – timing or what!! Bless them, they’ve given up their room so that they don’t disturb me in the morning as they get ready for work – what sweethearts! Cheers kids.

Neil - the hunter gatherer!!

Lovely little place they have here – Compact and bijou like their old place in Rozelle? Not much character as the old gaff wasthis little ramshackle cottage type effort – but the street is great – typical Oz and as Neil points out – there are LOADS of boozers in Newtown. F*cking A! We’ll be checking those little beauts out!

So, my first day – you’ll be impressed, I get quite a bit done – sort a moby – get gym membership and open a bank account. None of this ‘that’s 10 bucks for the privilege of having a bank account that you MUST have if you have a job’ I see where Quantas get their ideas from – so, an HSBC tinto-net account f*ck you very much Western Union. No charges, unlimited withdrawals from HSBC machines and 5 per month from all others – not the best, but no charges! And they pay 4.75% interest. Oh yes! The drawback? There are about 20 HSBC ATM’s in Oz – but I’m in for the long haul!!

Newtown High Street!

Coupla beers with Neil after work……. You betcha! Troods is being all good and disciplined for the wedding! Watch out!

Tell ya what – I’m sleeping well – 11-12 hours kip there – the Frank-N-Stein bags are going now….

Thursday meet Fred – He’s looking great – I can tell ya that here is good for him – he loves it in Sydney and I think Sid loves him back!! Wayne – sorry mate but Fred isn’t talking to ya for not shedding a tear in front of him when he left!! Heh heh – Fred, what can I say buddy? Nah nah nanana! ;-0)

This weekend - we're off to Ben's bucks - canna wait!