3rd February 1992 Day 198

The Diary
Mt. Isa, the world's biggest city (40,000km2 - as listed in the Guinness Book of Records) was not exactly bustling with life. We declined the 7:30am underground mine tour and headed to the hostel. It reminded me of a hospital. Oz and Beth crashed out and I explored the town - which didn't take long at all. The town has a distinct Billingham feel about it, with it's chimneys on the horizon, though Mt Isa is a lot further from the nearest town.


I decided to make use of the swimming pool in the shadow of the mine - 32x50m lengths - 18 front crawl, a new record. Then I went along to the gym and did a light work out before wandering over to the bus depot. The nutter was waiting for the bus. Yes please, referee, he's not on our bus. Oz and Beth arrived, shortly followed by Hels and Kate. Off we went to Boyd's hotel for food. Kate had a 'mare ordering a burger but soon it was time for them to leave again. Off to Darwin - with the nutter !!

Mt Isa or Billingham?

Mt Isa or Billingham?

We returned to the hostel via the city lookout with its signposts to various spots around the world. How could London be 700km further than Edinburgh? Surely Rio de Janiero is closer than New York City? And what is a Great Circle anyway? (I think you'll find it's the shortest route between 2 points on the globe - informed Ed). 

Back at the hostel we watched the soccer and chatted to my room-mate Sean an ex-British Aerospace employee and Spurs supporter who was doing our trip in reverse.


2012
Haven't been back to Mt Isa since.

2nd February 1992 Day 197

The Diary
Went to the Townsville Natural History Museum and paid $2.50 for the most disappointing museum ever. About the size of Brunner School gym, most of the exhibits were models or fakes and hardly any of the themes survived  more than one or two display cases. Oz and Beth went off to the aquarium after that but I decided to save my money and watch France beat Wales. This, they duly did but only 12-9. They must both be quaking in their boots after watching England. Famous last words??

Townsville

Checking in for the overnight bus to Mt Isa, a voice cried out something about a "daft hat". It was Hels and Kate just getting off the bus we were due to get on. We had a quick hour in the transit centre cafe, swapped a few tales and arranged to meet them in Mt Isa the following day.


The bus journey was memorable for the nutter who couldn't remember which seat he'd been sat in and accused everyone of pinching his inflatable travel pillow. As is usual with nutters he made horrible snorting noises in his sleep.


2012
I don't really remember the museum - which may prove my diary entry - but the current museum looks a bit better than my description.


If the reverse is true (nutter = snorer, snorer = nutter) then I must be a bit of a nutter according to Christy.


Oz spent most of the year complaining about my snoring but I'm sure it was a myth - he never proved anything.


Daft hat - the aussie bush hat I bought in a market in Cairns. It stayed on my head most of the next 6 months.


Townsville to Mt Isa - 904km
Total distance since Sydney - 4,165km 

27th January 1992 Day 191

The Diary
The three of us walked to Barron Falls exploring the weirs and rocks along the way. Now, that's the sort of thing I'm happy doing, it's a little more energetic than lying in a prone position by the pool  and it satisfies my inquisitive  mind. Unfortunately it was an extremely hot day and we didn't take enough water with us. We also had to wait over an hour to catch the train from Barron Falls station. We then had to sit through the train commentary that we'd sat through 2 days previously. It might have been interesting but I could only hear about every other word. 

Back to Cairns where the couple Oz and I had met at Noosa Heads (from Ilkley) were still hanging around Tracks. Their wardrobe seemed to consist of a Hard Rock Cafe Sydney T-shirt each. In the evening we went for another $3.50 meal. We then went to the International Hostel and discovered a message Hels and Kate had left. They'd just spent 4 days (yes FOUR days) at Kuranda, apparently in the same hostel as us and were then off to Cape Tribulation. I somehow think we won't see them again, especially as they've got Beth's books.

2012
I was always amazed that people would hang around in boring places and crappy backpackers for day and weeks on end. We just kept moving and later got into the habit of crashing out for a few days if the travelling had been hard or tiring. We spent a few days on the beach in Phuket recuperating but I don't think we ever chilled out for more than 4 days before hitting the road again.


In the days before email and smart-phones the only way to stay in touch with other backpacking friends was to leave notes on message boards at hostels. We all used to swap books and cassette tapes as well, with no guarantee that you would get them back. An interesting thing that I remember Oz doing was ripping the pages out of the Lonely Planet after we'd been to the places on those pages. He didn't see the point of carrying un-necessary weight.

Almost every backpacker used Lonely Planet guidebooks to get around - though I think Hels and Kate used the Handbook series - and thus LP had an incredible influence on local tourism and the success or failure of many local businesses, cafes and hostels. As can be seen here, Lonely Planet's influence is still significant.

Christmas

My first Christmas in Sydney was spent on the beach and shared with (some of) the Lufbrats - Bop, Andy Brown, CJ, Howie and Lisa. Add me, Oz, Beth, Hels and Kate and you have a very Pommie Xmas. I'm not sure what Christy thought of it all but she went along with it. 


The Lufbra crew flew in a few days before Christmas and I think we accommodated them all by me moving into Christy's place and Hels and Kate moving out to a place in Kirribilli for a few weeks. It's possible that Howie and Lisa had somewhere with a bit more privacy as well. It was just like our communal digs at lufbra - Andy Brown's famous mega pot of chilli con carne, Howie's pancakes and the dessert co-operative's (me and bop) mega xmas trifle. Ah, the trifle. We discovered that Bird's Trifle was not sold in Sydney so we figured we could easily find independent ingredients and make it anyway. Jelly, custard, whipping cream, hundreds and thousands - can't be that hard. The biggest problem came when the whipping cream refused to whip. We ended up with a big bowl of slushy ingredients that slopped together. It still tasted the same.

The traditional day 1 fry-up of lilywhite poms with no sun-tan  cream. I warned them.

The flag that I picked up in Tokyo and the girl I picked up in Sydney !!

There was plenty of basic Sydney tourism - the Bridge, the Opera House, the Rocks, the pubs in the Rocks, the pubs in the City, the pubs in North Sydney etc. 



View Larger Map


Xmas day was a mammoth effort down at Balmoral Beach. The weather was fantastic, we were there early to stake a space and the whole day was spent eating, drinking, swimming, playing beach cricket, playing head tennis and generally having a fantastic time.

Xmas Day frolics on Balmoral Beach

The Bowler's Holding, the Batsman's Willey

Gaz and Oz set world head tennis record  (on Xmas  Day, in the  sea, near a shark net)

The days between Christmas and New Year were spent drinking, visiting Waratah Park (home of Skippy), BBQing in the local park and generally having a fantastic time.

BBQ time

The start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race

I'm sure the Beatles did this

Rod Hull ?

What's that  you say Skippy ? Get lost Brummie  git.

New Year was spent at a party at Sarah's unit - on the harbourside directly opposite the Opera House and a large trifle away from the Bridge. Lisa threw a wobbler because she was terrified of heights and lost us as we walked over the Bridge to Sarah's place and Kate hyper-ventilated while sitting on the sill of the open window four floors up. Other than that and the massive firework show not much happened that evening.


In the new year the group gradually split up. Hels and Kate headed off travelling in early Jan. Howie, Lisa, Bop and CJ headed back to UK and Andy Brown hung around for a little longer (and more of this later).

Australia v India Test

If was fun - we should do it again sometime. 


I SAID - WE SHOULD DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME !!!!

Hels and Kate

Our erstwhile flatmates. Fellow pommie backpackers. Things I don't remember about them include their surnames and how Oz and Beth knew them. I don't think I've seen or spoken to them since we all went our separate backpacking ways in Jan 1992. Where are they now? Married with loads of kids probably and living the good life in Surbiton. Or somewhere similar.

Canoodling at the Curry Bazaar in Crows Nest

Some Madge action

 When we all left Sydney we were travelling up the East Coast of Australia and then on to Asia - there was evidence all along the route (sign-in books at hostels for example)) that we were often close or within a day or so of each other. This was in the old days well before the existence of mobile phones and ubiquitous email and it wasn't simple to stay in touch when you were on the move every few days.

3 Sisters

For me it was a bit of a love-hate relationship with the two of them - their company was fun and having them both working as barmaids in the Rag and Famish in North Sydney, a 2 minute walk from where I worked, made getting a beer very easy even when the pub was full. Having them sharing the flat kept the rent down but they were annoyingly tight at times, even as far as using up my toothpaste rather than buying their own. If they'd have asked it would have been fine but they just did it on the sly. The nadir came on my birthday. Christy bought a birthday cake for me that we took to the flat to share. I had one small piece but when I returned from work the next day they'd scoffed the lot. That week was also the week that Lord Frederick Lucan of Mercury died and by chance our local pub, The Great Northern Hotel, had a Queen tribute band playing. I suggested that we went out for a birthday drink to see a tribute to the first band that I ever saw live but I was told, "nah, we're watching The Thorn Birds". A few weeks later they were disgusted when I didn't want to go out for a pizza with them. 

Fish and Chips at Balmoral Beach

Anyway most of the times were fun including curry nights, trips to the Blue Mountains, visits to the beach and Waratah Park (the home of Skippy) as well as the aforementioned drinks in the Rag and Famish.

Photo frolics

In the Blue Mountains

There was an occasion when Oz and Beth were away for a few days (in Newcastle visiting Oz's relatives I think) and Kate and Hels had occupancy of their bedroom. They came home from work under the affluence of inkahol and the three of us somehow ended up in a big play fight (I think Kate was after the mattress in my room but she wasn't getting it). Anyway food and water ended up everywhere and Kate didn't take too kindly to losing the physical battle. When I woke up the next morning every piece of furniture in the house had been used to barricade me into my room!! 


I'm sure they're sensible mummies nowadays.

Bye Kate