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
The Diary I normally associate Feb with the coldest month of the year but somehow I think it's going to be different this year. Oz and Beth noticed that I'd been depressed but what could they do? We hung around the hostel for a while then Ken our sound-engineer-strong-opinion-on-everything-especially-music host took us to the ferry.
Back to the Townsville Backpackers'. The town itself was shut. The highlight of the day was watching England hammer Ireland 38-9.
2012 Looks like Feb is living up to it's reputation in UK and Europe though it's not that great here either (relatively speaking).
I remember Ken debating (arguing) with me and Oz that Australia had made a much greater contribution to pop and rock than the UK. After living here for 16 years I've concluded that you were smoking something really, really strong Ken. I'm sick of hearing the same handful of Aussie rock songs over and over again. Australia would be better compared with, say, Surrey.
The Diary We all got copies of Beth's underwater pictures which were good as long as there were supposed to be no people in the shot. The shots of a headless Oz will probably be missing from my albums when I get back to the UK.
In the afternoon we caught a bus to Townsville with another driver you couldn't get off his microphone. Watched most of Dances with Wolves which was still going when we reached Townsville (as everyone but the bus driver realised would happen). After not being amused by the Backpacker's at the Transit Centre we went to the Adventurers' for a very hot and sticky night.
I started feeling depressed today, I think, for several reasons. Talking to Christy on the phone made me wish I was back in Sydney and travelling with a couple certainly doesn't help. Three's a crowd and I'm feeling pretty lonely. I wish I'd stayed in Sydney and travelled back on my own. I think the lack of exercise and sport affects me - and I've just had a year of bugger all after my back operation and this is prolonging the situation. Finally, the relative values Oz and I place on money are causing me to find Oz's pettiness with money very annoying. I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager. He'd alienate me as a customer for a start.
2012 Mitigating factors:
taking underwater photos with a cheap disposable camera in choppy waters ain't easy
Dances with Wolves is a long film, approx 3 hours
Hot and sticky - it's January in Queensland, what did we think it would be like?
Oz had earned very little money in Sydney whereas I'd earned a lot - this exacerbated the situation. His tightness was legendary at Uni. Oz was the man who had mastered the art of striding to the pub first but somehow arriving at the bar last and therefore avoided ever having to buy a round. I can get away with saying this because he's not on Facebook as he wouldn't pay the joining fee. Anyway I'm sure there are several people reading this that could give examples of his mainfishness......
"I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager." An in-joke from Uni. You wouldn't understand.
Cairns to Townsville - 348km Total distance since Sydney - 3,261km
