Not all days are good

To say that all days are good would be a lie. Now yesterday was one of those rare days that I just wanted to end as soon as possible. Now it starts off when my camera gets damaged and doesn't work - the offending grain of sand is in big trouble if I can find him. Ok. Get some money out of the bank. Ok maybe I won't get some money out of the bank. Maybe I will just lose or get stolen my only real bank card. Ok lets phone the bank, ok how about the bank doesn't put on its website an international calling number. Cahoot - please realise that not everyone wants to email you, you can sometimes want to speak to a human. Ok no more dramas.

Wait, where is the key for my locker with passports and more importantly the booze cruise tickets that more importantly leaves in 30 minutes. I'm a 30 minute taxi ride from the city. Run down the beach, look for a Marks and Spencer bag tramp style in the bins, no luck. where is my phone? I can't even phone Matt to say I'm not going to be there. Back to the room. I turned the 6ft locker on it's side and using my toothbrush managed to drag out the wallet with passports and tickets. I think the absence of work is making my brain go all gooey.

I will lock my locker and within 2 minutes I will lose the keys. Ok so now I write down in my little notebook where everything is. Its the same train as thought as at 90 year old man but it works for me. The key to the locker, the key to the room, instructions on where my notebook is that tells me where my other notebook is that tells me where everything is. I think its just living in a hostel that screws my head up. So it was getting a little bit better.

Now that was until you realise getting from Bondi to the City takes a painfully long time in traffic. Now to top it all off – “I'm going to a book signing at 7pm so I rush as well” said the taxi driver. 'Oh really, what book' I replied. “Supporting international Terrorism, I have my own terrorist group trying to remove Bush and Blair, Hitler was a saint compared to them, do you have any problems with Terrorists?”.... Ok this guy was an Arab and for all I know was driving a car load of explosives into Central Sydney, I would have looked the perfect foil.

Well I had made the booze cruise. Forty Five dollars for a boat trip, a scattering of beef in a bap with salad and unlimited pints of VB. I knew this may be a bit quiet when they were trying to flog tickets on Bondi Beach the day before. I was right. it was below half capacity. So I sat down outside, turned to my right and there were 8 people from the Kiwi Bus I had been on down to Queenstown. I'm not surprised anymore. The boat ended at 10pm and a coach brought the pissed up Swing low chariot singing people to a bar downtown. Strange experience but a good excuse to see Sydney at night time and chat to a few Aussies that I could find outside.

Finding a car in Sydney is interesting. I accompanied a German girl called Kati down to the Kings Cross Car Market. I was there to see the prices of cars as I was thinking of getting one but also to help out Kati (although I knew nothing about van engines). Bizarre. One floor of a multi storey car park was dedicated to old vans and cars. At each car was two deck chairs with people sitting, reading, smoking or mostly just staring. The look of desperation was a picture. I guess when you are sitting in a dark, fume filled smelly car park and its blue sky outside you are going to be slightly delusional. On the walls were scribbles “Been here 6 days, need to go, going crazy, just let me leave”. All the messages were the same - people come here for 9 hours a day trying to dispose of there vehicle either because they are skint or need to go homes.

I spent nearly two hours talking to the owners -all were interesting people who did their best to convince you that their rusty piece of shit “had treated them well and gave them no problems for months”. It is a little bit different over here. If your car was registered in Western Australia you do not need to get your vehicle tested ever. For this reason the vast majority vehicles come from those parts. When you sell a vehicle you can get a certificate of roadworthiness that advises the potential buyer of any problems. The majority of sellers had these and they were quite open about the defects.

'1 - Fail - Leaking ball joints' - 'Oh that's fine - it just gets a bit messy on the road.

'5 - Steering column bent' ' Ah yes, you just need to turn the steering wheel slightly to the right to correct it'.

By far the most common was

'4 - Ignition key comes out whilst driving'. Yes apparently without warning the ignition key will just fall out at any position in the ignition. The stories of lost keys whilst driving was most interesting.

So in conclusion - you can get a rusty old Mitsubishi camper for 3000 dollars including the entire contents of camping gear, books and old socks. Maybe a coach would be better. The thought of sitting in a dark multi storey car park with desperate people on lovely day for 5 days in a row was rather sobering.