Snap and Scribble

I arrived back in Australia about 6 hours ago. I’m in Brisbane at the moment, but i’ll probably be heading to Byron Bay tomorrow to start sorting out my stuff - which is all in storage there.

It was an uneventful flight and it seemed to go really quickly. I got an acceptable amount of sleep - not enough, of course, but i managed maybe 5 hours, which is better than nothing.

I flew Singapore Airlines, who were excellent - as always. And i managed to spend a while in the open-air cactus garden at Singapore airport while i was transiting there - it’s a good spot to go to escape from the air con for a while!

It feels kinda weird being in Brisbane, after the places i’ve been during the last nine months. This town must be one of the most mundane places on the planet - and a bit of a contrast to Afghanistan!

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

I’m starting to feel quite stressed. A few minutes ago i booked my flight from Britain to Australia - and booking online is a stressful thing to do at the best of times. I always get really paranoid in case i’ve made a mistake in the process and got the date wrong, or my passport number wrong or something clever like that! If you do that, you can’t fix it later without it costing loads of money…

Anyway, i think i’ve done it right. I hope i have, anyway!

But that’s really only the start of the stress. Now i’ve got to sort all my shit out - and i seem to have accumulated a lot of extra shit here at my mum’s place since i left Australia last August! And then i’ve got to pack - which is extra stressful in this country nowadays, as they’re really strict on what you can take as hand luggage.

And then there’s the stress of leaving all my family here. And heading back to who knows where in Australia (i’ve applied for a couple of jobs in remote parts of the Northern Territory). And the stress of knowing that, before i do anything else really, i’ve got to sort out all my stuff that’s in storage in Byron Bay and get rid of some and ship the rest to Darwin. Including my car - which is now out of rego.

Should i register my car again in New South Wales? Or should i just get it shipped, unregistered, to Darwin, and register it there…? It’s a bit of a worry…

But, on the brighter side, i’m looking forward to getting onto the beach and into the ocean in Northern NSW!

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

My complete lack of direction seems to have passed. I think i’ve decided to go back to Australia at the end of this month. Well… I’m pretty sure that’s what i’ve decided. I’m going to go back and live in the Northern Territory.

I’ve started looking for jobs in the NT online - and the prospects look much better than anywhere else i’ve looked so far. Maybe i’ll end up living in a remote community somewhere - near the coast, hopefully…

And i’ve started checking out cheap ways to get back to Australia. One option is a cheap flight to Singapore and then fly Tiger Air from there to Darwin - about AU$70 or so. The only problem with that is that all my stuff is in a storage shed in Byron Bay.

So another option is a flight to Brisbane and go and sort out all my stuff and then fly from there to Darwin. That’s probably the sensible option really. Otherwise, i can see myself getting to Darwin and getting a job - and my stuff languishing in the storage shed for another few months. Which would be silly!

So i guess that’s what i’ll do. Go to Byron, sort my stuff out, put it on a truck to Darwin, and fly there myself. The only problem is my car… Is it worth shipping it to Darwin? Should i sell it? Or should i drive it to Darwin? No. There’s no way i’m driving to Darwin - it would cost more than putting the thing on a truck probably, and it’s a pain in the arse driving all that way.

We’ll see, i guess…

I’m quite sure i’m not going back to Kabul now though.

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

Well, i’m still in England, staying at my mum’s place, and still quite happy to be here. But i don’t want to go much longer without working. And i really don’t want to go back to Kabul - only because i can’t handle any more of living in a city, not because i don’t want to be in Afghanistan.

So i’ve been looking out for a decent job - overseas (on ReliefWeb, a development jobs web site), or here. There haven’t been any good prospects on ReliefWeb, and it’s hard to find a decent job in this area - unless you want to commute to London, which i definitely don’t - and i’m feeling seriously like i’m in some sort of weird directionless limbo…

So i’m starting to think about heading back to Australia. But i want to try and find a job there before i go, if i can. If i go back there, it will be to Darwin, not northern New South Wales. As much as i love the Bundjalung country coast, it’s really hard to find decent work there - and if you do, the pay’s crap. And i’ve been wanting to go back to live in the Territory for years now. So this is the time to do it. Unless something else turns up, that is…

Tags: Travel and Places by will
No Comments »

Me and my sister made a pond at her place a week or so ago. She’s put some plants and a few fish in it, but it still needs a bit doing to it to make it look good.

Here’s a picture of it. You can see a couple of grapevines i planted in 2004 in the background. … Read more »

Tags: Life by will
No Comments »