One Way!

Hi Hi Hi!

Go the bokke!! What an awesome win! I know it was a good few weeks ago but the buzz is still on. Have to admit it wasn't too fun waking up at 4:30 in the morning - especially after a big night out watchingLinkin Park and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden and Audioslave singer) the night before. But we all made it, and were upstanding for Nkosi Sikilele with beer in hand! Was about 12 -15 maaates at my place watching and it was an awesome atmosphere. The final whistle went and the neighbours knew all about it!! Celebrated with a bit of screaming and yelling and then it was champagne corks (and beer cans and nearly a bike) flying off the balcony. Some pretty epic aussie friends snuck out during the game and bought the champers for us and they were celebrating as much as we were - nobody wanted to see the poms win! I bet the celebrations were a million times bigger in SA tho!

Daylight savings have kicked in now so it's only dark just before 8 which is good news for catching an after work surf. I normally get home just after 6 so it's bloody marvelous I tell u. And even had a few dolphins visit me the other morning and then some whales decided to come up and say Hi Hi Hi 3 metres from the side of the ferry on the way to work the other day! Was flipping awesome. First time I've seen whales close up and it was on my way to work! Not too many places in the world where you can do that.

Been a bit hectic socially the last few weeks. Been really amazing how quickly and easy it is to make friends here. Especially in Manly cos about half the people are ex-pats so everyone's in the same boat. Speaking if which, went on a boat cruise party last weekend which was real fun. There were 3 levels on the boat with a bunch of dj's and some live bands. Nothing like partying on the roof of a boat during the day with the harbour bridge and opera house as a backdrop! Also went to see The Killers (it's a band mom and dad) last night. And still got my tickets for Rage Against the Machine in a few months so can't wait for that.

Helped the Arrens move house 2 weeks ago which was pretty hard work. There new spot is really cool and I think they made a great investment buying there. 3 bedder with a big balcony so they're styling. There's a pub across the road and a few people were enjoying a Sunday arvo drink when Warren went to park the truck across the road. So Markus and I stood on the balcony waving and shouting at Warren like complete homo's so all his new neighbours will think he's completely gay! Mwooohahahaha.

Some visuals of the happenings:


Nkosi Sikilele fife aaaa em

Shaggy Claiming it!

Tropicana Boat Shindig

Don't get excited - that's my friend Kirk's girlfriend

Outta line! Where's the red card?

It's a grand old place to live in...

My private balcony - true love from when we first met.

And from inside the hammock. This is my new hobby - hammocking. Like and extreme sport. But not as extreme.

Photos, videos and more news

Finally got broadband at the new place so it's good times! And as promised, some photos of the new place and boat and a special little video treat. But first and foremost - go the Bokke!!! Been awesomeseeing our boys in top form and just hope we pull off the win this weekend! Every other rugby nation seems to be behind us too as they just don't want to see the poms win 2 times in a row! And would be hardly fair after they lost 36-0 in the opening match. But I have faith in bokke and I think we gonna prove the same point twice! People who know me a little better know that I run a bit of a book on the odd game and I started backing SA at10-1 before the tournament (but I've closed half of it out already to make it a "free" bet so hopefully that will pay a few weeks rent if it comes through!

For the quarter final against Fiji we had a few people around to watch the game and Steve (Maritzburg boy) was feeling a little dozey!! Check out this video I posted of him on youtube! He honestly did this for about 5 minutes!! Eyes closed the whole time and no idea we were all taking the piss and laughing at him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggXfdgCGUMU

A few people have asked me how the RWC fever is in Aus. Especially when Aus and NZ were still in. But in all honestly it is nothing like SA here!! I'd say less than a quarter of Aussies actually follow it! Most of them follow the domestic rugby league and Aussie rules games. And given that only about 1/3 of the people I know here are actual Aussies, there's surprisingly little rugby talk. Even when people ask you where you from, they don't ever seem to mention the cricket or rugby. Complete opposite to SA! Anyway, there's enough who are into it to have a bit of banter and rub in the quarter final losses so it's all good.

Other good news is that I got my business visa last week. Valid for 4 years but I can claim perm residency in 2. I can still go the route of skilled immigration but not sure I will now - very expensive and a pain in the ass! And the only downside of being on a business visa is that I can't buy property which isn't a bad thing cos prefer the house share idea while I'm still new. Also a lot cheaper to rent than buy right now (rents are close to half mortgages) so will stick it out until I'm ready to settle down permanently. My camera is still in for repairs and the photos I have of the new place are all at work so will upload them another time. Here's some others from my camera phone tho:

These are the wild birds here and swing by the verrandah for a bit of a feed in the morning:

And the boat!!

And messing around on the new boat. The judges robbed me - I only got a 9.2 for this dive:

Then this is the view from the new Sunday morning breakfast spot. Little bit better than Tony's in Wimbledon.

Fair bloody dinkum

Usual story - time flies and unfortunately I've been without internet the last few weeks cos just moved places. So the internet will be in in 2 more weeks and then I'll be better I promise.


So the new place is definitely the best place I've ever lived in!! ON the beach again and it's the penthouse so double story and all the mod cons! It was a holiday flat but the owner decided it was better to get a long term tennant so every day is truly like a holiday here!! Lucky me sorted out the master bedroom so I've got my own massive balcony overlooking the beach and en suite bewthroom. Best thing is the shower is so big that it has two shower heads on either side. So I just point them both at me and it's like a car wash! But I call it the Col Wash! Other flatties are all super cool. One German girl who's in advertising and into surfing, then Wade Visser from the South Coast in SA who I've known for years through bodyboarding compos (complete coincidence he replied to an ad online) and then another Saffa who last night won a competition to find Australia's best unsigned musician or band (he won $150,000 worth of advertising and airtime)! So he'll be a famous singer/songwriter very soon for sure.


Other good news is that I got an awesome ski boat the other week! Went in halvies with my brother so will keep it at his place mostly. But there is soooooooo much coastline here and it opens up a whole new world! So bring on the fishing, wakeboarding and sunset cruising! Just had it serviced this week so will be christening the bow with a bottle of VB this weekend and taking her for a spin! Can't wait!

Work is going really well and they sent off my business visa application today. They pay for it which is a bonus and they're sponsoring me for 4 years (altho I can go on my own visa sooner). Will also go perm from December so it's all good.

Other news from Sydney is that Mark and Misty (my housemates from London) arrived about 3 weeks ago and are settling in slowly but surely (gotta chill out on the beach and take it easy for a bit). So good to have more of the really good friends from London out here. Went to a braai the other night down the road with them the other weekend and saw a bunch of people from school days! This place is slowly gonna be the next SW London!

Looking forward to all the visitors over the next few months too! Got my dad and stepmom coming for over a month, then Korvy, Oros, Dave (Booger), Sean Tickner, my cousin and his wife, Joey Jo Jo, Swithers and some old colleagues from London! So the lounge, verrandahs, laundry room etc are all booked out already!

Having a bit of a housewarming tomorrow so will try get some photos (my digicam is in for repairs). Hopefully the boat (and some fish too) so watch this space - once I've got internet again....

Otherwise all is 100% here!!! Loving it, loving it and back to the stage already where the weekends are choca's! But there's so much variety here that it's awesome. Not that I leave Manly much cos life here is too good.

The Holiday is over! (kinda)

Yup, I'm finally back at work. Started on Thursday and after just 2 days, I feel like I need a holiday! ;-) Altho I can't complain cos where I live it feels like I'm permanently on holiday.


So I got the job at HBOS (Halifax / Bank Of Scotland) Treasury Services as a business analyst. Pretty similar gig to what I was doing in London but completely different area so a lot to learn which will be good for me (the last thing I think I actually learnt was how to say "fever" in Spanish). It's a temp to perm role and they ticked all the right boxes in what I was looking for - senior role, different area, not a huge bank, low working hours, lots to learn. Was a bit frustrating in the end as I had 2 other really good offers but they were gonna be roles with heaps of overtime which I want to try avoid - free time is so valuable in a place like sydney! So I was real close to taking one of the others when they finally got headcount approval to employ me. Glad I stuck the long wait out! But it's 2 days down and seems like a great company and working with some good people.

The commute here is very different to anything I've had before - catch a ferry which is hard to comprehend if you live in London or SA. So here's a picture of it below (you can click on any of the pictures to make em bigger!).

















I work in the tall building that's about third from the right. It's a quick cycle along the beach from my place and then I cut across the corso to where the ferry leaves from. Hard to explain and hard for you to imagine I'm sure so here's a little piccy I doctored of Manly from the air.

















My place is just off the bottom of the picture on the beach road. The Bower is part of a marine reserve with awesome diving (went for a snorkel there today - super clean but a cold) and perfect surf when the swell hits it right. Check the photos at the end of a big right taken from above. Rode that day and it was pretty hectic. Really big but an easy paddle cos you can start from the protected beach around the corner. The surfs not as consistent as Durban but there's soooo much variety and it also gets a lot bigger!

Went fishing with my brother on the Hawkesbury river the other day. I was nailing the shad man! No word of a lie - pocket siiiize, tails hangin out! Then a sea eagle saw all the action and came to hang out close by. So we decided to try get some photos and threw some fish for it to pick up. Unfortunately, they kept sinking before the eagle could get to them so we had to stuff one full of twigs (there's always a secret to every photo!). Anyway - got some decent shots but bummed the real money shot was slightly out of focus!

News from home was a bit scary this week cos my dad and stepmom had their house broken into while they were home. Luckily they heard the thieves downstairs and tried to make a bit of noise to scare them off. Nuh uh - one of them immediately heads upstairs to their bedroom! Luckily they have a trellidor (security gate) on their bedroom door which was locked and they then slammed their bedroom shut and locked it when they saw one of them come up the stairs! The thieving bustuds decided to make off after a bit more shopping downstairs so luckily they got off quite lightly (unfortunately the same gang got hold of someone else a few houses down about an hour later and stole his car and some other stuff after beating him up badly). We need to get the Boondock Saints into Joburg!!


46 Days to the world cup! Kamaaaan the Bokke!

New Spot

So I finally got to move into the new place and it really is epic!! Was a bit of a mission moving and unpacking but my brother and his wife helped out so the majority of it gone done really quickly. The housemates are all pretty cool and sociable so it shouldn't be too hard making friends here.

The waves have been going mad today and yesterday. Tomorrow is going to be even better. There's about 1km of beachbreaks to choose from and then on the right hand headland is an awesome reefbreak called Winkipop/The Bower. When it lines up it's epic. Very similar to Vetchi's reef and just as dangerous. Shaggy got a few stitches on his foot there a few weeks ago. Anyway, check the photos (taken from the balcony). Oh ja - the cockatoos are the local wild birds here. Pretty weird after only ever seeing them in cages. And the flat I'm in is the one on the first floor and the blue car is yours truly's.

Still no final word on the job yet. Waiting for approval of the roles from London at this stage. So I am on holiday for a little bit longer - lukka!! Unfortunately I had to go to some follow up interviews and a backup one so gave the snowboarding a miss (not a problem when the surfs cooking).

Oh ja - they're changing the visa rules here from Sept to make it easier so I will qualify again on the points system. You now need to have only worked 12 of the last 24 months! hmmmm - maybe time for some more travels! ;o)

G'Day

Shoowee - that Facebook sure is addictive. Been catching up with most people there so neglected my good old blog yet again. But while things are still interesting with the BIG move, I'll try keep it updated more regularly. But for those not in the know, I've been back in Sydney for two weeks and slowly but surely settling down.

Things are going a little better than expected so far. Sorted out an awesome place ON the beach at Manly. It's really massive, has a huge wrap around balcony at the front and my room has another balcony off the back. Massive lounge, kitchen etc and a professional Foozball table (bring it on)! Unfortunately it's just a 3 month lease while one of the housemates finishes a contract overseas but gives me time to make sure I like the area (bit far from the city but well worth it me thinks). So will be taking the ferry to work rather than the sh1tty underground - giddyup!

Also got an awesome car today. Holden (same as Opel/Vauxhall) Astra. All the little bits and pieces but the design and colour is epic and got a million cool little features. Pick it up on Tuesday so will post some photies when I have it. Looks like the below but in a v cool metallic blue.

The job hunt is going pretty well too. I finally updated my cv on Wed afternoon and within minutes all three agencies I sent it to wanted to interview me first thing the next morning. So went to those and they were literally bun-fighting to get my cv to their clients first. Had 3 client interviews since then and got 2 more tomorrow so far. Unfortunately they seem like fairly complicated roles with lots of overtime and I really feel like taking it a bit easier with work life but the money is awesome, bonuses ridiculous and even pretty senior positions too. So the carrot dangles.... Will have to see how the others interviews go.

For those who hadn't heard, I misread the fine print on my skilled immigration (points system) application. Because I'm a professional (hard to believe for some of you - I know), I have to prove that I have had full time employment for 12 of the last 18 months! And 7 months travels kinda means I no longer qualify! Sucks deluxe but not the end of the world. I'll just need to be sponsored for a year and then I can apply again on my skills. Good news is that it seems only too easy to get sponsored. Once you here and they interview you, they say it's a simple formality and no worry at all. So anyone else wondering about sponsorship, it seems very straightforward.

Been some really good waves lately! Went to watch the Shark Island compo which was pretty nuts. Dying to surf there but one of the heaviest waves in the world so will have to wait for my shoulder to get a bit stronger first. Manly has pretty decent surf (with the crazy crowd factor you'd expect), but there's about 20 awesome spots within 10kms so it's all good.

Hoping to make the Springbok vs Wallies game this Sat but the Arrens (Warren and Lauren) are off to go snowboarding nearby so might just join them for a long weekend in the snow. Missed the last season cos of my shoulder so looking fwd to getting back on the slopes.

That's it for now - will update again in a week or so when I've moved into the new spot and I'm rollin in the new wheels!

Yowsers - Time flies

Been a bit caught up in the whole Facebook craze so I nearly neglected my good old blog!
Anyway - been great catching up with everyone on facebook and in Durbs! Managed to get back in the surf (not as much as I'd have liked tho) and on the golf course so it's been pretty chilled. Big events here have been the Sharks games (go boytjies!) and a couple of weddings and of course the obligatory bulls parties.

First Bulls party was Todo's and you can see how ridiculous we all looked (especially Todo in is unitard and penis mask). Crazy night though and hats off to Ant Gibb who got us through a roadblock after being breathalised with 7 beers under the belt! What a champ cos was pretty damn hectic at the time. Steves was the following night which was a lot more mellow but we'll let him off after the stories of how outta hand he got in Paris for his UK bulls party.

Unfortunately I got a bit of flu this weekend and missed Todo's wedding and the rugger semi final but back in action now so it's all good!

Anyway - the photos are way more entertaining than my writing so check em out.

Oh ja - coming soon is the "Retard Club" post. Hilarious - but I'm too tired to post em all now....

Hey Hey, I'm back - Hooray!

Back in SA that is! What a mission but I made it. Travel Insurance were pretty set on making me rejoin the tour but I finally managed to pursuade them I wasn't fit enough to fly straight to the highest major city in the world and get all active again with my tour group. Luckily the tour leader wrote them a letter saying if I wasn't 100% then I couldn't rejoin cos they wouldn't take responsibility for me so they finally gave in and offered to fly me out. 11 days after lurking in my hotel!!

I mentioned my family was in SA and would rather go there and they said no problem at all! Pretty lucky as I would have had to change my London to SA flight which was 200 pounds plus any fare increases... Actual flight here was a bit long though as I had to go via Atlanta and then Senegal.

I had about a 7 hour layover in Atlanta so decided to go and check out the city. Bit of an eye opener! Think I ended up in the wrong part of town though cos I was in da hood with some pretty crazy characters around. One old dude with a hoodie even tried to have a go at me but managed to duck across traffic in a nick of time.

Saw one funny thing tho - there were a bunch of these huge posters in the streets. Prime advertising spots! They really will try sue anyone! I mean if a coke doesn't taste like u thought it would then take it back or chuck it! It's not hard....

Will be heading down to Durban on Fri night so hope to catch up with everyone on the weekend. Think there's an open party at Matty's house on Sat night!

Fear and Loathing in Lima

Well I'm still stuck here and it pretty much sucks. Had to wait out the weekend to see a specialist on Monday and he did a bunch more tests (reckon my veins are now more punctured than a 70's rockstar) and finally got the results this afternoon. Good news is that they are all pretty much negative - I definitely have some sort of infection still but they don't know what it is specifically but most likely the Typhoid fever lurking around still. So the good news is that I definitely don't have TB which means I'm fit to fly.

Only problem is that if the medical team at my travel insurance decide I'm fit enough to rejoin my tour then they gonna fly me to Bolivia and make me carry on from there. Not first prize at the moment though cos I really don't feel like carrying on. 3 weeks in bed and so many drugs pumped through my body so my liver has taken strain and is showing abnormal levels now and I've also lost a fair bit of weight living on drips for so long. So hopefully they realise I need more time to just chill out and recover and they will make a plan to fly me home and reimburse me for the rest of the tour. Should find out tomorrow hopefully.

Otherwise not much news this side. Staying in a larney hotel with internet in my room, walk in closet etc in the "Hollywood" area of Lima but it's still flipping boring. Thank goodness for my laptop so I can follow the cricket, do a bit of trading and keep in contact with people. Those of you with skype drop me a line cos got a headset this week (username: myfriendcolin) or send me an email with your news. I need entertainment!

Anyway - was just checking in cos seems there's a lot of concerned fans out there! ;o)

If I don't see you before (which is probable), have a Happy Easter and enjoy the long weekend!

This Party sucks!!

Sorry about the delay with the posts but I had a good reason and all will be explained!!


From Lima, we went onto Pisco. The trip there was along the coast and it was hard to relax or read cos there were so many damn waves to look at. Some really good setups that need some further exploring! On the second day of the trip I woke up feeling like hell. Bad headache, nausea and just feeling exhausted. Wasn't too stoked but decided not to miss a boat trip out to Ballestas Islands. Straight out of a David Attenborough documentary! These islands are a marine reserve and there are millions of seals, penguins, and a huge variety of sea birds. The locals actually farm guano there (birdshit) and it's big business. Anyway, it's definitely the most birds I've ever seen at one time in my life! Check the photos (all the black dots are birds). Just about everyone on the boat got "blessed" by the birds at some stage. It was like pearl harbour with the birds flying over and letting loose the whole time.














From there it was onto a desert oasis for sand buggying and sandboarding. I decided I was feeling way too sh1t and slept on the bus. The next morning was the world famous Nasca Lines. You can only see them from the air so I dragged my sick ass outta bed and went for the flight. They're really amazing cos it looks like they couldn't possibly have been created by humans thousands of years ago (hence the theory that aliens made them) but I think the Peruvians deserve the credit! There are hundreds of theories but I think it's just signs they made to the Gods to bring them water. Check the photos - bear in mind that each shape is massive!
























After the flight I started getting a bit of a fever going. Made it through a night bus trip safely, only managing to soak my clothes with the sweats. By the time we got to the next hotel, things were not good. I was going into full on fevers and shivering with all the blankets and all my clothes on and then half an hour later dying of heat and unable to cool down. Time for the doctor! Luckily they do hotel visits and the doc was pretty convinced it was Salmonella. He did a few blood tests and announced it was negative and must be something else. In the meantime, I had to drop out of all tour activities and rest in bed. Didn't really make sense to me cos Salmonella seemed probable (a week before I was at a restaurant in Lima and 1/4 way through my meal, I noticed that part of the chicken breast I was eating was completely raw). Didn't notice at first cos there was so much sauce as well as ham wrapped over it. I sent it back to be cooked straight away but I definitely should have made like a supermodel and tickled them tonsils!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I stayed in bed for 4 days, took the prescribed antibiotics and slowly felt better with fewer fevers. Managed to feel good enough to make the flight with the rest of the tour to Cuzco and was feeling pretty confident I'd make the Inca Trail in a few days. Wrooooong - that night the tune of "Night Fever" was blaring and pretty sure I cracked the 40's. Saw a new doctor who looked at the old blood tests I had done and said there was definitely a problem and I needed to hit the hospital (for a few days but I'd still make the Inca trail). Anyway, it just went downhill from there. I was living on drips and in and out of fevers all day and they were getting a bit worse. The nurses were actually showing signs of panic at times - not very comforting. The new blood tests confirmed it was definitely Salmonella which led to Typhoid Fever. But the doctors (some specialists were called in) couldn't work out why the antibiotics hadn't worked and were convinced there was a secondary infection.

After nearly a week in hospital, I'd missed the Inca Trail, Colca Canyon, Machu Pichu, and the Amazon! Pretty much the main highlights. I was pretty damned peeved but also felt over the trip - I just wanted to get better. Some new tests tested positive for TB but were very unreliable so they needed to send me back to Lima to a more advanced hospital for cat scans. But TB is infectious so travel insurance is not allowed to put you on a commercial flight or they will get sued. No problem for them - let's get Colin an air ambulance! Luckily my fevers start to subside and at the last minute they change the air ambulance (which is very slow) for a private jet. The 24 hours before I'm due to fly out seems like a turning point tho and I manage to not have any fevers.






So the private jet eventually arrives and whisks me off to Lima. A doctor and a nurse have to accompany me. At Lima, an ambulance is waiting with another doctor and nurse and a driver who decides that even tho I look ok, I might die so busts the sirens out and tears across town at an impressive speed. At the hospital they do some quick tests and confirm it's not TB. My fever seems to have disappeared too so I get sent to a nice 4 star hotel nearby to monitor myself.

Luckily I've been ok the last 2 days so pretty sure it's all over. Feel like death tho! 6 days spent sleeping in my hotel and 7 days in hospital. I had soooooo many tests I'm pretty sure it was just an experiment to create a clone of myself. I definitely gave enough blood, saliva and urine samples but for a proper clone I think they'd have needed a few more stool samples cos as you all know I'm pretty full of shit!

So plan is to chill out for 2 more days to get some strength back and then await final test results on Monday. I could then rejoin my tour but at the moment I'm pretty over it. I missed all the best bits and my travel insurance will cover the cost of the trip so would rather restart from scratch another time. So I might be in SA a lot sooner than originally planned!! Just a bit worried about flights outta here cos it's Easter and I probably still have to fly via London. So chances are I will be in London soon for another week and then head to SA.