Finding Niko

Base/The Scary Canary

2012-03-12T01:17:00.015-07:00

There are so many things to be said about my trip to Oz……I think the last 6 months really made the difference in the trip. So much happened in this time frame that it’s been tough for me to pick it apart to comment and share it all but I will try my best to give a good solid gist. Let’s see…..I worked as a housekeeper in Base Backpackers Hostel with all of these amazing people to pay for my accommodation so my first nick name was the Base Stripper, I also earned fame and glory as the serial lift-cuddler, . And absolutely this pic could have been taken on a typical Monday morning......ha

I then worked in The Scary Canary as the very first female glassy ever!

I also worked on the Route 69 party bus:

where I could do what I do best….drink and party for free and make new friends…on a bus! I created fun yet highly interactive and competitive games such as “Boobie-Grabbing Olympics” and “Tit-Cricket”, I drank from buckets and navels, I played trivia for free pasta and beer, I squeegeed the stage during Wet Wednesdays, I started and ended many a bar fight, I participated in “Gay Staffies”, I sang “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” in the back of a taxi, I went shopping in the kitchen after hours at the “free food shelf” with the English collecting food for our multi-cultural family dinners because we are traditionalists, I stayed up all night roughly sipping confiscated goon while singing behind the reception desk with famous Kiwis, I woke up in beds that were not mine, I woke up on floors that were also not mine, some nights I don’t have any recollection of altogether, I wrestled my Dutch bff in hallways at 5 a.m. because I could, I held down the stoop smoking hand rolled cigarettes with the French, Italians, Portuguese and Brazilians, I peed in a bush at someone’s house party next to a boy, I planked, I cuddled with the Danish, Swiss-Germans and Big Ben, I laughed and cried with the Canadians and the Swedes, I embarrassed myself with the Irish and Scottish, my laptop bears the markings of the Welsh, I was even called a racist, a phony, and was told that I’d changed, I celebrated the life and death of a stranger with my Maori friend, I had a pint of cider in a bar in a train station with topless waitresses with a man wearing a sailor uniform, I met the tallest Puerto Rican in the world, I was even on an episode of Geordie Shore, I ate sausages on the beach while looking for whales, oh and I MINGLED……Twice, I limboed and played naked musical dots with the Aussies, I finally saw “THE VIRGIN NIPPLE” featuring everyone’s favorite Aussie farm girl, I spent my 32nd birthday with a chocolate cupcake the size of my head and a hot fresh plate of kangaroo, I kissed 1 boy, I had a 6 day long weekend that included an orgy, church, and somehow managing to play the Amazing Race around Sydney, I drank with Bogans…..I grabbed, groped and fondled for an entire 6 months and I fell in love with every single minute of it. Although I’d love to go back to pick up where I left off, I know that I wouldn’t be able to capture the exact same moments in exactly the same way;...genuine laughs with genuine good people and doing genuine legendary things haha great combination…..I met some of my very best friends and laughed and cried as hard as I possibly could……Excited to see you all again……on to the next adventure…….

I couldn’t put 1,000 pictures in a slideshow even though I would have loved to and I’m sure you would have too. You have to appreciate the craziness and wildness of this 6 month adventure to realize why I would put up as many pics as I have…..enjoy…

MS (Part III)

2011-06-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, all of this sounds super cool and yes for awhile it was. Truth is, verbal abuse on top of intense physical labor for at least 16 hours a day just about every day can take its toll on a person. Especially if I wanted to be subjected to that I could have easily stayed in the states. On top of that, the only thing I was able to experience in these great cities, well….you’ve already seen everything I saw. Come to think of it, it rained every day of each of these events. I should have paid more attention to the signs. They were really nice people but because these events could make or break them, their creed and what they yelled at me every day was “do or die”. I loved the work ethic but because I was breaking even with the pay (always starting at $0 if I was lucky) instead of actually making any profit on top of the fact that I was more ill in the short time I worked with them than in my entire life meant I had to go. My last straw was when I cut my hand really badly and was bleeding all over everything. I don’t have insurance to be getting hurt so frequently. I’d put pics up of my injuries but I don’t think anyone should be subjected to looking at my disfigured body parts involuntarily. So, either I learned a very valuable lesson while putting myself in a position where I could find something better or screwed myself entirely. Ha I guess we’ll find out the answer together.

Although…..the coup de grâce (big phrase for me considering my feelings about the French) was being in Adelaide and meeting in person, face to face with a big hug and a kiss, yet another of my top 5 writers. Robert Rankin autographed a flyer for me and was surprised that an American my age would know who he was let alone be one of his biggest fans. In fact I don’t think he believed me until I said, “I had to get going in order to work out the transperambulation of cosmic pseudo anti-matter”. Thanks Lee Fester for putting me onto him and thanks Melinda Hatcher for helping me to continue his legacy.

MS (Part II)

2011-06-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

Supanova took us to Brisbane and then Melbourne:

MS

2011-06-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

It was around this time I found a job working for a company that was supposed to be a good thing for our travels. It was going to mean good money to get me out of debt, lots of traveling for free, with a bonus of working at different shows/conventions that people come from all over the globe to attend and spend heaps of money on all sorts of crap. My job was to drive a van full of merchandise and equipment to different cities around Australia, build a humongous store, stock it full of all the merchandise that filled the van, sell all of it, break down the store and then drive either back to Sydney where we were based or to another city. You can click the images of the event logos/flyers to find out more about the events.

My first event with them was Armageddon in Sydney and here are some pics of the road trip we took to Adelaide to cover the same event there:

My next event was Animania back in Sydney:

After that was the Tattoo convention in Sydney:

Tropfest - February 20th, 2011

2011-06-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Me and Niara headed down to watch Tropfest in the Domain to witness yet another great event. This short film festival was broadcast world wide with amazing talent competing as well as hosting the event. To be fair once again I had no idea who anyone was except for Olivia Newton John but it was still an all day long treat. And once again raccoon eyes from the blazing sun! You can click on the top image to find out more info about it and who won. We watched Tropfest and Tropfest Jr. for the kiddies. See if you can find a celeb!

Shakespeare in the Domain

2011-06-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare in the park was pretty cool. The Sydney Orchestra performed scenes from some of the Bard’s plays including Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer’s Night Dream. It was even more special being in the Domain and in honor of 1 of my top 5 writers. Thanks Niara, Jude, and Belinda….it was a great night. I would have had more pics but there was goon and good food involved!

Australia Day! (Part IV)

2011-03-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

Now here are a few videos from some of the artists including Amanda Palmer. If you're unsure of who she is, Google her! I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Enjoy!

Look closely.....he has wings!

I wish that my battery wasn't dying at this time. This is probably one of my favorite performances and could only get a bit of it.

It's the same reason I could only get a bit of hubby Neil Gaiman's tribute to Australia Day.

Australia Day! (Part III)

2011-03-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

So the 2nd part of my Australia Day took me to the Sydney Opera House with my new Australian friend Jude.

Once again, me looking like a tourist does not take away from the beauty of the Opera House....

And vice versa.....the Sydney Opera House being such a famous tourist attraction takes nothing away from me, ha ha....

With a backpack full of goon and my brand new raccoon tan, we headed in to see Amanda Palmer. I didn't have any idea who she was but that's the story of my life isn't it. Enjoy the pics....

As good of a view from inside of the Opera House that I could get with sunstroke and dehydration....

Australia Day! (Part II)

2011-03-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

You know that I have to add a little bit of Venice Beach anywhere I can....

Here's a little aboriginal music......not my cup of tea per se but here it is nonetheless. Whether or not I like it does not matter. I'm tracing my journey for you guys to see and experience with me.....

Australia Day! (Part I)

2011-03-09T05:30:00.000-08:00

Ok....so Australia Day was a big day for me. Everyone is Australian on this day. Click the pic below for more info on the history of it.

Sydney Tower

2011-03-09T03:08:00.000-08:00

Well then of course we went to the Sydney Tower. Ummmm, that's all there was to it really. You take a huge elevator up to this tower in the middle of the city and you can walk around and take pics. The only thing they don't tell you is that the majority of your pics will be blurry and if you are a photographic novice, well you're pretty much assed-out. Ha ha, I guess that's my way of apologizing for the next series of images. I'll keep all the Tower photos up in one post so as not to torment anyone. Just remember, "There are no mistakes!" ~Larry. Click the image below for more info on visiting the Tower.

Sydney's Wildlife World (Part V)

2011-03-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

Here are more miscellaneous videos from the zoo.

Sydney's Wildlife World (Part IV)

2011-03-08T03:25:00.001-08:00

Ok, so we've conquered the water creatures, the slitheries......now it's off to the soft and fluffy stuff....(insert: "that's what she said here").....

Now I'm not the type of person who can honestly appreciate gawking at animals in captivity. It is something that bothers me. What really brought that home was when we came to the kangaroos. I can understand that they may laze around or what have you as animals do. This however disturbed me because they looked more like they were sedated.

Sydney's Wildlife World (Part III)

2011-03-08T03:12:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I'll take a quick second to once again show how awesome the Lego displays are. I wonder how many hours or days it took to put together one of these....

Sydney's Wildlife World (Part II)

2011-02-24T02:06:00.001-08:00

Alrighty then, so if that didn't scare you.....how about some video? Now as I've said, I'm terrified of reptiles so I'm not looking at these before I post them. Ha Ha.....but you should enjoy them! Sooooooo slithery!

Look how this one was eyeballin' me. I'm completely convinced that if there were no glass separating us, I would have been a goner!

And last of the reptile family but certainly not the last is.......

Sydney's Wildlife World (Part I)

2011-02-24T02:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the next touristy thing we did involved the Wildlife World which is essentially Sydney's indoor/enclosed zoo. Click the pic of the Koalas for more info:

So I suppose I should give a warning about this part. I'm not a huge fan of reptiles by any means, and there's really not much to say about them from my perspective other than "eek". Please look at the pics with caution if you scare easily, ha. Keep in mind that even though you've seen Australia's most deadly water creatures, these are the most dangerous land creatures in my opinion. (All the pics with the exception of the Koalas at the very top I took myself. I'm still learning how to work my fancy shmancy camera so I do apologize if some images are a bit blurry, these little buggers are pretty fast!)

THE BIG MAMA JAMA, I CALL HIM "ROCKY".

Random: The Good, The Bad, and the Unusual (Part I)

2011-01-25T02:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, well here's a good time to stop and really really get into what I've been doing so far. Away from the flashing lights of tourist attractions and the visiting of good friends I've met along the way, the atmosphere surrounding me is much like the weather in Boston. The sun's always shining with a chance of grey clouds and mostly showers. The saying is, "You can experience an entire year's worth of seasons in one day". So, here we go:

For 2 months we found ourselves taking care of an 80 year old woman. Not for nothing, but no one person in their 30s should feel what it's like to abruptly slow down to 80 year old speed. I won't post pics of her as I don't want to give away her identity, but it's been a challenge. I will say this, when you've had lots of money in your life, there's no reason to make people feel like they are beneath you. Especially people like me who could care less what side your bread's buttered on. Here you are now, having people eager to look after you and attempt to make what little time they have in your life at least bearable. This is just to give a slight insight to our lives for the 1st 2 months in Sydney.

We've been thrust into this Indian community in Strathfield, NSW yet I have to admit my understanding of Tamil's getting better. Now it's extremely quiet here. I mean....when I tell folks I live in Strathfield the first question they ask is, "Why?" ha. It's simple! Really really simple. Our very neighboring city is Homebush. Here's a pic that shows the city in all it's glory:

And that's all there is really.....I would show more but then this main street may get jealous, blah blah.

The other thing we've been doing that I found to be pretty cool is going to Ermington and kick it with the Swamis on Sundays. This has been amazingly good for me, going to the lectures and listening to Swami G. I can dig what he's saying. I feel like you can only be open to understanding if you acknowledge first that you have questions about yourself that you need answering. Just because we have the internet at our fingertips doesn't mean we know everything. Anyway, I'm not here to preach to anyone but it's definitely worth a go. Click the pic for more info:

In the meantime we've also been fired from the worst job in history and that's saying so much. We got jobs doing fund raising for the Australian Conservation Foundation. I was fired in the first 30 minutes and Niara quit because....well it was a crap job and that's that. HA!

I've been driving on the left side of the road in the right side of the car. I know many people don't realize the significance of that but it's tricky when you've trained yourself your whole life to do the exact opposite. Even still, I managed to do it. Considering the odd things that do in fact happen in my life, it should not be any wonder that I end up in a car accident being hit from behind in the "brand new Mercedes". Don't think for a 2nd that we had it repaired straight away. This is what I was working with going to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, etc:

Everyone was alright except Niara's shoulder was sore for a few weeks. It also eased up on the slowness of our lives after this accident. In truth it was a blessing in disguise. Then we were free to do things and see stuff. So of course, the first thing I did was get a tattoo. So essentially.....this guy:

Did this to me:

And so now I have this:

Or some version of it, ha. I'll keep you posted on when it's healed. But that's just my body not doing what it's supposed to on top of me drinking and heading to the beach right after. HHHHH I will learn at some point, I will!

And here is Niara's:

So all in all, you should check him out. His name is Andre....Click his pic and his info will come right up! My revenge is to make him look like a young Santa with my fancy and artistky camera:

Sydney Aquarium (Part I)

2011-01-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

Now these are random pics of Darling Harbour but I just had to share them....

Sydney Aquarium (Part IV)

2011-01-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

Very cool videos of the big boys......and I can tell you, after watching a whole week of shark week, I wasn't so keen on getting too close, ha....

P.S. watch how this one sneaks up on me towards the end...

Sydney Aquarium (Part III)

2011-01-06T04:12:00.000-08:00

More fishies...

Also, there is a Lego Land theme in the aquarium where they build these massive statues out of legos:

Willy didn't look so free here....

Sydney Aquarium (Part II)

2011-01-06T02:46:00.000-08:00

Sydney Aquarium is very very cool. Located in Darling Harbour within walking distance from tons of stuff including the IMAX Theater which is the world's largest IMAX Theater. For Niara's birthday we also saw Tron in 3D here. Click the pic for more info on the theater:

Now, on to the fishies:

New Year's Eve 2010 (Part II)

2011-01-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

This one was a "Jesus Lives" but I couldn't be arsed to take another pic of it....

And here marks the famous firework display in Darling Harbour:

New Year's Eve 2010 (Part I)

2011-01-03T03:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so 1st time in Sydney for New Year's and it was craaaaazy. We went to the hostel where we'd previously made new friends and picked them up to head out to Balmain to find a cozy spot to watch the 'works. Sydney is the 2nd city on the planet to have the ball drop so we were way ahead of the rest of the world. After sitting for hours in the sun all day waiting for the show to begin we had good food, good drink and good company to keep us going. I unfortunately put out my back the day before so mostly pics of me are sprawled out on the ground trying to keep it straight. I even added a little bit of a video of the show along with some other oddities.....enjoy....

So this is the Winking Lizard which is located near Central Station. Great place for hangover brekky. In fact, the first item on the menu listed is called the Hangover. We needed a good strong base if we were to make it through New Year's festivities:

Some of the artwork located alongside Central Station:

This is the logo for one of the local beers known to Sydney. Love the lizard with the blue tongue...

And of course, one of my good friends..... Stella....

This is when it got weird. As the sun was beginning to set, someone was skywriting. This one is an "R U Ok?"

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T03:07:00.000-08:00

So this year was our first and probably last Christmas in Australia as our visas expire November 2011. This time around we went back to Newcastle to spend it with our surrogate family the McIntosh's. Santa decided to bring George and Kath a remarkable outdoor patio set which no one was able to get up from because it was so comfortable. Niko was a good girl this year because she got a brand new camera and was testing it out so please forgive the pics from now on, ha. For dinner we made ham that was put onto the barbecue and basted in coca cola.....(it tasted like heaven). Then there was also a turkey that was wrapped in bacon and also cooked on the grill. You can't even begin to understand how awesome the feast was, ha.

This rock collection belongs to George. Every morning at 4:30 a.m. he gets up to go surfing on Merriweather Beach and brings back a rock to add to his rock fountain. That's a whole lotta surfing...

Yet again.....Kel...

George and Kath's Christmas present....

Here are the happy couple enjoying their brand new patio set:

Here's my being artistic with my new camera:

Of course I took more beach pics. This one is Nobby Beach in Newcastle:

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed!

Basic Tour of Sydney (Part III)

2010-12-29T03:17:00.000-08:00

And this little boy's name is Sachen.....he comes with a whole different experience in Sydney that will need it's own section. I'll leave it at that for now but stay tuned for more at a later date.....he's a rock star!