Archive for August, 2008

So we weren’t really going to drink last night. One Bia hoi (draught beer), some dinner and maybe a couple at a rooftop bar. A quiet night after several not so quiet ones lately. Mmmm. Some new found backpacker buddies had other ideas, however. Bugger. Still, when you get a group of Kiwis, Dutch, Spanish, American and English guys crowded round some plastic tables in a shabby little cafe drinking 50c beers, it’s probably not the biggest surprise in the world…

After another night of rain, dinner and beers, we headed out the next morning to join our tour out to the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels were part of a 250km, multi-level tunnel system used by the Viet Cong to avoid the guns, bombs and napalm of the US forces during the war. There are loads of bus tours that can take you out there for a few dollars, but we decided to pay slightly more and go one way by boat along the Saigon River. Amazingly enough it was raining when we started out just after 8am. Who would have thought?

After a very relaxed few days on the Sunshine Coast – not too many other choices, the nightlife isn’t exactly mind-blowing in Caloundra – I headed down to New South Wales. Had a wonderful time there, was fun hanging out with Craig, Sam & the kids in Orange for a couple of nights (though a slight temperature change … snow on the ground and all that), and then a few nights in Sydney.

Spent suitably large amounts of time in a selection of bars, wandered round the city, met some fun new people and caught up with wonderful old friends …… and found myself falling back in love with the place like I do every time I go back there. Great, just what I need. Would it be wrong to move back to Sydney for the third time in eight years, I ask…?

Well it’s been a month or so since I arrived in Australia, and if I thought I was relaxed when I arrived … well, I’m more chilled out now than I have been in years. Maybe ever. Life is pretty damn good, let’s put it that way…