Jul 01: Friday
THE FINAL DAY WORKING IN OZ!!!! Rudi and Sandra and Boss J.Lo are out but the rest of the OSR
crew head to a chienese restaurant for goodbye dinner with Oyster.....
Jul 02: Saturday
Goat and Oyster begin the LONG homeward decent. Sandrine comes early in the morning and drops
them to their first flight on Jetstar where Goat gets stung for being overweight. (something Macky is oh so familiar
with) Flight is late but later they arrive in the Whitsunday coast and have a few quiet ales in the bar. Later Oyster
and Goat find Lisa and Dave from PJ's are working in their hostel and much fun is had. Goat makes friends with lady
from neighbours while Oyster goes nightswimming. Later a security guard asks if he is drunk, Oyster says no security
inform him to carry on swimming at 4.30am in a dark pool on his own.!
Jul 03: Sunday
Goat and Oyster hit the Maxi Samuari for their Whitsunday trip and meet Hugh from
Tyrone,he Boat leaves at 4 and the weather starts to take a turn for the worse. The sunset is watched and Goat and
Oyster are shown to their bed...(notice its bed singular.....nooooooooo)
Jul 04: Monday
Goat and Oyster go for a scuba dive off the Whitsundays, both manage to get coral cuts from
the reef, Goats becomes infected and now he has the great barrier reef growing out of his ankle! LAter snorkling is
done and many fish are seen including Elvis the giant mega fish who is as big as 1 Goat or 1 Oyster! Weather is crap
but shithead games cover the rainy patches.
Jul 05: Tuesday
Oyster hangs with hugh and Micheal Collins great grandneice Katie while Goat chats to Emma
and Claire. Goat smooth talks them into letting us shower in their place after the cruise and they offer to drive us
to Cairns. Offer is rejected as we have a schedule to keep but shower is taken! The day is better and true
Whitsundays are seen under better light. Goat and Oyster get a bus at 8pm and arrive in Cairns at....
Jul 06: Wednesday
....6am in the morning. We wait at our hostel till it opens at 8 and check in! Later we see
the town and take in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS! Later we get free dinner at the WoolShed and meet Katie and co. Katie is
on our dive course for tomorrow! The aussi bank accounts are closed *sniff* sign that the end is near....Sarah Nev of
the 7 appears in our hostel later on
Jul 07: Thursday
Dive Headquarters visited at 7.40 am and Goat and Oyster pass medical with flying colours.
(despite delay due to Oysters waxy ears) Oyster and Goat are set to be Padi certified soon, The days diving starts in
the pool. Goat and Oyster get free meals in the woolshed and mr July is picked by Goat... Holland boy Rom
Jul 08: Friday
Diving again in the pool and test is taken. Our cool dutch teacher (yes another dutch boy)
Mike tells us cheating is allowed and Goat and Oyster both get 96%...we think the same :) Later Goat Oyster Katie
Lorn Sarah Nev and Gemma go for drinks and food in the woolshed. Goat discusses arts with Gemma while Katie and
Oyster discuss foreign politics...much drinking is done
Jul 09: Saturday
First day of scuba on the Great Barrier reef! Crazy high fail rate Ryan is our instructor and
Goat and Oyster feel certain they will fail. Lots of fish and reef seen and later drinks and food are had at...yes
you guessed it ...the woolshed. Where Oyster and Katie continue talks on foreign politics but Goat decides he is no
longer intrested in the arts. Hugh from withsundays turns up later and the weather turns bad....damn hugh!
Jul 10: Sunday
2nd day of scuba on the great barrier reef... Oyster and Goat come top of the class and Ryan
says they are probobly the best 2 beginner divers of their generation...ahem...well the passed bit is true. Oyster
finishes all talk of foreign politics and Goat Oyster Lorn and Hugh go out for ales and food in the woolshed.
Jul 11: Monday
Goat and Oyster go White Water Rafting. Jess is the instructor and Oyster finds her quite
cheeky :) Rafting is dominated and they only fall out when they were supposed to. Rafting is off Mission Beach and
alot of Suger Cane is seen. Later they return to have dinner and drinks in the Local. Oyster has a fungal foot now
and Kate from Withsundays gets in touch. But we never meet her as we have to pack
Jul 12: Tuesday
GOAT AND OYSTER LEAVE OZ :( An early plane is caught to Aukland and they check into the Fat
Camel Hostel. Its awesome they have their own apartment filled with food and goodies. They eat the food and rob the
goodies and have their first burger king in 9 months
Jul 13: Wednesday
Goat and Oyster spend the day in Aukland and take in the SKYTOWER! Later Oyster does much
needed shopping and washing while Goat sees a war museum. Later they catch a movie (madagascar) and head to
Wendy's...we do love fast food!
Jul 14: Thursday
Goat and Oyster awake early and are met by their new home....Big Bertha...The 5.5 meter
Transit van-come camper which they will live and travel in for the next 11 days. Fist stop is to a town called
Matamata, home of lord of the rings only left standing set. Its Hobbiton where all the hobbits are from and on this
sheep farm all the hobbit houses still stand. After seeing this G&O head to Rotarua which is situated directly on the
pacific ring of fire. The gound bubbles here and the place smells like fart from the sulpher fumes. Goat and Oyster
take in a Mouri evening of food, dance, culture and glow worms and Oyster is made Chief of the caln of tourists
Jul 15: Friday
Long drive made from Rotarua to Wellington takes up much of the day, but Goat and Oyster
manage to stop off at MT. Mordor from Lord of the rings (place where ring is finally melted in). Weather is kinda
cloudy and getting colder all the time. Wellington is taken eventually and Goat and Oyster nearly run out of petrol
in the middle of the mountains. Goat and oyster notice a grill has fallen off Bertha and fear they may face a fine.
Jul 16: Saturday
Early morning Ferry is taken to the South Island and Picton truly is the Hollyhead of the
soth (boring). Goat and Oyster make tracks for Christchurch as oyster was once on radio there when he was famous :)
(There is also a wizard there which sealed the deal) The van people take responsibility for broken van and Goat and
Oyster dont have to pay. Goat and oyster nearly run outof petrol in the mountains again, this time go right down to
the last drop. More stern measure are to be taken from now on. Viera goes to Juve....hurray Macky looses everyone
else wins....Later Goat and Oyster grab some beers in Christchurch and Goat finds 20 bucks
Jul 17: Sunday
Goat and Oyster take a trip to Queenstown and the southmost point they will reach on their
travels. They are now further from home than anyone in their family...ever! Its cold...very cold and after some
suggestive pictures are taken with a giant kiwi the night is spend in a camp site watching sweet home alabama!
Jul 18: Monday
Goat and Oyster go skiing....random but true, outfits and ski's are rented and Oyster
dominates every slope. Goat is a ski virgin and manages to hit everyone on the baby courses ....he even manages to
ski into a fence....later G&O head to town and feast on a Ferg Burger!
Jul 19: Tuesday
Goat and Oyster head to Wanaka and take in a shooting range on the way where they shoot some
rifles. Later they head to the puzzling world of Stuart Landsborough which is... wacky! and then Goat jumps out of a
plane at 9000 feet only to land safely!.....Later Goat and Oyster head to a really bizarre Arty movie theatre which
has a yellow beetle parked in it (you can get in the car and watch the movie if you like). The movie is in French and
is quite entertaining
Jul 20: Wednesday
The Goat and the Oyster drive to the town of Franz Joseph where they meet their Glacier
Hiking company and d a briefing! Later they check into their first 5 star camper resort which is a big let down and
Oyster spends most of his night bouncing on the trampoline.
Jul 21: Thursday
The Goat and the Oyster do a hike over the Franz Joseph Glacier and see all its icey wonder!
Its still less cold than Ireland tho...The spend most of the hike humming the Jurassic Park theme tune as the
surroundings look like the movie. After seeing Ice caves and passages (we were in team alpha) G&O head to Hokitika
(the Jade Capital of NZ) and Oyster sees a Kiwi! Next Greymouth is hit and the night spent their...the stupid chicken
man poked out his ugly head too
Jul 22: Friday
Goat and Oyster go Caving and Black Water Rafting. Many Glow worms are seen and
Oyster crawls for 5 minutes through a passage only big enough to fit just him. Water slides are done in the caves and
Oyster feels lke he is in the Goonies! Big Rubber rings transport us in the dark but for most of the trip we use our
lights on our helmuts. After this Goat and Oyster head north and see better scenery than on the Grat Ocean
Road...Blow holes and Pancake rocks are all about which leads to G&O getting pancakes. Later a 5 hour trip is made to
Blenhiem.
Jul 23: Saturday
Goat and Oyster clean up the van and head to Picton for the ferry back the the North
Island...Bertha is due home tomorrow....Ferry trip shows elf again and around the world in 80 days... Goat and Oyster
arrive in Wellington and only get as far as bulls before having to stop for the night
Jul 24: Sunday
Turbo Drive is taken from Bulls to Aukland where Bertha is dropped home. A hand car wash is
done before return and Bertha is agreed to be in prime condition. However due to an Air New Zealand strike Goat and
Oysters next flight to Fiji is cancelled. After much fighting with them they decide to fly us out a day late and pay
for a nights accomadation for us in a 4 star hotel.
Jul 25: Monday
Goat and Oyster take in 2 movies (The Island and Fantastic Four) then head to their 4 star
hotel and live it up on rooms service....(chip butties ARE on the menu) After a dip in the pool and some food they
get some sleep in anticipation for Fiji in the morning
Jul 26: Tuesday
Goat and Oyster fly to Fiji with Air Pacific. They arrive in Nadi in the morning and take a
dodgy indian filled bus to the Coral Coast where they are booked to stay. A movie is provided on the bus, Commando
with Arnie the governator! The small kids on the bus especially like the bloody murdering! Anto chats to fiji girl
and gets the low down on the bus while Oyster chats to some dude about surfing in Taz. Later the Beachhouse is
checked into and Goat and Oyster meet the local in-mates including Ed and Graham! Drinking commences and Andy makes
friends with Irish girl
Jul 27: Wednesday
The fiji crew has grown. Ed Graham Goat Oyster Tim Mary Elisia Leigh Siobhan Kate etc are
core but pretty much everyone in the hostel involves themselves in the primary game of CIRCLE OF FIRE....Everyone
gets fantastically drunk and Tim is found vomiting on the beach after much boozing! In an effort to add support Goat
snaps of a few pics...
Jul 28: Thursday
Oyster heads to Sigatoka and pics up a mask but is kinda scared of the Markets as they are
crazy con men. The local bus provides more bloodshed with their movie Assassin. Goat spends most of the day/week in
the hammock reading in the sun. Later Circle of Fire 2 starts which goes well involving many scottish accents.
Jul 29: Friday
A days snorkling is done by Oyster on our hostels local reef....Oyster also wisely decides to
stay away for the booze for a day! Later jokes are told around the campfire but our group is all moving on to the
islands!
Jul 30: Saturday
Oyster gets an all over body message and spends the rest of the day playing UNO and shithead
with the crew....weather is getting cloudy
Jul 31: Sunday
Goat steps up for the message and more cards played.....lots of
lazyness in this
bunch....but the hammocks make it so easy....Goat is quite into ping pong now....(like forest gump) and cant beat ed
or tim. Tim even wins one game while drinking tea.
