Greetings from hell!

The story so far:

Decided to leave "The Treehouse", after keeping everyone awake till 3am playing guitar and doing martial arts in the kitchen... Moved to a new place called the "Beachshack"... good move! It was right on the beach, and felt like being at home! Big leather sofas, huge tv, video, X-Box, pool, free bikes, free tea and coffee, bathroom with power shower, bath, spa....!!!! I met some really great people there and apart from a bit of a bed-bug scare and a lot of cheap wine hangovers, it was all good... But then yesterday it was time to leave mission beach and move south.. but not after first doing a skydive from 12000 feet right onto the beach!! It's hard to explain the experience, except that it is awesome! I learned some interesting things about my rather odd brain that day too. During the whole experience, not once did I feel the slightest feeling of anxiety or nervousness, even as I swung my legs over the edge of the minute little plane and fell out, I was calm as a cucumber.... but then later, as I waited to catch my bus south, I felt anxiety building in my stomach as I worried about whether i would make the bus on time, whether i'd forgotten something etc etc! So what's going on here!?? How is it that I can be completely worry free when throwing myself out of a plane at 12000 feet but can't relax trying to catch a bus, even though I have a lift arranged already? I think I have a major problem of anxiety priority disorder. Anyway, I got a video of me doing the jump so folks at home can watch it once i post it back! :)

Anyway, I know you all hate it when I'm having too much fun, and it makes for a pretty boring read, so you'll be pleased to know that last night I arrived in hell. Well maybe not hell, but definitely a suburb of hell. It is called Airlie beach, despite having no beach, and it is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, which apparantly are stunning. Airlie, however, is not. It is a big long strip of bars and shops populated by drunken tourists staggering around a being sick. I arrived at 9:30pm, and was gutted to find out that all the "relaxed" hostels were closed already, and all that remained open were the two "party" hostels in the middle of town. I picked one at random and checked in. My dorm ended up being right above the pub/club with a balcony directly over the beer garden should I feel the need to throw up on someones head. The noise was at a level that made thought difficult.. I guess this was my treehouse bad karma coming back to bite me... luckily i have an MD player and some good tunes, so all was well in the end and I managed to get to sleep...

Maybe i'm just a boring bastard and I should have just downed half a bottle of tequlia and gone and joined the first group of young drunk people I saw... but I think the truth is even more shocking.... I'm getting older! Nooooo! Yes, it's true, every day that passes I am getting progressively older and strange metabloic and psychological changes are taking place that make drinking too much and being sick seem less and less appealing each day. I mean I still love to get hammered with a group of people I like in a cool setting, but the 100's of people down in that pub last night was just noy my idea of a cool setting.... anyway, I guess I've been travelling too long when i say that being in a party town is hellish... compared to having a shit job and working 9 to 5 I guess it does have some advantages... ;)

Mmmmm, not sure what else to write about.... It's not like asia where everyday something bizzare happens that I can write about... life here is pretty damn predictable, but pretty cool all the same. I can see why most brits just come backpacking here and skip asia, as it is basically just like britain except everything is bigger and more spread out, the beaches are more beautiful, the weather's better, and the people are generally more friendly.... But it doesn't feel like travelling. It feels like a long and rather expensive holiday... damn that exchange rate! Ok, I'm starting to bore you now, I'm sorry, i'll leave......