Oct 24th Onwards: Cannes, and returning home to London

On leaving Hawaii I had to head to France for work purposes. I had been to Nice before on Contiki tour and it is a lovely place. This time around though I was staying in Cannes and had no time to spare to enjoy it. I had to catch four flights to get there, and that really bit it hard. Luckily I have discovered Stillnox.. To get my ass from Lihue, Hawaii to Cannes, France, I had to take the following flights:

Lihue -> Honolulu
Honolulu -> Los Angeles (With only 1:30 connecting time AND a terminal change)
Los Angeles -> London
London -> Cannes
Cannes Airport -> hotel via taxi.

I was dreading every moment of it, but Hawaiian and AA did a great job. They checked my bags (and snowboard.. who's passport is now almost as decorated as mine, and whos base is still brand new..) all the way from Lihue to London. This was a real saving but I was fearing that my bags wouldnt get connected at L.A. Hell! I was wondering If *I* could manage to get connected to my flight in L.A. I didnt know how long that connection would take.. but it all worked out!

I spent four days working in Cannes and it sucked! I was so sick of my suitcase I wanted to be back in London badly to find a home and get settled. These have been the worst days I have experienced in a long while. Working was tough as I had to do presentations (which I now know I am shit at..) and I felt terrible also (tired, and had to stay up late to prepare material that I should have done in Hawaii). I tell you - The only thing that made me okay was knowing that no matter what happens.. in 3-4 days I would be out of there and back in London, which by now has become 'Home'.

This is one of the nicest areas in Europe though, so it was enjoyable to get some sunshine however it was all ruined by having to work frantically while I was here :(
Let me give you some photos so I can move on!


View from the top of the Noga Hilton, Cannes.



View of the Cannes bech promenade area.

So anyway - Im back in London (Or at least, back in November hey). Still things werent going so well. I had to start performing in a new job on Monday and I didnt even have a home, computers, anything!! I managed to find a place to live with some South Africans at the last minute on Sunday night (Oct 29th). A little further from where I wanted to live, but on the river Thames and in an area that is actually very spacious and alot more like Sydney than anywhere else I have seen. Like - there is grass beside the roads here .. and water.. and boats.


View from my room, looking straight out at the fresh clean water of the Thames.


View from my room, to the right over Greenland Dock.

London has been absolutely great so far. There are so many things to do here.. I cannot even begin to tell you how fast time is moving for me at the moment. Mostly this is due to getting accustomed to living in a new country, performing in a new job, and also getting my room setup with all the stuff I need. I have to say living in an Internet world has made so much more possible. I have bought stuff for a cheap price on Ebay where I can, transferred money internationally while making my breakfast, and kept in touch with people from all over the world with ease. You can even just use a postcode to find directions to a building here, as they are that accurate (Try putting SE16 7TB in google maps to find my house!) Not to mention an age where we have cheap flights, cheap travel insurance and I even bought a car I have never seen before from the opposite side of the world without leaving my room. So things have been going well .. just pretty busy!

Alright enough of that crap .. I know you all just look at photos anyway .. so Im going to put this blog update quickly by having less babble, and more pics. Most of you have heard where Ive been lately through Dan's blog - so heres a picture diary for you.

On coming back, the first weekend Dan and I went to two parties in the same night. The first was Dom's in NW16, and then Ange's rocking dress up party in Spencer Park. The first party was an interesting trip to get to - basically Dan and I got lost. This meant we lost time and had to get a mini-cab to get there. We got him to stop and get beers on the way, as Dan and I had been mowing through the 1664's. We bought about 12 beers and were already pretty trashed so it was quite an amusing ride. The cabbie was legging it too!. We had to get through Brixton and we found ourselves in back seat view of everything going on! There was some commotion at Brixton and we had to deal with a blockage in traffic, cop cars, and our own taxi driver getting involed! He was leaning out the window screaming at everyone and we were just laughing our asses off in the back seat! We quickly sped off to the next party, with our cans of beer rolling around in the back of the taxi!

Ange's party was fantastic. There were many fireworks going on around us and even at the party we were at. Dan and I were pretty trashed by this stage and the only guys not dressed up for Ange's party. (Sorry were Lazy!!).



Group shot of Ange's party.

The next weekend saw us going to the church. Oh My God! What can I say about that!
The day started at 10am waiting in the freezing cold outside the shittiest oldest theatre I have ever seen. My god no wonder the Church moved here! There was a dude build like a brick shithouse keeping everyone in order outside but was a pretty easy going friendly guy. We bought our drink coupons while freezing in the line and finally got inside around 12 midday. We went in and got our beer in plastic bags which you tie to your belt. Trust me, this is really a good idea because the floor is covered in sawdust and as I found out.. If you drop one it turns into something we coined the term "Fosters Schnitzel" for.. as the next photos demonstrate. You know what I cant even think why we decided to call it that.. it doesnt make any sense?

Group shot of us at The Church.

The place gets packed and warm pretty quickly. There is .. well all I can say is 'entertainment' on the stage (drinking races, topless women, sing alongs) and comedians. I cant tell you much more.. I lost track of what planet I was on somewhere around 4pm. We left there (Im told) at 6pm, we also (Im told) went to burger king, and two other bars afterwards. The next point in time I remember is somewhere around 12pm going home. I tell you we were wasted!! The church was excellent and Im looking forward to going again. :) My night finished up attempting to walk home from London bridge.. and somehow my bus found me and so I got onbaord and went home. What a huge day and night!

Group shot of us at The Church.


Crowd shot at the Church


Crowd shot at the Church


After the church - who knows where we were headed..

We also headed over to Ministry Of Sound which was great. It wasnt the biggest night ever, but it was good to see what Ministry Of Sound is really like! Dan and Ros were great company and we had a fun night.


A few pre drinks before heading off..
Standing outside
Excited to be here !!
Inside - a hallway leading to one of the rooms.

London Summary:

Countries visited since leaving Australia: 3
Next destination: New York City (U.S.A. again ???)
Funniest thing: Seeing some crazy french person try to kill someone with a scooter. Im not kidding!

October 16-21: Luke and Giselle's Hawaiian wedding.

I arrived at around 8am Sunday morning to Lihue airport to be greeted by perfect warm Hawaiian sun. I must have looked like a right royal idiot with my snowboard too! I had a few hours spare and decided to pickup the hire car we had organised. I 'kind of' got a little swayed by the lady attending the counter at the Hertz rent a car. Originally we had planned to hire a four door average family car.. but I took the plunge and hired a convertible instead. It was bloody nice though to drive a convertible around in Hawaii for the whole week so Im really glad I did it! I hope the boys who were sharing the expense with me werent too upset and enjoyed it also but Im sure they did.


Driving our Chevy Sebring convertible on our first day.

After a short drama at the airport trying to find Richard, a friend of the bride's who would be staying with us we all jumped in our cars and headed off to our Condo. It was an absolute palace. Massive, 3/4 bedrooms, with enough room to fit 10. Fully air-conditioned, new fittings and one of the rooms had a bathroom that most places in London would be able to fit inside. Im talking a shower with full tiling roof to floor, and two showerheads.. it was so big the bathroom had its own closet!! I ended up getting the short end of the straw and having to sleep in the same room as Dan, on single beds, with no privacy! There goes any chances we would have of picking up!!



On the first day, I headed up the mountain in the hire car as my friends Danya, Nathan and Dan were going up there for a hike and needed the ride. I kinda lost track of how long I was out in the sunshine and well kind of got just slghtly burnt on the first day. Later that evening we went out to have a swim.. and the water was soooo perfect we stayed until sunset when the water was still so warm and lovely.


Ben capturing the beach where the wedding took place in sketch.

Luke and Giselle got married on Shipwreck beach. There was a more relaxed attire for the wedding and family and friends enjoyed the ceremony standing on the sands of shipwreck beach.








The week was filled with a variety of activities that people decided to do. Not everyone participated in everything though due to different interests and so there were some relaxing days mixed in with days spent participating in the activities. I decided to go Kayaking, play a round of golf, Surf at Hanalei Bay, and just relax in general.

Most of the group went on the Kayak tour. We were to take Kayaks up a river in Hawaii and visit a beautiful waterfall where we could eat lunch and take a breather from the hard work kayaking. Dan and I were trying to figure out who would end up being the first couple to tip their Kayak over. By the end of the day it was Dan and I who ended up being the only ones to swim as it was too nice in the water so we committed suicide and dived in! We also were saying "Oh Crikey - look at the size of the snapper on that thing!" alot, whenever we saw anything that could have been a croc in the water (Such as small logs).


Just after leaving our Kayaks starting our small hike to the waterfall.


Our group and tour guide, heading up the trail to the waterfall.


Pete in front of the Queen's bath. Years ago if you bathed here you would have been decapitated!

The waterfall was beautiful and you werent allowed to swim there, so we all swam there. :) Directly underneath the waterfall the water wasnt so deep, and it was really rocky so none of us stayed under the water for very long as it obviously is a place where you could get hurt. It also really stang your eyes !! but what a lovely place to relax and enjoy the surroundings.


Waterfall view



We had a guide on the Kayak that day, a really relaxed dude who spoke about the surroundings and the plant-life and how the Hawaiians make use of the flora that grows there. He was a pretty cool dude, but at times the things he showed us were really not that exciting. The following photo is a ancient fireplace or something.. but it just looked like a pile of rocks to Dan and me, and Dan decided to have the following photo taken:


Big Dan: "Im excited!"

How little did I know how much my life would change when this photo was taken ! Wait for the New York photos .. thats all I can say!

After the Kayak, we attended a Luau (Dinner with entertainment) at Gaylords' restaurant. This was awesome, as we all got loaded up and enjoyed great food, and really good entertainment. There were Hula girls, Fire twirling, Singing and dancing being performed. A really good show. Even the MC was a funny guy!


These girls can really dance!

On the last day we had there, we all went to Hanalei Bay. Dan and I even caught up with the American girls Alexis and Laura we met on the Kayak. Most of us surfed for the first time, including myself. It was pretty damn good although not big waves at all! It was also kind of raining, but still warm that day too. Later in the day I was swimming with Nathan Lam. We were out in the water at sunset and saw two perfect rainbows, one encompassing the other. We were out in the water and both wanted our cameras, but knew it wasnt to be. That was one memory that I couldnt catch on film.. but I will have to remember forever. We lied on our backs in the beautiful water and enjoyed a fantastic moment!

Hawaii Summary:

Countries visited since leaving Australia: 2.
Best thing: Having a fantastic holiday with close friends - awesome.
Worst thing: American sports cars. the thing didnt idle properly and almost drove itself and was really plastic.
Best beer: Heiniken (The local stuff was only alright - but Heiniken is hard to beat.)
Next destination: Cannes, France.