Bryce’s Notes

What a day!

Today, after (mostly) recovering from a cold that has made this week pretty ordinary, I went to North Stradbroke Island (Straddie) with Carmen Powell. To get to Straddie involves driving to Cleveland, catching the ferry to Straddie, then getting the bus to Point Lookout (about 1.75 hours all up each way). Whilst it was a bit of an effort to get there, it was spectacular and definately worth it.

The walk around the headland goes along the top of a cliff, through a ravine, and along another cliff. The views were phenomenal. They included gorgeous torquise water in close, changing to deep blue water in the deep blue, waves smashing explosivly against the cliff, a white sandy surf-beach stretching for kilometers, about 3-6 whales frolicking (breaching the surface, fin-slapping and tail splashing), and 60-80 dolphins at various times throughout the day feeding, playing, leaping and surfing waves. I had never seen whales before, and now I have. I had never seen a pod of wild dolphins before, and now I have. I had never seen dolphins surf waves before, and now I have. Needless to say, I am very pleased with myself.

The trip very nearly didn’t eventuate at all, because it only came up when I was whinging to Carmen on MSN yesterday that my north-side friends had all piked on me and now I wasn’t going. She said that she’d like to go and so today we went!

Tonight I’m going to a CEBS spit-roast (CEBS is the boys youth group I used to be in, and a spit-roast is several big hunks of meat put on a revolving spit and revolved over an open fire - delicious!). That will be very nice. In fact, I’m leaving now, so readers who have access to Straddie, go!

I have decided to post a list of things that I still need to do before I can go overseas. It probably won’t interest most people, but I need to write this stuff down somewhere. Any comments on what I might have forgotten will be appreciated.

1. Get passport photos for Visas.
2. Get flight paid and get itinery.
3. Get 2 letter from bank manager stating that I have sufficient funds to support myself.
4. Fill out Visa application forms for Hungary & the Czech Republic.
5. Send Visas away.
6. Get scholarship from Uni.
7. Get international drivers licence (RACQ-$15+passport photo to a branch).
8. Give mum or dad power of attorney for the period that I’m away.
9. Get phone fixed (Vibrate and volume broken).
10. Get a secure vest to carry documents in.
11. Get copies of documents.
12. Get international student card.
13. Plan my weeks either side of Kumuka tour.
14. Book accomodation for travel.
15. Buy padlocks & bikelock for backpack & daypack.
16. Buy thongs for showering.
17. Buy camera & mp3 diskman & film if I get non-digital camera.
18. Get audiobooks and burn mp3’s to CD.
19. Get maps and guide books for destinations.
20. Buy cheap watch with alarm.
21. Pack small first aid kit (inc insect spray).
22. Swiss army knife.
23. Torch and calculator.
24. Sun protection (sunscreen, hat).
25. Travel towel (really small, like chamois).
26. Toilet paper & baby wipes.
27. Laundry bag.
28. Plugs, detergent & wire for clothesline.
29. Earplugs.
30. Make a sleep-sack(2 sheets with 2 sides sewed together).

Damn, that’s a lot more things that I thought I’d need to do. Any others that people can think of, please let me know.

This beautiful weekend saw me doing some rather trivial things, but fair readers, you shall hear about them nonetheless.

Saturday morning saw me tinkering with the video in-out functionality of the video card in our computer. On the up-side, it hadn’t been working for 18 months and I got it working again! On the down-side, there were no cables available to test my handiwork. At 1.30pm, I went to my first rehearsal for the Church choir show that we’re putting on (The Fantasy Floor show). The ‘Scooby Doo’ song was… interesting. I think I described it to Dean as being ‘… not roll on the floor funny, but more like Old Grey Mare (Simpsons joke) funny’. That evening was Chris Kiver’s going-away ball. For those who don’t know, Chris is the Brisbane Chorale’s outgoing conductor, and is quite exceptional at what he does. The evening was very pleasant, and so was the company.

Sunday saw the dawn of a clear day. I lazed around and read the newspaper in the morning, and thought about wasting the rest of the day. About lunch-time, my conscience got the better of me and I had a game of tennis with Rhys. It was a glorious day for tennis, with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. The score was: Bryce d. Rhys (6-2). I got home and continued tinkering the the video card on the computer. That evening, I went around to Lauren’s house and we just vedged watching TV.

I have an update on my itinery, which I will try to update on this webpage. Should I fail, the details are that I start at Muenster on 7/10/02 now instead of 1/10/02, which I originally thought. Woopee, I hear you all exclaim.

Well, here goes another week. Good luck.

Bryce.

My trip details are thus:

4/9/02 - Depart Brisbane;
4/9/02 - Arrive Bali;
5/9/02 - Depart Bali;
6/9/02 - Arrive Frankfurt;
*Need something to do here - probably do the Black forest, Swiss alps, Nice, Pisa and Florence*
13/9/02 - Arrive Venice - start Kumuka tour
15/9/02 - Arrive Vienna;
17/9/02 - Arrive Budapest;
19/9/02 - Arrive Prague;
21/9/02 - Arrive Berlin;
23/9/02 - Arrive Munich - OCKTOBERFEST!
25/9/02 - Rhine River cruise;
26/9/02 - Arrive Amsterdam;
28/9/02 - Arrive Paris;
30/9/02 - Depart Paris
*Need something to do here - Probably do some of eastern France and then Spain*.
7/10/02 - Arrive Muenster.

Hi all (hahah, there’s nobody watching),

This post is part test, and part thanks to Dean. For anyone who’s watching, this site is Dean’s 21st birthday present to me. Thanks Dean!

This website will be a journal of my thoughts while I’m in cold, foreboding Europe. Hopefully I can find a computer with an internet connection easily and cheaply. I will post pictures if available, and regular journals of my trip.

Cheers,

Bryce.

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