21st Birthday/Ravi Day

The 30th of April on res meant two different things this year. Firstly of course was my 21st birthday, possibly one of the most important of my life when I finally become an adult. However this was dwarfed by the first ever Ravi Day. I won't go into what it is or what it means because it is a strange story and I don't think I even fully understand myself. Thanks to word of mouth and a clever and subtle marketing campaign, the air on Burwood Student Village on the Friday was electric with the hype of Ravi Day. As you can see below I celebrated it myself by eating ravioli on toast, but I still kept on my birthday hat too.

All the pictures from this day will be in black and white by the way. It's just a decision I made at the beginning of the day ok?

So after a day of fun, festivities and steady drinking 20 or so of us hopped on a tram to go meet my dad in the city for drinks. We tipped up to an English bar called the 'Elephant and Wheelbarrow' which had a good atmosphere and a live band. My dad met a lot of my very drunk and crazy foreign friends and the drink flowed like wine (?).

This is Eddie, my dad and I preparing to consume a round of tequila shots.

We spent an indefinable amount of time in the pub before we left my dad and continued on our adventures. At some point in the next half an hour or so the group itself split up and it ended up being Matt, Prince, Aly, Nico, Sam and I wondering through the streets of Melbourne. Somehow we our way to a backpackers bar but not without stopping in a hose cupboard first.

Once we got in the backpackers bar the stupid dancing started as it usually does when we end up there. Despite the fascinating polo neck wearing Chinese bloke we eventually moved on. Considering it was my 21st the concensus was to visit a strip bar (sorry mum!). I spent most of my time in the place acting like a drunk little kid and ran round getting as many dancers to sign my birthday card they gave me at the door as possible. That made for some very interesting reading in the morning!

Eventually though time wore on and the novelty passed and we decided it was time to head towards the train station. As you can see the waiting was a thrilling experience:

By the time we finally rolled back in it was 6:30am. This is the time when the birds of Melbourne just love to squawk their little bird lungs out. For all the Brits reading this I can tell you its hardly the dawn chorus but of course this didn't impede my sleeping too bad thanks to the long day and the beer in my belly.

Overall I had a fantastic day and an even better night. Ravi day was a complete success. Oh yeah it was a good 21st birthday too.

Road Trip

So I just arrived back in Melbourne after a week on the road with James and Sam. We decided we wanted to drive up the east coast stopping in at a few places but mostly seeing where we'd end up. So we set off at 6am on friday and apart from a brief stop at James' place and a switch of cars, didn't stop until we reached Goulburn, a small town famous mainly for its huge prison. We camped in our three man tent there one night before moving on to find anywhere more exciting. So we drove north through Sydney to Coffs Harbour where Sam's parents lived. Didn't really get up to too much mischief there either and after a night in a bed and a good shower we moved on up to Byron Bay.

The place is famous as a backpackers town so we went out and had a few drinks before ending up at a place called Cheeky Monkeys where we witnessed a wet tee shirt competition. Something about 200 blokes cheering and staring unashamedly at 5 girls getting their boobs out freaked me out a little but we had a good time and got a few drinks down our neck. So the next morning we head up to a small town called Nimbin which is famous for its hippie culture and defiance against the prohibition of marijuana. However we were there to meet James' 2nd cousin whom he had never met before rather than taking advantage of the lax law as the bus loads of tourists came for.

So we met Jack, a 6'4 54 year old block with no shoes, long dreads and a piercing stare. After speaking to him for even a short time I began to realise this was an incredible man. He had left his home at 20 and never lived in a house since. He invited us up to his place which was a hollowed out hippie bus (right of the picture) in the rainforest with an outside lounge area covered by a sheet of tarpaulin (left of the picture).

Jack is behind the pole and that is James you can see on the right. So we spent two days here with Jack telling us about his experiences living in a teepee for 13 years, meeting Bob Marley, his younger activist years, his time spent living with the aboriginal community as well as dicsussions on politics, philosophy and society before we'd settle back down into a our three man tent set up beside the bus. Of course it wasn't all serious and we had a good laugh too but it is difficult to give justice to how fascinating, interesting and inspirational this man was. Probably what affected me the most was simply his way of life and how he lived a self sustained existence outside of capitalist society and how his values and way of thinking was heavily influenced more so by the aboriginal communities he had visited.

This is Sam walking out of the dwelling with the toilet up on the right. We spent two nights here with Jack and his partner and her 11 year old daughter before heading back down south. On the way back we hit up Byron Bay again, this time spending a bit of the day admiring the beach and the scenery before hitting the town at night.

We also stopped off again at Coffs Harbour and this time spent a bit of time with the local students on their res. It was a good night culminating in the three of us taking it in turns to push each other home in a wheelchair we found for 5km.

As you can see, James had a great time. From Coffs harbour we drove for 16 hours until we made it to James' house in Tatura. After a sleep in a bed next to Sam I got up for a lift back to Melbourne from James' auntie as he had an Aussie Rules Football match that day. The journey was made extra special by the 6 year old on one side of me and the 8 year old on the other. Thank god I brought my Nintendo DS for them to play with. Didn't stop them from hitting me with a polar bear teddy for the whole 3 hours though...

Introducing....

Just thought I'd make a quick post to prove to u guys I do have friends here.

(L-R) Ange [one of my really good mates here, top aussie girl], Sarah [always up for it aussie bird lives in my block], Liz [went to here 21st in the country the other week], Jo [another person I've got along with really well with here], Lindsay [real fun Canadian girl], Rachel [another top oz chick], Kit [hilarious american girl], Rachel [really clicked with this girl, never stops smiling], Alana [real sweet, fun oz girl]

(L-R) Sam [awesome oz bloke I went on my road trip with], Matt [british lad I've become really good mates with], Nico [has come all the way from Chile to live a few doors down from me, top lad], Dan [worst cook ever but a great laugh from Arizona], Dan [yeh there's a few, also american], Dan [Norwegian pretty boy and a funny bugger too] and me

Future Fest

On Sunday I made it to Future Music Festival after about an hour and a half on trains and trams. I got my $150 all excited to see Boysnoize, Does it offend you, Yeah?, David Guetta and a bunch of new bands. All went well at first, it was just like a British music festival, in fact I met loads of Europeans, Brits and Irish people. I saw most of Eric Morillo's set which was pretty good and an excuse to dance.


After wondering about for a bit and seeing bits and pieces of other bands it was time so go see Does it offend you, Yeah? who I was really excited about seeing. So I rocked up in the drizzle which had just started to grace us from the heavens. They started well and I was getting into it when after their second song, some woman comes on stage and tells us that the stage is to be shut down due to the rain. Melbourne weather switches so quickly and it's normal to experience 4 seasons in one day but it still pissed me of coz they were one of the main bands I wanted to see. So I sulked off under a large umbrella as it began to start tipping it down. I was there with a few people considering leaving as they kept shutting down stages all around us. I was close to getting the train back when the David Guetta started up on the mainstage with a heavy beat. Without questioning it I ran back into the mainstage in the pouring rain and got stuck in. His set was really good and dancing to it in the rain made it all the better. I tried to take pictures but they all turned out blurry due to all the dancing. After his amazing set I decided it best to just stick where I was rather then going to find another stage on the off-chance it would be open. My decision was a good one as not short after The Prodigy stepped out.

They played all the classics and absolutely blew the house down. It was energetic and dirty and spot on. Everyone in the crowd was going mental it was all the the better in the cool rain making everyone slip and slide off each other. All together it was a fantastic day and worth that $150 especially considering I saw 4 boobies and a mangina...

In other news I have also joined the football team up here. We're just playing friendlies and working out our levels at the moment but I definitely have a shot at the first team if I just get a little fitter because most of the guys are fitter and stronger but don't know how to kick a ball or play a pass. I've been holding my own despite my fitness but the reason I joined anyway was mainly to get fit so I guess it will do the trick!

Also my classes are going well. None of them are too difficult a long as I keep up with the reading and all my lectures are really nice. I'm still playing off my nationality with them a little because they think I'm well educated. To be fair a lot of what I'm studying here crosses over with stuff I've done at Keele so I guess they're right...

;)

'O' Week

'O' week is now over at Deakin University. Its what they call freshers week over here and it entails a week of excesive events designed to meet people, knacker you out and get wrecked on booze. I have been forced to skull (down) countless pots (half pints) of Australian Beer (shit) all week.

One highlight was a mystery bus tour which took students on a huge pub and club crawl. The theme of mine was floro (florescence) and was the bus itself was probably the single most crazy place I have been in my life. It was a essentially a double decker bus pumping out music with a hundred drunk students dancing, mucking about and falling all on top of each other whenever the bus stopped. There were clothes being torn off, people jumping on each other and just general mayhem. I can't believe it got past H&S regulations. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera so I can show you guys but its probably for the best as its likely it would've been ruined.

A low light however was on Friday morning we were all woken up at 5:30am by the RAs (Residential Advisors) banging pans and shouting at the top of their voices. This is all after a heavy night the previous night. The next thing we know we're on a tram to the city being told we cannot go back to bed until we complete 7 challenges around town. We were forced to scare random strangers on the street by jumping out on them, eat chili peppers and eat as much ice cream as was possible. To top it all off, when we finally completed all the challenges we were pummbled with flour and eggs just to make us comfortable for the our tram and train ride home. This is what the Aussies consider fun.

Anyway I thought I'd also give you a few pictures to show you how my accomodation is:

This my room. Notice the fan on the left facing my face when I sleep and the Factor 30 sunblock on the shelf on the right.This is part of the kitchen and the general communal area. We all have allocated cupboards and fridge space in the kitchen, a large dining table and couches and a HD TV. there are 10 people in this block and its a long from from Lindsay C!

Some things never change....

So today I am off to Future Music Festival in Melbourne and I'm gonna bring along my camera so expect a new entry soon. Empire of the Sun, Franz Ferdinand, David Guetta, Does it offend you, yeah?, Prodigy and Boys Noize are all on the lineup so it should be amazing.

Hay Kay

Ok so now I begin my first ever blog so that everyone I know can check in and make sure I'm alive once in a while.

I flew out from snowy old England on the 13th of Febuary and arrived in misty young Hong Kong 11 hours later. It was my first time in Asia and that place is crazy! It is a strange place where all everyone speaks Cantonese, eats noodles and live in tiny rooms in huge tower blocks. And yet all the signs were also in English, there are Pizza Huts and 7/11's everywhere and they drive on the left.


As you can see above, I wasn't there long but I made a big enough impression to earn my name up in lights.

There were so many markets all run by local Hong Kongites selling cheap electrical goods, toys, jewelery, clothes, shoes and general tat. Being with Emma and Beck we obviously spent a lot of the time shopping, surprise surprise, but I also took advantage of the markets buying myself some fake slip on Vans that are just like the real thing.

The shopping wasn't only limited to these markets as there were hundreds of up market shopping malls selling American and European brands. Again I took advantage of this buying myself the camera I will be using to document the trip. It is easy to see why Hong Kong is often referred to as the shopping capital of the world.


There were neon signs and huge billboards everywhere. As Emma pointed out it often looked just like the Channel 4 ident you see before a TV show starts. If you look on my Facebook pictures I also included the biggest billboards of both Micheal Owen and Ryan Giggs advertising watches. I can't imagine that happening in Britain!

It was an amazing experience and it was really cool to see what felt like to me as half China, half Britain. but after a week we parted ways and I flew on to Melbourne where I am now writing this from my new room. It's 5:10pm here but in England it's 7:10am so I guess it will be at least few hours before any of you read this.

Keep in touch guys.

My new email is: nwheeler@deakin.edu.au

My address is :
H1-05
Burwood Student Village
Deakin University
Burwood
Victoria 3125
Australia

I will update about life at Deakin soon but for now Hong Kong has worn me out. Just know apart from the insane sun burning through the hole in the ozone layer above me I am settling in really well and having a lot of fun.

Check in soon!
xx