Alex

Hello hello,

Mondays have turned into the best day of the week for me! Aside from having a day off work, Monday has turned into Barbecue and Swimming day

A couple of weeks ago me and the guys from Eagle Boys all had a day at the caravan park, cooking up $100 worth of food and swimming for hours! It was awesome fun, and we did it again today.

A few days ago, after about an hour and a half of walking up to the side of the pool, grappling with my fear and then chickening out, I finally managed to do a backflip! Since then I’ve been flipping in and out everyday – trying for a double soon!

A friend of mine from Wales is leaving Karratha tommorow, so we honoured him by chucking him in fully clothed. He didn’t mind – I think he was dry again in about an hour.

Aside from the recent kebabs and sausages, Karatha is the same old. I’ve bought my flights out of here now though, so the end is in sight!

I’ll be flying to Perth September 20th – and on to SE Asia for the next major stage of my adventure… can’t wait!

I hope your all well, take care, Al x

Hello! Happy Birthday to Me!

Hehe – well on Monday I turned 22. Strangely enough, I feel very much the same as I did when I was 21. Apart from the fact that I have a constant, lingering feeling that I am missing out on something fantastic, something wonderful that I should be doing but am not….

I suspect that it’s my nicotine cravings. )

Monday, which was the first day of action for my carefully planned non-smoking strategy (read : cold turkey), I felt strangely spaced out the entire day – and yesterday and today is not that much better!

Despite this, Monday was fantastic – and by far the best day I’ve had in Karratha since Sooji left. Apart from reading some great new books, kicking a ball around the pool and eating cake with my workmates who dropped by as a surprise, I got to pilot an aeroplane for the first time!

I was flying too much of the time to take any pictures! I took these two as we were heading around to land

To receive a present from home I was told to be at the airport at 11am – which turned out to be a 1hour introductory flight in a 180hp Cessna 172! After a brief run through of the mechanics of a plane we were strapped in and doing pre-flight checks. I got to handle the controls a lot sooner and a lot more often than I thought I would! As soon as my instructor Alex had shown me how to use the rudder controls (which also move the nose-wheel) I was taxiing out to the runway!

The instructor must have had nerves of steel, as despite my constant zig-zagging left and right of the yellow line (the rudder pedals are very responsive) he let me take off!

It turns out that the idea that ‘taking off is easy, it’s the landing that’s hard’ is true – all I had to do was point down the runway, push down a lever for full power and keep us straight. Once we were at the right speed, Alex told me to pull up and I brought us into a very steep ascent!

Home Sweet Home

We cruised around 10km to the East of Karratha (soaking in the views!) and then did some great turns. Alex showed me a 60 degree turn which was extreme! The G-forces really come into play when you turn 60 degrees at 130mph!

I had a go too, which went well. When I say it went well I mean I got us out of the downward spiral myself, without Alex having to take back the controls!

So now the mystery is gone – I know how a plane works and how to fly one! What a birthday present!

Other than that, I’ve been going to the pool a lot and kicking about a ball – more so now I’ve stopped smoking!

Me and Nabin with the pool to ourselves

Life in Karratha is the same as ever (hence the dearth of blog posts – sorry), but I only have around 12 weeks left here now before things get exciting once again!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and presents,

All the best,

Al x

Hello!

Well I knew that as soon as I came back to Karratha I would be back to work and up to little of blog-worthiness. Quite how soon I went back to work was a surprise though! The plane landed at 5 and I was at back to cutting pizzas at 6.30! Oh well – the holiday had to end sometime.

The last couple of weeks have flown by – I’ve been working hard and saving my money, as well as pushing forward with my business project. I fixed up a spare bike and so I’m a little more mobile now than my first few days – although cycling anywhere in this heat is  hard going.

Mike resisting the temptation to have a go

Me and my friend Mike worked at a school fete last weekend and were in charge of a great big slide ride, which was great fun as we watched terrified faces turn to smiles as they queued up for another go!

Sooji is ok, we’ve been talking most days on Skype and she’s getting ready for Uni. The prospect of an imminent war with the North is a bit unsettling though!

I’ve been spectacularly lazy too as I’ve only used the pool three times since I’ve been here – and as it’s so nice (and free) I ought to be in there every day!

The very welcome cool pool

Other than a lot of work, I haven’t been up to much interesting I’m afraid. Any chance I get I work on my sites – I’m currently doing a revamp which involves a lot of boring and repetitive technical tasks which is a bit draining – but I’m pushing through. I’m also researching aviation more and more – I have a dream of owning and flying two particular aircraft in the next couple of years, one a low-slow flying bush plane, and the other a personal turbine-engine helicopter! Well have to see when my birthday comes up.

Living in a caravan is ok too – I get on well with my Nepalese roommate who is learning to be a chef (to get a permanent visa) and so I’m enjoying the many spin-off dishes!

Hope your all well, all the best for now,

Al